213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to take the three game series this afternoon against Kyle Kendrick and the Phillies as they look to rally behind Mike Pelfrey. In the opener, the Mets were slapped around as they lost in a decisive fashion. However, last night was the reverse as the Mets bats came out roaring with a weak lineup, and ended up putting up an 11 spot on the scoreboard.

Pelfrey on the season is 5-8 with a 3.55 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 12.0 innings allowing 2 ER (1.50 ERA). Against the Phillies this season he has pitched 14 innings with a 7.71 ERA, but remember there was also that second start of the season in there were Pelf let up 7 runs in only 2 innings of work, that is really skewing the data. Anyway the Phillies have the following numbers on Pelfrey:

Howard 14-37, 2 2B, 3 HR

Utley 10-32, 2 2B, 4 HR

Rollins 10-36, 3B, HR

Ruiz 5-22, 2B

Valdez 0-7

The Mets bats will try to repeat yesterday against Kendrick who is 4-4 this season with a 3.58 ERA. In the month of July he has pitched 13 innings with a 4.85 ERA over two starts and a relief appearance. Against the Mets this season he has made 3 relief outings totaling 8.1 innings allowing only 2 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Pagan 4-21, 2 2B

Beltran 6-19, HR

Harris 5-16, 3B, 2 HR

Paulino 5-14, 2 2B

Thole 5-13

Let's Go Mets!

Ever want to spend $35 for a blank hat because it was a throwback? Well now you can! This hat actually looked really good with the rest of the throwback San Diego uniform, but on it's own, it is really difficult to justify the purchase:

The Mets try to rebound from last night against Cole Hamels this afternoon. Niese will get the start for the Amazins who is 8-7 this season with a 3.88 ERA. The month of July has not been very kind to Jon as he has pitched 13.1 innings (two starts and a relief outing) and allowed 8 ER in that time. This will also be his third time facing the Phillies this season as he has a 1-2 record and a 4.32 ERA in those three starts More specifically, he has a terrible start against them in April, his next start was good and his most recent one was great. The Phillies have the following numbers on Niese:

Ibanez 2-13, HR

Valdez 5-14, 2 2B, HR

Rollins 2-12

Francisco 1-7

The Mets will get another look at a familiar foe in Cole Hamels today who is 11-4 on the season with a 2.32 ERA. He has faced the Mets twice this season so far where the Mets tagged him for 6 runs over 2.2 innings in the first outing and then only 2 earned runs in 7 innings in the second outing. The Mets have the following numbers on Cole:

Beltran 10-36, 2 2B, 3 HR

Pagan 9-31, 2B, HR

Hairston 6-17, 2 2B, 3 HR

Paulino 4-11

Let's Go Mets!

I like this minor league hat. The team is called the Casper Ghosts and the team hat is actually white (a rarity) which helps to hide their ghost mascot. Really nice touch.

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The Mets return from the All-Star break against the Phillies tonight as the Mets start an important stretch to see if they are contenders or sellers. As you know by now, K-Rod was dealt a few days ago, and a Beltran deal is really contingent on the Mets play the next few series. The Mets will face Worley in tomorrows game while the Mets will start off the series with Dickey.

Dickey is 4-7 on the season with a 3.61 ERA. In his last four starts he has pitched 27.0 innings with a 2.33 ERA. He hasn't faced the Phillies yet this season but last year he had a 2.25 ERA over 4 starts. The Phillies have the following numbers against Robert Allen:

Polanco 7-23, HR

Ibanez 5-19

Rollins 1-7, 2B

Howard 2-6

The Mets will get another look at Worley tonight. Vance is 4-1 on the season with a 2.20 ERA. Vance made his first career start against the Mets where he shut them down for 6 innings of scoreless work. He wasn't so luck the second time around as he allowed 8 runs, 5 earned, in only 3 innings of work in his only really bad outing of his career. The Mets have the following numbers on him:

Beltran 1-5, 2B

Bay 2-4

Murphy 3-5

Thole 2-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

Bonus 90's cap! In the three part series from earlier, I completely forgot about another 90's hat. This one is the Holden Snapback hat, and it is modeled this time by the Reds:

This is an odd Minor League Hat. The Wilmington Blue Rocks usually have a crap like mascot for their caps, but for some reason they added in Celery this year. My friend explained this too me a while ago, and I forgot the reasoning, and am a bit lazy to go look it up.

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Just a quick update.

As you know a certain movie about a boy who lived is coming out tomorrow night. Harry Potter has been an event that has defined the current generation, myself included, and the movie portion is officially coming to end this weekend with the final Harry Potter movie.

Pop Culture and Minor League baseball generally blend together very well so two teams, the Grizzlies and the Pelicans, have decided to change their uniforms for Harry Potter nights.

Here's a picture of the Grizzlies and a picture of the Pelicans. As an added bonus, the Pelicans are also giving away a wand.

It pains me to do this hat, but it was so gimmicky I had to. The Phillies are, of course, excited about their rotation, so they obviously had to make this hat:

Well that conversation is now over.

There should be no financial reason now why the Mets cannot sign Reyes to a large contract. I still maintain that even with K-Rod on payroll next season, they would have been able to afford Reyes. With last nights trade, the Mets are completely off the hook for 2012 season with K-Rod and have alleviated their payroll quite a bit.

Let's backtrack though. The deal made last night sends K-Rod and cash to the Brewers for two players to be named later. The cash (estimated 5 million) is the rest of what K-Rod is owed this season, thus forcing the Brewers to either buyout his contract at the end of the season or let the option vest. As you know the Brewers don't have much of a farm system, and have given the Mets a list of players to choose from, and the Mets will make this decision at a later time.

We shouldn't fool ourselves too much, (not that I think anyone is actually doing this) this trade was not for prospects, but to prevent K-Rod from being on the team next year due to how much he was owed, and it was the right move. The only player on the Mets right now who should be making 17.5 million a season is Reyes, and that K-Rod contract was just ridiculous.

Of course this does make this season feel a little empty now.The Mets can still compete without K-Rod, but it will be very difficult. The next two series will probably be even more important. If the team can be dominant without K-Rod, then Beltran will stay with the team. If the team doesn't do so hot, then Beltran could go, and that will almost certainly be for prospects.

An interesting time to be a Mets fan indeed.