213 Miles From Shea

The Mets try to get back on the right track today as they face the Reds in an early afternoon game. The Mets just couldn’t get it done yesterday as Niese made really only one bad pitch and the bats failed to bail him out. Chris Young gets his third start of the season for the Amazin’s today. So far he is 1-0 in his two starts with a 3.38 ERA over 10.2 innings of work. Young faced the Reds back in 2010 where he picked up the win in 5.0 innings of work allowing only 1 ER. The Reds have the following numbers against Chris:

Harris 1-12
Valdez 3-7, 2B
Phillips 0-4
Bruce 1-3

The bats will try to wake up against Johnny Cueto who is 7-3 this season over 13 starts and 87.2 innings with a 2.46 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 23.2 innings with a 2.28 ERA. His last start out was his second complete game of the year. Last season Johnny allowed 7 hits and 0 ER in 5.0 innings against the Mets, but thanks to the defense the Mets scored 6 unearned runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Johnny:

Wright 5-14, HR
Torres 1-7
Murphy 1-4
Davis 1-3
Turner 2-3, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Reds play game two this afternoon as the Mets try to get out on the right foot. Last night the Mets offense stuttered and suffered another injury as Jason Bay went down with another concussion. And honestly, at this point, from a human perspective, you have to be worried because as we all know head injuries are serious let alone multiple head injuries. Anyway, Jon Niese looks to take down the Reds offense today as the Mets bats look to bring that Tampa charm on Homer Bailey.

Niese is 4-2 on the season with a 3.69 ERA over 12 starts and 68.1 innings of work. In his last two starts, Niese has pitched 13.0 innings while allowing 0 earned runs (2 unearned runs in his last start). Last season he picked up the win against the Reds in one start while allowing 5 ER over 5 innings of work. The Reds have the following numbers against Niese:

Valdez 7-19, 3 2B
Phillips 5-10, 2B, 2 HR
Votto 2-8, HR
Bruce 1-6
Cairo 1-5

Bailey is 4-4 on the season with a 4.35 ERA over 12 starts and 72.1 innings of work. In his last two starts he has pitched a combined 9.2 innings and has allowed 9 ER but has also struck out 9 batters. Last season, Bailey pitched against the Mets twice totaling 9.0 innings of work with 13 ER (or a 13.0 ERA). The Mets have the following numbers on Homer:

Hairston 2-7, HR
Wright 4-6
Thole 2-5
Murphy 1-1
Duda 2-2, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

What a difference a few days make. At the start of this week, people were jumping off of the Mets bandwagon like it was the Titanic as the offense went to sleep for 6 games. The Mets are coming off of a three game set where the offense was on another planet, and they hope to bring that back to Citi Field as they take on the Reds. Dillon Gee gets the start for the Mets tonight as he takes on Bronson Arroyo.

Dillon Gee is 4-4 over 12 starts and 77.1 innings this season with a 4.42 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 20.2 innings with an 0-1 record and a 3.05 ERA. Gee has never faced the Reds, and the only Reds that have experience against Gee is Valdez, who 3-6, 2B and Mat Latos (a pitcher) 0-2.

The Mets bats will get a crack at Bronson Arroyo tonight, who is 2-4 on the season over 76.0 innings.  In his last three starts he has pitched 17.1 innings with an 0-2 record and a 5.71 ERA. Last year against the Mets he was 0-1 over two starts and pitched 14.0 innings allowing 9 runs, 8 earned. The Mets have the following numbers Arroyo:

Wright 8-35, HR
Bay 6-27, 2 2B
Murphy 6-10, 2 2B
Thole 4-7
Davis 1-5
Duda 1-2, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets go for the three game sweep tonight as they take on the Rays in Tampa. Last night was another tremendous night for this team as Dickey absolutely crushed the Rays and made a strong case to be the National League All-Star starter. In addition to strong pitching, all of the Mets struggling hitters came through as the Mets made another huge dent in their run differential. Today Johan Santana looks to bounce back as he takes on Jeremy Hellickson.

Santana’s first start since coming off of the no-hitter was a rough one as he allowed 6 ER over 5 innings of work. On the season Santana has made 12 starts with a 2.96 ERA over 73.0 innings of work. Before his last rough outing, Johan threw back to back complete game shutouts. In his career he is 3-3 over 68.2 innings of work against the Rays with a 2.75 ERA and a 1.85 ERA over 24.1 innings at Tampa. The Rays have the following numbers against Santana:

Matsui 12-29, 3 2B, 2 HR
Pena 8-26, 2B, 3 HR
Upton 1-7
Zobrist 0-9
Molina 2-8, HR

The Mets bats look to continue their rival in Tampa as they take on Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson is 4-2 over 12 starts this season and 74.2 innings with a 2.65 ERA. He has been more or less on his season numbers in his last four starts as he has pitched 26.0 innings with a 2.42 ERA. Being a young starter, he hasn’t made any starts against the Mets, nor does he have any numbers against any current Mets.

Let’s Go Mets!

As an astrophysicist and Whovian, I often ponder time travel and what happens when you alter an event in time. What are the quatum outcomes of such an event?

Look, the Mets shouldn’t appeal the hit in the first inning. The basic argument I can make is that if the Mets appeal the hit, then the Cardinals can appeal the Beltran ruling. Are we going to then give Dickey a No-No and then take away Santana’s?

I know the counter point to what I just wrote is that Beltran’s hit is due to an umpire ruling while the Wright error is due to the score keeper at the ball park. Even though that is true, I don’t think we can just make that hit disappear and pretend that for certain everything would go the same.

Dickey had incredible stuff last night, but things change during a no-hitter, especially from the opposing batters perspective. If the Rays had no hits in the late innings, there is no guarentee they would have made the same decisions at the plate, when to swing, when to take, when to bunt, etc.

Also, what if Wright fielded it cleanly? Did he really have enough time to get to first? If he gloved it, it would have been close. If he fielded it cleanly with his hand, he probably gets the out. But, we also see a lot of balls hit like this every day that can go either way. It was a hard hit ball, it was a difficult play. It’s a hit. We know the rules for what is a hit or an error can be extremely subjective at times.

Baseball has a human element. It has always been part of the game and last night it may have or may not have screwed the Mets out of a no-hitter. We’ll never know. And since we’ll never know, for this case at least, let’s not mess with further.

The Mets finally broke out last night and it feels great. After a week of sub par play, and some early mishaps catching the ball, the team came together last night and exploded for 11 runs. The possibility of that happening tonight will be low as we will be treated to an amazing pitching match. The National League leader in wins, RA Dickey, will be taking on the American League leader in wins, David Price.

Dickey has been on another planet recently. The knuckleballer is 9-1 on the season with a 2.44 ERA over 12 starts and 81.0 innings. In his last four starts he is 4-0 over 30.2 innings of work with an ERA of 0.29. He has pitched 11.0 innings in Tropicana FIeld allowing 7 ER. The Rays have the following numbers against Dickey:

Pena 2-11, 2 HR
Matsui 3-8, 2 2B
Molina 0-5
Upton 2-4
Zobrist 0-4

David Price gets the nod for the Rays and he’s been great again this year. On the season he is 8-3 with a 2.40 ERA over 12 games and 78.2 innings of work. In his last four starts he is 2-1 over 26.1 innings of work with a 1.03 ERA. David Price has never faced the Mets before and the only Mets hitter who has ever seen him is Jason Bay, who is 2-5, with a 2B (and is 0-14 since coming off of the DL). This looks like it will be a good pitching match up!

Let’s Go Mets!

Well this is interesting. You can purchase the old Citi Field Wall.

Are you a crazy collector? Did you think an OF wall not in team colors was a good idea? Well you are in luck! MLB Auctions is selling normal wall panels for $100 and the panels with a Home Run stripe for $150. Honestly I’m a little surprised they are this cheap:

Not really that much else to say, just wanted to point it out. Links are here and here.