There was a nasty rumor circulating around the interwebs the other day that the player to be named later in the Kelly Shoppach deal was Pedro Beato. We were all fleeced. In fact, the player to be named later was WPIX, the basic cable home of the NY Mets. It was a shame that Cablevision subscribers missed out on a fantastic Jonathan Niese start and an impressive Ike Davis home run. Niese went 7 1/3 innings with 7k’s and no walks in the Mets 2-0 win.
Today Gio Gonzalez (15-6, 3.29 ERA) goes for his 16th win for the Nats and will face off against Jeremy Hefner (2-4.76 ERA) for the Mets.
Today’s scheduled first pitch is for 1:35. The game can be seen on…uh, in person, or if you have a Russian satellite, on WPIX, and heard on WFAN 660 AM.
Today’s Starting Lineups via Metsblog.com and Rotoinfo.com
| Batting Order | New York Mets | Washington Nationals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andres Torres CF | Jayson Werth RF |
| 2 | Justin Turner 2B | Bryce Harper CF |
| 3 | David Wright 3B | Ryan Zimmerman 3B |
| 4 | Scott Hairston RF | Adam LaRoche 1B |
| 5 | Ike Davis 1B | Michael Morse LF |
| 6 | Ronny Cedeno SS | Ian Desmond SS |
| 7 | Jason Bay LF | Danny Espinosa 2B |
| 8 | Kelly Shoppach C | Kurt Suzuki C |
| 9 | Jeremy Hefner RHP | Gio Gonzalez LHP |
Who’s HOT for the Mets?…Ike Davis is 6 for his last 19 with 2 homers and 6 RBI’s
Who’s HOT for the Nats?…Danny Espinosa is 11 for his past 23 with 2 homers and 5 RBI’s
Pitching Matchup
Jeremy Hefner (2-4 4.76 ERA) has pitched our of the bullpen in his last 3 appearances, but has joined the rotation again. The Mets will now go with a 6 man rotation from here on out. In Jeremy’s last start on Aug. 4th against the Padres, he was very good. He went 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 run and struck out 2. in 2 career starts against the Nats, Jeremy is 0-2 with a 3.75 ERA.
For the Nats, Gio Gonzalez (15-6, 3.29 ERA) goes for his 16th win of the season, which would tie a career high. In his last start against the Giants, Gonzalez cruised through 6 2/3 innings, only allowing 2 runs (on a 2 run homer) in a 14-2 thrashing. Gonzalez allowed 1 unearned run and 2 hits in 7 innings in a 5-2 victory at New York on July 24. Just five days after a 9-5 home loss to the Mets in which he gave up a season-high 6 runs in 3 1/3 innings.
