213 Miles From Shea

The Amazin Mets try to keep the ball rolling tonight as they take on the Phillies for game two of the three game set. Last night, it was R.A. Dickey making things Tricky for the Phillies as they faced knuckleballers for two games straight. Tonight the Mets will try to fool the Phils with Takahashi while the Phils will call on Joe Blanton to quiet the Mets bats.

Takahashi (3-1, 2.53 ERA) was brilliant in his last started as he pitched 6.0 scoreless innings against the Yankees (in his first major league start). Although he allowed 5 hits over that time, he only walked one batter and was able to strike 5 out keeping hte basepaths mostly quiet and keeping the Yankees bats silent. The key for Takahashi will be to do the same tonight. He has to keep runners off the paths because its ok if the Phillies hit a solo shot, but its not ok if they hit a grandslam. He faced the Phils in relief this season and pitched 1.1 innings allowing 5 hits, ER, no walks while striking out 1. All fve hits were from different players (Howard, Moyer, Polanco, Werth, Victorino) with Werth hitting the only extra base hit (2B) and getting an RBI.

The Mets will be getting their first taste of Blanton tonight as he makes his fifth start of the season. So far he is 1-2 over 26.2 innings pitched with an ERA of 5.06. Last season he faced the Mets once and he pitched a four hit, scoreless 7.1 innings against us. The Mets have these numbers on Blanton over his career:

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Phils!

(NY Post via Can't Stop the Bleeding)

Do you hear anything?

Well if you don't, then good. What you don't hear right now is my head banging against the wall this season. This probably seems a little odd because well the Mets are bewildering team that do great and then fall flat on their faces, so lotsa head-banging-on-walls should be occurring (or at least hand palm slap to forehead).

The reason its not happening this year is I have made a very conscious effort to not listen to certain baseball analysts. Its one thing when a friend says something stupid in sports, or a peer, or a colleague, or an idiot blogger (see: me), but its another when a person is being paid a large sum of money, and still publicly state opinions that leave you scratching your head.

Going into this season, that meant I needed to avoid to people. The first is Rob Dibble, the Nationals announcer. For me, he is pretty difficult to avoid since I live in DC and well when the Mets play the Nationals, MLB.com says I need to watch my local TV broadcast of the game. After suffering through one game (seriously, he says the same things every single broadcast, his range of color commentary is that short), I realized that I could still get MLB.com Audo, which I play over the TV broadcast. Problem solved, no more Rob Dibble.

Next person was Steve Phillips. He generally does a great job of saying things that leave normal baseball fans just stunned. Well he did it again yesterday. Phillips, as we all remember is all about winning right now. This very second. His long-term plans are the equivalent to most people's short term plans. His proposal to get the Washington Nationals to the playoffs is to trade Strasburg for Oswalt.

Thats right, Strasburg for Oswalt.

The Nationals are sitting on a wealth of prospects right now, and there is one player who is generating revenue and attention(ticket sales, minor league sales, jersey sales, TV time, National coverage…the list of intangibles, companies, and other teams that are profiting from Strasburg just goes on and on). While I generally do not buy into rookies making impacts immediatley, the minor league stats are are point Strasburg in that direction. This trade, would be really unthinkable.

If that part doesn't get you, consider the money arguement. The Nationals have Strasburg now for 6 years. Thats incredible! Oswalt is due 31 million between this season and next season.

Another if. If the Nationals really wanted Oswalt, there are other pitchers and hitters that they could (although they probably shouldn't) cut ties with.

Moral of the story. 1) Phillips is not ready to be a GM again. 2) Don't even read an article talking about Phillips. 3) I really should get my head checked because I care this much about this topic.

The Daily News had its priorities straight as they made sure to feature the Mets on the back page instead of NY/NJ getting the Superbowl in 2010 (of course the front cover featured the Superbowl). Anyway, here's the back page:

(NY Daily News)

The New York Post on the hand featured the Super Bowl on the back and the front, however, the front made me chuckle, so here are those covers as well:

(NY Post)

Some quick hits to go with your Wednesday morning Chocolate Chip Bagels:

The Mets took two of three from the Yankees, and three of their last four to get to the Phillies. Last time these two teams met, the Mets just took over first place in the division and the Phillies were floundering. Then the Phillies took two of three from the Mets and since then, the Phillies have been amazing, while the Mets have not. Also since then, the Mets have gone through a series of controversies, and the Phillies have accused the Mets (for really no reason) of cheating. This series means something now. Well, it always meant something. But now its beyond just beating the Phillies because they are in our division, but they called out the Mets character and now its time to strike back on the diamond.

R.A. Dickey will get the nod over Valdes tonight. The Mets are hoping that not only does he replicate his last start (6 innings, 2 ER) but that he also replicates what Tim Wakefield, a friend of his, did the Phils this weekend (8.0 innings, 5 H, 0 ER). Dickey hasn't seen many of the current Phillies since he spent a lot of time in the American League, but there are a few batters who are slightly familiar to familiar to our starter tonight:

The Phillies will try to tame the recently hitting Mets lineup with Jamie Moyer. Moyer was the opposing pitcher during the Santana game a few weeks ago. Any other Santana outing, Moyer would have been stuck with the loss as he allowed 5 ER and 6 hits over 6.0 innings, including two homers. On the season he is 5-3 with a 4.30 ERA. When the Mets last saw him, he was really struggling (his ERA was 5.70 after that game) but two of his last three starts have been very good including a complete game shutout. The Mets have been able to put these numbers on Moyer over the years:

Lets Go Mets! Beat The Phils!

*21/50 is not only Wright's average against Moyer, it was also the average score on the Quantum Mechanics final I took about two weeks ago. I'm not sure what that says about the final or about David Wright, but it was interesting to see that number pop up again in my life.

The Mets are a team right now that are at the cusp of a turn around but they are also battling a controversy, another controversy, yet another controversy and finally another controversy. They have received three straight games of good starting pitching and they also have a lineup that might be heating up. However, just in case they need it, they have something to bond over.

Do you remember that? It wasn't too long ago fellows. As pointed out by Metstradamus today (where I have copied the entire quote above from), this is something that cannot stand. Metstradamus says that retaliation has to happen, and I agree. He cites the whole incident in 2007 with Reyes' one finger in the air, and how the Phillies used that as bullitan board material. He talks about how this must be a bigger deal than that. Once again, I agree.

Look it has been said many times this season that Baseball needs the Mets to be good so that this rivalry means something. Well thanks to Charlie, the Mets do not need to be good for this rivalry to mean something.

(If you thing Strawberry came on strong about the Mets being in last place and how they are better than that, then well this is going to appear a lot stronger)

Mets players, Charlie here has gone beyond just normal teasing and playing that goes on between teams. He has called you out, NOT rightfully so, as cheaters. Thats right, he is challenging your integrity of playing this game. Why? Because his team was basically CAUGHT cheating. Instead of claiming innocence, or accepting, he has deflected that to you, the New York Mets, because you guys win games at home. There is no evidence of you cheating. So what are you going to do about it? This is the time to make a stand against the Phillies and well, their cheating ways. Play with grit tonight, tomorrow, and the next day and show them that you play the game justly and you play it with justice. Beat the Phillies. Not just because they are in first place, not just because they are divisional and geographical rivals but because they have challenged your respect for the game of baseball and your character as individuals.

Side Note: Please check out the article at Metstradamus. He talks about this issue to, and the importance of retaliating for the words that Charlie spewed.

Some quick hits to go with your Tuesday Morning Cheese Danish:

Based on how the Empire State Building was let for the start of the Subway Series, this seems to be a pretty good prediction of what it will look like tonight in celebration of the New York Mets:

(NJ.com)

(Don't expect it to say Mets, I couldn't find an image without that). Anyway this isn't the first time that the Empire State building was lit up in this color pattern.  In cased you missed it, this what the Empire State building looked like during the series:

(New York Times)

The first time that this was done was also the first time the lighting of the building featured a split deck in such a fashion as displayed above.

In a season that seems to have different turning points at every few weeks (for example the Ike Davis Debut and then the back to back disastrous losses to the Phillies) the Mets may have reached another turning point to the season last night.

Last night's game marked the first time in the season that the Mets have won the rubber match in a series. It also marks the third night in a row that the Mets recieved good starting pitching. Jason Bay had a tremedous night at the plate, also hitting two homers, tripling his season numbers. After dropping a game decided by one run, the Mets have cashed in on back to back save opportunities.

All of this has been done with a lot of pressure, controversy and problems with this team. 3/5 of the starting rotation is out now either due to injury or incompetence. Castillo could be injured. Jerry's job comes in and out of good standing. Maine has talked back. Is Wright striking out too much (despite his good power numbers and great RBI numbers)?

The main question being proposed here is if this is another turning point to the season. The answer will come starting on Tuesday. The Mets will send out Dickey (or maybe Valdes) against the Phillies, as the Mets injured rotation will try to battle through against the fighting Phillies. If the Mets can take this series, then they could be on there way again of making a run. Two of three games would put the Mets right back at .500 for the season.

Side Note: Santana has a 3.41 ERA on the year over 63.1 innings. However if you take out the start against the Phillies, well those numbers dive to be around 2.11 ERA. Nice.

The Empire State Building will not have any white on it tonight! With the Mets win last night, they took the first three game set of the 2010 Subway Series thus also taking the colors of the Empire State Building. Oh, and the New York Papers had something to say about it:

(NY Post)

(NY Daily News)