213 Miles From Shea

Hey folks, just a light Game Preview today (not enough time to compose a full one).

The Mets try to take game two against the Phillies tonight as Misch gets his first start of the season. In AAA this year, Misch is 11-4 with a 3.24 ERA, and many Mets fans wonder why he wasn't called up sooner. Last season he became a regular in the rotation for the last part of the year where he had a 4.12 ERA over 59.0 innings. He only allowed 2 ER against the Phillies last season over 7.2 innings of work. He also has a bit of a streak to try to keep up as the Phillies have now played four games at Citi Field without scoring a run.

The Mets batters will get another chance this season to crack Hallladay who was a winner in his last game against the Amazin's. The Mets did rough him up though (finally) as the Mets tagged him for 5 runs over 7 innings. Lets do it again! Lets Go Mets!

The Mets will try to make it two in a row, for the first time since June, tonight as they take on the Phillies at Citi-Field. The last three games that the Mets have won have all been shutouts including a 1-0 shutout win vs the Phillies last weekend, another 1-0 vs the Rockies on Monday and 4-0 one yesterday vs the Rockies.

Dickey showed that he was human for the first time in a while in his last outing, and he looks to reverse that tonight. In his last outing he allowed 6 runs, 4 earned over 3 innings against the Phillies. Earlier this season he had a great outing against the Phillies where he shut them out over 6 innings. Overall, the Phillies have these numbers on Robert Allen:

On the other side of the mound the Mets will get another crack at Cole Hamels who is 7-8 with a 3.45 ERA on the season. He had a great outing against the Mets the last time out but was playing against Santana and well he needed to be perfect to win. He allowed one run over his 7 innings of work. The Mets have these numbers on Cole:

Lets Go Mets!

And now to honor a contender for the 2010 Mets MVP:

(via Daily Stache)

Because sometimes, your 4th OF is about 78% of the team's total offense.

In cased you missed, because I sure did, Igarashi had to take a cab yesterday to get to Citi Field. Yeah, a cab. He was currently in Scranton, PA (think The Office) when he boarded a cab at 9:30 in the morning to head to New York. As Adam Rubin reports, the kicker of course was that the driver has never been to New York City. Oh, and the bill was $300.

I wonder what that discussion was like……..(everything beyond this point is fictional):

Igarashi (hailing down a cab): Ah Thank You!
Cab Driver: Where to partner?
Igarashi: Citi Field sir.
Cab Driver: The Citi Bank down the street has a field now? I'll have to take my kids.
Igarashi: No, I mean Citi Field the ball park.
Cab Driver: Sir, the ball park in town is not called Citi Field.
Igarashi: I know, I'm a New York Met, probably why you don't know me. I need to got Citi Field, Queens New York.
Cab Driver: Really?
Igarashi: Yes.
Cab Driver: Really? Really?
Igarashi: Yes.
Cab Driver: Am I on candid camera?
Igarashi: No. I need to go to Queens.
Cab Driver: Really?
Igarashi: YES!

Hour Later, Somewhere In NJ

Cab Driver: Want to stop at a rest stop?
Igarashi: Not really, all they have is Burger Kings, I don't like corporate culture.
Cab Driver: Speaking of which, did you know that the Scranton MiLB team is owned by the city….

Some time later, Near the Goethals  Bridge:

Igarashi: Take this, its shorter!
Cab Driver: I have to drive you from Scranton to Queens, you know I'm taking the long way.
Igarashi: ?
Cab Driver: George Washington Bridge FTW!

Some time around the sixth inning at Citi Field:

Igarashi: Thanks man, I appreciate it, actually could you wait here a minute
Cab Driver: Sure
Manuel comes running out shoving a blindfolded man in the back seat
Perez: Where's my surprise?
Manuel: It's coming!
Manuel (to Cab Driver): Just drop him off in Scranto

Because we all know it would be too difficult for the New York Papers to focus on Santana's performance in today's world of Sports and News constantly merging with Celebrity style tabloids….also its the Post and the News, so I guess this is just status quo:

(NY Post)

(NY Post)

(NY Daily News)

(NY Daily News)

On the day of the season where the Mets needed it most of all, Johan Santana provided to his team and to the fan base as he won the rubber game against the Rockies by pitching a complete game shutout. You probably know by now that the most pressing issue in the Mets world today was the altercation that happened between K-rod and his father-in-law last night either in or near the Family Room at Citi Field. This is a difficult situation for a team to rally behind because now there is a sudden, ugly merge between the private life of one player and the private lives of all the other players. That being said, today was the day the Mets needed something to cheer about.

Cue Johan Santana.

From the beginning of the game Santana was fantastic as he struck out the side notching his first three of what would be 10 strikeouts on the day. What made Santana so effective today was a combination of his arm slots looking identical (generally the key to any of his succesful days), the 10+ mph difference in his pitches, and that he was hitting the spots so well that Thole looked extremely relaxed the entire game. He had great control, he really didn't get into any difficult situations and this all meant a game that barely went above 2 hours (maybe like 2 hours 15 minutes or something).

The Mets bats weren't explosive today, but they were better than most. The four runs were scored on two RBI singles and two RBI sacrifice flys with 2 runs coming in the bottom of the first and the other two coming in the bottom of the 7th. In that 7th inning the Mets pulled off one of my favorite moves in baseball where Santana shows bunts, the pitcher throws (directly down the middle of the plate) and Santana pulls that bat back and slaps in a base hit.

The shutout today was the 17th one for the Mets this season. Lets keep them coming!

Yohan Almonte is not a household name, he's not talked about. However, Almonte is putting together a very impressive statistical season at Brooklyn this year, similar to what Cahoon was doing in Savannah earlier. It is hard learning about a prospect just by looking at the numbers, but for Almonte it is worth it because even though he is only in Brooklyn, he is only 20 years old and is already in third year of professional ball and is starting to improve on his numbers:

From a purely statistical view, combining both 2009 stats into one stat line, Almonte is getting better single season he plays. His control is staying constant to getting better, he is striking out a good amount of batters and his WHIP (one of my favorite stats) started off “eh” and is getting very, very good.

For Almonte the remainder of this season is not only very important, it is critical to how he will move up through the system. He has already pitched more innings this season than he has had in any other season and he is continuing to build that arm strength. Also, with September right around the corner, there will be spots openning up as players get called to the majors. I would like to see how he performs at a higher A level (whether thats Savannah, St. Lucie or a longshot Binghamton). I'm not saying that Almonte will be a player for the majors, but depending on how he performs for the rest of year, especially against better talent, he could join the discussion for non-roster invites this Spring.

Behold today is a rare day. I should have known when I awoke in DC to what seemed like a rainstorm with a little World War III mixed in this morning. Today, the NY Daily News AND the NY Post have the same headline on the back page, although with different pictures:

(NY Post)

(NY Daily News)

The Mets also dominated the front pages today. Hell, the NY Times website lead article is about Krod (but that is not pictured here):

(NY Daily News)

(NY Post)

The Mets and Rockies play the rubber game at an early 12:10 time slot today as the Mets try to take the series. Last night was the same old story for Niese and by same old story I just mean it has happened two outings in a row. Once again he was fantastic (1 R over 7 IP) but the pen seems to save it's meltdowns for when Jon pitches. Anyway it is time for the ace Johan Santana to step vs Hammel in the finale.

Johan Santana is 9-6 on the season with a 3.06 ERA and in his last start he was able to rebound by pitching 7.1 shutout innings (where he had a no hitter going through 5.2 innings). He missed the Rockies earlier this season but he had a great outing against them last year as he picked up the win throwing 7 scoreless innings. The Rockies have these numbers on Johan:

The Mets will get a crack at Hammel this afternoon who is 8-6 this season with a 4.38 ERA. In his last four starts he is 1-2 with an ERA of 5.54. He didn't play the Mets in April this year and last year he had a horrible start against the Amazin's as he allowed 5 ER over 1.1 innings in a loss. The Mets have these numbers on Hammel:

Lets Go Mets!