213 Miles From Shea

You know those moments in life when you are stuck between the decisions of something you really want to do vs. something you have to to do?

Matt Harvey had to make one of those decisions yesterday. He had the “choice” of doing a rehab throwing program, or having Tommy John, which would knock him out for 2014, but prevent re-injury in 2014 (and also does put the whole, “will he be the same pitcher” question into play).

I put choice in quotations because in reality, he, the Mets brass, and us all knew this really wasn’t a choice. It would be too easy to just rehab the tear back to strength. It would really be nice to live with the delusion that if he made a few starts in the fall league his arm wouldn’t re-tear by mid-June of next year. He had to get surgery. This is the common route for pitchers to go.

He is also getting surgery at a good time. If he had it back in August, there would be questions about him being able to rush the progress to get back by the end of 2014. He will be solidly out for all of 2014 meaning, with everything else going right, knock on wood, he will be ready for 2015.

But this leaves us with the question now what. Luckily for the Mets the end of the season wasn’t too bad in the starting pitcher department. The following looks to be solid:

– Jon Niese- Dillon Gee
– Zack Wheeler

(Unless they move one of the above for a powerful bat, which wouldn’t be too bad of an idea).

There is Syndegaard and Montero in the organization looking to move up late 2014/early 2015. After a horrible start Daisuke didn’t look terrible in his last month. Maybe they try to invite Harang back to spring training.

Or maybe the Mets look for a small 1-3 year deal on a mediocre pitcher while moving Gee or someone else to get another key player.

I’m not really sure what happens now that Harvey is out for the year. But I don’t think the 2014 season was resting all on Harvey. Originally it was resting on our depth of pitching talent, which is weakened now but not gone.

The 2013 playoffs officially start tonight but really started last night. The 2013 season could not be contained in 162 games forcing the Rays and Rangers to meet in a one game play in to the Wild Card game which has also become a one game play in.

If exciting has a definition, that should be it. The Rays have to play two one game play-ins to get into a best of 5 playoff series.

But once again, I feel nothing to the playoffs. And I’ve had this problem for years now.

Back when I had zero expectations about the Mets, I still loved watching the playoffs. I remember rooting for the Red Sox in 2003 and 2004, pulling for the White Sox in 2005. My dreams were answered in 2006 when the Mets finally made it!

And then, nothing.

I couldn’t bring myself after the collapse of 2007 to watch the playoffs.
Ditto for 2008.
The toils off the field of the Mets in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and this year just zapped me of any emotional energy I have left to care for baseball.

Maybe it’s unfair to blame the Mets. Throughout these years I graduated high school, then college, and have been teaching for a few years now. Maybe I’m too invested in other things to care about the playoffs. However, I still watch the NFL playoffs if my team isn’t in it, so why not baseball?

Whatever. I’ll fake it this October to try to make myself care again.

Go Pirates, or Rays or something.

The season is finally coming to an end and despite how difficult it has been at times, I’ll still wake up tomorrow being disappointed there is no Mets baseball to follow, no on the field optimism about play in a future year, etc. At least the Mets are ending the year on a high note as they induct Mike Piazza into the New York Mets Hall of Fame today. The last game of the year will feature Jon Niese squaring off against Marco Estrada.

Jon Niese will be making his 24th start of the year. So far he has pitched 137.0 innings with a 3.74 ERA and an 8-8 record. In his last three starts he has pitched 20.1 innings with a 3.10 ERA. Niese has started against the Brewers four times pitching 19.0 innings and allowing 14 earned runs, which brings his ERA to 6.52. The Brewers have the following numbers on Niese:

Ramirez 4-14, 2B, HR
Lucroy 3-8
Gomez 1-5
Aoki 1-3
Bentancourt 0-3

The Mets bats try to break out the lumber for a final show against Marco Estrada who is 7-4 over 120.0 innings of work this year with a 4.02 ERA. In the month of September, he has pitched three games totaling 19.0 innings with a 1.74 ERA. In his career he has pitched in 5 games against the Mets totaling 4.1 innings where he has allowed 7 earned runs. However, very few of these Mets have seen him:

Murphy 0-1
Tejada 1-1
Wright 0-1
Turner 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Brewers continue their final series of the season today as the Mets look to rebound from yesterday’s 4-2 loss. Today Aaron Harang gets the start again. On the season he is 5-12 over 137.1 innings with a 5.57 ERA. He’s pitched 17.0 innings over three games with a 4.24 ERA. He has not faced the Brewers yet this season, but because of all of his time with the Reds, he has the following numbers against Brewers:

Ramirez 21-61, 2B, 3B, 5 HR
Lucroy 0-5
Aoki 1-3
Bentancourt 0-3
Gomez 0-1

Jimmy Nelson is pitching in his fourth major league game today, making his first start. So far he has pitched 5.0 innings allowing 1 hit, 2 walks and four strikeouts. In the minors this year he pitched 27 games for 152.1 innings with a 3.25 ERA. It’s safe to say that he has never faced the Mets or anyone in the Mets organization in a major league game before.

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Brewers play the second game of the series tonight as the Mets look for a couple of bright moments at the end of the season. First, the Mets will be looking to see if David Wright is ok after being hit in the head yesterday (I’m in the camp thinking he should at least sit out tonight, if not the rest of the season). Second, Eric Young stole two bases last night, now tied in the lead for stolen bases in the National League with 44, so now he has a few games to get the overall lead. Carlos Torres gets the start tonight as he goes up against Yovani Gallardo.

Torres is 4-5 over 32 games this year with 80.1 innings of work and a 3.36 ERA. He is 1-3 over 25.0 innings in September with a 4.68 ERA. In his career he has pitched 2.1 innings against the Brewers and has allowed 2 earned runs who have the following numbers against Torres:

Ramirez 0-3
Gomez 1-2, 2B
Lucroy 0-1
Aoki 0-1

Yovani Gallardo is 11-10 this season over 30 games with 174.2 innings and 4.23 ERA. In the month of September he has pitched 27.0 innings with a 3.33 ERA. In one start against the Mets this year, he allowed 4 ER over 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Gallardo:

Wright 3-19, HR
Murphy 5-12, 2 2B
Duda 3-7, 2 HR
Tejada 2-6

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets come back to Citi Field and bring the literally fighting Brewers back with them. Daisuke Matsuzaka finished off the Reds yesterday with a great start yesterday and won essentially without the offense involved. Today Dillon Gee gets the nod. On the see Gee is 12-10 over 31 starts and 193.0 innings with a 3.54 ERA. In the month of September, he has pitched two excellent games totaling 14.1 innings with 1 ER and two not so excellent games allowing 8 ER over 12 innings. In his career he has pitched 11.1 innings allowing 11 runs, 9 earned. The Brewers have the following numbers against Gee:

Lucroy 2-6, 2B
Ramirez  1-5
Aoki 1-3

The Mets bats get to face off against Johnny Hellweg who is 1-4 over 7 games and 6 starts in his rookie season. So far he has pitched 26.2 innings allowing 29 runs, 22 that have been earned (not the greatest of starts to a career). He’s been much better in his three starts in September then back in July. Now he has an ERA a bit about 5 instead of 7. Back in July he faced the Mets allowing 7 ER in 3.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Lagares 0-3
Murphy 0-3
Wright 1-2
Young 1-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets squeaked out a win last night against the Reds behind Murphy’s 13th homer of the season (remember when he led the Mets a few years ago with 12 on the year?). Anyway Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the start for the Amazin’s tonight. He is 2-3 over 6 games this season with a 5.52 ERA over 31.0 innings of work. In his last three games he has allowed 6 runs over 18.2 innings, but only 4 of those runs are earned, so he has a 1.93 ERA in that span, which is slightly unbelievable. He has never faced the Reds, but has the following numbers against a few of their players:

Choo 4-14, 2 HR
Izturis 2-9
Hannahan 0-6
Ludwick 1-1

Mat Latos is 14-6 over 31 starts this year with a 3.23 ERA and 203.2 innings of work. He is 1-1 over 4 starts in September pitching 28.2 innings with a 4.40 ERA. Against the Mets earlier this season he allowed 4 ER over 6.2 innings. The Mets have the following number against Mat:

Wright 2-14, 2B, HR
Murphy 5-12, 2 2B
Duda 3-9, 2 2B
Tejada 2-8, 2 2B
Young 2-8, 3B
Baxter 1-4

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets lost the game in extras last night as possible future Met Choo had the walk-off hit. Jon Niese gets the nod for the Amazin’s tonight. He is 7-8 over 22 games and a 3.81 ERA this season. In four games and 25.0 innings in September he has logged a 4.32 ERA with 20 strikeouts. Earlier this season he faced the Reds allowing 5 hits and 3 runs, none earned, over 6 innings of work. The Reds have the following numbers against Niese:

Phillips 6-16, 2B, 2 HR
Votto 2-12, HR
Bruce 2-10, HR
Cozart 2-7
Choo 0-3

Mike Leake is 14-6 over 30 starts this season with a 3.21 ERA over 190.2 innings. He has a streak right now of two starts in a row of shutout baseball totaling 13.2 innings. He also had a strong game against the Mets earlier this season holding them to 3 hits and no runs over 7.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Leake:

Wright 1-13
Murphy 2-13, 2B
Baxter 3-10
Turner 3-7
Duda 4-5, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets are fresh off a three game sweep of the Phillies and head off to Ohio to face the Reds. Aaron Harang gets the start for the Mets. So far with the Amazin’s he is 0-1 over 2 starts and 11.0 innings allowing 7 runs, 6 earned which is a 4.91 ERA which makes him 5-12 on the season with a 5.69 ERA. He is 3-0 over three starts and 19.0 innings with a 1.89 ERA when facing his old team. His old team has the following numbers against him:

Ludwick 14-36, 2B, 3 HR
Izturis 0-17
Choo 2-8, 2B
Paul 4-7, 2B
Bruce 0-5
Cozart 1-6

Johnny Cueto gets the start for the Reds. On the season he is 5-2 over 10 games with a 3.02 ERA. His last start was his first since June 9th, and in the first start back he allowed no runs over 5 innings. Earlier this season he faced the Mets and allowed 3 ER over 5.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Cueto:

Wright 5-19, HR
Murphy 2-10
Duda 2-6
Young 2-5
Turner 2-3, 2B
Tejada 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to make it three in a row against the Phillies this afternoon as David Wright looks to slug another homer in three straight games (it’s amazing how much better the lineup is with him in it). Anyway Carlos Torres gets the start for the Amazin’s today and he is 3-5 with a 3.39 ERA over 74.1 innings this year. In the four games in September he has pitched 19.0 innings with a 5.21 ERA. He has pitched 8.1 innings this year against the Phillies with 2 ER and 7 strikeouts. The Phillies have the following numbers against Carlos:

Ruiz 1-5, 2B
Frandsen 2-4, HR
Brown 2-3
Mayberry 0-3
Rollins 0-2
Ruf 0-2

The Mets bats will try to deal with Cliff Lee tonight who is 14-6 with a 2.95 ERA over 29 starts this season and 207.2 innings. In his last five starts he has pitched 37.0 innings with a 1.95 ERA. Against the Mets he is 2-1 with a 3.18 ERA over 22.0 innings this year. The Mets have the following numbers against Lee:

Murphy 8-29, 4 2B
Wright 8-28, 2B, HR
Duda 6-18, 2B, HR
Turner 1-17
Tejada 6-16, 2 2B
Young 1-4, 2B

Lets Go Mets!