213 Miles From Shea

The Tigers come to town tonight and start a weekend series with the Mets. The Mets actually had a day off yesterday, crazy I know, after splitting a two game series with he Braves. The real story for the Mets tonight is their starting pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka. As I tweeted yesterday, half-a decade ago, I’d be very excited about this signing. I do like this signing for this point of the season if Daisuke can soak up some innings from our young guns. Recently he hasn’t been successful in the majors. Last year he was 1-7 over 11 games with a 8.28 ERA. The year before he was 3-3 with a 5.30 ERA over 7 games. He’s been alright in the Indians minor league system this year posting a 5-8 record and a 3.92 ERA over AAA. The Tigers have the following numbers against Matsuzaka:

Hunter 5-18, HR
Cabrera 4-9, HR
Martinez 1-6
Santiago 2-4, 2B
Jackson 1-4, 2B

Doug Fister gets the nod for the Tigers tonight. Fister is 10-6 with 3.63 ERA over 25 starts this season. He’s o-1 in his last three starts over 18.1 innings where he has posted a 4.42 ERA. He has never faced the Mets in his career but a few Mets have faced him on other teams:

Buck 1-2
Byrd 0-3
Omar 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Braves finish off their two game set this afternoon as the Mets try to sweep Atlanta. Last night Wheeler had his pitches working early, but the Braves were able to keep it close. Thanks to some timely hitting and defense, the Mets were able to get it done. Today they look to contend with Alex Wood as the Mets send out Jon Niese.

Jon Niese is 5-6 over 16 starts this year with a 4.25 ERA over 89.0 innings of work. On August 11th he returned to the majors to 6 innings, 4 earned runs and in his last start he allowed only one earned run over 6. The Braves were not kind to him this season scoring 7 ER over 4.1 innings and then 3 ER over 3.1 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Niese:

Freeman 8-24, 2 2B, 2 HR
Heyward 9-22, 2 2B, 2 HR
J Upton 8-15, 2B
McCann 1-12
Schafer 0-8

The Mets draw Alex Wood for the finale who is 2-2 with a 2.61 ERA over 21 games, 6 starts and 51.2 innings in his rookie season. In the month of August he’s been on a tear allowing only 2 ER over 18.1 innings. Against the Mets he’s allowed 5 ER over 7.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Alex Wood:

Byrd 3-4
Myrd 2-5
Buck 1-3
Lagares 0-2
Satin 1-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets finally, FINALLY return home tonight…but it’s against the Braves. In case you missed yesterday’s game, Dillon Gee was fantastic shutting down the Twins over 7.2 innings and the Mets offense was able to put some runs on the board to support him. While the Mets have been away for the last 11 games, the Braves have been caught up in a rivalry with the Nationals regarding plunking each others players. Tonight Brandon Beachy starts for the Bravos as he goes up against Zack Wheeler (Happy Wheeler Day!).

Zack Wheeler is 5-2 with a 3.43 ERA over 11 starts and 63.0 innings of work. In his last two starts, he’s pitched 12.1 innings, allowed 2 ER and struck out 16 batters, most in his last start where he struck out 12 over 6. He has had two very different starts against the Braves. In his major league debut, he held the Braves scoreless over 6.0 innings and in his second start, he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned, over 6 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Wheeler:

Freeman 2-3, 3 BB
C Johnson 1-5
Simmons 1-4, 2 BB
J Upton 0-6, 2 K
Gattis 0-3
Heyward 0-3
BJ Upton 1-3

Brandon Beachy is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA over 4 starts and 24.0 innings of work. The last time Beachy faced the Mets was back in 2011 where he allowed 4 ER over 4.1 innings. This year, he is 3-4 over 9 games in the minors with a 2.92 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Brandon:

Buck 2-9
Byrd 3-5, HR
Gee 0-1
Turner 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets finally finish a long, long road trip on the West Coast with a make up game in Minnesota today. Ok, so Minnesota isn’t on the West Coast, but it’s in a different time zone so whatever. Anyway, in case you forgot, at the start of the season the Mets rolled into snowy Minnesota and Colorado thus causing the hectic schedule they are experiencing now. In other news, d’Arnaud, who has walked 4 times since being called up and looks like he is staying until the end of the year is still in search of his first major league hit. He will try to get against Kyle Gibson tonight as the Mets counter with Dillon Gee.

Dillon Gee is 8-8 over 24 games and a 3.79 ERA over 145.0 innings and 105 strikeouts. In the month of August he has made three starts with a 1.74 ERA over 20.2 innings with 11 strikeouts. He missed Minnesota earlier this season and since the Twins are in the American League, it is understandable that Gee has never faced the Twins before and never has faced anyone on the Twins roster.

Kyle Gibson is 2-3 this season over 9 starts and 47.1 innings of work with an ERA of 6.27. This season he has walked 18 batters and struck out 27. In the month of August he has made three starts, pitched 14.0 innings and has posted an ERA of 6.43. Gibson is a rookie this season and missed the Mets earlier this year, thus he has never faced them nor has he faced anyone on the Mets in a major league game.

Lets Go Mets!

Happy Harvey d’Arnaud day!

After dropping last night’s game 8-2, the Mets look to take the four game set and leave San Diego on a high note. The true story of the game is the battery pair for the Mets with Harvey on the mound and d’Arnaud behind the plate. As a bonus, this game will be on 4:00 local time so people like me who fall asleep hella early can finally watch a Mets game for the first time in a week. Anyway Harvey will face off against Eric Stults.

Matt Harvey is 9-4 this season with a 2.23 ERA over 24 starts and 165.2 innings and 181 strikeouts. His last outing was fairly human where he allowed 4 ER over 6 innings and three strikeouts against a good team. His first start of the season was against the Padres where he allowed no runs over 7 innings while striking out 10, kicking off Harvey Day as a weekly holiday. The Padres have the following numbers against Harvey:

Alonso 2-6, 2B, HR
Venable 1-5, 3B
Amarista 0-5
Headley 1-2, HR
Hundley 0-2

Eric Stults is 8-10 with a 3.68 ERA over 25 starts and 156.1 innings of work. In that stretch he has walked 33 batters and struck out 97. He has pitched 11.2 innings in the month of August and allowed 7 ER. His first start of the season was against the Mets where he shut the Amazin’s out for 5.0 innings, allowing 3 hits and struck out 7. The Mets have the following numbers against Eric:

Turner 3-3, 2 2B
Young 1-2
Buck 1-2
Byrd 0-2
Davis 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look for the series victory today in San Diego as they play game 3 of 4. So far the Mets have done well against the Padres and last night’s game featured three Mets homers (Byrd, Davis, Murphy) and a nice outing from Niese. Recker had a nice day at the plate too, going 3-3 with a run. That being said, a new catcher is coming to town tonight for the Mets as Travis d’Arnaud looks to be on the major league roster for tonight’s game. Anyway, Jenrry Mejia gets the nod for the for the Amazin’s tonight as he faces off with Edison Volquez.

Jenrry Mejia is 1-2 over 4 starts this season with a 2.22 ERA while pitching 24.1 innings and striking out 22 batters. In his short career, Mejia has faced the Padres twice, both in relief and both for one inning a piece. He’s allowed 2 hits and no runs. Because of the limited time in front of Mejia, the Padres have really limited stats against him:

Cedeno 0-1
Hundley 0-1
Denorfia 0-1

The Mets bats get to see Edison Volquez who is 8-10 over 25 starts this year with a 5.80 ERA. In that stretch he has pitched 136.2 innings, struck out 111 batters and has allowed a league leading 88 earned runs (he also leads the league in starts). He started August off on the right foot allowing only 2 ER over 6.0 innings but in his last start he allowed 8 ER over 4.1 innings. His first start of the season was against the Mets where he allowed 6 ER over 3.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Edison:

Byrd 4-11
Young 2-9, 2B
Murphy 2-7
Baxter 2-6, 2B, HR
Turner 2-6, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets broke their three game slide last night beating the Padres 4-1! The Amazin’s look to keep that going tonight as they play game two of four. In case you missed last night, Wheeler was great going 6 innings, allowing 1 ER striking out 12 batters. Byrd hit a key double that brought in two runs and Buck added his 15th homer of the year. Tonight Niese will get his second start since coming back from the DL as he squares up against Ian Kennedy.

Jon Niese is 4-6 over 15 starts with a 4.45 ERA while pitching 83.0 innings and striking out 54 batters. He allowed 7 hits and 4 ER over 6 innings in his first start back from the DL. He also walked a batter and struck out 5. His first start of the season was against the Padres where he allowed 2 ER and 4 hits over 6.2 innings. The Padres have the following numbers against Jon:

Guzman 2-7
Forsythe 2-7, 2B
Hundley 2-7, 3B
Cedeno 1-4
Alonso 1-3, HR

The Mets bats get to deal with Ian Kennedy tonight who is 4-8 on the season over 23 games and 137.2 innings with a 4.97 ERA. Kennedy was traded midseason to the Padres and since joining them he is 0-1 with a 2.63 in two starts. He faced the Mets earlier this season with the Diamondbacks where he allowed 2 ER over 7 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Byrd 3-12
Young 2-11
Buck 2-8
Davis 3-7, 3 HR (Seriously)
Brown 1-7
Murphy 1-7

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets roll into San Diego for a four game set after being swept by the Dodgers in rather close fashion. Last night the Dodgers came back, pushed the game into extras and were able to take it in the 12th as the Mets racked up more extra innings this season. Zack Wheeler looks to stop the slide tonight as he takes on Tyson Ross.

Zack Wheeler is 5-2 over 10 games with a 3.63 ERA over 57.0 innings. Wheeler made a good rebound start his last time out posting only 1 ER over 6.1 innings, the time before he allowed 4 ER over 5 innings. Zack was not up with the major league organization earlier this year when the Padres came to New York and he has not faced any specific batters on the Padres’s roster in a major league game before (so no batting stats).

Tyson Ross is 3-5 with a 2.75 ERA making 7 starts and pitching in 26 games overall this season totaling 72.0 innings with 62 strikeouts. He has made a string of four starts recently and he’s been very good in that stretch posting a 1.33 ERA over 27.0 innings. He has never faced the Mets before but two Mets have faced him, and are both 0-1 (Byrd and Young).

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets have dropped their last two at Dodgers Stadium and they look to correct that tonight as Dillon Gee goes up against a former Met in Chris Capuano. Dillon Gee is 8-8 this season with a 3.82 ERA over 139.0 innings while striking out 101 batters. In his last two starts he has pitched 14.2 innings allowing only 2 ER (one in each start) and two walks while striking out 7 batters. He missed the Dodgers earlier this year but last year he allowed 4 runs, 2 earned over 6 innings of work. The Dodgers have the following numbers against him:

Uribe 1-7, 2B
Ethier 0-4
AJ Ellis 1-3, 2B
Gordon 1-2
Ramirez 1-2

The Mets get a look at their strong starter back in the 2011 season tonight. Chris is 4-6 over 80.0 innings with a 4.50 ERA. His two August starts have been very different. He was fantastic in his first start shutting out his opponent in 6.1 innings of work. Last time out he allowed 5 ER over 4.1 innings. He missed the Mets earlier this season but last year over two starts he allowed 6 ER over 14.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Capuano:

Byrd 4-12, 2B
Buck 0-10
Davis 1-6
Young 3-4
Brown 2-3, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

Happy Harvey Day!

The Mets try to make up for last night’s game as they play the second game in the set tonight. Last night, the Mets dropped the game by a score of 4-2. They had strong pitching from Mejia but couldn’t get runs across the board. In a critical seventh inning, writers have been talking about two major blown calls that would have heavily assisted the Mets. I didn’t stay up to see the game, so I can’t really comment on that, the Mets did however leave 20 men on base. Harvey will square off today against Hyun-jin Ryu.

Matt Harvey is leading the league in ERA since the All-Star Break with a 0.91. Overall on the season he is 9-3 with a 2.09 ERA pitching 159.2 innings with 178 K’s. He is coming off of his first complete game shutout where he dominated the Rockies keeping his pitch count incredibly low. He faced the Dodgers earlier this season where he was more human and allowed 3 ER over 6 innings. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Matt:

Schumaker 1-6
M Ellis 1-3
Ethier 1-3
Gonzalez 1-2
AJ Ellis 0-2
Hairston 0-2

The Mets bats draw Hyun-jin Ryu who is 11-3 over 22 starts with a 2.99 ERA while pitching 141.1 innings with 118 strikeouts. In his last three starts he has allowed 3 ER over 19.1 innings. Earlier this season he faced the Mets for 7.0 innings and allowed only 1 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Ryu:

Byrd 1-3, 2B
Davis 0-3
Murphy 1-3
Recker 0-3

Lets Go Mets!