213 Miles From Shea

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!

The Padres come to town tonight to start a 4 game set against and injured Mets team. The Mets lost more than just the game yesterday as two key pieces of the offense went down, and just about everyone on the field was playing a new position. Tonight the Mets look for one of the leaders on the team in Mike Pelfrey to help lead the Mets against Stauffer and the Padres.

On the season, Pelfrey is 6-9 with a 4.48 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 15.0 innings with a 2.40 ERA. He has not faced the Padres yet this season but last year in two starts he pitched 17.0 innings against them allowing only 2 ER for a 1.04 ERA. The Padres have the following numbers against Big Pelf:

Headley 4-12

Hudson 5-10, 2 2B

Venable 0-8

Gonzalez 2-7, 2B

The Mets batters will get a look at Stauffer tonight who is 7-8 this season with a 2.96 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 13.0 innings while allowing only three earned runs. It's been a long time since he has faced the Mets, back in 2009, where he pitched 5 innings while allowing only one earned run. The Mets have the following numbers on Tim:

Harris 0-3

Pagan 0-3

Wright 0-3

Let's Go Mets!

The past several days have been tough for Mets fans:

1) Davis was declared out for the season

2) Santana suffered a setback

3) Jose Reyes has a mild strain in his hamstring

4) Murphy is out of the season with and MCL tear

The most difficult part of all of this more me is Murphy. Murphy has had an incredible year that he now has to sit down from, and seeing the expression of pain on his face hurts. The only thing I hope for right now, besides a speedy a recovery of course is that he takes the same advice that the booth was “giving” Davis the other day about bringing the frustration into the offseason and next spring to come back angry and hungry.

It was just one of those days yesterday where it looked like that last piece of hope of making the playoffs was taken away. The positives left on the team is that they have overcome all season. When Wright went down. When Davis went down. When Reyes went down. When they started 5-13. When their closer was traded. When Beltran was traded. Now they have a few more things to overcome, and I just hope they can remain competitive and happy for the rest of the season. When they are happy, and they are playing happy, I feel happy as a fan.

That being said, when all is said and done for 2011, I think we will be talking a lot about Collins, and this fresh fighter mentality we have seen him give this team.

The Mets go for a series win today after finally snapping their 5 game losing streak last night. In the previous five games, the Mets offense disappeared but it came back with a roar last night as the Mets scored 11 runs, including 4 homers, 3 from unlikely sources (two from Turner, one from Thole) and 1 from a what should be a likely source (Bay). Today, Dillon Gee will take the mound against Mike Minor, who is being called up today.

Dillon Gee on the season is 10-3 with a 3.69 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 18.2 innings and has an ERA of 3.38. He has made three starts against the Braves this year where he is 2-0 over 16.2 innings of work allowing only one earned run (an ERA of 0.54!). The Braves have the following numbers on Dillon:

Gonzalez 4-9, 2 2B

Prado 2-9

Hinske 0-6

Uggla 2-8, 2B, 3B

Heyward 1-5

The Mets will get to face Mike Minor, a pitcher that could have been a Met if Sandy got what he wanted from the Atlanta organization for Beltran. On the season, Minor has made 6 starts over 33.1 innings of work with a 4.59 ERA. One of his really bad starts this year was against the Mets where he allowed 5 ER and 7 hits in 4.1 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers on Mike:

Bay 1-3

Murphy 0-2

Reyes 2-3, 3B

Turner 1-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Braves beat the Mets last night, and now have placed the Mets in an almost must win mode today as the Mets try to climb back to .500. Last night, Dickey gave the Mets every chance to win but the offense just couldn't get it done (plus the Braves showed some amazing defense). The Mets will try to get it done tonight behind Jon Niese who will go up against Tommy Hanson.

Jon Niese is 10-8 this season with a 3.94 ERA. His last start was one of his better in a while as he allowed only 2 ER over 5.1 innings of work while striking out 6. The not so nice part of that start was he still allowed 8 hits. He has been fairly effective against the Braves this season as he has pitched a combined 14 innings, allowing 4 ER (2.57 ER) with 11 strikeouts during that stretch. The Braves have the following numbers against Jon:

Uggla 6-19, 3 2B

Prado 4-17, 3 2B

Jones 4-11, 2 2B, HR

Gonzalez 3-11, 2B

Ross 5-11, 2B, 3B, HR

The Mets batters will get a look at Tommy Hanson who is 11-6 this season with a 3.20 ERA. In his last four starts he has pitched 23.1 innings with a 6.56 ERA. He made one start against the Mets this season where he pitched 5.0 innings allowing 3 ER while striking out 9 batters (out of a total of 15 outs, sounds likes the Mets). The Mets have the following numbers on Tommy:

Wright 1-16, 2B

Thole 5-14

Reyes 5-11, 2 2B

Harris 4-11

Murphy 2-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets donned their Los Mets Jerseys last night, and at last, they looked different. Whether you liked them or not, at least they were different. If you recall, in the past the Mets took their normal home uniforms and would post the word “Los” in tiny script on the upper corner by the “M” in “Mets”. Essentially, they added a patch to the uniform, and called it a different uniform.

Last night the Mets wore royal blue uniforms with orange script that read “Los Mets” across the chest.

Here's a photo of R.A. Dickey who wore the matching stirrups!

Good Job Mets!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, you can already buy these online. Actually, apparently they had a pre-order before the game even happened. (The website advertises three already made unis, including Reyes, Wright and….Santana? I really wonder how his jersey has been selling this season…)

The Mets start an important series tonight in Citi Field, if they want any chance of making the post season as they take on the Braves. The Mets are 8 games back in the Wild Card race, and essentially need a sweep here to re-enter the playoff picture. The Mets will be starting Dickey tonight who will be going up against Tim Hudson of the Braves.

Dickey is 5-9 on the season with a 3.77 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 12.2 innings allowing 5 ER which is an ERA of 3.55, slightly better than his season average. Against Atlanta this year he is 1-0 over 13.0 innings with a 3.47 ERA. The Braves have the following numbers on Robert Allen:

Hinske 3-20, 2 2B

Bourn 5-15, 3B

Uggla 0-15

Gonzalez 3-14

Prado 0-11

The Mets batters draw Hudson for the opener, who is 10-7 on the season with a 3.31 ERA. In the month of July, Hudson made 6 starts totaling 41.1 innings with an ERA of 2.83. Against the Mets this season, he is 0-2 pitching only 8 innings, allowing 7 earned runs, 8 overall. The Amazins have the following numbers against Tim:

Reyes 19-64, 4 2B, 2 HR

Wright 12-54, 2 HR

Bay 6-17, 2B, HR

Pagan 9-18, 2B, HR

Let's Go Mets!