213 Miles From Shea

The Mets start a series in the Windy City tonight as they try to get back on the winning track after dropping two straight to the Yankees. The Mets have had a stressing weekend where they started off finally getting back to .500, then dropping the next game, and then looked to go back to .500 on Sunday, but blew up in the 7th inning and got crushed. Tonight the Mets will send out Jon Niese to go up against Ryan Dempster.

Niese is 3-4 on the season over 55.1 innings with a 4.39 ERA. He bounced back in his last start really nicely. Two starts ago, he struggled against the Rockies where he allowed 5 ER over 7 innings of work. Last time out, he allowed 6 hits over 7.0 innings and no runs. During that time he walked only one batter, while striking out 7. Last season he pitched 11.2 innings against the Cubs where posted an ERA of 3.86. The Cubs have the following numbers against him:

Ramirez 2-8, HR

Soriano 2-7, 2B

Baker 4-6

Castro 0-3

The Mets will try to get consistent tonight against Ryan Dempster who is 2-4 over 56.0 innings with an ERA of 6.91. Ryan got the season off to a terrible start, and then in May he looked to start to turn it around with three good starts in a row, a streak that was snapped in his last outing where he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings of work. So in some ways, tonight is a crossroad for him (like how Pelfrey's next start will be). Does Dempster return to be the pitcher at the start of May? Or the one in April? Last season he pitched 4.2 innings against the Mets where he allowed 7 runs, 3 earned. The Mets have the following numbers on Dempster:

Bay 2-13

Beltran 6-9, HR

Reyes 2-5, 3B

Harris 2-4

Thole 1-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The problem the Mets face with Reyes right now is making a decision of what they are going to do.

I'm sure internally, because despite what the majority of us think, the Mets are an actual sport franchise, thus they must have these discussions about what to do with Reyes.

Reyes is a key part of this Mets team. As of right now, he is not replaceable. There are players in the minors who could eventually provide some offense at SS, but realistically speaking, there is no such thing as another Jose Reyes out there, because of what Reyes the person means to this team and the locker room. In this regard, Reyes is essentially priceless. On top of the off the field stuff, he is one of the best players this season with the bat, and he is having a great year with the glove. The Mets, if they want to be successful, need to retain Reyes.

The problem starts with “Can We Afford Reyes?” If we can afford Reyes, than the solution is to sign him to an extension, and not trade him. Continue to build a team around Reyes, Wright and Davis and see what happens.

The idea right now is the Mets cannot afford Reyes. If that is the case, if the Mets really cannot afford Reyes, then we have to trade him. I still feel the Mets have a real shot at being competitive this season, however, winning a World Series, is a long shot. If we were in the running to win the World Series this year, then the Mets could take the risk of retaining Reyes and then losing him at the ending of the season, because of the few things that are more invaluable than a sparkplug, is a championship.

However, since we are probably not going to win a World Series this season, and if we cannot afford to sign Reyes to an extension, then Reyes must be traded for some team's entire farm system. Luckily, Reyes has been playing like that this season, that he can demand a large chunk of someone's system. We need players that are major league ready, because the only prospect that we have that is maybe (and that is a strong maybe) major league ready is Mejia. If this is the case, we should probably trade Beltran as well (because going halfway would also be a waste of time).

The take home point of this article, is the Mets are going to soon have to commit to a plan. If they don't trade Reyes, then they must make it a priority to sign him to an extension. If they do trade Reyes, they must get Major League prospects, and then they must try to move Beltran, K-rod or both to set up the farm system for the next 5 years. The worst possible thing for the Mets to do is to keep Reyes this season, and then not resign him. Because if that happens, the Mets just lose.

The Mets and Yankees conclude their three game set this afternoon with the rubber game. In the first game of the series, the Mets were able to edge out the Yankees, thanks to some strong pitching, and timely hitting. Last night, the Yankees took advantage of the sand box they play in and took the Mets deep, and often, as they took the game 7-3. Tonight Mike Pelfrey will try to keep it in the park against Ivan Nova (Lox).

Pelfrey 3-3 on the season with a 5.11 ERA over 49.1 innings of work. This month, he has looked like the player we have been looking for. In three starts he is 2-0 over 21.1 innings with a 2.11 ERA (side note: isn't kinda of funny that he has a 2.11 ERA over 21.1 innings?). Anyway, let's hope he keeps it up this afternoon. He was 1-1 against the Yankees last season over 13.0 innings of work with a 4.15 ERA. The Yanks have the following numbers on Big Pelf:

Cano 3-11, 2B

A-rod 3-10

Garnder 4-10

Jeter 1-6, 2B

Jones 1-5, 2B

The Mets will deal with the rookie Ivan Nova today who is 4-3 with a 4.33 ERA over 43.2 innings of work. After a rough start to the season, he has become an effective pitcher in the month of May for every start except for one. As you can imagine for a rookie who made his debut late last season, he has never faced the Mets, nor has faced any individual Mets batters, so he is a mystery to this ball club.

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets took the first game of the Subway Series last night, completing their climb back to .500 for the first time since they were 4-4. The Amazin's look to continue that climb tonight in Yankee Stadium in game two of this three game set. Last night's game featured, for the Yankees, your average pop-fly homer at Yankee stadium that put the Yanks up 1-0. The Mets immediately responded in the next half inning with a run to put the game tied at 1-1. Justin Turner (who else at this point) got that RBI, and not to be outdone, Murphy added on the go ahead homer. Tonight the Mets will send out Capuano who go up against A.J. Burnett.

Capuano has a 3-4 record this season with a 4.78 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 18 innings with a 3.00 ERA with 15 K's and 9 BB's. He has not had much experience against the Yankees, which makes sense since he has been in the National League. He has 4 recorded innings against the Bronx Bombers where he has allowed 7 runs, 5 earned. The Yankees have the following numbers on Chris:

Jones 6-18, 4 HR

Martin 7-11, 4 2B, HR

Jeter 0-2

Arod 3-3, HR

The Mets batters will try to breakout tonight against A.J. Burnett, who is 4-3 this season over 59.1 innings with a 3.99 ERA. He started off the month of May strong, with 14 innings and 3 ER over 2 starts, but he hit a snag in his last start where he allowed 6 ER over 8 hits in 5.2 innings. The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2009 where he pitched 14 scoreless innings against the Amazin's. The Mets have the following numbers on A.J.:

Bay 8-21, 2 2B, HR

Beltran 5-19

Reyes 0-17 (Ouch…..)

Murphy 0-4

Hairston 2-3

Let's Go Mets!

This season in particular, it seems like nothing positive the Mets do lands them on the back of the New York Sports pages. However, with them playing the only other New York Team playing Sports right now, they at least guaranteed themselves some attention today. Anyway, the New York Post decided to poke fun at the end of the World, with a a sign being the Mets winning and the New York Daily News did a normal Subway gag on the back cover:

It's that time of year again where the Mets and the Yankees play each other, and the 2011 Subway Series opens up in the Bronx this year. For the Mets, they are coming off of a two game shutout sweep of the Nationals as they look to return to .500 in tonight's game. Since the game is happening in the Bronx, the Mets will have a DH tonight, and as of last night (when this article was written) the DH was penciled in as Fernando Martinez as he looks to get some much needed AB's. Tonight Dickey will look to bounce back as he takes on Freddy Gracia.

R.A. Dickey has struggled at points this season, and hopefully he can turn back to his consistent self tonight. This season he is 1-5 with a 5.08 with over 50 innings logged. Things have been rough this month, as he has posted a 7.36 ERA in three starts. The last time Dickey faced the Yankees was in 2009 where he pitched 9.3 innings where had an ERA of 0.93. The Yankees have the following numbers on Robert Allen:

Granderson 3-10, 2 2B

Jeter 1-8

Arod 5-8, 2B

Swisher 0-6

Posada 0-3

The Mets will get a look at Freddy Garcia tonight who is 2-3 this season with a 3.22 ERA. This month he has pitched 18.1 innings and has posted an ERA of 4.42. The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2007 where he pitched 4.2 innings allowing 3 ER over 8 hits on his way to a loss. The Mets have posted the following numbers on Freddy:

Beltran 14-31, 2 2B, 3B, 3 HR

Harris 3-12

Bay 0-7

Paulino 3-3, HR

Reyes 1-3

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets and Nationals finish up their two game series this afternoon at Citi-Field as the Mets go for the two game sweep of the Nationals. Last night these two teams played a very rainy game (there were puddles on the infield and they still played) where the Mets bats were able to scrap out three runs and the Mets pitching shut down the Nationals bats. The Amazin's look to repeat today behind Dillon Gee as they take Livan Hernandez.

Dillon Gee is 2-0 this season in 7 games, 4 starts over 26.1 innings of work with a 4.44 ERA. As a starter he has pitched 22 innings this season and posted an ERA of 3.68. He hasn't played against the Nationals yet this season, but last year he had a really good looking game against them where he logged 7 innings of work while allowing only one earned run. The Nationals have the following numbers against Gee:

Bernadina 0-3

Desmond 0-2

Espinosa 0-2

Ramos 0-2

Werth 1-3

The Mets will get what feels like their 392940th look at Livan Hernandez today, who is 3-5 on the season over 57.1 innings and a 3.92 ERA. In the month of May he has pitched 18.1 innings with an ERA of 5.40, with his last start being his best where he allowed only one run over 7 innings of work (showing how bad his first two starts were this month). He was able to keep the Mets in check the last time he faced the team this season where he recorded 8.0 innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned. The Mets have the following numbers against Livan:

Reyes 16-56, 3 2B, 2 HR

Beltran 11-34, 2 2B, 2 HR

Harris 0-13

Tejada 2-6, 2B

Paulino 2-4

Thole 2-7

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets start a two game set at home against the Nationals tonight as the two teams fight for position in the cellar of the division. I do admit, that phrasing this series in that parameter is unfair for both the Mets and the Nationals as both teams are better than 5 other teams in the league. Anyway, tonight's game will feature Gorzelanny of the Nationals as he faces off with Jon Niese.

Jon Niese has been up and down this season showing spurts of brilliance, and then spurts of “eh, needs a bit more work”, similar to last season. This year he has thrown 48.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA. He had a stretch of four good starts in a row where his ERA was 3.24, that was broken up by his last start where he allowed 5 ER in 6.1 innings of work.Somehow Jon has yet to face the Nationals this season. Last year he wasn't that effective overall against the Nats posting a 5.56 ERA in 11.1 innings of work against them. The Nationals have the following numbers on Jon:

Pudge 2-9

Werth 3-8

LaRoche 3-6, 2 HR

Desmon 1-5, 2B

Morse 0-3

The Mets will get another look at Tom Gorzelanny tonight, who is 2-2 on the season with a 3.40 ERA. In the last three starts he has been superb throwing 19.2 innings and posting and ERA of 2.75. If his name sounds familiar, it is because he has faced the Mets twice this season already. In the first game against the Amazin's and also his first start of the year, he picked up the loss after allowing 5 ER, 6 total over 5.1 innings. In his second start against the Mets, he pitched 6.1 innings, allowing only one earned run with a no decision. The Mets have the following numbers on Tom:

Reyes 2-15

Hairston 1-11

Beltran 2-7, 2 HR

Turner 1-3

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets lost a tough one last night by the score of 2-1, where the injury plagued lineup couldn't handle the tough arms of the Florida Marlins, and couldn't back up a strong outing by Pelfrey. Today, the fortunes will try to be reversed as the Mets look to split their quick two game home series with the fish behind Jon Niese, who whill be facing Ricky Nolasco.

Jon Niese has been up and down this season showing spurts of brilliance, and then spurts of “eh, needs a bit more work”, similar to last season. This year he has thrown 48.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA. He had a stretch of four good starts in a row where his ERA was 3.24, that was broken up by his last start where he allowed 5 ER in 6.1 innings of work. The last time he faced the Marlins was his first start of the season, and he was solid going 7 innings allowing only 2 ER. The Marlins have the following numbers on Jon:

Infante 3-18, 2 2B

Sanchez 3-14, 2B

Ramirez 3-11, 2B, HR

Coghlan 2-10, 2B

Stanton 0-4

The Mets will get another look at Ricky Nolasco tonight who is 3-0 on the season over 53.2 innings of work and a 3.02 ERA. In his last three starts he has pitched 20.1 innings with a 2.66 ERA, so he is having a good season right now. His first game this season was against the Mets where he logged in 7 innings of work allowing only 2 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Ricky:

Reyes 15-43, 2B, 3B, 3 HR

Beltran 12-36, HR

Bay 6-22, 2B, 2 HR

Murphy 6-17, 2 2B

Thole 2-8

Let's Go Mets!

I may have to take back some of my comments from yesterday's 2011 Stars and Stripes article. Yesterday, I was hyper critical of the MLB for only donating $1 from a $37 dollar hat to a Veterans fund, when the entire event is hyped around this idea of “charity”. I'm still not happy with the MLB as a whole, but today, after learning about what happened in Pittsburgh this past weekend, I'm a little more directed at my “anger”.

I guess I should first explain my position before ripping into the both the Pirates and Brewers organization, and the MLB as a whole. One attribute about American society that drives me borderline insane is the idea of passive service as a way to feel better about one's self and showing overt patriotism in the process. It does bother me people make a big deal about passively supporting a cause, like buying a $37 hat, because part of it goes to charity. If you like that hat because of it's looks, buy it! Don't rationalize it though. If you want to help out a charity, do it! But your flaunting of your help should match your impact.

Which is why the Military Appreciation Caps bother me.

I'm happy that the Brewers held this event. I'm happy the honored those who have fought for this country. I'm happy they gave them some free T-shirts, and I'm sorta happy, yet sorta disappointed they got a discount in the team shop.

I'm not happy at all about both the Pirates and the Brewers selling the caps on the purpose of Appreciation, and not actually helping.

Here's the Pirates Cap and the Brewers Cap if you want to look at them.

In short, I know by me pounding at the keyboard furiously that this collision of nationalism (that marginalizes minority opinions like peace, welfare, and other things that get you labeled as a Commie or Un-American) and sport capitalism will not end. I also know it might seem hypocritical of me to complain here about passive support, because this blog is sort of passive support*. So just to handle any objections, I am a huge supporter of critical thinking, and I challenge my peers and my students (Undergraduates right now, High Schoolers in the Fall) to think critically about the world around them, mostly in the lens of science, but also to question the impact they make.

*Of course this blog becomes my active support of a cause, if I challenge you to think critically about the Mets, the players, decisions, and the relationship of Sports in general. So I hope I do challenge you.