213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and the Reds play game two tonight as the Mets will turn to John Maine to stop the three game slide. Maine (1-1, 7.15 ERA) started to show some life in his last start as he went 6.0 innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned and striking out 9. He said that it was the wind that was giving his fastball some movement. Hopefully, he was being modest and he realizes that his talent had a lot to do with the movement on his pitches. The last time he faced the Reds was in 2008 where he allowed 5 ER over 4.2 innings. The Reds over time have these numbers on the Maine event:

The Mets batters will have to face Arroyo (1-2, 6.37 ERA) tonight. With the exception of his first start and his last start, Arroyo has struggled this season.  Last season Arroyo was effective against the Mets as he was 2-0 in as many games over 15.0 innings pitched with a 3.00 ERA. The Mets over time have been able to put up these numbers on Arroyo:

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Reds!

Last year all of the buzz was around starting pitcher Strasburg and this year the buzz should be around Bryce Harper. Harper first appeared in the National spotlight when he was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and was also called the Lebron James of baseball.  His numbers in high school were amazing and he decided to drop out of high school as a 16 year old, play in college for one year so he can be in the baseball draft one year earlier (and so he can face some tougher competition).

Harper is a left handed pitcher, but if drafted, will probably be used for his hitting abilities. He also plays catcher well and also plays the hot corner. It is important to note that once going to college, Harper has only recording an inning as a pitcher. People still reference him as a pitcher because of his ability to throw 96 mph heat.

Lets take a look at his statistics:

The question of course is whether he can do this is in the major leagues, and the can only be answered after he is drafted. It is going to take a big contract to sign him, so that might make some teams shy away. If the Nationals try, then they will have two of the most interesting prospects in their system. For the Mets, he could fall into their lap with the #5 pick. If that is the situation, unless there is a really good pitcher on the board, I think the Mets will have to roll the dice and take a risk with Harper.

Sports Illustrated Cover

All stats are from either the Wikipedia Page on Harper or his College website.

Some quick hits to go with your Tuesday morning Powdered Doughnut:

The Mets start another road season tonight as they go to Ohio to play the Reds. The Mets are fresh off two consecutive losses, and because symmetry is fun, the Reds are also coming off of two consecutive losses. Both the Mets and the Reds are coming off of series with a playoff contender (the Reds facing St. Louis) so both teams are looking to make a statement tonight.

The Mets tonight will send out Perez who was not effecitive in his last start going only 3.2 innings and allowing 3 ER. He just couldn't find himself out there, and hopefully he will be able to tonight. He is 0-2 on the season in 20.2 innings over 4 games with an ERA of 4.35. Last season he had an abysmal start against the Reds lasting only 4.1 innings and allowing 8 ER. The Reds over time have accumulated these numbers against Ollie:

The Mets bats will get another rookie tonight as they will face 22-year old Mike Leake. Leak is 2-0 over 4 games with a 3.25 this seaosn, and has been impressive. So far this seasons lefties are hitting .222 off of him and righties are having a lot more success at .264. Despite having a batting average 40 points lower, lefties have hit 2 homers off of Leake while righties have 0. The Mets bats in the past few games, with the exception of Saturday, have started to come around again as Wright and Barajas have flashed power. Reyes on the other hand is still figuring things out, and he has been public about being disapointed with his batting average. If he can turn things around, then hopefull the Mets bats can give Leake a rought night. Lets Go Mets!

A lot has happened in the last 3+ years since this site has gone online. In terms of website content, there have been a few articles that reoccur on a regular basis. These articles include Game Previews, Get To Know A Prospect and the newly added Mets Breakfast. One thing that hasn't happened is a major update to the way this website looks and feels. I am the start of a 4-6 week process (similar to Beltran's rehab time) of fixing up the look of this website. The basic structure of the website will stay the same, but its going to look a lot more appealing. I want to keep it a surprise though, so I'll give you a teaser of an image that will be incorporated in different ways on the website.

Get ready, the new logos are coming. I have finished 4 of an estimated 65-70 that I will need to re-make the website, and they look great. If you want to start seeing the logos before I release them here, you are going to have to become a fan of the website on Facebook, which you can do by clicking on the facebook link on the right side of the page.

Some quick hits to go with your Monday morning Pumpkin Juice*:

*Thank you to Logan Anbinder for today's breakfast food. Logan informed me that yesterday was Harry Potter Status day on facebook, and suggested a Harry Potter breakfast food. If you have a suggestion that matches a celebration or a holiday, please contact me at eteich@umd.edu.

The Mets took the loss in yesterday's game and look to take the rubber game tonight against the Phillies. In many ways, this is an important game tonight as the Mets now an opportunity to show that their 8 game winning streak was the real deal. A win tonight can send “shockwaves” through the division stating the Mets are an early contender. In order to do this tonight, the Mets will turn to the ace of the staff in Johan Santana to shut down the Phillies. The Phillies will counter with Jamie Moyer, meaning that if you watch the game on ESPN tonight (rather than tuning into WFAN), you will probably hear someone on that ESPN staff mention about 587 times how old Jamie Moyer is.

Sanata (3-1) will take his 2.08 ERA into Philly tonight to quiet the bats of Philly who were struggling until yesterday when they exploded and allowed 10 wins. Last season against the Phillies, Santana was 2-1 over 21.0 innings in 3 games pitched with a 3.00 ERA. During that time he struck out 15 while only walking 6. The Phillies have been able to put these numbers up on Santana over the years:

Jamie Moyer (2-2) brings his 5.25 ERA against the Mets tonight. Last season, Moyer faced the Mets 5 times (1-1) over 27.1 innings and had a 6.91 ERA which means he allowed 21 earned runs. Over Moyer's long career, the Mets have put these numbers up on Jamie:

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Phils!

Some quick hits to go with your Sunday Morning bowl of Lucky Charms:

The Mets and Phillies play game two today on National Television as the Mets will get their first taste of Halladay today. Last night's game featured some excellent Mets pitching, defense and hitting, as they routed the Phillies. The Mets will counter today by sending Mike Pelfrey to the mound (4-0, 26.0 IP, 0.69 ERA). Pelfrey has been very confident so far this season and will hopefully bring that attitude into Philly this afternoon. He has been quoted saying that he is excited to face Halladay today because facing better pitchers makes him a better pitcher. Last year, Pelfrey faced Philly a lot, 5 games, where he had a 3-0 record, but also had a 5.03 ERA over 30.1 innings. The key for Pelfrey today will be keeping the ball on the ground. As Kendrick found out yesterday, CBP combined with this warm weather can make every fly ball dangerous. Anyway, here are the numbers the Phillies have on Pelfrey:

On the other side of the rubber, Halladay will be looking to continue his strong run so far this season (4-1, 40 IP, 1.80 ERA). His last outing was his first on the season, so he will be looking to rebound from that. He hasn't faced the Mets for a good amount of time but there have been Mets who have been on other teams who have faced him, and they have these numbers on him:

On top of those batting stats, the Mets do have Barajas who caught Halladay in 32 games and 235.0 innings last year (or in other words, he caught him every inning he pitched last season with the exception of 4). I'm not sure what that means for today, but hopefully he has some good knowledge to share with the Mets hitters. Lets Go Mets!

Note: I write this article a day after I just wrote an article about not reading too much into events. I see the hypocritical nature in this article however I want to establish that this article is just proposing a thought, a what if scenario, and then extrapolating it. I don't want to this to be confused an article where my arguments are being offered as fact and as a definite conclusion.

In the second inning in last night's game, Francoeur made an incredible catch. It was then followed later by another fantastic catch, this time by Jason Bay. Both of these catches saved runs and made what could have been a big inning for Philly turn into just one run. It kept the game as a Mets dominated ball game. From the pitching side, Niese went back to the dugout after that inning with only 1 run 2 innings of work and then turned out another 5 great innings.

What if those catches don't happen?

If those catches don't happen, Niese lets up more runs in the inning. Then we have to see how Niese responds that later in the game. The Mets bats feel more pressure and maybe they don't hit after that inning. These catches are a turning point in last night's game.

However, lets consider the rest of the season. What if these catches actually have an effect on the rest of the season. What if this start is the start that starts Niese on an incredible run. This was of course the first time he really played in a hostile environment. This start gave him that crucial winning experience in high pressure. It is the game that will be quoted for him for the rest of the season as something to look back to.

And if Bay and Francoeur don't make those catches, all of this changes. Now, obvisously and I can't make any real predictions of what would happen if they don't make those catches because thats another time line, another universe*. But, we are in this universe where those to OF made those catches, Niese pitched a fantastic game where he was able to use his talent to crush the Phillies. I'm glad to be living in this universe.

*For more on altnerate universes where time is used to explain further dimensions rather than the general use of space, please watch check out these two videos.