213 Miles From Shea

Some quick hits to go with your Monday morning Fruit 'n Fibre:

The 2010 All-Star festivities kicked off today with the 2010 Futures game where major minor league prospects take each other on where the World Team faced the USA Team. For three consecutive years the World team has taken the contest but this year the USA team came out in a big way where they won by the score of 9-1. Part of the reason team USA finally won one is that there was a bit of age descrepancy between the teams this year. While every player is young and highly talented, team USA seemed to be a little older and higher up in their respective organizations than the World  team, so the game was slower for them. The MVP of the game was Conger with his 3-run homer (1-3). He is in the Angel organization and grew up in the area, so it was nice for the hometown crown however team USA also had a player, Hosmer, who was 4-5, with 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B.

However this game isn't about winners and losers, its about the players. The Mets had only one representative this year, Jeurys Familia, on the World Team. Familia made his appearance with two outs and no body on in the bottom of the 8th where team USA was already was leading 7-1. He can throw heat as he was pounding in his fastball at 94, 95 mph. The problem was he was really not accurate and as soon as he started to throw in the zone he got into trouble. First batter: double. Second batter: RBI double. Third batter: RBI double. Fourth batter: ground out, end of inning. So 1/3 innings pitched, 3 hits, 2 runs, no walks and no strikeouts.

The All-Star festivities continue with the celebrity and old timers Softball game tomorrow morning, the Homerun Derby tomorrow night, the All-Star red carpet show (what?) on Tuesday and then finally Tuesday night the actual All-Star game. 

The Mets offense hit a wall last night and they fell to the Braves for a second straight game. Today is basically a must a win game now as the Mets try to avoid the sweep and try to go into the season break on a high note. For the Mets, they will need Santana to bring it again like he did last time out so they have a chance to beat Lowe and the Braves.

Santana did it all last time out. He pitched a complete-game, 3 hit shutout while also belting out his first major league career homer. On the season he is now 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA and in his last two outings he has allowed 1 ER in 16 innings of work (very Santana like). He faced the Braves once this season allowing 2 ER in 7 innings of work and didn't get a decision as the Mets bats fell silent. The Braves hitters have the following numbers on Johan:

The Mets weren't able to get to Hanson or Hudson, but they will try for Lowe today. Lowe is 9-7 this season with a 4.40 ERA. He faced the Amazins once this year as he picked up the loss after allowing 3 ER in 7 innings of work. He's 0-2 in his last three games while posting an ERA of 2.75 during that time. The Mets have these numbers against him:

The Mets lost a frustrating one last night as Dickey was good, but just wasn't good enough against two of the Braves hitters who caused him trouble all night. The Mets now find themselves in a situation where (although this isn't crucial) they really may “need” to take the next two games from the Braves. This afternoon Pelfrey will take the mound against Hudson of the Braves.

Mike will benefit a lot from the upcoming All-Star break but first he has to get through today. On the season he is 10-3 with a 3.39 ERA and had a really just sad outing last time. He was going fine, got into a bit of trouble with the basesloaded, then he got a bad call on a HBP and a bad call in the strike zone and for the first time this year we saw the 2009 Pelfrey where the game mentally got to him. However, he recognized this, acknowledged this, and hopefully will move on from this. Pelfrey is 2-0 against the Braves this year while posting only 2 ER in 12.2 innings of work. The Braves have these numbers on Pelfrey this year:

The Mets will have to contend with Hudson today who is having a resurgent season as he is 8-4 with a 2.44 ERA. He is 1-2 in his last three starts while having a 2.86 ERA over 22 innings of work. Tim has not faced the Mets this season yet and while we could look at numbers from previous years, he really is a different pitcher this year. He really had to struggle back get his arm velocity/movement that he lost during injury and this year he shows that he has climbed that mound. Over his career the Mets have these numbers against him:

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and the Braves meet up for a pretty large series to end the first half of the season. Remember the times when it was the Mets and Braves at the top and the rivalry was going strong? Well folks, we may be back in that area as the Braves are now 15 games over .500 and have a 3 game lead over the Mets. This is an important series because it will determine the seperation of the top teams in the division. The Mets dropped a tough series against the Reds where they had the ability to win every night but just couldn't get it done. Now they will have to do it against Tommy Hanson of the Braves.

It's Dickey time again in New York. On the season he is 6-1 with a 2.61 ERA. He had a fine start out last time in Washington where he pitched 7 innings and allowed 2 runs, but 0 earned runs. His outing was tossed out though thanks the Mets bullpen. Anyway he looks to shut down the Braves tonight in his first start against them this season. The Braves have the following numbers on Dickey over his career:

King James had the world centered on him last night as he made his decision to kill Eastern League Basketball go to the Heat (I'm actually a Nets fan and if he wasn't going there, I wanted him to stay in Cleveland). However this once again shows the main difference between baseball and basketball as sports (I mean besides the obvious ones including action, time management, etc). The Heat have been able to really re-shape their team by spending money, its not as drastic as when the Celtics did it (since they were going bottom of the league to top) but its the same process. Basketball is a sport, since its only 5 on the court at the time, where one player really can make that big of a difference.

I was trying to think through baseball's history and I couldn't think of a player that would be able to pull off what James did last night. The reason is that there is no one player through the history of baseball that can take a bad team and make them into a winner. The most recent example of one team spending a lot of money and then getting the championship, would be the Yankees. However even though they got CC, AJ and Tex in one offseason, they already had Arod, Jeter, Mariano, etc. This is what makes baseball unique. One can spend money and buy the best players, and make significant improvements, but there are so many roles that need to be filled, there is no one player that really can flip an entire franchise.

One thing about basketball free agency that has always impressed me though is the speed of it (aided by the cap), how its finished so quick after it starts. After watching many baseball offseasons, a quicker baseball offseason would be a welcome change of pace (but then us bloggers would have nothing to write about, so I guess I'm ok with our free agency going on forever).

David Wright. The 5 Time All-Star. 2006-2010. That means he has had 5 different All-Star Jerseys so far so lets take a stroll down memory lane:

(2010 – mlb.com)

(2009)

(2008)

(2007)

(2006)

Some quick hits to go with your Friday morning Waffles with Strawberry Syrup:

There's a lot to like about the young pitcher on the Mets staff, and I really don't feel that I have, personally, appreciated what he brings to the team until last night. Home grown players always add a spark to lineup because they come with none of that “spoiled” feeling on them. They seem pure in the sense that they are, for at least some period of time, void of greed and don't have a corporate, money-minded, cynical aura around them. This is automatic in home grown talent (at least until the time for the first major extension).

As a pitcher though, there is a lot to like about Niese. As I alluded to before, here at 213, I don't think I spend enough time highlighting him as a player and that is sad because he really embodies a lot of qualities that I like to see in players. First and foremost, he seems very modest. When describing himself for the first half of the season, he said he feel's that he has been “allright”. Niese, you have been a lot more than “allright”. The recent pitching performances you have had since coming off of the DL put you right behind Santana and Pelfrey on this team. No longer is there a feeling of (although I don't believe there ever was) “awww man Niese is pitching today” because your games dictate that you are better than that.

When I do talk about Niese here, I generally spend a lot of time on his curveball. However there are three other aspects of Niese the pitcher that I really should focus on more. The first is that he works extremely quickly. I like baseball as much as any other fan, but sometimes games can get really long and really boring. The monotonous looking at the bases and routines before throwing add minutes to the game that are superfluous. Niese working quickly makes him seem more confident and makes the game easier to watch while being more entertaining. The other two aspects of Niese that are not really spoken about here are two of his other pitches, his fastball and cutter. I am generally a fan of when a pitcher can throw that high heat, and not get into trouble with it. It reminds me a bit of 2006 and 2007 John Maine. However, his cutter is really the star. It has become a great pitch and really is starting to give some hitters a lot of trouble, especially with that late movement. His K's from the last several starts show that he is getting behind his stuff.

Anyway, I know that was a bit of a ramble but I was just going through some posts recently and I realize for all the time I spend on Santana, Pelfrey, Dickey, Wright, K-Rod, Pagan, etc, I really should share some thoughts on Niese more.