213 Miles From Shea

The Mets already have had two minor league players that have elected for free agency: Jack Egbert and Garrett Olson.

Both players were far, far down on the depth chart coming out of Spring this past year, and they each pitched in a singular MLB this season:

Egbert (May 28), 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 K, 0 BB
Olson (Aug 8), 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER

I was at that game that Olson pitched (the Mets lost 13-0). Since that was the only game that Olson ever pitched in a Mets uniform, his career ERA as a Met is 108.00.

As you can tell by the numbers (in terms of usage), this is not a loss to the Mets organization.

In my opinion, there are two benefits to the new Post Season Model in Major League Baseball.

First, winning your division means something. You don’t want to be put in a one game playoff.

Second, it makes the end of the season more exciting. This point isn’t as objective and benign as the first point, but it still holds true. Forcing these effective game 163’s, and increasing the chances of actual 163’s feels contrived and manufactured, but they are exciting.

Now the new Wild Card format feels classic like how the “World Baseball Classic” feels classic, but last night, as you know by now, an umpire call changed the course of the game, the fans started throwing objects on the field and the Wild Card game between the Cardinals and the Braves became legitimately historic.

To make a long story short, ball was hit to the shallow-ish part of the OF, fell between two fielders who thought the other fielder called it, and as it came down, the Umpire called the infield fly rule.

The reactions to this play generally call for one or two revisions to Major League Baseball. Some call into doubt the playoff system. Others call a revision for the infield fly rule and/or Umpire placements in the playoffs. This call was a direct result of an interpretation of the rule, but throwing out the playoff system is a disproportionate response.

Game changing moments in games that shouldn’t happen, happen all the time. They are usually hidden deep in a season or in a playoff series, so the reform movement doesn’t come up as much. What happened to the Braves sucks, but for the overall fairness of Major League Baseball, this new format is the best possible. It makes winning the division mean something, and a three game series would give the winner of that series a distinct advantage over division winners as well.

The Mets end their 2012 season, for better or for worse, today in Miami. It’s been an interesting ride and even though it has been exhausting for a while, there were moments of pure exhilaration and at the start of the season until June, there was a lot of hope. As always, I’ll miss this team in the off-season.

Hefner gets the nod for the Mets today. Jeremy is 3-7 on the season over 86.1 innings with a 5.32 ERA. Hefner’s last start was a good rebound. If you recall, two starts ago, Hefner allowed 7 earned runs without recording a single out. Last time out he pitched 7 innings of shutout ball. Against the Marlins this year he has allowed 2 ER over 7 innings of work. The Marlins have the following numbers against Hefner:

Lee 2-4
Reyes 1-4
Stanton 1-4
Dobbs 1-3
Peterson 1-3, 2B

Tom Koehler will be making his first major league start of his career this afternoon. In 7 games this year he has pitched 8.1 innings allowing 5 ER. He has pitched 1.2 innings against the Mets this year allowing one earned run, thus the Mets have the following numbers against him:

Tejada 0-2
Baxter 1-1, 2B
Bay 0-1
Hairston 0-1
Murphy 1-1
Shoppach 1-1, 2B
Wright 0-1

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to rebound from last night as they send out the best story in 2012 to mound in R.A. Dickey. Dickey is 20-6 over 227.0 innings with a 2.69 ERA and 222 strikeouts. He has pitched 59.1 innings in his last 8 games while posting a 2.12 ERA. Against the Marlins this year he is 5-0 in as many starts with an ERA of 1.38. The Marlins have the following numbers against Dickey:

Lee 9-33, 3 2B, HR
Reyes 2-23
Dobbs 3-21, 3B
Stanton 4-17, 3B
Buck 3-16, 2B
Peterson 2-13, 2B
Cousins 0-7

The Mets draw Jacob Turner again who is 2-5 on the season over 9 games and 47.1 innings while posting a 4.94 ERA. In the month of September he has pitched 24.0 innings in 4 games while allowing 12 runs, 7 earned. His worst start was against the Mets where he allowed 8 hits, 6 runs, 3 earned in 5 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Turner:

Davis 1-3
Hairston 2-3, 3B, HR
Murphy 1-2
Tejada 1-3, 2B
Thole 1-2, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins open up in Miami for the final series of the season tonight as Jeurys Familia gets the start tonight against Josh Johnson. Familia has pitched 8.1 innings in 7 games so far this season allowing 8 ER and tonight he will be making his first start. He was 9-9 in 28 starts this season in Buffalo while pitching 137.0 innings with a 4.73 ERA. He has never faced the Marlins in the major league, nor has faced any Marlins hitters in the majors.

The Mets bats will start the close of the season by facing Josh Johnson who is 8-14 over 31 starts this season pitching 191.0 innings with a 3.81 ERA. He is 1-3 in his last four starts where he has pitched 26.0 innings with a 3.46 ERA. He’s 0-1 in three starts against the Mets pitching 20.1 innings with a 2.18 ERA as the Mets have the following numbers against Johnson:

Wright 8-37, 2B, 3B, HR
Murphy 6-26, 2 2B
Davis 2-14
Thole 4-12, 2 2B
Bay 5-12, 3B, HR
Torres 5-8, 3 2B, HR

Let’s Go Mets!