213 Miles From Shea

The Mets try to salvage one game of the Phillies series this afternoon after dropping the first two. The Mets are also on their first three game losing streak of the season. Yesterday Marcum only lasted 4 innings allowing 3 earned runs and then Carson allowed 5 runs the inning after. At that point, things looked pretty bleak for the Mets. Hopefully Niese will be able to pull the Mets out of this rut as he squares up against Hamels.

Jon Niese is 2-1 on the season over 5 games and 26.0 innings with a 3.81 ERA. Over those 26 innings he has walked 12 batters and struck out 14 batters. Last year Niese faced the Phillies 5 times with a 2-1 record and a 2.93 ERA over 30.2 innings. The Phillies have the following numbers against Jon Niese:

Rollins 7-33, 2 2B
Mayberry 9-28, 2 2B, 3 HR
Utley 2-15
Howard 1-15
Young 2-3

The Mets draw the ace of the Phillies staff this afternoon in Cole Hamels. So far this series the Mets bats have not been able to figure out the back of the rotation, maybe because the universe makes very little sense when it comes to Mets baseball, they’ll be able to figure out Hamels. Hamels is 0-3 this season with a 5.40 ERA over the 5 starts and in his last three starts he has a 2.57 ERA. He was 2-0 against the Mets last year over 4 starts with a 3.86 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Cole:

Wright 17-55, 3 2B, 3B, 4 HR
Tejada 5-22
Buck 2-22, 2 HR
Murphy 6-20, 2B, HR
Davis 6-19, HR
Byrd 3-11

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to rebound after a subpar group of games today as they play the Phillies in game two of the series. Last night the Mets bats were shut down for the second day in a row as scoring was hard to come by. The team had an incredible streak of run scoring earlier in the season, so hopefully the can get it going against against Pettibone today.

The main headline for Mets today is the debut of Shawn Marcum. Marcum was 7-4 last year over 21 starts and 124.0 innings with a 3.70 ERA. Marcum hasn’t faced the Phillies since 2011. Back then he pitched 12.2 innings over two starts with a 3.55 ERA. Marcum’s velocity is down from last year but he’s a professional pitcher and I’m excited to watch him go to work today (and comparing him to a Laffey start makes Marcum relatively great). The Phillies have the following numbers against Marcum:

Young 4-16, 2 2B
Howard 4-8, 3 HR
Rollins 3-10
Utley 3-7, HR

The Mets bats draw Jonathan Pettibone making his second career start. In his Major League debut he went 5.1 innings allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs against the Pirates. During that start he didn’t walk a batter and struck out 6. He had a good year in the minors last year pitching nearly 160 innings with a 3.10 ERA. This year he struggled in his two starts allowing 10 earned runs, 12 total in 9.1 innings. I’m curious to see what the Mets do against him today.

Lets go Mets!

The Mets look to bounce back from dropping a series against the Dodgers by taking one from Phillies tonight at Citi Field. Yesterday was a frustrating day as the Mets offense just could not build any rallies off of Hefner’s strong start and ended up losing 3-2 after winning the previous game with a walk off grand slam. Tonight Dillon Gee will take the mound for the Mets as he squares off against Kyle Kendrick.

Dillon Gee is now 1-3 on the seasoon with a 5.85 ERA over 19.2 innings of work. He looked a lot better in his last start against the Nationals where he allowed 3 hits and no runs over 5.2 innings of work and tonight he has a shot of redemption. In his last start against the Phillies, the second start of the season for Gee, he allowed 7 ER over 3.0 innings. Now he gets the Phillies outside of their sand box and inside of Citi Field. The Phillies have the following numbers against him:

Mayberry 4-11, 2B, 2 HR
Rollins 7-11, 2B
Utley 2-10, 2B
Howard 3-9, 3 HR
Nix 2-6
Young 4-5, 2 HR

Kyle Kendrick is 1-1 this season over 4 starts with a 3.28 ERA. Kendrick’s only bad start was the first of the season where he allowed 5 ER over 5.2 innings, after that he has allowed 2 ER or less between 6 or 7 innings (including a 2 ER, 6 IP outing against the Mets). On the bad side, he has allowed 8 hits in three of his four starts this year. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Wright 11-34, 2 2B, 2 HR
Davis 4-19, 2 2B
Murphy 3-17, 2B
Duda 3-12, 2 2B, HR
Buck 1-10, HR
Baxter 3-6, 2B, HR

Lets Go Mets!

The Dodgers and Mets finish off their three game series this afternoon as the Mets look to take another series via the rubber game. Last night the Mets rallied in the 9th inning to tie the game 3-3 and then won on a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the tenth via Jordany Valdespin. Hopefully the magic continues today as Jeremy Hefner takes on rookie Hyun-jin Ryu.

Hefner had another off start last time out lasting 4.0 innings allowing 3 ER. He started the season well allowing only one earned run over 6 innings of work. Since that start he’s pitched 8.0 innings and has allowed 10 ER. Last year he made 3 appearances (no starts) against the Dodgers pitching a total of 4.0 innings allowing only 2 ER. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Hefner:

A.J. Ellis 0-2
Cruz 0-1
Ethier 0-1
Kemp 1-1, 3B
Uribe 0-1

The Mets bats will get their first look at Hyun-jin Ryu today who is 2-1 with a 4.01 ERA over four starts this season. In his first two starts he lasted 6.1 innings and since then he has gone an even 6 innings in each start. Each start has also gotten progressively worse for him as he has allowed 1 ER, 2 ER, 3 ER and 5 ER in that order. As you can imagine, he’s never played against the Mets and this is his rookie season, so there are no batting statics against anyone currently on the Mets.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to rebound after last night’s loss against the Dodgers as they play game two tonight. It’s the time of the week that all Mets fans look forward to because ITS HARVEY DAY.

If no one has wished you a Happy Harvey Day yet today, well a Happy Harvey day to you. Harvey will be making his fifth start of the season today. Fun fact, if the Mets wear the blue softball tops (and I don’t think they will) then Harvey will have worn 5 different jersey tops in his first 5 starts of the season. Anyway Harvey has dominated this season posting a 4-0 record with a 0.93 ERA over 29.0 innings where he has struck out 32 batters. Harvey has never faced the Dodgers and the only Dodger who has statistics against him is Schumaker who was 1-3 last year.

For the Dodgers, Ted Lilly will be making his season debut for a starting rotation that has caught a serious injury bug. Last year Lilly was 5-1 over 8 starts  over 48.2 innings with a 3.14 ERA. This year, he has allowed 13 ER, 15 total over 17 innings in three starts in the minor leagues. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2011 where he allowed 3 ER and 6 hits over 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Lilly:

Byrd 8-17, 2B, HR
Murphy 1-6, 2B
Wright 1-5
Buck 1-4
Cowgill 1-3
Duda 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Dodgers start a series tomorrow night as the Mets look to build off of a series win against the Nationals. The Mets are catching the Dodgers at a good time as several players are struggling and moral is low. The Dodgers catch the Mets at an interesting time as they just beat two of the better pitchers in baseball (Strasburg, Zimmermann) and the Mets will get another challenge tonight in Clayton Kershaw.

Jon Niese had two rough starts in a row in two cold weather environments. In his first two starts, he was 2-0 over 12.2 innings with 9 strikeouts and a 2.13 ERA. In his next starts he was 1-1 after pitching 11.0 innings allowing 8 runs with 7 earned. Tonight he looks to channel the first two starts. He had a no decision in one start last year against the Dodgers allowing 3 ER over 7 innings. The Dodgers have the following against Niese:

Uribe 0-11
Hairston 1-10
Kemp 4-9
Ethier 4-9
Cruz 1-5
Punto 0-5

The Mets batters will try to rough Kershaw tonight who is 2-2 with a 1.88 ERA in his first four starts on the season. He started off the season with 16.2 scoreless innings which he followed up with 6 ER over 12.2 innings. He had one start against the Mets last year and he allowed 3 runs, 1 earned over 7 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Clayton:

Wright 2-12, 2B
Buck 1-8
Turner 1-10
Byrd 6-9
Tejada 3-5
Davis 1-6, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are have a couple of question marks in the starting rotation and by the end of the month, if Hefner doesn’t up his game, he may be on the way out (to the pen). While Wheeler will probably get the first call up in late May/June, there is room for another pitcher to move up. If someone else moves up, there may be some shuffling in the lower leagues. Anyway, here are some stat lines that may jump off the page:

Las Vegas:
Collin McHugh: 2-0, 3 G, 18.0 IP, 0.50 ERA, 2 BB, 15 K

Binghamton:
Rafeal Montero: 3-0, 4 G, 22.2 IP, 1.59 ERA, BB, 27 K
Logan Verrett: 2-0, 3 G, 19.2 IP, 2.75 ERA, 6 BB, 11 K

St. Lucie:
Domingo Tapia: 2-1, 4 G, 19.2 IP, 2.29 ERA, 7 BB, 18 K
Hansel Robles: 1-1, 3 G, 15.2 IP, 3.45 ERA, 4 BB, 10 K

Savannah:
Matthew Bowman: 2-0, 3 G, 16.2 IP, 1.62 ERA, 4 BB, 14 K
Steven Matz: 1-0, 3 G, 14.0 IP, 1.29 ERA, 4 BB, 18 K

Looking forward to seeing how these guys develop!

From time to time this season, let’s check in on some former Mets and see how they are doing with their new clubs:

Josh Thole (AAA Buffalo): 11-31 (.355 BA), 3 R, 2B, 8 RBI
Mike Nickeas (AAA Buffalo): 2-19 (.105 BA)
Fernando Martinez (Houston): Activated, Playing In His First Game Back Now
Mike Pelfrey (Twins): 2-1, 3 G, 12.1 IP, 20 H, 12 R, 10 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 7.30 ERA
Jeff Francoer (Royals): 15-54 (.278 BA), 5 R, 3 2B, HR, 5 RBI
RA Dickey (Blue Jays): 2-2, 4 G, 23.0 IP, 22 H, 13 R, 11 ER, 9 BB, 20 K, 4.30 ERA
Jason Bay (Mariners): 7-33 (.212 BA), 5 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
John Maine (Marlins): DFA, more to come

Anybody else you wan to see on this list? Let me know!

The Mets and Nationals find themselves in a rubber game this afternoon as the Mets look to rebound from yesterday’s 7-6 loss. After a phenomenal start on Friday, the Mets pitching could not repeat which put the Mets offense in a tight position.Gee looks to get back on the right track today as he takes on Jordan Zimmermann.

Gee is 0-3 this season in as many starts with a 8.36 ERA over 14 innings of work. Looking closer at his stats, he started off with a 6.1 inning performance where he allowed one run, followed by 7 ER over 3 innings and then 5 ER in 4.2 innings. In one start against the Nationals last year, he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned over 8 hits in a 5.1 inning start. The Nationals have the following numbers against Gee:

Werth 5-15, 2B
Desmond 4-15, 2 HR
Espinosa 1-11
LaRoche 0-6
Suzuki 0-2

The Mets bats get to rip apart Jordarn Zimmermann today who is 3-0 this season with a 2.45 ERA over 22.0 innings. Last year he was very good against the Mets with a 1-0 record over 4 games and 23.0 innings with the Mets where he posted a 1.96 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Jordan:

Wright 9-27, 2 2B, 2 HR
Murphy 7-21, 2 2B, HR
Davis 3-13, 2B, HR
Tejada 5-13,
Buck 3 -11, 2 2B
Duda 2-11, 2B
Valdespin 1-4, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to take the series today against the Nationals! Last night was a -ahem- Harvelous or Matt-tastic day for the Mets as Matt Harvey dominated the Nationals over 7 innings. Also during the game Ike and Duda broke out with two homers each providing some exciting pop to a great game. If you were there, you know how awesome the crowd was and how into it we were. Anyway, today will be a tougher order for the Mets as they go against Gio Gonzalez and counter with Jeremy Hefner.

Hefner is 0-2 this season with a 7.20 ERA and this has really been a result of his last start. He started off the season pitching 6.0 innings allowing only one earned run and in the following start he allowed 5 ER over 3 innings of work and then allowed 2 earned runs in an inning of relief. He had three starts against the Nationals last year where he had a 5.29 ERA over 17 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

Harper 3-9, 2B, 3B, HR
LaRoche 2-9, HR
Zimmerman 2-8
Espinosa 4-8, 2 HR
Desmond 0-6
Lombardozzi 2-6

The Mets look to continue in knocking in the homers against Gio Gonzalez today who is 1-1 this season over 3 starts and a 4.50 ERA. Over those three starts he’s pitched 16 innings allowing 8 ER while walking 7 and striking out 15 batters. Last season he was 3-1 against the Mets over as many starts pitching 22.0 innings with a 3.28 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Gio:

Buck 2-11, 2B
Davis 4-10, 2B, HR
Wright 2-9, HR
Turner 1-10
Byrd 1-6
Tejada 2-6
Duda 1-2

Lets Go Mets!