213 Miles From Shea

I live in Newark, NJ and frequent a Sports Authority on the edge of Nutley/Clifton because it is near a grocery store, Barnes and Noble and Target all within walking distance from each other.

With the exception of a bargain on a Santana Jersey I got last year (the afternoon before his no-hitter no less) I never get Mets stuff there because their merchandise is usually horrendously out of date (still at original retail price). In late June they finally stocked jerseys without the drop shadow (seriously) and the only players they carried are Wright and Davis.

While looking through the racks I came across this fashion jersey from Adidias:

Lots of notables: – Adidas theme on the front not just with the logo stamp but the three stripes in the center of the chest
– I’ve never seen the Circle Mets logo on the front of a uniform before (I have a jacket with it on the front that is patch size but that’s because I put it there)
– I’ve never seen the script “Mets” on the sleeve before. The Orioles have that/had that going on recently

The Mets conclude their three game series with the Giants this afternoon as they look for the sweep! In the first game of the series, the Orange and Blue went 16 innings deep to take the W. Last night, Byrd was not having any of that extra-inning shenanigans and busted out a grand slam. Today Zack Wheeler gets the nod as he goes up against Matt Cain.

Wheeler is coming off of a better start where he pitched 5.0 innings allowing 3 runs, only one earned over 7 hits while walking three and striking out 3. He is now 2-1 over 21.0 innings of work and 4 games with a 4.29 ERA walking 13 batters and striking out 16. This will be his first time facing the Giants and facing any on the Giants in a Major League game.

The Mets draw Matt Cain who has a 4.85 ERA on the season with a 5-5 record over 18 games and 111.1 innings. Cain was 1-2 in the month of June making 6 starts with a 3.10 ERA. His first start in July, his last start, was awful as he allowed 8 ER over 2.1 innings. Last year he faced the Mets once allowing 2 ER over 5 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Matt:

Wright 11-24, 6 2B
Young 2-14
Murphy 2-9, 2B
Buck 0-10
Byrd 0-8
Davis 1-4, HR

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets continue their San Francisco series tonight as Dillon Gee takes on Barry Zito. (Note: Due to travel, I’m actually writing this article on Sunday morning, so if something crazy happens, and these pitchers aren’t pitching, my bad, think of this like the alternate universe game preview then).

Gee is 6-7 on the year over 17 games with a 4.47 ERA over 97.0 innings of work. He is 4-1 over his last seven games with a 2.47 ERA and that includes a start where he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings. In short, Dillon Gee has returned. Last year he did not have a good day against the Giants allowed 7 ER over 6.2 innings of work. The Giants have the following numbers against him:

Pence 1-12
Blanco 2-4, 2B
Sanchez 1-3, HR
Sandoval 2-3, HR
Crawford 1-3

The Mets bats will get a crack at Barry Zito who is 4-6 with a 4.44 ERA this season over 17 starts. He has pitched 32.2 innings in his last 6 starts while posting a 5.51 ERA and 23 strikeouts. Last year in two starts against the Mets he allowed 9 ER over 9.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Zito:

Young 7-27, 3 2B
Wright 5-17, 2B
Byrd 2-8, HR
Davis 0-6
Murphy 1-5

Lets Go Mets!

Happy Monday Harvey Day!

The Mets travel to San Francisco tonight to take on the Giants (I guess that’s not really surprising. A surprise would be the Mets travel to San Francisco to take on the Golden State Warriors, which I’d also pay to see). Anyway starting for the Mets today is new anointed All-Star Matt Harvey who is looking to rebound from his worst start in his career where he allowed 5 ER. On the season Matt is 7-2 with a 2.27 ERA while pitching 123.0 innings and a league leading 141 strikeouts. He faced the Giants last year where he pitched 6.0 innings allowing 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned while walking 3 and striking out 7. The Giants have the following numbers against him:

Belt 0-2
Blanco 0-3
Posey 1-2
Scutaro 1-2, 2B
Crawford 0-2
Lincecum 0-2

Usually I leave pitchers off of the batting stats list but thanks to fate, Harvey will be facing off against Lincecum again! Tim is 4-9 over 17 games this year with a 4.66 ERA. In his last 23.2 innings, 4 games, he has pitched with a 4.56 ERA, so fairly consistent with his season numbers. Last year he was very good against the Mets pitching 12.0 innings in two starts allowing only 2 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Tim:

Wright 2-20
Young 3-18
Omar 5-14, 2B
Davis 3-15
Murphy 5-14, 2 2B
Buck 0-4
Byrd 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Brewers finish off their series with the rubber game tonight as Jeremy Hefner takes the mound against Tom Gorzelanny. Hefner is 3-6 this year over 94.0 innings and a 3.54 ERA. He has pitched 37.0 innings in his last 6 starts with an awesome 1.70 ERA. Before that stretch, his season ERA was a 4.74. In Hefner’s short career he has had a very limited amount of time in front of the Brewers where he has allowed 1 ER over 1 IP. The Brewers have the following numbers against him:

Francisco 0-2
Lucroy 0-1
Ramirez 0-1
Weeks 1-1, HR

The Mets bats get to face an old foe with a new team in Tom Gorzelanny, who is has gone from the Nationals to the Brewers. He is 1-1 this year with a 2.43 ERA pitching in 33 games and making his second start of the season. His last start was on June 8th where he allowed 1 earned run over 5 hits and 4 innings of work. Last year he was 2-0 over 6 games and 10 innings against the Mets with an ERA of 1.80. The Mets have the following numbers against Tom:

Wright 4-17, 3 2B
Davis 4-14, 3B
Murphy 2-9, 2B
Buck 2-8, 2 HR
Byrd 2-6

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets go for the series victory against the Brewers today as they look to build off of yesterday’s performance. The Mets bats broke out to score 12 runs including 3 hits from Davis making his return from Las Vegas and Kirk going 4-5 at the plate. Today Shaun Marcum gets the start for the Amazin’s as he takes on Yovani Gallardo.

Shaun Marcum is 1-9 over 73.1 innings while posting a 5.03 ERA as he goes into the home of his former team. He has now pitched 14.0 innings in his last two stars allowing only 3 ER and striking out 4 in the process. He has made one start against the Brewers where he allowed 6 hits and 4 ER and the following Brewers have stats against him:

Bentancourt 2-17, 2B, 3B
Francisco 2-6, 2B
A. Ramirez 0-5

The Mets bats look to continue what they started yesterday against Yovani Gallardo who is 6-8 with a 4.78 ERA over 101.2 innings of work this year. Yovani had a stretch of games in June where he didn’t allow any earned runs over 21 innings (3 games) but since then in his last two starts, has allowed 3 earned, 5 total over 4 and then 8 earned over 3. Last year he took the loss against the Mets allowing 2 ER over 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Gallardo:

Wright 3-16, HR
Byrd 3-12
Buck 0-8
Davis 0-7
Murphy 3-9, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets start a road trip leading to the All-Star game tonight as the Amazins travel out west to play the Brewers. After a terrific first two games against the Diamondbacks, the Mets dropped the second two splitting the four game series.

How rude, I forgot to wish you a Happy Wheeler Day!

Wheeler is 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA over his first three starts to his MLB career. He had an awesome debut where he shutout his opponents over 6 innings but his last two starts have been rockier allowing 4 ER over 5.1 and then 5 ER over 4 IP. As Terry says, (and I’m paraphrasing here) lets get back to basics and let that fast ball rip (I’m also a blogger and not a professional baseball player so what do I know?). Anyway, this being Wheeler’s fourth start, he has yet to face the Brewers for previous stats.

The Mets bats will deal with Johnny Hellweg today, who besides having a fun name to write (Personal Side Note: I always struggle with all of the different variations of John, Jon, Johnn, Johny, Johnny, this is my life as a teacher) he is 0-1 over two games and one start to his major league career. In his first start he allowed 7 runs, 5 earned over 1.2 innings and then he came in out of the pen allowing 2 ER over 1.0. He was 7-4 with a 2.82 ERA in the minors and has never faced anyone on the Mets roster in a MLB Game.

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and the Diamondbacks finish their four game set on the fourth (Happy Fourth Everyone!) as the Mets look for a series victory and the Dbacks look for a series split. On the Mets rubber, Dillon Gee gets the start. On the season he is 6-7 pitching 90.0 innings with a 4.60 ERA. In June he made 3 great starts in a row, had a hiccup where he allowed 5 over 5 but came back strong in his last game allowing 1 over 6. Last year in one start against Arizona he pitched 6.0 innings allowing 2 ER. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Gee:

Prado 4-20, 2B
Montero 2-7, HR
Parra 1-7
Goldschmidt 1-4

The Mets draw Ian Kennedy in the series finale. Kennedy is 3-4 on the season pitching in 15 games with a 5.36 ERA. He’s coming off of a June that saw him make two good starts, one mediocre start, one bad start (his last outing, 4 over 4.1) and one horrific start (10 over 4). Last year he allowed 3 ER over 6.1 innings against the Mets and the Mets have the following numbers on him:

Wright 4-11, 2B, 2 HR
Buck 2-8
Byrd 2-9, HR
Young 2-7
Brown 0-6
Murphy 1-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets go for the series victory tonight as they take on the Diamondbacks for game 3 of 4. Last night the Mets had an early one run lead against the surprise ace of the Arizona staff. In the seventh, Arizona was able to tie it but then the Mets happened. The Mets opened up the bottom half of the frame getting the go ahead run and loading the bases before an hour and forty minute rain delay. They then scored 6 more runs in the frame when the action resumed and ended up winning the game 9-1. It was the most the Mets scored in one inning in nearly two years and the most they scored at home since opening day. Tonight Randall Delgado goes for Arizona as he faces MATT HARVEY. HAPPY HARVEY DAY EVERYONE!

Matt Harvey is 7-1 this season with a 2.00 ERA over 17 starts, 117.0 innings and 132 strikeouts. He allowed 3 hits over 7 innings his last time out striking out 11 in the process, before the bullpen blew the game. In his last two starts he has allowed only 1 ER over 13.0 innings of work. He faced the Diamondbacks last year in his major debut pitching 5.1 innings allowing 3 hits, no runs and striking out 11 batters. The Diamondbacks have the following numbers against Matt:

Goldschmidt 0-3, 3 K
Hill 1-3
Kubel 1-2
Parra 0-3, 2 K
Prado 0-3

The Mets draw “old” Braves pitcher Randall Delgado who is 0-2 over 4 games and 3 starts this season pitching 20.0 innings with a 4.05 ERA. The amount of hits he has given up this year has hurt him, 26 so far, which has bumped his WHIP to a 1.5 even. In one start against the Mets last year he allowed 3 ER in 5.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Buck 1-4
Murphy 1-3
Kirk 2-3
Wright 1-3

Lets Go Mets!

Fresh off a win in the 13th last night,the Mets are back at it again tonight for game 2. Yesterday the Mets fell behind very early but were able to scratch back late in the game, push the game into extras and finish off the Diamondbacks thanks to a walk off hit by Brown. Tonight Jeremy Hefner will take the mound for the Amazin’s as he goes up against Patrick Corbin.

Jeremy Hefner is 2-6 over 87.0 innings this year while posting a nice 3.72 ERA. He was on fire in the month of June allowing only 1 ER in each start which led to a 1.80 ERA over 30.0 innings. He is quickly solidifying himself as my favorite good surprise of the 2013 season. In his young career he has never faced the Diamondbacks and the only batter that has an MLB record against him is Prado, who is 0-2.

The Mets bats draw Patrick Corbin who is 9-0 this season with a 2.22 ERA over 109.0 innings of work. He made 6 starts in June pitching 41.1 innings with a 1-0 record (hasn’t won since the first week, hasn’t lost either) while posting a 3.05 ERA. Last year he pitched 3.1 innings against the Mets while allowing 4 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Corbin:

Young 3-6, 3 2B
Brown 2-5, HR
Buck 1-3
Murphy 2-2
Wright 0-2

Lets Go Mets!