213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to forget about last night as quickly as they possibly can as they play the Marlins again for a day game at Citi Field. The Mets will be sending out R.A. Dickey to wash out the starting pitching of yesterday as the Mets bats look to remind the world that they can hit and score runs as the play Josh Johnson.

R.A. Dickey is 14-3 this season with a 2.82 ERA over 153.1 innings of work. In his last two starts he has pitched a combined 14.0 innings allowing 2 ER, 3 runs total with a 1-1 record. He’s allowed only 3 ER over 13.0 innings against the Marlins this season. The Marlins have the following numbers against Dickey:

Buck 3-10
Cousins 0-2
Reyes 0-4
Kearns 1-3

Josh Johnson is 7-7 on the season with a 3.85 ERA over 22 starts and 133.1 innings. Johnson had a rough start to July but he’s rebounding nicely allowing only 2 ER over 13.2 innings while striking out 13 K’s. He allowed one earned run over 6.2 innings against the Mets this year. The Mets have the following numbers Johnson:

Wright 7-32, 3B, HR
Murphy 6-20, 2 2B
Bay 5-12, 3B, HR
Davis 1-9
Thole 2-7, 2 2B
Tejada 0-4
Torres 3-3, 2 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins play game two tonight as the Mets look to remember how to win a home game. Last night the Mets lost by the score of 4-2, and really Niese had only one bad inning and the Mets had the opportunity to move runners, it just didn’t happen. Anyway, Chris Young gets the start tonight as he goes against one of the newer Marlins, Nathan Eovaldi.

Chris Young is 3-5 with a 4.22 ERA over 11 games and 64.0 innings of work. Like Niese, Young also rebounded nicely from Arizona in San Francisco. Against the Giants in his last outing he allowed one earned run in 7 innings of work while walking none and striking out 4. In his career against the Marlins he allowed one earned run in 19 innings of work. The Marlins have the following numbers against Young:

Dobbs 3-11, 2B
Reyes 1-12, 3B
Lee 2-6
Kearns 2-5
Buck 0-2

The Mets get another look at Nathan Eovaldi. Specifically, the Mets get their third look at Nathan. As a Marlin, he has made two starts, allowed 7 ER over 7.1 innings. Nathan made one bad start and one good start against the Mets this year. In his first outing, he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings. In his second start, he allowed 1 earned run and 7 hits over 4.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Eovaldi:

Tejada 0-6
Wright 1-5
Davis 2-4, 2B, HR
Murphy 3-3, 2 2B
Thole 1-3
Valdespin 2-3

Let’s Go Mets!

After going 6-5 on an 11 game road trip, the Mets return home to start a home stand against the Marlins and Braves. Jose Reyes will be coming back to Citi, but not with as many friends as he had in his last visit. The Marlins had a major sell off and are now without Ramirez, Infante (Thank You Baseball Gods), and Anibal Sanchez. Tonight Jon Niese gets the star against Wade LeBlanc.

Niese is 8-5 on the season with a 3.72 ERA over 21 starts and 130.2 innings. Niese rebounded from his bad start in Arizona nicely in San Francisco as he allowed only one earned run over 7 innings. Niese has done well against the Marlins this year allowing only 2 ER over 13 innings, allowing 9 hits and striking out 10 batters. The Marlins have the following numbers against Niese:

Lee 2-10
Kearns 2-9, 2B
Reyes 0-4
Buck 0-4

The Mets bats, who just finished playing the Padres, will face a former Padre tonight in Wade LeBlanc. LeBlanc has pitched in 12 games, one start this season totaling 20.0 innings with an ERA of 1.35.  In his first start of the year against Atlanta last time out, he allowed one earned run in 4.1 innings of work. He made one start against the Mets in 2011 where he allowed 2 ER over 6 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Wade:

Torres 1-10, HR
Cedeno 3-6, 2 2B, HR
Wright 3-5, HR
Johnson 2-3, 2 2B
Davis 1-3
Hairston 1-3, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets finally end this 11 game road trip today as they take on the Padres for the series. So far on the trip, the Mets took 2 of 4 from the Diamondbacks, 3 of 4 from the Giants, and 1 of 2 from the Padres. A win today would mean that the Mets have won or split a series three times in a row. Matt Harvey will get the start for the Amazin’s as he takes on Jason Marquis.

Matt Harvey is 1-1 over two starts this season with a 1.59 ERA while pitching 11.1 innings. In that stretch he has allowed 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned has walked 6 batters and struck out an amazing 18 batters. Being the third start in his major league career, Harvey has not seen any of the batters on the Padres roster before in the majors, thus there are no batting statistics to report.

Jason Marquis, the pitcher who annually calls the Mets for employment, makes the start for the Padres this afternoon. On the season he is 6-10 over 18 starts, 102.1 innings of work with a 5.54 ERA. With the Padres this year, he is 4-6 over 11 starts and 68.1 innings of work. His numbers were better over the course of July as he made 6 starts, 36 innings of work with an ERA of 5.o0, but his last start was a stinker as he allowed 7 ER in 6.1 innings of work. In 2011 he pitched in two games against the Mets allowing 4 ER over 9.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Jason:

Bay 16-45, 4 2B, 3B, 5 HR
Wright 14-34, 3 2B, 2 HR
Cedeno 7-16, 4 2B, 3B
Murphy 3-9, 3 2B
Hairston 1-7
Davis 2-3

Let’s Go Mets!

Busy weekend for those of you who follow the players of the 2006 Mets team as two of the Mets fan favorites from that season are on the move.

First, the Orioles designated Endy Chavez for assignment in order to make room for Nate McLouth. Buck Showalter, the Orioles Manager, is quoted in MLB Trade Rumors saying that the GM will try to do something with Endy. You may recall that there was some minor interest from the Mets last winter for bringing in Chavez who ultimately signed a one year, 1.5 million contract with Baltimore.

I’m not sure if the Mets should be interested here. We have a lot of OF. We have also have had limited success with a lot of outfielders. So I doubt but secretly hope that he ends up back in a Mets uniform, even though I think it would be a dumb move.

Xavier Nady was outright released by the Nationals last month, and it looks like he has signed a deal with the Washington Nationals.  It looks to be a minor league contract, which he signed from the Nationals last January.