213 Miles From Shea

The Mets go for three straight tonight against the Dodgers at Citi Field. Last night, the Mets were trailing most of the game but they got some three-run pop out Jason Pridie, who would put the Mets ahead for good. Despite all of the negative feelings around this team, with trade talk rumors, the team is, maybe surprisingly, only 4 games below .500. Anyway, Chris Young gets the start for the Amazins tonight and he will face Jon Garland.

After Young's disappointing game in Washington when he returned from injury, he threw an absolute gem in Philly last Sunday night of 7 scoreless innings. However the Mets batters left a ton of batters on base, and the game would eventually go on for 14 innings. Anyway on the season he has pitched 4 games over 24 innings of work (about 6 innings a game, which is exactly what to normally expect of Young) with an ERA of 1.88. The last time he faced the Dodgers was in 2009 where he faced them 3 times totaling 18 innings and posting an ERA of 4.00. The Dodgers have these numbers on Chris:

Ethier 12-29, 2 2B, 6 HR

Loney 6-17, 2 2B

Kemp 5-15, HR

Uribe 2-11, 2B

The Mets bats will try to crack Jon Garland tonight with is 1-2 on the year over 4 starts with a 3.81 ERA in 26 innings of work. Last season he picked up the loss in one game against the Mets where he pitched 6 innings, allowed 3 ER over 8 hits. The Mets have the following numbers on Jon:

Beltran 11-37, 3 2B, 2 HR

Wright 1-13

Reyes 5-6, 3B

Murphy 1-4, 2B

Bay 1-3

Davis 2-3

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets and Dodgers open up their series tonight in Queens. (Side note, I wonder if the person who makes baseball schedules orchestrated that the Mets would play both “parent” clubs back to back at home) Yesterday, the Mets were able to avoid the sweep from the Dodgers main rival behind a great start from Pelfrey. Tonight the Mets will send out Niese who will go toe to toe with Kuroda.

Niese is 1-4 on the season with a 4.71 ERA over 36.1 innings of work. In his last three starts he has pitched 19.1 innings with a 2.79 ERA. So he has started to show signs that he is the pitcher we think he can be, but the offense just has not been producing consistently behind him. In his young career, Jon has never faced the Dodgers, thus there are only a few players on the team that have AB”s against him: Miles 1-3, Garland 0-2, Uribe 0-3. So for the vast majority of the LA ball club, Jon is a mystery.

The Mets draw Kuroda who is 3-2 with a 3.10 ERA over 6 games and 40.2 innings of work this season. In his last three starts he has pitched 20 innings with a 2.70 ERA. So as of now, both Niese and Kuroda are on similar paths, at least recently. He faced the Mets twice last season with a 1-1 record allowing only 2 earned runs in 14 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers on Hiroki:

Wright 6-12

Reyes 5-12, 2B

Hairston 3-8, HR

Bay 1-6, HR

Davis 1-5, 2B

Beltran 1-3, HR

Murphy 2-3, 2 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets and Giants play again today, and this time the Mets hope to be in the correct column in the standings at the end of it. In yesterday's game, the Mets got really good pitching, but the bats fell silent to Lincecum and the Giants pen. They will have to face another strong pitcher into Jon Sanchez today while Pelfrey will try to rebound in this afternoon's game.

Mike Pelfrey returns to the mound today. In his last outing he struggled, giving up 4 ER in 4.1 innings of work. He was also coming off an illness that caused him to lose 11 pounds. Hopefully a healthier Mike will take the mound today, to improve his season numbers of a 7.39 ERA over 28 innings of work over 6 games. Last season, Big Pelf faced the Giants once getting a no decision in 7 innings of work while allowing 3 earned runs. The Giants have the following numbers on Mike:

Ross 7-20, 2 2B, 3B

Rowand 3-13, 2B

Huff 4-9

Sanchez 0-9

Tejada 1-6

The Mets batters go from dealing with one tough pitcher to another this afternoon in Sanchez (seriously, when you think about it, in the last five games the Mets have faced Halladay, Lee, Lincecum and now Sanchez). Jon is 2-1 this season with a 2.73 ERA over 6 games 33 innings of work. In his last three games he has an ERA of 2.20 over 16.1 innings. So he is slightly better of late, but still doesn't go deep into the game. Last season he posted a 3.68 ERA in 14.1 innings of work against the Mets. The Amazin's have the following numbers on Sanchez:

Wright 5-12, HR

Reyes 3-9, 2B

Paulino 3-6, HR

Davis 3-6, 2 HR

Murphy 0-3

Let's Go Mets!

For purists, the last two weeks or so of Mets baseball has been tough to manage. The Mets winning streak started when they were donning the black jerseys, thus in all baseball superstition, caused the Mets to wear them for what felt like half a season afterwards (because you know its not because Jason Bay was back in the lineup, it was because the shirt was a different color. Scientifically, peer-reviewed proven statement).

Anyway on Tuesday, in a direct response to killing of Osama Bin Laden, the Mets wore their stars and stripes hat last night which you can read about here. We can have a serious debate on whether this was an appropriate gesture or not (I am in the camp that it wasn't or as MLK would say, “Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate”). Of course like every notion of over patriotic overtones in baseball, it looked really bad. Why? Well the Mets colors are Royal Blue and Orange. The Blue on the hat is the navy blue on the flag. It just looks bad.

However the Mets made up on for all of this last night. Another story, for people who care about uniforms, for the Mets this year has been use of the hybrid hat (blue bill, black top) with the home snow white jerseys. Last night they wore the actual blue home hat! and Chris Capuano wore his socks over his pants! He did great! The offense not so much, but they didn't wear their socks over their pants! Obviously if they did this, we would win every game for the rest of the season.

The Mets lost the opener last night, and it was a rough one. It was a back and forth for the majority in the game and after a high energy top of the ninth where the Mets got out of a runner on third with no outs, they responded with putting runners on in the bottom of the ninth but couldn't get the job done. The Giants hit the go ahead homer in the top of the tenth. Tonight the Mets draw Tim Lincecum as they try to take the second game of this series.

For the Mets, Chris Capuano gets the call with his 2-2 record and 6.04 ERA so far this season. Two starts ago Chris was looking pretty good with a 7 inning outing allowing one run, but in his last outing he struggled allowing 4 ER over 5.2 innings of work. In 2010 he logged 1.2 innings against the Giants where he allowed 1 ER over 4 hits, a walk and a strikeout. The Giants have the following numbers on Chris:

Sanchez 9-21, 2 2B

Burrell 3-8, 2B, HR

Ross 3-7, 2B, HR

Huff 2-4

The Mets batters get to battle with the Freak tonight who has pitched 40.1 innings over 6 games and has logged a 2.90 ERA. He has been good by normal numbers against the Mets, but for overall numbers that Lincecum has posted against other teams, he has “struggled” against the Mets. In his career he has pitched 34 innings against the Mets over 5 games with a 3.71 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers on Tim:

Wright 2-15

Beltran 5-11, 2B, HR

Harris 3-10, 2 2B, 3B

Reyes 4-9

Davis 2-6

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets are coming off an off day after a rough 14 inning win in Philly, where the offense couldn't get it done early, but got done eventually as the pitching kept the Mets in the game all evening. The schedule doesn't get any easier as they start a home set against the San Francisco Giants tonight, and hopefully the Mets will be able to build some positive momentum. The Giants will be sending out Vogelsong tonight as the Mets look to ralley behind Robert Allen Dickey.

Dickey is 1-3 on the season with a 3.82 ERA over 33 innings of work. In his last two starts he has logged 14.2 innings with a 3.62 ERA while striking out 7 batters. Last season he was on the losing side of an amazing outing where he allowed only one earned run in 7 innings of work against the World Champions. The Giants have the following numbers on Dickey:

Tejada 2-8

Ross 2-7, 3B

Huff 1-6

Rowand 2-6

Sanchez 0-4

Posey 2-3

The Mets batters will get a look at 33 year old Vogelsong tonight. Ryan has bounced between the Giants, Pirates and Giants thoughout his career and has a lifetime ERA of 5.73. Before this season, the last season he pitched was way back in 2006, and this year he has had a great start to the year. He has pitched in three games, with one start where he logged 10.1 innings with a 1.74 ERA. In his first start of the year, against Pittsburgh (the baseball universe is a funny one) he logged 5.2 innings allowing 2 ER. His lifetime numbers against the Mets he has made one start and three total appearances totaling 9 innings with a 1.00 ERA. The Mets have these numbers on him:

Wright 2-5

Beltran 1-3, 2B

Hairston 2-3

Reyes 0-1

Let's Go Mets!

Nearly ten years after one of the emotionally charged Mets games in history due to the intersection of reality and sports, the Mets find themselves in a similar situation again where patriotism overrides rivalry.

Before we start, it is important to make clear that I am not asserting that last night's Mets game was even on the same level of emotion as the September 21, 2001 game against the Braves. That night, the first major sporting event in New York after one of the darkest days in American history still brings up an incredible amount of emotion, especially the fan reaction when Mike Piazza hit the homer to put the Mets ahead of the Braves. It maybe the only homerun hit that wasn't a milestone (as in like #700) or in a playoff game that will be mentioned on a Cooperstown plaque.

During the bottom of the eighth last night, it became apparent, if you were on news sites, it became apparent that President Obama was going to make a major announcement regarding Bin Laden, and it became apparent in the ninth inning in the stadium, of what just transpired. According to the reports (I stopped watching the game at this point, to return in the bottom of the 13th), chants of USA started in stadium where Phillies fans and Mets fans were all the same for the rest of the game. Rivalries aside, both fan groups were American and both groups realize the amount of emotion that comes with this type of news. News shows this morning were showing clips of the fan reaction because it was the only national sporting event that was occurring at the time when the news broke. So once again the Mets are the sport team that is involved in the intersection of reality and sports. This becomes more interesting when you think about what sport, especially baseball, means to national identity, and then when news stories center around national identity.

It is also very easy to see how the meaning of last night's win changed with the news of the night. I forgot which commentator said it last night, but last night's game was just another win or a loss for the Phillies, but so much more for the Mets. It was a representation of a complete slide from the 6 game win streak, or another stop and then a step forward. What would normally be a very jubilant night (beating Lee, surviving 14 innings, not getting a crushing defeat) was also immediately scaled with the national news.

Last night was one of those night that will prompt the question, “Where were you when you found out [major political/cultural event]” and for many of us, we were watching our favorite baseball team.

The Mets try to avoid the sweep tonight in Philly as they take on Cliff Lee for the Series concluder. Yesterday the Mets were locked in a pitching duel where they lost to Roy Halladay by the score of 2-1. For the Mets right now, they are on a three game slide after winning 6 games straight, so hopefully they can take a step in the right direction tonight (and go 3-3 on the road trip).

The Mets will be sending out Chris Young tonight who is 1-0 this season with a 2.65 ERA over 17 innings and three games. His last start was his first after coming off of his injury and he struggled, giving up 3 homers in 4.2 innings of work. One of his best starts this season was against the Phillies when he pitched 7 innings allowing only one earned run while he struck out 5 batters and walked only two. The Phillies have the following numbers against Chris:

Ibanez 9-29, 2B, 3B

Howard 2-11, 2B, HR

Rollins 2-11

Victorino 3-12, 2B

Francisco 0-3

The offense this night will get their first 2011 look at Cliff Lee. Lee this season has a 4.18 ERA over 5 starts and a 2-2 record over 32.1 innings of work. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2009 when he went 7 scoreless innings against the Mets while striking out 5 batters. The Mets have the following numbers on Cliff, which are limited because of all the injuries back in 2009:

Bay 3-7

Beltran 0-4

Hairston 0-6

Murphy 1-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets dropped the opener against the Phillies last night, and look to bounce back tonight. The only positive thing the Mets were able to do last night was muscle up on the ball (two homers), but one solo shot and one two run shot is not enough when the pitching falls apart. Hopefully the Mets will be able to get back on the right track today as they look for Niese to go toe to toe with Roy Halladay.

Jon Niese is 1-3 on the season with a 5.10 ERA over 30 innings of work. In his last two starts, he has pitched a combined 13 innings of work with an ERA of 2.77, which is what we expect from Jon. In his last start he really looked like a different pitcher due to how he was confident with his fastball, worked in a nice changeup and then effectively used his curve the second time through the lineup. He already faced the Phillies once this season and it was not pretty as he allowed 6 ER over 4 innings of work. The Phillies have the following numbers on Niese:

Polanco 4-13, 3 2B

Ibanez 2-10, HR

Victorino 3-9

Howard 1-7

Rollins 0-6

The Mets draw the top of the rotation in this game with Halladay who is 3-1 on the season with a 2.41 ERA over 37.1 innings of work. Last year he was 4-0 against the Mets in 4 games as he posted an ERA of 2.56 over 31.2 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against Roy:

Beltran 12-38, 2B, 2 HR

Bay 6-21, 2B, 2 HR

Reyes 10-22, 3 2B, 2 3B

Wright 2-18, 2B, 3B

Thole 7-12, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

While the starting pitching in the major league continues to sway from amazing to horrible, there are a few players in the minors that have gotten the 2011 season off to a strong start, and could provide some interesting internal solutions either this season or next season, depending on the age or experience of the player. Here are some interesting stats to look at:

Jenry Mejia (Buffalo): 1-2, 5 G, 28.1 IP, 2.86 ERA, 14 BB, 21 K

Matthew (Matt) Harvey (St. Lucie): 4-1, 5 G, 26.1 IP, 1.37 ERA, 9 BB, 30 K

Mark Cohoon (Binghamton): 1-1, 4 G, 25.0 IP, 1.44 ERA, 5 BB, 25 K

Chris Schwinden (Buffalo): 1-0, 3 G, 15.2 IP, 1.15 ERA, 6 BB, 17 K

Out of the above list, the only pitcher I would consider moving up this season would be Schwinden, only due to his age. He was born in 1986, and since the others are more serious prospects that need to be groomed, I think we could roll the dice with Chris if necessary. He started the season in AA where he was a relief pitcher and has gotten off to a strong start in AAA if he continues, he could be an interesting option to turn to down the road.

The other three pitchers are looking for rolls with the Mets in 2012 and with their numbers, they will be a hard to ignore. They all have been stellar early in 2011 with fantastic BB to K ratios. Harvey is probably the biggest surprise out of the group since it is his first season with the Mets, and a lot of people, or at least myself, didin't expect the Mets first round draft pick from last season to get off to such a strong start, striking out 30 batters over 26.1 innings. Cohoon started to become a name people spread around last season, and the talk around the Mets pundits (that is exactly how I picture all of us if we sat around a table with cameras pointed at us) basically all said the same thing that he would be a serious contender for 2012 if he had a strong 2011 campaign, and it looks like he is off to that right now.

Lot's to be excited about.