213 Miles From Shea

2012 Uniform Change: Chicago Cubs Roll Back to 2012

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

In a continuation of Monday’s post, last Saturday the Cubs and the Giants played a game where both teams rolled back the clocks to 1912 when the Giants were the New York Giants.

The Cubs participated as well and they wore their 1912 road uniforms which were a solid navy blue set. You gotta hand it to Majestic this year on the Throwback front because they are doing a really good job with these uniforms.

Anyway, like the Giants, the Cubs are making their uniforms for sale on their website as well. Unlike the Giants, the Cubs are selling blank uniforms (I still wish the Giants would as well, that 1912 uniform is awesome). Sadly though, just like the Giants, for the uniforms for players, the Cubs are selling them with names on the back, which is not what was worn on the field. It still baffles me how this can be considered an authentic uniform when it isn’t what they wore on Saturday!

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2012 Mets Draft Picks Day 1

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

Well sorta Day 1, I guess technically Day 2 (since the first round was in prime time last night). Anyway the following are the Mets draft picks so far, organized by overall pick. Position and institution directly follow the name.

12. Gavin Cecchini (SS) Barbe High
35. Kevin Plawecki (C) Purdue
71. Matt Reynolds (3B) Arkansas
75. Teddy Stankiewicz (RHP) Ft. Worth Christian School
107. Matt Koch (RHP) Louisville
140. Branden Kaupe (SS) Baldwin High
170. Brandon Welch (RHP) Palm Beach CC
200. Jayce Boyd (1B) Florida State
230. Corey Oswalt (RHP) Madison High
260. Tomas Nido (C) Orangewood Christian High
290. Richie Rodriguez (2B) Eastern Kentucky
320. Paul Sewald (RHP) U San Diego
350. Logan Taylor (RHP) Eastern Oklahoma State
380. Robert Whalen (RHP) Haines City High
410. Matthew Bowman (RHP) Princeton
440. Chris Flexen (RHP) Newark Memorial High
470. Nicholas Grant (RHP) Milford High

So that wraps up day 1, or day 1.5 or day 2 or whatever you want to call it. Interestingly, the Mets drafted zero left handed pitchers in the first 15 picks and no one that even throws left handed.

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Game Preview: Mets @ Nationals

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

The Mets look to build off their successful homestand as they start a road trip tonight in Washington DC. As you know by now the NL East is a close, close division and for the second time this year the Mets get a shot at the Washington Nationals. Tonight Chris Young will make his debut for the Mets as he takes on Jordan Zimmermann.

The Mets hope their search for a fifth starter ends tonight as Chris Young gets the nod. In the minors this season Young is 1-0 over 4 starts and 23.0 innings with an ERA of 2.35. Before his injury last season, Young made four starts for the Mets with an ERA of 1.88 over 24.0 innings. Two of those starts came against the Nationals where he allowed 4 ER over 11.2 innings of work. The Nationals have the following numbers against Young:

LaRoche 3-22, 2B, HR
Zimmerman 3-11, 2B, HR
Nady 1-10
Ankiel 0-9
Espinosa 0-4
Desmond 0-3

Jordan Zimmermann is 3-5 with a 2.80 ERA over 64.1 innings of work. In his last three starts he has pitched 18.0 innings with an ERA of 4.50. In 2011 he was 1-1 over 3 starts against the Mets where he posted and ERA of 3.78 over 16.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Jordan:

Wright 3-16, 2B
Murphy 6-12, 2B, HR
Thole 3-9
Davis 3-6, 2B, HR
Duda 1-6, 2B
Torres 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

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How In-Season Call-Ups Get Their Major League Photos (Egbert)

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

One of the larger media days during Spring Training is when players on the 40 roster (or just at camp period) get their media day photos. However, what about when they aren’t on the team:

Well they get their photo taken at the ball park! Ok, that was obvious but it was interesting to see it during batting practice for Jack Egbert on 5/26. After batting practice and fielding practice, Egbert was called out of the group for five minutes, took all his different official MLB shots, and then joined the team in the clubhouse.

It was interesting to see this live.

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Get to Know a Draft Pick: Kevin Plawecki

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

In an interesting move, the Mets selected two position players with their first two picks of the 2012 draft. This probably speaks to the high amount of arms in the system, but limited amount of bats. In a not surprising move, with the 35th pick the Mets went with a player from college, someone who will need less time in the minors and is more sure to sign.

In this draft the Mets have gone for positions of high need in the system like SS earlier and now C, which is a thin, thin position in the system. Kevin Plawecki is a solid defensive catcher. Here are some stats for Plawecki:

2012: .348 BA, 223 AB, 80 H, 54 R, 20 2B, 4 3B, 7 HR, 47 RBI
2011: .341 BA, 211 AB, 72 H, 46 R, 14 2B, 2 HR, 39 RBI
2010: .343 BA, 204 AB, 70 H, 36 R, 12 2B, 3B, 8 HR, 53 RBI

From the numbers, its obvious that Kevin has not shown to be a power threat, but he makes good contact and hits for average. His profile reminds me a lot of Josh Thole in a way.

So far he doesn’t project to be a star catcher, but these things are difficult to tell from college numbers anyway. We should know in 2-3 seasons the caliber of player Plawecki is, and he fits into the long term plans. The nice thing about Kevin is he could be with the Mets for a while, get to know the pitchers and develop into a strong battery mate to help the pitchers become dominant in the majors.

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Back Pages: Santana, Series in Washington

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

Honestly, I don’t remember last time the back pages covered a preview of the Mets next series. I guess we really are the talk of the town:

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Get To Know A Draft Pick: Gavin Cecchini (Louisiana’s Mr. Baseball)

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

With the 12th pick in the draft, the Mets selected SS Gavin Cecchini out of Louisiana (Barbe High School). Currently Cecchini has a commitment with Ole Miss.

The Mets actually draft Gavin a day after he was named Louisiana’s Mr. Baseball. In his senior season Gavin had a .413 BA, 7 HR, 32 RBI and 31 SB. In this article, Gavin talks about how he was actually benched by his father (his coach) after a slump early on in his High School career. Right off the bat from reading this article, I’m a fan of Gavin’s mental make up. Fighting through a slump and hardship early helps lead to success later on (or in other words, its better to fail and overcome early than have that happen later on in life, Ike Davis). This explains why some of his early high school numbers look fairly awful. His rebound though, obviously, has been fantastic.

This profile talks about Gavin’s quick hands and ability to hit the ball hard to all parts of the field. The profile mentions that he has the physical make up to stay at the short stop position, and potentially be a speed threat, which is lacking right now in the Mets current farm system. The major rankers have him ranked between 11 and 19 overall, and as one of the best SS in the draft.

This pick seems to make sense with the Nimmo pick from last year. Try to roll the dice with the high picks, and (we’ll see as the draft progresses) go with the safer college picks soon after. As with all high school players, signability could be an issue. The Mets right now lack bat prospects and getting some deep in the system like Cecchini and Nimmo could be the nice boost that the farm system needs, especially if the Mets go into full on compete mode in 2014 and need to trade some prospects.

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Game Preview: Cardinals @ Mets

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

The Mets go for the four game sweep this afternoon as they play the Cardinals at home for game 4 of the of the series. Last night in 8th inning the Cardinals were finally able to scratch out a run against the Mets but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Mets won 6-1 thanks in large part to a great start by Jon Niese where he struck out 10 batters and had one of his best curve balls of the season. Dillon Gee tries to keep the momentum going today as he faces off against Kyle Lohse.

Gee is 4-3 on the season with a 4.69 ERA. Dillon is starting to get some momentum of his own as in his last two starts he has pitched a combined 13.2 innings allowing 3 ER, which is an ERA of 1.98. Last season he faced the Cards once and picked up the win after pitching 7.0 innings allowing only 2 ER. The Cardinals have the following numbers against Gee:

Freese 1-3
Holliday 0-3
Molina 0-3

Lohse is 5-1 with a 3.36 ERA over 11 starts and 67 innings of work. In his last four starts he has pitched a total of 23.2 innings with no record and a 5.70 ERA. Last season he faced the Mets once pitching 5.2 innings while allowing 10 hits and 4 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Kyle:

Wright 9-19, 2B, 2 HR
Hairston 1-7
Murphy 0-5
Duda 1-2
Quintanilla 1-7

Let’s Go Mets!

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2012 Uniform Change: San Francisco become the 1912 Giants

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Elliot Teichman

In one of the best throwback games of the year, the Giants and the Cubs turned back the clock 100 years on Saturday and both teams looked great. The Giants wore the 1912 New York Giants uniforms which were blank with dark pinstripes and the interlocking NY on the sleeve (and number on the back). A lot of the players wore the socks to match as well creating this awesome uniform look.

You can actually buy these uniforms as well, which is where their cool factor drops by about 2920393 points. First off, you can’t get a blank one, but all of them not only have numbers on the back, they have names as well…why?!

Also in normal MLB fashion, you can purchase the Giants‘ hat for $35. However, the Giants hat is a blank hat. So for the second time this year you can spend $35 to purchase a blank MLB hat.