213 Miles From Shea

The Mets finally ended their five game skid last night as they beat and the Padres in the opener of the series. Last night was a pretty good night all around for the Amazins as Duda hit a homer, Izzy got save 300, the Mets almost lost it but came back and won it and finally they signed their number 1 overall draft pick. Niese will get the start for the Mets as Luebke gets the nod for the Padres.

Niese is 11-9 this season with a 4.03 ERA. His last start was a good one, and it was against the Padres as he pitched 7.2 innings allowing 3 runs, 2 earned. Sadly, it wasn't enough for the Mets as he got saddled with the loss. The Padres have the following numbers against Jon:

Maybin 6-19, HR

Blanks 0-3

Forsythe 0-4

Darnell 0-3

Luebke is 4-6 on the season with a 3.09 ERA. He got a no decision in his last start (which was against the Mets) as he lasted 5 innings, allowing 3 hits and 2 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Cory.

Bay 1-3

Duda 1-3, 2B

Evans 0-3

Wright 1-2

Let's Go Mets!

Earlier this season the Brewers became the Cerveceros and donned really nice gold uniforms.

This past weekend they became the Bierbrauer and donned uniforms that look just like their Navy Blue uniform, just with a different name.

Here's a picture of the Cerveceros if you forgot what they look like.

Here's a picture of the Bierbrauer uniforms if you want to see what they look like.

In normal Mets fashion, when something positive actually happens to the team or an individual player, something else happens else where in baseball that covers up the occasion. So, as Thome hit homer 600 last night, which is a huge accomplishment, but it blocked Izzy who reached save 300, which is also a huge accomplishment.

(The “and David too” was for Wright who last week who became the team leader in Total Bases, but I'll give him an article about that some other time).

It's hard to think about this as a Mets accomplishment, but Izzy started with us, and has now returned. We get a chance to celebrate his career that he made with other teams, and him as a baseball player.

Now granted, there are 23 players with 300 saves, plus Krod who will probably make it eventually. Knowing that, I can see why they are giving Thome more press since he is only the 8th player in history to hit 600 bombs. However, Izzy wasn't even an image to pick on the MLB.com main page. If I had to guess, it is because Izzy completed a pitching record and outside of Perfect Games and No Hitters, no one really clamors for. People barely show up to the ball park for hitting records anymore.

So once again, congrats Izzy. Wish we would give you more attention, but that just is not the Mets way.

The Mets start another series with the Padres (they just faced them the series before the Diamondbacks) tonight. The last time the Mets faced the Padres, they won the first two games of the series in dramatic, comeback fashion. They then lost the next two games against the Padres and were then swept by the Diamondbacks. The Mets try to get back in the right direction tonight behind Dickey who faces Harang.

Dickey is 5-11 on the season with a 3.75 ERA. In his last four starts he has pitched 25.2 innings with an ERA of 3.51. His last start was against the Padres where he allowed 5 runs, only 3 earned in 6 innings of work and was saddled with the loss. The Padres have the following numbers off of Dickey:

Maybin 3-9

Gonzalez 1-4

Bartlett 0-3

Forsythe 1-3, 2B

The Mets get to face Aaron Harang again today as he is 11-3 on the season with a 3.93 ERA. In his last four starts he has pitched 22.1 innings with an ERA of 6.85. Last time he faced the Mets, in his last start, he allowed 10 hits and 3 ER in 5.2 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Aaron:

Bay 17-49, 6 2B, 3B, 5 HR

Wright 9-15, 3 2B, HR

Pagan 2-5

Tejada 2-3, 2B

Thole 3-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets try to avoid five losses in a row today as they take on the Diamondbacks for the late afternoon game. In yesterday's game, the Mets were unable to hold onto their small lead, as they dropped another game to the Diamondbacks, this time by the score of 6-4. Chris Capuano will get the start today against Marquis.

Chris Capuano is 9-10 on the season with a 4.51 ERA. In four of Chris's last 5 starts, he has allowed at least 4 ER and for Chris his problem remains the later innings. Back in 2010 he pitched 2.0 innings against the Diamondbacks while allowing 1 ER. Arizona has the following numbers against Chris:

Nady 3-13, 3B, HR

Blanco 1-8

Johnson 1-7

Young 0-3

Jason Marquis has made two starts since becoming a Diamondback and in that time he is 0-1 pitching only 8 innings allowing 15 runs, 11 earned. He was supposed to make a start against the Mets the last time the faced the Nationals, but he was traded before hand. On the season he is 8-6 with a 4.48 ERA. He made one start against the Mets this season where he allowed 3 ER over 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Jason:

Bay 16-43, 4 2B, 3B, 5 HR

Wright 13-32, 2 2B, 2 HR

Pagan 3-13

Harris 2-10

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets try to end their slide tonight against the Diamondbacks against Mike Pelfrey who will go up against Daniel Hudson. Last night the Mets dug themselves into a hole early, and late in the game they started to climb back, but it wasn't enough as they eventually lost the game 4-3. One story line to watch tonight is Mike Pelfrey who said some interesting comments after the game about not believing about winning, which was met with anger from an undisclosed Met.

Mike Pelfrey is 6-9 on the season with an ERA of 4.53. He struggled in his last start allowing 4 ER over 6.1 innings over 9 hits. One of his best starts of the season was against the Diamondbacks where he pitched 7 innings allowing only one earned run over 5 hits. Arizona has the following numbers against Mike:

Johnson 7-26, 2 2B, HR

Young 7-19, 2B, 3B

Montero 7-15, 4 2B

Upton 3-10, 2 2B

Daniel Hudson gets the start for the Dbacks tonight, and he is 11-8 on the season with a 3.38 ERA. His last start was a rough one as he allowed 7 runs, 4 earned, in 3 innings of work. Hudson faced the Mets back in 2010 and was very effective holding the Mets to three hits and one earned run in 8 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Daniel:

Pagan 1-2

Thole 0-3

Wright 0-3

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets go the west coast as they face the first place Arizona Diamondbacks tonight. The Mets dropped the series finale to the Padres yesterday, in a game where they got a lot of players on the base, but couldn't bring them home. Tonight Dillon Gee will get the start as he goes against Ian Kennedy.

Dillon Gee is 10-3 on the season with a 3.93 ERA. He struggled in his last start against the Braves as he allowed 5 ER in 5 innings of work. His second start of the season was against the Diamondbacks as he allowed 2 earned runs, 4 total in 6 innings. Arizona has the following numbers against Gee:

Johnson 0-3

Montero 1-3, HR

Roberts 1-3

Upton 1-3

Young 0-3

The Mets bats will try to score some runs today against Ian Kennedy who is 14-3 this season with a 3.20 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 21.0 innings with a 3.00 ERA. He didn't face the Mets yet in 2011 but in 2010 he pitched 11 innings against the amazins where he allowed 6 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Ian:

Haiston 1-5, HR

Pagan 1-5

Wright 4-6, 2B, 2 HR

Harris 0-3

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets and Padres conclude their four game set today with the early afternoon game at noon in Queens. After comeback wins in the first two games of the series, the Mets weren't able to comeback last night as they fell to the Padres by the score of 9-5. Today the Mets will try to take a series win behind Jon Niese as he faces Cory Luebke.

Niese is 11-8 this season with a 4.12 ERA. Niese picked up a win in his last start despite allowing 5 ER in 5 innings of work. It was the second time in his last three starts that Niese allowed 5 ER in 5 innings of work. The last time Niese faced the Padres was back in 2010 and it was a fantastic game as Niese pitched a shutout, complete game, one-hitter. The Padres have the following numbers against Niese:

Maybin 4-15

Hudson 2-3

The Mets will get a look at Cory Luebke today who is 4-6 this season with a 3.06 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 20.1 innings with an ERA of 4.43. Cory never faced the Mets in his career, nor has he seen any Met when they were with any other team, so to the Mets he is a mystery.

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets and Padres play game three tonight at Citi Field. For the second game in a row last night, the Mets staged a late comeback to beat the Padres and get above .500. Last night, the ralley started with a solo homer by Pagan and then classic Mets small ball to a victory. The Mets will go for win three in a row behind Dickey as he goes against Aaron Harang.

Dickey is 5-10 on the season with a 3.72 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 19.2 innings with a 3.20 ERA. He has actually never faced the Padres as a franchise in his career, however he has faced the following batters:

Maybin 3-6

Hudson 1-3

Bartlett 0-1

The Mets batters will get a look at Aaron Harang tongiht who is 10-3 on the season with a 3.91 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 16.2 innings with a 7.56 ERA. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2009 where he was 0-2 in two starts against the Mets over 8 innings of work while allowed 6 ER. The Mets have the following numbers on Aaron:

Bay 17-46, 6 2B, 3B, 5 HR

Wright 8-12, 2 2B, HR

Paulino 2-13

Hairston 2-10, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets and Padres play game two tonight as the Mets look to bring themselves back on the right track. Last night's game showed the resilient nature of this season. The Mets started off the game with the injuries of Reyes and Murphy hanging over them. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead, then a 1-1 tie before getting a substantial 4-1 lead. The lead was then turned to a 4-4 tie and then an 8-4 trailing. In the bottom of the 8th the Mets would score 2 followed by 3 in the ninth to the win game 9-8. Tonight the Mets try to repeat with Capuano getting the start against LeBlanc.

Capuano is 9-10 on the season with a 4.44 ERA. His last start was first good one in a while as he allowed 2 ER in 6 innings of work. The last time he faced the Padres was back in 2010 where he pitched 3.2 scoreless innings against them. The Padres have the following numbers on Chris:

Hudson 1-5

Maybin 0-3

Bartlett 1-2, 2B

Headley 0-2

The Mets bats will look to show their power again tonight against Wade LeBlanc who is 0-2 on the season over 21.2 innings of work with a 4.98 ERA. This will be his 5th start this season. Last season he faced the Mets once and picked up the loss after 5.1 innings of work where he allowed 2 ER over 7 hits. The Mets have the following numbers on Wade:

Paulino 2-4, HR

Bay 1-2

Pagan 0-3

Wright 3-3, HR

Let's Go Mets!