213 Miles From Shea

An Open Letter to ESPN, Fox, and other non-SNY/WPIX/WFAN announcers:

To whom it may concern:

Hi, I'm a Mets fan and I have bone to pick with you guys. This is not one of those, I am angry about what you say about my team, or why don't you respect my team rants. This is a request to make sure you actually supply the public with correct information when talking about the big, spacious ball park, the Mets play in. There are a lot of stats out there that can be very misleading, especially when you don't fully explain them.

While the ball park is big, there are some key numbers you need to remember to represent correctly. While it is accurate to point out that David Wright has only hit 4 out of 15 homers at home this season, you need to stop talking about his power outage last year and the connection to Citi Field. While he may have altered his swing, he had an even split of 5 and 5 for homers at home and on the road. So, for example, if you want to use last year's example of Wright, you need to mention that he hit an even amount of homers on the road and at home and if Citi had an effect, it had one on his swing, that it became a mental issue (or you could talk about the protection he had in the lineup, which was minimal at best).

The other player you need to present more information on is Jason Bay. Yes he is really struggling this year, but its possible, just possible, that is not entirely the dimensions of Citi-Field to blame. He is by definition a streaky hitter and he has not gotten on a power streak yet. If he hit all 6 of his jacks on the road, I would be inclined to agree with you that it is a home problem, however is also splitting them 3-3 home and away (and for what its worth, his slugging is about 100 points higher at home, thanks to triples). Also for what its worth, last year he hit 15 homers at Fenway while hitting 21 on the road.

So please announcers, you can continue to talk about how big of a stadium the Mets play in, and you can talk about how the Mets have changed their swings to take advantage of it (thus players like Bay having a higher slugging percentage because balls they hit out in the gaps, that could be singles in other parks can quickly become doubles and triples against teams that are not used to the dimensions), but please be careful when you talk about homers, because you may misrepresent the numbers, and then in the end it, it is you who looks foolish.

A Disgruntled Statstician,
Elliot Teichman

The Mets lost a really tough game last night as they came back to tie to 7-7 but lost it in extras. Tonight is a crucial game as the Mets need to keep winning, or establishing some form of momemntum, and not suffer from a hangover from last night's game. Anyway todays game will feature RA Dickey vs Blake Hawksworth.

Dickey makes a start after a frustrating start for him, but not for the normal reasons. Before he was taken out of the game he was dealing pitching 5.2 scoreless innings and then he was pulled for an injury. He was, rightfully so, furious about that. On the season he is still 6-4 but now with a nice 2.55 ERA. In the month of July he was 0-3 but he pitched 33.1 innings with a 1.89 ERA (showing that record may not actually be his fault). In 2009 he pitched 1.1 scoreless innings against the Cards who have these numbers on R.A.:

The Mets bats will get a chance at Blake Hawksworth this afternoon who is 4-6 with a 5.23 ERA. His record in his last three games is a 2-1 with an ERA above 6. He has logged three innings against the Mets this year not allowing any runs but allowing 4 hits. The Mets have these numbers against Blake:

The Mets go for two straight tonight as the ace Johan Santana takes on Jamie Garcia. Last night, the Mets took on one of the best pitchers in the league in Wainwright and unloaded on him as the bats finally came alive and smashed in 8 runs as the Mets took the opener 8-2. Santana is 8-5 on the season with a 2.79 ERA. He picked up a win in his last outing as he allowed only one run over 7 innings. In the month of July he has made 5 starts with a 3-0 record over 38.0 innings pitched and a 0.71 ERA while walking 10 and striking out 26. He got a no decision earlier this season against the Cards in one of the most famous games of the season where he threw 7 scoreless innings in a 20 inning game. The Cards have these numbers on Johan:

Where was Garcia on that day where the Mets and the Cards played 20 innings? Garcia was starting that day!. Yessir, this is a rematch of that nearly 700 pitch game. He pitched 7 scoreless innings that day and on the season he is 9-4 with a 2.21 ERA. The Mets have put up the following numbers on Garcia over his short career:

Lets Go Mets!

As normal, the beginning of a new month means its time for our monthly tour around the majors for creative promotions. Same rules as always. To make this list, the promotion has to be interesting, a free jersey, crazy or a lapel pin. Today we will explore the American League, tomorrow the National League. Yesterday was Mets only and Friday will be Mets minors. All images via MLB.com:

Baltimore: The Orioles finish up their three part mini-bobblehead series with Nick Markakis. The three bobbleheads join together to create the Camden outfield. Also the Orioles are doing something that I have heard before, but I guess I never really recognized it. They will be giving out backpacks for children that look like catcher chest protecter. This one is of course for Matt Wieters, picture below:

Cleveland: Lofton “The Catch” Bobblehead. Ineteresting perspective for the website shot:

Kansas City: When most teams want to celebrate an anniversary of a championship, they give out hats, pennants or posters. The Tigers are giving out a coaster set. I love the combination of history and function:

Seattle: Free Jerseys For Kids:

Texas must be thinking on the same lines as Baltimore:

Some quick hits to go with your Wednesday morning Cranberry Juice:

(MLB.com)

The Mets had a big win tonight (my attempt in the title was to spell it french). In the first inning tonight it looked like it was going to be one of those days again as the Cards put up an early run, however thanks to Wright, Beltran and Davis in the second inning the Mets put up the tying run. The big blow was by Frenchy. In the 4th inning where the Mets had two runners on, Frenchy smashed a homer way out and put the Mets up 4-1. This was huge hit as the Mets just started rolling after that putting up two more innings of multi-runs, including another homer, this time by Reyes.

Niese was fantastic tonight as he racked up 6 innings allowing only one run. Acosta put up the other run as the Mets bullpen only allowed one run. The Mets had another complete game at home as they for some reason they play really well in Citi. All of this came as Jerry was not managing tonight. That was, in my opinion, a coincidence.

The big story for the night was the offense. They put up the best showing against Wainwright this year, who now looks to be the frontrunner for the Cy Young award. The Mets were able to get hits and drive in runs while they had RISP, something they haven't done at all for what feels like a month now. In terms of what the Mets have to do, this was exactly what the Doctor order to start off the homestand.

The Mets try to turn this all around starting tonight with Jon Niese vs Adam Wainwright. The Mets are coming off of an abysmal road trip with a lot of questions coming to this week. There are ton of off the field issues going on (coaching, trades, releases) but ultimately it is about what is done on the field and while the Mets pitching of late has been spot on, the bats have been whack.

Niese has a 6-4 record this season with a 3.54 ERA. He wasn't as good in his last start as he has been in previous allowing 3 ER over 5 innings but he still managed to strikeout 6 batters. In the month of July he has a 1-2 record while pitching 26.2 inning with a 2.70 ERA. Niese's only start against the Red Birds was a memorable one for all the wrong reasons. He was cruising through 1.2 innings until he went to cover first base, get injured and was gone for the rest of the year. During his young career, only a few Cardinals have AB's against Niese. Holliday and Ludwig are both 0-1 while Pujols is 1-1 with a double.

The Mets bats will have to face a now infamous foe in Mets history, Adam Wainwright. More specifically, we could have a rematch of that moment that ended the 2006 season. To make matters worse, Wainwright has been terrific this year with his 14-5 record and 1.94 ERA. In fact, in the entire month of June he has allowed one earned run. The Mets scored more runs on him than that the first time this season (3) however Wainwright picked up the win in a complete game outing where the Cards edged the Mets by the score of 5-3. To give you an idea how long ago that was/feels, that was the series of the 20 inning game and right before the Mets called up Ike Davis. Anyway the Mets have these numbers on Adam:

The season is winding down but the hottest month of the season is on its way. How are the Mets going to get fans to stay in the stands instead of heading to the comfort of their air conditioned homes (where they can change the channel when the Amazin's play bad)? Well the Mets marketing department hope they have the solution with the August 2010 promotions (All images via mlb.com):

August 1st: The Mets open up the month with a highly anticipated event as they induct fan favorites: Gooden, Strawberry, Johnson and Cashen. This players, manager and GM were integral to the success of the 1986 Mets and finally get their place in Mets Hall of Fame history. Fans get into the action to with a Hall of Fame Hat:

It's a nice hat. The only complaint is that it would have better if they could incorporate the inductees onto the hat. It would make it look more cluttered but this is one those times where clutter is better than the clean design.

August 13th: The Mets want to keep your beer cold. But they don't want anyone to keep it cold. They want the ace of the staff with ice waters in his veins to keep your beer nice and frosty. Behold the Santana Koozie:

August 14th: Obligatory Green and Orange Hate:

August 15th: One for the kids:

August 29th: Another one for the kids. This one is a Mets Build-a-bear: