213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to improve off of yesterdays win as the suddenly extremely successful Braves come into town. The Braves have been lurking all season but in the last month they have really turned it on catching the Nationals as they can. Matt Harvey gets the nod tonight as he goes up against Paul Maholm.

Matt Harvey makes his Citi Field debut, and maybe just as important, his National League East debut. In his first three starts of his career he is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA allowing 7 ER in 16.1 innings of work. In that stretch he has walked 7 batters while striking out 23. His last outing was his worst as he allowed 8 hits, 5 ER and 2 homers in 5.0 innings of work (but walked only one batter, 3 each in his previous two). Being his rookie season and his first start against the Braves, the Braves have no numbers against him.

Paul Maholm is making his second start as a Brave. On the season he is 9-7 with a 3.75 ERA over 127.1 innings. In his first start with the Braves he allowed 3 ER over 7 innings of work. He faced the Mets for all of one inning this season, allowing 2 hits and no runs. Last season he allowed 6 ER, 7 total over 12.2 innings against the Mets, who have the following numbers against Paul:

Wright 7-23, 2B
Torres 2-10, 2B, 3B
Hairston 2-7
Tejada 2-7
Murphy 5-6
Davis 1-2, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

2012 is the set-up season for the Mets 2013 push. That’s how it was advertised in the Spring, that’s how it was advertised when we were doing well in the first half, and that’s how it has been advertised in the current team slump.

An interesting situation that has popped up with the Mets is the lack of standout OF starters. Every starter has some major flaw, which has kept the door open all season. Barring a given OF going on a late season tear or a major Free Agent pick up, it looks like the Mets could seriously head into camp next year with all three positions in open competition.

First, here are the players that could be going for a spot in camp:

– Lucas Duda
– Kirk Nieuwenhuis
– Jordany Valdespin
– Jason Bay
– Mike Baxter
– Matt Den Decker
– Scott Hairston (Not Signed for 2013)

Let’s start with Hairston. Hairston is not signed for 2013. I’m not sure if the Mets will resign him. He has had tremendous season, so his price will be a lot higher, and he has a lot of leverage with the Mets since they struggle with right handed batters. If the Mets can get someone else as a free agent, then they’ll pass with Hairston. As good as Hairston is, it looks like Bay will be a platoon hitter next year, which will drop Hairston’s playing time depending on the other OF spots.

Since we are talking about Bay, Alderson is on record recently saying he isn’t moving Bay or eating his contract, although it is clear that he has been benched. He’s a handcuffed roster spot now.

Lucas Duda probably has the best chance of making a starting spot out of camp. Despite his recent struggles, he has the pedigree and a lot of times teams go with the beast they know, rather than the one they don’t.

Baxter is good, but he hasn’t shown yet that he can be a starter, neither has Jordany for that much. Jordany has a higher ceiling so every positive thing he does in camp will be weighed a lot more than Baxter. However Baxter’s performance this year makes it clear that he would be heading for the Mets bench, so leg up for Jordany.

Kirk will have to go toe to toe with Den Dekker. Kirk has cooled off so much that he landed himself back in AAA when the team needed someone in the OF while Den Dekker has been impressive but unproven in the majors. September will be interesting if both get called up and both get playing time. Open competition might be exactly what they are in Spring.

At the end of the day, Bay really hurts us, and the Mets could be running a situation in 2013 like they are now with no starters in the OF but rather 5 players who cycle through depending on the pitcher.

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!