213 Miles From Shea

The Mets are in a bad way right now. Last night was the 7th loss in a row and fell below .500 (and now 3.5 games out of first place). All the Mets offense was able to muster last night was Granderson’s 11th homer of the season. Hopefully this team can dig down deep today and pull something up.

Jacob deGrom is 7-5 over 14 starts and a 2.34 ERA over 92.1 innings of work. He was a hard luck loser in his last outing allowing only 2 ER over 7.1 innings against the Braves in a game where the Mets bats could only score one run and the bullpen ultimately cost him. Jacob hasn’t allowed more than 2 ER in a start since May 11th. Against the Brewers earlier this year he picked up a win over 6.0 innings of work striking out 6 batters and allowing 1 run. The Brewers have the following numbers against him:

• Braun 0-7
• Gomez 4-9
• Lucroy 2-6, 2B
• Ramirez 2-6, 2B
• Segura 2-6
• Gennett 2-5, 2B
• Lind 0-2
• Parra 0-3

The Mets bats will try to do something positive against Taylor Jungmann who is 2-1 in his first three major league games pitching 18.0 innings posting a 3.50 ERA and striking out 14 batters. Before being called up, Jungmann was 2-3 over 11 games and 9 starts in the minors posting a 6.37 ERA over 59.1 innings. He has a career 4.10 ERA over 505.1 innings in the lower leagues. He has never faced the Mets in a major league game before.

Let’s Go Mets!

There have been brighter days in Metville. Close to game time yesterday, the Mets announced that d’Arnaud would be heading to the DL and then the Mets lost a game 3-2 because they just couldn’t string hits together. Altogether, it feels like a different lifetime since the Mets were crushing it.

Bartolo Colon is 9-5 over 14.0 games and 86.0 innings with a 4.81 ERA. His first two starts in June were strong allowing 4 ER over 13.0 innings but he couldn’t repeat that in his latest start where he allowed 7 runs, 6 earned over 4.1 innings. He made a start against the Brewers this year and it wasn’t good as he allowed 6 runs, 5 earned over 5.0 innings. The Brewers have the following numbers against Colon:

• Lind 6-19, 2B, HR
• Gomez 2-9, 2B, 3B
• Ramirez 4-9, 2B, HR
• Gennett 0-4
• Segura 1-4
• Braun 1-3, HR
• Lucroy 2-3
• Parra 2-3, 2B, HR

The Mets bats will try to get something done against Jimmy Nelson. He’s 3-8 over 14 games and 83.1 innings with a 4.64 ERA. His June has been odd. In two starts he allowed 7 runs over 5.0 innings, had a shutout over 6.0 innings and allowed 3 ER over 5.0 innings. In one start against the Mets last year he allowed 2 ER over 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Nelson:

• Duda 1-4, HR
• Lagares 0-3
• Granderson 1-3, 2B
• Tejada 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets really need to get off to a strong start vs the Brewers this week. They are in the midst of a 5 game losing streak, including a three game sweep in Atlanta. They come in against a struggling Brewer club and right now they need anything to right the ship. Yesterday they got a great start from Matt Harvey and went into the top of the 9th down 1-0 and got two runners on with no outs…but then very quickly from that point recorded three outs.

Tonight the game lies on Jon Niese. Niese is 3-7 over 13 games and 77.0 innings with a 4.21 ERA. He’s 0-2 in three games in the month of June where he has a 3.60 ERA over 20.0 innings with 18 K’s. He was 0-1 over 2 starts  against the Brewers last year allowing 4 ER over 12.2 innings. The Brewers have the following numbers against Niese:

• Ramirez 6-19, 2B, 2 HR
• Lucroy 6-18, 2B
• Braun 4-14
• Gomez 4-14
• Segura 1-7
• Parra 3-6

Mike Fiers is 3-7 over 14 games and 74.0 innings and an ERA of 4.50. After going 2-1 in the first three starts and 17.1 innings with a 2.60 ERA, in his last start he allowed 6 ER over 8 hits through 5.0 innings of work. He logged an inning of work against the Mets last year allowing 1 hit and 1 walk with no runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Fiers:

• Mayberry 2-3, HR
• Tejada 1-4, 2B
• Duda 1-2, 2B
• Granderson 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets need a win in the worst way today, and they are looking at Matt Harvey to help make that happen. Last night the Mets dropped the game 6-4 against Atlanta, and the Nationals pulled ahead to take first place by half a game.

Matt Harvey is 7-4 over 13 games and 86.2 innings with a 3.32 ERA. He a tremendous start his last time out going 7.0 scoreless innings striking out 6. This start came on a string of average to poor performance. Believe it or not, Harvey hasn’t faced the Braves yet at all this season. In 2013 he was 1-0 against the Braves in one start where he allowed 3 ER over 7.0 innings while striking out 13 batters. Atlanta has the following numbers against Harvey:

• Freeman 0-6
• Maybin 1-4, 2B
• C Johnson 0-3
• Simmons 1-3
• Uribe 2-3

The Mets draw a familiar pitcher in Julio Teheran tonight who is 4-3 over 14 games and 81.2 innings with a 5.07 ERA. The Mets faced him twice in April. In the first game they scored 3 runs, only 1 earned over 6.0 innings on their way to a victory and in their second game they tagged him for 4 earned runs over 4.1 innings, the Mets eventually lost that game. The Mets have the following numbers against Julio:

• Duda 7-20, 2 2B, 2HR
• Granderson 4-14, 2B, HR
• d’Arnaud 1-12
• Lagares 3-14
• Tejada 1-14
• Cuddyer 2-9
• Flores 2-7, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have scored only 2 runs in their last 32 innings, which is never a recipe for a good time. The Mets were beating the Braves 1-0 heading into the 8th when deGrom finally faltered and Gilmartin allowed two runs to scored. This should be a nonissue though because the offense should be able to score more than two runs. Anyway, the Mets look to move beyond that today as Noah Syndergaard takes on Williams Perez.

Syndergaard is 2-4 over 7 starts and 40.2 innings in his rookie season so far posting an ERA of 3.76. After two questionable starts, he rebounded nicely his last time out against the Blue Jays holding them to one run, a solo homer, over 6 innings of work while striking out a career high of 11 batters. In his previous two starts he allowed a combined 11 ER over 10.0 innings of work. Amazingly, this will be Noah’s second career start against an NL East team. His first one was against the Phillies where he shut them out for 7.1 innings.

Williams Perez is also in his rookie season. The Braves starter is 3-0 over 9 games, 6 starts and 39.1 innings of work with a 2.29 ERA. He has struck out 31 batters this year while walking 19. He is coming off of a strong start against the Red Sox where he shut them out over 6.0 innings. He has made a relief appearance against the Mets recently in the one game the Mets dropped in last weekends series. Perez picked up the save after allowing 2 hits in the 11th inning. Ceciliani and Herrera had the hits while Lagares and Mayberry had the outs.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Orem Owlz announced today that they were cancelling their “Caucasian Heritage Night” due to well, it’s best to put it exactly in their words: “We understand, in light of recent tragic events, that our intentions have been misconstrued.”

Setting aside right now that it was a terrorist attack in South Carolina, that people were murdered because of their race and that is beyond a tragic event, there are a lot of problematic statements in the Orem Owlz apology. Here is the statement in full:

You may have read that the Orem Owlz had long ago scheduled Caucasian Heritage Night as one of its 38 promotions.

Minor League Baseball, and the Orem Owlz, is about baseball, togetherness and family fun for all fans of all races, religions, and orientations. Our goal in this promotion, like any of our promotions, is to have fun and make fun of everyday normalcies. Our night was to include wonder bread on burgers with mayonnaise, clips from shows like Friends and Seinfeld and trying to solve the vertical leaping challenge. We understand, in light of recent tragic events, that our intentions have been misconstrued. For that, we sincerely apologize.

The Owlz are committed to all its fans, families and all fans of baseball alike – no matter who you are. The event has been removed from our promotional schedule effectively immediately.

Source.

Consciously, the Orem Owlz organization did not intend to cause harm. However the merits of this event shouldn’t even be tied to South Carolina because it is offensive and stupid in its own right. Specifically, “make fun of everyday normalcies”. The event is celebrating that the white perspective is the default perspective, that’s incredibly problematic.

Maybe there is a way to do this event satirically that explicitly points out how hegemonic our society is. As a white person, I benefit from a history of white supremacy even though I don’t want to. It’s white privilege. I don’t get followed around in stores, I get the benefit of the doubt from authority figures, and I’m not subjected to subconscious racism. I’m also too cynical to think that a baseball team would be able to pull off a conversation about race from a satirical point of view.

I would love the Orem Owlz, and really all teams in baseball to instead to encourage real conversations about race relations in this country including our history of racial violence and how the structures from our overtly racist past still persist today.

The 2015 Mets: exciting at home, just don’t watch them on the road. Last night the Mets got essentially blown-out by the Blue Jays. Tonight they’ll try to put it together and make a statement by winning a game on the road against the Braves.

Jacob deGrom gets the start tonight on his 27th birthday! Happy Birthday deGrom! He is 7-4 over 13 starts and 85.0 innings with a 2.33 ERA this season. He is 4-0 in his last 6 starts and 43.1 innings with 53 strikeouts and a 1.25 ERA. More recently he has allowed 3 ER over 14.0 innings with 19 strikeouts including his last start which was against the Braves where he held them to 1 ER over 7.0 and struck out 9 of them. The Braves have the following numbers against Jacob:

• Freeman 2-10, HR
• Simmons 3-10
• C Johnson 5-11, 2B
• K Johnson 0-4
• Markakis 1-3

The Mets bats will get to be apart of Matt Wisler’s major league debut. This season with Triple A Gwinnett his 3-4 over 12 starts and 65.0 innings with a 4.29 ERA. Overall in the minors he has posted a 3.53 ERA over 461.2 innings. Baseball America ranked him the 34th best prospect (improving from 44 in the previous year), MLB.com said he was was #69 this year (#78 last year) and Baseball Prospectus said he was #53 (down from #47 last year). The right-hander has spent his minor league time from 2011 to 2014 in the San Diego system.

Let’s Go Mets!

Not a banner day for the Mets last night as the Blue Jays beat the Amazin’s by the score of 8-0. Niese had a decent start, the Mets offense went cold and Morris struggled in his debut. Tonight is the battle of the ageless wonders as Bartolo Colon gets the start against an old friend in R.A. Dickey.

Bartolo Colon is 9-4 over 13 games and 81.2 innings with a 4.41 ERA. In the month of June he has tossed 13.0 innings with 10 strikeouts and a 2.77 ERA. The last time he faced the Jays was back when he was with the Athletics where he allowed 2 runs, 1 earned over 6.0 innings. The Blue Jays have the following numbers against Colon:

• Encarnacion 4-19, 2B
• Smoak 4-17, 2B, HR
• Bautista 3-13, HR
• Navarro 2-9, 2B
• Reyes 4-6
• Martin 1-6, 2B
• Donaldson 0-4
• Carrera 0-3

R.A. Dickey, just in the other dugout. The last time he faced the Mets was way back in 2008 where he recorded 7.0 scoreless innings against the Amazins. The next year he was with the Twins and after that started his three years with the Mets where he became an All-Star, made his mark in this organization, including a 20 win season, and was part of a trade that led to two critical players on the Mets current roster. This year he is 2-6 over 13 games over 81.2 innings with 5.29 ERA. He is 0-1 over 3 starts in June logging 17.2 innings and 16 strikeouts with a 3.57 ERA. The only Mets that faced Dickey are Granderson who is 5-25 with 2 doubles and Mayberry who is 2-13.

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets swept the first leg of the home and home series against the Blue Jays and tonight they head north to Toronto to play the second leg. Last night Harvey looked like the Harvey from earlier this season as he shut the Blue Jays down for 7 innings in a game where normally he would stop after 6 but the bullpen has been taxed heavily over the last week. Carlos Torres then came in for a 2-inning appearance, except he faced 4 batters only getting one out on a running miscue so Parnell came in for 5 outs and he was fantastic. Anyway, the Mets are hoping Jon Niese can get it done tonight against Drew Hutchison.

Jon Niese is 3-6 over 12 games and 70.0 innings with a 4.24 ERA. He is 0-1 over two starts in the month of June where he has logged 13.0 innings and a better than season ERA at 3.46. He faced the Blue Jays way back in 2012 and it wasn’t good as he allowed 8 ER over 3.0 innings. The Jays have the following numbers against Niese:

• Martin 1-10, HR
• Reyes 2-9
• Smoak 0-2
• Valencia 1-2
• Bautista 1-2
• Encarnacion 0-2

Drew Hutchison is 5-1 over 13 starts and 72.0 innings this year with a 5.75 ERA. He is coming off his worst start of the season where he allowed 8 ER over 2.1 innings against the Red Sox, in a game the Jays eventually won 13-10. When you go over his starts this season, he has very few “average” starts. They are either terrible, or quite good, and they aren’t in a pattern. Hutchison has never faced the Mets in a major league game but Granderson is 2-2 with a double against him and Mayberry is 0-1.

Let’s Go Mets!

Last night was fun, wasn’t it? Let’s do it again. Syndergaard was excellent over 7 innings allowing only earned run. The only problem was that the Mets bats didn’t score anything. In the bottom of the 7th, the Mets were able to scratch out two runs. Familia then came on to make a tough 4 out save after the Mets failed to turn a double play put allowed the tying run in the top of the 9th, so to extras we went. In the 11th the Blue Jays were able to get the go ahead run but the Mets, and specifically Ruben Tejada, were able to get an extra out in the bottom of the frame which then led to two consecutive hits and two runs. Tonight Matt Harvey looks to lead the Mets to victory.

Matt is 6-4 over 12 games and 79.2 innings with a 3.62 ERA. Matt is coming off the second start this season where he allowed 7 ER, the second time he has done this in his last 4 starts. Harvey has never faced the Blue Jays before and the only Blue Jay that has seen him in a major league game is Carrera who is 0-1. Let’s see what a fired up and angry Matt Harvey can do!

The Mets bats will get a crack at Scott Copeland who is 1-0 over his first three major league game that includes one start. He has pitched 10.0 innings with a 0.90 ERA. The one run he has allowed came in his last outing as he tossed 7.0 innings only allowing that run against the Marlins. In the minors this year he had an ERA over 1.97 over 45.2 innings with a 4-1 record over 8 games. This will be the first time Copeland faces the Mets or anyone on the Mets roster.

Lets Go Mets!