213 Miles From Shea

The Mets dropped Saturday’s game against the Diamondbacks, but have the chance to take the entire series on Sunday as they play two to make up for Friday Night’s game. Both Arizona and New York are making roster changes for the day with the Diamondbacks adding Spruill to the roster in game two as a starter and Vic Black  coming in for the Mets.

The first starter for the Mets, Rafael Montero, is 0-2 in his first two starts as a major leaguer. Overall he has allowed 8 ER over 10.1 innings with his last start being a tough one allowed 4 ER over 4.1 innings, mainly due to walks. If he can come in today and get ahead of his control, he should be fine today. This will be the first time he faces hitters from Arizona’s lineup in a major league game.

The Mets bats in the first game get to face Bronson Arroyo, who is 4-3 this year over 9 starts and 54.2 innings with a 4.45 ERA. He started off May on a roll allowing one earned run, two runs total, over 23.1 innings over three games. In his last outing he allowed 5 ER over 7.0 innings. His worst start of the season by far was against the Mets were he alllowed 9 ER over 10 hits and 3.1 innings. The Mets have the following stats against Bronson:

• Wright 11-41, HR
• C Young 4-21, 2 2B
• Abreu 3-14, 3B
• Murphy 8-16, 2 2B
• E Young 4-11

Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the start for the Mets in game two. He is ready to go about 100 pitches in his first start of the season. Over 14 games this year and 21.0 innings, he as a 2.14 ERA. Last year he had a 4.42 ERA over 7 starts and 38.2 innings. He did not play against the Diamondbacks earlier this year and the only three members of the Arizona club that have faced him are HIll (5-28, 2B, 2 HR), Pennington (2-7) and CHavez (2-3, HR).

In game two the Mets bats will get the first 2014 look at Zeke Spruill. He had limited time in the majors last season with a 0-2 record over 11.1 innings with a 5.56 ERA. The Mets have some stats against him:

• Flores 0-1
• Lagares 1-2
• Murphy 0-2
• Recker 1-2, 2B
• E Young 0-1
• Niese 1-1

Lets Go Mets!

Well the Mets get a mulligan on Sunday after last night. The rain came and washed out the Diamondbacks 2-0 lead, and now the Mets get to play the entire game over on Sunday in a doubleheader. Effectively, this makes today’s game the opener as Wheeler takes on Collmenter.

Wheeler is 1-4 over 9 starts with a 4.53 ERA and 49.2 innings of work. After a bad start against the Yankees where he allowed 5 earned runs over 4.1 innings, he had an average start against the Nationals where he allowed 3 earned runs, 5 total, over 6.0 innings. His third start of the year was against the Diamondbacks where he allowed 2 earned runs and 6 hits over 6.0 innings. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Wheeler:

• Goldschmidt 2-5
• Hill 2-6, HR
• Prado 1-6
• Parra 1-4
• Montero 2-2, 2B
• Owings 2-3, 2B

Collmenter is 2-2 over 11 games and 7 starts this season logging 47.0 innings and a 4.02 ERA. His first start of the year was against the Mets (after some time in the pen) where he allowed 3 ER and 5 hits over 4.0 innings. In his last two starts he allowed 7 ER over 10.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Collmenter:

• Wright 2-11, 2 HR
• Murphy 4-9, 2 2B
• Tejada 2-7
• E Young 2-5, 2B
• Lagares 2-4, 2B
• Recker 1-4

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets finally snapped their losing streak last night against the Dodgers in one of the more bizarre games played in Citi Field that included career highlight reel catches for Puig and Campbell … and just awful baserunning and a clear not understanding of baseball rules. The Mets look to build off this as the Diamondbacks come to to town today with Colon on the mound as he takes on Chase Anderson.

Colon is 3-5 over 9 starts and 57.1 innings and a 5.34 ERA. Colon’s trend in May has been terrible start, good start, bad start, great start (last time out he tossed 8.0 innings allowing only 2 ER) so who knows which Colon shows up today. He missed the Diamondbacks earlier this year and in his career he has only faced Arizona once allowing 8 hits over 5.2 innings and 4 earned runs. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Colon:

• Chavez 5-30, 2 2B, HR
• Pennington 4-9, 2B
• Hill 2-7
• Ross 1-6

Chase Anderson is making this third start in his rookie season. So far he is 2-0 allowing 6 ER over 10.2 innings. He spent his time in Double A this season with a 4-2 record and 6 starts over 39.0 innings with a 0.69 ERA. He has never faced the Mets or any on Mets roster in his career, which makes perfect sense.

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to avoid the sweep today after another day of being so close to victory. Last night the Mets lost 4-3. There are a couple of ways to look at this. Turning a double play correctly in the game would have put the Mets in a much better position, but ultimately, like the day before, it was hitting with the bases loaded. The Mets are now 6-41 when the bases are loaded which is the type of stat that bolsters pessimistic Mets fans and boo birds. Today Jon Niese looks to get the Mets on winning path while he faces Greinke.

Niese is 2-3 on the season over 8 starts and 49.2 innings of work with a 2.54 ERA. He was off slightly in his last start at Washington allowing  3 earned runs, 5 overall, over 4.0 innings. It was the second straight start he allowed three earned runs, the first time this season. He only pitched 2.1 innings against the Dodgers last year allowing 1 earned run over 2.1 innings. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Niese:

• Ramirez 4-17, 2B, HR
• Uribe 0-11
• Kemp 4-10
• Ethier 4-10
• Ellis 1-6
• Gonzalez 0-3
• Crawford 0-2

Greinke is 7-1 this season over 9 starts and 53.1 innings with a 2.03 ERA, the seven wins being a league leader. In three starts in May he has pitched 18.0 innings with a 2.00 ERA. He has faced the Mets twice in his career allowing 5 ER over 14.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Greinke:

• Granderson 7-39, 2B, 2 3B, HR
• Abreu 7-31, HR
• C Young 1-10, HR
• Duda 1-3
• Murphy 1-2
• Wright 2-2, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

Last night came down to missed opportunities, and the Mets look to reverse that with their second game against the Dodgers tonight. Yesterday, the pitching was off allowing 9 runs, and the Mets bats continuously left the bases loaded. Tonight deGrom looks to follow up his strong major league debut and the bats look to follow through against Ryu.

In deGrom’s first start he allowed one earned run and four hits over 7.0 innings, walking 2 and striking out 6. For Jacob, his major league debut was marred by a Mets offense that just couldn’t get runs scored. Tonight will (obviously) be his first start against the Dodgers.

Ryu is 3-2 on the season over 7 starts and 39.0 innings with a 3.00 ERA. Ryu is coming off of the DL today and his worst start of the season. He ended April with 5.0 innings allowing 5 earned runs, 6 total. Outside of another start where he allowed 8 runs,6 earned over 2 innings, he has been fantastic allowing 2 runs in one start and shutting out opponents 4 times. Last year he faced the Mets twice totaling 14.0 innings and 2 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Ryu:

• Murphy 2-6
• Lagares 1-4, HR
• Duda 1-3
• Recker 0-3
• Tejada 0-2
• Wright 0-1
• E Young 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Dodgers come to Citi Field tonight as the Mets still try to figure out a way to get on the right track in May. Over the weekend they lost 2 of 3 to the Nationals where in the two games they lost, they made some key mistakes. Anyway, tonight Montero gets his second start of the career against Beckett.

Montero allowed 3 ER over 5 hits while throwing 6.0 innings. The long ball was a weak spot in his first outing as he allowed two of them. Besides that he looked pretty good and pretty much as advertised as he tried to locate pitches on the corners and showed off a smooth motion to the plate. Since this is his second career start, Montero has no previous stats against the Dodgers or anyone in their lineup.

On the other side of being a rookie is Josh Beckett, who is 1-1 over 7 starts this season while pitching 41.2 innings with a 2.38 ERA, which is a significant improvement of his 5.19 ERA over 8 starts and 43.1 innings. He is coming off back to back starts where he has allowed 1 run or less. He has a 2.27 ERA against the Mets over 14 starts in his career and the Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Abreu 15-82, 3 2B, 2 HR, 21 BB
• Granderson 11-37, 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR
• Wright 1-18
• C Young 3-10, 2 2B
• Murphy 0-4

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to take the rubber game from the Nationals today building off yesterday’s win. Lagares finally made it into the lineup yesterday and promptly hit a homer, collected multiple hits and robbed a homer and turned it into an out adding more fuel to #FreeLagares and #StartLagares, one of the few things that unites #MetsTwitter. Today Zack Wheeler looks to rebound from his rough night in the Bronx as he squares off against Jordan Zimmermann.

Zack Wheeler is 1-3 over 8 games this year and 43.2 innings with an ERA of 4.53. He started off May rough against the Rockies allowing 7 runs, 4 earned over 4.0, then pitched well against the Marlins allowing only two hits over 6.0 innings while striking out 7. Last time out he allowed 5 earned over 4.1 innings. In his first start of the season he struck out 6 while allowing 3 earned runs over 6.0 innings against the Nationals who have the following numbers Wheeler:

• Span 6-12, 2B
• Werth 3-10, 2B, HR
• Desmond 3-11, 2B
• Rendon 2-7
• Ramos 0-6

Zimmermann is 2-1 over 8 games and 42.2 innings and a 3.59 ERA. He is coming off of his second worst start fo the season where he allowed 10 hits and 5 ER over 5.2 innings. His season debut was against the Mets where he allowed one earned run over 5.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Murphy 12-38, 4 2B, 3 HR
• Wright 9-34, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Duda 3-18, 2B
• Tejada 5-15
• E Young 3-9, 2B
• Lagares 3-9, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to rebound from a three game losing streak this afternoon against the Nationals. Today Bartolo Colon looks to be sharp. Colon is 2-5 over 8 starts over 49.1 innings and a 5.84 ERA. May has not been kind to Colon over three starts he has logged 17.1 innings with a 8.31 ERA however in the last start at Yankee stadium the Mets bats were able to bail him out. His first start of the season was against the Nationals and he allowed 3 ER over 9 hits in 6.0 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against Colon:

• Span 0-6, 2 BB
• Desmond 1-3, HR
• Gonzalez 1-3, HR (Seriously)
• Lobaton 1-3
• McLouth 2-3
• Rendon1-3
• Werth 3-3, 2B

Gio Gonzalez is 3-3 over 8 starts and 47.2 innings with a 3.97 ERA. His last start was his second worse of the season as he allowed 7 ER over 4.1 innings. That’s basically been his season, he has terrific starts and just two bad starts, and one average one (for those not doing the Math, that means he has had 5 good to spectacular starts out of 8). His first start of the year was against the Mets where he allowed one earned run over 6 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against the Nationals:

• Granderson 2-19, HR
• Wright 4-14, 2B, 3B, HR
• Abreu 1-16, 2B
• Murphy 2-10
• Tejada 3-8
• Lagares 2-9, 2B, 3B
• Duda 1-6

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets split the season series with the Yankees after dropping yesterday’s game, but look to get back on the right track tonight in DC against the Nationals. Jacob deGrom made his debut last night and he was great allowing only one run but the Mets bats couldn’t get anything going. The last time the Mets played the Nationals was the season opener, where the Nationals swept the Mets. Tonight Jon Niese gets the start as he goes up against Tanner Roark.

Jon Niese is 2-2 on the season with a 2.17 ERA over 7 starts and 45.2 innings of work while striking out 36 batters. After a stretch of 4 games in a row where he allowed one run or less, he allowed three in his last start against the Phillies. Last season he faced the Nationals once allowing 2 earned runs and 10 hits over 5.2 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against Niese:

• Werth 5-20, 2B
• Desmond 3-17, 2 2B
• Espinosa 5-10, 2B
• Frandsen 4-10, 2B
• Hairston 2-8
• Moore 3-9, HR

Tanner Roark is 2-1 over 7 games and 44.1 innings with a 3.65 ERA in his second season. In his last start he allowed only 1 ER over 7.2 innings, which was a nice bounce back from the outing before where he allowed 7 ER and 7 hits over 4.0 innings. His first start of the season was against the Mets as he allowed 2 ER over 6.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Tanner:

• Duda 1-7
• Murphy 3-7, 2B
• E Young 2-7
• Lagares 1-5, 2B
• Tejada 1-5
• d’Arnaud 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to take the Subways Series tonight as they finish of the four game set with the last game of the Queens leg. Yesterday Tanaka was on point and it was one of those days you need to tip your cap to the opposing pitcher. The Mets made some mistakes but Tanaka rained on Montero’s debut parade. Today is one of those rare days were both starting pitching are making their major league debut.

For the Mets, Jacob deGrom makes the start for an ailing Gee on the DL. deGrom was 4-0 over 7 starts this year with a 2.58 ERA over 38.1 innings with 29 strikeouts. His career numbers are 21-11 over 58 starts and a 3.62 ERA. Jacob was born in 1988 and drafted in the ninth round of the 2010 draft.

Chase Whitley was born in 1989 in the 15th round of the same draft. He is 3-2 on the season with a 2.39 ERA over 7 games and 6 starts over 26.1 innings with 32 strikeouts. In the  minors he is 22-16 over 151 games, 14 starts with a 2.64 ERA.

Lets Go Mets!