213 Miles From Shea

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.

The Mets are fresh off three series wins in a row and tonight they start their first of two, two-game home series, this one against the Marlins. Both of the Mets last two wins came from behind, and although they were against the worst team in the league, showing fight is showing fight. The Mets will have a tough challenge tonight as they face Josh Johnson who will go up against Big Pelf, in a rematch of the opening Day game.

Big Pelf is starting to show more what we expect from as of late. On the season he has an ERA of 5.74. In his last two games he has pitched 14.1 innings of work with an ERA of 2.51, which is better than half of his season ERA. The Mets will need him perform again tonight. The last time he faced the Marlins was on Opening Day where he allowed 5 earned runs in only 4.1 innings of work. The fish have the following numbers against Big Pelf:

Ramirez 10-35, HR

Infante 8-17

Dobbs 7-17, 2B, HR

Stanton 3-7, 2B

The Mets will have to deal with one of the best pitchers in baseball in Josh Johnson. This season he is 3-1 with a 1.63 ERA, which leads the majors. On Opening Day, the Mets were able to touch him for 2 earned runs over 6.2 innings, and since then he has just been on fire. His only bad start came at the start of the month in St. Louis where he allowed 5 earned runs in 7.1 innings of work, but he bounced back in his last start allowing 1 earned run over 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Josh Johnson:

Beltran 5-26, 2B

Wright 6-29, 3B, HR

Reyes 4-25, HR

Harris 5-18, 2 2B, HR

Murphy 4-14, 2 2B

Bay 4-9, 3B, HR

Let's Go Mets!

You know how you know you are getting old? When you realize that this will be the forth year that the MLB has had Stars and Stipes Hat. There will be soon be a generation of young fans cognitively aware to remember their collective first baseball game/season, and they will not know a season without this now silly promotion.

Anyway, if you have been living under a rock for the last four summers, the Stars and Stripes Hats are another example of nationalism in sports, where every teams puts aside their team colors for a day, and put on American themed hats, that you can also purchase for a considerable chunk of change. The hats help to “raise awareness for the Welcome Back Veterans Fund” (ie. no conclusive evidence that purchasing this hat actually helps anything)*.

Cynicism aside, the hats are often criticized because they also look terrible, and they don't match most team's uniform. The first incarnation of these hats where Navy Blue, the following year we saw Red. Last season was the first time different teams got different colors. Some teams got a white hat with a blue bill, other teams got a white hat with a red bill. This year, some teams will get a blue hat where the front panel is white, with a blue bill, and other teams will get the same thing, except with Red instead of Blue.

The Mets 2010 Hat.

The Mets 2011 Hat.

* I do recognize that the MLB donates $1 for every hat sold. However when the hat costs $37 dollars, what are you saying about yourself when you rationalize the purchase of this hat because it is donating $1.

The Mets look to take the series today in the rubber game against the Astros in Houston. After a fantastic comeback on Friday night, the Mets could not keep the momentum going yesterday afternoon in Houston, losing 7-3. Today the Mets will send out Chris Capuano, as he will face Aneury Rodriguez. Capuano has a 2-4 record this season with a 4.93 ERA. He has been the losing pitcher of record in both games he pitched in May, despite having really good outings totaling 13.0 innings with a 2.77 ERA. He also had a good outing earlier this season against Houston where he pitched 7 innings allowing only one earned run. The Astros have the following numbers on him:

Lee 2-10

Barmes 2-10, 2 2B

Bourn 1-8

Pence 1-7

Sanchez 0-6

The Mets will get their first look at Aneury Rodriguez as a starter, who recently made the switch from the pen to the rotation. On the season he is 0-1 over 18 innings of work with a 5.50 ERA. He did face the Mets in April, where he pitched 2 innings allowing 3 runs, but they were all unearned. Nobody on the team actually has a hit against him, but seven players have had one plate appearance.

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets go for four in a row this afternoon in Houston. For a second straight day, the Mets hit three homers to win the game. In Thursday's game, Beltran had a historic day belting out all three long balls. In yesterday's game, the Mets were down 4-0 going into the seventh when three homers (Fmart, Bay, Wright) propelled the Mets to a 5-4 win. In today's game, R. A. Dickey will take the mound to face J. A. Happ in the battle of pitchers that we refer by initials.

Dickey has pitched 46 innings pitched with a 4.50 ERA and a 1-4 record this season. He had an average start his last time out, pitching 7 innings, allowed 4 runs, 3 earned while walking 2 and striking out 3 (he allowed too many hits: 10). His longest out of the season came against the Astros as he pitched 8 innings, allowing 4 runs. It was after that game that he said some strong words about the Mets, and then Bay came back, and the Mets started to play a lot better. The Astros have the following numbers on Robert Allen:

Lee 7-18, 3 2B, HR

Bourn 4-12

Johnson 2-11, 2B

Pence 1-9, HR

Sanchez 1-8

The Mets batters will get another crack this season at J.A. Happ who is 2-4 this season with a 5.75 ERA over 40.2 innings of work. He has been a bit better in his last three games, pitching 17.1 innings with a 4.15 ERA. He also faced the Mets this season where the Amazin's were able to knock him out after 4.2 innings, lighting him up for 6 earned runs. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Beltran 4-13, 2 HR

Reyes 1-10

Wright 6-11, 2 2B, 3 HR

Bay 2-4, 2B

Paulino 2-5, 2 2B

Murphy 1-4, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets will try to make it three in a row tonight, as they take on the Astros in Houston. After a rainout and a rain delay yesterday, the Mets, and by Mets I mean Carlos Beltran, put on a power display as they rolled by the Rockies 9-5. If you remember, it was after dropping the first two games of the series against the Astros in April that the Mets started their April winning streak.

Dillon Gee will take his 3.80 ERA over 21.1 innings into Houston tonight. Since Dillon Gee is young and has had limited time in the majors, not only has he never faced the Astros, but he has never faced any of their players while they were with other teams. He will be a complete mystery for the batters tonight.

On the side of the mound will be Bud Norris for the Astros who is 2-2 this season with a 3.16 ERA. In his last three starts he has been on fire with a 1.31 ERA over 20.2 innings of work. Earlier this season he faced the Mets picking up a no decision in 6 innings of work allowing 3 ER and 10 hits. The Mets have the following numbers on Bud:

Wright 0-6

Reyes 3-7

Thole 2-6, HR

Beltran 3-6, 2 2B

Murphy 2-3, HR

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets and Rockies finish off their series today, after being rained out yesterday, this afternoon in Colorado. The Rockies took the first game of the series by the score of 2-1 and then the Mets took game 2 by the score of 4-3. Today, Niese will get the call for the Mets while the Mets batters will get a challenge in Ubaldo Jimenez.

Jon Niese is 1-4 this season with a 4.71 ERA. In his last four starts he has logged 25 innings of work with a 3.24 ERA. One of his not so good starts this season was against the Rockies where he allowed 5 ER over 6 innings of work. The Rockies have the following numbers on Jon:

Helton 6-13, 3 2B

Spilboroghs 4-12, 2 HR

Tulo 5-10, 2B, HR

Gonzalez 0-6

Jimenez will get the ball for the Rockies. This season 0-2 with a 5.88 ERA. Last season he faced the Mets once and allowed only one earned run in 7 innings of work picking the loss. The Mets have the following numbers on Ubaldo:

Harris 5-11, 2B, 3B

Reyes 2-10, 3B, HR

Wright 2-10

Beltran 1-6, 2B

Let's Go Mets!