213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and the Rockies will try to play a game this afternoon in Flushing with the threat of heavy showers throughout the day. The Mets are coming off of back to back wins including a come from behind victory last night thanks to some muscle by Ike and then insurance runs in the 8th inning. They will be looking to win three straight for the second time this season, and win their first home series. Taking the ball for the Amazin's is Dillon Gee and Barry Enright gets the honors for the Diamondbacks.

Dillon Gee played the role of stopper in his last outing as he logged in 5.2 innings of work with a 1.59 ERA.That game brought his career totals to a 2.09 ERA in 38.2 innings of work. In his short career, he has never faced the Diamondbacks nor does he have any actual statistics against any Diamondback hitters. Young could be nearing a return, so the best thing that Gee can do right now is force a difficult decision on the Mets by performing really well today.

On the other side of the field, Barry Enright will be trying to get his season on track. This season he has pitched 17.2 innings with a 6.23 ERA while walking 6 and striking out 12. In his rookie season he was effective against the Mets as he pitched against us twice, totaling 14.0 innings of work with a 1.93 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Barry:

Reyes 3-7

Beltran 0-5

Davis 1-5

Thole 1-6, HR

Wright 1-6

Bay 0-3

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets look for back to back wins for the first time since the start of the season tonight as they take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in Queens. Last night the Mets had strong starting pitching, relieving relief, and a whole lotta offense (more runs than their previous 5 games combine). Mike Pelfrey looks to show his ace stuff tonight against Joe Saunders.

Mike Pelfrey has had a rough season so far with an 0-2 record over 4 starts with a 9.72 ERA over 16.2 innings of work. Last season he struggled against the Diamondbacks pitching in two games against them with a 12.86 ERA over 7 innings of work. The Dbacks have the following numbers on Big Pelf:

Johnson 6-24, 2B, HR

Drew 5-19, 2B

Young 6-15, 2B

Montero 7-12, 4 2B

Upton 2-7, 2B

The Mets will get a shot at Joe Saunders tonight who is 0-2 this season with a 6.32 ERA, a far cry of what he has been in the past. Not surprisingly, since he started his career with the Angels and this is his first season with the Diamondbacks, he has never faced the Mets in his career before. There are three Mets that have logged AB's against him:

Bay 4-10, 2 HR

Hairston 2-8, 2B

Hu 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

It's too early to panic.

The Mets are off to a very rough start to the 2011 season with a 6-13 record, currently the worst in the majors, however it is too early to panic. During this time time, there have been a lot of calls to start to dismantle to the team while the value for Reyes is at its highest, and I think we all need to take a deep breath and take a step back for a second.

What we have is a 19 game sample, from 162 game season, and it is way too early to start extrapolating numbers from it. Before we look at the Mets as a team. Let's look at the 2007 Mets. They had a phenomenal April, however once Mary rolled around, they went on cruise control for the rest of the season. That ended with their cushion being dismantled in a terrible collapse at the end of the season. However, if we went just by their April numbers, they were above and beyond the best team and baseball.

Let's focus on this 2011 squad. These first 19 games have featured two statistical anomalies for the Amazin's which have had a devastating negative impact. Pagan is batting around .150 and Wright is batting around .240. I'm not saying that we expect both of them to have career years, but it is safe to assume that on a conservative estimate, Wright should be hitting .290 and Pagan at least .280. A combination of them returning to their average numbers, plus the return of Jason Bay, which we saw last night, should bring this offense around to at least being competitive.

The starting pitching has to come around as well. Over the last week it started to flash potential, but with 0 bats behind it, it just fell apart.

What I'm saying is, there is too much talent on this team to assume that we are going to continue with this 6-13 record, and it is way to early to start thinking of blowing this team up.

The Mets lost the second game of the series last night in a way that could only be described as 1962-esque. If it was any other team, it would be funny how the Mets find these odd, unlucky situations to lose games, but its our team, so its just hard to watch. Anyway, the Mets will try to stop the bleeding again tonight against J.A. Happ and the Astros with Chris Capuano.

Chris Capuano has pitched in four games with two starts and a 1-1 record with a 8.53 ERA over 12.2 innings of work. In 10.2 innings of work against the Astros last season he posted a nice ERA of 2.53. The Astros have these numbers against Chris:

Lee 2-9

Bourn 1-6

Johnson 1-3, HR

Pence 0-4

Sanchez 0-3

The Mets bats will get a shot of a familiar foe in J.A. Happ who is 1-2 on the season over 18.2 innings pitched with a 5.79 ERA. He didn't face the Mets in 2010 but in 2009 he faced the Mets 4 times, including 2 starts totaling 18.0 innings with a 2.50 ERA. The Mets have these numbers against J.A.:

Beltran 3-11, 2 HR

Wright 4-8, 2B, 2 HR

Murphy 1-4, 2B

Pagan 2-4, 2B

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets lost the opener to the Astros last night, and tonight they play again (in an effort to not have the worst record in the National League). As it normally goes with losing streaks, the problem at the start of the streak is not same problem though out the streak. At the start, the Mets bats were producing more than enough runs to allow the pitchers a chance to win. Now, for the most part, the Mets pitching has been good enough to keep the Mets in the game, but the Mets bats have not been able to produce runs. Tonight the Mets batters will get Bud Norris while the Astros will get R.A. Dickey.

Dickey will be making his 4th start of the season, pitching in his fifth game of the year (he got some work in on Sunday). The knuckler has 18.1 innings logged this season with a 3.96 ERA with 12 BB and 15 K. Last season he was 1-0 in two games with a 1.76 ERA against the Astros where he pitched 15.1 innings and struck out 8 batters. The Astros have the following numbers against Robert Allen:

Lee 7-14, 3 2B, HR

Bourn 2-8

Johnson 0-7

Pence 0-6

The Mets batters will try to break out of their collective slump against Bud Norris who is 1-1 this season over 16 innings (3 games) with a 5.06 ERA. Last season he was 1-1 against the Mets over 12.1 innings with a 4.97 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers on Norris:

Davis 1-5, 2B

Pagan 1-5

Wright 0-4

Beltran 0-3

Thole 2-2, HR

Let's Go Mets!

The 5-11 Mets will face the 5-11 Astros at Citi Field tonight. The Mets just ended a 7 game losing streak and are looking to rebound against a struggling Houston Astros team. When you have two teams with similar records, especially early on in the season, you'd expect to find other similar stories as well. Both of tonight's starters (Wandy Rodriguez and Niese) have struggled at the start of the season, and they both would like to reverse that tonight.

Niese is 0-2 this season with a 6.88 ERA over 17 innings of work. One positive for Niese has been his control. He has has struck out 15 batters while walking 5, and that would be a nice trend to continue. He pitched against the Astros once last season where he allowed 1 earned run in 7 innings of work while walking none and striking out 5. The Astros have these numbers on Niese:

Lee 0-5

Pence 1-6

Sanchez 1-4

Bourn 0-2

Hall 1-2

The Mets batters come back to Citi tonight where they will have to deal with Wandy. Rodriguez is 0-2 in three starts on the season with a 7.31 ERA pitching 16 innings, walking only 3 and striking out 11 batters. He got a no decision last year against the Mets in a game where he pitched 7 innings, allowing 1 earned run over 4 hits. The Mets have the following numbers on Wandy:

Beltran 6-16, 2 2B, 2 HR

Wright 6-16, 2 2B

Hairston 6-11, 2 2B, 2 HR

Pagan 2-11, HR

Harris 2-3, HR

Let's Go Mets!

It seems like the MLB is doing taking a page out of the NFL playbook this year with allowing fans to customize their own name and number jersey with the front, back and sleeves. This new feature on the MLB website allows you to make the shirt for anyone on the Mets roster. Blaine Boyer anyone? It's still possible to make one if you want it…seriously. Anyway let's make this interactive!

Go to Mets.com and click on shop. One of the first things you should see is design your own apparel, click that.

Next, select the Men's shirt for 21.99, which was a bit more expensive for the last player name/number shirt I purchased a few years back.

I went with a large black shirt. It doesn't matter too much here, any color will do, and as long as its not too big of a shirt, it won't change the price. Now we have to customize the shirt.

I went for the Mets script across the front, Josh Thole on the back (I was tempted to make a Beato), a “30” on the left sleeve, and the basic Mets circle logo on the right sleeve.

And, BOOM, a 43.99 shirt.

Have fun?

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!