213 Miles From Shea

This surprised me as much as its probably surprising you right now.

I mean I was really surprised when I heard this. I'm so surprised/shocked that I'm babbling right now so I should probably back up and explain what I'm talking about.

Last night I caught the end the Diamondback/Arizona game, when Heilman came on to pitch. Being a Mets fan, my initial reaction was something along the lines of “allright! Arizona just gave the game to the Dodgers!” When Heilman was introduced, he was announced as by far the best pitcher out of hte pen for the Diamondbacks as of late. The Dbacks bullpen, has been just awful. If you google it (with 2010) you will just see a list of terrible statistics.

Except for Aaron Heilman.

Heilman on the season has pitched slightly over 21 innings with a 3.09 ERA, which good for a reliever, but not necessarily great. However with the recent struggles of the Dbacks pen, that number is relatively great. Actually, what is beyond relatively great and is actually amazing is his last 16 outings. Over that time he has pitched 16.1 innings with, get this, an ERA of 1.10.

I guess I'm happy that he is having some sort of great revival. I am curious to see how long he will keep this up and if he may become a trading chip for the struggling Dbacks.

Some quick hits to go with your Thursday morning French Vanilla Roast:

The Mets have an opportunity tonight to do something that has been very elusive for the Mets this year: win a road series. The Mets enter the rubber game against one of the premier teams in the league as they try to knock out the Padres tonight. The question of course for the Mets tonight is if Santana can continue being Santana and if the Mets can actually back him up with some runs as they take on Clayton Richard (aka one of those players with two first names, if you like to keep track of those sort of things).

Santana (4-2, 3.03) has pitched 29.2 innings in his last 4 starts with a 0.91 ERA. In each of those four tstarts he has gone through at least 7 innings of work, and of course there is the controversy of whether he should have pitched the ninth inning in his last start, that ended as a 2-0 Mets loss in the bottom of the ninth. Last season he got the win in game against the Padres as he allowed one earned run over 8 innings of work. The Padres have these numbers against Santana:

The Mets bats get to contend with Richard (4-3, 3.00 ERA) who has pitched 21 innings in his last 3 starts with a 2.57 ERA. Actually if you look back to his last 4 games, he he has allowed 2 ER, 1 ER, 1 ER and 3 ER all over 7 innings of work. Last season he picked up a win against the Mets pitching against them once as he allowed 3 ER over 5.2 innings of work. The Mets have put these numbers on Richard over his career:

Lets Go Mets!

Alright marketing departments across the land, its June. What have you come up with for getting fans to come to the ball park?

Baltimore: The Orioles are really struggling this year, thus the team is struggling to get fans into the ball park. However, Oriole fans its time to celebrate because June will be an awesome month. The team will be giving out 4 different hats, 2 t-shirts and 2 bobbleheads. The highlights include June 12th vs the Mets, where the Orioles are giving out a purple and black hat to show Baltimore Ravens pride and also include June 27th, if you buy an outfield bleacher ticket because then you get the special 2110 (Markakis/Jones) T-shirt and still get the hat giveaway that day (which celebrates the 1970 team). Also the June 24th bobblehead is part two of three bobblehead set to create the Orioles outfield in bobblehead form. Good job Baltimore.

Detrioit: So the Tigers have been doing this “Every Kid, Every Sunday” Thing all season, and I've seemed to miss it so far. Anyway it features a giveaway for every child in attendance, free rides and running the bases. This month, young fans will get a ballpark jigsaw puzzle and a Charlie Brown Bobblehead.

Kansas City: The Royals will be celebrating their 1985 World Series Title all month long with some great promotions including several T-shirts, bobbleheads, stuffed animals, and I think I'm reading this right, but on June 30th, I think they are giving away the 5-DVD set to 20,000 fans. Wow.

LA (AL): A Fedora Hat? Creative. Timely. Nice.

Oakland: The Athletics are giving away a retro Jersey this month, and if you read this site, you know giving away a jersey is an automatic shoutout on this monthly entry.

Seattle: The Mariners very rarely disapoint. This month there are two promotions (other than the secret one that was dicussed at the end of May) that have to be shared. The first one is their King Felix train night:

The second is a double bobblehead. They put Ken Griffy Jr and Ichrio together with a model of the actual Cooperstown Building, on a base that says “Cooperstown Bound”:

Texas: They love giving away Jersey's in Arlington. This time its a red Ian Kinsler jersey.

Florida: The game against the Rays will be a loud one as the Marlins will give out air horns to fans. That may be a game you will want to avoid if you like quiet spaces.

Chicago (NL): Something else I must have missed from April or May. Apparently the Cubs are doing a four part giveaway to make a giant Cubs lapel pin. Thats awesome. More teams should give away pins.

Pittsburgh: Kids get a McCutchin Jersey.

LA (NL): The Dodgers are starting a three part giveaway of their stars, as super heros. This month its a Matt Kemp action figure.

The minors can do crazy promotions and theme nights because, well, its the minors. The Bisons will be holding their third annual Star Wars night on June 12th. This year, they have designed special Star Wars Jersey's for the occasion. It wouldn't be the first time that a team wore Star Wars jerseys for a minor league game:

(Wisconsin Timber Rattlers)

(Uni Watch Blog)

It's time for Bisons to take a crack at designing a Jersey, and this is what they came up with:

(Buffalo Bisons)

(Larger view of the emblem)

What I like about this Jersey design is the Bisons took a well known Star Wars image, and they made it unique, made it theirs. For more information on Star Wars night, visit here.

Some quick hits to go with your Wednesday morning Corn Flakes:

The calender is about to flip to June. Summer Time. The kids are out from school and the Mets will be hoping to get families into Citi to see some ball games. Lets take a look at what the PR department has set up for June (all images via Mets.com):

June 5th: Sports Bag

This is a nice giveaway mainly because its useful. It looks to be pretty small, so it could also be used as a carry-on for flying if going to the gym isn't your thing, and it focuses on the real colors of the Mets (ie, not black and white). Thumbs up.

June 6th: Beach Towel

Beach towels are always great give-aways, but it depends on the design. The above has a crisp, simple design focusing on the retro Mr. Met that used be everywhere around Shea Stadium, and doesn't feature an overly large corporate tag. Thumbs up.

June 26: Mets Cap

Caps are always a popular giveaway. Usually I don't think much of them, but its nice to see the reveral of colors here, making this hat stand out a bit more than usual. Still rating is: average.

June 27th: Travel Mug.
No picture. I'm going to assume its lame.

Strasburg is set to make his last AAA start this week before going to the majors, and the Mets are lucky enough that his last start will be in Buffalo. Like all of his other minor league starts, this game should be highly attended. Strasburg will be expected to throw around 95 pitches, or six innings. He will also get to pitch against one of the Mets rising starting pitchers, Gee.

For the Mets, this is an excellent opporuntity to not only scout a talented pitcher who will be in the division for years, but it is also a great opportunity to see how our hitting prospects (Thole, Tejada, Murphy (not a propsect), Fmart, Pridie) fare against a strong pitcher.

Anyway, the game is at 1:05 on June 3rd. You'll probably see coverage on ESPN as they have been following all of Strasburg's games.

Some quick hits to go with your Tuesday morning Wild Grape Pop Tart: