213 Miles From Shea

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!

The Mets lost a close one last night in Colorado where they couldn't capitalize with runners in scoring position, ultimately wasting a good performance by Chris Capuano and causing the Mets another loss. Tonight the Mets look to rebound behind Mike Pelfrey as he takes on the Rockies for game two of this series. The Rockies tonight will send out Jason Hammel.

Big Pelf had a great outing last time his spot was up in the rotation, reminding us all why he is actually the ace of the team. In his last outing he logged 7.2 innings while allowing only 1 earned run. this dropped his season ERA from a terrible 7.39 to a, well still terrible 6.06, but it is heading in the right direction. Earlier this season he faced the Rockies posting 3 earned runs in 5.1 innings of work. The Rockies have the following numbers on Big Pelf:

Tulowitzki 6-17, 2B

Helton 6-10

Fowler 2-12, 2B

Stewart 3-11

The Mets will get another shot at Jason Hammel today, who has a 2.63 ERA this season in 37.2 innings of work. In his last three games he has been on fire with a 0.87 ERA. Earlier this season he pithed the definition of a quality start against the Met logging 6 innings of work while allowing 3 earned runs. The Mets have the following numbers on Jason:

Harris 3-11, 2B

Reyes 3-7, 3B

Beltran 2-7

Davis 1-6, 2B

Thole 2-5

Murphy 2-4

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets recent winning streak was snapped yesterday in a 4-2 loss in Queens, and the Mets look to get back on the right track tonight in Colorado as they take on the Rockies. The last time these two teams met this season was the low point in the Mets season as the Rockies were able to beat the Mets four straight in New York, really assisting in the 7 game losing streak. The Mets will try to return the favor behind Capuano who will be facing Chacin.

Capuano is 2-3 on the season with a 5.40 ERA. Two starts ago he had bad start where he allowed 4 ER in 5.2 innings of work, and responded last time going 6.1 innings, allowing 2 ER while striking out 5 batters. One of his worst starts of the year was against the Rockies, where he allowed 7 ER over 5.2 innings, so hopefully he will take his shot at redemption tonight. The Rockies have the following numbers on Chris:

Helton .364 BA

Tulo 3-3, HR

Spilborghs 3-5

The Mets batters will get a look at Chacin tonight, who is 4-2 on the season with a 2.85 ERA this season. However in his last three games he has an ERA of around 4.27, so he is in a bit of rough spot. The last time he faced the Mets was in his rookie season (2009) where he faced the Mets in relief, allowing no earned runs in 1.0 innings of work. The only Mets who have seen him are the new guys and they have all been perfect (Hairston 1-1, Hu 2-2, Paulino1-1).

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets go for their fourth win a row, and three game sweep this afternoon in Citi Field against the Dodgers. Yesterday the Mets rallied back late in a tied game to get the win behind a spot start from Dillon Gee and a great day at the plate from Jason Pridie. Today, R.A. Dickey will take the mound against Clayton Kershaw.

Dickey is 1-3 on the season with a 4.62 ERA over 7 games (6 starts) and 39 innings of work. Robert Allen strung two good starts together earlier, but in his last start against the Giants he fell flat, allowing 6 runs in 6 innings of work. Last season he pitched a scoreless 5.2 innings of work against the Dodgers who have the following numbers on Dickey:

Gibbons 1-6

Uribe 2-6, 2B

Barajas 1-4, 2B

Carroll 0-4

Ethier 1-2, 2B

Loney 0-2

The Mets bats will get a crack at Clayton Kershaw this afternoon who is 3-3 over 7 starts and 45.1 innings of work posting a 3.38 ERA. In his last three starts he has tossed 21 innings with a 3.86 ERA. He pitched a great game last season against the Mets where he logged in 8 scoreless innings against the Mets who have the following numbers on Clayton:

Hairston 5-13, 2B

Wright 1-7, 2B

Reyes 2-6

Paulino 2-6

Beltran 0-4

Davis 1-3, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

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!