213 Miles From Shea

The Mets try to salvage the last game of the series, and their dignity, against the Atlanta Braves today. In the last two games, the Mets pitching wasn't so bad (4 runs per game) however the bats decided to not make the trip down south. Today is also the continuation of “Who's Pitching?” as we have our second new starter in as many days in Dillon Gee who will get to go toe to toe with Tommy Hanson this afternoon.

Dillon Gee makes his 2011 debut today. Last season for the Mets he pitched in 5 games with a 2-2 record and a 2.18 ERA. In those 33 innings of work he allowed 15 walks and struck out 17 batters. This season in the minors he is 1-1 in two starts with a 4.63 ERA over 11.2 innings pitched. Last season against the Braves he pitched 7 innings and allowed 3 ER, yet he still lost. The Braves have the following numbers on Dillon:

Gonzalez 1-2, 2B

Heyward 0-2

McCann 1-3, 2B

McLouth 1-3, 2B

Prado 1-3

Hanson will be making his fourth start of the season today. So far he is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA over 16 innings of work. Last season he was fantastic against the Mets with a 2-1 record and a 2.28 ERA over 4 games and 23.2 innings of work. The Mets have these numbers on Tommy:

Wright 1-13, 2B

Thole 3-11

Davis 1-9, 2B

Harris 4-9

Reyes 3-8, 2B

Murphy 2-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

Things just seem overwhelmingly difficult for the Mets sometimes.

In case you aren't aware, here is a rundown on recent events in Mets world:

1) Rained out at home, thus a doubleheader on the last day of the series

2) A rally in the first game that ended with a David Wright fly out to the Mo's Zone that in any other situation that wasn't two outs with runners in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, due to the way outfielders play that area of the ball park.

3) The rotation get's messed up due to Thursday's doubleheader

4) Chris Young's start get's pushed back

5) The Mets get rained out Friday Night

6) The Braves choose to make the the game on Saturday, thus making it another doubleheader (the single admission kind)

7) Chris Young ends up on the DL, Misch called up

8) The Mets will need to call up Gee now for Sunday

Seriously, how does this all happen?

According to the Daily News, the Mets did file a complaint to the MLB about when the make up game was scheduled. That was the correct call, one would expect the a team to do that in this situation. However, I don't blame the Braves for what they did. It wasn't cheap, it was smart. They know the Mets are in a rough spot, losing 5 straight games and having pitching problems, scheduling a doubleheader today is a great way to get a little extra advantage.

Sigh. The joys of being a Mets fan.

The Mets and the Braves play a doubleheader today to make up for the game last night. If there was ever a time I would say the Mets need a doubleheader sweep, I would say it would be today. Two wins could go a long way for this team that always seems just slightly out of reach. On another note, it is slightly ridiculous that the Mets are being forced to play a doubleheader today after one on Thursday, but maybe the silver lining is that it will build character, or something like that. The first game today, at 4:10, will feature the matchup for last night's game with DJ. Carrasco vs Derek Lowe. The night cap will have Mike Pelfrey vs Jair Jurrjens.

Game 1:

Making a spot start for the Mets tonight will be D.J. Carrasco. So far this season he has pitched in 6 games logging 6.2 innings with 4.05 ERA. Last season he pitched 1 innings against the Braves and it was a scoreless one. The Braves have the following numbers against D.J.:

Hinske 3-6, 2B, 2 HR

Gonzalez 1-2

McLouth 0-1

The Mets will draw one of the stronger members of Braves rotation in Derek Lowe. He is 1-2 on the season with a 1.45 ERA over 18.2 innings of work. Last season against the Mets he was 1-2 with a 2.96 ERA over 24.1 innings of work. During that time, he struck out 12 Mets while walking 6. The Mets have the following numbers against Lowe:

Beltran 7-37

Harris 7-32, 2B

Wright 10-31, 3 2B, HR

Murphy 4-12, 2 2B, HR

Thole 4-9

Game 2:

Mike Pelfrey seemed close to his old self in his last start, however his numbers would disagree. He was cruising for the majority of the game and then when he was taken out (only allowing 1 earned run at that point) the bullpen came in and allowed some Mike's runners to score. Anyway, the result is that Mike now has 14 earned runs in 11.2 innings of work, the 14 runs being a league high. Hopefully he can start to reverse that today. Pelfrey was 2-3 in 5 games last season against the Braves with a 4.44 ERA over 26.1 innings pitched. The Braves have the following numbers agaisnt Big Pelf:

McCann 18-39, 8 2B, 2 HR (Ughhhhh)

Chipper 10-26, 2B, 3 HR

Uggla 12-29, 4 2B

Prado 8-19, 5 2B, HR

The Mets get to see Jair Jurrjens make his season debut tonight. Last season he pitched 116.1 innings with a 7-6 record and a 4.64 ERA. He is was 1-1 against the Mets last season over 12.1 innings with a 4.38 ERA, which was much worse than his career numbers against the Mets that feature a 2.81 ERA. The Mets have these numbers against Jair:

Wright 6-26, 2B, 3B, HR

Murphy 5-16, 2B, 3B

Harris 6-12, 2B, 3B

Pagan 2-21, 2B

Davis 0-5, 4 K

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Braves play game one of their weekend series tonight, on Jackie Robinson day. The Mets are in a bad place right now. It feels like they are always in the game and they have a chance, but just can't get there. If winning is that dish on the top shelf, the Mets are just an inch or two short right now to reach it. Here's hoping that starting tonight they find that stool that will get them that winning dish.

Making a spot start for the Mets tonight will be D.J. Carrasco. So far this season he has pitched in 6 games logging 6.2 innings with 4.05 ERA. Last season he pitched 1 innings against the Braves and it was a scoreless one. The Braves have the following numbers against D.J.:

Hinske 3-6, 2B, 2 HR

Gonzalez 1-2

McLouth 0-1

The Mets will draw one of the stronger members of Braves rotation in Derek Lowe. He is 1-2 on the season with a 1.45 ERA over 18.2 innings of work. Last season against the Mets he was 1-2 with a 2.96 ERA over 24.1 innings of work. During that time, he struck out 12 Mets while walking 6. The Mets have the following numbers against Lowe:

Beltran 7-37

Harris 7-32, 2B

Wright 10-31, 3 2B, HR

Murphy 4-12, 2 2B, HR

Thole 4-9

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets suffered another frustrating loss last night as they just seemed a tick behind their opponent. Today, the Mets will be playing back to back games to make up for the rain out on Tuesday. The first game will feature Greg Reynolds vs R.A. Dickey and the second game will feature Jorge de la Rosa vs Chris Capuano. For the Mets, the focus will be on strikes. For some reason this team went from throwing strikes in the Spring to not throwing strikes in April. The great thing is though, with two games today, two wins can completely wash away these feelings.

Game1:

R.A. Dickey in his first two starts of the season is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA over 11.0 innings pitched with 3 ER. Essentially, his first start was awesome, his second start was not so much. Dickey has actually never faced the Rockies, so there are only a few players who have actually seen him:

Jose Lopez 3-5, 2 2B

Wigginton 1-4

Gonzalez 0-3

Giambi 0-1

The Mets bats will contend with Greg Reynolds in the first game who in his first start of this season, got a no decision in 6 innings of work where he allowed 2 ER. This is his first year in the majors since his rookie year back in 2008 where he faced the Mets twice logging 13 innings against the Amazins with a 4.85 ERA. The current Mets have the following numbers against Greg:

Reyes 1-7, 3B

Beltran 1-5, HR

Wright 1-5

Hairston 1-2, HR

Game 2:

In the afternoon cap, Capauno will get the start. So far on the season he has pitched in two games and one start with a 6.75 ERA. However, I feel he has pitched better than that. In his last start, he made one mistake which cost him a lot of runs, but when he was throwing strikes he was on point (7 K's). Last season he pitched 1 inning against the Rockies where he allowed no hits and no walks and struck out two batters. The Rockies have these numbers on him:

Helton 5-23, 2 2B

Wigginton 1-5

Tulowitzki 3-3, HR

Stewart 0-1

The Met batters will draw Jorge de la Rosa in the afternoon game who has a 1.74 ERA in 10.1 innings pitched. Last season he pitched in one game against the Mets where he lasted 6.0 innings and allowed 4 ER (5 runs total). The Mets have the following numbers against Jorge:

Hairston 5-15, 2B, 2 HR

Wright 2-8, 2B

Pagan 2-9, 2B

Reyes 2-6, 2B

Harris 3-5, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

Yesterday's Game was rained out, and there will be a doubleheader tomorrow. However for tonight, the pitching match-up is the same, so here's a repost:

The Mets are on a slide right now, and they will look to Jon Niese to pull the team up. Last night the Mets and the Rockies went back and forth and then sadly the bats couldn't squeeze another run out and the bullpen couldn't stop the bleeding. Jon Niese is coming off of a bad game after a great game. He is now 0-1 on the season with a 6.55 ERA over 11 innings pitched. Last season he faced the Rockies twice, pitching 12 innings while posting 4.50 ERA. Over those 12 innings he walked only one batter while striking out 9. The Rockies have these numbers on Jon:

Helton 4-10, 2 2B

Tulowitzki 2-7

Fowler 1-6

Iannetta 2-5

Gonzalez 0-3

The Mets batters will deal with Esmil Rogers tonight, who allowed one earned run in 7.1 innings of work in his first start of the season. Last season he was 2-3 over 72.0 innings of work while posting a 6.13 ERA. Last season he pitched in relief for three innings over two games against the Mets allowing one earned run. The Mets have the following numbers on Rogers:

Wright 0-0, 2 BB

Reyes 1-1

Pagan 1-1

Let's Go Mets!

We all know that this year was going to have an interesting dynamic to it, in that no matter the success of this squad, there are several names coming up through the system that look to impact the Mets in 2012. Specifically, no matter the success of Young and Capuano this year, their contracts end this season. There will of course be a discussion of whether the Mets should resign them, and it is way too premature to have that conversation.

With that stated it is worthy to post the following numbers:

Havey – 2 G, 11.0 IP, 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 0 R, 17 K, 4 BB, 1.091 WHIP, 13.9 K/9 (St. Lucie)

Mejia – 1 G, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

It is fairly apparent with that type of pitching Harvey will be moving up the Mets ladder rather soon, with AA his next stop. I am really curious to see if he can continue these numbers at a higher level because they are just ridiculous. I am also curious to see if Mejia can continue his success in his next start. I do not support moving either player to the major level this year, but if they both have good years in the minors, thinking of a rotation with Harvey, Mejia, Neise, Dickey and (Pelfrey/Santana?) next season does get me optimistically delusional.

The Mets are on a slide right now, and they will look to Jon Niese to pull the team up. Last night the Mets and the Rockies went back and forth and then sadly the bats couldn't squeeze another run out and the bullpen couldn't stop the bleeding. Jon Niese is coming off of a bad game after a great game. He is now 0-1 on the season with a 6.55 ERA over 11 innings pitched. Last season he faced the Rockies twice, pitching 12 innings while posting 4.50 ERA. Over those 12 innings he walked only one batter while striking out 9. The Rockies have these numbers on Jon:

Helton 4-10, 2 2B

Tulowitzki 2-7

Fowler 1-6

Iannetta 2-5

Gonzalez 0-3

The Mets batters will deal with Esmil Rogers tonight, who allowed one earned run in 7.1 innings of work in his first start of the season. Last season he was 2-3 over 72.0 innings of work while posting a 6.13 ERA. Last season he pitched in relief for three innings over two games against the Mets allowing one earned run. The Mets have the following numbers on Rogers:

Wright 0-0, 2 BB

Reyes 1-1

Pagan 1-1

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets start their second home series of the season tonight with the Rockies. The Mets were cruising to a victory yesterday until the some hiccups in the bullpen and inability to bring runners home from third cost the Mets the game and the series. Tonight's game should be interesting as the Mets look to see if Mike Pelfrey will look more like the ace he has the ability to be. In his first two games of the season he is 0-1 with an ERA of around 15. Last season he was 2-0 with allowing 0 ER over 14 innings of work against the Rockies. Hopefully he can channel that into his game tonight. The Rockies have the following numbers on Big Pelf:

Tulowitzki 5-15, 2B

Helton 6-10, HR

Fowler 2-10, 2B

Wiggington 1-8

Gonzalez 2-5, 2B, HR

Jason Hammel will be getting the start for the Rockies tonight and he is looking to bounce back from a rough first start of the season where he allowed 4 ER over 6 innings. Last season Jason was 10-9 with a 4.81 ERA over 177.2 innings. He lost his only start against the Mets last year pitching 7 innings allowing 4 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Hammel:

Pagan 2-6

Reyes 2-4

Beltran 2-3

Davis 1-3, 2B

Murphy 1-1, 2B

It's worth nothing that the Mets have a .359 BA against Hammel, 14-39, but only two extrabase hits.

Let's Go Mets!

I wouldn't say 4-5 is a failure at this point, but the Mets could be better than. Part of the problem has been the bullpen, and I think after 9 days it is time for a change. Boyer did a good job in Spring but just couldn't get it done right now in the major leagues. Luckily the Mets have depth, because you need depth in these situations, and the Mets were able to bring up two pitchers to help out with consistency in the pen.

(It is worth noting that the pen has had to get through a lot of work in this opening week as the starters are still building arm strength, which seems to be a phenomenon across the league and I wonder if moving the season up by half a week has had an impact on the time pitchers were able to get ready this season).

Anyway, Izzy says he is ready, and he could be a nice addition to the pen. Also Igarashi has shown in the past that he can be very effective, and the opposite is also true. I think this is a good move just to bring some additional consistency in the pen.

With regards to Duda, we have learned in the first week that Harris is a threat with the bat, so it is detrimental for Duda to be in the majors at this point. He needs to play everyday or near everyday, which was not happening with the big league club.