In our second installment of this series, we take a look at one of the most infamous fashion apparel series to ever hit the Mets Store: the Players Choice Signature Series Collection. This was a series of jerseys, hats and shirts where the individual players designed a line of clothing, and it all just looked odd. Apparently the Mets still sell Reyes' cap, which revealed to the world his nickname, “La Melaza”.
After a successful road trip, the Mets return home tonight to face the Yankees for the second part of this year's Subway Series and to close out Interleague play 2011. With the exception of yesterday's game, the recent story for the Mets has been the offense as they have been on a tear of late and hope to bring back that Citi Field tonight as Niese takes on Nova.
Niese is 7-6 this season with a 3.67 ERA. Niese bounced back from his bad start (4 IP, 4 ER) in his last outing as he went out and pitched 5.2 innings allowing only 2 ER. This will be Niese's first experience in the Subway Series as he has never faced the Yankees as a franchise and has never faced any bats on the Yankees roster.
The Mets will get to face Nova tonight who is 7-4 with a 4.26 ERA this season. He has been more or less like that in his last three starts as he has pitched 19.2 innings with a 4.12 ERA. Earlier this season he made a start against the Mets as he pitched 6.2 innings against the Amazins while allowing 3 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Nova:
Beltran 1-4
Murphy 1-4
Reyes 0-4
Bay 2-3
Let's Go Mets!
A while ago (June 13th to be exact), I was browsing authentic throwback caps (the ones worn on the field for 2011) and found one, the one that is featured below, that sparked an idea for an article series. The point of this series is just to show a cap that I think is really unusual, odd, or different for a team to sell. Sometimes I will include hats that I really like, other times I will include hats with a very cynical opinion for why the team is actually selling them (Here's looking at you Military Hats where no money actually goes to troops).
The other reason for this article series is as you may or may not know (I'm not sure if I'll write about it before you see this post), this summer I am very busy with Teacher Training, meaning there will be weeks at a time where the only real posting I'll be able to do on this site is game previews. The last time that happened, May, my readership took a sharp dive, as it should. To avoid that again, this series of articles are the type I can write and have them post way in the future. I also realize this is very similar to another series that Mets Police runs. The one they run, and it is really good and worth a look, focuses on alternative Mets hats. I will have a few of those here, but this really all hats for all teams (and I prefer to focus on on the field hats).
Today's hat is the 1961 Throwback for the Los Angeles Angels, who where the California Angels when they wore this hat. They wore it on the baseball field back in April, and while they are doing this for a lot of their hats this season, the silver halo on top of the hat is what caught my attention, and is still rather bold to wear on the field:
The Mets go for the sweep today in Detroit as they try to keep their offense running like the well oiled machine that it is. The offense on the Mets has been ridiculous as of late and today they have a tough challenge as they will try to score runs against one of the toughest pitchers in baseball, Justin Verlander. The Mets will look for some pitching support tonight in Mike Pelfrey.
Pelfrey is 4-6 this season with a 4.78 ERA. His last start wasn't that great as he pitched 6 innings allowing 4 ER on his way to a loss. His weakness was the opening inning and after that he was mostly alright. His start before that though was amazing as he pitched a complete game allowing only one earned run. This isn't too surprising but Pelfrey has never actually played against the Tigers and the only batter that has seen him is Cabrera who is 2-6 against Big Pelf lifetime.
The Mets draw the Tigers ace in the series closer as they will have to figure out Justin Verlander who is 10-3 on the season with a 2.38 ERA (league leading). In his last five starts he has been unstoppable as he is 5-0, pitching 42.0 innings with an ERA of 0.86. He has made one start against the Mets and he struggled against the team from Queens as he lasted only 2.0 innings allowing 5 ER. The Mets have the following numbers on Justin:
Bay 1-4, 2B
Harris 1-6
Pagan 1-2, 3B
Reyes 1-2
Let's Go Mets!
The final stop in our three day tour of July 2011 is the Mets as they have one gem this month they are giving out. Anyway here is the promotion schedule:
July 1st-3rd: Cap Trade. The annual Cap Trade this year is vs the Yankees. Anyone know if this has happened before.
July 15th: Pyrotechnic Night
July 16th: 1986 Anniversary Cap Night. 25 years since the last World Championship for the Mets and we get a hat! But sorry no pic yet.
July 17th: MetroCard!
July 19th: A bobblhead of Ike Davis!
The Mets go for the series win in Detroit tonight as they take on the Tigers. The big relief story from the series opener was the Mets ended a 299 game, nearly two year stretch of not hitting any grand slams as both Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran hit big bombs in consecutive innings. This ball club that has shown a severe lack of power (playing without Wright and Davis since May) hit a total of three homers last night and now have scored 36 runs in the last three games. They look to continue this offense output and back up Chirs Capuano tonight.
Chris is 6-7 on the season with a 3.99 ERA. He has been on his top game in his last four starts as he has pitched 25.0 innings with a 3-1 record and a 1.08 ERA. In his career he has made one start against the Tigers where he pitched 7 innings against them and allowed 3 ER on his way to pick up the win. The Tigers have the following numbers against him:
Cabrera 7-19, 2B, 2 HR
Inge 0-4
Martinez 1-3
Ordonez 0-3
The Mets bats look to continue their ways against Phil Coke tonight who is 1-7 this season with a 4.32 ERA. He has made four starts in the month of June with one being great (6.1 scoreless innings) and the rest being bad, making his numbers 1-3 over 21.0 innings with a 5.57 ERA. In his career he has pitched 3 scoreless innings against the New York Mets who don't really have that much experience against him:
Bay 0-2
Harris 0-2
Murphy 1-1
Let's Go Mets!
Just like yeysterday we were able to look at the promotions in the American League for the month of July, today we will look at the surprises the National League has cooked up. However, we won't do the Mets today, who will get their own article tomorrow. Without further delay, your interesting National League promotions:
Washington Nationals: I love when teams give away hats that used to cost $37 if they were fitted and structured.
Chicago Cubs: Sadly no picture for this, but the Cubs will be giving a chip and dip platter this month.
Pittsburgh Pirates: I cannot even begin describe what these are.
Cincinnati Reds: This is awesome. It's a bobble head that is also a toothpick holder. They also join the list of clubs that will be giving out Jerseys this month (they are doing Rollen)
Milwaukee Brewers: There are two awesome bobbleheads coming up. They have a racing mascot and a beer mascot.
San Francisco Giants: If you watch any Giants games, you know that they have some awesome socks as part of their uniform, and they are giving them out!
This isn't some false reality folks, this is real. The Mets are above .500 tonight after a win against the Tigers and the Mets ended their Grand Slam drought tonight.
Every time this year when the Mets have loaded the bases, someone in the booth has had to make a mention of the long time between Grand Slams. The exact count tonight is 299 games the Mets went, nearly two years, without hitting a Grand Slam. While one does not need to hit grand slams to win a ball game, it certainly does not hurt as a Grand Slam generally provides a moral boost for the team who hits it, and daunting task for the other team (something the Mets have faced way too much in the last 299 games).
Jason Bay in the third inning hit the Grand Slam, capping a 7 run inning for the Amazin's. For Bay, this is crucial because he was brought here to hit home runs and he finally succeeded in a situation that we needed him too. He also hit a homer last week, so maybe this is the start of something. Not to be outdone, Carlos Beltran hit is his 11th homer of the year in the next inning, and that too was a grand slam.
The Grand Slam story line also suppresses other incredible stories from the night. For example, Jose Reyes was 2011 Jose Reyes. He stole base 29 of the season, he went 4-4 with a double and triple, he walked and he scored 3 runs. There hasn't been a player like Jose Reyes in a really long time and it has been great watching him play this season. Pagan also had a perfect night at the plate as he went 3-3 with 2 runs scored, 2 walks, a double and an RBI. Josh Thole showed some power tonight with a solo blast. Dickey had a strong outing and the bullpen was basically perfect.
All around great, and unbelievable game.
The Mets try to push themselves over .500 tonight against the Tigers in Detroit. After playing horrible on Friday night, the Mets roared back in their last two games winning 14-5 and 8-5, scoring all of those runs without the long ball. The Amazin's will look to keep up their hitting ways tonight and back up starting pitcher, R.A. Dickey.
Dickey is 3-7 this season with a 3.76 ERA. He is coming off of a no decision, where he pitched brilliantly allowing only one earned run in 8 innings of work. It was also a rebound start for him as in his previous start he allowed 6 ER in 4 innings of work. In his career he is 3-2 over 56.0 innings against the Tigers with a 4.02 ERA. Detroit has the following numbers on Robert Allen:
Ordonez 5-18, HR
Inge 5-17, HR
Cabrera 4-13, 2B
Peralta 1-8
The Mets batters tonight will get a look at Rick Porcello who is 6-5 this season with a 4.54 ERA. His last two starts have been quite rough where he has pitched a combined 7.2 innings allowing 14 runs, 11 earned. Rick has never faced the Mets in his career (I have lost count the amount of times I have written that in the last week) but he has faced Scott Hairston, who is 0-3 and Jason Bay, who is 1-2 with a homer.
Let's Go Mets!
July is here! The baseball season is half over and teams are keeping an eye on their attendance. Teams that knew they would be struggling at this point in the season were thinking during the offseason on how to keep attendance up, and a great way to do this is through promotions. As always, today we will look at the American League, tomorrow we will look at the National League, and the next day we will look at the Mets.
Baltimore Orioles: They are having a “BP Redemption Night” which is where if fans go get gas at BP, they will get free tickets to the ball park. I was disappointed with this because it sounded like they may do something with the spill from last year, but nope. Just some corporate bull.
Tampa Bay Rays: What? A DJ Cat Puppets?
New York Yankees: This is one of my favorite reoccurring promotions.
Cleveland Indians: This is a classic, tasteful tribute. Well Done.
Kansas City Royals: Another Team doing a cape. Also, this is just too awesome.
Los Angeles Angels: They have a real knack for bringing back children things, this time a sock monkey
Oakland Athletics: This is just too awesome. MC Hammer. Done.
Seattle Mariners: The Mariners make some of the best bobble heads ever. This is no exception here.
Texas Rangers: They are giving away two jerseys next month. An Ian Kinsler and a Josh Hamilton. Sadly no pictures yet.
