213 Miles From Shea

Well here it is, the obligatory Jose Reyes article.

Reyes, the player who dominated the off season headlines for the Mets, makes his return to Queens tonight.

Before you jump out at, “he dominated headlines” let me explain myself, because he did. There has been so much press on Jose Reyes, myself included, that you can break Reyes articles into a series of genres:

• Jose Left Us!
• Jose didn’t leave us, he was never offered a contract!
• Jose claims he didn’t feel the love from the Mets organization!
• Jose is the enemy!
• Jose is still a hero!
• Jose is overrated!
• Jose is just playing for the money!
• Nothing wrong with Jose playing for the money!
• Jose leaving the Mets is just like how he ended his batting championship crow!
• Jose is getting video tribute!
• Jose shouldn’t get a video tribute!
• Jose should get a video tribute.

There is nothing wrong with any of this. We have a strong connection with Reyes because he was with the team for so long. Seeing him on another team is rough and brings out knee jerk reactions, and then knee jerk reactions to those knee jerk reactions, and then knee jerk reactions about having knee jerk reactions to knee jerk reaction (probably where this article falls)

Welcome back to Queens Jose. I personally don’t harbor any negative feelings, and I understand why you made the move. If I was at the game tomorrow, I would give you a polite cheer, but quickly hate you for getting a hit. It’s our new relationship dynamic.

After yesterday’s rain out, the Mets and Giants will double dip this afternoon as they will play two games starting at 4:10. In the first game Batista will get the nod against Lincecum while in the second game Bumgarner will start against Gee. In case you forgot about Saturday’s game the Mets were about to end their three game skid in the top of the ninth when a dropped fly ball led to two Giants runners and tied game. The Mets would load the bases in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, it looked like the Mets grounded into a Double Play, Homeplate and First Base, but a throwing error to first base allowed the winning run to score.

Batista will get his first start of the season today. On the season he has pitched 5.0 innings with a 5.40 ERA. Last season he pitched 60.0 innings with a 3.60 ERA. His spot start helps the Mets out a lot as Johan gets an extra rest and Pelfrey gets pushed off of starting against the Marlins, a team he struggles against. The Giants have the following numbers against Miguel:

Huff 8-25, HR
Pagan 1-4, HR
Cabrera 2-2, 2 2B
Sandoval 0-2
Theriot 0-4

Tim Lincecum will get the start for the Giants today. In 2012 he is 0-2 over three starts and 13.2 innings of work with an ERA of 10.54. In all three starts this season he has allowed at least 5 ER. One has to think that this string of bad starts for Tim has to be coming to an end soon, and the Mets will try to make sure that is not today. Last year he was great against the Mets where he was 2-0 over 13.1 innings of work with a 0.69 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Tim:

Wright 2-17
Bay 2-10
Hairston 1-9
Davis 3-9
Murphy 3-8, 2 2B
Thole 2-5, 2B

Dillon Gee gets the nod in the night cap. So far this season Gee is 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA over 12.1 innings pitched in two starts. Gee didn’t start against the Giants in 2011 but he made two appearances where he shutout the Giants in 2.2 innings of work. The Giants have the following numbers against Dillon Gee:

Theriot 0-3
Posey 1-2
Huff 0-1
(Take Home Note: Not a lot of exposure to Gee)

Newly extended Bumgarner gets the start in the second game for the Giants and he is 2-1 this season with a 3.63 ERA over 17.1 innings of work. Madison made his start in the major leagues in 2009 and since then has never made a start against the Mets. The only two Mets that have seen him are Hairston (0-3) and Cedeno (1-3, 2B). So between Bumgarner and Gee, the night cap will be a game of mystery.

Let’s Go Mets!

We all know that David Wright is on the verge of breaking Strawberry’s Mets RBI Career record. Here is a list of the milestones that could be reached during this season:

Mets Career Records:
Wright Mets RBI Champion (733, 1 more to break)
Wright Sacrifice Flies Champion (58, 4 to tie)
Wright WAR Champion (37.7, 5.1 to tie) (Wright already has offensive WAR)
Wright #2 in AB’s (4453, 251 to tie Reyes)
Wright Mets Run Scored Champion (735, 31 to tie)
Wright Hits Champion (1418, 152 to tie, this one will be close this year)

Mets Player Career Milestones:
Wright 200 HR (15 to go)
Wright 300 2B (18 to go)
Wright 800 RBI (67 to go)
Bay 100 SB (12 to go)
Murphy 100 2B (20 to go)
Davis 100 R (3 to go)
Santana 2000 IP (80 to go)
Santana 2000 K (110 to go)
Pelfrey 1000 IP (104 to go)
Niese 500 IP (111 to go)
Niese 500 K (168 to go)
Dickey 50 W (7 to go)
Dickey 1000 IP (157 to go)
 

The Mets look to make it two in a row today as they take on the Giants for game three of a four game set. The first major obstacle for this game will be the weather. New York is supposed to be wet today. Very, very wet. Plus, it is supposed to be raining all day, getting worse as the day goes on. Anyway, in yesterday’s game the Mets were about to end their three game skid in the top of the ninth when a dropped fly ball led to two Giants runners and tied game. The Mets would load the bases in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, it looked like the Mets grounded into a Double Play, Homeplate and First Base, but a throwing error to first base allowed the winning run to score. Anyway, Dillon Gee will take on Tim Lincecum this afternoon (hopefully).

Dillon Gee gets the nod for the Mets today. So far this season Gee is 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA over 12.1 innings pitched in two starts. Gee didn’t start against the Giants in 2011 but he made two appearances where he shutout the Giants in 2.2 innings of work. The Giants have the following numbers against Dillon Gee:

Theriot 0-3
Posey 1-2
Huff 0-1
(Take Home Note: Not a lot of exposure to Gee)

Tim Lincecum will get the start for the Giants today. In 2012 he is 0-2 over three starts and 13.2 innings of work with an ERA of 10.54. In all three starts this season he has allowed at least 5 ER. One has to think that this string of bad starts for Tim has to be coming to an end soon, and the Mets will try to make sure that is not today. Last year he was great against the Mets where he was 2-0 over 13.1 innings of work with a 0.69 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Tim:

Wright 2-17
Bay 2-10
Hairston 1-9
Davis 3-9
Murphy 3-8, 2 2B
Thole 2-5, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

Time for our first check in on former Mets. With a high amount of team turnover in the last few seasons, there are former Mets all over the league. All of the stats are as of end of business Saturday:

Reyes: 14 H, 61 AB, .230 BA, 5 2B, 2 3B, 6 R, 4 SB, 2 RBI

Beltran: 17 H, 53 AB, .321 BA, 5 HR, 13 R, 3 SB, 8 RBI

K-Rod: 0-1, 5.14 ERA, 8 G, 1 GF, SV, 7.0 IP

Capuano: 1-0, 16.0 IP, 4.50 ERA, 3 GS, 15 K, 1.313 WHIP

Pagan: 14 H, 60 AB, .233 BA, 3 2B, 3 3B, HR, 9 R, SB, 3 RBI

First, even with Tejada’s current “slump” he is still quite a bit ahead of Jose Reyes in production. Who would have thought of that? Beltran has also been killing it this year. Who would have thought that at this point in the season Beltran would have more stolen bases than Jose Reyes.

K-Rod, after being a really effective set-up man last year, has gotten off to a rocky start. Capuano has been effective, but not worth the price tag the Mets would have had to pay during the off season.

As for Pagan, he has played well against the Mets, but not so well over all on the season.

I have seen my fair share of memorable baseball games at the ballpark. In Baltimore I saw Lee Mazzilli throw bubblegum out onto the field after a Chris Gomez foul ball was correctly called a foul ball instead of a home run. I saw Nick Markakis hit three home runs in one game. I’ve seen Chris Capuano pitch an incredible game, one of the best pitched games of the 2011 season. I’ve seen Felipe Lopez hit a grand slam off of Aaron Heilman in relief of Oliver Perez in DC. I’ve seen the Mets hit into what felt like 21 ground ball double plays against the Nationals. My first game at Citi Field, my only Mets home game in 2009, was when the Mets hit into an unassisted triple play to end a baseball game for the second time in modern baseball history.

I have never seen an ending to a game like today’s.

A friend of mine from college invited me out to the game today (Hey Dan!, also Dan was at the game where Felipe Lopez hit the grand slam off of Heilman) and the ending was just wild. The crowd was uneasy as Francisco took to the mound to start off the ninth inning. He allowed a lead off hit to Posey but was able to bounce back and get Huff out. At that point he allowed a run to score and left the game with runners on the bases. Byrdak came in to get his out and Rauch came into get his out.

Except not. As four Mets converged in shallow right there was that nagging sensation that something was about to go terribly wrong. The ball fell, two runs scored. Brand new ball game.

At this point the mood in the crowd is disbelief. It looked like we were all about to go home, and well, now we have to face the possibility of extra innings. Cue the bottom of the ninth.

Duda got on base. Thole bunted him over. Tejada got on base. Baxter got on base. Bases loaded. One out.

Infield all the way in. Outfield shallow. Go time for Captain Kirk. A deep flyball, in or out of the ball park ends the game.

Kirk hits it down the first base line into a tailor made double play ball. The ball is thrown to Posey at Home Plate for the first out. Hairston slides in to disrupt the throw as the ball goes back to first for the probably inning ending double play. Instead Posey makes a bad throw, and the winning run comes across to score.

At this point the mood is joy, and utter confusion. Watching this live, without the benefit of replay on television or commentary meant having to recreate the entire set of events in our minds, and of course the talk about the “if” game as we left the ball park. What if Pelfrey stayed in to finish the game? What if Rauch came out in the first place? What if, in the bottom of the eighth, Davis doesn’t get picked off and Wright doesn’t get caught stealing?

And, as Dan’s Father pointed out, the incredible story line of how Tejada goes from being the goat with the pop up, to the hero scoring the run.

What a bizarre game. But hey, you never know what you are going to see when you go to the ball park.

The Mets and Giants play game two of their four game set this afternoon as Mike Pelfrey takes on Vogelsong. In the first game, the Mets were able to rally in the ninth inning to bring the game to extras, but then lost. The Mets look to end their three game slide today where they need to get their pitching and hitting to coincide again. In Pelfrey’s first two starts he has pitched 11.2 innings with an ERA of 3.09. In his second start of the season he pitched 6 innings where he allowed one earned run over 8 hits. Last season he was 1-1 against the Giants in two starts over 13.2 innings with an ERA of 1.98. The Giants have the following numbers against Pelfrey:

Cabrera 3-12
Sandoval 3-13, 2B
Blanco 4-11
Huff 4-12

The Mets bats get a crack at a Ryan Vogelsong today who has pitched 6.1 innings this season allowing 2 ER. Last season he made two starts against the Mets where he pitched 11.0 innings where he allowed 7 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Ryan in his career:

Wright 2-7
Murphy 2-5
Duda 0-4
Thole 2-4
Davis 1-2, HR
Hairston 2-3
Tejada 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The Giants come into town to take on the Mets in a four game stretch. April is a tough month for the Mets as they had four consecutive in division series followed up by the Giants. Anyway, the Mets look to rebound from their last two starts as they take on Barry Zito tonight behind Jon Niese. Niese is 2-0 on the season with a 2.13 ERA over 12.2 innings pitched. Niese doesn’t really have numbers against Giants last year as he saw 0.1 innings in relief where he allowed 2 ER. In 2010 he made a start against San Francisco where he allowed 1 ER in 7 innings of work as he picked up the loss. The Giants have the following numbers against the Mets:

Cabrera 3-7, 2B
Theriot 1-3
Blanco 1-4
Sandoval 1-4
Huff 2-2
Posey 1-3, 3B

The Mets will get a look at Barry Zito, who has been on this season with a 1-0 record and a 1.13 ERA over 16.0 innings of work where in his first start he pitched a complete game shut out. In his second start he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned in 7 innings. He did not pitch against the Mets in 2011 however in 2010 he made one start against the Mets where he held them scoreless for 8.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Zito:

Hairston 7-27, 2B, HR
Wright 4-14, 2B
Bay 2-8
Cedeno 2-4
Davis 0-3
Tejada 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets play their second rubber game of the season this afternoon as they look to rebound from last night. Santana had a rough start last night and ultimately the Mets could not back him up with runs. In today’s game, R.A. Dickey will take on Jair Jurrjens. Dickey this season has a 2-0 record in as many starts over 13.0 innings while allowing 3 ER (2.08 ERA), 5 BB and 10 strikeouts. His first start of the season was against the Braves as he picked up the win in 6 innings of work while allowing 2 earned runs over 3 hits. The Braves have the following numbers against Dickey:

Bourn 7-23, 2B, HR
Uggla 0-23
Hinske 3-20, 2 2B
McCann 3-17, HR
Prado 3-20, HR
Freeman 4-12, 2 2B

The Mets will get another look at Jair Jurrjens this season who is 0-1 over 2 starts and 9.1 innings with an ERA of  7.71. As of today, Jurrjens leads the majors in homers allowed at 4. When he started his season with the Mets, he pitched 4.1 innings where he allowed 7 hits and 3 ER while picking up the loss. The Mets have the following numbers against Jair:

Wright 8-32, 2B, 3B, 2 HR
Murphy 7-25, 2 2B, 3B
Bay 4-18, 2B
Thole 4-13, 2 2B, 3B
Davis 0-9
Duda 1-4, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

When I got to work this morning, my twitter (@213MFS, by the way) was blowing up with messages about the Jose Reyes video tribute the Mets are planning next week. After thinking about at various points about it over the day, I’m not upset at the Mets for doing this, but I don’t understand why they are doing this. I’m not angry, I still like Jose Reyes and I completely understand why he went to Miami.

However, there really is no reason for the team to honor him, because that’s what a video does, it honors him coming back to the ballpark If he stays healthy, he will be coming back to the ballpark a lot in the 6 years.

The best I can rationalize about the Mets decision to make a video is that he was key player of the Mets and an icon in Queens for the last 9 years. However, he left in his prime, and even though the Mets never offered him contract, the Mets wanted him back (at the right price).

With Piazza it was different. Piazza was a generational player (Jose is borderline) and Piazza left the Mets at the end of his career. It was known throughout the season that it was a separation that was needed for both Piazza and the Mets. When he came back, he wasn’t on a division rival thus it was the only time he would be back in Queens. In addition, at that time it wasn’t known yet if he would play another season, so it was a unique opportunity to honor Piazza.

With Reyes in his prime and playing on a rival team that plays in New York between 9 and 10 times a season, a video tribute doesn’t fit. Piazza had an opportunity to play in 3 games in New York (maybe 4, I don’t know how long the series was), Reyes will have about 60 chances + a contract after those 6 years.

I’m not angry or upset they are honoring Reyes, I just don’t get it.