213 Miles From Shea

Originally I had another Met favorite lined up for this week, but after last weeks beating at the hands of the Twins by old Yankee Carl Pavano, well I had to sorta tip my hat. Seriously, rocking this stache takes a lot of courage:

It looks like a perfect stache for well, There Will Be Blood, right?

(via Slash Films)

Well as long as we are going along with this theory then we should probably make an adjustment to Carl Pavano:

Some quick hits to go with your Friday morning Toast with Grape Jam:

The Mets won a late, close one last night and they hope that starts another streak as they take the show into DC tonight. The Mets still have not faced Washington in a hot streak yet, so they have, in some forms, under performed against the Nats this year. The Nationals have now started to falter this season, and the Mets will need to take advantage of that. Tonight's game will feature Johan Santana vs Livan Hernandez.

This may in fact be a very important start for Santana tonight. The star pitcher of the Mets is now 5-5 with a 3.55 ERA and has really struggled of late. He also did not have a good outing last time against Nationals. Centuries ago at the start of the season, Santana made his second start against the Nats where he allowed 5 ER and 5 hits over 5 innings of work while walking three and striking out three. It's almost at the point now that its hard to remember that he had a great stretch of games earlier this season, but without the runs support he has nothing to show for it. Hopefully its the ace Santana that shows up tonight. Here are some numbers the Nationals have on Johan:

The Mets on the other side will get the mysterious Livan Hernandez who since his scorching hot start has begun his discent back to Earth. He is now 6-4 with a 3.10 ERA. He has a 2-1 record in his last four starts while pitching 25.2 innings with an ERA of 5.61. He has faced the Mets twice this year with a 1-0 record while allowing only 2 ER in 13.1 innings of work. The Mets have been able to put these numbers on Livan:

Lets Go Mets!

Let's see what the creative minds in the marketing department for the Mets Minor League Teams have going this month:

Buffalo: Sadly no photo for this one, but at the end of the month the Bisons will be giving away their road jersey (which, if it looks like the authentic one, says Buffalo like how the Mets Jerseys say New York). Other than that, they are giving away a hat, a shirt, and a pennant, no photos for any of them.

Binghamton: Beach Towel on the 2nd, which is the most interesting thing they are doing. Yawn.

St. Lucie: Like many teams across the states, they will be celebrating Christmas in surprise with a special giveaway, that they haven't disclosed. As long as this is not a Santa hat, this could be pretty good.

Savannah: Nothing to write home about

Brooklyn: This is the main event. Check out these amazing giveaways:

Items too big to picture here:
Double Backman Bobble
T-Shirt

There were also several promotions not pictured, like the Brooklyn Cyclones Snuggie. I think my favorite promotion was going to the Backman Jersey or bobblehead, but then that Jersey Shore based Jersey popped up (pictured directly above). I am a sucker for puns, so yeah, I can't believe that actually exists. Well done Brooklyn, well done.

Some quick hits to go with your Thursday Morning Nothing*:

*Because some days you just forget to eat Breakfast

The Mets had the ability to win last night but the initial bad outing was followed by an offense that clicked late but just couldn't climb out of the hole they were put in. Anyway the Mets go to avoid the second sweep on the road by the Marlins this year as they send out Pelfrey to play stopper. This is a role that Pelfrey has completed already this year and he will have to do it against Volstad.

Pelfrey picked up his 10th win of the season in his last time out as he got back on the right track. On the season he is 10-2 with a 2.79 ERA over 99.2 innings and in his last three games he is 2-1 with a 4.74 ERA. Strangely enough, although the Mets and the Marlins have played each other a lot this season, Pelfrey still hasn't seen them. Last year he was 0-1 in two games with a 4.05 ERA against the fish. The Marlins have these numbers against Big Pelf:

Volstad will be on the other side of the rubber tonight. On the season he is 4-7 with a 4.40 ERA. In his last four games he is 1-1 as he has pitched 21.2 innings with a 5.40 ERA. He also has not faced the Mets this season but he was 0-2 last year while pitching 11 innings and recording a 4.91 ERA. The Mets have these numbers on Volstad:

Lets Go Mets!

Just like the American League yesterday, there are a good amount of creative promotions in the month of July in the National League. The rules are the same like always, automatic shoutouts go to teams giving away Jerseys and pins, all other shoutouts have to be creative and cause the average fan to pause and think.

Philly: When I think of WB Mason, I think of that advertisement in the Bronx, but they also located in Philly and Boston. On July 11th the Phillies will be giving away toy trucks for the famous company:

Washington: I am surprised that the Nationals are allowed to give this away on the 3rd:

I'm surprised because it is an exact replica of the authentic one they where on the field. So you can go to the game and get this not fitted one for free compared to the actual one for $35. Strange, I guess.

Chicago NL: The Cubs continue their four part pin giveaway.

St. Louis: There are no words to describe this when you see it public, but I'm so glad they are making it a promotion:

LA Dodgers: They continue their action figure series. No really its a real thing. This month its Ethier:

 Bonus this month: Manny also has an action figure:

San Fran Giants: Rivalries are great. Promotions like a beach towell make them even better:

There have been a lot of “moments” in this season, which is just shy of being halfway over. The Mets have gone on horrible losing periods, and fantastic winning streaks and then alternating them to cause Mets fans to go nuts. There have been severe disappointments (hello Oliver Perez and John Maine) and we have had Amazin' performances (Dickey, Pagan, Tejada, Davis). In a year that has seen to winning streaks of 8 games, 6 consecutive home series wins, a 20 inning game, and a goose egg sweep, my favorite moment was not televised, reported, or talked about it.

It occured before the game in Washington (the one that Maine was pulled from and the Mets won 10-7). I had never seen batting practice like I did that night. At the beginning you had the big names like Reyes and Wright out there, but after they went down into the tunnel, it was time for Chirs Carter and Ike Davis.

All They Did Was Hit Bombs.

Seriously they put on a clinic during that batting practice on how to swing for power. Every swing looked great, and just about every ball left the ball park. In typical Davis fashion, they left the ball park. After being mesmerized for this for a few minutes, wishing I had a videotape recorder (seriously I must be the only 21-year old to not automatically think about grabbing a phone to take pictures of this or something) I looked around to see if anyone else was watching this display of skill, talent and strength, and no one really was. It was a moment though where you can see the immense ability these players, especially Davis have, and makes you appreciate that they are on your team.

I recently thought about this moment becuase of a quote from Jeff Francoeur that was posted on Metsblog after Sunday's game:

Ok time to redeem myself for not exactly being the most tech-savvy person on Earth. For those of you who are not in the loop with poplular culture stupid in this sense means basically the opposite of what it used to. It basically means amazing or crazy (more of the latter). Basically its an amplifier, meaning greater in a positive sense. I'm not exactly sure where this started, but if I had to put a finger on it, I would say the Hyphy movement in the Bay Area. Hyphy here meaning Hyperactive or a subculture of hip-hop that literally likes to act hyperactive. This is the same movement that brought us Ghost-Riding the Whip (putting your vehicle in drive, getting out and dancing on it), Stuntin Shades, E-40 (rapper) and Mistah F.A.B. (rapper). Some songs you might want to check out for information include Tell Me When To Go – E-40, Ghost Ride It and Stupid Dumb and Hyphy both by Mistah F.A.B.

Anyway back on track. Francoeur really puts it right. Davis has pop. His homers remind of shades of Cliff Floyd who never seemed to hit a small homer, they all were monsters (I can still hear in my mind “Cliff Floyd Off The Scoreboard!”) and thats where Davis stands. If he plays long enough with the Mets, Shea Bridge might become David Bridge or the Pepsi Porch will probably become Davis Porch. Its as if the Mets play in the House that Ike Built.

Next time you find yourself at a Mets batting practice, watch Davis and Carter, and hope that you get to watch the show that I got to see, because it's just like the Home Run Derby, all it needs is Chris Berman (actually, can we get Berman to just call Batting Practice, that would probably be entertaining).

Some quick hits to go with your Wednesday Morning French Toast Crunch: