Yesterday we took a look at the National League, now lets see what surprises the American League has:
Kansas City Royals: Because nothing says, “SIKED FOR THE ALL STAR GAME” like an All-Star Gnome
Seattle Mariners: The Mariners do this fantastic yearly promotion where create a collectible train part ever year. This year’s addition:
And honestly…that’s it. The National killed it this month. The American league, not so much. Step your game up!
Yesterday was just a heart pounding game for the Mets. In case you missed it, the Mets were gliding through the game nicely until Todd Helton tied the game on a pinch hit grand slam, and at that point it was a back and forth battle through the 11th inning when the Mets got ahead and took the series. The Mets overall in their last series scored 21 runs over 3 games and now go to Houston for another series in a hitter’s ballpark. Tonight R.A. Dickey will take on Bud Norris and Astros.
Dickey is 3-1 0n the season with a 4.44 ERA. In his last start, he needed to rebound off of a bad start in Atlanta (4.1 IP, 8 ER) and he did just that as he allowed 1 ER over 7 innings as he picked up his third win of the year. Last season Dickey pitched 13.1 innings against Houston where he allowed 10 ER over 19 hits. The Astros have the following numbers against Dickey:
Lee 8-21, 3 2B, HR (Suffering a Sprain)
Johnson 4-14, 2B
Schaefer 3-7
Snyder 0-5
The Mets will look to continue the hit parade against Bud Norris who is 1-1 on the season over 4 games with an ERA of 5.84 over 24.2 innings. Last season Bud had two no decisions against the Mets over 13.1 innings with an ERA of 4.73. The Mets have the following numbers against Bud Norris over his career:
Wright 0-8
Thole 2-8, HR
Davis 2-8, 2B
Dickey 2-6
Hairston 1-5, HR
Murphy 2-6, HR
Let’s Go Mets!
Follow this site on twitter!
New month, new crazy promotions! Here are the May highlights:
Miami Marlins: Practical promotions are always fantastic and the Miami Marlins will be giving out a very practical set of Marlin Earbuds:
Pittsburgh Pirates: A nice give away on Mothers Day. Mothers will get a pink Walker replica jersey while kids will get Walker replica jerseys as well. A nice day out in the park for the family!
St. Louis Cardinals: Two great promotions this month! First off, if you read this site, you know I love lapel pin giveaways and bobbleheads that mark milestones:
Cincinnati Reds: Joey Votto Gold Glove Bobble? Yessir.
San Francisco Giants: First, the Mets did it first (texting gloves)! And a Wilson gnome!
Los Angeles Dodgers: FOUR BOBBLEHEADS IN ONE!
Arizona Diamondbacks: No picture, but awesome Ryan Roberts tattoo sleeve
After being blown out on Friday night, the Mets came back in a back and forth game last night to take game two of the series by the score of 7-5. This afternoon the Mets will try to take the rubber game behind Johan Santana as he takes on the oldest pitcher in the game, Jamie Moyer. Fun game you can play (maybe with an adult beverage) would be to count (or sip the aforementioned drink) every time Moyer’s age is brought up in today’s game.
Santana is coming off his strongest start of the season as he pitched 6.2 innings while allowing one earned run, walking two batters and striking out 11. Overall on the season, Santana has pitched 18.0 innings, with a 3.00 ERA while striking out 24 batters. The last time Santana pitched against the Rockies he pitched a complete game shutout in 2010 where he walked two batters while striking out 10. The Rockies have the following numbers against Santana:
Giambi 5-22, 2 2B, HR
Hernandez 4-21
Scutaro 3-12, 2B
Fowler 1-5
Tulowitzki 3-7, 2B
The Mets batters will be taking on Jamie Moyer who is 1-2 this season over 23.2 innings with a 2.28 ERA. His last two starts have been great (13.0 Innings, 1 ER, 5 BB). Actually, an interesting note on his stats have been his walks. In his two “bad” starts this year, he walked two batters over 10.2 innings, so the better he pitches, the more he walks guys. He faced the Mets back in 2010 where he allowed 9 ER in 13 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Wright 22-53, 5 2B, 4 HR
Hairston 0-9
Murphy 2-4, 2B, HR
Davis 0-2
Let’s Go Mets!
The Mets will try to put last night’s ugly game behind them today as they take on the Rockies in game two. The positive from last night would be Hairston, who hit for the cycle, the first from the Mets since 2006 when Jose Reyes did the same feet. Besides that, last night was a wash of bad defense and bad pitching (and bad pitching for both teams). The Mets will call on Dillon Gee to right the ship tonight as he takes on Moscoso of the Rockies, who will be making his first start of the of the season.
Dillon Gee is 1-2 on the season with a 5.21 ERA and those numbers have been heavily influenced by his last start against San Francisco where he allowed 7 ER over 6.2 innings of work. Gee has never faced the Rockies in his young career and he has never faced any current hitters on the Rockies, so he will be a complete mystery to their lineup. This is stating the obvious but he will need to stick to the game plan with Tulowitzki, who has become a Mets killer over his career. In the first inning yesterday, as soon as Chris stopped pitching Troy outside, he deposited the pitch over the wall.
The Mets batters and Rockies fans will get their first look at Moscoso tonight who is making his 2012 debut. Moscoso is a product of the Texas farm system where he was used in a very limited capacity in the 2009 and 2010 season out of the bullpen. Last season the Athletics changed him into a starter where he pitched in 23 games (21 starts) with an 8-10 record over 128.0 innings with a 3.38 ERA. He was traded to Colorado in the Seth Smith trade. He has made four starts in AAA this season with a 1-3 record while allowing 17 ER in 19.1 innings (so not that effective so far this year). The only Met who has ever faced him is Hairston, who is 0-1.
Let’s Go Mets!
What a difference a few days make! The Mets were coming off the two worst series of the season so far as they dropped a series in Atlanta and then three of four to the Giants, the Mets fell to .500 for the season. The Mets then swept the Marlins, reestablished a cushion above .500 and are traveling with momentum on their side. It would have been easy for the Mets to fall back this week as they lost three players to the DL in an incredibly short period of time. Anyway, Chris Schwinden makes his first start of the season tonight against Drew Pomeranz.
Chris Schwinden made his major league debut last season where he pitched in 4 games over 21.0 innings pitched and an ERA of 4.71. He has pitched in four games so far this year in Buffalo with a 2-2 record over 22.0 innings of work and an ERA of 2.05 (which is a nice hot streak compared to his 3.89 ERA over 148.2 innings last year). As you can imagine, since this will be Chris’ fifth major league start, he has no major league record or statistics against the Rockies or anyone on the Rockies.
Drew Pomeranz gets the nod for the Rockies tonight. He has made two starts this season totaling 9.1 innings with an 0-1 record over 6.75 ERA. Last season Drew pitched 18.1 innings over 4 games with an ERA of 5.40. As you can imagine, just like Chris, Drew has never faced the Mets or any body on the Mets, so tonight’s game will be a game of mystery…for the hitters!
Let’s Go Mets!
The Mets go for the sweep today as they look to win their third straight game against the Marlins. The Mets squeaked by the Marlins in the first game of the series and last night, after a second pitching duel of the series, the Mets were able to break it open in the eighth with a little luck and some timely hitting. This afternoon Jon Niese will get the nod for the Mets as he takes on Ricky Nolasco.
Jon Niese gets the start for the Amazin’s today with his 2-0 record and 2.89 ERA over 3 starts and 18.2 innings in the 2012 season. This will be Niese’s first start against the fish this year. Last season he made only start against the Marlins as he allowed 2 earned runs and 4 hits over 7 innings of work. The Marlins have the following numbers against Niese:
Infante 3-18, 2 2B
Sanchez 3-14, 2B
Ramirez 3-11, 2B, HR
Morrison 3-7, 2B
Stanton 0-4
The Mets bats will get their first crack at Ricky Nolasco this year. In 2012, Nolasco is 2-0 over 3 starts with a 3.93 ERA over 18.1 innings. In 2011, Ricky had a 10-12 record over 206.0 innings with a 4.67 ERA. Last season he made two starts against the Mets where he pitched 13.2 innings with an 0-2 record while posting a 3.93 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Nolasco:
Wright 21-54, 5 2B, 4 HR
Murphy 6-17, 2 2B
Davis 2-11, 2 2B
Thole 2-8
Duda 0-6
Hairston 2-6, HR
Tejada 2-6, 3B
Let’s Go Mets!
With the season underway, and Type A and Type B signings done, MLB officially released the draft order for the 2012 draft:
First Round:
Compensation Round:
32. Minnesota Twins (Cuddyer)
33. San Diego Padres (Bell)
34. Oakland Athletics (Willingham)
35. New York Mets (Reyes)
36. St. Louis Cardinals (Pujols)
37. Boston Red Sox (Papelbon)
38. Milwaukee Brewers (Fielder)
39. Texas Rangers (Wilson)
40. Philadelphia Phillies (Madson)
41. Houston Astros (Barnes)
42. Minnesota Twins (Kubel)
43. Chicago Cubs (Ramirez)
44. San Diego Padres (Harang)
45. Pittsburgh Pirates (Doumit)
46. Colorado Rockies (Ellis)
47. Oakland Athletics (De Jesus)
48. Chicago White Sox (Buehrle)
49. Cincinnati Reds (Hernandez)
50. Toronto Blue Jays (Francisco)
51. Los Angeles Dodgers (Barajas)
52. St. Louis Cardinals (Dotel)
53. Texas Rangers (Oliver)
54. Philadelphia Phillies (Ibanez)
55. San Diego Padres (Austin)
56. Chicago Cubs (Pena)
57. Cincinnati Reds (Cordero)
58. Toronto Blue Jays (Rauch)
59. St. Louis Cardinals (Jackson)
60. Toronto Blue Jays (Molina)
Second Round:
61. Houston Astros
62. Oakland Athletics (Willingham/MIN)
63. Minnesota Twins
64. Seattle Mariners
65. Baltimore Orioles
66. Kansas City Royals
67. Chicago Cubs
68. San Diego Padres
69. Pittsburgh Pirates
70. San Diego Padres (Bell/MIA)
71. New York Mets (Reyes/MIA)
72. Minnesota Twins (Cuddyer/COL)
73. Colorado Rockies
74. Oakland Athletics
75. New York Mets
76. Chicago White Sox
77. Philadelphia Phillies (Madson/CIN)
78. Cincinnati Reds
79. Cleveland Indians
80. Washington Nationals
81. Toronto Blue Jays
82. Los Angeles Dodgers
83. Texas Rangers (Willson / LAA)
84. San Francisco Giants
85. Atlanta Braves
86. St. Louis Cardinals
87. Boston Red Sox
88. Tampa Bay Rays
89. New York Yankees (Stafford / Unsigned)
90. Arizona Diamondbacks
91. Detroit Tigers
92. Milwaukee Brewers
93. Texas Rangers
94. New York Yankees
95. Philadelphia Phillies
When looking at the list, I was surprised to see the Mets getting compensation for Reyes at 71. I thought, for some odd reason, that the Mets wouldn’t get their compensation pick until the third round.
Anyway, this year the Mets will get four picks in the first 75 picks of the draft including the 12th, 35th, 71st and 75th. The Mets are in an interesting position right now as they have a slew of pitchers coming down the pipe. Last year in the draft they picked a mixture of high school and college players in the first round. In later previews, we will dive into who the Mets will be looking for.
The Cardinals will be retooling in this draft as they have 5 picks in the first round in the draft. The Blue Jays also have 5 picks, as they look to position themselves to climb with young talent.
Last night’s game was the game of too many story lines. First, Jose Reyes’s return to Queens. Then, the sidelining of Jason Bay. Followed by the sidelining of Mike Pelfrey. Once the game started the story line changed to Santana’s start and a pitching duel. Anyway, the Mets ended their two game slide yesterday after beating the fish by the score of 2-1, where both Mets runs came from unusual methods. Tonight R.A. Dickey makes the start against Mark Buehrle.
Dickey makes his forth start of the season tonight. The knuckleballer is 2-1 over 17.1 innings with a 5.71 ERA so far in the young season. The drastic change in his numbers comes from his last start in Atlanta where he allowed 8 ER in 4.0 innings. Last season he was fantastic against the Marlins going 3-0 in as many starts pitching 20.0 innings and not allowing any earned runs (1 run total). The Marlins have the following numbers against RA:
Infante 11-22, 2B, HR
Sanchez 5-15, 3 2B, HR
Ramirez 6-15, 3 2B
Morrison 2-11, 2B
Bonifacio 2-10
Tonight will be the first time the Mets face one of the new Marlin additions, Mark Buehrle. This season, Buehrle is 1-2 with a 2.66 ERA over 20.1 innings. Last season for the White Sox (a team the Mets haven’t played for about a decade), he was 13-9 with a 3.59 ERA over 205.1 innings of work. Since the Mets are almost entirely a home grown team now, you wouldn’t expect anyone to have any official AB’s against Mark and that is essentially true. The only player who has faced Mark is Jason Bay (4-17, 2B) who is on the DL.
Let’s Go Mets!
The newly minted Miami Marlins make their first season trip to Citi Field tonight as the Mets take on the Marlins for the first time this season. This of course means there is a lot of Jose Reyes talk that I will leave out of this Game Preview. Yesterday was a pretty rough day for the Mets as both starters struggled and the offense in both games struggled. The Mets will try to leave all of this behind them as Santana takes on Josh Johnson for game 1.
Santana will look to rebound from his last start tonight. So far on the season Johan is 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA in 11.1 innings. In his last start against the Braves, Santana labored through 1.1 innings allowing 6 runs, 4 earned. In 2010 he has made two starts with a record of 1-0 over 13.0 innings and 0.69 ERA. The Marlins have the following numbers against Santana:
Infante 8-39
Ramirez 3-21
Buck 4-17, 3B
Kearns 2-15, 2B
Sanchez 4-8, 2B
Reyes 1-4
The Mets bats will get a look at Marlins Ace Josh Johnson tonight who is 0-2 on the season with a 5.94 ERA over 16.2 innings of work. Last season against the Mets, Josh was 1-0 against the Mets in 2 games as he pitched 11.2 innings with a 2.31 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Josh:
Wright 6-29, 3B, HR
Murphy 5-17, 2 2B
Bay 5-12, 3B, HR
Davis 1-7
Thole 1-5, 2B
Tejada 0-1
Let’s Go Mets!