The First Place Mets will be back on the field to take on the Braves this afternoon, and after a day off, it feels great to have written this.
The Mets showed off Citi Field and honored the late Gary Carter in style with a 1-0 win over the Bravos this past Thursday as David Wright had the only RBI and Johan Santana pitched 5 shutout innings in his return to the mound after 500 days away due to his shoulder injury and rehab.
With Andres Torres on the DL with another Calf injury, The Mets have called up prospect Kirk Nieuwenhuis to take his spot. He will be wearing #9 and making his Major League debut, less than a year after shoulder surgery on his non throwing shoulder.
The Mets will send R.A. Dickey to the mound against Atlanta pitcher Jair Jurrjens and will look to not only stay in first place, but also stay ahead of the 0-1 Yankees!
And people all thought this season wouldn’t be awesome?
New York Mets Lineup
1. Ruben Tejada, SS
2. Daniel Murphy, 2B
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Ike Davis, 1B
5. Jason Bay, LF
6. Lucas Duda, RF
7. Josh Thole, C
8. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF
9. Johan Santana, SP
Stache Fact:
Atlanta Braves Lineup
1. Michael Bourn, CF
2. Martin Prado, LF
3. Brian McCann, C
4. Dan Uggla, 2B
5. Freddy Freeman, 1B
6. Jason Heyward, RF
7. Juan Francisco, 3B
8. Tyler Pastornicky, SS
9. Jair Jurrjens, SP
Stache Fact:
Pitching Matchup
NYM- Robert Allen Dickey (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 8-13, 3.28 ERA In 2011)
Renowned Author, Mountain Climber and oh yeah, Mets Starter Robert Allen Dicket will take the mound for the Mets as he looks to lead the team to another win and a series win over the Braves. Dickey last season got off to a slow start but got better as the year moved forward. Dickey went 8-13 with a 3.28 ERA last season, but he had a 2.45 ERA over his final 12 starts. The knuckleball specialst led the Mets in innings pitched, does not normally pitch well at the beginning of the season, when cold weather can be a factor. In nine major league seasons, he is 7-8 with a 5.10 ERA in April and went 1-3 with a 3.82 ERA in the first month of the 2011 season. He will look to turn this trend around, However, Dickey is 1-4 with a 4.01 ERA against the Braves in his career.
ATL- Jair Jurrjens (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 13-6 2.95 ERA In 2011)
Jair Jurrjens will take the Mound for the Braves this afternoon and will look to bounce back from an injury plagued 2nd half last year. Last season he went 13-6 with a 2.95 ERA but only had just one victory after the All-Star break and missed all of September with a knee injury. His spring training was not exactly awesome but he did only give up two runs over 13 innings in his final two spring training starts. Jurrjens is 8-4 with a 2.94 ERA in 13 starts against the Mets, but only went 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA last season.
Stache Keys to the Game
1. How does the knuckleball fare throughout the game. We all love and admire R.A. for being such a pro and a fighter and a winner. But he does seem to give up runs late in games an awful lot. It will be interesting to see if his early season troubles continue today. The knuckleball is such a fickle pitch and you just dont know hoe good or bad a guy will be inning to inning, game to game. Thats why you can get to crazy about one start, but I would hope this is a start to go crazy over, in a good way.
2. How will the kid in Center Field do during his MLB Debut? That is a very good question, im no minor league expert, but from what I heard from those kinds of experts, this kid does have the potential to have a future with the Mets. Facing a tough pitcher like Jurrjens and playing in a spacious Center like at Citi Field will be new for Captain Kirk and challenging, but I’m excited to see the results on day one and for the days ahead for the kid.
3. Can the bullpen once again be as solid and effective as on opening day? Much like a knuckleball, a bullpen deals with sudden ups and downs that can drive a fan base batty. The Mets bullpen is something that fans are a bit divided on when it comes to it potential, but I happen to believe it can be a strength of the team. You just wonder if the likes of Byrdak, Ramirez, Rauch and Parnell can get the game to the 9th with the Mets ahead for Lil Benitez in the 9th, the biggest bullpen wild card of them all.
LETS GO METS!
