Hello everyone and welcome to another sad day of Mets baseball. I’ve tried to keep up the optimism as much as anyone in the Mets blogosphere, but times have been extra bleak lately. The Mets have dropped the last two at home to the lowly Rockies, and now they’ve only one loss ahead of the cellar dwelling Marlins.
Today we got the news that Johan Santana will not pitch in the majors again this season. Yesterday’s MRI showed imflammation in Santana’s back and general manager Sandy Alderson believe it would be best for Santana if he sits out the rest of the season. Surgery will not be necessary. Alderson said this afternoon that he does not believe that the injury is due to overuse or to the heavy workload Santana underwent in his June 1 no-hitter.
We also won’t be seeing Kirk Nieuwenhuis again this season. The rookie outfielder is being shut down in order to recover from plantar fasciitis.
Today’s game versus the Rockies will feature Matt Harvey on the mound for the Mets. First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
#Mets Wednesday lineup vs. Colorado: Tejada-6; Cedeno-4, Wright-5, Hairston-9, Davis-3, Bay-7, Torres-8, Shoppach-2, Harvey-1— New York Mets (@Mets) August 22, 2012
Ike Davis is the only lefty in the lineup against the left-handed Jeff Francis. Jason Bay will get another chance to show us something before what is starting to feel like his inevitable dismissal this offseason. Also, Ronny Cedeño gets a well-deserved start to spell Daniel Murphy at second base.
#Rockies lineup 8/22 at NYM: Blackmon9, Herrera6, Fowler8, Gonzalez7, Rosario2, Colvin3, Nelson5, LeMahieu4, Francis1.— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 22, 2012
Carlos Gonzalez is back in the lineup tonight after missing the first two games of the series due to the death of his grandfather. Gonzalez has hit a fearsome .320/.389/.542 this season, but he’s only .242/.312/.414 in road games. Of course, even modest offensive numbers have been enough to beat the Mets these days.
Pitching Match-up
NYM — Matt Harvey (3.00 ERA, 34 SO, 13 BB)
Harvey was fantastic in his last outing against Cincinnati and given that even Chris Young managed to strike out nine Rockies last night, there’s reason to believe that tonight could be similarly fruitful for the rookie righty. Harvey has been very impressive in his transition to the majors so far. His strikeout and walk rates are similar to those he posted in Buffalo, which speaks to both Harvey’s stuff and his command.
COL — Jeff Francis (6.07 ERA, 41 SO, 15 BB)
Francis has not just been victimized by Coors Field this season. He’s actually allowed seven of his 12 home runs on the road, but like I said before, the Mets haven’t exactly been crushing it lately. Besides, Francis’ high rate of home runs allowed seems kind of fluky given his relatively high ground ball rate this year. Francis also walks very few, so the Mets may have to earn their way on base tonight.
