213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to win their second straight series and their second series against the Braves in 2012 tonight as they take on the Braves in Atlanta. Last night’s game featured a very strong outing from Dillon Gee as he dominated the Braves lineup and prevented any rallies from happening. Ike Davis homered for his second straight game, putting the Mets ahead 4-1. Jason Bay ended up making a huge catch to rob a homer, and then hit one himself to set the Mets out ahead. Tonight the Mets look to back Johan Santana as he takes on Randall Delgado.

Johan Santana makes his third start of the season and his second start against the Braves in 2012 tonight. On the season so far Santana has made two starts allowing 1 ER in 10.0 innings with 5 BB and 13 K. When he pitched against Atlanta on Opening Day, he shutout the Braves in 5 innings of work. The Braves have the following numbers against Johan:

Diaz 17-34, 4 2B, HR (…wow)
McCann 8-31, 2B, 3 HR
Chipper 7-27, HR
Prado 4-22, 2B
Uggla 1-21, HR
Bourn 5-14
Heyward 1-10

The Mets bats will get their first look at Randall Delgado tonight who in his first start in 2012, picked up the win in 5 innings of work, allowing 2 earned runs, walking 2 and striking out 6. Last season he made 7 starts for the Braves where he logged 35.0 innings with a 1-1 record an an ERA of 2.83. Not surprisingly, Randall Delgado has not recorded any major league at bats against anyone on the Mets roster.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets travel down to Atlanta tonight to take on the Braves for the second time this year. In the first meeting this year, the Mets took all three games on their way to their quick start to the season. Recently, the Braves have Larry back in their lineup and are riding a 5 game win streak, pulling up to a game back behind the Amazins, and 1.5 games behind the Braves. The Mets will be sending out Gee for his first look at the Braves this year while the Mets bats will get a second look at Tommy Hanson.

Gee dropped his first game of the season as he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned over 8 hits, a walk and 6 strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. Last season he was 2-1 in 6 starts against the Braves over 32.0 innings with a 3.38 ERA. The Braves have the following numbers against Dillon Gee in his career:

Prado 4-17, 2B
Uggla 3-16, 2B, 3B
Heyward 4-10, HR
McCann 2-11, 2B
Bourn 3-10
Freeman 1-11
Chipper 1-8, 2B

The Mets bats will get a second look at Tommy Hanson this season. In two starts this season, Hanson is 1-1 over 10.0 innings with a 2.70 ERA. Tommy faced the Mets on Opening Day where he allowed one earned run in 5 innings, picking up the loss against Santana. Last season he was 0-2 vs the Mets as he allowed 10 ER in 8.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Hanson:

Wright 3-20, 2 2B
Thole 8-18, 2B, HR
Davis 2-12, 2B
Bay 3-11, HR
Duda 3-8, HR
Murphy 5-8, 2 2B
Tejada 0-7

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look for the sweep today as they take on the Phillies in Philly in a Sunday afternoon game celebrating the legacy of Jackie Robinson. The major story in yesterday’s game surrounded David Wright. Was he rushed to play to soon? How will his pinky handle the bat and throws? Wright answered everyone as he took the first pitch he saw to the deepest part of Citizens Bank Park. The Mets would later tack on more runs from GDP from Bay and 2 run homer from Lucas Duda. For the second day in a row, the Mets had strong starting pitching from Jon Niese and good relief work. The Mets will try to repeat all of this behind Mike Pelfrey as he takes on Cole Hamels.

Pelfrey picked up a no decision in his first start of the season where he pitched 5 innings, allowed 3 ER over 10 hits while walking 1 and striking out 8. It was a very Mike Pelfrey start where at times he seemed awesome and at other times he made you want to throw the remote through the television. Last season he made 6 starts against the Phillies for 28.0 innings and a 7.71 ERA. The Phillies have the following numbers on Mike:

Victorino 15-48, 3 2B, 3B, HR
Rollins 12-41, 3B, HR
Ruiz 8-26, 2B
Polanco 6-25, 2B
Pence 7-18, 2B, HR
Wigginton 1-11

Cole Hamels had a rough start to the season where he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned over 5.1 innings with 8 hits and 9 strikeouts. Last season, Cole was Cole where he pitched 216.0 innings with a 2.79 ERA.  There was one team that consistently gave him trouble last year, and that was the New York Mets who in 4 games, limited Cole to 21.0 innings of work with a 6.86 ERA off of 26 hits, 9 walks and 23 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers on Hamels in his career:

Wright 12-39, 3 2B, 3B, 2 HR
Hairston 8-20, 4 2B, 3 HR
Tejada 2-12
Bay 4-10, 2 2B
Pelfrey 3-9, 2B (Seriously)
Davis 3-7
Murphy 3-6, 2B, HR

Let’s Go Mets! Beat the Phils!

The Mets took the opener of the series last night by the score of 5-2 as the Mets powered 2 homers out of the ball park as the pitching staff kept striking out the Phillies lineup. In today’s match up, the Mets bats will go up against Vance Worley as the Mets send out Jon Niese. In his first start of the season, Niese flirted with history as he took a no hitter in the 7th inning. In that start Niese struck out 7 batters but was tagged for 3 earned runs as things started to unravel in the 7th. Last season he faced the Phillies 5 times over 27.2 innings and a 5.53 ERA over a 2-3 record. The Phillies have the following numbers against the Mets:

Polanco 9-21, 4 2B
Rollins 4-16
Victorino 4-15, HR
Mayberry 4-15, 2B, 2 HR
Ruiz 5-14
Pence 2-11

The Mets bats will take a crack at Vance Worley tonight, who in his first start of the season pitching 6 innings, allowing 1 run over 5 hits. He pitched in 5 games against the Mets last year, 4 starts, over 23.0 innings with a 3.13 ERA. Overall last season he pitched 131.2 innings with an ERA of 3.01 and a record of 11-3. The Mets have the following numbers against Vance:

Bay 2-8
Turner 4-10, 2 2B
Thole 3-8, 2B
Murphy 4-8
Tejada 2-8
Duda 1-4

Let’s Go Mets!

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!