213 Miles From Shea

With Shea winding down, I thought I would share my favorite memory at the Shea. For a while, I didn't know if I would share this story, because its very personal, but I decided that I should share it, or at least write it down. If you have read this blog for a while now, you have probably caught on that I grew up outside of Baltimore City and now live outside of Washington DC. So how am I am Mets fan? Well my entire family is from the New York and North Jersey area, so it became the bloodlines of the family, especially on my Mom's side to be a Mets fan and a big part of it was my older cousin, David.

I wasn't always into sports but my cousin David is a huge reason why I am today. He was the biggest sports fan in the family and he would always talk to me about the Mets, and eventually got me my first Mets Jersey (Mike Piazza). The first time I went to Shea was with my cousin David (and my Mom, Dad, etc) and it was a really great day (Mets lost 10-2, but still it was a day I will never forget).

David passed alway in early November 2006 from a rare disease that he was battling for a very long time, he was sick with it the first time I went to Shea. It was a huge loss, and it really can't be expressed in words how much he meant to the entire family and myself. I don't have any siblings, and he was my big brother. Whenever I have been to Shea since then, I have a ton of memories of that day, and many days I have shared with him, that rush back to me. So for me, Shea is a place where I have connected some of the most important things in my life, to one physical location.

I still think about David every day, and while I'm happy to see a new ballfield open up across the street, I will be sad to see Shea close. I was only able to go there once with David, but it was one of the best days of my life. If he was alive today, he would be excited about Citi, as he always talked about how horrible of a stadium physically Shea is, but with all of the great memories there, that everyone has, every Mets fan, it really is a special place.

The Mets start up their last regular season series tonight at Shea Stadium against the Marlins, who want to play spoiler. Tonight will pit Pelfrey against Volstad. Like I said early today, this is the start of the Pre-Post Season 2008. With the emotions riding high for the last series at Shea and the postseason hopes, this will the be the first of several games that we will remember for a while.

Pelfrey is trying to be the second pitcher on the Mets staff to reach 200 innings pitched in the regular season. He is 12-1- with a 3.70 ERA and on the season he has 194.2 innings pitched. Over his last five he is 0-2, has pitched 31.2 innings and has a 3.69 ERA. He has struggled against the Marlins this year (4 G, 0-3, 19.1 innings pitched, 7.91 ERA) but in his last start agaisnt them, he was able to push all of that out of his head and pitched 6.2 innings, allow 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 BB and 5 K. Here are their stats against him:
     Ramierez 2-20, HR
     Jacobs 7-17, 3 2B
     Uggla 7-16, 4 2B
     Hermida 3-11, 3B, 4 BB
He has to control them. he was able to do it last time, he just has to do it again. We have seen Pelfrey grow this year, and now it is time to see if he can step it up in a big game.

On the Marlins' side of the rubber, they have Volstad, 5-4 starting and making his 14 appearence (13 starts) over 78.1 IP and 3.10 ERA. In his last five games he has been very good with a 1-1 record over 28.1 innings ptiched and a 2.54 ERA. In one start against the Mets this year, he went 6.1 innings, allowed one run, allowed 3 walks and struck out 5. The Marlins would eventually lose that ballgame. Here are some limited Mets numbers against him, because this is Volstad's rookie season:
     Beltran 1-2, RBI
     Castillo 1-3
     Reyes 1-3
     Wright 1-3
The Mets have to build off of last night, as the Daily News said it, they had a “Never Shea Die” attitude last night as when they had runners on and 2 outs, they got those 2 tieing runs across the plate. The fought back. Now they need to do that again tonight and keep winning. Lets Go Mets! Fry the Fish!

Baseball is a long season. It starts in April, this year at the end of March, and goes all the way to October just get a shot of playing another month to become World Champions. Each teams play 162 games to determine the 8 “best” teams. Well for three teams, the Phillies, the Brewers, and our New York Mets, there are two spots still open after 158 games and they all have a shot at getting those remaining playoff spots. You can almost say that this whole week has been like the playoffs for the Mets. The next three days are basically the playoffs, you really can't debate either way because if the Mets win out then they are at least guarenteed a one game playoff if everyone wins out.

The downside is that the Mets might have the hardest situation out of all teams. The Marlins are better than the Nationals, and the Marlins love to play spoiler. The Cubs are going to start resting up for the postseason. Now, I don't know how far that will go because Lou is not a lay down type of guy, but they more than likely will not play their hardest. So the Mets have to do this on their own again. Pelfrey is goin to have to be on target, Santana is going to have to be Santana. With Saturday, who knows either Niese are or Knight will have pull an amazin start out of the bag or it might be a bunch of pitchers doing that.

Its time. Its the Pre-Post Season 2008. Do you want momentum in the actualy Playoffs? Well this is where to get that momentum. Who will we play? Will we play? None of those questions can be answered until this weekend is played. Lets do this! Lets Go Mets!

After last nights, tough tough loss, the Mets will try to bounce back against the Cubs statistical ace on the staff, Rich Harden. Harden has been amazing this year, and is having an all around career year. The Mets are tied at the top of the Wild Card now so, believe it or not, we are just sharing the driver seat, now we just have to keep sharing and eventually we can kick the other driver out.

Harden, 10-2, has a 2.03 ERA this season. In his last five starts, he is 3-0, with a 1.50 ERA. He pitched a scoreless inning against the Mets last year and only a few Mets have ever seen them. Here are thstats of those who have:
     Delgado 1-7, HR
     Beltran 1-5
What we have to hope for in this situation is the Mets have so much energy from last night, border line anger, is that they come out and start scoring early and they don't look back. We don't know what we are going to get out Pedro anymore, so the offense is really gonna have to push hard.

Pedro has been terrible in his last five starts. He has lost three straight decisions and his ERA over the five games was 7.00. His season ERA at five and a half. We have to hope that the Ace inside of him awakens tonight, and that he can help keep the Mets pushing towards October.
      Soriano 7-43, 3 2B
      Johnson 4-20, 3B, HR
      Edmonds 3-13, HR
These numbers look good. Lets hope this is what we see tonight. Lets Go Mets! Keep pushing!

Last night was great because it was just what the Doctor ordered, a win with a great pitching performance. Last night was why the Mets got Santana and he really did a number on the Cubs via pitching and via hitting. At the end of the night, we saw Wright get a huge hit with the bases loaded, Reyes get his 200th hit of the season, and the Bullpen closing out the game (although it wasn't a clean inning pitched by far).

The importance of this go beyond the stats, and the personal achievements made by many players last night. The importance trickles all the way to the media. Have you looked at MLB.com today? The past week its had logos and graphs all over the place about how bad the Mets are and drawing simularities to the collaspe of 2007. Today? None of that, they had a picture of Reyes up there and they were talking about Santana's Thunder and Reyes Lightning. They were talking about the shrinking lead of the Phillies. What about ESPN? They switched their focus now to Maine, and how he might come back. They started talking about how the Mets should start to set up for the postseason. This is beyond frustrating because the Media literally just blows in the wind. Its not a new thing, they have been doing it for ages, but its just frustrating. Anyway, it felt good to wake up today and feel a weight lifted off because I no longer have to fear turing on the TV or going on to the web and see some gross misinterpretation of the Mets season blasted everywhere. Lets continue to show these guys up. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets play the third game in their tough series with the Cubs tonight as they take on their ace, Carlos Zamrbrano. Last night, the Mets snapped their 3 game losing streak, held on to their spot in the Wild Card and moved within 1.5 games of the Phillies, and only one back in the lost column. This season is going to be a wild ride down to the very end and it continues tonight.

Perez, 10-7, will take the ball for the Mets tonight. In his last time out, he was effective but still did not get the win. On the season he has thrown 184.1 innings and has an ERA of 4.10. In his last five, he is 1-0 with 29 innings pitched and has a 4.66 ERA. If you look at his last two games, he has no decisions but has a 3.46 ERA over 13 innings. His stats over the last five are inflated by a terrible start at Washington where he gave up 7 runs over 3.1 innigns pitched. Here is what the Cubs can do against him, historically:
    Lee 2-11, HR
    Ramirez 4-11
    Soriano 2-10
    DeRosa 3-6, 2 2B
Perez has been great at times, he has been bad at times and now we need him just like we needed Santana last night to help us get to the postseason. A great start by him will do the Mets a lto fo good so the bullpen can stay rested and only have to pitch when they have too.

Zambrano has been interesting over the last five games. On the season he is 14-7 (going into this game just like our Ace, Santana last night did), and has pitched 184 innings (just like Perez, who he is facing tonight), and has an ERA of 3.77 (a little worse than Pelfrey's). Why all these comparisons? Zambrano, a great pitcher, is not as scary as his persona makes him out to be. At times he is lights out, Cy Young type of pitcher, like when he faced the Mets earlier this year and allowed only one run over 7 innings, but at times he is very hittable. He is also unhittable, like his no hitter two starts ago. In his last five games he is 2-1 over 27 innings and has an ERA of 6.00. During that time he had a no hitter, but he also followed it up by lasting 1.2 innings and allowing 8 runs. Before his no hitter, he had a bad start too. So, while he has past experience agaisnt the Mets, the batters cannot be afraid of him, and need to charge him because they can hit him, they can score a lot of runs off of him. Here are some Mets stats against him:
     Delgado 4-16, HR
     Chavez 6-19, 2B, 3B, HR
     Beltran 1-13
     Castillo 6-12, 7 BB
     Wright 2-13
     Schnieder 4-13, 2 2B
The Mets can hit him. The Mets can't hit him. Thats the way the stats look all the way down the page. When you look at Zambrano's stats, he's great, he's not great, and it goes like that all the way down the page. The Mets can do this tonight. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!

The Mets will try to right the ship tonight by relying on their ace, Johan Santana. It should be an interesting matchup tonight as Santana and Marshall, starter for the Cubs, both have not faced their opponent since 2006. We all know that both teams have different lineups between now and then. Its a big night for the Mets as they need to hold onto the postseason.

Santana, 14-7, got the win his last time out and his 14th was a long time coming, as the bullpen continued to lose it after he would leave the game. On the season he has pitched 217.1 innings pitched and his season ERA is 2.65, his best in several years. In his last five games he is 2-0 and has 33.1 innings pitched. He has walked 11 and struck out 34 during that time his ERA is 2.70. In his start against the Cubs in 2006, he got the win in 8 innings, allowed one earned run on 5 hits, a walk and 6 K's. Here are the Cubs numbers against Santana:
     Reed Johnson 10-19, 2B, HR
     Soriano 0-6
     DeRosa 1-6
     Ramierez 0-4
The Mets need Santana more than ever tonight. Lets hope the offense can back him up.

Marshall, 3-4 has appeared in 31 games this year but has only been a starter in 6 of those games. He has pitched 59.2 innings and has a season ERA of 3.62. His starter record is 1-4 and his starter ERA is 4.24. He hasn't started since September 7th and his last 4 games and during that time he started 2 games. He was 0-1 over 13.2 innings and a 3.95 ERA during that time. In 2006 vs the Mets, his rookie season, he lasted 5.1 innings, allowed 5 earned, and 7 total runs. Here are some stats:
     Beltran 0-3
     Delgado 1-3
     Wright 1-3
Wright has been hitting well the last few days and he and the rest of the Mets offense will need to wake up and fight against the Cubs today because not only is this a possible NLDS preview, it is our road to the NLDS. We must win right now in order to make it to the NLDS. The time is now and the Mets still have their playoff destiny in their hands. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets kick off the final regular season homestand at Shea Stadium tonight as they take on the NL Central 2008 Champions, the Chicago Cubs. Emotions will be on a high this week between the the Wild Card and Division races as the Mets try to hold onto the postseason, the looming end of Shea Stadium is also near, and it is sure to be a week that will bring out memories of fond times at our once gray and now blue home. Tonight's matchup pits Jason Marquis against Jon Niese.

Marquis, 10-9, has a 4.39 ERA this year and has been good. He has been what he was expected to be for the Cubs. His past five starts he has been better than good with a 2-2 record and a 3.19 ERA while throwing 16 walks and 19 K's. He hasn't face the Mets this season but faced them twice last year with an 0-1 record, and 9 earned runs  over 10.1 innings (7.84 ERA). The Mets will hope to capitalize on their past success:
    Castillo 9-22, 2B, 3 BB
    Reyes 7-24
    Wright 6-20, HR
    Beltran 2-17, HR
    Delgado 5-9, 2B, HR
    Schneider 1-17
The trend suggests that the Mets in their past have been able to see the ball really well off of him, or don't have a clue on how to hit him. All the Mets have to do is buckle down, get those runs, and keep the pressure off of the bullpen.

Niese, off of an amazing start, will be taking the mound for the Mets again. His debut was very shaky, 3 innings, 7 hits, 5 ER, 4 BB and 2 K and it was against the Brewers. He got his nerves out and pitched 8 shutout innings, 6 hits, 2 BB, and 7 K's at Shea Stadium against the Braves last week. Lets hope the home field continues to help him out as he takes on the Braves tonight. Niese, if you are unfamiliar with him, is very young, 21, and throws a great curveball that really breaks. He will be facing one of the toughest, if not the toughest, lineups tonight, so it should be interesting to watch as he handles them. When he pitches, even in a pennant race, thoughts of next spring and next year go through the mind. What will his future bring? First, lets hope for a win against the Cubs. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets look to take the series and get back in the win column this afternoon as they will call on the Big Pelf to lead them as he has done this season. The Braves, playing spoiler, will ask Parr to stop the Mets mission today. Its time for the Mets to show the world their will power that we know they have.

Pelfrey, 13-10, has pitched 188.2 innings for the Amazin's this year and has an ERA of 3.67. His last loss was a tough one to take as he allowed only one run in 7 innings against the Nationals, and the Mets ended up losing 1-0. In his last five games he is 1-2 with 34.2 innings ptiched and a 2.86 ERA. Against Atlanta this year, he has 3 games and a 1-2 record, 18.1 innings pitched and an ERA of 6.87. This ERA dropped a lot after his last game against Atlanta. He used to have an ERA of 10+ in his first two starts against them this year but on August 20th he pitched a complete game and allowed only 3 runs. Here are their numbers against Pelf:
     McCann 6-15, 4 2B
     Francoeur 4-13
     Kotchman, Prado 0-6
     Johnson 3-12, HR
He can control this lineup, he showed us last time that he could. So if he does it again, he can put the Mets in the position to win. This is also a big start for him because potentially, between this start and his next, he could over 200 innings pitched this year. He really has grown a lot.

Parr, the pitcher for the Braves, is a new to the majors. He has had three starts so far this year and is 1-0 in 16.1 innings pitched and a 2.20 ERA. In his first two starts he allowed no runs over 6 innings in both games. Things got bad for him in his last start which was against Philly. They roughed him up for 4 runs over 4.1 innings but had a nice 10 hits against him. The Mets have to do damage against him as well. They had a real anemic offense last night after a great one on Friday night. If the offense is there, the Mets can win this. Lets Go Mets!

Why should these last couple of weeks be easy on the heart?

The Mets lost tonight as you probably already know and the Phillies won. The key thing is when we are a half game back, we are tied in the loss column, when the Phillies are a half game back, they are a full game back in the loss column. With that little fact, the Mets just have to win, because if they keep winning, and the Phillies keep winning, they will end up tied and the Mets have the season advantage against the Phils.

Anyway the runs all fall on Pedro tonight. He gave up 4 runs over 6 innings for an ineffective outing. He also hit a double and his 2 RBI's were the only Mets runs. I'm sure this has happened before in baseball history, but statistically, this is an anomally. There were a few bright spots tonight. First is Mets' prospect Parnell had another good outing, and so did Schowenwies as the bullpen was effective. The other hightlight goes to Wright who hit his 42nd double, which is the third time he has done that in the Majors, which is his season high for that category. His next one this season will set a new season record for him.

The thing that is not getting me down about this loss is that the Mets have more chances ahead of them. Someone pointed out in the form of a comment on Mets Merized Online, the site I simulpost the game previews on, that its more of a “collapse” or a disappointment if the Phils don't make the postseason, since they had a 7.5 game lead on the Mets in July. I would be disappointed if the Mets don't get the division, but things are so close right now that anything can happen.