After dropping two straight to the Nats, the Mets and the Nationals play again in a game featuring Redding vs Lannan. This afternoon's game is the last one in the season for the Nationals at home, so that would be what the Mets will be playing for (if you really have to justify it). Today is more of a treat (in a wierd way) for the Nationals fans in a wierd way as they get to see a former National in Redding. The real treat for them though has been Lannan. Now he has a 3.96 ERA on the season, but against the Mets this year he has been lights out with a 0.36 ERA and 2 complete games. Seriously, this guy has our number.

The lineup today:
Pagan
Hernandez
Wright
Beltran
Francoeur
Tatis
Santos
Valdez
Redding

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Nationals!

The Mets and the Braves play again tonight as the Mets try to win one. Last night's game was a pretty good description of how games usually go for the Mets as they went up early, fell back, actually got the lead back (a rarity) and then lost it again, playing poor baseball at the end of the game. In other words, a pretty frustrating game. Tonight could be another frustrating game as the Mets have to deal with Jurrjens who has been just awesome against the Mets this season (1.83 ERA over 3 games with 2 wins). The Mets will counter that tonight with Nelson Figueroa who has been putting up nice numbers over the last three games as he has an ERA over 3.44 during that stretch.

If you need a reason to watch tongiht, make it Josh Thole. He makes contact, a lot of contact. He is still hitting over .400 with the Mets and he is a bright spot on a team that has pretty much be dark and gloomy all season. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Braves!

The Mets try to rebound after last nights shoutout loss against the Braves as they play another one tonight. This game will feature Parnell vs Lowe. We all know the story with Parnell. He was good. Then he was Bad. Then He was real bad. Then he had a good game, followed by a bad game. So that is where we are now. On the season he is 3-8 over 78.2 innings with a 5.49 ERA. Two starts ago he went 7.0 innings and allowed no runs. Last game he lasted only five innings and allowed 5 ER. In his last three games he is 0-2 over 16.2 innings and 13 ER. Against the Braves this year he has pitched 7.0 innings and has allowed 11 runs, 9 earned. Here are some Braves stats:
     Escobar 2-5
     Infante 3-5
     Anderson 1-3
     Chipper 1-2

On the other side the Mets get Lowe he is 14-9 on the year with a 4.47 ERA over 177 innings and in his last three games he is 2-1 over 18.1 innings and has a 4.42 ERA. Against the Mets this season he is 1-1 and has pitched 16.1 innings but has also allowed 13 ER. Here are some Mets stats against him:
     Beltran 4-26
     Francoeur 4-20, HR
     Wright 5-11
     Reed 4-10

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and the Braves meet tonight in a game that marks the first time ever that the Mets will see Tommy Hanson pitch. This rookie of the Braves has been highly touted and has had success so far this season as he boasts a 9-3 record over 101.2 innings pitched and has a 2.83 ERA. In his last three games he is 0-1 over 15.0 innings and has a 1.20 ERA. There is only one Met who has hit against him and that would be Hernandez who is 1-3. However, Francoeur was on the team when Hanson was first called up, so maybe he knows the inside scoop.

For the Mets, they will send Misch to the mound with his 1-2 record, 3.26 ERA over 38.2 innings. He was really rolling untill his last start where he allowed 5 ER over 6 innings, which didn't even hurt his stats that much over the last three games where he is now 1-1 over 20.0 innings with a 3.66 ERA. This is a big start for him now though as he looks to show that he can rebound. Success now keeps him in the running for a rotation spot next Spring. Against the Braves this year he has pitched 3.0 innings in 3 games and has allowed 2 ER. Here are some Braves stats against him:
    Church 0-2
    Escobar 1-3, 2B
    McCann 1-3
    McLouth 1-2
Lets Go Mets! Beat the Braves!

The Mets and the Philly play two today where these games will determine if this series is split, or if the Phillies will win it, or if the Mets win it. If the Phillies win both games today then the Mets will have been officially mathmatically eliminated this season. Yesterday it looked like the Phils were going to win (after the Mets got an early lead) but the Mets showed heart and they battled back to get the win, thanks David Wright's 6 RBI's, 4 coming off of two Homers late in the game.

Game 1:
John Maine returns to the mound in game for the first time since June 6th. On the season he is 5-4 with a 4.52 ERA over 61.2 innings. In his last game he lasted 4.0 innings and allowed 7 ER. During the 2008 season, he pitched against the Phillies 3 times with a 1-0 record over 18.2 innings pitched and a 3.38 ERA. Here are some Phillies stats against him:
    Utley 7-22, 2 2B, HR
    Howard 5-23, 2 HR
    Rollins 4-25, 3 2B
    Victorino 6-19, HR
    Ibanez 0-3

The Mets in this game will get to see Kendrick make his first start this year. Last year he was an assest for the Phillies. On the season he is 0-1 over 5.1 innings and 3 ER and 4 games pitched. Last year he also pitched three games against the Mets going 0-1 over 13.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA. Here are some stats the Mets have against him:
    Beltran 3-10, HR
    Francoeur 6-17
    Wright 2-10
    Sullivan 4-5
    Pagan 1-2, 2B


Game 2:
In the second game, Redding gets the call for the Mets. On the season he is 2-5 over 95.0 innings and has a 5.70 ERA. He is 1-1 over 18.1 innings and has a 4.42 ERA over his last three games. Last year against the Phils he got two no decisions over 12.0 innings of work and had a 2.25 ERA. Here are some Phillies stats against him:
     Rollins 6-38
     Howard 3-26
     Utley 10-22, 2 2B, 2 HR
     Victorino 6-20
     Feliz 7-20

The Mets will get to see Pedro for the second time this year in the second game of the day. He is 4-0 with a 3.64 ERA over 29.2 innings and in his last three he is 2-0 over 15.2 innings and a 2.30 ERA. In the first game this year against the Mets he got the win after 6.0 innings of work and allowing 4 ER (you may remember this game as the one Perez killed in the first inning allowing 6 ER on 2/3 of one inning, or you may remember this game as the one where the Mets hit into an unassisted triple play to end the game. I'll remember this game as my first game at Citi Field). Anyway here are some Mets stats against him:
    Francoeur 5-28, 2 2B, 3B, HR
    Castillo 6-18
    Beltran 4-13
    Murphy 1-3, 2B
    Pagan 2-3, 2 HR (one of the inside the park variety)

The Mets and Phillies go to the National TV scene for the second game of this series as the Mets try to win this game after losing last night. The Amazin's send out Pelfrey who has been struggling as of late except for his last start where he made a statement and just had a really good game. On the season he is 10-10 with a 4.83 ERA over 158.1 innings pitched. In his last three games he is 1-2 over 17.2 innings where he allowed 12 ER, 11 BB and 11 K. Against the Phils this year he has pitched 4 games to the tune of a 3-0 reocrd over 24.1 IP with a 3.70 ERA. Here are some Phillies stats against Big Pelf:
    Howard 8-20, 4 BB, 2B, HR
    Utley 6-20, 2B, 3 HR
    Rollins 4-19, HR
    Werth 5-16
    Ruiz 1-11


The Mets bats will have to contend with Moyer who is 12-9, with a 4.98 ERA over 142.2 innings. Moyer is also the reason why  probably won't watch at least the beggining of the game. Everytime the Phillies play on some national broadcast, especially FOX, and Moyer is starting, the discussion starts with, and continues for about 30 minutes, about how old Moyer is and how he has reinvented himself, so and so forth, which would be fine normally, except they talk about this every time, and I am tired of hearing it. Anyway in his last three games he is 1-0 over 13.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA. Against the Mets this year he is 1-1 over 4 games over 20.1 innings and a 7.08 ERA. Here are some Mets stats against him:
     Beltran 14-61, 4 2B, HR
     Wright 19-44, 4 2B, 3 HR
     Castillo 7-23, 4 2B
     Francoeur 8-27, 2B
     Murphy 1-1, HR, 2 BB
Lets Go Mets! Beat the Phills!

The Mets take on the Phils tonight and they will do it with this lineup:
Pagan
Castillo
Wright
Francoeur
Tatis
Evans
Santos
Valdez
Figueroa

And the Phils have this lineup:
Rollins
Victorino
Utley
Howard
Ibanez
Werth
Feliz
Ruiz
Hamels

Hey look, Evans is playing tonight! Lets Go Mets!

The Mets find themselves in a familiar position again as they try to avoid the sweep, this time with Bobby Parnell leading the charge. Before his last start, Parnell was drawing a lot of criticism due to his recent pitching performances (and the criticism was in no way unwarranted). Well he pulled a good game out of his bag his last time out giving Mets fans the delightful problem of "Oh, maybe he isn't as bad as we thought." To really show that he is moving on and could be a contender for the rotation in the future, he will need a good start again. On the season he is 3-7 with a 5.25 ERA over 73.2 innings pitched and in his last three games he is 0-2 over 16.2 innings pitched and has a 7.02 ERA. His last start was fantastic as he went 7.0 innings allowed 5 hits, no runs of any kind, walked three and struck out 7. Here are some Marlin numbers against him:
     Cantu 1-4
     Johnson 1-3
     Ramierez 3-4
     Uggla 0-2
Last time, due to a lack of intial run support, and then the bullpen, he didn't get the win, so lets see if the bats can prevent that.

The Mets draw on the final game West with a 6-5 record this season a 4.61 ERA over 84.0 innings pitched. In his last three games he is 2-0 over 15 innings pitched with a 4.20 ERA. He has faced the Mets twice this year pitching 13 innings and getting a win where his ERA has been 1.38. Here are some Mets numbers against him:
     Castillo 1-3
     Pagan 0-6
     Santos 2-3, HR
     Francoeur 2-3, 2 2B
     Murphy 0-3
     Wright 0-3
Lets Go Mets! Fry the Fish!

The Mets and the Marlins play game two tonight as the Mets will try again to play spoiler. Last night they were not able to as the Marlins were able to get by the Mets 4-2 and keep their playoff hopes alive by remaining 5.5 games out. Tonight they send Nolasco to the mound to battle Misch.

Misch has been great for the Mets in his past few starts and he is really starting to cause people to wonder about what will next season bring in the spring. On the year Misch is 1-1 with a 2.48 ERA over 32.2 innings of work and in his last three starts he is 1-0 over 18.0 innings pitched and has an ERA over 1.50. The last time he played the Marlins though, the results were not good as he allowed 7 ER over 4.1 innings (this occured in 2008). Here are some Marlins stats against him:
     Cantu 3-4, 2B, HR
     Helms 0-3
     Ramierez 1-2
     Uggla 1-2, HR
     Ross 0-2
If he pitches tonight like he has been, then all the Mets will need to do is to score some runs for him.

The Marlins send out Nolasco tonight who has a 10-8 record on the season over 152.0 innings and a 5.27 ERA. In his last three games he is 1-0 over 15.2 innings pitched with a 5.74 ERA. He has an 0-1 record against the Mets this season over two games and 10.0 innings pitched with a 7.20 ERA. Here are some Mets numbers against him:
     Beltran 9-28, HR
     Wright 13-31, 3 2B, 3 HR
     Francoeur 6-18, 3 2B, HR
     Murphy 4-11
     Castillo 6-9
These numbers look good an hopefully the Mets will be able to take this one tonight. Last night's loss ended a streak of four games straight where the Mets had a homerun in each game (although Beltran was really close to a grandslam last night). Lets Go Mets! Fry the Fish!

Fresh off of winning their first series in forever, the Mets will take on the Marlins tonight in a reversal of roles from previous years. In the last two seasons, the Marlins have dealt some devastating blows to the Mets playoffs hopes, and now the Mets have the opportunity to return the favor. The Marlins are 5.5 games out of the wild card, which is a bit of a long shot at this point but is very doable. The Mets play them six times this month, if they win a few, then they help make the Marlins playoff hopes disapear.

To do this, the Mets will need another good pitching performance from Tim Redding who is 2-4 on the season with 90.0 innings pitched and a 5.70 ERA. In his last three games he is 1-0 over 18.1 innings of work with a fantastic 2.45 ERA. Against the fish this year he is 1-1 over 10.2 innings and a 8.44 ERA. Here are some Marlins stats against him:
     Ramirez 9-19, 3 2B, 3 HR
     Helms 6-23, 2 HR
     Hermida 11-20, 5 2B, HR
     Uggla 2-15, HR
     Ross 2-14
So the Marlins have some good numbers on Redding but at that time he faced them, Redding was terrible. However, as of late, he has started to really improve. He could benefit from some offense though.

To get that, the Mets will have to beat up on VandenHurk who is 2-2 on the season with a 4.91 ERA over 36.2 innings. In his last game he pitched 5.0 innings allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, walked 3 and struck out 3. He faced the Mets once in 2008 and allowed 3 ER in 3.0 innings of work. Here are some Mets numbers against him:
     Francoeur 1-8
     Wright 0-4, 2 BB
     Schnieder 2-3, 2B
     Castillo 1-1
     Pagan 1-1
The Mets have won 3 of their last 4 (amazin!) and now have four straight games with one homerun (thank you Sullivan and Murphy). Lets Go Mets! Beat the Marlins!

Due to a lack of time this morning, I have to make a really light game preview so here it goes.

The Cubs and the Mets will finish their series today with a rubber game as the Mets try to take a series for the first time in a while and to do that, they will need to back the struggling Mike Pelfrey.

Apparently, Cora has been giving him words of encouragement recently, so lets see if that helps him today.

The Mets recently have also done something that they have not done in a really long time which is in each of their last three games they have hit a homer (two of them coming from Sullivan for his first two of the season). If they could extend that streak to four, it would be a nice little subplot for today’s game.

So, to win today, they should hit around Wells a bit, but drag it out because they have not been terribly effective against the Cubs bullpen.

Pelfrey just needs to be effective (and if Cora isn’t enough inspiration, he can look over to Parnell who was able to do it in his last start).

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs! Take the Series!

The Mets and Cubs will play the second game this afternoon. In the last two games the Mets have done a few things that they have not done for a while.First, they won the opening game of a series. Second, they won back to back games, Third, they had back to back quality starts by a starting pitcher. And finally, they had back to back games with someone hitting a homer. Anyway the Mets try to win another one again today and really start to put a clamp down on any hopes of the Cubs making the playoffs as they send Figueroa to do battle with Harden.

Figueroa is 2-3 on the seaosn with a 4.50 ERA over 32.0 innings. In his last three games he is 1-1 over 14.1 innings and has a 2.51 ERA. His last start was against the Cubs where he got the victory over 7.0 innings of work, 6 hits, an earned run and two walks. Here are some Cubs stats against him:
     Ramierez 5-12, 2B, HR
     Fukudome 2-5
     Soto 0-4
     Theriot 1-4
Figueroa was really impressive in his last outing and he really hopes to have a similar outing today. Last time he was also able to get some run support (unlike Parnell last night) so he is hoping that in that respect he is like Stokes today and the Mets can hit up Harden for some runs.

Which would be tough to do. Harden is 8-8 on the season with a 4.19 ERA over 129.0 innings pitched and in his last three games he has pitched 18.0 innings to the tune of a 1.1 record and a 3.50 ERA. He faced the Mets in 2008 and went 6.0 innings, allowed 2 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 5 walks and 4 strikouts. Here are the Mets numbers against him and now you will see why he might be hard to hit today:
     Reed 3-9
     Francoeur 0-5
     Murphy 0-3
     Wright 0-0, 2BB
     Valdez 1-2
If you look at the Mets stats against Harden as a team, only Reed, Valdez and Sheff have any hits against Harden, everyone else is not with the team right now so the Mets are going to need everyone else to step up. Also, as of now (I can't check later, I'm writing this at 9 AM) it looks like Thole is starting today, so thats a plus because we still all want to see what he can do. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!

The Mets take on the Cubs tonight in what should be a very interesting matchup. For the Cubs, they send out their "ace" who has really struggled since being injured earlier this month. For the Mets, they send up Parnell who looks great at times but his lack of an effective off speed pitched has really shown in his last three starts. Both teams are hoping for much better games out of their pitchers tonight and batters for both teams are looking to make sure that doesn't happen.

For Parnell, he is 3-7 on the season with a 5.80 ERA over 66.2 innings. In his last three games he is 0-3 while giving up 22 ER over 12.2 innings of work. In his last start against Chicago, he allowed 8 ER over 4.2 innings. Its becoming clear that although he can bring the heat, and he has a slider, he needs something else to really help him develop from bullpen to rotation, and the Mets hope they can see that something else tonight. Here are some numbers that the Cubs have on Parnell:
     Lee 0-5
     Ramierez 2-4
     Fukudome 1-3
     Theriot 2-4
For Parnell to get the win tonight, he will need some help from this Mets offense, who usually fall silent in the first two games of a series, but tonight they get to go against Zambrano, and they hope to repeat what they did in his last start.

Zambrano is 7-6 this year with a 3.91 ERA over 131.1 innings pitched and he has struggled in his last two games where he is 0-2 over 7.2 innings and he has allowed 11 ER on 18 hits. Last time he faced the Mets he only lasted 3.1 innings allowed 11 hits, 3 ER and 4 R. He is very lucky that the reliever in the forth inning did a good job behind him, because he left the game with the bases loaded after allowing 5 consecutive base hits. Here are some numbers the Mets have on him:
     Castillo 8-15
     Francoeur 5-19. 2B, 2 HR
     Wright 3-15
     Pagan 2-3
     Murphy 1-4
Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!

Here's a familiar story: The Mets will try to avoid the sweep today as they finish their set with the Rockies. They have been able to do this in the last two series, and here's hoping that it happens again this afternoon. Here's an unfamiliar story: The Mets will be trying out a prospect who has been turning heads this season at catcher. His name is Josh Thole. Today's pitching matchup will feature Misch vs Marquis.

Misch had a great outing last time out, but it was taken away from him by the Mets bullpen. On the season he is 0-1 over 29.0 innings with a 3.41 ERA and with the Mets this year he is 0-1 over 25.2 innings with a 2.45 ERA. In his last three games he is 0-1 over 11.1 innings and has a 2.38 ERA. Last year against the Rockies he was 0-1 over 11.2 innings and had a 5.56 ERA. Here are some Rockie stats against him:
    Atkins 4-7
    Helton 1-7
    Hawpe 2-5
    Barmes 1-3, HR
Looking for hope, the Mets are looking for Misch to have a good day and to share with the catcher Thole. The Mets would also be very happy if the offense kicks in today, and numbers suggest that might occur.

Marquis is 14-9 this season with a 3.60 ERA over 177.1 innings pitched and over his last three games he is 1-1 over 20.0 innings and has a 4.05 ERA. This season against the Mets he is 0-1 after throwing 6 innings, allowed 2 earned runs (three overall), a walk and three strikeouts. Here are some Mets stats against him:
     Castillo 10-27, 2B
     Wright 10-27, 2B, 2 HR
     Francoeur 2-10
     Murphy2-6, 2 2B
For the most part, the attention today will be on Thole just because its his first game and people want to see what he can do. Hopefully he and the Mets will get the win today and avoid the sweep. Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Rockies play another game tonight as the Mets try to reverse their play from last night. Last night's game featured the return of David Wright, and his gigantic helmet, as he went 1-3 with a walk which is great. The Mets will try to revive their offense without Wright tonight who is supposed to get the night off, and to kick start their offense they will need to beat Jimenez who 12-10 this year with a 3.33 ERA over 181.1 innings. He has also been on a roll as of late with 2-1 record over his last three games with 23.0 innings pitched and a 2.35 ERA. Here are some Mets numbers against him:
     Francoeur 1-13, HR
     Castillo 2-5
     Pagan 0-4
     Murphy 1-3
Even if the Mets offense can string some runs together, it going to need some help from the mound to give them a chance to win, and the Mets will look to Tim Redding to help them with that.

Tim Redding is 2-4 this season with a 5.94 ERA over 83.1 innings. In his last three games he has a 1-0 record over 14.2 innings and a 3.68 ERA. Against the Rockies last year he pitched two games with a 1-1 record over 11.0 innings and allowed 8 ER (6.55 ERA). Here are some stats the Rox have on him:
     Atkins 3-15, 2B
     Hawpe 7-14, 2B, 2 HR
     Fogg 1-8
     Helton 1-7
     Barmes 3-8
Lets Go Mets!

After avoiding the sweep in Chicago, the Mets go out west to start a series with the Rockies tonight. The Rockies, although recently cooling off slightly, are in pursuit of the Dodgers in the NL West and would love to use the Mets as a stepping stone to get there. As much as I want to see the Rockies overtake teh Dodgers to get there, I would prefer to see the Mets win a few games right now starting with tonight's matchup of Pelfrey vs De La Rosa.

Remember a little over a week ago when Pelfrey's stats looked nearly identical to his opponent, Hamels? Well tonight is another similar night. Pelfrey is 9-9 on the season and De La Rosa is 12-9. Pelfrey has a 4.80 ERA this season and De La Rosa has a 4.72. Pelfrey has thrown 146.1 innings this year and De La Rosa has thrown 148.2. In Pelfrey's last three games he is 1-1 over 19.0 innings with a 4.26 ERA. De La Rosa in his last three games is 2-1 over 18.2 innings with a 4.34 ERA. Each pitcher picked up the win last time faced the other team going 6.1 innings (the difference being that Pelfrey allowed no runs against the Rockies as De La Rosa allowed 2 runs over that time). They both walked three in those outings and struck out 5. (I love when numbers are very similar).

Here are some Mets offense stats against De La Rosa:
     Castillo 2-7
     Sheff 1-9
     Francoeur 1-3
     Murphy 0-1
     Pagan 1-3
Here are some Rockies stats against Pelfrey:
      Hawpe 1-8
      Barmes 0-8
      Helton 4-5
      Tulowitzki 2-3
      Atkins 0-6

And finally, tonight's game features the return of David Wright to the Mets team after a much missed absense. Lets Go Mets!