213 Miles From Shea

Here’s a pretty funny Mets video that has been making the rounds on all of the Mets blogs since yesterday morning:

The Mets batters belted two out of the park tonight while the pitchers struck out 11 in the Mets 5-2 win over the Phillies.

It looked like runs would be difficult for the Mets to come across tonight as they were facing Cliff Lee. Lee, before tonight, allowed only one earned run against the Mets in 3 starts. Tejada led the game off with a double, and he was then doubled home by Daniel Murphy. Two outs later, Jason Bay stepped up and hit his first home run of the season (who would have thought that Jason Bay would hit a homer before Ike Davis this year). Later in the game Scott Hairston blasted a ball out, and Lucas Duda added a sacrifice fly in the 9th inning.

The pitching for the Mets was fantastic tonight as Dickey, Parnell and Francisco kept batters off the base paths by striking them out. Dickey had a fantastic looking knuckleball tonight and his only mistake was to the Phillies rookie who took him out of the park.

The second Phillies run came from a Bill Buckner esque error by Daniel Murphy, who allowed the ball to roll in between his legs. Personally, if Wright has to go on the DL, I am in the camp of thinking that you need to keep Murphy at 2B, otherwise he doesn’t get better at fielding balls like that.

The Mets look to build off of tonight as they take on the Phillies again tomorrow afternoon. Let’s go Mets!

The Mets start their first road series of the season tonight as they go down to Philly. After starting off the season 4-0, the Mets dropped two games in a row to Washington. Tonight’s game features the second start of the season for R.A. Dickey as he takes on Cliff Lee. In Dickey’s first game of the season, he pitched 6 innings allowing 2 ER over 5 hits, 4 BB and 3 K. Last season against the Phillies, Dickey made 2 starts pitching 14.0 innings with an ERA of 3.21 and an 0-1 record. The Phillies have the following numbers against Dickey:

Polanco 7-26
Pence 2-12, HR
Rollins 1-14, 2B
Victorino 3-11, 2 2B, HR
Ruiz 4-10

The Mets bats will try to break out of their slumber tonight against Cliff Lee tonight. In his first start of the season, Lee pitched a no decision after 6 innings of work, allowing 1 run on 2 hits, walking 2 batters and striking out 2. Cliff Lee is coming off of one of his best seasons in his career where he pitched 232.2 innings with an ERA of 2.40 and a record of 17-8. He was strong against the Amazins last year pitching in two games totaling 14.0 innings allowing only 1 earned runs off of 11 hits, 5 walks and 12 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers on Lee:

Bay 3-11
Hairston 1-11
Cedeno 1-9, HR
Turner 0-5
Wright 2-7
Davis 0-3
Murphy 1-3, 2B
Duda 1-3
Tejada 2-3

Let’s Go Mets! Beat the Phils!

The Mets and Nationals finish up their first series together of the season with an exciting day game rubber game. Last night, the Nationals handed the Mets their first loss of the season. The Mets will look to bounce back from that today without David Wright, who will miss another game with a fracture in his pinky. Anyway looking forward, Santana will be taking on Strasburg today in a game that will cost only some fans $2.50 (barely more expensive than a subway ticket)!

Santana put the Mets on a fast start to the season on opening day as he pitched 5 innings, allowed 0 runs, 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 batters. Two seasons ago he pitched 199.0 innings with a 2.98 ERA. In that season, he faced the Nationals twice totaling 12.0 innings with a record of 0-1 and an ERA of 4.50. The Nationals have the following numbers against Johan:

Werth 7-28, 2 2B, HR
Zimmerman 6-19, HR
DeRosa 1-16
LaRoche 3-10, 2 2B
Nady 2-9

The Mets bats will get their first 2012 look at Stephan Strasburg this afternoon. In Stephen’s first start of the season, he pitched 7 innings allowing 5 hits, one earned run while striking out 5 while picking up a no decision. In a shortened 2011 season, Strasburg pitched 24.0 innings over 5 starts with a 1.50 ERA. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2010 when he had a 5-3 record over 68.0 innings with an ERA of 2.91. In his one start against the Amazin’s that year he allowed 4 hits and 2 earned runs over 5 innings. The Mets have the following numbers on Stephen:

Davis 1-2
Bay 1-2, 2B
Cedeno 0-2
Tejada 0-2
Thole 1-1

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to continue their fast start to the season tonight by clinching their second consecutive series win. Last night, the Mets improved to 4-0 with a walk-off win thanks to Daniel Murphy (#imwith28). If you didn’t see last night’s game, Mike Pelfrey wasn’t terrible, as he did strike out 8 batters in 5.2 innings, at times looking dominant, but in the end he allowed 10 hits and 3 earned runs. At that point it was a battle of the bullpens and the Mets bullpen kept the Amazin’s in the game until the 9th inning rally started by Baxter, continued by Tejada and finished by Murphy. Tonight Dillon Gee gets the start as he takes on Ross Detwiler.

Dillon Gee makes his first start of the season for the Amazin’s tonight. Dillon Gee last season pitched in 30 games, 27 starts last season with an ERA of 4.43 over 160.2 innings of work. He made four starts against the Nationals last year as he totaled 25.0 innings with a 2-0 record and a 3.60 ERA. The Nationals have the following numbers against Dillon:

Espinosa 1-11
Werth 3-12
Desmond 3-13, HR
Zimmerman 2-12
Bernadina 1-9
Rasmos 1-6, 2B

The Mets bats will get a crack at Ross Detwiler, who won the fifth starter spot in Spring Training. He replaced John Lannon, who has been vocal in demanding a trade from AAA (however he also bombed his first start down there so, take that for what its worth). Detwiler has had some time in 4 of the last 5 seasons in the major leagues. Last year he pitched in 15 games, 10 starts for the Nationals pitching 66.0 innings with a 3.00 ERA. During that time, he pitched in three games against the Mets, 2 of them starts where he pitched 10.0 innings allowing 8 earned runs on 11 hits. The Mets have the following numbers Ross:

Wright 4-8, 2 2B, HR
Duda 1-5
Bay 1-4
Turner 1-4
Davis 1-1

Let’s Go Mets!

I’m a huge fan of the Daily News’ back page today. Post, step your game up.

The Mets got off to a strong start over the weekend as the Mets swept the Braves to open the 2012 season. During the three game stretch, the Mets bats hit double digit hits in two games in a row and the Francisco saved three consecutive games. The Nationals also got off to a strong start as they went 2-1, with two come back wins. Today Mike Pelfrey will get his first start of the season for the Mets as Edwin Jackson makes his Nationals debut.

Pelfrey struggled over Spring Training until his last start where he allowed only one earned run in 6 innings of work. There was actually a point during the spring where there was some talk about possibly releasing him. Anyway, Pelfrey last season pitched 193.2 innings with a 7-13 record and an ERA of 4.74 over 34 games (33 starts). Last season Pelfrey pitched only two games against the Nationals where he was 0-1 over 11 innings of work with an ERA of 2.31. The Nationals have the following numbers against Pelfrey:

Zimmerman 11-50, 2B, HR
Werth 9-33, 2B, 3B
Desmond 5-18, 2 2B, 3B, HR
Bernadina 2-10, 2B
Espinosa 5-10, 2B

Edwin Jackson is another new addition to the Washington Nationals, as he signed as a Free Agent in early February. Last season for the Cardinals and White Sox (2 teams), Jackson pitched 199.1 innings over 33 games (32 starts) with an ERA of 3.79. He faced the Mets only once last year where he pitched 5 innings, allowed 9 hits and 5 earned runs. The Mets have the following numbers on Jackson over his career:

Bay 3-10, HR
Hairston 0-7
Duda 1-2, 2B
Thole 1-3
Wright 0-2
Pelfrey 1-3, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!