213 Miles From Shea

As many of you know out there, I live right outside of Baltimore, meaning that I read the Baltimore Sun every morning. One of the really cool columns in the baseball section is the “Today In History” column, which highlights exciting events in Baseball history that happened on this day. (I am sure other papers run similar columns).
There were several events today that I wanted to highlight (If you have a copy of today's Baltimore Sun, they can be found on page 6Z):
    “1946// The Washington Senators beat New York, 2-1, in the first night game at Yankee Stadium. The first ball was thrown out by          General Electric president Charles E. Wilson.”
    “1956// Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit a home run In his eighth consecutive game, a major league record. Long connected             off Brooklyn's Carl Erskine at Forbes Field.”
    “1968// The American League announced it would split into two divisions. The East division will consist of the Orioles, Boston,                 Cleveland, Detroit, New York and Washington. California, Chicago, Kansas City, Minnesota, Oakland, and Seattle would make         up the West.
    “2006// Barry Bonds hit his 715th, home run during the San Francisco Giants' 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies to slip past Babe             Ruth and pull in behind Hank Aaron and his long-standing record of 755.”
I have a good feeling that the YES network will talk about the first night game tonight as night games started a new era in the history of baseball. It's also hard to believe its has been only 2 years since Bonds hit 715, doesn't feel much longer than that? I encourage all of you out there, if you have this column, to look at it in the morning. Baseball history never disappoints.

The Mets will try to stretch winning to two days straight tonight as they try to take the rubber game in the series. Words cannot express how much taking this series could mean to the Mets. They would be beating the best team in the NL East right now and could create that magic m word (being momentum of course). The Mets will be sending Perez up to the mound to take on Olsen for the Marlins.
Olsen this season has a 4-2 record over 10 games and 64.0 innings. He has posted a nice (if you like the Marlins) 3.38 ERA over that period of time. In 2007, he started four games against the Mets (22.0 IP) and recorded a 1-2 record posting a 4.09 ERA, walking 8 and striking out 15. In 2006, he started four games against the Mets (26.0 IP) and recorded no decisions. Over that stretch he posted a 3.81 ERA with 8 walks and 24 K's. He has the power to strike out this Mets team but this Mets team at the same time has the ability to beat him. Here are some Mets numbers against him:
    Reyes 9-19, 2 2B, 3B
    Beltran 7-17, 2B, 2 HR
    Wright 5-18, 2B, 2 HR
Beltran has good numbers against Olsen, which is good because he has had some bad numbers over the past five games. In the past five games he has gone 4-21, 2B, R, 3 RBI, 2 BB and all of that translates into a .190 BA. It would be nice to see him get some hits in tonight and lead this team to a series win.
The Mets will turn to Perez tonight to lend a hand in getting a victory. He has pitched a good game against the Marlins this year going 6 innings, allowing no runs, walking one and striking out 8. That game was the Mets first blow out this season (13-0) and was the third game of the season. In his last three starts he has gone 2-0, pitched 18.2 innings, has a 4.34 ERA, 14 BB and struck out 14. If you take away his last start, that line becomes 2-0, 13.2 IP, 5 ER, 6 BB, 12 K and a 3.29 ERA. So the Mets would really like him to pitch like that tonight and not like his last start. In 2007, he pitched four games against the Marlins getting a 2-1 record, 22.1 innings pitched and posted a 4.84 ERA. Here are some Marlin starts against Perez:
    Ramierez 6-22, 2B, HR
    Gonzalez 4-18, 2 2B
    Uggla 5-16, 2 2B
    Jacobs 1-9
Uggla can be dangerous, and Santana had control of him last night, not allowing him to perform in situations with RISP and 2-outs. Perez needs to be able to do that tonight and he can help put this team in a position to win.
Lets Go Mets!

Here's my new goal I would like to see in the Mets for the next few days. For a while I wanted to see them just flat out win, then it was to score runs, but I think over the last week the underlining issue, that has been in the back of minds for Mets fans since mid 2007, has surfaced:

The Mets need enthusiasm on the field and they need to ditch the attitude that the wins will come!.

So, the solution here is that the Mets need to start playing flawless baseball on the field. They have to stop making errors, and they need to pay attention on the base paths. One of this biggest offenders of this, and I hate to say this, is Jose Reyes. He fell asleep on the base paths in the extra inning loss on Friday, and his error last night started off the game for the Mets and allowed in two runs. I am aware that he made up for those runs with homers, which is great (I love to see power from him), but if he can get back to good defense like he has shown in years past, he can help lead this team out of the rut they are in!

Lets start tonight! Play fundamentals!

If there ever was a game within the past week that on paper it looks like the Mets would completely dominate, it would have to be tonight. Tonight the Mets have Santana going up against a highly touted young pitcher in Andrew Miller.
The difference between Miller and most highly touted young pitchers, is that the Mets have success against Miller, and against most young, highly touted pitchers, they do not. Miller has played the Mets once in each of the last two seasons. In 2007, he picked up a win in a game where he could have pitched a lot better than he actually did. He lasted 5.1 innings, allowed 4 runs, walked 3 and struck out 5. He picked up a loss this season against the Mets in 4.1 innings, 5 runs, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. That means in 9.2 innings against the Mets in his career, he has allowed 9 runs. This season he has a 4-3 record over 10 games and 50.2 innings pitched posting an ERA of 5.33. Here are some Mets stats against him:
    Castillo 2-9, 2B
    Reyes 1-5
    Wright 3-5, 2B, HR
    Beltran 3-5, 2 2B
    Delgado 1-5
The stats show Wright and Beltran will be important players in tonight's game. Let's just hope the Mets offense can keep pace and surpass the Marlins offense tonight.
Santana is on the hill for the Mets tonight and he has had success against this Marlin club in the past. He started off the season against this club and he allowed 3 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings while walking 2 and striking out 8. He also pitched against the Marlins last year as well and he pitched 6 innigns, allowed 1 earned run, allowed 5 hits, a walk and struck out 8. Here are some Marlin stats against Santana:
    Cantu 3-15, 7 K
    Gonzalez 1-9
    Uggla 1-6, HR, 3 K
    Jacobs 0-5
The amazing thing about Uggla's homer is that he is the only one on the Marlin roster that has a home run against Santana. If he can keep the ball in the park tonight and stop the offense, maybe he can lead the Mets on their way to get their heads above water.
Lets Go Mets!

The Mets will try to forget about their last road trip as they come on home to New York to take on the first place Florida Marlins. The Mets have a 12-9 record at home, and a poor 11-16 record on the road. Tonights game will feature Nolasco for the Marlins vs Pelfrey for the Mets.
The good thing for the Mets is that they have had success against Nolasco in the past. The bad news is the last time they were successful against him was in his rookie year in 2006. This season, Nolasco is 3-3, in 8 starts in 10 total games, 48.2 IP posting a 4.62 ERA. Last season, in one start, he beat the mets in 5 innings pitched, allowing 6 hits, one run (a home run), no walks and struck out 5. 2006 was a completely different story. He had four 4 games against the Mets, three of them starts, posted a record of 0-3 in 8.2 IP, a 19.73 ERA, walked five and struck out 10. Thats right, he had an ERA of 19.73 (or 19 runs over the 8.2 innings). Lets hope the Mets can relive those 2006 days. Here are some Mets stats against Nolasco:
    Beltran 4-9, HR, 2 BB
    Wright 6-10, 3 2B, HR, BB
    Reyes 6-10
    Delgado 4-8
    Church 1-4 HR
The Mets have good numbers against Nolasco, and they need to put up some runs support for Pelfrey and this Mets pitching staff .
Pelfrey struggled in his last start. He allowed 6 runs in 4 innings pitched against the Braves. So far this season, he has a 2-5 record in 8 games. In 2007, he took a loss against the Marlins in his only start vs them giving up 3 runs and 5 hits over 6.1 innings pitched. He walked 3 and struck out 3. Here the numbers the Marlin Hitters have against Pelfrey:
    Amezaga 2-8
    Jacobs 2-8
    Ramierez 2-9, HR
    Uggla 2-7
If Pelfrey can keep those numbers true tonight, and if the Mets hitters can keep their numbers true, then we should be pretty happy with those games. But with this current funk, anything can happen. Lets Go Mets! Lets start this 7 game homestand right!

I got a little distracted from the Mets this weekend as I was at two baseball games, in two different states, in under 24 hours. My baseball adventure started Saturday evening in Bowie, Maryland. There are two things I feel like I am always saying on this site, one is the Mets need momentum, and the other is if you have never gone to a Minor League game, go already. I am a huge minor league fan and the Bowie Baysox were having their world record night. They tried to break most people playing the kazoo at the same time and then highest pizza toss.
With as many minor league games as I go to, I have never been involved in a game, caught a foul ball or caught any free items thrown into the stands. One of those things changed on Saturday. During one of the free T-shirt tosses, I stood, up not expecting anything, waved my arms, not really enthusiastically because I never win anything and I never expect to win anything and the next thing I know I have a T-shirt in my arms. The way it was thrown, I could have been sitting down and not paying attention and it would have just dropped in my lap. The shirt had the logo for a new public service announcement about keeping the Emerald Ash Borer out of the state. (The Shirt says Maryland is for Crabs…Not Emerald Ash Borer).
The Baysox beat the Fishercats on Saturday 9-6 and the team does something really cool when they win. When they win, they take plush baseballs and they throw them in the crowd. Its really cool that the team does that because I am all about minor baseball interacting with the community that they are in.
I got back from that game around midnight (after some great Minor League fireworks!) and then got ready for part II.
I hate admitting this, but as big as a baseball fan as I am, I have never gone to Yankee Stadium. And that was changed on Sunday. For a while now, my family had a tripped planned, so at around 5:15 in the morning we got on a bus and headed north. It was really something to see Monument park, to hear the roll call and see a game at Yankee Stadium.After waiting for Monument Park (I've been to Cooperstown and it feels like walking through a mini-Cooperstown), I rushed over to the third base foul pole. The white spot was washed off already. I didn't root for the Yankees, but it was such a different feeling at a baseball game being at Yankee stadium. (Later this week I should be posting pictures of both trips).
The only thing that would have made these trips better is the Mets winning on Sunday, so besides being a Mets fan, this was an amazing baseball weekend.

The Mets will try to get a win tonight after a disappointing loss last night. Another way to look at it is that the longest winning streak for the Mets this season is 5 games, the longest losing streak for the Mets right now is 5 games. Lets not have a longer losing streak than a winning streak. The Rockies will be sending Jeff Francis to the Fox Saturday game today and the Mets will be sending Vargas (If the Mets get Buck today, I know he will say at some point during the telecast something to the extent of “If you look at last year, this game should have been an amazing game but both teams are really playing poorly this year.”
Anyway, the last time Francis has pitched against the Mets was in 2006 where he pitched in 2 games, posted a 1-1 record over 10.2 innings and posting a 5.06 ERA, walking 5 and striking out 5. He has struggled this season with a record of 1-4 and an ERA of 5.87. Here are some Mets stats against him:
    Beltran 2-7
    Reyes 3-9, 2 2B
    Wright 5-8, 2 HR
    Delgado 1-6
Hopefully these stats suggest that Wright can break out of this funk that he is currently in. Seeing Church today would also be very nice. Vargas will be taking the pitching mound for the Mets today.He had one start against the Rockies last year, and it was not a good one. He lasted 7 innings and allowed 6 runs, walked one and struck out 2. Here are some numbers the Rockies have put up on Vargas over his career:
    Helton 8-23, 4 2B
    Holliday 9-22, 3 2B, HR
    Atkins 8-20, 3 2B, 2 HR
    Hawpe 4-18, HR
These numbers do not look good for Vargas, however after digging, I found one number that does look good. Vargas has a 5.15 ERA after pitching on 4 days rest (51 games), however, over the 5 games in his career that he has pitched on 3 days rest, he has posted an ERA of 3.52. Lets hope that number holds true today.
Lets Go Mets!

I know Wagner failed at his job last night, really for the first time this season (last time it was shotty defense that led to his blown save). I feel the real blame last night, and I hate blaming because the entire act feels so negative, but if blame is to go somewhere, it has to go to the top of the line up.
Here are the stat lines for the top of the line up last night:
    Reyes 1-5, RBI, SF, 2B, PO
    Castillo 1-5, RBI
    Wright 1-6, 3K
    Beltran 0-5, BB
That is very frustrating. Delgado was hitting, and the top of the line up could barely get on base. As this stress is piling up, the injuries to various players is not helping, but hopefully calling up Nick Evans will provide some sort of grace by the baseball higher powers on this team that has absolutely nothing going right these days.

The Mets will try to get back on the right track, get back to .500, and get back to sanity tonight as they take on the Colorado Rockies, who are on a 2 game losing streak right now. Both teams are 3-7 in their last 10 and both teams need to win this series this weekend. Tonight Oliver Perez will take the mound for the Mets and he will be facing off against rookie Greg Reynolds.
Greg Reynolds is a right handed pitcher thats is only 22 years old. So far this season, he has an 0-1 record in 2 games and has pitched 11.2 innings with a 3.09 ERA. In his first start at San Diego, he gave up 4 runs over 5.2 innings, walked 2 and struck out one. In his most recent start, he pitched 6 innings, allowed no runs, walked two and struck out 2. Right handed hitters are hitting .192 against him and left handed hitters are batting .222.
In the minors this season, Reynolds had a 4.86 ERA over 33.1 innings and a 1-2 record to go with that.
Perez will try to be the hero for the Mets tonight. His last start was the same time the Mets last won a game (which is really depressing to say). Perez pitched two games in Colorado in 2006 (no games against Colorado in 2007). He was not very effective in either game. In five innings, he allowed 16 runs, walked 6, and struck out 2. The Rockies have put up these numbers against Perez:
    Helton 4-17
    Holliday 2-11, HR
    Atkins 3-6, HR, 2B
    Taveras 0-8
When I read his lines against Colorado in 2006, I was expecting much worse numbers than what was shown above. Atkins and Torrebella are the two guys who really did damage to him in that stretch (Torrebella 2-5, 4 RBI's, still on the Rockies now). So if Perez can put that behind him, if the Mets can put that past series behind them. and if the team comes together, and all of these if's become reality, we can have a really good weekend. If these if's don't happen, then I will not be watching ESPN for a long time.
Lets Go Mets!

I have to change the topic from the Mets right now. I just have to. It has gotten to the point where I cannot even watch ESPN because I am afraid about being depressed about Baseball. Anyway, this topic, if you are an Orioles fan (which living outside of Baltimore I have a soft spot for the Birds) will make you sick.
One of the more “comical” aspects of the box-scores for the Orioles this season is that the attendance is terrible. The first week of the season, the Orioles kept breaking their own records for lowest attendance as a baseball game. Needless to say, they need baseball fans to stay at the park. During one of the Oriole, Red Sox games last week, the Orioles kicked out a group of 20 Oriole fans for “apparently cheering too loudly” (Baltimore Examiner May 23). Here's the kicker: They were kicked out just after being recognized as being the fans of the game (They spelled out of their shirts Luke Scott with many U's in Luke). The surrounding Red Sox fans complained and got them kicked out. One of the fans that got the boot, Zach Thompson, phrased it the best way:
    “It's bad enough we've had to watch bad baseball for 10 years, then they do things like this on top of it…Some of us still support and     love them, but the same ushers who reprimand Orioles fans let Sox and Yankees fans chant, stand and do whatever they want. They     take over our stadium, and we're the ones who are asked to leave. Go ahead and kick out the true fans they stil have and see where     it gets them.” (Baltimore Examiner May 23)
This really is incredible. The Orioles denied comment on this situation. I have no idea how this can happen. I've been to Yankee and Red Sox games at Camden Yards and the away fans shout horrible, horrible things in family sections in the ballpark, and the only way fans get removed is if they get into a physical fight.
I really hope these fans get free tickets to games and public apology by the Oriole Organization. A struggling franchise with as much history as the Orioles do should not add this to their list of reasons why fans should drop their loyalty to the team.