213 Miles From Shea

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.

If you told me the leader of the Mets in homers at the end of April would Rod Barajas, I would have laughed. Here are some back pages:

(NY Daily News)

(NY Post)

Some quick hits to go with your Saturday morning onion bagel:

The Mets won their 8th straight game tonight as they took the opener from the Phillies and it was a good game all the way around. In terms of pitching, Niese was on tonight. He was making pitchers, retiring batters and fooling the Phils by mixing his pitches. His only bad inning was the second inning where he allowed 1 run, but thanks to some great defense by Francoeur and Bay, he was able to get out of the inning. He built on that help by then keeping the Phils scoreless through 7 innings where then Mejia got a chance followed by Manny.

When you win a game 9-1, the bats had to be something special, and they were. This game saw Wright, Francoeur, and Barajas (twice) all go deep. Pagan also showed signs of life as he had a 2 RBI triple, a double and a single. The Mets offense has now scored 26 runs over their last three games and what was a weakness at the start of this streak is now back to being a strength.

There was a moment in the game where Francoeur got drilled in his forearm by Baez. (He has an elbow bruise). Mejia got out there in the 8th and plunked Utley. It is unclear whether that was intentional or not but I'm just gonna say this: that was the second consecutive inside pitch he threw. The Mets are playing as a team, and part of that is retaliating after players get HBP.

Tomorrow's game should be a good one as Pelfrey gets to take on the Doctor. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets start their first series against Philly this season in Philly as the first place team in the National League East. The game is already starting to catch some press in New York as both the News and Post featured this game on their back pages this morning. The Mets will be sending out Niese to the mound to face Kendrick in tonight's opener.

Niese is 0-1 on the season with a 3.68 ERA over 22.0 innings pitched. This is will be an interesting game for Niese as he has never faced the Phillies in his career. Not only has he never faced the Phillies, he has never faced any batters on the Phillies. Looking back through the teams on the road he has played over his career, it looks like has not played in a hostile environment either (but lets be honest, as hostile environments go, very few places compare the Philly).

The Mets will try to contend with Kendrick tonight who has no decisions on the season yet over 4 games with a 7.71 ERA. In his four starts this year, he had one gem where he went 8.0 innings and allowed 0 runs (against Atlanta) but he didn't build off of that start as in his next start he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings pitched. In 2009 he faced the Mets once and picked up the win in 7 innings of work allowing only 2 runs. Anyway the Mets have these stats against Kendrick over his career:

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Phils!

Last week Jayson Stark wrote this article where he talks about teams that were off to cold starts (and some off to hot starts). At the time the Mets were 6-9 and last in the NL East. He mentions a scout in the article who states that baseball needs the Mets to be good so that rivalry against the Phillies mean something. Well about week later the Mets are in first place and are facing Philly in a series that will determine first place in the division (as much as a series at the start of May can do that).

The scout brings up some points but I want to flip one of the points. Stark talks about how the only people that are talking about the Mets being good are the Mets. I am so glad to hear that. This relays right back to that chemistry on the team. Looking back on this past homestand the Mets have played like they believed they were meant to win all of those games. The results have been great. A champion style attitude really reflects on how a team puts together a game plan and how that team implements it over all 9 innings. The starters have all turned it around and although they haven't really gone too deep in games yet, they are starting to keep the Mets in games.

Although as fans we would probably perfer the bats to score early and often, the fact that they keep surfacing late in games shows fight. This was true during the losing part of the season as well. the Mets were keeping games close with offense that would kick, scratch and fight back trying to get on top. In the last few games, the bats have started to a little earlier while taking advantage of opponents miscues. These small demoralizing actions against opponents leads to the current winning streak.

At this point of the season the Mets haven't proved themselves yet as good. But they also have shown that they aren't bad either (which is what the media was saying before this week). They have potential to go either way. At the end of the day, they are an exciting team to watch because of their attitude and chemistry. They look like they are having fun out there and at the same time, they look like they are doing their business, just going to work. This weekend will be important for the Mets, but in no way will it be the end all be all conclusion of what type of team the Mets are.*

* This point is important to make,but not to Mets fans. Mets fans, and probably most fans for the most part understand how long Baseball is, and how to April/May in perspective. The National Media coverage tends to gravitate to extremes, saying how starts show a team is really good or terrible. Which makes sense, its the media and that is their job, right?

You know things are changing in Metsville when the back pages focus on Mets to feature games that haven't been played yet. The Mets even got the famous NY Daily News cartoon treatment this morning.

(NY Post)

(NY Daily News)

Get excited folks.

Some quick hits to go with your Friday morning glazed doughnut:

(NY Post)

(NY Daily News)