213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and Phillies play game two this afternoon after the Mets were able to beat the Phils in the opener. Last night Matsuzaka made another good start and David Wright in his first at back from the DL crushed a homer. Today Dillon Gee looks to continue to beat up on the Phillies as the Mets bats look to do the same against Tyler Cloyd.

Dillon Gee is 11-10 over 30 starts this season with a 3.47 ERA over 187.0 innings of work. He has made two good starts in September allowing 1 ER over 14.1 innings and one bad start allowing 4 ER over 6.1 innings. In three games and 14.0 innings against the Phillies he has an ERA of 10.29. The Phillies have the following numbers against Gee:

Rollins 8-16, 2B
Mayberry 4-16, 2B, 2 HR
Utley 4-16, 2B
Bernadina 4-15, 2 2B, HR
Brown 2-9, 2B

Tyler Cloyd is 2-5 over 10 starts, 9 games with a 5.06 ERA over 53.0 innings. In September he has allowed 12 ER over 8 innings. Against the Mets he has allowed 4 ER over 14.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Cloyd:

Baxter 1-4, HR
Duda 1-5, HR
Murphy 1-6
Wright 1-6
Turner 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets dropped a close one yesterday to close out the homestand against the Giants by the score of 2-1. Tonight they travel down 95 to the sandbox that is Citizen’s Bank Park (which I finally went to this year and it is as small as it looks on television, but the concourse is nice and open). Anyway, Daisuke Matsuzaka will face off against Cole Hamels.

Daisuke Matsuzaka is 1-3 over 5 starts with a 6.12 ERA. In his last two games he has pitched 12.2 innings with 2 ER, so he’s turning it around as of late, hoping to make a strong audition for someone. One of his struggle starts this year was against Philly where he allowed 4 ER over 4.1 innings of work, the Phillies have the following numbers against Matsuzaka:

Ruiz 1-6
Utley 2-8, 2B
Rollins 1-5, 2B
Bernadina 0-3
Orr 1-1

The Mets draw the oh so familiar Cole Hamels who is 8-13 over 31 starts this year with a 3.48 ERA. In three starts in September he has pitched 21.0 innings with a 2.57 ERA with 22 strikeouts. He is 2-2 over 5 starts this year against the Mets with a 4.13 ERA allowing 11 ER over 24.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 9-30, 2 2B, HR
Tejada 6-24, 2B
Duda 1-13
Young 7-17, 2B
Lagares 5-10, 3 2B
Turner 5-11, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

Well I wish I didn’t fall asleep early last night. The Mets scored 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth to come back and beat the Giants and this afternoon, the Mets look to take the series behind Jon Niese as he faces off against Madison Bumgarner. Jon Niese is making his 22nd start of the season. So far he has pitched 123.0 innings with a 7-7 record and a 3.88 ERA. September has not been a kind month to Jon has he has pitched 18.0 innings allowing 10 earned runs, 11 total. He missed the Giants earlier this season and the Giants have the following numbers against him:

Pence 3-24
Posey 4-8, 2 2B, HR
Blanco 1-6
Pill 0-6
Pagan 1-4, HR

The Mets bats will get a crack at Madison Bumgarner who is 12-9 over 30 starts pitching 194.0 innings with a 2.83 ERA. He has also pitched 18.0 innings over three starts in September, but with an ERA of 2.00 where he has allowed 2 ER twice and shutout his opponents once. He missed the Mets in July and the Mets have the following numbers against him:

Young 3-21
Tejada 1-6
Brown 1-3
Murphy 0-2
Turner 1-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets dropped the series opener to the Giants last night as both starters struggled. Matt Cain will get the start tonight for the Giants as he goes up against Aaron Harang making his second Mets start. On the whole, Harang is 5-12 over 126.1 innings with a 5.70 ERA over 23 games. As a Met, he pitched 6.0 innings allowing 4 hits with 3 ER. He has made 18 starts and pitched 115.0 innings in his career against the Giants with a 3.13 ERA. The Giants have the following numbers against Harang:

Pence 10-33, 2B
Sandoval 4-23
Scutaro 2-14, 2B
Pagan 3-11
Posey 4-8, 2B, HR
Crawford 1-6
Belt 0-5

Matt Cain is 8-9 over 28 starts this season logging 169.2 innings with a 4.24 ERA. He has pitched 37.2 innings in his last 6 games with a 3.13 ERA. He had a poor start against the Mets in July where he was pulled in the first inning after allowing 3 ER over 0.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Cain:

Young 2-14
Murphy 3-10, 2B
Tejada 3-8, HR
Baxter 0-3
Duda 1-3, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets open up a series with San Francisco in New York tonight. The Mets had a good month back in July, and a lot of that was due to a fantastic trip to San Francisco, so hopefully the Mets can recreate that in Queens. Outside of Jerry Seinfeld broadcasting tonight, the Mets will have an odd homecoming of sorts as Yusmeiro Petit comes back to New York, the team that traded him away for Carlos Delgado a long time ago.

Wheeler will be pitching for the Mets tonight. He is 7-5 over 16 games with 95.0 innings of work and a 3.22 ERA. He is 3-3 in his last 7 starts pitching 44.1 innings with an ERA of 2.44. He faced the Giants earlier this year pitching 7.0 innings allowing 1 ER. The Giants have the following numbers against Wheeler:

Abreu 0-3
Belt 0-1
Blanco 0-3
Crawford 1-3
Pence 0-3
Posey 0-3

Petit is 3-0 over 5 games and 4 starts this season pitching 32.0 innings with a 2.53 ERA. In his career he has pitched against the Mets once totaling 2.0 innings allowing 2 hits and nothing else. The only Met who has faced Petit in a game is Harang who is 0-2.

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets split a doubleheader yesterday. Winning one game and losing the other.

The numbers told a larger story though. By losing the first game, the Mets officially recorded their 5th straight losing season. Now the Mets sit with 82 losses. Being very honest with ourselves, for the last two weeks, it looked like the Mets would need a miracle to prevent a losing season. There is some psychological impact reaching to .500, but that might be overrated. Lets take a look back down memory lane to see how with a good dose of cognitive dissonance we handled losing seasons:

2009: Injuries. It was the injuries. 2010: Hey it was pretty close. Just some injuries
2011: Well we traded Beltran. Made that streak rides out if we do better.
2012: A lot of money is coming off the books! And some prospects! Things are looking up.

Where does that leave us this year? When I look at my optimism, especially regarding prospects, I realize that between 2008-2012, I was really deluding myself. What we have now, in 2013, is the real deal in prospects. Yes we are having issues with health (Matt Harvey), but with Wheeler and Syndegaard, Montero and a few others in the system there seems to be both high talent and a wealth of talent. A lot of the position players, outside of d’Arnaud, are a couple of years away but at the same time filled with hope.

For the first time in a while, it feels like we are going into the offseason with precise goals for upgrading, not just a general “we need to get the best person out there in half of the positions.”

What I’m rambling to is an idea that maybe this time, the offseason is a little more clear and that we have lost enough recently to build a system that over the next 3-4 years could pump out a variety of good players at a multitude of positions.

Recently, there has been a discussion about whether the Mets should be welcoming losing to get under the 10th pick for a first round pick protection next year. If you remember, the Mets who had the 10th worst record in baseball last year, lost their pick protection because another team failed to draft their player the previous year. The Mets look like they will have a protected pick this year but they are one hot streak away from losing their protection. I’ve been struggling with this thought this past month. I want to see the Mets win, but at this point, with a losing season guaranteed there isn’t much to gain by a hot streak.

I haven’t made up mind about this yet, have you?

The Mets and Marlins finish their series today with the Mets in position to take the series with a win this afternoon. After taking Friday night’s game, the Mets dropped the first game and then picked up the second game thanks to a second good start in a row from Dice K (seriously) and back to back homers from Murphy and Duda. Today Dillon Gee will take the mound against Tom Koehler.

Dillon Gee is 11-10 over 29 games with 179.2 innings of work and 3.61 ERA. After an impressive stretch of 7 games with 49.0 innings and a 2.02 ERA, Dillon Gee had a hiccup in his last game allowing 4 ER over 6.1 earned runs. This year Gee has made only one start against the Marlins allowing 4 ER over 5.0 innings. The Marlins have the following numbers against Gee:

Polanco 2-12
Pierre 4-8
Dobbs 2-5, HR
Morrison 1-6
Stanton 1-5, HR

The Mets bats will get another look at Tom Koehler today who is 3-10 over 26 games and 20 starts over 123.2 innings with a 4.80 ERA. In his last seven games he has pitched 36.2 innings with a 5.89 ERA. He has pitched 16.0 innings against the Mets this year with a 2.25 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 3-8, HR
Baxter 1-6, 2B
Lagares 3-6, 3B
Tejada 2-6, 2B
Duda 0-4
Turner 1-2, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets stopped their slide last night with a 4-3 win against the Marlins and today they try to make it three wins with a doubleheader sweep. Fans that come to the ballpark today will be treated to Daisuke Matsuzaka followed by Carlos Torres as they face off against Henderson Alvarez and Jacob Turner.

Matsuzaka finally had a good start in a Mets uniform his last time out pitching 5.2 innings allowing one run, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. As a Met he’s 0-3 over 4 starts pitching 18.0 innings with an 8.00 ERA. In his career he has had one start against the Marlins allowing 4 ER in 5.1 innings of work. THe Marlins have the following numbers against him:

Polanco 2-9
Mathis 1-11
Dobbs 1-3
Stanton 1-2, HR

In the first game the Mets will get a look at Henderson Alvarez who is 3-4 with a 4.34 ERA over 13 games and 74.2 innings. In the month of September he has pitched 10.0 innings with 8 ER. In one start against the Mets this year he allowed 2 ER in 7.1 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Alvarez:

Murphy 1-6
Young 1-3, 2B
Baxter 3-3, 2B, 3B
Duda 0-3
Lagares 0-2

In the second game today, Carlos Torres looks to get back on the right track. On the season he is 3-4 with a 3.53 ERA over 66.1 innings. In his last start he allowed 6 ER over 4.0 innings and his previous two starts he allowed 4 ER over 13.0 innings. He has only pitched one inning against the Marlins this year and it was a quiet inning. The Marlins have the following numbers against the Torres:

Hill 0-3
Polanco 0-3
Stanton 0-2
Morrison 0-1
Pierre 1-1

In the nightcap, the Mets will try to deal with Jacob Turner who is 3-6 over 18 games with a 3.43 ERA and 107.2 innings. In his last four starts he is 0-2 while allowing 13 ER over 20.1 innings which is a 5.75 ERA. He is 1-0 against the Mets in 13.1 innings with a 2.03 ERA (3 ER). The Mets have the following numbers against Turner:

Murphy 3-10
Duda 2-7
Tejada 1-7, 2B
Lagares 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to move beyond a series against the Nationals where the Nationals hit 13 homers and the Mets hit none by welcoming the Marlins into town. Harang made his first start in his Mets career last night allowing 3 solo homers over 4 hits. Despite being roughed up, and the Mets eventually losing 7-2, he did have 10 strikeouts. Tonight Jon Niese takes the mound against Brad Hand.

Jon Niese is 6-7 over 20 starts this year with a 3.86 ERA while pitching 116.2 innings with 86 strikeouts. In his last start he snapped a streak of four great starts that saw him pitch 27.2 innings with a 1.30 ERA by allowing 5 ER over 6 innings (which as you can tell by the Math was more runs allowed in that one game than his previous four). He has a 2.13 ERA over 2 games and 12.2 innings against the Marlins this season, and the Marlins have the following numbers against him:

Polanco 12-35, 5 2B
Stanton 5-15
Morrison 3-9, 2B
Coghlan 2-10, 2B
Solano 3-9, 2B

Brad Hand will be making his first start of the 2013 season today. So far he has pitched in three games racking up 5.2 scoreless innings. In his career he has pitched 12.2 innings against the Mets allowing 3 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Duda 2-5, 2B
Tejada 0-2
Turner 1-3, 2B
Murphy 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets just try to do something positive against the Nationals today as they try to look beyond the last several games. Today’s game will be the Mets debut of Aaron Harang, a player the Mets have been linked to multiple times over the years and now finally have. Aaron Harang was 5-11 for the Mariners over 22 games this season with a 5.76 ERA. Last year he made one start against the Nationals allowing 2 ER and 7 hits over 4.1 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

LaRoche 7-31, 3 2B, 3 HR
Tracy 4-20, 2B
Werth 3-16, 3B, HR
Zimmerman 5-14, 2 2B
Hairston 2-10, 2B
Desmond 2-7

Tanner Roark will get the start for the Nationals. He is 5-0 in his first 10 games and 1 start to his major league career pitching 28.2 innings with a 0.94 ERA. At the end of August he pitched 3.1 innings against the Mets walking 3, striking out 5 allowing one earned run. The Mets have the following numbers against Roark:

Duda 0-2
Murphy 1-2
Satin 1-1, 2B
Young 1-2

Lets Go Mets!