213 Miles From Shea

THE BIG DAY.

Today is more than just Harvey day. It is more than Wheeler day. It is more than Wheeler debut day. It is Harvey and Wheeler Day! I would say chances of this happening again are rather slim but the Mets run into bad weather like I miss the subway (ie. a lot). Anyway, last night’s game got delayed until after 10 and the Mets ended up losing the game 2-1 after a 2 run homer in the ninth. Gee was very close to a complete game shutout and he ended up driving in the only run of the game (#Typical). Anyway, since I’ll be working all day, here are both game previews:

Game 1:

Matt Harvey is 5-1 on the season with a 2.04 ERA over 97.0 innings with 102 K’s vs 20 BB’s. In his last start, he allowed 1 ER over 7 innings and criticized himself for not putting up 0’s. In reality, he didn’t get any run support. Last year he allowed 2 ER over 6.0 innings of work while walking 5 and striking out 3 (one of the few games where he walked more than struck out). The Braves have the following numbers against Harvey:

Freeman 0-3
Heyward 1-3, HR
Uggla 0-1
J. Upton 0-2

Alex Wood takes the mound for the Braves in the first game, making his first start in his major league career. So far this year he has pitched in 6 games, finishing 4 allowing 3 ER over 7.2 innings of work. In the minors this year he made 10 starts totaling 57.0 innings with a sparkling 1.26 ERA at the AA level. In his previous season, at A level, he had a 2.22 ERA over 52.2 innings. As to be expected, he has never faced the Mets and no current Mets have any stats against him.

Game 2:

Zack Wheeler makes his major league debut in the night cap, very close to where he grew up (how many times will we hear that tonight?). At the beginning of the season, the story line was, “Harvey is good, Wheeler is better”. It is hard to believe at this point that will be true at least at the end of this season (Harvey has been better than expected by far) but Wheeler still brings it. In pitcher friendly PCL league, he pitched in 13 games with a 3.93 ERA over 68.2 innings while striking out 73 batters. There are no MLB players with official batting numbers against him.

Paul Maholm at the age of 31, finds himself at the far end of the veteran scale when compared to the other three starters fans will see today. Maholm is 7-5 over 14 games this year while pitching 86.1 innings with a 3.65 ERA. Last year he was fantastic against the Mets in two starts, he pitched 15.0 innings and allowed no runs at all. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Wright 8-29, 2B
Byrd 3-20, 2B
Buck 4-10, 2B, 3B, HR
Murphy 7-12
Duda 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets start a four game set with the Braves tonight with the key day being the double-header tomorrow that is also Harvey/Wheeler Day but before we can get to that, we have a Dillon Gee game. Yesterday the Mets somehow won. At points yesterday the defense was so poor that it doesn’t even qualify under the word defense. Anyway Byrd hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the ninth and Kirk followed by a three run homer and the Mets…won. (This team is so Mets) Tonight Dillon Gee goes up against Tim Hudson.

Dillon Gee is 5-6 on the season with a 4.84 ERA while pitching 70.2 innings. This now makes three games in a row where Gee has allowed only one run per game, leaving him with an 1.29 ERA over 21.0 innings and 3-0 record. In his only start against the Braves this year, he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings of work. The Braves have the following numbers against Gee:

Heyward 7-15, HR
Uggla 4-21, 2B, 3B
McCann 3-16, 2B
Freeman 2-14
Upton 3-11, 2B, HR
Johnson 3-5, 2B

The Mets bats get a crack at Tim Hudson who is 4-6 while pitching 83.2 innings this year while posting a 4.41 ERA. Tim had a rough May where he saw his ERA blow up from 3.86 to 5.37. So far in June though he has pitched 21.2 innings over three starts with a 1.66 ERA. In one start against the Mets this year he allowed 3 earned runs over 7.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Tim:

Wright 17-79, 2 2B, 3 HR
Duda 6-23, 2B, HR
Murphy 4-18, 2B
Buck 2-16
Turner 1-9
Byrd 1-5

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets try to redeem themselves today as they play the Cubs after dropping the first two games in the series. Yesterday Jon Niese fumbled through his start but left the team in a position where (under normal circumstances with a lineup that can string together hits into runs) a team could still win. That didn’t happen as the bullpen took a misstep, widened the lead and the Mets offense faded into the distance. Today Jeremy Hefner, making another audition to stay in the rotation when Wheeler arrives, faces off against Matt Garza.

Hefner has been a nice surprise on the team this season. Don’t let the 1-6 record fool you, he has been putting in work this season (sorry, I’m with my students too much and it’s changing my vernacular). Over 13 games he has pitched 70.0 innings with a 4.11 ERA walking 22 batters and striking out 51. In his last four games he has pitched to the tune of a 2.52 ERA over 25.0 innings with 21 strikeouts.His last poor start was against the Cubs where he allowed 4 ER over 4.0 innings of work. The Cubs have the following numbers against him:

Schierholtz 2-6
Castro 0-4
Rizzo 1-3
Soriano 1-1, 2B, 2 HBP
Barney 0-2

The Mets bats go up against Garza who is 1-1 over 5 starts and 27.1 innings of work while posting a 6.26 ERA. This is mostly due to his last outing where he allowed 9 ER in 5.0 innings. He wasn’t pitching yet this season when the Mets went to Chicago. The last time the Mets met up with Garza was back in 2011 where he allowed 3 ER in 7.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Buck 3-12, 2 2B
Byrd 4-11, 2 HR
Duda 0-3
Wright 0-3
Turner 0-1

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to bounce back from last night’s game as they face the Cubs in game two with Scott Feldman going up against Jon Niese. Niese is 3-5 over 12 games on the season while pitching 68.0 innings with a 4.24 ERA. In his last four starts he’s totaled 27.0 innings with a 1.69 ERA walking 7 while striking out 18. He missed the Cubs earlier this season and last year he allowed 8 ER over 14.0 innings against the Cubs who have the following numbers agaisnt the Mets:

Soriano 4-14, 2B
Castro 5-13, 3B, HR
Barney 4-9
Rizzo 1-7, 2B
Hairston 0-3

The Mets bats go up against Scott Feldman who is 5-5 over 12 starts and 72.2 innings with a 3.22 ERA. His last four starts have been a palindrome of sorts as he has gone 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 6 IP with 2 ER, 6 IP with 2 ER and most recently 6.0 IP with 5 ER. He looked good against the Mets earlier this season as went 6.2 innings (he has only done that twice this season) allowing 7 hits and no runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Feldman:

Buck 3-15, 2 2B, HR
Wright 1-5
Duda 1-3
Murphy 2-3
Cowgill 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Cubs start a series in New York tonight as the Mets continue to look for a reliable source of offense. Yesterday Harvey allowed one run, and that was enough to lose the game as the Mets bats did nothing for him, even with David Wright going 3-4. Anyway tonight Edwin Jackson gets the nod for Cubs as he goes up against Shaun Marcum.

Marcum was the definition of hard luck in his last outing. After the the Mets / Marlins game went into extras, Marcum took the hill and tossed 7 scorless frames. In his 8th inning, the 20th in the game, he allowed one run, which saddled him with the loss. It was one of the longest relief outings in major league baseball since the late 80’s and an impressive outing for Shaun forcing his season ERA down to 4.96. However, the Mets bats struggled and he is now 0-7 on the season. The Cubs have the following numbers against Marcum:

DeJesus 3-23, 2B
Navarro 5-19, HR
Castro 2-16, 3B, HR
Barney 4-14, 3 2B, HR
Soriano 2-11, 2B

Edwin Jackson is 2-8 this season over 12 games and 65.2 innings while posting an ERA of 5.76. He picked up the loss against the Mets earlier this season allowing 3 ER over 6.2 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Edwin:

Byrd 6-21, 4 2B, HR
Buck 3-16, HR
Wright 4-13, HR
Murphy 2-12, HR
Valdespin 0-6

Lets Go Mets!