213 Miles From Shea

The Mets try to avoid the sweep in Chicago this afternoon as they take on the Cubs for a 2:00 game. Last night was just a poor display of baseball from everyone involved including, but not limited to, the Mets, the Cubs, the Umpires and the Official Scorers. Just a bad, long game. Anyway, the Mets look to rise above the silliness today as Jon Niese takes on Jeff Samardzija.

Jon Niese is 5-3 on the season over 14 games and 81.2 innings with an ERA of 3.75. In  the month of June, Niese is 2-1 over starts and 26.1 innings with an ERA of 2.05. Last season he made one start against the Cubs as he allowed 6 runs, only 2 earned over 5 innings of work. The Cubs have the following numbers against Jon:

Soriano 3-10, 2B
Soto 2-5, 2B, HR
Baker 4-6
Castro 2-6, 3B
Johnson 2-4
Mather 2-4

The Mets will get a look at Jeff Samardzija today, who is 5-6 on the season with a 4.34 ERA over 83.0 innings of work. In his last four starts he is 0-3 over 19.0 innings of work with an ERA of 8.53. Last year he made three appearances against the Mets totaling 4.2 innings with no runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Jeff:

Wright 0-2
Cedeno 0-2
Duda 1-2
Tejada 1-2
Turner 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to rebound from last night’s game as they take on the Cubs in Chicago for game 2. Dillon Gee will get the start for the Amazin’s with his 5-5 record over 14 starts and 90.2 innings of work with an ERA of 4.27. In the month of June he pitched 4 innings with a 1-2 record over 27.1 innings with a 3.29 ERA. Last year he had one start against Chicago where he allowed 4 ER over 6 innings of work. The Cubs have the following numbers against Gee:

Mather 1-3
Castro 1-3
Johnson 1-2, 2B
Soriano 1-3, 2B

The Mets bats will try to break out tonight against Randy Wells, who is 1-2 on the season over 25.2 innings of work with an ERA of 4.91. Wells has not been a starter for the majority of the season. This will be his second start in a row, last time he allowed 3 ER over 3.2 innings of work. He had a good start against the Mets last season as he allowed 2 ER in 7.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Wells:

Cedeno 4-15, HR
Wright 4-12, 2B
Duda 3-6, 2B
Davis 2-5
Murphy 2-3, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Pendulum in the Mets opponents had to swing back eventually. The Mets have faced in their last several series the Nationals, Yankees, Rays, Reds, Orioles and Yankees again. Finally they draw someone with a losing record, the Cubs. In the first game in Chicago, the Mets will be sending out Johan Santana as he takes on Travis Wood.

Santana is 5-3 on the season with a 3.00 ERA over 84.0 innings of work. Johan’s last start was his first strong one since the no-hitter as he shutout the Orioles in 6.0 innings of work. The last time he faced the Cubs was back in 2010 when he allowed 1 earned run over 8 hits in 6.1 innings of work. The Cubs have the following numbers on Santana:

Johnson 13-25, 2B, 3B, HR
DeJesus 4-24, 2B
Soriano 0-17
Mather 0-4
Soto 1-3

Travis Wood is 1-3 on the season with an ERA of 4.14 over 41.1 innings of work. The month of June has been kind to Travis as he has a 1-2 record but a 2.94 ERA over 4 starts and 24.2 innings. The last time Travis Wood pitched against the Mets was in 2010 where he pitched 4.2 innings allowed 5 runs, 3 earned over 6 hits. The Mets have the following numbers against Wood:

Cedeno 1-3
Torres 2-3
Davis 1-2
Wright 2-3, 3B

Let’s Go Mets!

The pitching match up of the series happens tonight in Queens. CC Sabathia for the Yankees will be taking on R.A. Dickey tonight in the rubber game of the Queens edition on the Subway Series. We don’t even have to break down Dickey’s game today, as we all know his recent numbers but it’s fun to see what he has been able to do this season. Dickey is 11-1 on the season over 14 games with 99.0 innings pitched in that span he leads the league in ERA, 2.00, and WHIP, 0.889. In the last six starts he is 6-0, he is 48.2 innings with 63 strikeouts and a 0.18 ERA. Last year he was 1-0 against the Yankees in 2 starts and 11.0 innings with a 1.64 ERA. The Yankees have the following numbers against Dickey:

Ibanez 8-23, 3 HR
Granderson 3-15, 2 2B
Chavez 4-12, 2B, HR
A-Rod 6-13, 2 2B
Swisher 1-10
Jeter 2-10

The Mets bats look to tee off against Sabathia tonight who is 9-3 on the season with 14 starts and 101.1 innings on the season. In that stretch he has a 3.55 ERA with a 1.28 WHIP. He has pitched 30.0 innings in his last 4 starts with a 3-1 record over a 3.30 ERA. The last time he pitched against the Mets was in 2010 where he had a 1-1 record in as many starts with a 3.46 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers on CC:

Cedeno 1-14
Torres 5-11, 2 2B
Hairston 3-10
Wright 2-9, 2B
Davis 3-6

Let’s Go Mets!

The Subway Series continues tonight as the Mets look to make it two in a row against the Yanks. On a wet night, the Mets were able to put a five spot on the Yankees early, and then held on to the lead for the rest of the game which included Francisco handling “the chickens” on the Yankees (although it wasn’t even close to a clean inning). Tonight the Mets will face the pitcher with most wins in the American League, Ivan Nova, as he takes on Chris Young.

Chris Young is 1-1 on the season over 3 starts with a 3.06 ERA with 17.2 innings of work, 5 walks and 8 strikeouts. In his career he has faced the Yankees twice totaling 8.2 innings with a 6.32 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against the Yankees:

Ibanez 9-32, 2B, 3B
Martin 8-25, 2 2B
Jones 3-14, 3 HR
Chavez 4-11
Swisher 2-7, 2B, HR
Tex 0-6
Jeter 0-4

Ivan Nova leads the American League in wins with his 9-3 record that comes with a 4.32 ERA over 85.1 innings. The month of June has been very good to Ivan as he has pitched 22.2 innings with a 0.79 ERA. May was another story as he pitched 6 games with a 5.87 ERA. Last year he faced the Mets twice going 11.2 innings with an ERA of 3.09. The Mets have the following numbers against Nova:

Murphy 1-6
Turner 2-6
(In other, the Mets are a very looking team from a year ago)

Let’s Go Mets!

The roller coaster part of the Mets series started about two weeks ago when the Yankees swept the Mets at Yankee Stadium. The Mets followed that by a sweep of the Rays, before being swept by the Reds after which the Mets swept the Orioles. The Yankees since that series went on to win 10 straight games and more recently have dropped two games in a row against the Braves. The Mets look to build off of what they have built in this last series to keep their momentum headed in the right direction. Jon Niese takes on Andy Pettitte.

Niese is 4-3 on the season with a 3.82 ERA over 75.1 innings. He is 2-1 in his last five starts over 32.2 innings with a 2.48 ERA. One of those starts was a great one against the Yankees where Niese pitched 7 innings and allowed 0 earned runs, but the defense behind him led to 2 unearned runs. The Yankees have the following numbers against Niese:

Ibanez 4-16, HR
Swisher 1-7
Cano 4-6, 2B
Granderson 2-6
Jones 0-6
Martin 1-5
A-Rod 1-5, HR
Jeter 1-3

Andy Pettitte is 3-2 on the season with a 2.77 ERA over 48.2 innings of work. In his last two starts he has allowed 5 runs, 4 earned in 13.0 innings of work exactly matching his 2.77 ERA on the season. One of those starts was a 6.0 inning start against the Mets where allowed 3 runs, 2 earned. The Mets have the following numbers on Andy:

Wright 11-24, 2 2B, 2 HR
Hairston 6-15, 3 2B, HR
Torres 1-6
Duda 0-3
Rottino 1-3
Valdespin 1-2, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets go for the sweep of the Orioles tonight at Citi Field! Johan Santana followed up Dickey’s performance by a 6.0 inning shutout that was kept up by a flawless bullpen performance. The Mets bullpen was given some breathing room by Duda, who in the bottom of the sixth sent out his 11th homer of the season. Dillon Gee will look to keep that going tonight as he faces Brian Matusz.

Dillon Gee is 4-5 on the season over 13 starts and 83.1 innings of work with a 4.43 ERA. In his last four starts he is 0-2 over 26.2 innings of work with a 3.38 ERA. As you could probably guess, since Gee made his debut back in 2010, Dillon has never faced the Orioles and he has never faced any current members of the Orioles roster. In this sense, he is a mystery.

On the other side of the diamond tonight is Brian Matusz who is 5-7 on the season over 13 starts and and 71.0 innings of work with an ERA of 4.94. Gee is 1-3 in his last four starts pitching 21.0 innings with an ERA of 5.14. He is 0-1 against the Mets as he has made one start against the Amazin’s where he pitched 8.0 innings allowing 5 hits and 3 earned runs. The Mets have the following numbers on Brian:

Davis 0-3
Hairston 0-3
Wright 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!