213 Miles From Shea

Read: Mets Moves So Far

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:15:00 -0500

Over at Fan Huddle I have reviewed all of the Mets moves so far this off season.

Check it out.

Looking Back the Offseason Trades so far:

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:57:00 -0500

It has barely been a week so far this off season and so far there have been four major trades. The first was Iwamura who was traded to Pirates. The trade wasn't so much as a surprise as Iwamura really didn't fit into the next step of plans for the Rays as they have some talent coming up and Iwamura wasn't working out. Iwamura though still has some promise in the majors so a trade made sense. The suprise though was that he went to the Pirates, who needed to assume a large chunk of his contract. While this omve is good for them, its questionable in terms of why would they take on this contract (especially with their history of not liking to spend money).

The next big move was Teahen (3B or OF) to the White Sox. The White Sox needed someone to play third base and all of the positions that Teahen plays are overcrowded in Kansas City. Onother OF type player was traded as the Marlins sent Hermida to the Red Sox this week. You can read my analysis of the trade over at Fan Huddle.

Finally, Hardy was traded to the Twins for Gomez. In terms for the Twins, this move will be great if Hardy can play like how he used to. Personally, for the Twins, I do not like this trade becuase I like Gomez as a player a lot more than Hardy. Gomez is still developing his bat skills but he is starting to show that he can be a good fast player. His play is starting to remind me a lot of Castillo in the sense that he can slap the ball all over the place and has the speed to make things happen on the base paths. His speed is also an asset in the OF. So I am a bit puzzled by this trade, but thats also because I am biased since I'm a Gomez fan.

Read: I'm Pretty Happy About the Hermida Trade

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:47:00 -0500

Over at Fan Huddle, I wrote about my reactions to the Hermida trade from the Marlins to the Red Sox and why it impacts the Mets.

Read: Debate, Matt Holliday or John Lackey?

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:06:00 -0400

Over at Fan Huddle, I just posted an article about who the Mets should get if they had to pick either one of John Lackey or Matt Holliday.

To save you the suspense, I picked John Lackey. Why? Read the article.

New Orleans Zephyrs Get a Make-Over

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:18:00 -0400

Remember that time we had our AAA team down in New Orleans which didn't really make any sense. And remember that time that their uniforms were terrible, and a city with that much history and should deserve a little more. Well according to milb.com, that has finally happened:

(Image From Milb.com)

Now this is classy. This is nice. This is what they should have had the entire time. Not talking about the color scheme (which is odd, because it is Rays colors and they are a Marlins team, whatever) the physical design looks nice and is something to be proud of.

Good Job Zephyrs, this is a good move.

Read: Disturbing Situation, Who is the Real GM of the Mets?

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:13:00 -0400

Over at Fan Huddle, I just wrote an article about a disturbing situation that occurred this week.

In a report by Peter Gammons, it has become unclear who the real GM is. He states that it really is Jeff Wilpon, with Minaya more as a puppet to accept criticism for bad decisions.

This could do a lot of damage. Read the full article and join the discussion.

Read: The Mets AFL Kicks Off

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:21:00 -0400

Over at Fan Huddle, I just wrote a quick article about the Mets players in the AFL yesterday, including Ike Davis's big day. Here's a quick summary of the stats:

Davis 4-6, 2 2B, GS, 6 RBI
Duda 2-5
Tejada 2-5

Also, Mejia starts today. Check out the link for some commentary on these performances.

The People of Florida Beat Ryan Howard

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:39:00 -0400

First, read this story.

This story raises up the tradition of keeping homerun balls and giving them back. As the article states, the first really famous situation of this was Marris's 61st where Roger wanted the fan to keep it. These situations always boil down to who is the nicer person. Is the fan going to say that I really respect your career and I am going to let you have your milestone back. Or, is the player going to say that I really respect your support, and realize that once that ball leaves the yard it is the fan's property, that I am giving literally to the fans.

While that debate could range on, it is clear, so clear, that the real problem here is the Phillies office skills. Most of the time when either the player doesn't step up (who in my opinion should always offer to) or if the fan doesn't step up, then the fan and the player start a barganing process for the ball. What the Phillies did here was wrong. They took the ball, told the girl she was going to get it back, and then gave her a different ball. Generally, when a fan gives up the ball, they get autographed balls, bats, pictures with the players and chance to meet them. This didn't happen here!

No matter how you feel about who did the right thing, it is safe to say that the Phillies PR department really botched this one.

Read My Case For Dan Murphy

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:45:00 -0400

Hey Readers!

Have you heard of Fan Huddle? Its a new website that features over 200 writers that are writing for every major sport and every team. Well I am the representative writing for the New York Mets. Its a new place and I am starting to get accustomed to it. Anyway, my writing will be split between here and there. Whenever I write something over there, I'll make it known here.

Anyway, here is my article about why we should still play Dan Murphy everyday.

Thanks for all of the support
-Elliot Teichman

Citi Field Goes Back To Its Shea Stadium Roots...In the Way We Didn't Want It

OMmetsfan07 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:40:00 -0400

When switching from Shea to Citi one of the bigger selling points was the Mets were going to transfer from playing in a stadium to playing in a ballpark. That means baseball is the sport that will be played on the Citi Field green.

Oops.

On November 4th the UFL comes to town to play the first ever UFL game in New York. If you haven't heard of the UFL, which most likely you haven't, its a 4 team development league for football. I am really fuzzy on the details, but I know the teams are New York, Florida, Las Vegas and California. California and Vegas played last night. This is a great blog to read, if you like to read complaints about things, because he just rips into the UFL.

Anyway, Citi Field will be a football stadium tomorrow.

Its hard to say though that it actually will be a football stadium considering in last night's game, people who actually watched the game said it looked practically empty.

UPDATE:
Wrong Date of game in the original article, so I changed it.

Last Game Of The Season: Astros vs Mets

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:09:00 -0400

The Mets finish up the 2009 baseball season today as they play they the Houston Astros. While we all have strong feelings about this team, and as a group, have gone through a lot this year, it is always hard to write the last game preview post of the season. Even though we stumbled this season, we still played (something that resembled) baseball, and now we are about to go through the winter without seeing the Mets take the field till late January, play something of a game until March and not play real game until April. In that respect, I'm sad to see the season end as I'm sure many of you are too (I'll be writing more on this later today). Anyway, the Mets have the opportunity to end the seaosn on a very strong note by sweeping the Houston Astros (I believe its possible, this past weekend my high school just ended a 53 game losing streak, so anything is possible). Figueroa will be getting the start against Lopez.

Figueroa is 2-8 on the season with a 4.70 ERA over 61.1 innings of work. In his last three games he is 0-3 over 18.0 innings with a 5.00 ERA however, if you only look at his last 2 games he is 0-2 over 13.0 innings with a 2.77 ERA. So the last two times on the mound Nelson has been getting it done. Here are some stats the Astros have on him:
     Blum 1-13
     Berkman 2-10
     Boone 3-8
     Tejada 0-2
     Keppinger 0-2
To win though he will need something that has not been happening for him in his last several outings, and that is he will need the Mets to score him some runs.

The Mets bats get to face another rookie starting pitcher today and this time its Lopez. Lopez is 0-1 on the season over 14.1 innings and has a 9.42 ERA. This will be his second major league start where last time he lasted 3.2 innings and allowed 5 ER. As a reliever so far he has pitched 10.2 innings and has allowed 10 ER. As you probably have guessed, since he came up on August 28th of this year, no Mets have any batting history in the majors against him. The Mets bats though have been clicking the last few games and all they need is just one more game, and then they get the winter. Lets Go Mets! Finish off 2009 strong! Sweep the Astros!

Game Preview: Astros vs Mets

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:05:00 -0400

The Mes continue their final series of 2009 with the Astros. Last night was an all around solid game for the Mets, one that we can look to build off of for 2010. For me, it was punctuated with the pinch hit homer of the player on this team that has worked the hardest, and is seemingly being written out for next season before Spring Training (in other words I still believe in Murphy). Anyway, the Mets hope to continue to finish this seaosn on a good note with the enigma of Misch vs Bazardo today.

Misch is 2-4 on the season with a 4.33 ERA over 54.0 innings. In his last three games he is 1-2 over 15.1 innings and a 7.04 ERA. Those numbers would have so much worse if it wasn't for his last outing, a 9 inning shutout (yes, he is the only Mets pitcher to do that this year). Basically he went from 1.1 innings with 8 runs to 9 innings with no runs. Incredible. Anyway here are some Astros stats against him:
     Keppinger 1-5
     Blum 2-4, 2 2B
     Matsui 1-4
     Berkman 1-3
Think of it almost as instant karma for the Mets. They go from playing in Washington, where the Nats fans got to see a ton of ex Nationals in the series and now the Mets fans get to see a good amount of ex Mets in this series (some more liked than others).

The Mets will have to deal iwth Bazardo today who is 1-2 on the seaosn witha 8.34 ERA over 27.1 innings pitched. In his last three games he has a 7.53 ERA and a 1-1 record. The only Met batting record I could find this morning was Wright who is 2-2 lifetime against Bazardo. Hopefully the Mets offense comes out like it did yesterday. Lets Go Mets!

Game Preview: Mets @ Nationals

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:47:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview Light: Mets @ Braves

OMmetsfan07 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:55:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Mets @ Braves

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:46:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Mets @ Braves

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:32:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Day Night Double Header Mets @ Philly

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:29:00 -0400

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)

Game Preview: Mets @ Phillies (Game 2)

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:00:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview Light: Mets @ Philly

OMmetsfan07 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:30:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Marlins vs Mets (Game 3)

OMmetsfan07 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:28:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Marlins vs Mets (Game 2)

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:27:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Marlins vs Mets

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:36:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview Light: Cubs vs Mets

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:03:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Cubs vs Mets (Game 2)

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:07:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Cubs vs Mets (Game 1)

OMmetsfan07 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:52:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Mets @ Rockies (Game 3)

OMmetsfan07 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:10:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Mets @ Rockies (Game 2)

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:10:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Mets @ Rockies (Game 1)

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:23:00 -0400

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!

Game Preview: Mets @ Cubs (Game 3)

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:24:00 -0400

The Mets will try to avoid the sweep this afternoon as they play their third straight day game at Wrigley (4th straight day game overall). They started this four game stretch trying to avoid the sweep from the Marlins which they were able to do, and now they will try to do it again today. Trying to lead the sweep will be Carlos Zambrano and he will duel with the Mets' Nelson Figueroa.

Figuroa is 1-3 on the season with a 5.40 ERA over 25.0 innings. In his last three games he is 0-3 over 8.1 innings with a 3.24 ERA. He played against the Cubs twice last season and pitched 6.0 innings, allowed 4 ER, walked 5 and struck out 4. He gets another chance to impress the Mets coaching staff today. Here are the Cubs stats against him:
    Lee 1-12, HR
    Ramirez 4-9, HR
    Fukudome 2-2
    Zambrano 1-4, 2B
Not a lot of Cubs have seen him (which has been a common trend for Mets starters vs the Cubs this week) and hopefully Figueroa will take advantage of that by mixing his pitches (more mixing later in the game) and keeping the Cubs off the bases. He will of course need and welcome any run support the Mets can give him.

The Mets draw Zambrano for the season finale. In his first start back this month he lasted 4.1 innings while allowing 7 hits, 8 ER, 3 BB and 4 K. (Hopefully the Mets will also be able to take advantage of this). On the season he is 7-5 with a 3.80 ERA over 128.0 innings pitched. Last season he pitched two games against the Mets where he was 1-0 over 11.2 innings of work and had a 4.63 ERA. Here are some Mets stats against him:
    Castillo 6-12, 7 BB
    Francoeur 4-17, 2B, 2 HR
    Sheff 3-8, 2B
    Sullivan 2-3
    Murphy 0-2
The Mets offense was clicking early in yesterday's game but as the Cubs piled on the runs the Mets started to shut off, hopefully the Mets offense will be on cylinders again today as they try to avoid the sweep, get the win, and score some runs. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!

Game Preview: Mets @ Cubs (Game 2)

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 09:31:00 -0400

The Mets play the second game of set against the Cubs this afternoon as they try to bounce back from their tough loss yesterday afternoon. In today's game, the Mets will be sending Parnell to the mound who is 3-6 on the year with a 5.08 ERA over 62.0 innings pitched. In his last three games he is 1-2 over 14 IP where he has given up 14 ER (which is mostly due to his last two starts). He faced the Cubs in 2008 for 3.0 innings where he allowed 1 ER, BB, and struck out 2. Here are some Cub stats against him:
     Lee 0-2
     Ramierez 0-1
     Soriano 0-1
     Theriot 1-1
Parnell has struggled in his last two starts but he has had a good season so far (and sadly the last two starts blew up his ERA) so hopefully he can rebound a bit today. He is a big reason why to watch the game today because with the mystery surrounding the roster next year he really could fit into any part of this pitching staff.

The Mets will face a player they have beat up on in the past today in the form of Dempster who 7-7 this season with a 4.07 ERA over 143.2 innings. In his last three games he is 1-2 over 21.0 innings and has a 4.29 ERA. In 2007 against the Mets he allowed 10 ER in only 2.1 innings giving him an 0-2 record that year. Here are the Mets stats against him:
     Sheff 6-18, 2B, 3B
     Tatis 2-13
     Francoeur 3-9, 2 2B
As you can see, the players that have beat up on him in the past are not with the team currently so lets hope that Dempster has a mental block against any player in a Mets uniform. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!