213 Miles From Shea

The Mets play their final game of the 2010 season today, and I can't help but feel sad that after today there will be no more Mets games, box scores, etc for another few months, but such is the baseball season. Anyway, the Mets will go for their 80th win of the season today and try to end their 2010 campaign on a three game sweep. Other stories to keep a watch on today is that it is probably Jerry's last day as a Met manager, Wright is sitting on 29 homers and Davis is sitting on 19 homers.

The Mets will start Mike Pelfrey today who looks to end the season with an exclamation point. In his last four starts he has pitched 28.2 innings (at least 7 per start) with a 3-1 record and a 2.51 ERA. He needs only three more innings to make it 200 on the season. Overall this season the Nationals have not been too kind to Big Pelf as he has allowed 12 ER over 15.1 innings of work, in fact his last bad start was against this Nationals club. The Nats have the following numbers on Mike:

Facing Pelfrey will be Hernandez who looks to close a solid season where he is so far 10-12 with a 3.73 ERA. In the month of September he has pitched over 29 innings with an ERA over 5. Against the Amazin's this season he is 1-1 over four games and 26.2 innings with a 2.03 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers on Livan:

Lets Go Mets!

Even though the Mets are not in the playoffs, there is still a good chance that the Braves will be joining us on the couch this October. Also, there's a good chance that the other team in New York, may not win the division. Overall, on this last day of the season, there are still two division championships that need to be awarded and a Wild Card Spot, so let's break it down:

AL East Division Champion:

The National League:

So depending on what happens today, the season could end in a normal fashion, or the post season will end up starting early. Thanks to this article on MLB.com, for helping clearing some confusions I had while writing this.

Long time readers of this site know that I love minor league baseball. I really love minor league baseball. From the closeness to field, to the stadiums, to the monikers, I talk about minor league baseball with much alacrity. Anyway, Stadium Journey recently took a trip to Coca-Cola Field, home of the Bisons and liked it.

The review is pretty interesting because it is a little bit more of just the average rating different aspects of the ball park (which they do) but they also include some history about baseball in Buffalo. I completley forgot that Buffalo was one of the cities that was trying to become a major league city, so the stadium originally had seating for 21,000 fans. The rating of the ballpark pretty much goes with how you would think it would. The food is supposedly fantastic (Anthony Bourdain taught me to expect that) and a lot of the other categories follow as most minor league parks do.

If you are unfamiliar with Stadium Journey, one of the aspects that make their ratings unique is there is a fan component. They really want you to log on to their website, talk about your experience in Buffalo and rank the ball park as well. So if you have a few minutes, help make the internet a better place. (I would join, but I have yet to go to Buffalo, maybe you all can convince me).

The Mets look to clinch their last series of the season this afternoon while the Nationals are hoping to prevent another season where they do not reach the 70 win mark (yes folks, high stakes today). Last night's game featured another late September walk-off for this Mets club as Misch was fantastic as a starter and Thole played savior with his third homer of the year. Valdes will get the start for the Mets out of the pen today as Maya will get the start for the Nationals.

Valdes will get the start today, and it is his first start of the season and his career. He has had an up and down season totaling 53.1 innings, a 3-3 record with 2 holds and a 5.63 ERA. The Nationals have been able to hit Valdes this season as they have scored 5 earned runs over 8.2 innings of work. They have the following numbers on Raul:

The Mets will get a look at Maya who is 0-3 this season with 21 innings logged and a 6.43 ERA. He actually made his major league debut against the Mets where he allowed 4 ER over 5 innings in a loss. The Mets have the following numbers agianst Maya:

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets open up their last series of 2010 against the Nationals tonight. In last night's game, the Mets guranteed that they will have a losing season for a consecutive season. Tonight's game will feature Pat Misch for the Amazins and he will get to pitch against Zimmermann, who is constantly confused as a relative of Ryan Zimmerman, despite the different spellings of their last name.

Misch (0-4) had another “eh” start in his last outing as he pitched 4.2 innings allowing 3 ER against the Phillies. So far this season he has faced the Nationals once totalling only .1 innings pitched and just facing one batter. Anyway, the Nationals have these numbers on Pat:

On the other side of the mound will be Zimmermann. Jordan is 1-2 this season with a 5.67 ERA. He faced the Mets earlier this season pitching 4 innings allowing one earned runs, three runs total. The Mets have these numbers on Jordan:

Lets Go Mets!

Here's a tradition that even the young Mets fans can remember. Victory Smokes. Victory Cigars. Whatever you want to call them. One of the most iconic images of the 2006 Playoff Berth for the Mets was David Wright, cigar in Mouth, holding up the Champs sign around Shea Stadium. Of course when things like this happen in America (in this day and age) there will be some sort of complaint, especially when it is broadcasted on TV.

This was taken to a new level though this week with the Reds and the NL Central Division Championship. Not one, or two but five people actually called the State Health Inspection Department in Ohio saying that the Reds were violating the ban on Indoor smoking since they were smoking cigars in the Lockeroom. The department will now be conducting a health inspection. Seriously. Oh, and they won't be able to blame this one on some rookie or veteran who didn't know any better. These cigars were from the owner.

What is really telling about this story, is that I am not surprised about this at all. But to some degree, when does a building stop being a building and starts being a private home? I know legally the lockerroom is still considered a building, therefore no smoking, but where is that line?

In what will be a developing story throughout the weekend, 7 Train to Shea is reporting that Omar Minaya will be fired on Monday, and that Jerry's contract will not be renewed.

There's not much to say about this at the moment, because I want to hear more conclusive evidence from the team that Minaya will be terminated and that they will not be re-hiring Jerry.

If this is true though, then hopefully changes will be coming to Queens. Let's hope for a clean house (with a few exceptions of course).

The Mets look to bounce back from their double loss yesterday by throwing out Gee vs Narveson tonight. Gee has been fantastic so far in September, and while we will have months to analyze his performance and the merits, I'm looking forward to seeing another start tonight. In his first four major league games he is 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA including two nice starts against the Phillies and Braves. Over those four games he has pitched 27 innings, walked 12 batters and struck out 15. The Brewers have not seen Gee.

The Brewers will go with Chris Narveson tonight, who is 11-9 this season with a 5.14 ERA. In the month of September he has logged 30.2 innings pitched with a 3.52 ERA. However not only has he not faced the Mets this year, he has no record against any Mets batters. So in the space that I would usually discuss the Mets hitters vs the opposing starter, let's talk about David Wright. He is ending the season on a strong streak and although he is the Mets strikeout king, he clinched his 5 season last night with 100 RBI's and now has 28 homers on the season.

Well, Lets Go Mets!

Thank You R.A. Dickey.

Thank you for everything you have done for the Mets this season. Thank you for your knuckleball, your attitude, your ability, your mindset, your hope and your stats.

Thank you for giving us Mets fans a reason to watch this season. Your knuckleball was unlike anything this franchise has seen in a while, or really baseball has seen in a while thanks to its speed and dance. The way you started this season, 6-0, was historic and surprising. The success at such a low price made Oliver Perez a “little” more tolerable.

But really, thank your hope. Your story about how you arrived at Spring Training on a bike and ended up being our most reliable is inspiring. Every time you started, I thought “OK, no hitter time.” Every time you started, I expected a Mets win. Every time you started, I saw a player who expected to win and expected his teammates to win. Your attitude needs to be replicated on every baseball team, bur especially our team, the New York Mets, who look to lose drive and will power. But you never lost the will, lost that drive, never lost the edge.

Thank your Robert Allen for keeping Mets baseball fun.

-Elliot Teichman

PS:
Thank you for how you raise your children. It is inspiring to hear that you want your children to understand the human condition. If more children could be raised in a home that drove the point of understanding compassion home, the Nation and the world would be a much better place.