213 Miles From Shea

The Mets have the chance to win a series today as they take on Gio Gonzalez and the Washington Nationals. Last night Jon Niese had an excellent pitching performance and he, with Rauch and Francisco, were able to shut out the Naitonals. Hefner will get the start for the Mets today and he is 2-4 on the season over 56.2 innings with a 4.76 ERA. August has been a much better month for Jeremy as he has been in 4 games for 12.1 innings with a 2.13 ERA. Against the Nationals this year he has pitched 12 innings allowing 5 ER. The Nats have the following stats on Hefner:

Espinosa 3-6, 2B, HR
Harper 1-6
LaRoche 2-6, HR
Lombardozzi 2-6
Morse 3-6, HR
Zimmerman 1-5
Desmond 0-3

Gio Gonzalez is 15-6 with a 3.29 ERA over 147.2 innings this year. He has pitched 29.2 innings in his last four starts while posting an ERA of 3.94. He actually faced the Mets in back to back starts this year with two very different stories. The first time he allowed 6 ER over 3 innings, the second time he allowed one unearned run over 7 innings. The Mets have the following numbers on Gio:

Torres 4-15, 2B
Bay 0-8
Hairston 1-8, 2B
Shoppach 0-6
Turner 0-6
Davis 3-5, HR
Tejada 1-5
Wright 1-4, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to bounce back from last night’s game as they play game two with the Nationals in DC. Niese will get the start for the Mets and on the season he is 9-6 over 23 starts and 144.2 innings with an ERA of 3.67. Jon is coming off of a great start against Atlanta where he held the Braves to 1 ER over 8.0 innings while walking 2 and striking out 6. In one start vs Washington this year, he held the Nationals to 1 ER over 7.0 innings, allowing 3 hits, no walks with 8 strikeouts. The Nationals have the following numbers against Jon:

Werth 4-14
LaRoche 3-12, 2 HR
Morse 3-12, 3 2B
Zimmerman 4-11, 2B
Espinosa 3-7, 2B
Harper 1-3

Edwin Jackson, Washington’s starter, is 7-7 this year over 22 starts and 133.1 innings with a 3.74 ERA. In the month of August he has pitched 16.2 innings over 3 games allowing 10 ER but he has also struck out 20 batters over that stretch. Against the Mets this year he has pitched 12 innings over two games allowing 6 runs, 5 earned. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Shoppach 2-13, 2B
Bay 3-12, HR
Torres 2-10, 2B, 3B
Cedeno 2-8, 2B
Wright 2-8
Thole 1-7
Hairston 0-7
Murphy 1-6
Davis 1-3, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets won a game yesterday! Today they try to make it two games in a row as they open up a series in DC with Johan Santana taking Ross Detwiler. Johan will be making his second start since returning from the DL, and it can really only go up from here. On the season he is 6-8 with a 4.58 ERA and in his last start allowing 8 ER over 1.1 innings. In one start against the Nationals this year he allowed one earned run in 5.0 innings of work. The Nationals have the following numbers against Johan:

Werth 8-30, 2 2B, HR
Zimmerman 6-22, HR
LaRoche 3-12, 2 2B
Flores 4-10, 2B
Mores 0-8

The Mets bats will look to pick up where they left off yesterday against Ross Detwiler who is 6-5 over 116.0 innings with a 3.18 ERA. Ross had two good starts in a row (combined 14.0 IP, 2 ER) and is coming off a less than good start allowing 4 runs, 3 earned over 4.2 innings. Against the Mets this year he pitched 14.0 innings, 9 hits and only 1 ER. The Mets have the following numbers on him:

Wright 5-12, 3 2B, HR
Bay 1-9
Hairston 2-6, HR
Tejada 2-6, 2B
Davis 2-5

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Reds play the final game of the series tonight as the Mets will try to avoid being swept for the third series in a row. The Mets were successful in their last two attempts to avoid the sweep and today they will turn to young Matt Harvey to play stopper as he goes up against Homer Bailey.

Matt Harvey is 1-3 over the four starts in his career posting an ERA of 3.63. In his 22.1 innings of work he has allowed 12 walks while striking out 26 batters. His last outing was his first one where he needed a bounce back performance and he delivered allowing only 2 runs over 6 innings of work (5 earned over 5 innings in his previous). Being a rookie making his fifth career start, he has never faced the Reds and has never faced any Reds batters.

The Mets bats will get a look at Homer Bailey today who is 10-7 over 23 starts and 141.1 innings while posting an ERA of 4.08. In his last three starts he has allowed 14 earned runs over 14 innings of work. He had a good start against the Mets earlier this year as he allowed 1 ER over 8.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Bailey:

Cedeno 2-13
Hairston 3-10, 2B, HR
Wright 5-9, 2B
Thole 3-8
Murphy 2-5, 2B
Bay 2-3, 2 2B
Tejada 2-3

Let’s Go Mets!

R.A. Dickey takes the mound today as the Mets go up against Mike Leake and the Reds. Dickey is 15-3 over 23 starts and 162.1 innings with a 2.72 ERA. He pitched his fourth complete game of the season and in his last three starts he has pitched a combined 23.0 innings with an ERA of 1.17. In that stretch he walked only 6 batters and struck out 27 batters. Earlier this season he pitched 6.0 innings against the Reds allowing 4 runs, 3 earned. The Reds have the following numbers against Robert Allen:

Rolen 5-9, 2B, HR
Ludwig 3-8, HR
Valdez 2-8
Phillips 2-8, 2 2B
Stubbs 1-7
Bruce 1-6, 2B

Mike Leake is 4-7 on the season over 22 games and 131.2 innings while posting an ERA of 4.51. In the last three starts he has pitched 13.2 innings while allowing 12 ER, which is really hurt by a 1.1 inning, 5 ER start. Against the Mets this year he made one start allowing 3 runs, 1 earned over 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Leake:

Cedeno 4-11
Wright 1-7
Torres 2-7
Turner 3-6
Murphy 1-6, 2B
Davis 1-5, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!