The San Diego Padres are just one of those teams that have proven to be absurdly pesky to the New York Mets. Game two of this four game set against the Friars rolls on tonight after San Diego rolled over New York last night making Jeremy Hefner’s start a miserable one.
A bland Padres lineup tagged Mets pitching for 11 runs. With the shaky Dillon Gee on the mound tonight, it’ll be rough going trying to turn that around against an offensive opponent that could continue to be formidable.
It seems like every week the Mets face a new a starting pitcher when I cover a game. Although he’s never started against the Mets before, Anthony Bass was solid in four relief appearances last year. Maybe that will be enough of a scouting report for the Mets to figure out this crafty youngster before he has Citi Field on lockdown tonight.
4-6 in their last 10 games, the Mets have reached a bit of a stalemate with their schedule, which is quite alright considering that they still sit above .500 and above the Phillies in the schedule. The Mets will meet the Phillies in the back end of this seven game homestand. Now is the time to string some wins together.
Lineups courtesy of MetsBlog.com
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New York Mets1) Mike Baxter LF
2) Kirk Nieuwenhuis CF 3) David Wright 3B 4) Lucas Duda RF 5) Daniel Murphy 2B 6) Ike Davis 1B 7) Ronny Cedeno SS 8 ) Rob Johnson C 9) Dillon Gee RHP |
San Diego Padres1) Will Venable RF
2) Cameron Maybin CF 3) Yonder Alonso 1B 4) Jesus Guzman LF 5) Chase Headley 3B 6) John Baker C 7) Andy Parrino SS 8 ) Everth Cabrera 2B 9) Anthony Bass RHP |
Matchup
NYM: Dillon Gee (3-3, 5.44 ERA) Gee is coming off a win last Sunday in Toronto, but the early going of 2012 has not been too kind to him. Maybe his good fortune will continue in his second start sans goatee. Gee beat the Padres last year and I think he is due to level out. The number of long balls he is allowing this year is very much a concern. He really needs to simmer and patiently pitch through batters. His strikeout rate is way up as well. Tonight might not be the best indicator of what direction Gee’s season goes in this year, but he could certainly use a positive outing.
SDP: Anthony Bass (2-4, 2.89 ERA) The Mets faced Bass in about four innings last year. He was mostly effective, so now it is his turn to start against the Metropolitans. He’s allowed just four earned runs in his last 19.2 innings of work. His record can’t be taken seriously when you look at that ERA. His solid WHIP and his 51 strikeouts also speak for himself. He took a no hitter late into a start a few weeks ago and he could easily pull something like that again.
Stache Keys to the Game
- Obviously David Wright needs to lead the charge tonight. As the hottest hitter in the game right now, he can and probably will.
- Anthony Bass has been tough on lefties and the Mets have five in the lineup tonight. Need I say more?
- Gee should get the job done tonight. Don’t get overintimidated by this San Diego lineup. Go out there and throw strikes.
Slated for a 7:10 PM ET start, catch the game live on SNY and WFAN 660.
