213 Miles From Shea

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!

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?