213 Miles From Shea

The Mets may be way back still, but they’ve now won 4 of their last 5 and a win tonight would clinch a series victory against the Braves. Last night the Mets rolled with an 8-3 win to get the 4000th franchise win. Everything was going great until the pen came in, but a win is a win. Tonight Dillon Gee comes back from the DL. Before he left, Gee was 3-1 over 8 starts and 52.2 innings with a 2.73 ERA. Last year he faced the Braves four times with a 1-2 record over 27.1 innings with a 2.63 ERA. The Braves have the following numbers against Gee:

• Uggla 5-29, 2B, 3B
• Heyward 8-21, HR
• Freeman 6-23, 2B, HR
• J Upton 4-21, 2B, HR
• Johnson 3-10, 2B
• Simmons 2-10, 2B
• BJ Upton 0-4

Ervin Santana will make his his 17th start of the year. He is 7-5 over 103.0 innings with a 3.93 ERA. In his last four starts he has pitched 26.0 innings with a 3.46 ERA. He has made two starts against the Mets this year and he logged 15.0 innings allowing one earned run, 9 hits and 13 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers against Santana:

• Granderson 11-46, 2 2B, 5 HR
• Abreu 4-14
• E Young 3-9
• C Young 1-9, 2B
• Murphy 3-9, 2B
• Duda 2-6, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

With the Cubs recent trade, it looks like Castro may be on his way out of Chicago at the end of the season, or at least someone will be on their way out. It is  usual for a team to stock up on so many position prospects, especially infielders, and not stock up on pitchers.

The Mets farm system is essentially the opposite. However, the Mets are, and should be, gun shy about trading Wheeler. Even though the Mets have pitching depth, with deGrom and Matsuzaka being pleasant surprises, they have needed all of their depth. As soon as Gee is coming back, Niese is down. Harvey is still going to be a question mark. What is going to happen with Montero? The time isn’t right to trade Wheeler.

However, pitching prospects is really the only thing the Mets have they could entice Chicago. So what should the Mets do?

The Mets really love their prospects, and a lot of teams now love their prospects. If the Mets end up trading Colon this summer, they should be trading for pieces they can part with for Castro. I don’t know what those pieces look like, but probably pitching prospects. Getting Castro from the Cubs will take more than whatever Colon brings in a trade, so the Mets will probably have to part with some arm currently in their system, or trade another current player for a larger piece.

In my general opinion though, the move that makes the most sense for the Mets is whether they trade Colon or (and I really hope this doesn’t happen) Murphy, they should try to get the best prospect back possible, not tied to a position and they can straighten out the rest in the off season with teams like Chicago that might move position players.

The Braves and Mets play game two of four tonight. Yesterday the Mets took an early 2 run lead and Daisuke was able to ride that four 7 scoreless innings. The bullpen came in and promptly gave the lead back back and it became 3-2 Braves. Grandeson then tied in the 8th and then Tejada won it in the 11th and just like that the Mets have won 3 of their last 4 games. Jacob deGrom gets the start for the Mets tonight. On the season he is 1-5 on the season over 10 games and 59.2 innings with a 3.77 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 11.2 innings allowing 5 ER with 5 BB’s and 12 K’s. His last start was against the Braves where he allowed 3 ER over 5.0 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against deGrom:

• Freeman 0-2
• Heyward 1-3
• Simmons 1-2
• BJ Upton 1-2
• Johnson 2-2, 2B

Julio Teheran gets the nod for the Braves today, he is 8-5 over 18 starts and 126.0 innings with a 2.29 ERA over the season. In his last two starts he has allowed 14.0 innings and 2 ER, and in his last start was against the Mets where he allowed 4 hits and one earned run over 7.0 innings with 3 BB’s and 5 K’s. The Mets have the following numbers against Teheran:

• Duda 3-10, 2B, HR
• Tejada 0-10
• E Yount 4-9
• Murphy 1-
• Wright 1-8, HR
• Campbell 1-3

Lets go Mets!

The Mets and Braves start a four game series tonight after the Mets took the series from the Rangers. Yesterday was the opposite of Saturday for the Mets. This time it was the Mets who took the lead early and then had to fight off Rangers encroachment. Daisuke gets the start, he is  3-3 on the year over 24 games and 58.0 innings with a 3.72 ERA. The last two games have been rough for Daisuke as he has allowed 5 ER over 6 and then 5 ER over 5. He has pitched 9.0 innings against the Braves this year, allowing 6 ER. The Braves have the following numbers against Matsuzaka:

• BJ Upton 7-30, 2 HR
• Laird 3-8
• Freeman 3-7, 2 2B, HR
• Johsnon 2-6
• Simmons 3-7
• J Upton 2-4
• Uggla 0-3
• Heyward 0-4

Mike Minor pitches against the Mets again. He is 2-5 over 12 starts this season pitching 70.1 innings with a 4.73 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 10.1 innings allowing 9 ER, including a 4.1 inning outing against the Mets where he allowed 4 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Minor:

• Wright 5-20, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Tejada 8-21, 2 2B
• Duda 6-19, 2B, HR
• Murphy 3-18, 2 2B, HR
• Granderson 3-9, HR
• Lagares 4-8, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look the bounce back from yesterday’s loss today. Yesterday the Mets got off to a rough start in the first inning and were never able to recover. On the mound for the Mets today is Wheeler who is 3-8 over his first 17 starts and 95.1 innings with an ERA of 4.25. Two starts ago was the worst of this season where he allowed 6 ER over 2.0 innings. Last time out he allowed only one earned run over 6.1 innings. Since this is his second season, it makes sense that he has never faced the Rangers in his career, although he has faced Alex Rios who is 0-3 against Wheeler.

Nick Tepesch gets the start for the Rangers today. On the season he is 3-3 over 8 games and 44.1 innings with a 3.65 ERA. In the month of June he made four starts pitching 24.0 innings with a 3.00 ERA. His pattern has been allow 4 ER, then none, then 4 ER then none. Maybe he keeps the pattern going today? He has never faced the Mets, because like Wheeler, he made his major league debut in 2013. He has faced Chris Young though, who is 1-3 against Tepesch.

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Rangers play their second game today after the Mets were able to take the first game last night. Niese got the first out, then was hit by a comebacker. The pen then came in and did a good job keeping the Mets in the game. Today Colon looks to give the bullpen the break they need after yesterday. Colon is 8-6 over 16 games this year and 106.2 innings with a 3.88 ERA. His last outing was the worse in quite a while as he allowed 5 ER over 6.0 innings, which is the first time he allowed more than 2 ER since May 12. Last year he pitched 4 games against the Rangers over 26.0 innings with a 2.08 ERA. The Rangers have the following numbers against Colon:

• Beltre 19-70, 7 2B, 5 HR
• Pena 11-38, 3 HR
• Rios 10-33, 2B, 3B
• Andrus 5-21
• Choo 3-13

Colby Lewis takes the mound for the Rangers today. He is 5-5 over 14 starts and 75.2 innings this year with a 5.71 ERA. In the month of June he made five starts pitching 27.2 innings with an ERA of 6.18. In 5.2 career innings against the Mets he allowed 9 ER. Only four current Mets have seen him in a major league game:

• Abreu 4-15, 2 2B
• Granderson 0-2
• C Young 0-3
• Wright 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to move past their disappointing road trip by starting a series with ailing, and I mean ailing, Texas Rangers. The injury bug for the Rangers has been so bad it makes the 2009 Mets look like a joke. Anyway Jon Niese takes the mound tonight. He is 5-4 on the year over 16 games and 103.0 innings with a 2.88 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 6.0 innings and allowed 3 ER in each of them striking 3 then 4 then 5 batters (while walking 1 then 2 then 3 batters, numbers are strange). He has made one career start against the Rangers allowing 2 ER over 5.2 innings. The Rangers have the following numbers against the Mets:

• Choo 2-7
• Beltre 1-3, HR
• Murphy 0-2
• Pena 0-3
• Baker 0-2

The Mets get a look at ace Yu Darvish tonight who is 8-4 over 15 starts and 104.1 innings this year with a 2.42 ERA. After two “poor” starts (By Yu standards) allowing 4 ER over 5 and 4 ER over 6, he came back in his latest start shutting out Twins over 8.0 innings. He has never faced the Mets before but Granderson, Recker and Chris Young are each 0-3 against Darvish in his career.

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets continued their season of “close but no cigar” last night coming close to victory but just not having enough to push them over the edge. Jacob deGrom gets the start for the Amazins today. On the season he is 1-4 over 9 starts and 54.2 innings with an ERA of 3.62. In his last two starts he has pitched 13.2 innings allowing 2 ER, 6 walks and 11 strikeouts. This will be the first of many starts against the Braves in his career and not surprisingly, there is no one on the Braves roster who has faced him in a major league game.

The Mets draw Julio Teheran who is 7-5 over 17 starts this year while pitching 119.0 innings with a 2.34 ERA. In his last three starts he has logged 22.0 innings with a 2.05 ERA while striking out 25 batters. He hasn’t faced the Mets yet this season, last year he pitched 12.2 innings over two games against them with a 1.42 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Wright 1-8, HR
• Duda 3-7, 2B, HR
• Tejada 0-7
• E Young 2-6
• Murphy 1-5
• C Young 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets dropped the first game to the Braves last night after having the lead for most of the game. Anyway, the Mets look to get back on the winning track with Matsuzaka tonight who is 3-2 this season over 53.0 innings with a 3.23 ERA. His last outing was the worst of this season allowing 5 ER over 6 innings of work, walking 4 and striking out 4. In two games against the Braves this year he pitched 4.0 innings, allowing 2 hits and one run, two walks and 6 strikeouts. The Braves have the following numbers against the Braves:

• BJ Upton 6-27, 2 HR
• Laird 3-8
• Uggla 0-3
• Freeman 2-4, 2B, HR
• Johsnon 1-4
• Simmons 1-4
• J Upton 2-3

The Mets bats draw Mike Minor who is 2-5 over 11 starts on the season while pitching 66.0 innings with a 4.50 ERA. In his last four starts he has pitched 22.0 innings with a 7.36 ERA. In three starts against the Mets last year he allowed 7 ER over 20.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Mike:

• Wright 5-20, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Tejada 7-19, 2 2B
• Duda 5-16, 2B, HR
• Murphy 2-15, 2 2B
• Granderson 1-6
• Lagares 2-6, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets dropped the game and the series to the Pirates yesterday 5-2. They were able to get runners to third base three times yesterday with less than 2-outs, and each time the Mets struck out and then later ended the inning without scoring a run. All of the Mets scoring occurred in the 9th inning and even with the two runs they had, they had a chance for more. Anyway, today Wheeler will take mound against Alex Wood.

Wheeler is 3-8 this season over 16 starts with a 4.45 ERA over 89.0 innings. He struggled in his last outing allowing 6 ER over 2.0 innings, his shortest outing of the season and the most runs he has allowed this season. His second start of the season was against the Braves where he allowed 4 ER over 5.0 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against him:

• Freeman 6-11, 2B
• C Johnson 2-14
• Simmons 3-12
• Heyward 5-12, 2B, hR
• J Upton 0-12
• Uggla 3-10, 2B, HR
• Gattis 1-8, 2B

Alex Wood is 6-6 on the season over 19 games and 8 starts while pitching 67.1 innings with a 3.07 ERA. He made three starts against the Mets last year allowing 6 ER and 16 hits over 13.1 innings. The Mets have the following number against Wood:

• Murphy 4-8
• Lagares 1-5, 2B
• Wright 1-4
• Duda 0-1
• Wheeler 0-2

Lets Go Mets!