Did anyone else have a flash back last night to the third game of the season when the Mets won 13-0. During that game, when it was a 3-0 lead, Beltran hit a homerun that was called back as a ground rule double because of the fence on the Outfield wall. After that bad call, the Mets just blew out the Marlins racking up the hits and the runs.
Well that was very similar to last night. The score was 3-0, Delgado hits a homer, gets it called back, this time called foul, and then the Mets explode to beat the Yankees 11-2. Also, in both games, Perez was the starting pitcher for the Mets.
Another important thing about last night was the Mets were building real momentum right to the Delgado home run. Thats type of call that can swing all of the momentum to the other team. They get a break on big moment in the game, they feel energized, etc. It almost happened too as the Yanks jumped out to 2 runs in the bottom of the fourth but credit Perez for putting a stop to that, and getting the Mets back on the right track.
Good Game Last night, and all around good game.

The ESPN National Sunday Night baseball game goes to the Subway Series tonight as the Mets try to take the two game set. They go up against a tough opponent tonight as they attempt to wrestle with Wang. Wang has had an excellent season so far. He has gone 6-1 over 9 games pitching 59 innings, and posting a 2.90 ERA. In his last start, he picked up a no decision after pitching 7 innings, allowing one run, walking three and striking out 2. His start before that one, against Lee and Cleveland, was his only loss of the season. He pitched 7 innings allowed 3 runs, walked 3 and struck out 4 in that start. Last year he had a start against the Mets where he picked up the win in 8.2 innings of work. He allowed 2 runs, walked one and struck out 10 mets. That being said, the Mets have not hit him very well:
    Beltran 1-4, RBI
    Reyes, 1-4
    Wright 0-4
I haven't used the phrase "important test" for the Mets in a while, but I think it applies here. Today the Mets will have to prove that the meeting has worked, that they are the team they are on paper, and that they can beat one of the game's best pitchers.
Perez takes the mound for the Mets today, fresh off of a win in his last start (6 IP, 3 ER, 4 BB, 8 K). In 2007 Perez pitched against the Yankees twice with great success. He picked up 2 wins over 15 innings, posted a 1.20 ERA, only allowed 2 runs, waked 5 and struck out 11. Here are some Yankee stats against Oliver:
    Jeter 4-12
    Moeller 1-12
    Abreu 0-6
    Cano 4-8
    Cabrera 0-7
Perez needs to channel 2007 Oliver Perez tonight. If he does that, he will be successful, he will get out of jams, he will be able to stop the bleeding if it ever gets to that and he will give the bullpen some more rest.
Lets Go Mets!

Well that was a fun game, wasn't it? I watched the game today with two friends, one an Orioles fan and the other a Yankee fan. As soon as Farnsworth came out, the Yankee fan said something to the effect of, "Over under one half homers Farnsworth gives up this inning? I'm taking over" The Oriole fan agreed to the Bet with 2-1 odds ($2 payout if Farnsworth gave up a home run). As soon as they finished shaking hands, that very pitch, Reyes took it yard.
The situation was hilarious.
Anyway, good game today guys. The main downside was the amount of home runs that Santana gave up. We all knew going into the trade that was his weakness. Today I'll write it off as an affect of the wind, especially on that Abreu bomb that kept going and going. Off the bat, it did not look like a home run.
Very old style baseball game as well for the Mets. They had two pitchers, a starter than the closer, who came in for a 4 save out. That really helps out the pen, which Willie has been over using. On the topic of Willie, for as much heat as he has received over the last couple of weeks, it seemed like he woke up today. He was arguing a balk from the dugout and he also showed emotion for the pitch that got Alou looking. I am not suggesting that this one game gets him off of the hotseat, but hopefully it can spark a trend.
All around good day.

Thanks to the rainout last night, the Mets will try to play their 40th game this afternoon against the Yankees. The Mets are staying on the same game plan as last night, having Santana pitch (Santana's numbers against the Yanks can be found here). The Yankees have decided to stay on their schedule and have Pettitte pitch today. The Mets have a slew of players that have hit Pettitte well in the past:
    Delgado 21- 60 (.350 BA), 3 2B, 5 HR
    Easely 16-56
    Beltran 12-34 (.353 BA), 3 2B, HR
    Wright 5-13
    Alou 1-4, 3 BB
    Castillo 1-9
The numbers suggest that Easely should get the nod over Castillo today. On the season, Pettitte has a 3-4 record over 47 innings pitched and has posted a 4.40 ERA. Last year, he took a loss against the Mets going 7 innings, allowing 3 runs, walking 1 and striking out 4. The Mets big hitters (Wright, Church, Delgado, Beltran) need to put up some damage on Pettitte today. One of the big problems in the series against the Nationals was that the four of them were not on the same rhythm at all.

Lets Go Mets!
Beat the Yankees!

Change is a good thing. Many experiments over the years have shown that change leads to an increase in productivity. The Hawthorne Experiments in the 1920's showed that when the lighting was changed in the Hawthorne plant, their workers productivity and interpersonal relationships increased. Even when they dimmed the lights as a change, the workers productivity increase. Well Interleague Baseball is a change of pace for the Mets and lets hope that this change in game play, adding in a DH, playing in an electric stadium, will cause an increase of Bat Production and a Stable Bullpen. The Mets last year were 8-7 in Interleague Play and 3-3 vs the Yankees.
 To help lead the Mets to hopefully a burst of momentum, one of the things they need (it also has escaped them all year) will be our Ace, Johan Santana. Santana over 8 games this year has a 4-2 record (really should be more than 4 wins, thanks to the Mets pen), over 52.1 innings, and has struck out 52 batters. He has a 3.10 ERA over this period of time. In 2007, he pitched a game against the Yankees where he picked up a win in 7 innings over work, allowing 2 runs, 2 walks and striking out 5. Here are some Yankee numbers against him:
    Damon 5-24, 3 2B
    Jeter 5-17, 3 2B
    Cano 4-9
    Cabrera 1-3
What separates Santana from the rest is his ability to get out trouble. He gets in trouble, he can work his way out. Perez should pay attention to this tonight so he can learn this ability.
Pitching for the Yankees tonight is Rasner. Rasner has a 2-0 record this year in as many games, over 12 innings of work posting a 3.00 ERA, a walk and 5 strikeouts. He is young (27) and over his four years of play, he has a 6-5 reocrd over 19 games (12 starts), 64.1 innings, and a 3.92 ERA. This year he has been very good:
    Right Handers hit .227
    Left Handers hit .190
    When RISP .000
The only runs he has given up this year are two solo shots. So, like Santana, his weakness is the long ball. That RISP stat spells trouble because if he can keep cool during those situations, he can easily work through the Mets who just forget how to hit when they have RISP. Should be an interesting night. Lets hope change works! Lets Go Mets! Beat the Yankees!

It's that time of year again where Baseball continues their experiment with Interleague play. Over the past several years, Interleague play has been criticized as the novelty has worn off of the idea. One my main complaints about Interleague play is how it is not fair for some teams to have harder schedules than other teams. Last year, the Mets and Braves had much harder Interleague schedules than the Phillies did. This is my current position about Interleague Play:
I still like it. I think its a good celebration of baseball as teams within the same region get to play each other. For example, the Orioles and the Nationals are starting to finally take off as a rivalry. Its far from being at the same level as the Mets with any of their current rivals but for teams like the Orioles, its important. Living around Baltimore, I know that its hard for Oriole fans to find positive moments with their team (even though they are still playing at a much better level than people expected, everyone feels this will not last) Playing the Nationals gives a break to the daunting task of always playing teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees.
I also feel that even though it gives some teams harder schedules than others, over a period of 162 games, the good teams will stand out no matter who they play on their schedule.
Here are some of the games to look forward to tonight:
    New York vs New York (Santana vs Rasner)
    Washington vs Baltimore (Hill vs Olson)
    Houston vs Texas (Chacon vs Ponson)
    LA vs LA (Kuroda vs Saunders)
    Cleveland vs Cinncy (Sowers vs Cueto)
Notable Interleague Matchups not happening this weekend:
    Chicago vs Chicago
    Tampa Bay vs Florida (Crazy to think that if they play soon, they could both be first place teams playing each other)

Do you ever come across things on the Internet that you feel you have to share? Well this is one of those things. Sport's Illustrated released their All-Scandal team for Baseball, and out of the 30 people on team (that includes position players, starters, bench players, managers, etc) there are several prominent Mets listed.
First up, at the catcher position is Paul LoDuca. His marriage issues, affairs and steroid related problems have landed him on this list.
Starting in Right is none other than Darryl Strawberry.
Starting pitching is a no-brainier here. Listed after more dubious starting pitchers (Here's looking at you Clemens) Dr. K appears in his 80's Mets racing stripes.
If you want a pinch hitter, you can call on Lenny Dykstra to take an AB.
And if you want some poor trades (and intra-office issues) please, feel free to contact the GM, Steve Phillips.

Check out the rest of the list, its a pretty good summary. I usually really do not like this sort of thing, but they did it well. They also include a mascot, but I won't ruin that surprise for you.

The Mets try to get the split today as they end their four game set with the Nationals. The Nationals have Bergman today who has not been effective yet this season. In three games, two started, he has pitched 12.1 innings and has an ERA of 11.68 (bringing him to an 0-1 record). Last year, he was very effective against the Mets. He went 1-1 in two games pitching 12.2 innings, striking out 9, walking 4 and posting a 2.84 ERA. Some Mets vs Bergrman:
    Beltran 5-11, 2B, 3B, HR
    Wright 1-11
    Reyes 3-9, HR, 3B
The Mets have Pelfrey taking the mound today. Pelfrey has had some issues lately, but hopefully he will bring back his good stuff today. He has pitched against the Nationals once already this year and it was a fantastic start. In 7 innings he walked 2, struck out 4 and did not allow any runs. Thats the Pelfrey we want to see today. Some Nationals vs Pelfrey:
    Belliard 3-15
    Kearns 5-14, HR
    Zimmerman 4-14
    Lopez 2-5
If the Mets offense is awake today, and if the bullpen is strong today, no problem getting the win. Those are both things that are easier said than done though.
Lets Go Mets!

Tonight the Mets and Nats continue their four game set with a duel between Redding and Vargas. Redding has already pitched against the Mets this year while this will be the first start for Vargas this year. In the last game Redding pitched against the Mets, he lasted 5 innings, gave up 3 runs, walked 3 and struck out 4 on his way to a loss. In 2007, he pitched against the Mets twice, getting two ND's over 10 innings pitched, 5 earned runs, 5 walks and 10 strikeouts. Here are some Mets vs Redding stats:
    Alou 5 -20, 2B
    Anderson 1-12, HR
    Reyes 4-11, 3B
    Wright 2-7, HR
    Beltran 4-6, HR
    Delgado 0-4
Needless to say, if for some reason, the Mets need a pinch hitter tonight against Redding, it is very unlikely that Anderson by these numbers will get the nod. When you look at these numbers as a whole, they do not seem particularly great, but they don't seem horrible. Generally, thats a good sign.
Vargas pitched for the Brewers last year where he started 23 of his 29 games. During that span he went 11-6, 134.1 innings, and posted a 5.09 ERA. He pitched a game against the Nationals last year and he did very well. He picked up a no decision over 6 innings, allowed one run, walked two and struck out 4. He has pitched three games and 16 innings in the minors so far this season posting a 3.94 ERA, one walk and 17 strikeouts. Here are some National stats vs Vargas:
    Kearns 1-10
    Lopez 4-8, 3 HR
    Zimmerman 0-6
In 9 seasons, Lopez has only hit 66 homeruns. 3 of those homers have come off of Vargas, or 5% of the homeruns Lopez has hit have come from Vargas pitches. Be careful with him tonight.
Lets Go Mets!

Yesterday was a disappointing day for the Mets because it felt like their offense was getting off on the right foot, but the pitching didn't catch up. Tonight, the Mets send Maine out to go toe to toe with Lannan, and if the game goes the way the stats suggest, we could be in for a pitcher duel tonight.
Maine has already pitched against the Nats this season picking up the win with 6.2 innings of work. He allowed 2 runs, walked 4 and struck out 4. Last year, he went 2-1 against the Nationals pitching 16.1 innings, posting a 4.41 ERA, walked 5 and struck out 19. The following Nationals have these stats against Maine:
    Zimmerman 3-22, 2 2B
    Lopez 2-13
    Belliard 9-13, HR
    Kearns 4-12, 2 HR
    Johnson 2-9, HR
From these stats, Maine has no problem with Zimmerman and Lopez but Belliard gives him problems. Kearns has hit a few bombs off of Maine and that will be Maine's big challenge tonight, keeping this crew that likes to tee off of him from hitting those bombs.
Lannan made mince meat out of the Mets the last time he faced us. In 2007 he lasted 5.2 innings, but allowed 5 runs, walked 1 and struck out 3. Last time out, this season, he pitched a no decision over 6 innings, allowed one run, walked none and struck out eleven. Eleven strikouts! That really should not happen! These are the stats of current Mets against Lannan:
    Reyes 4-6, 2B
    Wright 1-6, 2B
    Alou, Beltran, Delgado 0-8
    Easley 2-2
    Church 1-3, 2B
If the Mets can strike early and take advantage of situations, and the pitching goes as it should, the Mets will win tonight. Then again, thats the plan for every night. Lets Go Mets!

David Wright and Jose Reyes have both have had up and down years this year and their stat projections display this. They both have stats that if trends continue should significantly increase while other ones will drop. The projections are based off of both players reaching the same the AB totals as they did in 2007.
David Wright:
    2007: 604 AB, 196 H, 113 R, 42 2B, 30 HR, 107 RBI, 34 SB, 94 BB
    2008: 164 H, 98 R, 53 2B, 31 HR, 142 RBI, 22 SB, 128 BB
There is a big hit drop here because as of late, Wright has been in a mini slump that has him batting about 50 points lower than the previous season. Even with this, his stats show that some of his power numbers are due for an increase. His homer rate is about the same, but he is in line to get more doubles and way more RBI. The Mets as a team, as of late, have been stealing more bases, so I think his numbers will increase in SB. I think his hits and runs will increase but his RBI and doubles are probably a bit high.
Jose Reyes:
    2007: 681 AB, 194 H, 119 R, 38 2B, 12 3B, 12 HR, 57 RBI, 78 SB, 77 BB
    2008: 180 H, 104 R, 38 2B, 23 3B, 10 HR, 62 RBI, 57 SB, 76 BB
For the most part, it looks like Reyes will stay consistent to last year, especially in terms of walks, doubles and homers. He is on pace to drive in more runners than last year and to get more triples. For his stolen base totals, the same comment about Wright's still applies, he will be having an increase of SB as the season progresses.

The Mets continue their 7 game home stand tonight with the Washington Nationals. So far, the Mets have won 2 of the 3 games on this stand and actually, having a winning home record this year (Weird huh?). The Mets are 11-6 at home this year and 8-10 on the road (from the team that went 41-40 last year at home). Anyway, the Nationals are coming off of a three game sweep from the Marlins and would love to get back on the right track. To do that, they will have to get through Nelson Figueroa.
Figueroa has made one start against the Nationals already this year, pitching a no decision over 7 innings, allowing 2 runs, walking 2 and striking out 7. Overall this year, he has a 2-2 record, over 8 games, 33.2 innings pitched and has an ERA of 4.81. The following Nationals have these stats against Figueroa:
    Belliard 1-6
    Boone 3-7
    Kearns 0-5
    Guzman 0-4
Figueora's start against the Nationals last time was his second start of the year, and was his second excellent start in a row, even though he ended up with the ND (but the Mets still won that game).
Attempting to right the Nationals'  ship tonight will be Odalis Perez. He already has a start against the Mets this season pitching 6 innings and allowing 2 runs, walking 4 and striking out 3. So far this year, he has an 0-3 record pitching in 8 games, 44.2 IP, and a 3.43 ERA. The following Mets have done damage to Perez:
    Alou 6-16, 2B
    Beltran 3-8
    Delgado 0-6
    Wright 3-7, HR
    Reyes 3-3, 2B, 3B
Tonight should be a test for Delgado's recent surge. He has had no success against Perez in the past. He is hitting well now, and so is Beltran, so lets power thru another win. Lets Go Mets!

What is everyone talking about today? Bets are that everyone is talking about the recent surge of power from the New York Mets. This is true though when you look at the stats for the their last ten games.
Beltran in his last 10 games is 10 for 33, with a homer and 8 RBI's, batting .303. A not here is that his 8 RBI's have come in his last three games. So in the last three games, Beltran has hit 35% of his season total of RBI's.
Delgado has also had a similar situation over his last 10 games. In his last 10, he is 12 for 39 with 2 homers and 5 RBI's. More importantly, he is batting .308 and raising his current BA. Could he be shaking off the slump?
Ryan Church has been amazing for the team so far, and his last 10 games agrees. In his last 10 games he has .333 (12-36) driving in 8 batters, and hitting 4 home runs.
These two surges are important, because other key Mets players are in slumps, especially David Wright. In his last 10, he is hitting .231 (9 for 39). The only good thing about his slump is that even though he is slumping, he is still producing RBIs (8) and hitting for power (2 homers). Wright should break out of this soon.

Between Beltran, Delgado, Church and Wright, they have driven in 29 runs in the last 10 games. If Wright raises his batting average, and gets out of this slump, his RBI total will rise as well and it can be scary how much damage these four players can do down the road if they are all hitting consistently at the same time. This is the offense that people expect of the Mets, especially if they predicted them to win the division.

On the topic of Recent Surges, has anyone checked out the Marlins recently? They are on a 7 game winning streak right now. Now I am not worried about this, but the Marlins now have the best winning percentage in all of baseball. Their .622 (23-14), record is followed by the 23-15 Arizona Diamondbacks. It was just very surprising yesterday to look at the standings and see the Marlins with the best record. On their seven game streak, they beat the Padres once, the Brewers three times and the Nationals three times.

Yesterday was a good example of the season. Literally, a good team showed up, and then the bad team showed up. I am not referring to an A team vs a B team, this is more of an attack that in the second game, the momentum disappeared. We had momentum, and then it was gone. So which team will show up today? It is really hard to tell. Generally when a team is going to play against a rookie who has been struggling for most of the season, then the game looks like a lock on paper. However, the Mets struggle against pitchers who are not known/who they should beat.
Anyway on the mound for the Reds today is Johnny Cueto who has electric stuff but struggles. In 7 games and 41 innings pitched this year, he has a 2-3 record with a 5.27 ERA. In his four games at home, his ERA is 3.67 but in his three games away, his ERA is 8.36. He is a right handed pitcher.
The struggling Perez will be taking the mound for the Mets today. Perez has really bright spots followed by really bad spots and unfortunately for Perez, he has not recently strung together his success innings in one game. Actually, one of his problems is a lot like Pelfrey's last year. When the game starts to get out of control, he has lost his ability to get the game back in control. In two games against the Reds last year, he posted a 2-0 record over 11 innings pitched, 4.09 ERA with 8 walks and 8 strikeouts. The following Reds have these stats against Perez:
    Freel 9-26, 2B, HR
    Dunn 6-21, 2 2B, 3 HR
    Griffey 2-16
    Patterson 3-13
    Phillips 3-8
The Mets can easily win this game. Like all rubber games, this game is important because when you win series, you start to separate yourself from the .500 line and clearly move into a playoff spot. So, lets get this win, take this series, and build momentrum.
Lets Go Mets!

Due to the rain-out last night, the previews for todays games are a little mixed up. In the first game at 1:10, Belisle, who was the pitcher for the Reds last night will be pitching, however, the Mets are staying with Santana in the 1:10 slot. Then in the second game, Arroyo, who was supposed to in the early afternoon game, will be pitching the night cap. Pelfrey was supposed to take the mound last night, and instead he will go Saturday night.
That being said, if you want to read about the Reds vs Pelfrey and the Mets vs Belisle, please refer to yesterday's post. This post will deal with Arroyo vs the Mets and Santana vs the Reds.
Arroyo has had a pretty tough year for the Reds. He has pitched in 7 games, 32.1 innings, to the tune of a 1-4 record and an 8.63 ERA. Last year he pitched against the Mets once, taking the loss in 7 innings allowing 3 runs, a walk and striking out three. The following Mets have these stats against him. They are not that pretty:
    Delgado 3-16, HR
    Alou 2-14, HR
    Reyes 4-11, 2 2B, HR
    Beltran 1-11
    Wright 2-10
Since Arroyo is pitching in the night cap, I would expect that if wants to put in a B-squad, that will be the game. The starters do not have great numbers against Arroyo, and this way, the team will be ready for Sunday's game vs Cueto.
Santana has not pitched against the Reds since 2001. Because of the time difference, his stats in that game do not really apply here. Anyway, the past two starts, he has been denied wins thanks to the bullpen. Hopefully the offense in the 1:10 game can get Santana a victory. Current Reds have these stats against Santana:
    Keppinger 0-6
    Phillips 1-6
    Patterson 3-6, 2B, HR
    Griffey 0-3
I have always like Keppinger when he was with the Mets, and I do not know why. I doubt many in the crowd will remeber his short Mets days. I was at a game in 2003 where he hit either his 2nd or 3rd homer of the game. It was in the ninth inning, and it made the score 10-2 Dodgers (Ventura on the Dodgers had a Grand Slam in that game).

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.