213 Miles From Shea

The Mets come home after a roller coaster road trip to face the Reds tonight. Over the last 6 games, the Mets have played against two very good teams, and made some bad plays, made some good plays, didn't hit, did hit. You get the idea, there were a lot of ups and downs. Tonight the Mets will face off against Belisle of the Reds.
Belisle has pitched in three games this year, with a 1-2 record, and 14.1 IP. His ERA during this time is 6.91. He pitched against the Mets two times last year, getting two no decisions, 12.1 IP, a 4.38 ERA, walked 3 and struck out 6. Some Mets stats against Belisle:
    Beltran 2-7, HR, 2 RBI, .286 BA
    Delgado 4-7 RBI 
    Reyes 1-8
    Wright 2-7
    Castillo 2-3
    Alou 0-3
The Mets have really struggled with RISP with 2 outs this year, and hopefully they can show their ability to hit tonight. (This is looking at you Beltran). In 19 AB with RISP and 2 outs, Beltran has 0 hits. Clutch-plays would be nice. Meanwhile Delgado has some good numbers here and Wrights are not to shabby either.
On the pitching side of the ball, Pelfrey will be taking the helm tonight. He pitched 1.1 innings against the Reds last year, allowed a run, BB and a K. Here are some career stats from the Reds vs Pelfrey:
    Dunn 1-2
    Griffey 0-4
    Phillips 1-4
Lets hope that the Mets hit, pitch, and field the ball well tonight. They had a travel day to remeber their amazing day on Wednesday and a repeat of that level of play will be amazing to send this team in the right direction. Specifically, I have always been a believer of it takes a big inning to turn things around to launch a winning streak because it builds momentum. That 6 run inning, that separated the game could be that inning starts a winning streak. Lets see tonight…Lets Go Mets!

The MLB draft is a funny one to judge. Most of the time the draft is ignored because unlike football or basketball, the players do not make an immediate impact in baseball. This makes sense though because when we talk about how a player is developing, we are always talking about where they will be over a period of seasons instead of a season. A good draft prospect can make the majors in 3 years, and that would considered fast.
Anyway, the Mets in this years, which will be held between June 5th and 6th, have a few first round picks, something that they did not have last year. Last year in the first three rounds (including the supplemental rounds for the first three rounds) the Mets had 6 picks (42, 47, 72, 93, 99, and 123). The players for those picks were:
    Ed Kunz
    Nathan Vineyard
    Scott Moviel
    Brant Rustich
    Eric Niesen
    Stephen Clyne.
This year the Mets have five picks in the first 3 rounds, and three of them are in the first round. They have pick 18, 22, 33, 68 and 100. The extra picks in the first round are from Atlanta and their signing of Tom Glavine. What this means is the Mets should get some higher touted prospects in the first round, but as draft history shows, order can mean nothing. (For example, in the 1995 draft, the only two players left are Burnett and Nelson Figueroa). So in about 4 years we'll be able to look at this draft effectively.

It is no secret that one of the struggles for the Mets this season is hitting when runners are in scoring position and when the game is on the line. The statistics are really rather depressing for these categories, so to make them more fun, lets play a game. Below are going to be five sets of statistics. Each set represents a player, (stats are from baseball-reference.com). The first number in the set is the batting average with 2 outs and runners and scoring position., the second stat is the batting average when the game is late and close (defined as 7th inning or after in a tied game, one team ahead or a tying runner in RISP), and finally the last stat is the batting average for when the game is tied.
Set 1:
.238 , .167, .167
Set 2:
.000 (19 AB), .071, .286
Set 3
.375, .250, .224
Set 4
.222, .100, .167
Set 5
.267, .250, .467

Ready for the answers?
Who could have a BA of .000 with RISP? Who is the hero with a .375 with RISP? Lets find out!
Set 1: Wright
Set 2: Beltran
Set 3: Reyes
Set 4: Delgado
Set 5: Church
Those are some real hard numbers to take. Those of you who have wondered about how “non clutch” Beltran is, well you have your hard numbers right here. I knew for him it was bad, but I didn't think it was that bad. Also, I would not think that one of more clutch players this year would be Reyes. It feels like it should be Wright, and by the way Church has been playing it could be him, but Reyes seems to be getting his hits when it matters most, which is good for him
I really hope that these numbers start to see some improvement over the next month and season.

It has been frustrating to watch the Mets play over the past two days, who have shown us many ways to be frustrated about baseball. The Mets will be facing their nemesis again this afternoon, being the Right Handed Pitcher. Penny is the pitcher for the Dodgers today as Maine takes the mound for the Amazin's, trying to stop a three game slide.
So far this season, Penny has been 5-2 over 7 games and 42.1 innings pitched with an ERA at 3.19. He pitched against the Mets three times last year to the tun of a 2-1 record, 19.1 IP, 3.26 ERA, 6 walks and 14 strikeouts. Despite these numbers, many current Mets have good career numbers against Penny:
    Reyes 7-26, 2 2B, HR
    Schneider 2-5
    Alou 10-24, 2 2B
    Delgado 6-21, 3 2B, HR
    Wright 9-14, 2 HR
Wright continued his struggles last night against RHP's but these stats suggests that he should be able to do damage today. He sees the ball well from Penny, and hopefully will crush it today. Same thing goes for Delgado, who has great power numbers against Penny with 4 of his 6 hits against him being for extra bases.
Maine last year had an 0-2 record in as many games against the Dodgers going 11 innings, with a 5.73 ERA, 3 BB, and 8 K. Some Dodgers can destroy Maine, while others can't even touch him:
    Furcal 5-9, 2B, HR
    Pierre 3-8, 2 3B
    Jones 0-6
    Martin 0-5
Lets see if former Brave Andruw Jones can continue his hitless streak against Maine today. This is an important game today because tomorrow is an off day. I do not know about the Mets players, but nothing makes an off day worse than losing right before, because the thought about the game just lingers in the mind. And here, that would mean bringing a 3 game losing streak into an off day which, well I don't even want to talk about it. Win this one today.
Lets Go Mets!

Last night was another frustrating game for the Mets, and a very different type of frustration felt after first game of the series. The Mets could have easily won last night. They were hitting, and except for their starter, they were pitching. This game was not out of reach at any point, especially because the Mets started with a 3-0 lead before the bottom of the second.
The last at bat of the game, Luis Castillo striking out, with runners on first and third, is a perfect summary of the game. It seemed the Mets could barely get the ball into play last night with RISP. The Mets in total left 13 men on baseball last night. 13! Thats unacceptable, especially when you get 11 base hits on the night!
I hate to say this, I really do, but Wright needs to get out of this slump. This year has been very streaky for him and the Mets need him to perform. In Met wins this year, he is batting .379 with 4 homeruns and 2 RBI. In Mets losses this year, he is batting .118 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI's. First of all, anyone who says that Wright can't be an MVP because his team can perform without him is wrong. For the mets to win they need Wright to stop streaking, and start hitting.
It would also be nice to see a starter go 7 innings again, I miss those days.

The Mets will try to force a rubber game tonight as they take on the red-hot Dodgers and their new pitcher, Kuroda. The Mets will have Figueroa, who has been much better so far this season than anyone has expected. So far he has started in 4 games (pitching in 7), has posted a 2-1 record over 28.2 IP, and posting a 4.08 ERA. There are a few Dodgers that have some AB's against him:
    Jones 4-11, 2B, HR
    Furcal 3-10
    Kent 1-7
Kuroda is pitching his first season in America. So far, he has a 1-2 record, has pitiched 37.2 innings and has posted a 3.82 ERA. The big challenge for the Mets tonight will be getting hits off of them, because as a team, they have really struggled against right handed pitchers. Just take a look at some of these stats. The first BA is vs. RHP, the second BA is vs LHP.
    Church .299, .333
    Reyes .263, .263
    Wright .198, .469
    Beltran .205, .269
I knew Wright was struggling against RHP, but I didn't realize that it was that bad. (On the other side, I didn't realize that his BA against LHP was so good). For Beltran, the difference of his BA between RHP and LHP is the difference between the Mendoza line and his BA last season. This split also shows how balanced Reyes is becoming at the plate.
Anyway, if the Mets can win tonight, it will demonstrate that they have started to figure out RHP, and after yesterday's performance, it would be nice to see some offense.
Force the rubber game! Lets Go Mets!

Last night was as frustrating as the come. The Mets were fresh off an amazing series in Arizona and it was as if a completely different team showed up in Dodgertown. Perez struggled again, and I don't see an end for it because of what the Mets bats do when he is out on the mound. The bats go silent! If Perez has to think that he needs to go 7 innings and allow 0 runs every outing, he is going to continue to mess up. I am not removing blame from Perez because 3 homers is unacceptable. For him to show that it really is the offense that is causing him to lose games, then he needs to at least make some quality starts.
I guess the real frustrating thing is that for first few games this season, Perez was really good. His ERA was 0.00, and he was making strikes and was on a roll. He has to get out of this flunk, now.
Back to the Mets offense. Remember the article I posted not to long ago that showed generally, the winning team leaves more runners on base? Well last night was the frustrating exception to that rule. The Mets left over 3 times the amount of runners on base than the Dodgers did (Dodgers left 2, the Mets left 7). For the Mets to get to the playoffs this year, they are going to need to figure out this hitting with runners in scoring position problem. The numbers in the pregame did not lie about last night. They said that Church would struggle, based on his 0-4 past with Billingsley. That is exactly what happened as he went 0-3 last night bring his history with Billingsley to 0-7.
The bright spots on the night were Sosa and Schoenweis who at least pitched 2 effective innings out of the pen. It was also nice to see Beltran get two hits. Maybe he can separate himself from the Mendoza line.
Lets hope for a better outcome tonight.

Tonight is a test for the Dodgers, a test that the Mets will want them to fail. The Dodgers just ended yesterday a 8 game win streak that pushed them to 3 games above .500. The Mets, who are also 3 games above .500, will try to turn the Dodgers loss yesterday into a losing streak. With momentum from taking a series from the best team in baseball, the Mets will now have to count on Perez tonight as he tries to right his pitching ship. Perez has recent history on his side though tonight. Last year in two games against the Dodgers, he was lights out. In those two games, which he won both, he pitched 14.1 innings where he posted a .63 ERA, walked 8 and struck out 14. Tfollowing Dodgers have put up these numbers against Perez:
    Jones 6-25, HR
    Furcal 4-19
    Pierre 5-20
    Martin 3-7
    Kemp 1-6
The pitcher tonight for Dodgers is Billingsley, who has had very little prior experience with the Mets. So far this season, Billingsley has posted a 1-4 record over 7 games, 27.2 IP, and having a 5.20 ERA. He has only pitched one inning against the Mets, which has been a perfect one. As his number suggest, this season has been a bit of a struggle for him. The only Mets that have numbers against him are Mets that recently joined the team:
    Church 0-4
    Schneider 1-4
    Castillo 1-4
This should be an interesting game. Both teams are trying to establish momentum with this series. If the Mets can figure out Billingsley, because we all know over the past few years that the new pitchers on the block tend to frustrate the Mets, and if Perez can perform like his 2007 numbers suggest, the Mets can get the win tonight.
Lets Go Mets!

The newest power pole is in on MLB.com, and despite the Mets current streak of 5 wins out of their last 7 games, they have dropped considerably on the rankings list. Last week the Mets were ranked 7 overall and they dropped all the way down to 14. Personally, I feel that the drop was a reaction to the Mets play the week before this past one. Anyway, they say for the Mets:
    “The closer the Carlos Clan — Beltran and Delgado — gets to the
Mendoza Line, the closer the Mets seem to get to the Fab 15 cutoff
line.”
While the Mets have been dropping, the Phillies have been rising being the only other NL East team on the list. They jumped from 13 on the list all the way up to 8. MLB.com says:
    “Jimmy Rollins not playing, Ryan Howard not hitting — and still got off to first winning April since 2003.”
As anyone can guess, the Diamondbacks led the list, which can be found here.
The Mets are only the second team this year to take a series from the Dbacks, and as the preview will state later tonight, the Mets will have to play momentum stopper again tonight as they handle the Dodgers right after their first loss in 9 games.

I never take too much consideration in these polls. They are fun to read, but when it comes down to it, they are made ahead of time and do not reflect the actual momentum swing of the team. For example, the Rays were just swept and are quickly falling out of the lead in the AL East and they are currently at #7, but the week before when they were on a  tear, they were not ranked. So I expect the Mets to be much higher up on the list next week…not that I care or anything.

The Mets try to take the rubber game of the three game set with the Dbacks with another marquee pitching matchup. Neither pitcher has recent history with their opponents, so the pitchers in this game have a major advantage. For the Diamondbacks, Dan Haren makes his seventh start of the season. So far in his 4-1 season, he has pitched 37.1 innings posting a 3.13 ERA. The last time that he pitched against the Mets was in 2005 where he received a No Decision in 7 innings pitched, allowing 2 runs, walking 2 and striking out 4. I was questioning why Randolph had Alou sitting out yesterday until I saw his numbers against Haren:
    Alou 8-14, 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .571 BA/OBP
    Beltran 2-8, 3B
    Reyes, Wright 1-8
Today's game is one of the reasons why the Mets have Santana. The best way to make a statement is to take a series from the best team in baseball. Santana has limited exposure to the Diamondbacks:
    Byrnes 3-13
    Hudson 3-13
    Synder 2-3
If Santana shows up strong today, then the Mets will play strong. Lets hope that Willie uses a lineup similar to Friday, because a lineup like that will be key for the Mets in order to perform this season.
Lets Go Mets!