213 Miles From Shea

End of the month again, meaning it is time to look at the promotions for the next month. Like always, this is a three part article series starting with the American League today, National League tomorrow and then the Mets after that. Anyway, here's the interesting things that teams in the American League will be doing in the summer month of June.

Baltimore: If you have been reading this site for a while, you know I am a sucker for when Bobbleheads do anything other than just being a figure standing on a platform. This month, the Orioles have one for their skipper leaning up on the banister on the dugout.

New York: The Yankees are having a classic month. There will be a bat day (where it looks like they are giving out full size bats) and lunch box day. Although it's the Yankees, it is nice to see to see a team doing doing basics that stadiums should do.

Minnesota: The twins are giving out this boss pin for the hall of fame.

Chicago: The White Sox are doing a unique promotion where they are giving out a bobblehead for their grounds keeper. Nice.

Oakland: They haver their annual Root Beer Float day. It's pretty cool (haha…..No More Puns) because it's served by players and local celebs.

Seattle: No Comment. I guess I'm not hip.

It really pains me to write this article, but I'm doing it anyway.

If the Mets decide to trade Reyes this season, and I really hope they do not, but if they do, it is starting to look like the Giants may be a team that would look to cash in. One theme of the Giants for the past few years is that they are offensively challenged. The Rowand signing worked, but without the protection lacking in the lineup, he wasn't the same player as he was in Philly. The key in the lineup was Buster Posey who is now out for the year. Another possibility is the Red Sox, but that is for another article.

The team needs a hitter, and Reyes is the hitter. There are some whispers, mostly bloggers, who are questioning if some of the recent callups by the Giants were to show off the Major League readiness of their players, like Shortstop Brandon Crawford. If this is true, than Crawford gave an amazing audition in his first game as he hit a grand slam to give the Giants the lead.

Crawford is a 24-year old prospect who was also drafted in 2008 like Posey. He is mostly noted for his defense, which the Mets would want if they were to lose Reyes, but recently has been showing pop in his numbers. Here are his last two seasons in the minors:

2010: 309 AB, 47 R, 73 H, 13 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 23 RBI, 4 SB, .236 BA, .332 OBP

2011: 59 AB, 14 R, 19 H, 5 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, .322 BA, .412 OBP

Career: 881 AB, 123 R, 238 H, 47 R, 9 3B, 20 HR, 89 RBI, 17 SB, .270 BA, .336 OBP

He had a good year in 2009, a down year in 2010 and his short time this year, he was looking pretty good. I can't say enough that I would want Reyes on this team, but if we have to trade him, the Mets could do a lot worst than Crawford and a prospect package.

The Mets play the concluding game of this three game set this afternoon against the Phillies. Both games this series have seen the Mets bullpen fall apart late, and the Mets bats unable to drive in runners on base as the team has made a strong effort in the first two games but just could not finish the job. Today the Mets hope to reverse the course with Jon Niese as he goes against Worley.

Jon Niese is 3-5 this season with a 4.33 ERA over 60.1 innings. His last start was marred by miscues behind him in the field, and he ended up giving up 6 runs, 2 earned in 5 innings of work. His numbers totaled over both starts against the Phillies this season are 8 earned runs over 10.1 innings. The Phillies batters have been able to put these individual numbers up on Jon over his career:

Polanco 6-16, 4 2B

Ibanez 2-10, HR

Howard 1-10

Rollins 1-9

The Mets batters will get another look at Vance Worley this season. Vance has a very nice 2.14 ERA over 21.0 innings of work. His first start of the season was against the Mets where he shutout the Mets over 6 innings of work allowing only 2 hits. The Mets have the following numbers against Worley:

Reyes 0-4

Bay 0-2

Beltran 0-2

Murphy 1-3

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets dropped the opener last night in a close game, and they will try to bounce back tonight against the Phillies in game two. Getting hits wasn't a problem for the Mets last night, the problem was taking those batters on base, and getting them to touch home plate, that plus a slight self-destruction in the pen, adds up to a Mets loss. Tonight the Mets will sound out Pelfrey to go up against Hamels.

Pelfrey had a confusing start his time out. For the majority of the game he was cruising, looking to be a classic game for him as the Mets were beating the Yankees 3-1. Then he hit a bump at the start of the 7th inning, allowed runs, the pen took the gash and opened farther and all of a sudden the Yankees were winning 9-3. Anyway this season Pelfrey is 3-4 with a 5.37 ERA. Both of his starts against the Phillies this season have been forgettable as in the first one he allowed 7 runs, 6 earned in 2.1 innings of work, and in his second one he allowed 4 earned runs in 4.1 innings of work. The Phillies have the following numbers on Pelfrey:

Howard 14-34, 2 2B, 3 HR

Utley 9-30, 2B, 4 HR

Rollins 9-32, 3B, HR

Ruiz 5-20, 2B

Polanco 3-16

The Mets batters will go up against Hamels tonight, who is 6-2 this season with a 3.06 ERA. He has become more human in his last three stars as he has allowed 4 runs in 6 innings, then a dazzling one run in 8 innings and then 3 runs in 6 innings. The last time the Mets faced him this season was his first start of the year where the Mets pegged him for 6 earned runs over 2.2 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers on Cole:

Reyeys 10-34, 2B

Beltran 10-33, 2 2B, 3 HR

Pagan 8-28, 2B, HR

Hairston 6-17, 2 2B, 3 HR

Paulino 3-8, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

For the first time this season, the Mets and the Phillies will play in Queens, as the Mets look to reverse their recent mini-slump and beat the Phillies. Yesterday, the Mets lost the game and the series to the Cubs, and in the process also lost Dickey to an injury. So the shorthanded rotation just got smaller, and now the Mets will really need to make the most of their starters, like Capuano, who gets the nod tonight. He will be facing Roy Oswalt.

Chris is 3-5 this season with a 5.36 ERA over 37.1 innings of work. He was off to a strong start in the Month of May as he pitched 18.0 innings and recorded an ERA of 3.00, however he lost it in his last start against the Yankees where he allowed 6 earned runs over 5.1 innings of work. He has not faced the Phillies yet this season, and last season he allowed only one earned run against them in 5 innings. The Phils have the following numbers on Capuano:

Rollins 3-12, HR

Utley 1-8

Howard 3-8

Ruiz 0-5

Polanco 1-3

The Mets batters will get Roy Oswalt tonight, who is 3-2 with a 2.77 ERA so far this season. His two starts in this month have been good as he has pitched a total of 12 innings, and allowed only 2 ER while walking 3 and striking out 6. He is yet to face the Mets this season, but last year he threw one of his best games against the Amazin's as he held the Mets to 4 hits in a complete game shut out. The Mets have the following numbers on Roy:

Bay 11-31, 4 2B

Reyes 9-32, 2 2B

Beltran 9-24, 2 2B, HR

Murphy 1-6

Paulino 2-13

Let's Go Mets!

Yesterday was a mixed day for the Mets, but honestly what day isn't. The Daily News probably said best where yesterday was a day of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Where the good would be the Mets getting a new minority owner, giving some renewed sense of stability in the front office, the bad would be losing to the Cubs, and the ugly would be losing Dickey to injury. Anyway, your Back Pages New York:

David Einhorn, President of Greenlight Capital (Hedge Fund) became the Minority owner of the Mets today with a 200 million dollar investment.

But who is the 43 year old?

Einhorn is a lifelong Mets fan, and as it is getting reported through a variety of sources today, actually dressed up in a homemade Dave Kingman Jersey for Halloween when he was a child. He graduated from Cornell in 1991 (BA – Government). You can read about his business adventures on Wikipedia, I'll openly admit that reading about hedge funds, investments, and banking generally gives me a head ache, something that started my Freshman year of college where I was surrounded as a Communication Major by the Business School Rejects, where they would all talk about investments in a generally very incorrect manner. I would soon vacate that major and move to Astronomy and Physics, and far away from Business greed as possible.

Anyway, Einhorn is also very involved with charity, especially the Michael J. Fox Foundation. In 2006 he actually finished 18th in the World Series of poker, and he donated his earnings to the foundation.

Other notes about Einhorn:

– He publicly “attacked” the Lehman Brothers

– Apparently, publicly “attacked” Microsoft Today

All in all, I'm excited. Einhorn is young, and he is a Mets fan. I'm hoping that he is the perfect owner in the sense that stays out of the picture, and allows the General Manager to do his own thing. Sadly though, he still is the Minority owner, and only in a situation where the Wilpon issues get worse, does he get to take over the team. I'm just ready for this situation with the Mets ownership to come to an end, and for the Mets to “have the money” they need to do things like resign Reyes (I still think they had the money before this, but whatever).

The Mets and Cubs play a classic day game in Chicago. Last night, the Mets bounced back from a terrible opening game with a 7-4 win in a rain shortened game. Yesterday, the Mets found themselves in a quick 4-1 hole, but they came roaring back in the top of the second, scoring 5 runs, putting the game out of reach for the Cubs. Today Dickey will go up against the always fiery Zambrano.

This season Robert Allen is 2-5 with an ERA of 4.71. He bounced back from his bad outing in Houston nicely against the Yankees last week where pitched 6 innings allowing only one earned run. Last season he had an abysmal start against the Cubs where he pitched 6 innings allowing 7 earned runs. The Cubs have the following numbers on the knuckleballer:

Pena 2-10, 2 HR

DeWitt 2-5, HR

Soriano 2-5, HR

Castro 2-3

Fukedome 0-3

Johnson 1-3, 2B

The Mets will get another bout with Carlos Zambrano today, who is 4-2 with a 4.88 ERA over 62.2 innings of work. In his last three starts he has pitched 18.1 innings while allowing 13 earned runs (6.50 ERA). Before that streak started, his ERA was 4.23 and it has raised a good bit. Last season he was 1-1 over 2 games over 13 innings with a 2.77 ERA against the Mets. The Mets have the following numbers against Carlos:

Bay 14-41, 4 2B, 3B, 5 HR

Beltran 3-18, HR

Paulino 1-19 (Ouch)

Reyes 5-21, 2B, 3B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets try to bounce back from two headache losses. (Headache Loss: When the mental miscues from Professional Athletes cause a fan to hit their head on a desk, wall, or other object, thus giving the fan a headache). Tonight Dillon Gee looks to continue his pitching from his last strong outing and the Mets bats look to take out frustrations on Casey Coleman of the Cubs.

Dillon Gee was fantastic last time out as he pitched 7 shutout innings allowing 2 hits and not hits to the first 17 batters of the game. Probably the best part of the start was something you could only get in the Mid-Atlantic region, listening to the broadcasters try to explain the Nationals vs Gee. They downplayed Gee, showed some unprofessional conduct as they made excuses for the Nationals. It was like watching political pundits still throw mud after their side losses an election. Anyway, last season Gee didn't face the Cubs and there is no one on the Cubs who has faced Gee with another team, so Dillon is a complete mystery to the Chicago lineup, and it will be interesting to see how he uses that to his advantage tonight in the Windy City.

Casey Coleman gets the start for the Cubbies tonight. Over 34.1 innings of work this year, he has a 6.03 ERA and a 2-3 record. If you look at his game record, there is very rarely a middle ground. Casey is generally either terrible (slightly more often) or great. He made his debut last season and never saw the Mets, however one player on the roster does have some experience against him (Harris 0-2, BB). Casey will be a mystery for our ball club tonight as well, so it should be an interesting game.

Let's Go Mets!

Where the New York Mets are, there is Drama. Where there is Drama and Sports, the New York Back Pages are always there to lend an opinion.