213 Miles From Shea

The Mets try to bounce back from yesterday's game with a win tonight against Atlanta. As you probably know, the Mets were in a position to win again last night and the bullpen just fell apart, again. I don't believe in curses, but the Mets pen just hasn't been good since Fox Sports called it one of the best in the game during a broadcast a couple of weeks ago. The Mets will send out Dillon Gee to take the mound for the Mets to go against Jair Jurrjens, who has been excellent this season.

Dillon Gee is 5-0 this season with a 3.83 ERA. In his last start, he allowed 3 ER in 7 innings of work. His command on the mound is really starting to turn a corner and although he doesn't feel like an ace, he feels like a pitcher that will keep the Mets in the game every time he is on the mound. His first start this season was against the Braves where he allowed 1 ER in 5.2 innings of work. The Braves have the following numbers against Dillon:

McCann 2-6, 2B

Prado 1-6

Gonzalez 2-4, 2B

Uggla 1-3, 3B

The Mets will have to deal with Jair Jurrjens tonight who is leading the league in ERA at 15.1 over 9 starts where he has a 7-1 record (which is also a league leading win percentage). His first start of the season was against the Mets where he tossed 7 innings in shutout ball in the night cap of a doubleheader. From there he has pretty much been consistently great all season. The Mets have the following numbers on Jair:

Pagan 2-24, 2B

Reyes 3-17, 2B

Beltran 2-16

Murphy 6-18, 2 2B, 3B

Harris 7-14, 2B, 3B

Bay 3-12, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

Monday is the day for the MLB 2011 Draft and like every sport these days, the draft is turning into more of a show. I remember a few years ago when they televised it for the first time, it was an absolute joke. There were barely any prospects there, and they tried to have famous for each team sitting at a table as a figure head while the teams were each in their war rooms. Anyway, this season the draft is being broken up over several days, with a prime time spot on Monday with the first round and the supplemental first round, and the next rounds on the following days.

Anyway so the question is what do the Mets do in the draft?

Personally, I think the Mets should take safe route with the draft, meaning they should go with a pitcher in the first round. The Mets could use an impact position player, but where? The outfield is rather crowded with a lot of players coming down the pipe. Catcher could be useful, but there aren't any first rounders in the draft. First base is covered, second base is a mystery which depends on a combination of Turner's trajectory, Tejada and Reyes, shortstop maybe/hopefully covered and so is thirdbase.

Really what that leaves is a pitcher, and you can never have enough pitchers. So I think the first priority for the Mets should be the catcher, for no good reason other than that is where the Mets can get the biggest return in this draft.

There are some names that are being tossed around a lot throughout the internets like Taylor Jungmann and Jed Bradley. Both pitchers are projected as top of the rotation starters, and they are both coming from College, so it will take less time for them to make it to the majors. I'll reserve a full blown preview until the Mets actually make their pick.

This morning when I went to look up the start of tonight's Mets game, I noticed there was a new advertisement on the MLB web page for 2011 All Star Batting Practice Jerseys:

The positives are that both the American and National Jersey are very similar to each other. The font on the front match and the colors are a perfect inverse of each other, so at least they match. For the Diamondback theme, they did a very good job. The problem in terms of aesthetics is this that the Dbacks don't have the best looking uniforms in the first place, so what they had to work with it, to make it look Arizona, was limited from the start. However, they did the best they could and it came out well.

The only part of the jersey I am on the fence about is the blue star on both jerseys. I don't know if I like it because it brings out the star in All-Star, or hate it because it doesn't go with the rest of the uniform.

Tomorrow, we'll look at the Batting Practice Caps.

The Mets and the Braves open up a weekend series tonight, with Jon Niese getting the start for the Mets as he goes up against Derek Lowe. Yesterday was a great game for the Mets as they rallied from being down 7-0 to win the game by the score of 9-8. It was a reverse of the last couple of days where the starting pitching wasn't so sharp last night but the bullpen and the hitting came back for the Mets.

Jon Niese is 4-5 on the season with a 3.92 ERA over 66.2 innings pitched. The youngster has pitched 18.1 innings in his last three starts where he has struck out 18 batters with a 0.98 ERA. Nice. He has not faced the Braves yet this season, but last season he was 0-2 against Atlanta where he logged 14.0 innings of work with a 2.57 ERA. The Braves have the following numbers on Jon:

Prado 3-13, 2 2B

Uggla 6-13, 3 2B

Ross 3-8, HR

Gonzalez 1-5

Jones 2-4, 2 2B

The Mets batters will get a familiar foe tonight in Derek Lowe, who is 3-4 with a 4.03 ERA this season. In his last four starts he has pitched 22.1 innings with a 5.64 ERA in that stretch. He faced the Mets once back in April where he allowed 2 earned runs in 6 innings of work over 5 hits and 4 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers on Lowe:

Beltran 8-39

Pagan 5-21, 3B

Bay 0-15

Murphy 4-12, 2 2B, HR

Thole 5-11

Hariston 4-10, 2B, 3B

Let's Go Mets!

While the Post decided to cover the NBA finals on the back page instead of one the best comebacks in team history by one of the city's team, the Daily News failed to disappoint:

The Mets and Pirates finish up their four game set this afternoon, as the Mets look to split the series. Yesterday was a now familiar story for the Mets where a late inning meltdown costs the Mets the win. As typical in (Mets) baseball, when one gear starts to work (here: starting pitching) another gear that was working well (here: bullpen) starts to fail. Anyway, this afternoon Pelfrey gets the nod against Maholm.

Pelfrey responded nicely from his previous meltdown with a great start his last time out where he pitched 7.2 innings allowing only 2 ER. It should have been a win but the pen fell apart behind him. In five games, his ERA in the month of May has been 3.09, and would probably be a lot lower without that destruction in the Bronx. Last season he was 2-0 in as many starts against the Pirates over 15.0 innings with a 1.80 ERA. The Pirates have the following numbers against Pelfrey:

McCutchen 4-9

Snyder 3-8

Diaz 2-8

Tabata 0-7

Walkder 1-8, 2B

The Mets yesterday faced the league leader in wins, today they face the league leader in losses, who has a better ERA. Maholm is 2-7 this season with a 3.18 ERA. In five starts in May, he has pitched 33.2 innings with a 2.14 ERA. Last season he picked up the loss in one start against the Mets where he allowed 7 runs, 2 earned, over 3.2 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Beltran 6-14, 2B, HR

Pagan 5-12, 2B, HR

Evans 4-7, 2 2B

Paulino 3-6

Let's Go Mets!

Last night's game was just frustrating, and the Mets look to move beyond it tonight with game three against the Pirates. The Mets will look for a strong start from Capuano and hope the lineup can put some runs together against Correia tonight as the Pirates were able to snap the Mets two game streak of large amounts of hits.

Chris Capuano is 3-5 this season with a 4.94 ERA over 54.2 innings pitched. He bounced back nicely in his last start as he allowed 2 runs, 1 earned in 6 innings of work, and he looks to build on that tonight against the Pirates. Last season he wasn't very effective at all against the Pirates as he allowed 7 earned runs in 9.1 innings of work. The Bucs have the following numbers against Capuano:

Cedeno 3-18, 2B, 3B

Diaz 4-5

Snyder 4-5, HR

Jones 1-6, 2B

The Mets bats will try to rev up some strength against Kevin Correia tonight. He is 7-4 (yes, league leading in wins, on the Pirates) with a 3.44 ERA. He had two bad starts in a row in May, and then he bounced back with two fantastic starts, so it is up to the Mets to see what Kevin they can get to the ballpark tonight. Against the Mets last season he had one start where he allowed 6 earned runs in 6 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers on Kevin:

Harris 4-13

Beltran 3-6

Pagan 2-4, 3 BB

Murphy 1-6

Let's Go Mets!

June isn't really a great month for Mets promotions but here's a list anyway.

June 2nd – Dunkn Doughnuts Gift Card

June 4th – A nice Mets hat and a Hot Dog Eating Contest?

June 5th – There is also a quality looking Batting Helmet.

June 18th – A Blue Hat. No picture.

June 19th – Mr. Met Hat

June 20th – Senior Stroll

So essentially, a lot of hats this month if you like that team from Queens.

The Mets and Pirates play game two tonight, and the Mets will try to make it three straight wins. Last night the Mets had a surprisingly steep task. They were facing a pitcher who was on a tear, and they had to do it without Reyes, Bay, Wright and Davis and the end result was a 7-3 win with 15 hits thanks to offense explosions from Tejada and Murphy, and the continued feel good story of Justin Turner. Anyway, R.A. Dickey gets the start tonight as he goes up against James McDonald.

R.A. Dickey gets the start tonight (as of Monday Night when this article was written) rebounding from his foot injury and getting the start. R.A. is 2-5 over 60.0 innings this season with a 4.50 ERA. Including his short 2.2 innings in his last start, in his last 8.2 innings pitched (his last two starts) he has only allowed 1 earned run and 3 walks while striking out 7. Last season, one of his gems was against the Pirates as he allowed only one earned run in 9 innings of work. The Pirates have the following numbers on Dickey:

Overbay 1-7

Snyder 0-5

Jones 2-4

McCutchen 2-3

Cedeno 0-3

The Mets batters will try to continue this two streak of hitting against James McDonald tonight. James is 3-3 on the season with a 5.23 ERA. He has started to turn it around in his last two starts as he has pitched 12.2 innings allowing only 3 earned runs. Last season in two starts he pitched 13.2 innings against the Mets allowing 8 earned runs. The Mets have the following numbers on McDonald:

Beltran 0-6

Pagan 2-6, 2B

Thole 1-5

Tejada 0-2

Let's Go Mets!

2000 is a big number in baseball, not so much for a blog, but I'm excited to announce this is article #2000 for this website!

In celebration, I am going through the New York Mets roster to see if any players will be approaching any number milestones this season!

Jose Reyes: 200 Doubles (Passed Already, now at 208)

Jose Reyes: 100 Triples (9 to go)

Jose Reyes: 400 Stolen Bases (50 to go, so it will be a stretch for this season)

David Wright: 200 Home Runs (25 To Go, even if he was in the lineup every day, this would be a stretch this season)

Carlos Beltran: 300 Home Runs (12 To Go)

Jason Bay: 200 Home Runs (7 To Go)

Mike Pelfrey: 500 K's (78 To Go)

K Rod: 300 Saves (7 To Go)

K Rod: 800 K's (47 To Go, possible stretch for this season)

Mets Career Stats:

Jose Reyes: Overtake Strawberry at 662 Runs (Already Happened This Season) (For #1)

David Wright: Overtake Strawberry at 662 Runs (Currently Tied) (For #2)

David Wright: Overtake Cleon Jones at 1188 Hits (6 To Tie) (For #3)

David Wright: Overtake Ed Kranepool at 2047 Total Bases (42 To Tie) (For #1)