Good afternoon baseball fans! Tonight the Mets have a rare opportunity to go for a sweep in the city of Philadelphia when they take on the Phillies starting at 7:05 PM. Of course, that’s all assuming that this is the real city of Philadelphia they’re playing in and not just a computer-generated version that only exists in our minds.
Anyway, last night the orange and blue crew survived a Miguel Batista start and we now get to enjoy a potentially more fun Dillon Gee outing. Cliff Lee is on the mound for Philadelphia, and he has been tremendous so far this season, despite not having “won” any of his starts (just like Johan used to be!). Hopefully the Mets can keep that sad trend going and put another tally in the win column tonight. The game will be televised on SNY and you can also listen to the radio broadcast on WFAN 660.
Mets Lineup
1. Andres Torres, CF
2. Daniel Murphy, 2B
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Scott Hairston, RF
5. Vinny Rottino, LF
6. Justin Turner, SS
7. Ike Davis, 1B
8. Rob Johnson, C
9. Dillon Gee, RHP
Davis and Murphy are the only two lefties in the lineup today versus the left-handed Lee. Hairston hit a home run against Lee last month, so he gets to hit cleanup. It’s mostly because there’s no one else in this lineup that’s even qualified to hit cleanup. Vinny Rottino will get his first major league start of the season in left field, while Rob Johnson gets the same honor at catcher. With the day off tomorrow, I’m not sure what the point of resting Nickeas is, but Terry has been spot on so far this season, so we’ll see how it goes.
Philadelphia Phillies Lineup
1. Jimmy Rollins, SS
2. Juan Pierre, LF
3. Shane Victorino, CF
4. Hunter Pence, RF
5. Placido Polanco, 3B
6. John Mayberry Jr., 1B
7. Brian Schneider, C
8. Freddy Galvis, 2B
9. Cliff Lee, LHP
This Phillies lineup is probably a little more imposing than the Mets today, although that’s like saying a sheep is more imposing than a lamb. Last night, Charlies Manuel tried to go for offense at second base with Pete Orr, but all he got was a game-changing error (although Orr did go 2 for 4 with an RBI). Now Galvis is back in there. The Mets also get to see old friend Brian Schneider, which is very welcome considering how well Carlos Ruiz has hit this season. There’s a lot of speed at the top of the Phillies order, so hopefully Rob Johnson can throw.
Pitching Match-up
NYM — Dillon Gee (4.50 ERA, 29 K, 8 BB)
Gee has been really good so far this season, but his ERA doesn’t really show it because of one bad game against San Francisco in which he allowed seven runs, including two home runs, in 6.2 innings. Even in that game, Gee maintained a solid strikeout-to-walk ratio with five punch outs and only one free pass. The deal for this season is that when Gee doesn’t give up home runs, he rolls along thanks to his solid control. Gee just turned 26 and his FIP of 3.69 this season is down from last season’s 4.65, so things are looking up for the right-hander. He’s also getting more groundballs this season with a rate of 53.8% (up from 47.4% in 2011).
PHI — Cliff Lee (1.96 ERA, 18 K, 2 BB)
It’s pretty amazing that Lee doesn’t have any “wins” on his record when you look at how well he’s pitched so far this season. Part of the problem has been that Lee missed his last two starts with a strained oblique, and part of the problem has been really poor run support. In his last start before the injury, Lee pitched 10 scoreless innings in San Francisco with seven strikeouts and no walks before finally leaving the game and watching his team lose 1-0. His worst start so far was the one Lee made against the Mets on April 13. Jason Bay hit a two-run homer in the first inning of that game, and the Mets quickly went up 3-0. Lee settled down after that with seven strikeouts and no walks in seven innings, but R.A. Dickey was awesome and the Mets won 5-2. Since this is Lee’s first start off the disabled list, he’ll be limited to around 85 pitches, which is a huge break for the the Mets tonight.
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