213 Miles From Shea

The Mets played a convincing game against a struggling club tonight as they beat the Nationals 8-2. Scoring wise, the Nats got out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but the Mets responded back in bottom of the second with a solo homer by Francoeur. Then in the 4th, Barajas hit a solo shot, and then he hit another one in the 6th. At that point the Mets had the 3-2 lead. Then the Mets opened up the gates as they put up a three spot in the seventh (thanks to Francoeur) and then 2 more in 8th. Thanks to the four homers in today's game, the Mets now have 5 homers in 4 games, at this point last year, the Mets had only had 3 homers.

While the hitting will get most of the attention tonight, the Pitching deserves some attention as well. Pelfrey was effective in his first game as he allowed only 2 runs over 6 while walking 4 and striking out 4. The Mets needed him to have a quality start and he delivered. Before today, the idea of only have Santana in the rotation was really weighing on the “Shea” faithful.

The rest of the bullpen also performed well. Takahashi pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout to get the hold. Then Nieve pitched scoreless hitless inning with a walk and strikeout. Finally Mejia had a real good looking inning (3 up 3 down) to close the game. All around it was a good game and thats what the Mets needed tonight.

Quick Notes:

The 1-2 Nationals take on the 1-2 Mets tonight. The Nationals got their first win of the season yesterday after getting blown out the first two games this season against Philly. Yesterday they had a convincing lead until the Phillies roared back. The Nats won yesterday thanks to a bloop double from Zimmerman off of Figueroa.

Pelfrey will get the start for the Amazin's as he looks to rebound from last season's campaign. In 2009 he was 10-12 over 184.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA. Against the Nationals last season he was 1-2 over 4 games and 26.2 innings with a 4.05 ERA (6 BB, 9 K). The Nationals have been able to get a lot of hits off of Big Pelf (career wise):

Overall, those numbers look pretty grim. There are three keys for Pelfrey in this game (and yes, they are very general, but very important). 1) Keep runners off the bases. 2) Keep the Ball in the Park. 3) If he gets into trouble, he needs to be able to stop the bleeding.

The Mets will face Mock in tonight's game. Last year Mock had a 3-10 record over 91.1 innings and had a 5.62 ERA. Against the Mets, Mock was 0-1 over two games (one start) last season pitching 8 innings and allowing 4 runs. The Mets have been able to put up these numbers on Mock over the years:

The Mets offense really clicked in the first game of the season. In the second game, the offense was able to get on base and score runs, but it didn't feel as productive as the first game did. Last night, the Mets offense did very little (1 runs, 7 hits, 0 walks). Tonight they need to come back to life and score some runs on this Nationals pitching staff that gave up a lot of runs to the Phillies over the last three games. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Nationals!

Jose Reyes is expected to return to the lineup this Saturday. That should brighten your day.

The past two games have been very important to the Mets. Two days ago, they showed they have fight. Last night, they showed that they have a young pitcher who could be very effective. Niese wasn't stellar last night, but he showed poise, and technically had a quality start. The Mets were victim last night to another pitcher who was really on his game, which is why they lost. Let's go back to Niese, he pitched 6 innings allowed 3 runs, walked 2, allowed 8 hits and struck out 3. The main problem is that he gave up a lot of hits, but when you think about it, between 8 hits and 2 walks, he only gave up 3 runs. That's pretty good.

Another positive sign from last night was both Igarashi and Takahashi had nearly perfect innings (they each walked one batter). If the team's pitching overall performs like this, then good things will happen for this team.

As stated earlier, the downside to the game was the lack of production at the plate. The Mets were able to get 7 hits, but didn't walk at all and ultimately scored only one run. However there were a few positives, like Francoeur. Francoeur has been impressive this season. Through three games he has .400 BA, 2 doubles, 3 RBI and has walked twice (which is truly amazing). Pagan also had a nice 2-4 night, showing that he really should be the everyday CF until Beltran returns to the lineup.

Next up for the Amazin's is a three game set at home with the Nationals. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets took the opener. The Marlins took the second game. Now we are at the end of the first series of the season. A win here takes the series, and a winning record. For the Mets today, a lot is riding on young Niese. Niese beat out Nieve, Figueroa, Misch, and Takahashi for the final spot in the rotation. He will be pitching against Nate Robertson, who was acquired by the Marlins from the Tigers this offseason.

Niese has never faced the Marlins in his career and has never faced any batters that are on the Marlins team. To them, he is a mystery. This past Spring he pitched 19.1 innings with an ERA above 6.50, but was good his 17 strikeouts. Last season Niese pitched 5 games with a 1-1 record over 25.2 innings and a 4.21 ERA. He pitched 4 of those games at home where he had a 5.30 ERA and he had an excellent game on the road where he allowed 1 run over 7 innings. With the amount that the Mets used their bullpen last night, it would be great if Niese could go deep into this game.

Robertson is having a coming home of sorts with the Marlins this year. He debuted with them in 2004 and then since then has been a member of the Detroit Tigers. Last season he went 2-3 over 49.2 innings pitched with a 5.44 ERA In 2008 his record was 7-11 over 168.2 innings with a 6.35 ERA. The only Mets players who faced him were players that have been in the AL recently, and these are their career numbers against Robertson:

This should be an interesting game tonight. On one side of the mound there is young, promising Niese, trying to rebound after being injured last year. On the other side, Robertson is trying to get his carear back on track. Lets go Mets! Take the series!

CNN featured an article yesterday asking if Americans are taking fast food too far. The focus was about the Double Down from KFC, but also featured some Minor League food as well. I've been collecting some images for an article about food in the Minors, and although I do not have a lot at this time, I want to share what I have found. With playover turnover in the minors, the draw cannot be about the players, the draw to the ballpark is the sport itself, and then whatever the team can do to make the game more interesting. The marketing team often turns to crazy food ideas. A great example of this thought process comes from Toledo. Every year they show off their new food for the upcoming season, and this year they have some crazy ideas.

(From Toledo's Site)

The above costs $25 and includes 15 scoops of ice cream and an actual batting helmet. It comes with a ton of toppings and as CNN puts it, can be enjoyed by one person or up to 8. This is actually a great value when you think about it A family of, well up to 8, can all enjoy ice cream at a ballpark, for $25 and then get a helmet out of it. For ball park food, thats a good price.

(From Toledo's site)

I had to post this picture, because that just looks awesome.

The next two food items were both featured on a Man vs Food episode where the show went around to the minors. The first item, a Krispy Kreme Burger, is actually popular at a lot of ballparks.

That is a tasty burger. But is nothing like the next burger:

This Burger is huge and has nachos on it.

Do you know of any great minor league food? If so please send me an email at eteich@umd.edu!

Yesterday was a long, sometimes frustrating, important game for the Mets. I want to preface with, when you look at the stats, in reality the Mets never really “deserved” (I really hate this expression) to win the game. the Marlins were all over the ball early and the Mets were able to take advantage late of self-destructing bullpen. That being said, I want to start with an overwhelmingly postive aspect of this game. The Mets showed a lot of fight last night. They were down 5 runs, and normally when you are down by that many, you tend to be impatient at the plate. The Mets showed patience, took a lot of 0-2 counts out to 3-2 counts, and collected a good amount of walks. This fight wasn't reflected in the win column, but it is important to remember for the rest of the season.

The main problem with the game last night was the starting pitching. Maine did not have the start that we were all hoping for as he struggled out of the gate. It is frustrating, but it is also game 2 out of 162, which is why I'm not rioting, yet.

Other notes about the game last night:

The Mets play their first evening game of season as they take on the Marlins in Citi Field at 7:10. The Mets are coming off of an Opening Day where pretty much everything was working. The lineup was able to score runs. The starting pitcher was more than effective. The bullpen was a relief. Anyway, the Mets will see the reality of a major off-season topic tonight; can the rest of the rotation pitch effecitively? It will be the Maine event on the mound as John will take on Nolasco for the Marlins.

Maine only pitched 81 innings last season, but he racked up a 7-6 record and a 4.43 ERA. Oddly, during that short amount of time, he faced the Marlins four times with a 2-1 record over 21.2 innings, with 17 strikeouts and a 3.74 ERA. During Maine's entire carear, the Fish have been able to put up these numbers:

Overall on Monday, the Mets pitching staff was able to keep the Marlins contained. If the Mets pitchers can do the same thing again tonight (keep the ball in the park) and if the Mets defense can be effective again, then from this side of the ball, the game should be pretty smooth.

Nolasco is coming off of a disapointing season. Last year he could not replicate the success he had in 2008. At the end of 2009 his line read 13-9, 5.06 ERA over 185.0 innings pitched. He faced the Mets four times last year and had a 1-1 record over 23.1 innings with a 5.40 ERA. The Mets were able to cause the following damage:

The Mets were able to score runs yesterday thanks to their ability to take advantage of mistakes. That's a great theme for this season. Capitalize on other's mistakes because they will (inevitably) do the same to us. Lets go Mets! Fry the fish and take this Opening Season!

Reyes took a big step to coming back to Flushing yesterday as he played a full game in an extended Spring Training Game. At the plate he went 2-5 (both singles). The word on the street is that he is running hard and playing hard. The question now is when does he come back. He is eligible to come off the DL on Saturday, but the brass were pushing for a 4/13 comeback date.

Personally, I think if he can come back Saturday or Sunday that would be best. I know its the beginning of the season but I would rather have Reyes' first game be against the Nationals instead of the Rockies.

On to Big Papi. The Daily News (specifically Matt Gagne) is reporting that after yesterday's Red Sox vs Yankees game, and Boston reporter asked the following question: “Are you afraid people will start to worry that you're off to a slow start like last year?”. This was the response by David Ortiz:

I work a lot with numbers in a given day (my studies are in Physics and Astrophysics) so when talking baseball stats in the beginning of the season, my friends and I like to predict how the media will react with Opening Day numbers taken over the whole season (the entire point to be tongue in cheek about how the media always mishandles statistics. Actually side note: In a political poll, if the change (like an approval rating) is less than the error, then there is no change! Not statistically significant!). Anyway, here are the numbers that some players should expect after one game:

This of course assumes for position players that they will play every game this season. Like I said, this is just for fun, and probably a waste of time.

If you go to the Stats page on MLB.com today, you will be greeted with 51 players being tied in first place for ERA with 0.00.