A huge issue for the Mets this year has been leaving men on base, especially runners in scoring position. Over on the game preview at Metsblog, Mike Nichols brought up a very depressing, but true statistic:
    "The Mets are batting .176 (18-for-102) with two outs and RISP this season, which ranks them 15th in the National League. The         league average is .227."
While this has impacted the team greatly, it also felt like the Mets have left a runners on period this season, including over at first. However, I wasn't sure if that was true of if it just felt like that, because in those situations, a fan can get very frustrated and the conception of what is true and what is fiction can be skewed. The following is the last 9 games the Mets have played, not including today, with the date, the decision, the score (scores not in order of home/away), the first number after that is Mets LOB, and the second number Opponents LOB.
4/29 W (5-4) 12, 11
4/27 W (6-3) 8, 8
4/26 W (4-3) 8, 6
4/25 L (6-3) 5, 12
4/24 L (10-5) 9, 9
4/23 W (7-2) 8, 6
4/22 L (8-1) 9, 13
4/21 L (7-1) 3, 6
4/20 L (5-4) 9, 8
Overall during this period of time, the Mets have left 71 batters on base and their opponents have left 79 batters on base. In Mets wins, they leave more batters on base (36-31). In Mets losses, the opponents have left more batters on base (48 to 35).
So here's the conclusion I am going to reach. It seems like the Mets leave more on because we are passionate fans and we get easily frustrated or stressed when the team is not performing up to level we know they can. I think what it also comes down to is the winning team has more hits than the losing team. Its a rarer for a game where the losing team has more runners on base than the winning team, therefore results make sense.
The reason I was surprised with the mathematical results is because I am mentally in the state of the first result listed. I am frustrated and want to pinpoint a tangible problem. Looks like I'll have to grip on to the RISP BA stat for now.

The Mets attempt to complete the two game sweep with the early afternoon game today at Shea. First off, last night showed the luck of the rain-out as the Mets bullpen got rest and then had to be used heavily last night. Oliver Perez will try to prevent use of the bullpen today as he faces off against his former team.
Perez hasn't had much success against his former team, but like anything with Perez, thats a very complicated statement. When you look at his career line against the Pirates, he has pitched 3 games against the Pirates, and only one against the Pirates after he was traded to the Mets. In those three games, he has an 0-2 record 14 IP, 5.14 ERA, 12 BB and 14 K. Seems like a Perez type line. His 2007 loss to the Pirates has one of more strange lines in baseball: one game, loss, 6 IP, 5 R, 0 ER, BB, 9 K. Basically, thanks to spotty defense, the Mets blew that game for Perez. The hitting stats against Perez are also something to admire:
    Nady 2-5
    Bay, LaRoche, Paulino, Sanchez combined 0-12, 5 K
The pitcher, Tom Gorzelanny, for the Pirates has had a tough year. In any season, when you make 5 starts and only have one quality start, its a tough ride. His last quality start was his first start of the season and since then he has struggled including two outings where he lasted 2.1 and 2.2 innings. Overall he is 1-3, 5 G, 22.1 IP, and 8.46 ERA. To add to his stress, last year he took a loss against the Mets after only last 2.1 innings giving up 6 ER (23.14 ERA), walking 3 and striking out one.Mets hitting against Tom:
    Reyes 2-6, 2 RBI
    Wright 2-5, 2 2B
    Church 0-3
    Delgado 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI
Delgado is the player I will be paying attention to today. He had a great day Sunday, and then followed it up with an 0-5 day at the plate. Depending on what he does today is very important because he needs to show that he can bounce back. Going with that, pay attention to the Mets with runners in scoring position, because over this 3 game winning streak, the Mets have still left, what has felt like, a lot of runners on base.

   

The game preview for tonight is the same as the one posted yesterday for game 25. I wanted to briefly discuss though how I order the games by number, because there are two ways. Lets say that I was about to post last night's preview after they announced that the game was postponed. Well obviously I would not post it. However, when posting it today, I would still say its game 25, why?
Well technically thats incorrect and I have been doing that all year on purpose. The game tonight is really game 27, thanks to two rain-outs this season. The reason that I do not recognize the rain-out games is because I like to look at games in a row. A player might be in a streak games 13 to 20, and I would want to note that. Later in the season, when this game is made up, that simple statement can get bogged down by saying that a player was in a hot streak games 105-116 including game 26.
So be aware when the articles are titled here, the number is literally coming from the wins + the losses.

Like all things in life, there are exceptions to what was stated above. If a game gets suspended, when it is picked up again, it will be addressed by the number it was when the game was first played.

Also, I would like to welcome readers here from Mets Merized Online. Starting today, Game Preview posts from this site will be simulposted over on Mets Merized Online. I am now on their writing staff as well and I hope if you have not checked out their site yet, that you because it is a very exciting and informative place.
For those of you who are coming over from Mets Merized Online, welcome to 213 Miles From Shea! This site has been around since January 31, 2007 and covers all things Mets and all things baseball related!

I am a pretty talkative guy, and generally will make a comment on anything, even if the comment is irrelevant and pointless. However, there was a picture I saw this weekend that has left me dumbfounded. I am so confused why a person would waste money like this one did in the image below. The image was posted on the Global New York Mets Fan Group on Facebook by Alex Garron. With his permission, it has been reposted below.



Why would anyone do that? Is that person a Mets fan? I am so confused. Maybe he is trying to be funny, if he is, he is doing a very poor job of making a pun.

The Mets go for another three game winning streak and they will try to do this against the Pirates. The Mets have their ace going tonight, who lowered his ERA to 3.12 in last game. I was at his last game and he gave up a lot of hits, it wasn't until the sixth inning that he really started to settle down and be dominant (for his last two innings). That being said, his line still looked pretty good allowing only 2 runs over 7 (which goes to show that their is a difference between watching a game and looking at the box in the morning). Anyway, the last time that Santana pitched against the Pirates was in 2006 during Interleague play. I'll give you a guess how he did against the Pirates. He got the win, went 7 innings, posted a 1.29 ERA for that game, walked no one and struck out 5. Here are some Current Pirate hitting stats against Santana:
    Gomez 8-14
    Nady 1-9
    Bautista 0-9
I have always liked Gomez, who played off the bench for Baltimore for a few years. For the Pirates tonight, they have Ian Snell pithcing tonight who over 5 games and 30.1 IP, has a 2-1 record with a 4.45 ERA. The Right hander pitched against the Mets twice last year getting an 0-1 record over 11 IP. He posted a 7.36 ERA, 18 Hits, 9 earned runs. As a bright spot for the Pirates, he didn't walk any batter and struck out 12. Here are some Mets hitting stats against Snell:
    Reyes 3-12, 2B, 3B, RBI
    Delgado 2-7, 2B, RBI, BB
    Wright 1-7, RBI
    Chavez, 3-3, 2B
If for some reason, the Mets need to pinch hit while Snell is still pitching, these stats suggest that Chavez should get the nod (although I believe all three AB are from the same game, but 3-3 means that he is getting some sort of good look of Snell's pitches).
Lets Go Mets!

Promotions and the Minor League go together as well as anything and this time, I have four promotions in May that I had to share. First off, please don't hesitate to email me (eteich@umd.edu) if you find any other wacky, crazy promotions or ceremonies in May. There are a lot of minor league teams out there and I did not look at everyone's promotional schedule. One thing I noticed when looking at promotional schedules for many teams, that many teams have devolved their promotions to just some cartoon character walking around the ballpark. Its nice to know that the teams listed here have some creativity left in their systems and to have that true spirit of Minor League Baseball.
We start off with May 1st where the Columbus Catfish are having the World Wide Web Birthday Celebration. There is not much I know about this promotion but apparently if you go to their website on May 1st, you can some good deals for the game, which is a birthday party for this great information super highway.
There is something funny about this next promotion. On May 8th, the Reading Phillies will be giving away a Ryan Howard Snow Globe where, inside, Howard is dressed like Santa Claus. Philly is the team that booed Santa Claus, so this promotion has a quirk just because it exists for the MLB team that it represents.
Akron Aeroes have a great way to get fans to come to the game on May 19. The tickets that night are free. Thats a great way to get people to come down to the ball park and spend money on food and merchandise. If its really successful for them, I wouldn't doubt that we will see other teams start to do this as well.
Finally on May 24, the Bowie Baysox are going for the record books. They are attempting to break the record for most people playing the kazoo at one time. This is a game I will try to attend. This also just screams Minor League Baseball Promotion.

Usually I do not do a post game unless I was at the game, but several profound things happened today that warranted this post. The Mets needed to get this rubber game? Why? Its not September, its not for the division crown, it was not a make or break game but it was key game for building momentum. Consecutive games won, specially after a bad stretch (2 for 6 wins if you count yesterday) means that this team needs to get back on the right streak to help turn it around.
In the first inning, Reyes got in on a wild pitch. Albeit not the best way to get the runner in scoring position home, it worked and the Mets went up 1-0. The Mets then had a pretty good second inning that resulted in 2 runs. The reason this was "pretty good" and not great was because the Mets got a statistical anomaly, and did not pounce on it. You do not expect your pitcher to continue the inning, Nelson did just that and in a blink of the eye, the Mets had bases loaded, with one of their best hitters, who happened to be in a slump, at the plate. Wright could not do anything in this situation, and the inning ended.
Fast forward a bit now, when the game is 4-0 and then 4-3. With one out, the Mets get a runner, Castillo, on second base. This is a big AB for Wright, and personally, the AB that really made this the Mets game. They were up by one, and by a wild pitch had a runner now on 3rd with only one out. This is the type of AB that Wright needs to get an RBI some how. Thats exactly what happened, he singled and Castillo scored. The Mets then got that crucial 2 run cushion and Wright did his job by not allowing that runner to be left on base.
Delgado also woke up today. I'm not saying that this game will end all of his problems, but this could be the start of a nice streak for him, or it might not be. I don't know but at least it will silence the boo's for another day.
If the Mets can start to get the slumps of Reyes, Beltran, Wright and Delgado out of the way, they can really build this momentum that is necessary for any playoff bound team.
On a side note, nice power and hitting today by Castillo and Casanova. Casanova flashed power in Spring, leading the Mets with 3 and hopefully he can slug for some higher numbers until Schneider and Castro come back.

The third place Mets will take on the forth place Braves in the rubber game tomorrow (or today, depending when you read this) at Shea. First off, what a difference a week makes. Last week, when the Mets were 4 games above .500, for the most part, the rest of division outside of Florida was below .500. Now the Nationals are the only team that are not at .500 or above.
Anyway, the Braves have their even bigger arm going for them for this game. Smoltz has stepped out to be their dominant Ace this season (Which is saying a lot on a team that had a few candidates to be the actual Ace). This will be an uphill battle for the Mets. Smoltz has one game already against the Mets where he lasted 5 innings, got the win, allowed 2 hits, no runs, walked 2 and struck out 6. This mirrors his season very well where he is 3-1 over 4 games and 23.0 innings posting a 0.78 ERA.
Last season, Smoltz was 2-1 over 6 games and 38.0 innings against the Mets. He posted a 3.55 ERA against us. Here are some Mets stats against Smoltz:
    Reyes 17-57, 3 2B, 2 3B, 4 RBI, .298 BA
    Wright 10-43, 2 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .233 BA
    Delgado 12-42, 4 HR, .286 BA
Reyes has really been struggling these last 6 games. He has gone 2-26 during that stretch. Currently, he has one of the best BA's against Smoltz on the team, and it would be much easier for the Mets to get things going if Reyes can get on base. The Mets had a "big" inning today, but having one of those innings, when its the only inning of scoring is not quite what I was looking for in earlier posts. If they can have a big inning tomorrow, then they really can start to build some momentum in-between games and during games.

The Mets have a tough challenge today. They have lost 4 of their last 5 and if they choose today to start winning again, they will have to do so against the ever challenging Tim Hudson. John Maine will be taking the hill for the Mets who is looking to approve his record to .500 today. In his last start against the Braves this season, also his first start of the season, he took a loss after 4 innings pitched, allowing 4 runs (9.00 ERA), had 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. So far for the season, he is 1-2 over 4 starts, 22.2 IP, 3.57 ERA, 14 BB, 16 K. Last season he had a 1-1 record in 3 games against the Braves, going 18.1 IP, 3.93 ERA, 9 BB and 17 K.
For his first start against the Braves, which Fox Sports said he was throwing at 97 MPH, a lot of his issues can be written off due to not pitching for about 8 days. Now he is on a regular schedule, he can find rhythm and be the effective pitcher we know he can be.
In Hudson's last start against the Mets, he went 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA, over 6 innings pitched, no walks and 4 strikeouts. Since Hudson has been around, a lot of Mets have a large collection stats against him:
    Delgado 17-53, 3 2B, 6 HR, 12 RBI, .321 BA, .438 OBP
    Beltran 18-54, 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, .333 BA
    Reyes 13-45, 2B, HR, .289 BA
    Wright 8-37, HR, .216 BA
Today is a big day for Delgado. He has good numbers against Hudson. Right now, he, Wright, and Reyes are all slumping. Because of Delgado's success against the Braves' Ace, he needs to step and be a leader today, cause some offense power, and help get that big inning that the Mets disparately need.
Lets Go Mets!

Out of everyone in the pen right now, even though Heilman is facing the most criticism, I truly feel that the Sosa is the one on the wire. Sosa is the pitcher in the pen that, for some reason, a pitcher cannot make his scheduled start, he is the spot starter. With the way he is pitching right now, he cannot be that spot starter because he cannot get out of innings. Last year, Sosa had to be sent down to AAA for a bit of time, and came back and was more effective. He is very close for a repeat trip.
If that happens, there are three pitchers I feel have a good chance of coming up. The first one, Collazo, is the least likely of the three because he is an actually RP, this spot has to be filled by a SP/RP. Collazo struggled this Spring and last season, but so far, he has been lights out in AAA. He has pitched 8 games, which add up to 16.0 IP. He has posted a 1.69 ERA, one walk, 7 strikeouts and 0.94 WHIP. The numbers look good for him right now.
The two more likely candidates are Ruddy Lugo and Bostick. Both of these pitchers can be SP and be RP, which is what Sosa is. Lugo so far this season has posted a 2-1 record, 2.88 ERA in 4 games, 25.0 IP, only 4 walks and 26 K. Bostick also has good numbers, 2-1 record, 2.97 ERA, 5 G, 30.1 IP, 13 BB and 17 K.
When it comes to these two pitchers, Lugo has the upper hand because of his amazing walk to strikeout ration. A better assessment of the situation will be when Lugo makes his fifth start so the numbers are even between Bostick and Lugo. At this point, we might need to shake things up a bit in the pen by just switching on pitcher, you never know what can happen.

Tonight, the Mets will try to right the ship as they take on their NL East foes, the Atlanta Braves. After winning 5 straight, the Mets have now dropped 3 of 4. Pelfrey who has been effective this year, will be taking on Jurrjens tonight.
Jurrjens sound unfamiliar? You are not alone. There are no current Mets that have Plate Appearances against him. He played with Detroit last year and now is with the Braves. So far this season, he has pitched 4 games (25.1 IP) and has posted a 2-2 record, 3.20 ERA, 9 BB, and 21 K's.
Pelfrey also has good numbers through 3 starts this year posting a 2-0 record in 17.0 innings, 3.18 ERA, 6 BB and 9 K. There are Braves that do have stats against Pelfrey:
    Francoeur 0-5
    Johnson 1-5   
    Chipper 1-4
    McCann 3-7
    Teixeira 1-4
Pelfrey is up! The Mets are home! (Generally not a statistical good thing) Lets Go Mets!

I was at the game last night, and despite everything that happened, I still had a good time. (To clarify that, the Mets fan in me was Angry, Vulgar, and agitated, the Baseball fan in me was still taking in the sights of the stadium, which on trip #2 have not worn of yet). To quote someone in my group last night, as we walked up to the ballpark, "You smell that? New Ballpark smell!"
Anyway, back to the game. Going into the bottom of the fifth, the Mets were practically in cruise control (the wrong attitude to be in), and then Oliver, who had about 70 pitches to that point, who was effective to that point, completely broke down. He could not get anyone out. The bases were immediately loaded. Now I am not quick to blame Perez totally because the Nats got a lot of lucky breaks in this area. They seemed to hit the ball in the right spot of the infield that there was no player, those little spots. (This continued for the next three innings) Bad breaks like that, plus defense blunders adds a lot of pressure to pitchers.
That pressure, which pitchers should be able to handle does not help pitchers that load the bases with no outs (Perez), have struggled this year (Heilman), and cannot finish innings (Sosa).
On the other side of the plate, the Mets struggles at the plate really shined through last night. The inability to have a big inning is starting to kill this team. Wright slumping a bit in these two games (have two walks and no hits) really hurts this team, but its hard to blame Wright because recently, when things do go right, Wright is in the middle of it, he doesn't have to carry the team, there are 24 other guys out there that can and do step up. Remember how over a week ago, the Mets had a 6 run-inning against the Phills? Well that led to a three game win streak, and then later (after two dropped to the Brewers) to a five game streak.
It's to early to panic. The Mets are one big inning and a couple of good outings away from another win streak. I was talking to a friend after the game and explained my philosophy, which is probably very similar to many peoples, for how to look at the start of the season. At the start of the season, the standings mean nothing. Winning is what you aim for. That is different then aiming to be #1 because there are times that when the team thats in second place loses, theres a little less pressure to win. Well when you try to win and do win early, then the team just builds a cushion above .500 and then the standings take care of themselves. So forget the Phillies, forget the Braves, and just focus on each W.

Don't have too much time, but gotta leave a preview before the game! First off, I will be there again tonight, and once again, I am very excited.
Anyway, Shawn Hill makes his second start of the season for the Nationals. In his first start, he got a ND over 5 innings, 6 hits, 4 ER (7.20 ERA), no walks and 6 K's. He has been very effective against the Mets last year at least, as in two games he posted a 1-0 record over 14 innings, 2.57 ERA, walking 3 and striking out 7. The following Mets have these stats against Hill:
    Reyes 0-7
    Beltran 2-5, HR, 2 RBI
    Wright 3-6
It was good to see the Mets get back on track last night. There is no reason to repeat that tonight against the Nats. Last night the Mets seemed very focused on small ball between the four stolen bases and the sac hits everywhere. It will be interesting to see if Willie calls the small ball again tonight, or as a surprise, allows the players to swing for the fences. I'm leaning my self towards small ball, because the Mets tend to better in these situations.
Also did anyone else see that the game last night was very similar to the first of the season. Same score, both were alway, Santana pitched both of them. The only big difference was that last night there was no "big" inning for the Mets last night even though they had one 3 run inning, the others were pretty small.
Lets Go Mets!

I was at the Mets/Nats game tonight and it was a really fun time. To start off, it was a really new and interesting way of walking into the ballpark. The group I was with took the Subway to the game and from the Subway, you enter the ballpark from centerfield. I'm not sure if any other ballpark does that, but its a strange sight-line because it feels as if the ballpark is opening up towards the entrance.
Anyway, its a really nice sight, the stadium as anyone can imagine is beautiful. We were sitting up in section 402, one of two grandstand. $5 sections, and they still felt pretty close to game. The only downside to them, is you can't see the left fair line touch the pole and the wall from the section. Overall the stadium feels much, much larger than what it actually holds. There something like 41 or 42 thousand seats at the ballpark but by the way it is spaced out, it feels like there are a lot more seats. The upperdeck also has an interesting structure to it. There are two halves to it, and the upper half is reached by a staircase from the lower half. The part we were sitting at, upper deck, way down the leftfield line, has that same concourse style that Citi will have, where the the game can be seen from the concourse itself, which is also really nice.
Now to the game itself. Mets fans were out in full force tonight and it was fun for once to be with other Mets fans. A telling symbol of Mets fans at this point in time was that a few rows down from the group, there was a guy in a Delgado Jersey, but he had an X made out of duct tape going across the name and number.
There weren't any crazy baseball shirts tonight, but it is always fun to see some old player shirts. Tonight there Seaver, Carter, Dykstra and Wiggington shirts. (I myself was wearing an Alfozo jersey, which then led to a conversation with someone at the Subway about the 1999 Mets infield).
The subway on the ride back was packed, as they tell everyone to take it to the ballpark, so everyone has to leave by it. There were officials everywhere with megaphones yelling directions. Overall, it was a pretty comical scene, but one you would have to be at to find funny.
I hope to be at tonights game as well, Lets Go Mets!

Tonight the Mets will stop the bleeding sending Johan Santana to the mound. The Mets actually started their 5 game win streak with a sweep of the Nats, so its fitting that the Mets will try to revive their winning steak against the Nationals tonight.
On another note, I will be at the game tonight, so I am very excited. First game of the season for me, hopefully will be a great night.
Going for the Nationals tonight will be Tim Redding. He has not faced the Mets yet this season, and has been pretty successful with his 3.27 ERA.
When looking at current Mets against Redding, there is one that jumps off the list that should not pinch hit against him. Anderson has not been very successful this season, and really not in his career against Redding. He is 1-12 with a walk.
For Castillo, batting him second shouldn't be a big deal tonight as he is 4-13 with 2 RBI. Other Mets:
    Reyes 4-8, RBI
    Wright 2-4, HR, RBI, 2 BB
    Beltran 2-4, HR, 3 RBI
Go for the win tonight! Go Mets!

The Mets take on the Cubs today in a traditional, afternoon game at Wrigly. For the Cubs, they will be trying to get Ted Lilly back on track this year and the Mets will try to be a roadblock in their plans. Lilly has not been effective this season going 0-3 in 4 games, 18.2 innings, and a 9.16 ERA.
The Mets however generally, or at least feels like, they get the short straw in these situations, as the failing pitcher wakes up and silences the Mets bats. That is more than a possibility tonight when you consider Lilly's game against the Mets last year which he won. He went 7.2 innings, 2.35 ERA, 7 hits, 2 earned runs, one walk and struck out 8 Mets.The following Mets have put up these numbers lifetime against Lilly:
    Delgado 3-14, 2B, 2 BB
    Castillo 4-12, 2B, BB
    Beltran 2-7, HR, RBI
    Reyes 0-4
    Wright 1-3, BB
The Mets will have Nelson again tonight, who can hopefully keep up his excellent pitching from his last two starts. Lets split this series! Go Mets!

One of my favorite series to do on this blog is Get To Know a Prospect, and now that the season has started, we should start to look back at some of the Prospects that were introduced earlier. Dan Murphy was introduced on this blog in March 3rd. I really never heard of him before this year. Randolph had him play a few springs games, and I wanted to see what he was all about, what were his skills, how has been doing.
These were his MILB numbers, not including this season:
160 G, 582 AB, 13 HR, 35 2B, 84 RBI, .275 BA, .334 OBP
Spring Training this year was a different story:
17 AB, 3 H, 3 R, 2B, RBI, .176 BA, .222 OBP

This season so far has been a completely different story for Murphy. He has posted in the las 18 G and 69 AB, 15 R, 29 H, 6 2B, 3B, HR, 15 RBI, .420 BA, and a .468 OBP.
If you take those numbers and extrapolate them out over 582 AB, his minor league career before this year you get a slight drop in homer runs, down to 8.4, a huge boost in 2B, up to 50.6 and a dramatic increase in RBI, rising to 126.5.

Is this for real? Well he's off to a hot start, and history says that he will not be batting .420 all season, but if he finishes off above the .310 mark, then the Mets brass will have to seriously consider moving him to AAA next year, assuming that Tatis does not become a roadblock there. He could also become trade bait, since 3B is occupied here for some time in the Majors.
The story of Murphy will ultimately come down how he plays the rest of the season and if he develops into a full fledge prospect.

I feel like I say this a lot, but tonight is another important test for the Mets. I guess there are a lot of "important tests" for the Mets due to the collapse, as if the team needs to prove themselves at every team. (That isn't true, so after this last "important test" I am really going to try to limit my use of that term on this site from this point on).
The Mets had a nice streak of success for 5 games, and they lost last night. Thats fine. The test now is if they can go back to winning and not have a losing streak followed by a winning streak followed by a losing streak, etc etc etc.
The game tonight is tough too. The Mets will have to square off against Zambrano tonight, who was picked by many for the NL Cy Young this year (mostly by people before the Santana trade happened). This year, he is 2-1 over 4 games and 26.2 IP, posting a 3.04 ERA. If that didn't scare you,, then look at his line from last year against the Mets. He pitched two games to the tune of a 1-0 record, 13 IP, 1.38 ERA, 2 ER, 2 HR, 10 BB, 8 K. Some good numbers against the Mets. Here are some Mets batter stats against Zambrano:
    Chavez 5-17, 3B, HR, 5 RBI
    Delgado 3-13, HR, 4 RBI
    Schneider 4-13, 2 2B, RBI
    Castillo 5-10
    Wright 2-11, 2RBI
The rest of the stats can be found here.

Are you interested in the IBL (Israel Baseball League)? I have been from the start but recently I have wondered about the politics that surround the League and what are the motives, and is it actually getting attention in Israel. On the site, The International Pastime: Exporting America's Game, the start of what should be a series of entries about the Baseball and Israel.
The first post is a quick introduction to some of the conflicting views from a short, 3 minute, video on YouTube that was filmed at the first practice tryout ever for the IBL. Its pretty interesting, go check it out.

If you missed the first post when this blog was introduced, it can be found here.

The Mets last night reached the five game win streak plateau. Last season, that was it for the Amazin's, they could not pass this mark. It would be an incredible gesture for the season if the Mets could win this game tonight because they would have swept their new "rivals", mark a total of 5 straight against the Phills, past the win streak mark for last season, notch two sweeps in a row on their belt, and start to gain some serious momentum.
Even if they lose tonight, it would still make 2 winning series in a row for the Mets, both of them against division teams, which is important and still give them a good record against the Phils. However, tonight could be a demoralizing punch in the gut of of Philly, so lets make that happen.
Pelfrey pitched once already against the Phillies this year where he he helped stop the skid of 9 games in a row against them. He has an opportunity tonight to help push the winning streak. He is coming off of a very solid performance, and good numbers against the Phillies. In that game on April 8th, he went 5 innings allowing five hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks and striking out 3.
Eaton pitched against the Mets the following night. If it wasn't for a late inning tying run by the Phills, pushing the game into 12 innings, he would have taken the loss in that game. He pitched 6 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks and 5 K's. Here are some current Mets career numbers against Eaton:
    Castillo 4-17, 2B, RBI
    Wright, 1-13, 2B, 3 BB
    Beltran, 3-13, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI
    Reyes 4-12, RBI
Lets Go Mets! Go for 6 straight!