This afternoon at 3:45 pm, the Mets try to take 3 out of 4 from the NL West leading Giants. Chris Young (2-5 4.58 ERA) will face off against Barry Zito (8-7 3.89 ERA).
Last night Jon Niese turned in a great performance going seven strong, with the only blemish being a solo homer by Buster Posey in the Mets 2-1 victory. John Rauch, Tim Byrdak and Bobby Parnell came in to close out the 8th and 9th without allowing a hit.
Today Hunter Pence will join the Giants lineup today for his first game since being acquired in a trade deadline deal.
Today’s game can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN 660 AM.
Today’s Lineups via Metsblog.com
| Batting Order | New York Mets | San Francisco Giants |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ruben Tejada SS | Marco Scutaro 3B |
| 2 | Andres Torres CF | Ryan Theriot 2B |
| 3 | David Wright 3B | Melky Cabrera LF |
| 4 | Scott Hairston RF | Hunter Pence RF |
| 5 | Daniel Murphy 1B | Hector Sanchez C |
| 6 | Jason Bay LF | Angel Pagan CF |
| 7 | Ronny Cedeno 2B | Brandon Belt 1B |
| 8 | Rob Johnson C | Brandon Crawford SS |
| 9 | Chris Young RHP | Barry Zito LHP |
Who’s HOT for the Mets?…Scott Hairston is 9 for his last 19 with 2 homers and 9 RBI’s
Who’s HOT for the Giants?…Buster Posey is 8 for his last 21 with 3 doubles and homer.
Pitching Matchup
Chris Young (2-5 4.58 ERA) gets the nod today. Chris has been getting hit extremely hard of late. In the month of July, he was 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA in 5 starts. In 11 career starts against the Giants, Chris is 3-4 with a 3.03 ERA.
“I look at tomorrow and I plan for tomorrow. I can’t change anything in the past, except for a mechanical adjustment here and there. And that’s it. To me it’s about formulating a good game plan and executing it. … Execute pitches. That’s it. When I’ve executed pitches, when I’ve hit my spots and mixed pitches and executed my game plan, I’ve been pretty good this year.” – Chris Young to the Bergen Record.
Barry Zito (8-7 3.89 ERA) will face Young this afternoon. On Saturday, Zito gave up four runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings during a 10-0 loss to the Dodgers. Zito is 3-2 with a 3.35 ERA in seven career starts against the Mets. He gave up two runs over five innings of a 4-3, 10-inning victory at Citi Field on April 20. Scott Hairston is and David Wright have feasted on lefty pitching this season. So look for Zito to pitch around them to get to Murph/Jason Bay.
