213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and Padres play game two today as the Mets continue their 11 game road trip. Yesterday the Mets dropped the game by the score of 1-3 with their 1989 road uniforms. Jeremy Hefner gets the nod for the Mets as he lines up against Volquez.

Hefner is 1-4 over 14 games and 5 starts this season with 44.0 innings of work while posting an ERA of 5.52. In his last two games he has pitched 11.2 innings allowing 7 runs, 6 earned 5 BB and 12 K’s. One of his worst starts of the season came against the Padres as he allowed 9 hits and 6 earned runs in 3.2 innings of work. The Padres have the following numbers against Hefner:

Maybin 2-3
Venable 2-3, 2 2B
Alonso 1-2, 2B
Cabrera 1-2
Guzman 1-2
Headley 0-2

The Mets bats will try to score runs against Volquez today who is 7-7 over 22 games and 133.1 innings of work while posting an ERA of 3.51. In his last two games he has pitched 12 innings with 7 ER and 13 K’s. Earlier this year he made one start against the Mets pitching 5.2 inning allowing 2 hits and 2 earned runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Volquez:

Wright 1-7
Cedeno 0-8
Baxter 2-6, 2B, HR
Hairston 0-4
Murphy 2-3
Bay 0-3
Davis 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets start the last series of their West Coast road trip as they travel into San Diego for a three game set. Their road trip started off by splitting a four game set in Arizona followed by winning three of four against the Giants. Tonight R.A. Dickey takes the start for the Mets as he faces Clayton Richard.

Dickey is 14-2 over 22 games, 21 starts and 146.1 innings with an ERA of 2.83. His last start was a good one as he allowed 1 ER and 4 H over 7.0 innings, 3 BB and 8 K’s. He faced the Padres earlier this season and he allowed no earned runs over 7.1 innings while striking out 10 batters. The Padres have the following numbers against R.A.:

Kotsay 4-9, 2 HR
Maybin 4-12
Venable 3-9, 3B, HR
Forsythe 2-5, 2 2B
Guzman 2-6, 2B
Cabrera 0-3
Headley 0-3

Clayton Richard is 7-11 over 22 starts this year with a 4.14 ERA over 145.2 innings of work. He was 2-3 in 6 games in July with a 5.09 ERA over 40.2 innings. He picked up the loss against the Mets earlier this season when he allowed 4 ER over 6 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Richard:

Torres 5-19
Wright 3-10, 2B
Bay 2-5
Davis 0-6
Hairston 2-3, HR
Johnson 2-3
Murphy 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

In April, the Giants took three games of four from the Mets in Queens. Today, the Mets look to return the favor today as they look to win the four game series against the Giants. So far in the series the Mets have taken down Madison and Cain. Today Chris Young will get the start against Barry Zito.

Chris Young is 2-5 this season over 10 starts and 57.0 innings with a 4.58 ERA. His last start was a rough one as he allowed 6 ER and 7 hits in 4 innings of work. He missed the Giants the first time around this season and the last time he saw them was in 2009 where he allowed only 1 ER in 20.0 innings of work. The Giants have the following numbers against Young:

Theriot 2-7, 2 HR
Scutaro 2-7, 2 2B
Blanco 1-3, 2B
Huff 1-2

Barry Zito is 8-7 on the season posting a 3.87 ERA with 118.0 innings of work. In the month of July he made four starts totaling 24.1 innings of work with an ERA of 4.07. Earlier this season he allowed 2 ER in 5.0 innings against the Mets. The Mets have the following numbers against Zito:

Hairston 7-29, 2B, HR
Wright 4-15, 2B
Bay 3-10, HR
Davis 0-6
Tejada 2-5
Torres 1-3, 3B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets offense faded yesterday, but they look to step up again today as the Mets continue their series with the Giants tonight. Matt Harvey was still quality last night but the Mets bats decided to just slip into the night. Jon Niese gets the start today as he takes on Matt Cain.

Jon Niese is 7-5 with a 3.86 ERA on the season over 20 games and 123.2 innings of work. July has been rough for Jon. He pitches well, the he doesn’t, he pitches great, then he really doesn’t. Three starts ago he allowed 1 ER over 7 innings, then 3 ER over 7 innings, then 8 ER over 6 innings.  Against the Giants earlier this season, he allowed 3 ER over 6 innings of work. The Giants have the following numbers against Niese:

Cabrera 4-9, 2B
Posey 3-6, 2 2B
Theriot 1-3
Blanco 1-4
Crawford 0-3
Huff 2-2

Matt Cain is 10-3 with a 2.80 ERA on the season over 20 games and 141.2 innings of work. In his last two starts he has allowed 8 ER over 15 innings of work. He missed the Mets earlier this season and last year he picked up the win as he allowed no runs in 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Matt Cain:

Wright 9-21, 5 2B
Hairston 3-15, HR
Bay 4-10, 2B
Murphy 2-7, 2B
Tejada 0-5

Let’s Go Mets!

And just like that, the Mets have won three games of their last five. The Mets offense was able overcome the Giants and the Mets bullpen last night to win the game in extra innings. Tonight, the Mets will hope to win more conventional manner not involving a bullpen meltdown as Matt Harvey makes his second major league start against Tim Lincecum.

Matt Harvey was awesome in his major league debut. As you already know, he pitched 5.1 innings, allowed no runs, and struck out 11, which was a record for a Met his debut. Thus, not only did he win, he set the bar really high for himself tonight and extremely high for Wheeler’s debut (hopefully not sooner than) next season. With only one major league game under his belt, he has not faced the Giants or any current batters on the Giants (unless if there was a trade I’m not aware about).

The Mets draw Tim Lincecum who is 4-11 this season with an ERA of 5.88 over116.1 innings of work. He leads the league in losses and in the month of July over five starts he has an ERA of 6.84. That includes an 8 inning shutout game and a 1 ER over 7 inning game. In other words, his three other starts were really bad. He faced the Mets earlier this season and he picked up the win after allowing 1 ER over 5 innings. It was his first win of the season. The Mets have the following numbers against Tim:

Wright 2-19
Davis 3-12
Bay 2-10
Hairston 1-10
Murphy 5-11, 2 2B
Tejada 2-6
Thole 2-7, 2B

Let’s Go Mets