213 Miles From Shea

Some quick hits to go with your Monday morning bagel with lox cream cheese spread:

Mets Links:

Under Construction

Want to be on this list? Send a message to elliotteichman@gmail.com!

Under Construction: So whats up with this article? I am currently rebuilding portions of the website and this is one of the ways I am rebuilding the blogroll list. In about a week this article will descend into the depths of the archives (and at that time I'll remove this note).

After three very frustrating losses, the Mets finally recorded their first win of the second half as they beat the Giants in a 10 inning game with the final score of 4-3. The Mets were down 1-0 early but after 3rd inning RBI by Pagan and a 4th inning solo homer from David Wright, the Mets had the lead at 2-1. In the 8th inning Ike Davis added in a crucial RBI to make the score 3-1. The Giants responded with two runs in the bottom in the ninth making the score 3-3. The Mets following Ike Davis, got a two out RBI (his second of the game) to take the lead. Krod couldn't make it easy again as he allowed a 2-out double.

Before we get into the hitting stats, its time for another “I Sometimes Really Hate How Pitching Stats Work” rant. Santana pitched brilliantly allowing only one run in 8 innings (lowering his ERA to 2.89), however he gets a no decision as Krod recieved his 5th blownsave of the year. After pitching not effectively, Krod endded up being the pitcher of record in the 10th, so he also gets the win, his 3rd of the year. Ugh, thats just really frustrating.

Anyway the Mets had two hitters with 3-hit games today, Ike and Bay and they both needed it. Ike Davis has been struggling as of late and well we know how Jason Bay works. To see them both racking in the hits today has to bring some good feelings about the lineup. Wright also really needed the Power today as he hasn't shown that in a good minute.

Next up for the Mets will be the struggling Diamonbacks, and the Mets can not afford to struggle against them.

Sometimes a misnomer, this series of articles takes a look at Mets prospects and prospects of other players that could be coming up through the system at anytime. I say it can be a misnomer, because of these players were never actually prospects, they were just young players in the minors that were putting up good numbers, so it seemed only fair to take an in-depth look into them:

Yohan Almonte
Eric Brown
Corey Coles
Zach Cox
Yu Darvish
Ike Davis
Lucas Duda
Juan Feliciano
Dillon Gee
Reese Haven
Brad Holt
Bryce Harper
Matt Harvey
Jason Heyward
Jason Jacobs
Deck McGuire
Scott Moviel
Daniel Murphy
Daniel Murphy (Update)
Jon Niese
Jon Niese (Update)
Rob Parnel
Francisco Pena
Argenis Reyes
Brant Rustich
Josh Satin
Jake Smolinsky
Tobi Stoner
Ruben Tejada
Karsten Whitson

Past Facial Hair Friday Entries:

Angel Pagan
Bobby Valentine
Carl Pavano
Jerry Manuel
Johan Santana
Jose Valetin
K – Rod
Matt Harvey
Oliver Perez
R.A. Dickey
Ronny Cedeno
Wally Backmam
Willie Randolph

“Bizarre Uniform Tuesday” Past Entries:

Blue Claws Become The Bruce Claws
Fresno Grizzlies Price Is Right
Tampa Bay Rays  become the Tampa
The Richmond Flying Squirrels

Past Memorabilia Monday Entries:

1967 “Match The Mets”
2008 Shea Stadium Budweiser Bottle
Interesting Fitted Hat
Kaz Matsui T-Shirt
Marty Markowitz
Mets Family Stickers
Mets Toaster
MLB Playmakers David Wright
Ollie Box by Joe Petruccio
Shea Stadium Cuff Links
Shea Stadium Cup Holder

Mets Quote Wednesday Entries:

In 2008 the Mets had the first opportunity in a while to flex their PR/marketing muscle, and they did a pretty good job with it. The final season at Shea logo was fantastic. It blended the old with the new, had a semi-original shape to it, and was rich in detail, but it wasn't cluttered. The Mets were then set to make their inaugural season logo, and just like the inaugural season at Citi Field – it was too awful to forget. The logo was not inspiring, not creative, and just dull. So how will the Mets handle the 2013 All-Star game logo? Well my basic prediction is that it will not be a simple design. The Mets got slammed by the national media for their failure to create a stellar patch so it will be this time around.

Well, what will be on the 2013 All-Star patch? My fear is that it will be the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Don't get me wrong, I love the rotunda, but it looks too much like Ebbits field and this is our first All-Star game since 1964. One of the most iconic images for the Mets is the home run apple, and I feel that should be the patch. Also, that won't happen, unless they compromise. A good compromise is if the model the patch after the front of the stadium with the Shea apple in the foreground and the rotunda in the background.

Next up is the BP jersey's. Probably the color spectrum will be Orange and Blue. Sadly, it will probably look a like the current BP Jersey and one from a few years ago:

(Baseball-fever and nyny.com)

Of course, the underarms on the orange one will probably look more like the blue one and the script ont he blue one, If I had to guess, will probably be orange (so they are inverses). Now the Mets could keep it really dull and have American and National written in Mets Script, or they can try do something else, like the arch in the Cards jersey, the bridge in the San Fran one, or the halo in the Angels one.

Well I guess time will tell.

The Mets suffered a tough loss last night as the offense couldn't get going and couldn't back up the pitching which only allowed 2 runs. Anyway they will try to wash last night away with a win tonight as they take on Barry Zitio and the Giants for game 2 of this series.

Before the All-Star break, Niese had a good start, but picked up the loss as the Mets offense couldn't back him ( 3 ER over 7.2 IP). On the season Niese is 6-3 with a 3.61 ERA. In his last three games pitched he has logged 20.2 innings with a 1.74 ERA. In his short career as a pitcher, he has not faced the Giants yet and in fact, has only faced one player on the Giants, Sanchez, who is 0-3 against Jon. If the Mets are going to make a run in the second half, they will need Jon to keep doing what he was doing late in the first half (ie using his cutter and curveball to keep the opposition from scoring).

Zito has been having a great year for the Giants as he a 3.76 ERA with a 7-4 record. He has no decisions in his last three starts in which he has a 5.63 ERA (mainly due to one bad start surrounded two above average starts). While hasn't faced the Mets yet this season, but last season he picked up the loss in one game as the Mets tagged him for three runs over 5 innings of work. Over the years, the Mets have posted these numbers on Barry:

Lets Go Mets! (Also, programming note, I'll be alway from a computer for the rest of the weekend, so I'll resume game previews on Monday. However, make sure to still visit 213 Miles From Shea, as some articles will be posting on their own this weekend).