The All-Star break is in the rear view and the trade deadline is on the horizon. Talks of the Mets aiming to pick up a reliever to continue as the Mets return home to play host to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This isn’t the same Dodgers team the Mets handled extremely well on the west coast last time around, as Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, the two blue centerpieces in L.A., are back in the lineup.
Both teams are sitting in the same boat for the most part; struggling to stay ahead of the curve in their division and flailing in contention for wild card spots. Each teams enters tonight 3-7 in their last ten games.
The Mets dropped nine runs on the Nationals yesterday afternoon on three home runs from the middle of the order and will see if that can sufficiently charge the bats heading into a team with pitching that they have already succeeded against within the last month.
On a day in which Terry Collins declared Johan Santana perfectly healthy, Johan will take the mound tonight with any concern about an impending innings limit on the season. Aaron Harang will toss for the Dodgers tonight meaning the lefty bats will get plenty of action for the Mets.
Already 3-1 against the Dodgers this year, the Mets will try to build on that in front of the home crowd tonight. They are staying afloat at two games over .500 despite this past sluggish week. The Dodgers are in danger of losing ground to the San Francisco Giants if this series against the Mets goes anything like the previous one.
Lineups
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New York Mets
1) Ruben Tejada SS
2) Daniel Murphy 2B 3) David Wright 3B 4) Ike Davis 1B 5) Lucas Duda RF 6) Jason Bay LF 7) Andres Torres CF 8 ) Josh Thole C 9) Johan Santana LHP |
Los Angeles Dodgers
1) Bobby Abreu LF
2) Mark Ellis 2B 3) Matt Kemp CF 4) Andre Ethier RF 5) Juan Rivera 1B 6) Jerry Hairston Jr. 3B
7) Luis Cruz SS 8 ) Matt Treanor C 9) Aaron Harang RHP |
Matchup
NYM: Johan Santana (2-2, 3.59 ERA) The truth here is that Johan Santana has simply not been great since his no-hitter on June 1. He has been very two-faced with either an excellent start or an abomination. His last two starts have been horrifying, having allowed 13 in his last 9.2 innings of work. He did toss a gem on June 30 against the Dodgers however, providing the Mets with eight scoreless innings in an easy 5-0 win. Sure his strikeout rate is down and he’s had his ups and downs, but he has that no-no under his belt and he is reportedly completely healthy. There’s still more to look forward to from Johan Santana.
LAD: Aaron Harang (6-5, 3.53 ERA) One would not have expected Harang to have the lowest ERA in tonight’s matchup, especially taking into account the way he was roughed up by the Mets on June 29. He walked four in that 9-0 loss, but has returned to form with his control in his last two starts. Interestingly enough, Harang has had grip on left-handed hitters this season, allowing an average of .257.
Stache Keys to the Game
- To state the simple and obvious, the Mets need to do what they did last time out against the Dodgers. Some craft from Santana will go a long way tonight.
- Fire up the left-handed bats against Harang and shatter his numbers.
- The bullpen has something to build on from last night. No more jitters. It would be nice to see some one, two, three innings down there as well.
Slated for a 7:10 PM ET start, catch the game live on SNY and WFAN 660.
