213 Miles From Shea

This is probably my favorite song of the week. I first heard of the Get Metsmerized rap while reading The Bad Guys Won, a fantastic book about the 1986 season. The lyrics are so bad that I couldn't believe it was an actual song. Earlier this year, someone posted the audio online and as bad as the lyrics are, the rapping talents of the 86 squad are even worse. It is so bad though, it is clearly a classic so enjoy, I guess:

One of my favorite cards of all time would be the 2007 Topps Derek Jeter card. A limited number (the first ones that were printed) of these cards had Jeter batting, with a few extra people in the backgrounds. A jokester at Topps photoshopped President Bush into the stands and Mantle into the dugout. The story goes that Topps did see this in the final proof of the set, but decided to let it run because it was hiliarous.

That was a smart move for Topps. Back in 2007 I still cared about Baseball cards enough to be involved with the news in the industry and there was a lot of buzz around this card. People were buying the basic set packs like crazy to try to find one of these cards, that were selling for hundreds on Ebay. Generally when it comes to sets, the big buyers are the upper echelon, the ones that gurantee rare autos and things like that, something the basic set generally doesn't cover. Anyway, here is the card that inspired a lot:

(via This Looks Shopped)

Hope you all enjoyed last week's tour around Buffalo with a week of minor league highlights (and we will probably do that again sometime in the winter). It has been a pretty depressing week in Mets world with just another slew of off the field issues ranging from players not visiting Veterans all the way to losing our ace due to surgery…again. Music makes people happy right? So this week we will be featuring Mets Musical numbers from the last few decades.

Today's video is a famous one as it was the video to go along with the “Lets Go Mets” song from 1986. Its a jovial video, one that I believe I have written about before, but whatever, and really just screams the time period:

The Mets and Phillies play the rubber game of the series this afternoon. The Mets dropped the first game of the series but were able to come back yesterday behind Ike's big 4-4 day at the plate. This afternoon, the current active team leader in strikeouts (now that Santana is done) will duel against Roy Oswalt.

Niese has had a great season so far and he looks to continue it this afternoon. As good as he has been though, the last three starts for him have been pretty rough, so the Mets are looking to get Jon, who has thrown more than 154 innings so far this season, back on the right track. The Phillies are a team that Jon has had success against this season as in two games against them he has pitched 14 innings and only allowed 2 ER. The Phillies have these numbers on Niese:

The Mets will get their first look at Roy Oswalt this season as we missed him when he was an Astro and haven't seen him yet as a Philly. Since joing the Phillies he has had 2.30 ERA over 54 innings of work. His last start was probably his worst since the move as he allowed 4 ER over 7 innings (except for his first start as a Phillie). The last time he faced the Mets was in 2008 where he faced the Mets twice with an 0-2 record allowing 7 ER over 14 innings. The Mets have these numbers on Roy:

Lets Go Mets!

We end Bison's week with more defense this time from new Met Luis Hernandez. Check it out!

The Mets and Phillies play the 4:00 game today as the Mets try to reverse their fortunes from last night. Mejia was not effective as the Phillies got to him early and it was enough to keep the Phillies winners in the box score. This afternoon the Mets will be sending out Mike Pelfrey (now with a 41-41 career record) to face Kyle Kendrick of the Phillies.

Pelfrey is still an enigma. After his last outing, his career record is now 41-41. That number is so fitting because that is what it feels like with in late 2010. There's a 50/50 chance of which Pelfrey shows up at the ball park. He is 1-2 in as many games against the Phillies this year as he has logged 18 innings of work while allowing 9 ER (4.50 ERA). The Phillies have these numbers on him:

The Mets will get a crack at Kyle Kendrick this afternoon who is 9-8 this season with a 4.89 ERA. He has made 4 starts since his good game against the Mets and in those four starts he has pitched only 20.2 innings with an ERA of 7.84. Kyle has played the Mets twice this season with a 1-1 record in which he has allowed 5 ER over 11.2 innings. The Mets have these numbers on him:

Lets Go Mets!

I love numbers. Makes sense, I am studying astrophysics at the University of Maryland. There are a few players I would like to see hit a few numbers by the end of the season, just to put a nice end to it, so the numbers look nice, neat, and strong for next season. There really is no point to hitting these numbers expect pride, and looking for something positive in something that gets increasingly negative:

After Dillon Gee's start this week, the first thing on my mind was “Man, I wish this kid could get more starts this season.” This thought came from the inevitability that unless someone was shut down, Gee would go to the pen, which would not be helpful in his development. Now by wondering this statement I assumed that maybe Niese would be shutdown for pitching an entire season.

Well I got what I wished for (maybe), and boy, do I need to be careful in the future.

It was announced today that Santana would have season ending surgery. Before I get to that, I am assuming (it is just an assumption right now until someone actually confirms it) that Gee would be replacing him in the rotation since Gee did it last time and the team doesn't have too many starters on it (that they at least want more looks at). So hopefully Gee gets the spot.

The next problem is what does this mean for Santana? This is three years in a row now that at the end of the season he has needed surgery. I don't want to put a “?” by his name because he is our ace. Our Mr. Dependable. Are we duping ourselves? Maybe. Are we (and if you are not in this group, don't include yourself, but I know I am in this group) reading too much into this? Probably.

Like in Politics, when the Economy is good, almost everything looks good. When its bad, everything looks bad. In baseball, when the team is winning, every other problem seems small and insignificant. When the team is losing, its feels like getting around small problems is like trying to drive across the Atlantic Ocean via the Ocean floor.

The Mets and Phillies open up a series tonight that does not mean anything (barring a miracle) for the Mets but means a lot for the Phillies. In case you have been shying away from the NL East standings to ward off depression, the Braves and the Phillies are separated by one game, with the Phillies in the lead. The Mets now have the opportunity to play spoiler. Anyway Roy Halladay will get the start tonight for the Phils as young Jenry Mejia will try to trip the Phils up.

Jenry Mejia was shakey in his first Major League start as he allowed 4 ER over 5 innings against the Cubs, and he looks to rebound tonight against the Phillies. On the season now he has thrown 32.2 innings with a 3.86 ERA. He has pitched 2 innings against the Phillies this year where he has allowed 0 ER, 0 R and only allowed 2 hits. The Phillies have these limited numbers against Jenry:

The Mets draw the Phillies ace for the first game of the set tonight. Halladay (who has already thrown 221 innings this year) has thrown 21 over his last three games and has an ERA of 4.29. He is 3-0 against the Mets this season in as many games as he has pitched 24 innings while allowing only 5 ER. The Mets have these numbers on Roy:

Lets Go Mets!

The animal! Chris Carter's ability to hit, and his attitude about hitting is what got him on the team. This is a video from April 30th where Chris just crushed one: