213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and Rockies play the second game of the series tonight as the Mets look to make it two in a row. Last night the Mets got a quick 2-0 lead which the Rockies eventually tied. Thanks to some amazing defense from Eric Young and a late run, the Mets were able to finish on top 3-2 in Flores’ debut (0-4 at the plate). Tonight, Matt Harvey (Happy Harvey Day) against Jhoulys Chacin.

Matt Harvey is 8-3 over 22 games and more importantly right now, 150.2 innings of work, with a 2.21 ERA. He still is leading the league at strikeouts wit 172. Harvey was cruising through the first 5.0 innings but allowed 3 ER in his last inning of work that day. In his one start against the Rockies he allowed 1 ER over 6 innings of work. The Rockies have the following numbers against Harvey:

Blackmon 0-3
Gonzalez 0-3
Herrera 1-3
Fowler 1-2
Rosario 0-1

Jhoulys Chacin is 10-5 with a 3.40 ERA over 21 starts and 135.0 innings this year. After two near identical starts of allowing 3 ER over 7 innings, he had a spectacular start last time out allowing 1 ER over 8 innings of work. Last year he made one start against the Mets allowing 1 ER over 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Chacin:

Byrd 1-6
Davis 3-6
Buck 0-3
Murphy 0-4
Baxter 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Rockies travel to Queens as the Mets look to move past their disappointing series with the Royals. Over the weekend the Mets started off great winning an extra inning game but then fell flat in another extra inning game before losing on Sunday. They also lost David Wright for a month, but that’s another story. Tonight Jenrry Mejia takes the mound as he goes up against Tyler Chatwood.

Jenrry Mejia is 1-1 this season over two starts with a 2.08 ERA over 13.0 innings. More specifically, after tossing a seven innings of shutout ball in his first start, in his second start he allowed 3 ER over 6 innings, which is still quality. He has faced the Rockies for one inning of relief where he allowed 1 ER over 1 inning of work. Only three current Rockies have faced him (Tulo, Helton, Fowler) and they are all 0-1.

The Mets bats will try to rough up Tyler Chatwood who is 7-4 over 15 games with a 3.15 ERA. Tyler is coming off of a rough start where he allowed 8 runs, 7 earned in 2.1 innings. He faced the Mets earlier this season and allowed only one earned run and 4 hits over 6.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 1-8
Byrd 1-3
Lagares 1-3
Omar 0-2
Satin 0-2
Turner 1-3, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Royals try to keep it at 9 innings today as Ervin Santana takes the mound against Zack Wheeler. In the opener of the series, the Mets won on a walk-off homer from Eric Young in the bottom of the 11th. Yesterday the Mets lost in the 12th inning. Does it feel like the Mets play a lot of extras? Well they played their major league leading 48th extra inning yesterday.

Zack Wheeler is 4-1 over 8 starts this season pitching 45.2 innings with a 3.55 ERA. In his last start he allowed 2 ER over 7 innings of work while walking 3 batters and striking out 5, it was the first time a few starts that his ERA dropped after the game. Since Wheeler is a rookie in the National league, he has never faced the Royals before and never has faced anyone on the Royals in a major league game before.

The Mets draw Ervin Santana today who is 7-6 over 145.1 innings with a 3.03 ERA. In his last three starts he has allowed 5 runs, only 3 earned, over 21.2 innings with a 1.21 ERA. Santana has never faced the Mets in his career, which isn’t unusual since he spent the vast majority of his career with the Angels. There are a few Mets who have faced him before on other teams:

Byrd 5-24, HR
Buck 1-15, HR
Young 1-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Royals play the second game of the series today as the Mets try to build off of yesterday’s exciting extra-inning win. The Mets had a 2-0 lead most of the game yesterday but towards the end of the game the Royals were able to scratch back and tie the game. Eric Young then smacked a game winning homer in the bottom of the 11th. For all of the positive news yesterday, there was also some scary news as David Wright will need an MRI after running out a ball to first base. Today Bruce Chen, who is still in baseball apparently, will take the mound against Jeremy Hefner.

Hefner is 4-8 this season with a 4.21 ERA over 119.2 innings. He still hasn’t quite gotten back to his self before the all star break. In total since the break over three starts, he has pitched 11.0 innings allowing 19 runs, 16 earned. Not surprisingly, Hefner has never faced the Royals and has never faced anyone on the Royals roster in a major league game.

Bruce Chen, at age 36, is having a good season. If the name sounds familiar, its because he’s a Met that you have probably forgotten (2001-02). He is 4-0 over 22 games, 3 starts this year with a 2.09 ERA and 51.2 innings of work. As a starter, he has pitched 6.0 innings each time and has allowed a total of 3 ER over 18.0 innings. The only two Mets who have faced Chen are Byrd (3-6) and Buck (2-2, 2B).

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets return to Queens tonight and open an interleague series against Kansas City Royals. Dillon Gee will take the mound for the Amazin’s. On the season Dillon is 7-8 with a 4.13 ERA over 124.1 innings of work. Overall in the month of July, 5 starts, he posted a 2.88 ERA over 34.1 innings of work. Not really surprisingly, Dillon hasn’t faced the Royals in his career but does have some official numbers against a few Kansas City batters:

Tejada 0-1
Cain 1-3, 2B
Escobar 2-3

The Mets bats draw Wade Davis tonight who was traded along with James Shields at the beginning of the season for Wil Myers along with other players from KC. Davis is 5-9 over 20 starts with a 5.59 ERA while pitching 104.2 innings this season. He is currently coming off of his best start in July where he threw 7 innings of scoreless baseball. Overall in July he threw four games totaling 22.0 innings with a 5.32 ERA. He has only pitched 1 inning against the Mets in his career (where he didn’t allow any runs) but he has faced a few Mets on record:

Buck 3-9, HR
Omar 0-2
Byrd 0-1
Davis 0-1
Recker 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins conclude their four game series tonight as the Mets look to split the series and and rebound form nearly winning the game yesterday. The Mets tonight will be celebrating the 22nd Harvey day of the 2013 baseball season. So far Matt Harvey is 8-2 with a 2.11 ERA over 145.0 innings of work. He has struck out a major league leading 164 batters in that stretch. In his last two starts he has tossed 15.0 innings of 1 run, 0 earned baseball while striking out 17 batters. In three starts against the Marlins this season, he has allowed 6 ER over 17.2 innings while striking out 18 batters. The Marlins have the following numbers against Matt:

Pierre 6-14
Brantly 4-8
Polanco 0-7
Dobbs 1-5, 2B
Lucas 3-6
Stanton 0-3

The Mets bats draw Tom Koehler in the finale who is 2-6 over 81.0 innings on the season with a 4.67 ERA. His first game back from the All-Star break was good as he allowed 1 ER over 7 innings of work but he stumbled in the next game, his last start, as he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings. In total against the Mets this season he has pitched 10.0 innings allowing 4 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 3-8, HR
Davis 1-6, 2B
Wright 1-6, 2B
Lagares 1-3
Byrd 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins play game 3 tonight as the Mets go for the series victory against the fish. Last night Wheeler took a no hit bid into the 7th inning before the game was knotted at 2. Buck came through in the 10th inning and the Mets ended up the in win column for the second time in a row. Tonight Jenrry Mejia looks to make his second start as he squares up against Henderson Alvarez.

Jenrry Mejia was fantastic in his season debut last week against the Nationals allowing no runs and 7 hits over 7 innings of work as he struck out 7 batters. He is 1-0 over 12.1 innings, 5 games and 1 start against the Nationals with a 2.19 ERA allowing 10 hits, 3 walks and striking out 8 batters. the Nationals have the following numbers against him:

Desmond 2-6
Werth 3-5
Zimmerman 2-4
Harper 0-3
LaRoche 0-3
Span 0-3

Henderson Alvarez is 1-1 over 5 starts on the season with a 2.64 ERA while pitching 30.2 innings. He is in the midst of a good stretch where he hasn’t allowed any runs in his last two starts, adding up to 13.0 innings. He has made one start in the past against the Mets where he allowed 6 ER over 5 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Davis 0-3
Murphy 1-3
Wright 2-3, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins continue their series tonight as the Mets celebrate Zack Wheeler Day. Last night the Mets were able to squeak out a win against the Marlins and finally get back in the win column after a disappointing series in Washington. Tonight the Mets will face Nathan Eovaldi, a pitcher they seemed to face every 2-4 weeks last year.

Wheeler is 4-1 with a 3.72 ERA over 38.2 innings. His last two starts haven’t been the greatest as he’s allowed 6 runs, 5 earned in 10.2 innings of work. He has not faced the Marlins in his first 7 seven major league starts of his career, so tonight will be the first of many against the fish. As such, there are no official batting stats yet for Marlins bats vs Wheeler.

Eovaldi is making his 8th start of the season. So far he is 2-1 over 40.2 innings with a 3.54 ERA. Last year he faced the Mets 4 times, which is amazing because he wasn’t a Marlin the entire year. In those four games he pitched 21.2 innings with a 3.74 ERA and a 1-2 record. The Mets have the following numbers against Nathan:

Wright 3-11
Davis 3-8, 2B, 2 HR
Murphy 4-8, 2 2B
Young 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to get back on the right track tonight as they take on the Marlins in Miami. Before the Nationals series the Mets were firing on all cylinders. They opened up the series with a tremendous win on both sides of the ball and since then things have slightly unraveled. Anyway Jeremy Hefner takes the ball tonight looking to bounce back in the second half as he goes up against Jacob Turner.

It has been a struggle in the second half for Hefner. On the season he is 4-8 with a 4.17 ERA over 114.1 innings of work. Since the All-Star break though he has pitched 6.1 innings allowing 14 runs, 13 earned. He hasn’t faced the Marlins since his season debut where he went 6.0 strong innings allowing only 1 ER. The Marlins have the following numbers against Hefner:

Pierre 3-9
Solano 3-9
Polanco 3-10
Ruggiano 0-8
Stanton 1-10
Dobbs 2-9, HR

The Mets bats will try to do some damage against one of the bright spots for the Marlins this year, Jacob Turner. Turner is 3-3 over 10 games this season with a 2.49 ERA with 65 innings under his belt. He has pitched 24.0 innings in July with a 3.75 ERA, so not as good as June. His season debut was against the Mets where he pitched 7.0 scoreless innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 2-8
Wright 0-8
Davis 2-8, 2B
Buck 1-3
Byrd 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

During the All Star Game you may have seen this shirt for sale. You may have seen David Wright wearing this shirt (I did, I think it was at Fan Fest, but I’m not sure). There were also matching batting gloves floating around.

This is fine. Whatever it’s a New York Apple Themed shirt.

Then Nike decided to roll out baseball hats in the same colors. It makes sense for two teams:

But not for any other teams. So they wouldn’t make it for other teams right? Like our respective rivals? Wrong:

It’s not offered for all teams, but it is offered for a lot (complete list here). I like the name of the hat line (True Big Apple) but I would never wear a Mets hat in red, that’s DC/Atlanta territory. If a fan was about to buy the Boston hat, and heard it was a “True Big Apple” Hat, would they still get it? This is odd. But this is also merchandising.