213 Miles From Shea

The Mets try to get back on the right track tonight as they return to the comforts of home and Citi Field for another homestand, starting off with the Marlins. The Marlins have really had the Mets number this year as they beat them at home in April and then swept them in a four game series in May. In the division, the Marlins right now stand a half a game ahead of the Mets and as we all know, in order to win a division, you need to beat the division.

The Mets will try to take their first step in the right direction relying on the unpredictable knuckleball of R.A. Dickey, who has been nothing but good news for the Mets since he has come up. In his first three starts he is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA over 19.0 innings. He has had very limited exposure to the current Marlins lineup, and these are the numbers that those batters have against him:

On the other side of the rubber will be Sanchez (5-2, 2.89) who pitched very well agaisnt the Mets earlier this season (7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER). In his last three games Sanchez has been dominent posting 3 wins (decision wins) with a 0.90 ERA. The Mets have these numbers against Sanchez over his career:

Lets Go Mets!

We are only days away from the draft, so its time to look at some of the players that could be donning a Mets uniform soon. The Mets, as you probably have heard a million times now, have the 7th draft pick, so they can pick a player that has the potential to be a star. The only news to officially come out of the Mets front office is that Minaya says the Mets have the money to spend over their draft slot and take the player with the best available player (for example, in the bizzaro world chance that the first 6 teams pass on Harper, the Mets will probably pick him up).

Heyman of Sports Illustrated said that the Mets like Matt Harvey very much, so he seems like a good player to start looking at. Havey, the 6 foot 4 inch tall right handed pitcher comes out of UNC. Harvey was drafted 118 overall in the third round of the 2007 draft by the Angels but elected to College instead. He was a star high school pitcher who in his senior year for Fitch high school had a 0.64 ERA over 54.2 innings pitched. Baseball America in Feburary of 2007 named Harvey the #1 High School Prospect. A full description of his accolades can be found here.

He continued his success in college. While he his numbers do not look fantastic in 2009, his strikeout numbers have stayed fairly consistent throughout his time in college. Also an interesting numer is his K/BB ratio. The below are Matt Harvey's stats from College. This was posted on Amazin Avenue during their Harvey profile. As you can see, the ratio stayed fairly consitent (slightly better in 09) from 2008 to 2009, however, it got a lot better this past year, and its nearly 3 to 1.

Now time to go beyond the numbers (thanks to mlb.com). Harvey has a fastball that ranges between 96 and 97 mph and they report that there is some decent movement to it. He has three offspeed pitches that he mixes (Curveball, Slider, Changeup). According the report he has a feel for this pitches. The slider is new for him, the curveball was his out pitch in high school, but now he likes to use the silder more often instead. He still has a high draft stock because his problems that derailed him in 2009 have probably been corrected. He had some delivery issues, which if there are any lingering issues left would be his main weakness. However, he looks to be a good draft option for the Mets.

In a series that is a bit overkill, but exciting (because I love to share my overzealous love of baseball marketing schemes) we now look into the more interesting promotions in the month of June for Mets Minor League Teams:

Buffalo Bisons:

B-Mets: Nothing too interesting

St. Lucie Mets:

Savannah: Nothing too interesting as well

Brooklyn: They start in the middle of June, but they have some amazing promotions coming in June and really all season long. Just about everyone of them across the entire season will eventually be listed on this site, like the Upside Down Ike Davis bobble head they just announced for late August.. Anyway here are the June promotions.

June 19th: 10th Season Plaques. Beautiful.

June 24th: Home Replica Jersey!

Some quick hits to go with your Friday morning Strawberry Toaster Strudel:

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.