213 Miles From Shea

By now, you have probably seen the ESPN power rankings that have the Mets sitting on top (going from 4th to 1st) well i got two more power rankings for you.

The Baltimore Examiner has the Mets for the Second week in a row sitting on top saying “staying on top after an impressive opening week”. Other notables from this ranking are the Braves jumping from 17 to 5 and the Phillies going from 10 to 26 with the quote “How long will Maunel's job last?”

The MLB.com fab 15 also came out today and they have the mets jumping from 8 to 1. The Braves from honorable mention to 10 and the Phillies from 5 to honorable mention.

Whoa….three power rankings…three number 1's

I dont know why I am thinking of this, but last night at the Orioles game, there was a big St Louis fan (drunk) and he was yelling a lot of profanities, “Hey, Hey, Hey all of you…I am St Louis fan so (insert language) you all, you Oriole fans”…and then he nearly fell into the Oriole Bird.

Tied for first!

Thats right, the Mets are tied for first place now, for the second straight night, the Braves lost while the Mets won. The key thing about this game was that Pelfry got into bad situations, and was able to pitch his way out of them.

Also, a 22 game hitting streak for Wright is going to start grabbing headlines. I was at the Orioles game tongiht (more on that later) and they kept putting on the board when people extended hitting streaks to 10 games, but they didnt post about Wright's, which made me sad.

If you hadnt figured out by now, I love stolen bases. Reyes had his sixth, Wright had his third. So far in 10 games, Reyes has 6, which is awesome, Wright is on pace to shatter his 20 stolen base mark from last year.

Some important triple A action tonight. Despite losing, Gomez was 2-4 (.375) with a double, but for the first time this season, was caught stealing. Millede had 3 AB (1 walk) and had a hit.

More important would be our back up pitching in the Minors, Sosa went 7 innings. had no ER, bringing his ERA to 0.00

Bmets were postponed….which is not new.

So I went to my second Orioles game of the season tongiht. I love friday nights at Camden Yards cause students can sit in the back upperdeck for 6 dollars, and when the ball park is practically empty, the student sections are packed and are basically just a huge party zone. They did the wave…5 times in a row, which is sad when there are entire sections missing.

I go to a lot of Minor and Major games each year, tonight was the first time that in the majors, I saw someone hit a Grandslam (live in person). (Nick Markakis…who I had in fantasy playing tonight).

Yesterday there were a lot of players with injuries. Here are some more:

First, as an update, Jaret Wright is on the DL saying his shoulder only hurts when he pitches.

One of the people who is “key” in the nationals bullpen, Ray King, is now on the 15-day DL.

Josh Bard of the Padres is also on the DL now with a strained groin.

Surprise, Surprise, Mark Prior has more discomfort in his shoulder.

On the suspension note, infielder Hector Made of the Phillies was suspended for 50 games (for steriods). Hector Made is actually an ex-Yankee who was brought over in teh Sal Fasono trade.

There are more details out about Todd Williams of the Orioles. The Orioles have said that two or three teams are interested in Williams. Two of them are the Rockies and the Mets. On the Rockies side, the trade that was offered was Byung Hyum Kim for Williams and Williamson.

For the Mets, they are still listed as having mild interest and only if Todd is going to be a salary drop off

As of now the Orioles are just going to keep Williams.

It wasnt just the game that made this night great, it was the game and the other games that made this night great.

First, as a personal note that made this night great, at 6:50 I was trying to dial into the Nationals channel to see what their reporters were saying in the pregame (i wanted a laugh i guess) and I accidently dialed the wrong channel, and found out that we have a free preview right now of MLB Extra Innings (In-Demand Version). So that made the night great right away, knowing I was going to see the Mets when I thought I would be watching the Orioles tonight.

So tonight I watched three games at once (by channel flipping). I was watching SNY, MASN (Orioles) and MASN2 (Nationals). I'll get to the Mets first but the Orioles won in extra innings (reason 1 why tonight rocked) and the Nationals actually got a win, and agaisnt the BRAVES (reason 2).

So on to the Mets tonight. WHO NEEDS HOMERUNS TO WIN A GAME? (Not the Mets!)

First off, why does Wright feel its necessary to continue his hitting streak in his last AB, its so nerve racking. Speaking of Nerve Racking, how about Billy tonight? Hes an adventure everytime on the mound. I think I said in a post much eariler this month, or maybe last month about how I wasnt worried about Glavine getting to 300 because he finds ways to win. It looked like he had no shot at the start, but he pitched his way into that win.

If Jose wants to keep on track for 81 SB, he doesnt need a steal tommorow because now he has 5 through 9 games (except we all know he doesnt want 81, he wants 131, or maybe its us who want 131). Speaking of speed, back to David Wright. Between his stolen base and his triple, he really showed off his speed today (and his glove on that long throw towards the start of the game).

I am also happy that the Nationals got that road win out of their system, now the Mets should have no problem agaisnt them this weekend. That bottom of the ninth that Chad Cordero pitched tonight was more nerve racking than Billy. .

So here are some numbers for tonight:

The Mets are now 3-3 against the NL East, that is one of the reasons why tonight was crucial for them.

When the Mets win, the Orioles are 1-0 in extra innings, when the Mets lose, the Orioles are 0-1 in extra innings. For when the Mets just plan lose, the Orioles are 1-2, both losses due to Grand Slams in the ninth inning or beyond. This further proves that the universe is connected in strage ways and we should all be superstituous. Since that 1-2 record has been loss, win, loss, the next time the Mets lose, the Orioles should win, but then lose on a grand slam. And last but not least, when the Mets lose at night, the Orioles are 0-1.

Earlier today I talked about Second Basemen in the Mets farm system. I left out Gotay and a 2B from AA, I talk about them in the 2B post.

And if you wanted to know, Gomez had a hit today (so he has had a hit in all the games he has been in this season) and had an rbi.

As much as we all love Stache, there will come a time that we will need to replace him. He probably could play in 2008, but what about after that? The Mets do have what breaks into 4 options:

1) Sign a Free Agent

2) Trade for one

3) (My choice) Give Newhan a chance. He is mostly seen as an OF, but when with Bmore, he had a lot of time in Second Base filling in for the injured Brian Roberts. Newhan can hit, and he can run. I feel that he should be 2B after Valetine.

4) Take someone from the Mionrs:

Thats why I really have this segment, to see how the Mets second basemen have done so far in the Minor Leagues: (This information is based off of very few games, and hopefully will change)

First off, in AAA, we have Anderson Hernandez, who tore up the Winter Leagues this year. Could his amazing winter carry over into the regular season? Well so far in his first 7 games, the answer is no. His BA right now is .179 with SLG of .250. In his first 7 games, he has 2 doubles, 5 hits, for a total of 7 TB. He also has 2 RBI.

Every year its the same with this guy. Has an amazing winter, and then cant hit in the regular season.

Now the Bmets have only played 2 games, so Mark Kiger's stats are def. inflated. Over the first two games, he has a BA of .429, SLG .571, 4 TB, 2 coming from a double, has a total of 3 hits and 1 RBI

In St Lucie, they have played 6 games and Jose Castro is hitting .227, SLG .273, 6 TB, one double over 5 hits and 1 RBI

The last Second Baseman would be Greg Veloz of Savanah, he is hitting .130, SLG ,271, 5 TB, 3 from a triple and has 3 hits.

In a week or so, these stats will be updated.

I guess in the start of any season, there are injuries. However it feels like there are an awful lot of injuries right now in the league. I'm referring to Hampton and H. Matsui, I opened the paper today and it there were a ton of injury reports…so here we go:

Jim Edmonds was sidelined last night with Back Spasms

LaRoche sat out last night due to tightness.

Arthur Rhodes (Mariners) has a ligament tear and is debating season ending surgery.

Freddy Garcia might finally be coming off of the DL. He is off now, and might be making his next start.

Jaret Wright has shoulder soreness.

Mussina left last night due to hamstring problems.

Yeah…I hope the season doesnt continue like this. A fan got injured at the Cards/Pirate game yesterday from a broken barrel of a bat.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that the Cards have won four straight?

Well the Mets lost. I hate to say this, but they HAVE to win tommorow. I am pretty sure that the Mets started off the season last year nearly identical in record of how the Braves are now. I dont see the Braves slowing down anytime soon (or unless they start playing good teams, or philly when they play like they are supposed to).

I also have a bad feeling about this weekend with the Nationals, its a lot of pressure to win when you are supposed to win.

At least Smith did a good job today. And Jose is still on base now to steal 81 bases.

In tonights N.O. game, we got to see Gomez act human going 1-4 (but he still scored a run and had an RBI). On the first basemen watch, Tracy went 3-4 with 2 bombs bringing his season total to three. Overall, Tracy is now batting .316 and has 7 RBI.

Vargas and Adkins had strong outings of 6 and 3 innings respectfully with 0 ER.

So this game looked good for the future with 1B and OF, and good for the possibility of pitching injuries.

Fmart struggled today going 0-4, but he is still batting .416.

In other furture 1B news, Nick Evans of StLucie went 3-4 tongiht, with 2 doubles, he is hitting .350

So a good all around night for future 1B

I think it was two days ago that I said how Julio could destroy the Marlins.

Well he did it again. The Breweres/Marlins game that got suspended due to rain at 12:03 AM could have ended in the ninth inning. In the ninth, Julio allowed the tieing run to cross the plate. The next batter just ripped the ball deep into left field and it was only because of an awesome catch by the Marlins OF that the go ahead run didnt score.

So glad he is not on the Mets anymore.

The Zephyrs ended early tonight, and there were some bright spots in their 3-14 loss.

The trend continues, Gomez was one of the stars last night. He hit a human 1-3, and his average remains at .400. He also continued to show off his speed, stealing is 5th base of the season so far.

Steve Smoll, I feel really bad for him. He let 6 runs in through 2.1 innings. What that doesnt say is that 2 of those 2.1 innings, were shutout ball. He should rebound fine.

Humber only pitched 4 innings, probably due to the rain delay after 4, he allowed 4 runs. So not his greatest start of all time either.

Theres another future OF on the Bmets, you might have heard of him, his name is Fmart. Well he had a great game, to follow up his 3-4 game. Yesterday he went 2-4 with a triple and a homerun. That brings his average to .625

When it comes to going over pitchers that were not invited to Spring Training, I will wait a week or two just so they can collect more stats to go over. Same goes for position players.

For tonights game, the Vegas line (-150) is actually in favor of the Mets. Here are just some numbers for tonights game:

Eaton, the Phillie starter, has a 13.50 ERA in 2007. His ERA in 2006 was 5.12 with Texas. His carear ERA is 4.45. His carear ERA at Shea Stadium is 1.26. His total carear ERA vs the Mets at any stadium is 1.33

Burell is a player to be aware of tonight. Agaisnt Perez he is 4-12 with 3 HR.

The Phillies are pumped for this one. So are the Mets. I know its really early to say we have to sweep. But we have to sweep. The Braves did. So now we do. It is so important to be only one game behind them the next time we play them (or back in first). The Braves are off to their best start since they won the world series.

There is a way to beat them, and the Mets hit it right on the spot on Friday but fell into its trap Saturday and Sunday.

Now more than ever, their Rotation has a ton of holes. The rotation is the guide to how to beat the Braves. The Braves have an interesting bullpenn. In a traditional game, a traditional close game, the starter goes 6, Gonzalez goes for the 7th, Soriano will do the 8th, and Wickman does the 9th. In that case they are good.

The trick to beat them is to hit them early, not necessarily score a lot of runs, but knock out their starter in the 5th or sometime in the 6th. If the Braves are forced to either a) use Gonzalez/Soriano over 2 innings, or b) go to long relief, then now you have won the game.

The long relief situation is not good at all in the Braves Bullpen. Also, if Gonzales/ Soriano go over 2, its more likely they will not be used the next day, and the Braves will go to people like Yates, who is very hittable.

The trick is also to get used to Gonzales and Soriano, since they are the two key set up men, if enough film is study, then the Braves will have to go to plan b, which is not very good at all.

And that is how you beat the Braves