213 Miles From Shea

Game 37 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:26:42 -0400

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!

Wright and Reyes Projected thru 2008

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:58:42 -0400

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.

Game 36 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:01:34 -0400

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!

Recent Surge

OMmetsfan07 — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:35:32 -0400

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.

Game 35 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:07:43 -0400

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!

Game 33 and 34 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:36:53 -0400

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).

Game 33 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:55:30 -0400

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!

2008 MLB Draft Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:04:23 -0400

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.

Name That Player!

OMmetsfan07 — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:05:37 -0400

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.

Game 32 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:15:58 -0400

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!

Frustration 2: The Lingering Emotion

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:33:15 -0400

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.

Game 31 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:34:28 -0400

The Mets will try to force a rubber game tonight as they take on the red-hot Dodgers and their new pitcher, Kuroda. The Mets will have Figueroa, who has been much better so far this season than anyone has expected. So far he has started in 4 games (pitching in 7), has posted a 2-1 record over 28.2 IP, and posting a 4.08 ERA. There are a few Dodgers that have some AB's against him:
    Jones 4-11, 2B, HR
    Furcal 3-10
    Kent 1-7
Kuroda is pitching his first season in America. So far, he has a 1-2 record, has pitiched 37.2 innings and has posted a 3.82 ERA. The big challenge for the Mets tonight will be getting hits off of them, because as a team, they have really struggled against right handed pitchers. Just take a look at some of these stats. The first BA is vs. RHP, the second BA is vs LHP.
    Church .299, .333
    Reyes .263, .263
    Wright .198, .469
    Beltran .205, .269
I knew Wright was struggling against RHP, but I didn't realize that it was that bad. (On the other side, I didn't realize that his BA against LHP was so good). For Beltran, the difference of his BA between RHP and LHP is the difference between the Mendoza line and his BA last season. This split also shows how balanced Reyes is becoming at the plate.
Anyway, if the Mets can win tonight, it will demonstrate that they have started to figure out RHP, and after yesterday's performance, it would be nice to see some offense.
Force the rubber game! Lets Go Mets!

Frustration

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:34:41 -0400

Last night was as frustrating as the come. The Mets were fresh off an amazing series in Arizona and it was as if a completely different team showed up in Dodgertown. Perez struggled again, and I don't see an end for it because of what the Mets bats do when he is out on the mound. The bats go silent! If Perez has to think that he needs to go 7 innings and allow 0 runs every outing, he is going to continue to mess up. I am not removing blame from Perez because 3 homers is unacceptable. For him to show that it really is the offense that is causing him to lose games, then he needs to at least make some quality starts.
I guess the real frustrating thing is that for first few games this season, Perez was really good. His ERA was 0.00, and he was making strikes and was on a roll. He has to get out of this flunk, now.
Back to the Mets offense. Remember the article I posted not to long ago that showed generally, the winning team leaves more runners on base? Well last night was the frustrating exception to that rule. The Mets left over 3 times the amount of runners on base than the Dodgers did (Dodgers left 2, the Mets left 7). For the Mets to get to the playoffs this year, they are going to need to figure out this hitting with runners in scoring position problem. The numbers in the pregame did not lie about last night. They said that Church would struggle, based on his 0-4 past with Billingsley. That is exactly what happened as he went 0-3 last night bring his history with Billingsley to 0-7.
The bright spots on the night were Sosa and Schoenweis who at least pitched 2 effective innings out of the pen. It was also nice to see Beltran get two hits. Maybe he can separate himself from the Mendoza line.
Lets hope for a better outcome tonight.

Game 30 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:06:06 -0400

Tonight is a test for the Dodgers, a test that the Mets will want them to fail. The Dodgers just ended yesterday a 8 game win streak that pushed them to 3 games above .500. The Mets, who are also 3 games above .500, will try to turn the Dodgers loss yesterday into a losing streak. With momentum from taking a series from the best team in baseball, the Mets will now have to count on Perez tonight as he tries to right his pitching ship. Perez has recent history on his side though tonight. Last year in two games against the Dodgers, he was lights out. In those two games, which he won both, he pitched 14.1 innings where he posted a .63 ERA, walked 8 and struck out 14. Tfollowing Dodgers have put up these numbers against Perez:
    Jones 6-25, HR
    Furcal 4-19
    Pierre 5-20
    Martin 3-7
    Kemp 1-6
The pitcher tonight for Dodgers is Billingsley, who has had very little prior experience with the Mets. So far this season, Billingsley has posted a 1-4 record over 7 games, 27.2 IP, and having a 5.20 ERA. He has only pitched one inning against the Mets, which has been a perfect one. As his number suggest, this season has been a bit of a struggle for him. The only Mets that have numbers against him are Mets that recently joined the team:
    Church 0-4
    Schneider 1-4
    Castillo 1-4
This should be an interesting game. Both teams are trying to establish momentum with this series. If the Mets can figure out Billingsley, because we all know over the past few years that the new pitchers on the block tend to frustrate the Mets, and if Perez can perform like his 2007 numbers suggest, the Mets can get the win tonight.
Lets Go Mets!

MLB.com Power Rankings

OMmetsfan07 — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:43:54 -0400

The newest power pole is in on MLB.com, and despite the Mets current streak of 5 wins out of their last 7 games, they have dropped considerably on the rankings list. Last week the Mets were ranked 7 overall and they dropped all the way down to 14. Personally, I feel that the drop was a reaction to the Mets play the week before this past one. Anyway, they say for the Mets:
"The closer the Carlos Clan -- Beltran and Delgado -- gets to the Mendoza Line, the closer the Mets seem to get to the Fab 15 cutoff line."
While the Mets have been dropping, the Phillies have been rising being the only other NL East team on the list. They jumped from 13 on the list all the way up to 8. MLB.com says:
"Jimmy Rollins not playing, Ryan Howard not hitting -- and still got off to first winning April since 2003."
As anyone can guess, the Diamondbacks led the list, which can be found here.
The Mets are only the second team this year to take a series from the Dbacks, and as the preview will state later tonight, the Mets will have to play momentum stopper again tonight as they handle the Dodgers right after their first loss in 9 games.

I never take too much consideration in these polls. They are fun to read, but when it comes down to it, they are made ahead of time and do not reflect the actual momentum swing of the team. For example, the Rays were just swept and are quickly falling out of the lead in the AL East and they are currently at #7, but the week before when they were on a tear, they were not ranked. So I expect the Mets to be much higher up on the list next week...not that I care or anything.

Game 29 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:45:29 -0400

The Mets try to take the rubber game of the three game set with the Dbacks with another marquee pitching matchup. Neither pitcher has recent history with their opponents, so the pitchers in this game have a major advantage. For the Diamondbacks, Dan Haren makes his seventh start of the season. So far in his 4-1 season, he has pitched 37.1 innings posting a 3.13 ERA. The last time that he pitched against the Mets was in 2005 where he received a No Decision in 7 innings pitched, allowing 2 runs, walking 2 and striking out 4. I was questioning why Randolph had Alou sitting out yesterday until I saw his numbers against Haren:
    Alou 8-14, 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .571 BA/OBP
    Beltran 2-8, 3B
    Reyes, Wright 1-8
Today's game is one of the reasons why the Mets have Santana. The best way to make a statement is to take a series from the best team in baseball. Santana has limited exposure to the Diamondbacks:
    Byrnes 3-13
    Hudson 3-13
    Synder 2-3
If Santana shows up strong today, then the Mets will play strong. Lets hope that Willie uses a lineup similar to Friday, because a lineup like that will be key for the Mets in order to perform this season.
Lets Go Mets!

Korean Baseball Comics

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:23:13 -0400

Have you ever wondered different ways to get your baseball news? Well Choi Hoon does it very differently in Korea. He writes every week a Baseball Comic that talks about different issues. This is one of the first ones I ever saw back in 2006 and I loved the illustration from that game. (I remeber exactly where I was when LoDuca tagged out both Dodger runners at the plate). Anyway, over The International Pastime, I take a closer look into Hoon's more recent comics.
His comics are good, and there is a translation for one over at The International Pastime so check it out!.

Game 28 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 03 May 2008 12:48:37 -0400

The Mets, winner of four of their last 5, go for two wins straight and to get the Diamondbacks into the double digit loss column today as Mike Pelfrey takes on Ace Brandon Webb. Before we get into the preview, has anyone visited the schedule on the Mets official website recently? There is a picture of Indiana Jones on May 22, when the movie comes out. That might be crossing the advertising/commercial line in baseball. I have no doubt though that by the end of the season MLB will do another advertising act that will disappointment more than this one. Anyway back to today's game.
Webb has won all of his stars so far this season posting a 6-0 record over 41.0 innings pitched, 1.98 ERA, 14 BB and 34 K's. The Mets faced off against Webb twice last year, and surprise surprise, the Mets lost to Webb at Shea, and beat him in Arizona (continuing their dominance in Arizona). Overall in 2 games, Webb pitched 14 innings, 3.21 ERA, 5 ER, 5 BB, and 11 K. In the game at Shea, Webb went 8 innings allowing no runs, walking one and striking out 8 meaning that at Chase last year vs. the Mets, he lasted 6 innings, allowed 5 runs, walked 4, and struck out 3. The Mets have some pretty good numbers against Webb:
    Alou 11-23, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .478 BA, .538 OBP
    Beltran 5-20, 2 2B, HR, 3 RBI
    Reyes 7-24, HR, RBI
    Wright, 6-15, .400 BA, .438 OBP
    Church 5-10, 3 2B
This was a great time for Alou to come back, especially with his numbers against Webb. It also seems that one of best surprises for the Mets this year, Church, also has good numbers vs Webb, and hopefully Willie will bat him second again today, as that has been working out pretty well for the Mets this year.
Pelfrey will try to forget about his bad start last week today, as he tries to go back to the form he was in at the start of the season. Last year, Pelfrey pitched a game against Diamondbacks where he took the loss giving up 3 runs over 5.1 IP, walking 4 striking out 1. The Dbacks have these hitting stats against Pelf:
    Young, Hudson, Drew, Burke 0-10
    Jackson 1-2, 2B
    Byrnes 1-1, 2B, BB
The Mets try to lock up the series today and continue winning ways! Lets Go Mets!

Game 27 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:55:14 -0400

The Mets start a very tough series today against the Diamondbacks in Arizona against the hitting sensation, and possibly a pitching sensation, Micah Owings. Owings faced the Mets once last year picking up a no decision in 6 innings pitched, allowing 3 earned runs, 4 BB and striking out 5. The above 4.00 ERA Owings last year is now two ticks below 3.50 this season pitching 5 games with 31 innings pitched to the tune of a 4-0 record.
More amazing is his batting line which is 5 R, 8 H, 2B, HR, 3 RBI (.421 BA) in only 19 AB this season. Last year he hit 4 home runs on his way to a Silver Slugger. In other words, he stands in between Santana and the silver slugger award this year. The bad news really is that the majority of the Mets have poor numbers against Owings:
    Beltran 1-1, HR, 2 BB
    Delgado, Reyes, Wright 0-9, 2 K (Both Delgado)
    Pagan 1-2, 3B, 2 RBI
    Casnova 1-3, 3B
Maine will be pitching for the Mets tonight and last year he was pretty good against the Dbacks. In two games and a 1-1 record he pitched 12 innings, walked one, struck out 14 and posted a 2.25 ERA. With the exception of Jackson, the Diamondbacks struggle against Maine:
    Hudson 2-10
    Byrnes 1-6
    Jackson 4-6
    Young 1-5
    Reynolds 0-3
Owings has no plate appearances against Maine yet, needless to say, he is not the automatic out at the bottom of the lineup. If we get the Maine that we saw in Spring Training this year, the Mets will stand a chance in this game.If we get the Maine that has struggled a bit this year (referring to his first start) then this game will be tough to win, but still winnable. Just forget their record and go for it.
Lets Go Mets!

April Review

OMmetsfan07 — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:08:41 -0400

The Mets first month of the season is in the books and it has been a up and down month as the Mets have shown true brightness, specifically in a five game winning streak, and some dark streaks through several 3 game losing streaks. By the numbers, the Mets have been as high as 4 games above .500 and have ended at two games above .500. With all of this turbulence, the Mets are still only a half game out of first place.
Before we get into player performances, there is one thing I am worried about as I reflect on how I physically feel at the end of this month. I, like all of you who read this blog, do not play for the Mets, and I wonder if you feel as drained as I do. It's not the drained one feels when they burn out, but just watching and reading about the games is like a marathon. This stress cannot be good for the players and I really hope that they take their one game at a time mentality to heart.
Anyway lets start with the first month disappointments and then move to the month heroes and pleasant surprises. I guess Delgado should be listed here, but he has basically been listed here for over a year. Joining him this month is Beltran, who never has hit for high average consistently, but .220? Come on Beltran, you gotta start hitting. Sosa and Heilman are also on this list this month due to their abysmal outings from the pen. They both had very strong Springs and it just turned off once the season started.
This month's heroes are Wright, Wagner and Feliciano. Wright has led the team like he should during rallies. Feliciano has done an extremely good job out of the pen this month posting a 0.96 ERA. Wagner has been amazing with his month with his 0.00 ERA and his 0.42 WHIP.
For the pleasant surprises, they are both being handed two the duo from Washington. Schneider's leadership of the pitching staff has had a real effect, and his bat this month has been much better than anyone expected, especially considering his numbers from the past few season. Church has shown great fielding, but his offense stats are really what got him here. He is hitting well above .500 and his RBI total is second on the team. I have him starting over Beltran in a fantasy league. Lets hope his numbers continue.
May ahead! Lets Go Mets!

Get To Know a Prospect: Lucas Duda

OMmetsfan07 — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:19:49 -0400

By now, you have all heard about the first basemen, Nick Evans and Mike Carp, down in AA who are on a tear. Well one rung below, in A+, there is another first basemen who is starting to get into the groove himself and his name is Lucas Duda. (Duda in college also played in the OF). Duda is not built as a power hitter.When you look at his numbers so far in the minors, he hits a lot of singles, and if he developed better plate discipline, he can be a lead-off hitter. Another possibility is that we have not seen his power yet because he will only be 22 during this season.
Before we get into the numbers, Duda played three seasons at USC. In 2007, the Mets drafted Duda in the seventh round which was pick #243 overall.
Minor League Stats:
07: 67 G, 234 AB, 32 R, 70 H, 20 2B, 4 HR, 32 RBI, .299 BA, .398 OBP
08: 26 G, 103 AB, 14 R, 34 H, 6 2B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, .330 BA, .415 OBP
If you extrapolate his current 2008 stats over 234 AB, as many as he had in 2007 (Brooklyn), he should have 33 R, 77 H, 13 2B, 4.5 HR, 43 RBI. In other words, his stats stay mostly stay the same except for a decrease in doubles and an increase in RBI's. What I am really impressed with is his .330 BA. If he keeps that up for the year, then the Mets will have to consider moving him to AA next year. In the case that AA becomes to crowded with 1B, he can play in OF, he could also be used as trade bait.
He should have a lot more AB this year because he is playing a season of full professional ball, and he already is on pace for AB per game than last year. He should be interesting to keep an eye on and see how he develops.

Not Your Average Give-Away: May Edition

OMmetsfan07 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:30:52 -0400

One of my favorite things about baseball are the promotions. Promotions these days have really started to go down hill overall because most teams are becoming less and less creative. (I don't know about you guys out there, but I really miss the Mets culture week at Shea, it was a fun time). Anyway, there are a few teams in May that have made the effort to produce a promotion that is thinking outside of the box, and in some cases, wacky.
First off, I am sucker for free Jerseys, and this month Oakland has taken that to a whole new level. On May 4th, they are giveing away Retro Jerseys from the 60's that look like they should. They are vests and say Oakland across the chest.
The least creative of the bunch here goes to the Mariners, but by normal standards it is still a creative promotion. On May 30th, they are giving away the JJ Putz Flamethrower Express. It is a model train (engine) that is black with flames and a picture of JJ Putz. They are also have a Putz bobblehead day this month and last month, they gave out models of his facial hair.
On May 23rd, the Astro's are honoring Craig Biggio with a model helmet. The helmet sits on a base, that looks like a baseball base that on one side says his name and has his seasons played on the other side. The helmet itself is what drives this promotion because they put mud and tar stains on it to make it look like an authentic Biggio helmet.
Lastly, the Twins have won this month's most innovative, creative, and wacky promotion. On May 2nd, tomorrow, they are giving away Joe Mauer fishing lures. When I first heard this, I imagined a little Mauer on a hook. Instead what it is is a fish, just like one on a normal lure, except the fish is wearing a Twins Jersey and on the back it says Mauer #7. Good job with this one, its a real fresh idea.

Leaving Men on Base

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:44:16 -0400

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

Game 26 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:34:34 -0400

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

Game Previews, Simulposting

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:10:40 -0400

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

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

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

Can You Offer an Explanation?

OMmetsfan07 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:24:39 -0400

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

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

Game 25 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:06:31 -0400

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

Not Your Average Give-Away: May Minor League Edition

OMmetsfan07 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:30:20 -0400

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

Post Game 24

OMmetsfan07 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:14:34 -0400

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

Game 24 Preview

OMmetsfan07 — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:35:09 -0400

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