Continue reading »]]>

The Mets head to Pittsburgh to play a 3-game series against the Pirates at PNC Park.  Game 1 will be tonight, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm. The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN660AM.  Be sure to follow @MetsWFAN, @dailystache and @Meriwyn as well.

That lineup…WOW.

Starting pitchers Johan Santana and Erik Bedard have something in common.  Together, they are a combined 3-7 for their teams due solely to lack of run support.  Johan’s track record at PNC Park however may provide some much needed relief for Santana.  He has a 1.80 ERA in Pittsburgh and has held the Pirates to a .176 average.  On the flip side, Erik Bedard hasn’t pitched against the Mets since 2006, and David Wright is the only current Met that has ever faced him.

Part of the Pirates problems is that CF Andrew McCutcheon has been the only one swinging the bat thusfar, much like the Mets with David Wright providing most of the offense as of late.  Speaking of Wright, yesterday he surpassed Jose Reyes on the Mets all-time hit list, moving him into second place behind Ed Kranepool.

The Mets’ starting rotation took yet another serious hit with the news that Miguel Batista (who started out pitching another gem yesterday) would be placed on the DL today with lower back issues.  He says he is feeling better, but he will still most likely miss his next start.

Mets Lineup

Torres, CF - Turner, 2B - Wright, 3B - Hairston, LF - Duda, RF - Rottino, 1B - Cedeno, SS - Nickeas, C - Santana, SP

Pirates Lineup

Tabata, LF - Harrison, RF - McCutcheon, CF - Alvarez, 3B - Walker, 2B - McGehee, 1B - Barmes, SS - McKenry, C - Bedard, SP

Pitching Matchup

NYM: Johan Santana (1-2, 2.89 ERA).  Santana has pitched beautifully so far this year, but  due to lack of run support, he has wound up with no-decisions in 4 out of 5 of his starts. In 5 of his 8 starts, he’s held the opposition to 2 runs or fewer.

PIT:  Erik Bedard (2-5, 3.07 ERA).  No stranger to the injury bug, Bedard has recently been battling back spasms, but did OK against Washington in his last outing keeping the Nats scoreless until allowing consecutive 2- out home runs in the 6th inning.

Stache Keys to the Game(s)

• Forget about the blowouts in Toronto.
• The bullpen is in dire need of help, hopefully Mejia can add some stability.
• Ike Davis better find his groove soon, or he’s facing time in AAA.

May 21st  in Mets History

Happy Birthday to Hank Webb and Tom Martin!

LET’S GO METS!!

Continue reading »]]>

A day after being thrown at second base in yesterday's game, Mike Baxter went 3-for-4 with an RBI on Sunday

The New York Mets salvaged the third game of a three-game interleague series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon defeating the home team by a score of 6-5. The Mets took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and didn’t look back from there.

The Mets jumped on the board first as designated hitter Andres Torres drew a walk as home plate umpire Wally Bell gave the calls to the favor of the batter instead of young starter Henderson Alvarez. Mike Baxter who got the start for the second straight day capitalized with a double to right centerfield to put two runners in scoring position with David Wright coming up. The unofficial-official captain followed with a double of his own up the middle to plate two runs. Two batters later Kirk Nieuwenhuis “doubled” after Colby Rasmus made a diving catch that popped out of the glove as he came to a stop to bring home Wright.

With a 3-0 lead, Dillion Gee took the mound for the Mets and started in similar fashion to Jon Niese on Friday night as Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar reached based then got Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion on strikeouts. This time Gee got catcher JP Arencibia to retire the Blue Jays in the bottom of the first.

Ronny Cedeno got things started with a base hit in the top of the second and was moved over to third on a pair of groundouts. Mike Baxter then laced a ball over the glove of a diving Ben Francisco and made it all the way to third base with a run-scoring triple into rightfield.

After two of the first three batters reached via walk in the bottom of the third, rookie sensation who’s spent less than a week in the big leagues Yan Gomes singled through the left side to scratch across Toronto’s first run. Johnson and Escobar grounded out to end the inning and send the game to the third with the Mets up 4-1.

Jose Bautista cut the lead in half with a solo home run just inside the leftfield foul pole just above the 328 mark in the corner. Gee got the next three batters out with ease to hold the Blue Jays at bay to send the game to the fourth inning.

Baxter picked up his third hit of the afternoon with a single to the opposite field followed by Wright singling while behind in the count to put runners on first and second. Duda reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Wright and put runners at the corners, and was followed by Daniel Murphy who singled up the middle to bring home Baxter to give the Mets a three run lead back. Nieuwenhuis walked to load the bases, and Ike Davis hit a chop that came up on Johnson at second base and allowed Duda to score to put the Mets up 6-2.

Find out how the Mets hold onto their their lead after the jump.

After Escobar reached on a fielding error by Cedeno, the Mets played some nifty plays behind Gee to get him out of the inning. First Bautista hit one right up the middle but Murphy was positioned well and turned the unconventional 4-4-3 double play, then Cedeno redeemed himself with a throw that skipped off the FieldTurf in Toronto that was scooped by Davis to retire the side.

Both teams went down with ease in the sixth inning as the Mets faced Luis Perez who set down New York 1-2-3, followed by Gee’s sixth inning of work which saw him work around a leadoff single from Arencibia. On the third out of the inning Murphy intended to take the short route to retire the baserunner, but instead changed his mind mid-way through and threw the ball across his body to first to end the inning.

Gee hit Yan Gomes to start off the bottom of the seventh, but got the next two batters to bring up Bautista with a runner on second. Bautista singled through the shift to bring home Gomes which also chased Gee from the game to bring on Bobby Parnell. Encarnacion grounded out to end the inning to send the game to the eighth.

Davis doubled to Rajai Davis in right field and moved up to third base on a passed ball, on a wild pitch later in the at bat Davis scampered for the plate but was tagged out as Arencibia threw the ball back to the plate to Carlos Villanueva covering. Cedeno and catcher Rob Johnson followed up with back-to-back singles. Two batters later Baxter walked to load the bases but Wright struck out swining to end the threat.

Arencibia who made the nice play in the top of the inning, started things off with a double in the bottom of the eighth and came around with a second consecutive double off the bat of Eric Thames to trim the lead to two. A pair of batters later Colby Rasmus broke his 0-for-20 slump with a base hit up the middle to score Thames to make the score 6-5, Gomes came up and struck out on a 101 MPH or 162.5 KMH pitch for the second out. Tim Byrdak came on to face Kelly Johnson and got him to fly out to Duda to hold the Blue Jays’ bats in check.

The Mets had a two-on, one-out scenario in the top of the ninth but neither pinch-hitter Scott Hairston nor Ronny Cedeno could do anything as both batters struck out. Frank Francisco came on for the bottom of the inning and walked Escobar, followed by Bautista poking one through the big hole on the right side to put the first two runners on. Encarnacion struck out swinging, as did Arencibia after him for the second out of the inning. Thames came up and Francisco got him swinging to end the ballgame and salvage the third game of the series for the Mets.

Game Ball: Mike Baxter, was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle hit the ball hard every time it was put in play. He was walked in front of David Wright in the top of the eigth but Wright struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Baxter still only has one home run on his Major League record book which came last season with the Mets.

The Mets will hop on a plane with their Pierogi suits on which aren’t as fashionable as the hockey jersies and will make their way to Pittsburgh for a three game set with the Pirates at beautiful PNC Park. Johan Santana will return to the hill as he faces off with another left-hander in Erik Bedard.

Continue reading »]]>

Yesterday afternoon the Mets were shutout by the Blue Jays 2-0.  Brandon Morrow threw a complete game 3 hitter.  The closest the Mets came to scoring was in the 9th inning when with 1 out and a man on 1st, Mike from Whitestone lined one down the right field line and was thrown out at 2nd by Jose Bautista.  The replay showed that Baxter was safe.  Today, Dillon Gee (sans goatee) (2-3 5.64 ERA) faces off against Henderson Alverez (3-3 2.62 ERA).

Note to Mets.  You are 0-3 when wearing cowboys outfits and 0-2 when pretending to be hockey players.  Lets stick to dressing like baseball players!

First pitch is scheduled for 1:07 and can be seen on WPIX and heard on WFAN 660 AM

Today’s Starting Lineups via Metsblog.com

Torres, DH - Baxter, LF - Wright, 3B - Duda, RF - Murphy, 2B - Nieuwenhuis, CF - Davis, 1B - Cedeno, SS - Johnson, C - Gee, SP

Who’s hot for the Mets? Since he’s back in the lineup today…David Wright is! Over the past week, David is hitting .467, and leading MLB with a .409 BA and .510 On base percentage.

Johnson, 2B - Escobar, SS - Bautista, DH - Encarnacion, 1B - Arencibia, C - Thames, LF - Francisco, RF - Rasmus, CF - Gomes, 3B - Alvarez, SP

Who’s hot for the Jays? JP Arencibia is still hot. He’s batting .333 over his last 7 games, with 4 HR and 10 RBI.

Pitching Matchup

Dillon Gee (2-3 5.65 ERA) has not been pitching very well so far this season.  Last time out against the Brewers, Gee got lit up for 7 runs over 5 1/3 innings.  So far in May, he’s 0-1 with a 6.88 ERA.  Gee has been getting slammed the 2nd time through the lineup due to the fact that his changeup has not been very good.  Often at times it has just floated back over the plate instead of diving down in the zone.

Henderson Alverez (3-3 2.62 ERA) will be on the hill for the Jays.  By looking at Alverez’s numbers, one thing pops out.  In 55 inning pitched, he has only stuck out 15 batters.  Having never seen this guy throw a pitch, all I can think of is that he pitches to a lot of contact.  Something that will only help the Mets.  Maybe this is the type of pitcher that can Ike can finally get some good swings off, and hopefully get him out of this slump.

Continue reading »]]>

Buffalo Bisons (26-17, 1/2 GB)

-Buffalo had a very hot week winning six of seven games to put them only 1/2 game back in the division. The Bisons won their final two games in Charlotte before coming home and dropping the first of their four-game set from Gwinnett, which they took the rest of. The team is currently in the midst of a four-game set with Indianapolis and took the first game yesterday by the score of 11-6. If the Indians continue to put the team they had on the field yesterday, Buffalo should have no problem sweeping since their best hitter is hitting .284 and their leadoff hitter is at .091.

-Vinny Rottino had a big game yesterday with five RBI which puts him second on the team with 25 driven in, behind only Val Pascucci who has 32 RBI. In terms of batting average, that title is now held by Fred Lewis (yes the same one who was Barry Bonds’ replacement in SF) after the departure of Bobby Scales for Japan, Lewis is hitting .324 in 74 at bats. Meanwhile in terms of pitching, Jeremy Hefner who was recently called up had a 2.72 ERA before heading to Toronto, while prospects Matt Harvey (4-1, 4.31 ERA) and Jeurys Familia (4-1, 4.35 ERA) are still adjusting to AAA Baseball.

Binghamton Mets (20-20, 4 1/2 GB)

-The B-Mets got back to .500 with a 4-2 week which includes taking two of three from the Trenton Thunder or as the B-Mets publicize them as…the AA-Yankees. The Mets continue their roadtrip with one last game in Portland today before traveling to New Britain for four games and a return home next weekend to take on New Hampshire.

-In yesterday’s 6-5 win over Portland all nine starters had at least one hit including the 4-7 hitters who each had a pair of knocks. The biggest story took place on the mound as Jenrry Mejia threw three innings allowing one run on six hits, then Darin Gorski came on in relief and struggled allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings to bump his ERA up to 4.28. Former starter turned reliever Brad Holt picked up the win allowing a run over 1 2/3 innings as he tries to resurrect his career after being moved to the bullpen midway through last season.

St. Lucie Mets (34-8, 12 1/2 GA)

-This team is perfect, I don’t know what to say about them the next closest team in their division has 12 more loses than they do. The big test this week comes in the form of a four-game set with the Daytona Cubs, the team that knocked the Mets out of the Championship Series last season. The Cubs aren’t the same team they were last season as they are 16-24 entering Sunday and are 10 games back in the North Division of the FSL.

-Darrell Ceciliani is still leading the team in hitting at a .346 clip with only six RBI, next on the list in Wilmer Flores who’s hitting .318 entering today with six homers and 24 RBI, both of which lead the team. Some of the other big name players on St. Lucie are as followed; Wilfredo Tovar (.294, 14 RBI), Cesar Puello (.282, 10 RBI), Robbie Sheilds (.257, 14 RBI), Blake Forsythe (.239, 18 RBI). On the mound Erik Goeddel is back and pitching to a 1.57 ERA through six starts, meanwhile Chase Huchingson has a 2.68 ERA through 40 1/3 innings this season.

-Then there was Danny Muno, earlier this week he was suspended 50 games for the use of performance enhancing drugs. I will admit I was very high on him as I have been following him since being drafted from Fresno State last season, he had a fantastic rookie season with a .355 average last season and was hitting .283 this season with five homers and 23 RBI. Will the Mets allow him to come back after this? Probably but he’ll definitely have some competion since his return will come a month after this year’s draft.

Savannah Sand Gnats (25-16, 3 GB)

-The Gnats had a .500 week this week going 3-3 after Sunday’s game was cancelled because of rain. The team finishes up their seven-game homestand on Wednesday before heading on the road for seven straight as we push towards the end of the month of May. Yesterday Savannah snapped a three-game skid with a 7-4 win over Augusta as first baseman Brian Harrison had a big day with four RBI.

-Bronx, N.Y. native T.J. Rivera is leading the team in hitting right now with a .338 average with five homeruns and 17 RBI as well. Meanwhile 2011 draftee Travis Taijeron continues to impress hitting for both power and average at .281 with eight homruns. Taijeron is tied for the team lead in RBI as well with 27, tied with 3rd baseman Aderlin Rodriguez. Tyler Pill leads the pitching staff with a 2.29 ERA in 39 1/3 innings during his first full season in the Mets minor league system, Alex Panteliodis (3-2, 2.94), Rafael Montero (2-2, 3.05 ERA),  Michael Fulmer (2-2, 3.94 ERA) and Domingo Tapia (3-2, 4.25 ERA) round out the very impressive starting rotation for Savannah.

Continue reading »]]>

Injuries to Mike Pelfrey(above) and Miguel Batista have opened the door for Jeremy Hefner to show what he has got.

After a season ending injury to Mike Pelfrey and some early bullpen woes, the Mets reached down to AAA and recalled Jeremy Hefner. Hefner was placed on waivers twice this offseason, and was eventually picked up by the Mets.

Hefner was brought in to be insurance for the starting rotation, and he has done everything asked of him thus far. Hefner’s first outing was against the Giants where he pitched 3 shutout innings in relief. Yesterday after Miguel Batista left the game with a back injury, Hefner gave up 2 runs in 5 innings. Despite pitching well, Hefner earned the loss on Saturday.

If Miguel Batista has to go on the disabled list, Hefner will get a shot to pitch in the starting rotation. Hefner has 2.72 ERA through 46 innings in AAA as a starter this year. Hefner has never been a high level prospect, but his on field results have been fairly decent. While his minor league numbers are good, I see Hefner as nothing more than a stopgap until prospects like Matt Harvey and Jeurys Famila are ready to pitch at the MLB level.

Hefner has been known to mix in four solid offerings, but his fastball velocity is average to below average coming from the right side. Hefner pitched to an ERA of 4.98 last year at AAA Tuscon. He is not a strikeout pitcher, and he has shown decent control in his Minor League career.

After watching video, several live starts, and his outings with the Mets, I believe that Hefner’s lack of velocity will eventually catch up to him and Major League hitters will adjust to him. He sort reminds me of Dillon Gee, who survived on merely smoke and mirrors for a while. Eventually Gee was caught on to and adjusted to as we are seeing this year.

Overall Hefner isn’t a terrible option at the moment to replace Miguel Batista as of right now. Who knows what lies in the future for him. Eventually I think he will join the likes of Pat Misch and Chris Schwinden, AAA players who struggle to find there niche in the Majors.

Players like Misch, Schwinden and Hefner find success at the AAA level because the hitters they face are generally not used to facing pitchers who throw as many different pitches as those mentioned above. Unlike their minor league counter parts, Major League hitters adjust to pitchers like this rapidly.

I am rooting for Hefner to find success with the Mets, but I think it is unlikely that he is a contributor beyond this season. As always I’d like to hear your thoughts and ideas. You can leave a comment or send me a tweet, @tysim19.

Continue reading »]]>

Batista pitched 2 scoreless innings before leaving the game

Miguel Batusta started the game but left after two quick innings. Jeremy Hefner camewin and pitched decently, but he did allow two runs.

The real issue with today’s game was the Mets could not get anything going against Jays starter Brandon Morrow. Morrow was excellent today, but the Mets lineup was hurting with David Wright sitting out. The Mets rallied in the 9th to bring the tying run to the plate but Daniel Murphy lined out to end the game.

The positives to take out of today’s game are that Hefner pitched very well despite taking the loss and honestley that’s about it. Hopefully the offense wakes up tomorrow and avoids the sweep.

The Mets finish up in Toronto tomorrow befor heading to Pittsburgh for 3 games. Game time tomorrow is 1:07 pm eastern on PIX11.

Full box scores from today’s loss can be seen here.

Continue reading »]]>

This afternoon the Mets try to even this three game interleague set against the Blue Jays at Sky Dome Rogers Centre.  Game time is 1:07 pm.  Last night Jon Niese got lit up for 8 runs in 3 innings.  Niese was throwing batting practice from the get-go, and allowed 4 homers in his 3 innings of work.  Today Miguel Batista will be throwing batting practice for the Mets and will be opposed by flame thrower Brandon Morrow.

The game can be seen on WPIX and heard on WFAN 660 AM.

Starting Lineups via Metsblog.com  ****WARNING**** David Wright is NOT in the lineup today

New York Mets

Torres, CF - Baxter, DH - Murphy, 2B - Duda, RF - Davis, 1B - Turner, 3B - Nieuwenhuis, LF - Cedeno, SS - Nickeas, C - Batista, SP

Who’s hot for the Mets?   Since David Wright isn’t in the lineup today, it’s Daniel Murphy.  Over Murph’s last 7 games, he’s raking at a .458 clip.  He’s raised his average to .331.

Toronto Blue Jays

Johnson, 2B - Escobar, SS - Bautista, RF - Encarnacion, 1B - Arencibia, DH - Rasmus, CF - Gomes, 3B - Mathis, C - Morrow, SP

Who’s hot for the Blue Jays?  Anyone who played last night…just joking.  Catcher JP Arencibia is on fire.  JP has 4 homers, 10 RBI’s and is hitting .400 over the past week.

On The Mound

For the Mets, Miguel Batista (1-1 4.26 ERA) is looking for back to back good starts since taking over in Mike Pelfrey’s spot in the rotation.  In his last start vs. the Brewers, Batista went 7 strong, only allowing 4 hits and no runs.  The Mets have won Batista’s last two starts and are in need of another good start today after Jon Niese’s terrible performance yesterday.

Brandon Morrow (4-2 3.08 ERA) is on the hill for the Blue Jays.  Morrow is finally coming around at putting up the numbers he was supposed to when he came up with the Mariners a few years ago.  He’s figured out how to his the glove and his numbers have shown it.    Once just a flame thrower, Morrow has cut down on the walks by sacrificing just a little velocity.  Kind of what Bobby Parnell has been doing for the Mets.  Up until his last outing against the Rays, Morrow had won his past 4 starts, only giving up 2 runs over those 4 starts.

Continue reading »]]>

The Mets lost to the Reds this evening by a score of 6-3.  Their record now sits at 20-17 for the year. Overall this was a rather upsetting loss as the Mets had a two run lead in the 8th inning.

The Reds opened up the scoring thanks to some heads up base running by Mike Leake, who pitched a solid game tonight earning a quality start.

The Mets scored to tie the game in the 3rd inning on a Lucas Duda single. Lucas was 3-4 tonight and it looks like he is finally heating up.

In the 6th, Ike Davis had a nice RBI hit down the first line to drive in Duda to take a 2-1 lead. The Mets then pulled of their second successful squeeze bunt in three games with Nickeas at the plate.

Todd Frazier cut the lead to a singleturn with a solo shot to CF off Johan in the 7th. Santana ended up earning the no decision going 6.2 innings while giving up 2 runs.

After some poor bullpen management, Brandon Phillips tied the game with and RBI single. Soon after Jay Bruce hit a sacrifice fly and the Reds took a 4-3 lead. DJ Carrasco then entered the game and Todd Frazier took him deep on the first pitch, extending the Reds lead to three runs.

Aroldis Chapman and Sean Marshall closed out the game for the Reds.

This was a very disappointing game because it was a very winnable game. Santana pitched amother great game but some mismanagement of the bullpen cost him another win. I felt that Bobby Parnell should have started the 8th inning after throwing only 5 pitches in the 7th.

Other than Santana’s good start, it is a promising sign that Lucas Duda is heating up as the middle of the order needs to start producing more, and it gives David Wright some protection.

The Mets play and afternoon game tomorrow, with RA Dickey taking on Matt Latos. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm eastern.

Full box score from tonight’s game can be seen here.

Continue reading »]]>

In case you missed it last night, the Brewers versus Mets game last night seemed completely unremarkable until the seventh inning, when D.J. Carrasco, who was supposed to just be mopping up a blowout loss, hit Ryan Braun with a fastball. The incident came right after Ricky Weeks had homered off of Carrasco to make the score 8-0, and although it doesn’t seem like Carrasco intentionally threw at Braun, he was ejected from the game anyway.

With the game out of hand, Terry Collins pinch hit for David Wright in the bottom of the inning. Collins figured Wright would be targeted by Milwaukee starter Zack Greinke in a retaliatory move, so he did what he had to do to protect his star.

“He’s not getting hurt in that game tonight,” Collins said. “Believe me, I’m not accusing them of anything. I just know what might have taken place and I was trying to avoid it.”

Wright was visibly upset at Collins for pulling him from the game. It seems Wright was content to allow the Brewers to have their retribution and end the incident right there. Instead, there was no opportunity for Milwaukee to strike back.

The Mets don’t play Milwaukee again until mid-September, so this will probably just stay on the shelf until then. Right now, the Mets will just try to win more baseball games. That starts tonight against the Cincinnati Reds, who send Mike Leake to the mound to duel against Johan Santana. The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN 660.

Mets Lineup

Nieuwenhuis, CF - Baxter, LF - Wright, 3B - Duda, RF - Muprhy, 2B - Davis, 1B - Turner, SS - Nickeas, C - Santana, SP

Andres Torres is getting the night off, with Kirk Nieuwenhuis moving up to the lead-off spot and Mike Baxter taking over left field while batting second. Since coming off the disabled list on a hot streak, Torres has cooled off some, with no hits in the last three games. He’s batting .241/.369/.352 on the season. Meanwhile, Baxter has been ridiculously hot even though he hasn’t gotten consistent playing time at all. In his last four at-bats (dating back to May 11), Baxter is 4 for 4 with three doubles.

Cincinnati Reds Lineup

Cozart, SS - Stubbs, CF - Votto, 1B - Phillips, 2B - Heisey, RF - Ludwick, LF - Frazier, 3B - Mesoraco, C - Leake, SP

The Reds haven’t made much of an impression on offense this season. They rank 12th in the National League in runs scored with 134 and 15th in on-base percentage with a .302 average, but they are also sixth in slugging with a .387 mark. The most dangerous guys are mega stud Joey Votto and fellow lefty Jay Bruce. It’s the Mets lucky day because Bruce is getting the day off, but he’ll almost certainly appear if the Mets bring in a right-handed reliever while the game is close. Votto is his normal amazing self this season with a .311/.465/.571 line, and he’s also the rare left-handed hitter who doesn’t melt against lefty pitching.

Pitching Match-up
NYM — LHP Johan Santana (2.92 ERA, 41 K, 12 BB)
Santana’s return to ace form has been the most pleasant surprise of the Mets season so far. It almost makes up for Ike Davis not hitting. Although Santana has finally started allowing home runs in his last two starts, he’s still be striking guys out at a rate that suggests he may have never had a serious shoulder injury. Last time out, against Miami, Santana allowed three runs in the first inning before pitching splendidly for the next five. Although he didn’t get the win in that one, the Mets have a great shot at one every time Santana takes the hill.

CIN — RHP Mike Leake (7.11 ERA, 16 K, 11 BB)
Two years ago, Mike Leake made news by going straight to the Reds rotation without pitching even one inning in the minor leagues. Last year, he made news because he stole t-shirts. This year, he hasn’t made much news; he’s just been an incredibly lousy pitcher. In 2011, Leake was a pretty good back-end starter with a 3.86 ERA and 4.22 FIP in 167.2 innings, but this season, he’s got a 7.11 ERA and 5.55 FIP in his first 31.2 innings. Leake’s strikeouts are down almost two per nine innings and his walks are up about one per nine. He’s also forcing 8% less ground balls than before. Bascially, everything about Leake as a pitcher is bad right now, and if he doesn’t improve soon, the Reds will probably give his rotation spot to Aroldis Chapman or someone else. Here’s what Red Reporter wrote last week:

I’m not sure what to make of Mike Leake. Leake’s skill has always been ground balls with no walks to make up for his modest strikeout rate. That’s not happening so far this year, and his strikeouts are well below his career average. His swinging strike %, however, is actually up, as is velocity. It almost suggests a difference in approach, but it could also just be a small sample size issue. I’ve always liked Leake, so I hope he can get it going again.

It’s never too much fun to see a young pitcher struggle like this, but hopefully the Mets can take advantage and get Santana some runs tonight.

Continue reading »]]>

Terry Collins was right…twice.  First, he stood up for Miguel Batista, saying he was going to get many more chances to prove himself as a starting pitcher.  Well, tonight he did more than prove himself, throwing 7 scoreless innings of 4-hit ball.  He stymied the Brewers tonight, with Tim Byrdak and Bobby Parnell taking care of the 8th inning.  On a side note, Bobby Parnell has allowed only 1 run in his last 12 appearances (11 innings)…quite an improvement from last year.

Terry’s second triumph came tonight after Frank Francisco managed to close out the game.  Yes, things looked shaky there for a bit and he gave up a run, but Terry was very forthcoming about how adamant Francisco was about wanting to get back on the mound and pitch.  Francisco picked up his 9th save in the process.  It was a heck of a risky move, but I have to give Terry credit for having faith in his closer.  Hopefully it will give Francisco a confidence boost and he’ll continue to improve.

Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo certainly had his problems tonight, including his catcher Jonathan Lucroy.  The two couldn’t seem to get their act together, and both endured a “talking to” from their pitching coach between innings.  Gallardo somehow managed to keep the Mets to only 2 runs however, during his 6 innings pitched.

Turning Point

Ronny Cedeno laid down the perfect suicide squeeze bunt, allowing Daniel Murphy to score in the 6th.

Moment(s) of Note

Cedeno’s textbook-perfect suicide squeeze that enabled Murphy to score from 3rd, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead in the 6th.

Aramis Ramirez bobbling the ball and dropping it during a run-down with David Wright, allowing the Mets to score a much-needed insurance run, making it 3-0.  The pitcher he scored against?  None other than old friend K-Rod.

David Wright with another great night on defense, making two great plays to keep the Brewers off the board until the 9th inning.

Game Ball

Daniel Murphy, the Irish Hammer, who continues to produce in clutch spots, and simply gets better on defense every single night.

Next Game

Dillon Gee (2-2, 4.78 ERA) will take the mound tomorrow against Zack Greinke (3-1, 3.35 ERA) as the Mets (20-15) and the Brewers (15-20) play game 2 of their 2-game series at CitiField tomorrow night at 7:05 pm EST.  The game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN660 AM. @MetsWFAN @dailystache @Meriwyn

Let’s go METS!!