213 Miles From Shea

Hope Opener! The Mets play their first game of 2011 in Queens this afternoon after a successful road trip. Yes, it is a little disappointing that the Mets lost the last two games but overall, going .500 on the road was a big step forward for this ball club. Last year the Mets were a much better team at home than on the road (which is more of a statement of how bad they were on the road). The Mets get to face off with the Nationals for their first of 81 games at Citi Field.

Dickey will get his second start of the year tonight. He had an interesting game against the Marlins earlier this week where he was a mix of effective where it counts, and was able to squeeze out of his moments of ineffectiveness. He pitched 6 innings allowing 0 earned runs (1 run total), 5 hits, 3 BB while striking out 7. Last season he was 1-0 against the Nationals pitching in 4 games (3 starts) over 20.0 innings with a 1.80 ERA. The Nationals have these numbers against Robert Allen:

Werth 3-11, 2B, HR

Stairs 5-11, 3B, HR

Zimmerman 1-8

Desmond 1-7

Espinosa 0-3

One of the young pitching stars for the Nationals gets the start today in Jordan Zimmermann. In his first game this year he pitched 6.0 innings allowing 3 runs total, 2 earned over 4 hits, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. He pitched two games against the Mets last season totaling 10 innings with a 1.80 ERA. In his career he has pitched 20.1 innings against the Mets with a 3.54 ERA. The Mets have these numbers against Jordan:

Pagan 3-9

Wright 1-7

Murphy 2-6, HR

Reyes 1-5

Davis 1-2, HR

Thole 2-3

Lets Go Mets!

We are about to go into the the third set of series in the 2011 season, and we still have one undefeated team, and two winless teams. By now, all of the teams in the National League have either lost a game or won a game, but that cannot be said for the American League.

The last undefeated team is the Texas Rangers who are showing all the critics, myself included, that they do not need pitching help and they got this under control. The Rangers will try to keep their winning streak going tonight against the surprising 5-1 Orioles in Baltimore.

There are two teams in the AL East that have yet to win a game. The first one is semi-surprise in Tampa Bay. They were going to get off to some struggles this year, but not like this.I still think that these first 6 games are not a sign of things to come for the Rays, but whenever you start off 0-6, it's hard to think about anything else.

Then, there are the Boston Red Sox. An obvious World Series pick at the start of the season they just have not gotten it together at all. This is not how they will play for the rest of the season, but the 0-6 start is disconcerting, if you panic about these types of things. It has been fun to watch the Red Sox fans panic though.

For those of us who remember 2005, although it seems like several decades ago, the Mets started of 0-5. It was supposed to be the year the Mets made noise in the Braves dominated NL East. We two new stars in Pedro and Beltran. Then the Mets turned it around, and were in the playoff hunt until September when Beltran and Cameron collided in the outfield, and things fell apart.

For the second time this season the Mets face a rubber game, this time against Roy Halladay and the Phillies. In last night's game the Mets made a pretty massive comeback, but then couldn't complete the job. Hopefully the Mets can get at Roy behind Jon Niese. Niese was nice in his first game of the season as he pitched 7 innings, allowing 2 runs and striking out 3 batters. Going a little deeper than that box line, he struggled in the first inning (where he allowed the two runs) and then was solid from the second inning on. Last year he was fantastic against the Phillies as he was 1-1 in three games over 21.0 innings pitched with a sparkling 2.14 innings pitched. The Phillies have the following numbers on him:

Polanco 2-10, 2 2B

Ibanez 2-9

Valdez 1-7, 2B

Howard 1-6

Rollins 0-3

The Mets draw the ace of the Phillies rotation in the rubber match. In his first start of the season, Halladay allowed 1 earned run over 5 hits and 6 innings while striking out 6 batters. Last season he was 4-0 against the Mets in as many starts over 31.2 innings while posting an ERA of 2.56. (In other words, he was very Roy Hallladayish). The Mets have these numbers on Roy:

Beltran 12-38, 2B, 2 HR

Reyes 8-19, 3 2B, 2 3B

Wright 2-15, 2B, 3B

Davis 3-12, 2B

Thole 6-9, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Phillies play game two tonight as the Mets try to take the series in Philly. Last night the Mets were able to chase starter Cole Hamels out of the game after 2.2 innings, and were able to keep the Phillies' bats in check on the way to a 7-1 victory. Tonight the Mets will try to do it again against the number 5 starter in the Phillies rotation. The Mets will be sending out Mike Pelfrey to take on Joe. In the opener, Mike was doing fine until the bottom of the 4th when the wheels came off and he allowed a grand slam. Overall he lasted 4.1 innings allowing 5 ER. Last season he was 2-2 against the Phillies in as many starts as he pitched 25.1 innings and had an ERA of 3.91. The Phillies have the following numbers on the Big Pelf:

Victorino 11-37, 2 2B, HR

Howard 11-30, 2B, HR

Rollins 7-27, 3B, HR

Polanco 1-11

Valdez 0-7

The Mets batters will get their first look at Joe Blanton this season tonight. Blanton last year was 9-6 with a 4.82 ERA over 175.2 innings of work. He was 1-1 in three starts over 19.1 innings against the Mets where he posted an ERA of 4.19. The Mets have the following numbers on Joe:

Reyes 2-18, HR

Wright 5-19, 3 2B

Harris 5-15, 2B, 2 HR

Davis 4-8, 2B

Pagan 4-9, HR

Let's Go Mets!

The Mets did their part last night to eliminate an undefeated team, and now Major League Baseball is down to three teams left. There are also three teams left that haven't won a game:

Undefeated Teams:

Baltimore Orioles: Today will be tough for the birds as they will need Brad Bergenson to be more effective than Justin Verlander

Texas Rangers: Home of the best record (5-0) they too will have to face an ace tonight in Felix Hernandez, and they counter with their ace CJ Wilson.

Cincinnati Reds: Probably have the best chance to continue winning tonight, they draw Nelson Figueora's first start of the season against the winless Astros.

Winless Teams:

Tampa Bay Rays: Will have to beat Dan Haren to get into the win column.

Boston Red Sox: Have to figure out how to beat the Indians

Houston Astros: Need to remember how to win.

Will this list shrink tonight?

With tonight's win the Mets guaranteed themselves that they would be at least coming back to New York on Friday night at .500 record. Of course that isn't the actual goal. The actual goal is to win ball games which is something the Mets did tonight. They got excellent hitting, pitching and all around mechanics in their 7-1 beating of the Phillies and Cole Hamels.

The big inning for the Mets came in the third as Chris Young led off with a single, and the hits and walks would keep coming. The Mets would eventually send 6 runners across the plate as they stole bases, put the ball in play, and took advantage of wild pitches eventually knocking Cole out of the game after 2.2 innings of work. Chris Young also became the Mets first pitcher ever to have two hits in the same inning, and ended the game with three hits total. His pitching was pretty good too as he pitched 5.1 innings (as Gary, Keith and Ron noted, he normally doesn't get too far into games, plus the whole it being the first start of the season and in cold weather for him also had an impact) while allowed one earned run, walked 4 and struck out 7 (which was awesome).

D.J. Carrasco knows how to make an impression. After Spring, I wasn't so up on him, but he has been fantastic so far in 2011. Specifically, both time's he has pitched, he has been in charge of preventing a rally from starting. On Sunday, he had to get out of a bases loaded jam, which he did. Today, the Phillies had two on with one out, where he was able to get the double play ball and get out of the inning. That is the type of swagger out of the pen this ball club needs, and I hope it continues.

Lastly, the Mets on Sunday showed their power, but today they showed their speed and ability to get on base. Today they had 13 hits, and only one was an extra base hit. On top of the 13 hits, they drew 4 walks and without power were still able to score 7 times. Specifically, Wright had a great day as he went 4-5, scoring 2 runs, recording 2 RBI's and getting his first steal of the year. Reyes also had his first steal of the year and Pagan added his second.

The Mets played really well today, and I hope it carries through to tomorrow.

The Mets continue their opening road series of 2011 with a trip to Philly. The Mets won their road series in Florida, something they didn't do in 2010 until June (against Baltimore). Philly also started their season off on a strong note with a three game sweep of the Houston Astros, including an impressive rally on Opening Day. The Mets will be sounding out Chris Young for his 2011 debut while the Phillies will counter with Cole Hamels.

Chris Young pitched only 20 innings in an injury shortened 2010, but he posted an impressive 0.90 ERA during that time. In 2009 he was 4-6 with a 5.12 ERA over 76 innings (another injury shortened season). He pitched two games against Philly in 2010 where he allowed 10 earned runs over 9.2 innings of work. Considering those numbers, his career numbers are quite good as he has a 4.50 ERA against Philly over 28.0 innings of work. The Phillies have these numbers against Young:

Ibanez 7-26, 2B, 3B

Howard 2-8, 2B, HR

Rollins 1-9

Victorino 3-9, 2B

Valdez 2-5, 2B

On the other side of the field, the Mets will get to contend with Cole Hamels who is coming off a good season where he pitched 208.0 innings, had a 3.06 ERA and a 12-11 record (ok, that's better than a good season). Oddly, Hamels wasn't able to beat the Mets last season, but still posted good numbers. He went 0-4 over 25.1 innings with a 3.20 ERA (Including a complete game). The Mets have these numbers on Cole:

Wright 11-35, 3 2B, 3B, 2 HR

Reyes 8-32, 2B

Beltran 10-31, 2 2B, 3 HR

Pagan 8-28, 2B, HR

Hairston 6-16, 2 2B, 3 HR

Harris 0-6

Let's Go Mets!

The last time we checked in, after two games in the season, there were 9 teams that were 2-0 that had a chance to sweep their way into the new season. Now that Sunday's games are over, let's take a look at the standings (All teams are 3-0 or 0-3 unless otherwise noted).

Undefeated Teams:

Baltimore Orioles (4-0) (Seriously, Buck Showalter has had a positive impact)

Texas Rangers (4-0) (Killing with homers).

Philadelphia Phillies (We can change this tomorrow)

Cincinnati Reds

Winless Teams:

Boston Red Sox (Panic In Boston? Only if you overreact)

Tampa Bay Rays

Houston Astros

Milwaukee Brewers (0-4) (Almost beat the Braves today)

So as expected, the list took a dive from 18 teams total down to 8 teams.

As continuation of yesterday's article, we will now go though some of the more unusual giveaways in the National League (Excluding the Mets, who will get their own article tomorrow):

Chicago Cubs:

It's cold in Chicago. Early in the month they will be giving away winter gloves (no photo) and then later they will be giving Winter Scarves. No winter caps?

Phillies:

I guess I have to give them a nod for giving out a NL East banner, since I did it for the Rays yesterday. No Photo though (not a bias, website didn't have it when this article was written).

Pittsburgh Pirates:

Forget bobble heads. Give the kids player action figures. Like what the Dodgers did last season, minus the Superhero part.

Brewers:

Normally I wouldn't put a schedule on this list, but this one is different. Most teams just give out magnets. The Brewers are putting it inside a pen. Awesome.

Reds:

Like the complement I gave to the Mariners yesterday, the Reds giveaway a bobblehead marking the day Votto became an MVP.

San Francisco Giants:

Lots of good stuff, which you'd expect since they won the World Series. Fans in April will get a Replica Ring, a Pin for Posey ROY, and Championship Banner.

Diamondbacks:

A free lapel pin and Silly Bandz highlight the list.

Dodgers:

Yep. Another snuggie.

National League. In terms of promotions, so much better than the American League in the department of promotions.

The Mets finished their first series of the season with a 2-1 record, and it was a good first step for this club. Over the last three days the Mets have shown fight, pitching ability and flashes of power, all things that have been questioned by the media as a whole.

Probably the most important event of this series was the tenth inning in Saturday's game. Mets fans, myself included, have almost been conditioned over the last several seasons to expect the worst after a blown save. I thought the game was over. However the Mets batters came back and the Mets got their first win of the year. That momentum carried into today's game, against a pitcher who was historically good against the Amazin's as the Mets quickly jumped to a 7-0 win.

Furthermore over these three games the Mets have shown an ability to capitalize in situations. Specifically, today, the Marlins gave the Mets a lot of extra chances between walks and errors. In response the Mets scored 9 runs today.

I know it is only three games into the season, but I like what I'm seeing out of these Mets. They are playing like they should win, and that attitude is carrying on the field in a productive way. Next up the Mets will face the first place Phillies. Although these are only the 4th – 6th games of the season, a strong statement in Philly can go a long way in this division. As it stand right now, we are tied for 2nd in the division, and we have every reason to believe.