Tag: phillies

Big Sexy And Asdrubal Crush Phils

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Final Score: Mets 9, Phillies 4

Don’t look now but the Mets are starting to play consistent baseball. Well actually they were playing consistent baseball before too. For months they consistently had strong pitching and couldn’t buy a hit with runners in scoring position. Now the Mets consistent brand of baseball looks like this: 1) Score a bunch of runs 2) Give up a bunch of runs over the course of the game but hold on for the win 3) Lose a bunch of guys to injury every night. Really the only difference is we score now and the pitching is worse. The injuries have been a constant. Either way, last night was awesome. The Mets scored nine runs on Yo t-shirt night, Big Sexy looked great, and we survived two more injuries. The Mets have won 5 of 6. Keep streaking please.

Back To Back Blondes: Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera led off the game with back to back home runs from the right side of the plate. The lefty starter Adam Morgan never stood a chance. Our new Team Platoon crushes lefties now. And the platinum blonde look is really doing wonders for Asdrubal and Jose. Can you imagine if Bartolo Colon came out for his next start rocking blonde hair? The internet would explode. Team blonde is very tempting though. I’m willing to cling to any magic good luck charm at this point.



The Best Platoon Of All Time: In the bottom of the fifth inning, Bartolo Colon ripped a double to left center field for his first hit of the game and then Jose Reyes doubled. And on the Reyes double Colon only advanced to third. Colon is really the most entertaining man in baseball. Everything he does is magnificent. Anyway, with two outs the Phils walked Neil Walker to load the bases and Wilmer Flores hit a grand slam to make it 6-1 Mets. He’s batting almost .350 against lefties, and he has 10 bombs against them. During the game I was imagining a modern day platoon of Wilmer Flores and Babe Ruth. Can you imagine The Great Bambino being lifted against a situational lefty in favor of old Wilmer?

Home Plate Double Up: In the 6th inning, Alejandro De Aza walked and Travis d’Arnaud doubled him home to make it 7-1. Bartolo Colon followed that with a single which allowed Travis to advance to third. Then Jose Reyes hit a routine fly out to left center and Travis d’Arnaud was doubled up trying to tag up and score. Also of note on the play was the collision of d’Arnaud and Cameron Rupp at home. Remember when MLB said that blocking the plate and home plate collisions were abolished? Whoops!

The Other Side: Anyway Asdrubal Cabrera followed that double play with a two-run homer to make it 9-1 Mets. It was his second homer of the night and this one came from the left side of the plate. Asdrubal also made two fantastic plays in the field in the fourth inning and the eighth inning. I hate that all the defensive metrics say he has no range. He may lack range but the guy makes every routine play and many spectacular plays as well.

Big Sexy Night: Bartolo Colon pitched 7 strong innings. He had a no-hitter going through 4 and only gave up one run through 7. Unfortunately he fell apart in the 8th inning and gave up 3 more runs. But his 7 inning 4 run line was enough for the win.

The Death Toll: Justin Ruggiano departed the game with shoulder discomfort and Sean Gilmartin had a bloody finger nail or something. There’s not much else to say. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Or maybe they won’t. I don’t know.

Today: Noah Syndergaard on the mound tonight. The Mets must keep streaking. Take this game tonight. Surge! Surge! Surge!

Thank deGod for deGrom

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Final Score: Mets 5, Phillies 0

Thank you sweet Jesus for my man Jacob deGrom. The Mets needed to win this series in Philly real bad. Keith Hernandez called it a “must win” since the Nationals expanded their division lead to 7 games last night. And Jacob deGrom delivered in the biggest way possible with a complete game one hit shutout. It was the first complete game of deGrom’s career which is kind of insane considering how fantastic he’s been since his debut in 2014. With the Mets offense being as bad as it is, it often feels like a complete game shutout is needed for this squad to stand a chance. Well we got what we needed today. Jake told Terry at the All-Star Break that he felt gassed. I think these days off obviously helped him. He’s the ace we need for the dog days of summer. I fully expect him to continue his dominance the rest of the way. Also, the only hit against deGrom was by the Phillies starter Zach Eflin. Of course.

He’s Hot So He Plays: In the second inning with one out, James Loney singled and advanced to second on a throwing error by Zach Eflin. Then Juan Lagares hit a two out RBI triple to right field to make it 1-0 Mets. Juan Lagares has been hot at the plate lately. Juanny is hot, therefore he plays until he’s not. It ain’t rocket science folks. Plus Yoenis Cespedes‘ legs have been barking all season, and he thinks playing center field has put additional strain on the legs. Terry said postgame that Yo prefers left field. Soooo that means we’ll play Juan Lagares our hot hitting gold glove center fielder a little more this month. Fine by me. Yo is our best player, and we need to accommodate him in every single way. Michael Conforto also didn’t start in Vegas today. There’s been some rumors that he may get called back up to the big club for the Cubs series. Whenever he gets the call, we’ll find a way to play everyone. I’m not too worried about it.

Double Steal: In the 5th inning with two outs Jacob deGrom singled, and Jose Reyes drove him in with a double making it 3-0 Mets. Then Curtis Granderson walked, and Cespedes came up with two men on base. Before Cespedes had a chance to do some damage, Jose Reyes and Grandy successfully pulled off a double steal. And of course the Phillies instantly decided to pitch around Yo and put him on base. Neil Walker ended up grounding out to first base for the third out. The lesson here is never take the bat out of Yo’s hands. Although who am I kidding, the Phils probably would have pitched around Yo anyway. Nobody should give Cespedes anything to hit ever.

Win When We Homer: In the top of third inning, Curtis Granderson launched a solo homer to right center field making it 2-0 Mets. In the 8th inning, Asdrubal Cabrera gave the team some insurance runs with a two run homer that made it 5-0 Mets. The Mets win when they hit home runs. It is known. And they also win when the starter pitches a complete game shutout. It’s hard to lose when that happens.

Coincidence?: Is it a coincidence that Rene Rivera was catching and deGrom pitched a complete game shutout? Nope. Rene calls a hell of a game and is a fantastic pitch framer. This isn’t a knock on Travis d’Arnaud or a call to give Rivera more starts. But Rivera does deserve to be recognized for his receiving skills.

Can’t Ask For More: James Loney had two more hits in this game. His average is up to .284. He’s been an amazing fill-in for cracked back Duda. Lucas Duda is supposedly going to resume baseball activities soon. Obviously Duda starts at first base when he returns, but it’ll be nice to have Loney on the bench for defensive purposes.

Murphslayer Update: The Nationals were losing 1-0 to the Pirates in the 9th inning with two outs this afternoon. Daniel Murphy has missed the last few games with hamstring soreness. He came in to pinch hit and hit a game-tying solo blast. He just can’t stop killing us. He’s having an MVP season. Nuts.

Tomorrow: The three game set against the Cubs in Chicago starts tomorrow. We face Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta in this series. I still can’t believe we swept the Cubs at Citi Field. This series at Wrigley is going to be tough. Thank God for deGrom. We needed this series win against the Phillies real bad. Let’s keep it up.

Mets Lose Clash Of Clowns; Need Yo Back

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Final Score: Phillies 4, Mets 2

The Mets didn’t get a hit in this game with a runner on base. That really tells you all you need to know. The game was hard to watch. The highlight of the game may have been when this Pete Rose lookalike caught a hard hit foul ball down the right field line barehanded. We need Yoenis Cespedes back. He’s a walking highlight reel.

Manufacturing Runs: In the third inning, Juan Lagares hit a leadoff double. Then Logan Verrett sacrificed Lagares to third and Jose Reyes drove him in with a sac fly to make it 1-1. In the fourth inning, Curtis Granderson hit a leadoff double. Neil Walker helped Grandy advance to third with a ground out. Then James Loney was hit by a pitch and Travis d’Arnaud hit a sac fly to make it 2-1.

Nice Effort: Logan Verrett gave the Mets a quality start. He went 6 innings, gave up 8 hits, and 2 runs. He gave up a Ryan Howard second inning solo homer. Of course Gary Cohen caused the home run by citing the exact number of career home runs Howard has against the Mets seconds before he launched the ball. Howard almost hit another one in the 6th inning to the opposite field but came up just short. Verrett escaped some two out trouble in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning he gave up back to back doubles to pitcher Jerad Eickhoff and Odubel Herrera. Eickhoff undoubtedly should have scored on the Herrera double, but for some reason he was standing on second tagging when the ball was inches from being a home run. Base running blunder for sure. Eickhoff ended up scoring anyway on an RBI ground out by Cody Asche to make it 2-2. But Verrett limited the damage in the inning.

Thanks I Guess: In the 6th inning, Logan Verrett retired the first two Phillies. Then he hit Carlos Ruiz with a pitch and gave up a single to Freddy Galvis. With two outs and runners on first and second, the Phillies left pitcher Jerad Eickhoff in to hit instead of pinch hitting. I understand he can hit, and he already hit a double against Verrett in the game. But leaving Eickhoff in to bat is the wrong move. Terrible managing by Pete Mackanin. Anyway, Eickhoff ended up hitting a weak grounder to shortstop and actually beat Asdrubal Cabrera’s throw to first base. But Carlos Ruiz, arguably the slowest runner in the league, decided to run home and James Loney nailed him at the plate. Travis d’Arnaud applied a perfect tag. The only thing bad about the play was Ruiz’s choice to run. Instead of bases loaded for Odubel Herrera, the Phils ran themselves out of an inning. I get taking a chance with two outs. But it’s the wrong decision. Maybe Lucas Duda throws that ball away, but Loney is making that play for sure. Thanks for the break I guess. It certainly didn’t end up costing the Phils the game because the Mets couldn’t execute with men on base at all.

Can’t Execute: Yoenis Cespedes isn’t playing. He’s our best hitter. It’s tough to do anything without him in the lineup. In the 7th inning, Travis d’Arnaud hit a leadoff double. Then Brandon Nimmo hit a ball back to the pitcher and d’Arnaud was caught off second base. But Eickhoff waited too long to throw back to second and d’Arnaud made it back to the bag. The Mets had first and second with nobody out and failed to score a run. Juan Lagares bunted the runners over and Kelly Johnson couldn’t get a sac fly. Horrendous execution.

Errors: In the 7th inning, Peter Bourjos reached on an error by the always dependable Asdrubal Cabrera. Great. Then Cody Asche walked and Maikel Franco hit an RBI single to make it 3-2.

More Blunders: In the 8th inning, Erik Goeddel gave up a leadoff double to Carlos Ruiz, and Ruiz advanced on a soft ground out by Freddy Galvis. Then Goeddel threw a wild pitch and Ruiz scored. The old men Ruiz and Howard really helped beat the Mets tonight. And of course the Mets also beat themselves.

Niese and Clippard: I read real rumors today that the Mets would entertain trading for Jon Niese if the Pirates do end up dealing him. I also saw that the D-Backs are open to trading Tyler Clippard. If the Mets wind up trading for Niese and Clippard, the front office should publicly apologize for their offseason.

DL Management: Tonight was the 8th straight day that Cespedes was out due to his injured quad muscle. I’m sure the Mets will continue to play short-handed because we always do. Someone should be fired for the handling of our injured players. Remember when the Jets hired Dick Curl for clock management? The Mets need to hire a coach for disabled list management.

Tomorrow: The Mets will fall 7 games behind the Nationals once they win tonight. The Yankees fell below .500 today. When we play the Yankees the last week in July, we may both be in sell mode. Although probably not since the Mets are at least in the Wild Card race. Thank God for the Wild Card. Thank God for Jacob deGrom on the mound tomorrow. Please win this series. Let’s get Yo healthy.

Reed and Familia Are Pretty Prettay Good

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Final Score: Mets 5, Phillies 3

I don’t care that we’re playing the Phillies. A win to start play right after the All-Star Break is fantastic. In fact, the games against the Phillies are the must win affairs. We need to at least outplay the “bad teams” the rest of the way. Even if the “bad teams” aren’t that far behind us in the NL East standings.

Juanny One Thumb: Yoenis Cespedes didn’t start because his quad is still bothering him. But Juan Lagares stepped up in his place. He smashed a solo shot in the third inning to make it 1-0. A big second half from Juanny One Thumb would do a lot to help this team make a playoff run. He’s capable of being a spark in the field and at the plate. He’s not usually a spark on the base paths because he’s slow as hell. But even in this game he had an impact on the bases. In the 7th inning he stole a key base after he led off with a walk, and he ultimately scored the fifth run for the Mets in that inning on a Jose Reyes grounder. The Phillies threw home and Juanny beat the throw.

Walkyear Back On: Neil Walker was smoking hot in April. Then he cooled off in May and was awful in June. Last night he hit the game winning 3-run shot off of Jeremy Hellickson in the 6th inning. It would be nice if the Walkyear level of production that Neil had in April is back for the second half. Then maybe some pressure can be lifted off of Cespedes’ shoulders.

Hit A Wall: Bartolo Colon was untouchable until the bottom of the 6th inning. Then the wheels fell off. James Loney made a throwing error that let Odubel Herrera reach base with one out. Then Peter Bourjos tripled in a run, Maikel Franco hit an RBI groundout, and Cody Asche singled in a run. Bartolo was yanked when the game was 4-3.

Reed/Familia Es Muy Nasty: The Mets were fortunate that the pen gave them 3.1 innings of scoreless relief. But Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins didn’t exactly make it easy for us. Terry was forced to go to Addison Reed with two outs in the 7th and he dominated like he has all season. Jeurys Familia was super nasty in the 9th inning, and he slammed the door. It may make sense for us to trade for one more reliable reliever (and a starter and a bat).

Cubano: The Mets didn’t get the new Cuban Yulieski Gurriel. I wrote about it here. What a joke.

Today: Today Logan Verrett gets another chance to convince the Mets we don’t need to trade for a starter before the trade deadline. Let’s see what he’s got.

Mets Squander Sweep Opportunity; Schmuck Philly Fan Interferes

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Final Score: Phillies 5, Mets 4

Let’s get this out of the way right now. Screw Philly and screw Jeffrey Maier. In the top of the 2nd inning, a now scorching hot Lucas Duda doubled, Neil Walker singled, and then Asdrubal Cabrera hit a home run. The ball bounced off the top of the stupid wall at stupid Citizens Bank Park, and it looked gone to me. But of course a moron Philly fan stuck his glove out and interfered making it a ground rule double. We ended up scoring two runs instead of the three that the home run would have given us. And that was a huge difference in the final score. We would have had the lead late and a chance to close the game out. I hate people who stick their damn gloves out on foul lines, at the wall, and anywhere for that matter. If you go to the game and you sit along the foul lines or at the wall, sit in your freaking seat and wait for the ball boy to flip you a damn ball. And for old times sake, screw Jeffrey Maier for saving Derek Jeter in ’96.

That being said, the Mets offensive weaknesses were glaring in this game. I think they left 12 men on base. They were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position. They had tons of opportunities and failed to capitalize. Our homer or strikeout offense was in full effect. We had 17 Ks. Due to his refusal to die, tonight’s plan to scatter David Wright‘s ashes at Citizens Bank Park was cancelled. But he did put up a nice golden sombrero.

Bartolo Colon pitched like his regular sexy robotic quality start self. He gave up a Freddy Galvis two run homer in the bottom of the 2nd. He also gave up a David Lough sac fly in the 4th.

The Phillies tied the game at 4 in the bottom of the 7th.  Jerry Blevins started the inning and gave up a one out double to David Lough. Addison Reed was called on with one out and managed to get a big strikeout of Darin Ruf. But then he surrendered the game tying single to Peter Bourjos.

The Mets kept leaving men on base in extra innings. In the 10th, d’Arnaud doubled with 2 outs and was left on base. And in the 11th, Curtis Granderson got a leadoff walk but was left on.

In the bottom of the 11th, the Phillies beat Hansel Robles. Freddy Galvis doubled with one out. The Mets intentionally walked Lough. Then Robles threw a wild pitch. Then the Mets threw 2 straight intentional balls to Emmanuel Burriss before d’Arnaud realized the signs were wrong, and it wasn’t meant to be an intentional walk. That was a brutal mixup, and I’ve never seen it happen before. Peter Bourjos ended up hitting a ball with 2 outs to third base and the winning run scored when Wright couldn’t make what was a tough infield play.

Blame Ball: The blame ball goes to our entire lineup for leaving the world on base. We need to start situational hitting and hitting with runners in scoring position because right now, Dr. Dre would say our Offense Ain’t Shit But Bombs and Ks.

Neil Walkyear: Neil Walker had 4 hits. Daniel Murphy may be motivated by a desire for vengeance, but nothing beats the contract year incentive.

Mr. Glass Starting To Hit: Travis d’Arnaud had 2 hits and three hard hit balls tonight. Keep it up.

Tomorrow: Day off tomorrow before we head to Atlanta. We won this series which is nice, but you never want to squander opportunities to win. Shake it off and let’s demolish Atlanta before they demolish Turner Field.

Mets Call In “The Bomb Squad” Again; Take Series In Philly

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Final Score: Mets 11, Phillies 1

Ding, ding, ding. The New York Mets Bomb Squad makes another appearance tonight. All eleven of our runs came from home runs. In the first inning, David Wright doubled and Michael Conforto muscled a two run homer out of Citizens Bank Park.

In the top of the 3rd, Logan Verrett reached base on an error. Then with two outs, Conforto singled and Yoenis Cespedes hit a three run blast to make it 5-0.

In the top of the 6th, Neil Walker hit a right-handed home run to make it 6-0.

In the 7th, Cespedes walked and Lucas Duda hit his second bomb of the season after hitting his first yesterday. He’s finally going streaking! Neil Walker followed Duda’s bomb with his second home run of the game to make it 9-0. This was the second day in a row the Mets had back to back home runs. I’m sure somebody will look up the last time that happened, but it’s definitely been a while. To cap off the inning, somebody woke Eric Campbell up from his evening nap on the bench, and he got a pinch hit single. Then Curtis Granderson hit a two run homer to make it 11-0 and give us a 5 run inning.

Verrett The Intern: Logan Verrett was absolutely fantastic tonight with six scoreless innings. And he’s been great in both of his fill-in starts for Jacob deGrom. It’s pretty obvious this guy knows how to pitch (at least against bad teams like the Phillies). Honestly, as soon as we booted Dillon Gee out of town, it was pretty clear that Verrett was just the young upstart intern that could do the exact same job as old man Gee for half the price. Dillon was like “This is crap. I don’t want to work out of the bullpen! I earned this job. I’ve been here for years!” And the Mets just kicked him to the curb in favor of the cheap labor. They showed absolutely no loyalty for all the years old man Gee gave us because they knew what Verrett could do. You gotta love capitalism.

Live By The Dinger, Die By The Dinger: So far this season, the Mets offensive output has been via the home run. We are bottom five in team average with runners in scoring position. We have not been some contact oriented team. We have not been a station to station team. We have been high risk, high reward. It’s been dingers or strikeouts. Now, that may not be the way things are all season long. Again this is a small sample size. That being said, we are a team full of guys who historically have hit 15-25 home runs, strikeout a bunch, and bat .260. And I am including Yoenis Cespedes in that group because that’s the kind of player he has been since he came over from Cuba. I am totally cool being a live by the dinger die by the dinger team with the pitching we have at our disposal. We just better hope the home runs are coming when we play the big games down the stretch this season. I’ve seen plenty of recent Yankee teams fizzle out because of the home run dependent strategy.

Kevin Long Did It: Speaking of home runs, Kevin Long did it. Neil Walker has hit three home runs from the right side of the plate because Kevin Long apparently fixed some timing mechanical thing with his swing. Curtis Granderson and Lucas Duda look like they’re coming around after their home runs today. I tried to reach Long for comment, but he was in the middle of his evening confidence massage where Cespedes rubs his shoulders and tells him he’s the hitting coach spark we’ve been waiting for all these years.

Relax It’s Philly: We are playing the Phillies. Let’s not forget that we are supposed to beat them up. The home opening series was an embarrassing setback. Now we are back on track. And by the way, we can’t just attribute all these home runs to Citizens Bank Park. For the most part they’ve been no doubters. Conforto’s first inning home run and Walker’s second homer of the game may have been park aided. But the rest were absolutely crushed.

Montero Mop Up: Rafael Montero came in for mop up duty and looked awful. I’m assuming he’s an overhyped bust of a prospect until I see some results. But his crummy pitching performance did give us the chance to see Juan Lagares take away a three run homer from Maikel Franco. Frankly I forgot Juan was on the team. As the season rolls on, Terry is going to have to find a way to get him some action to keep him fresh.

Tomorrow: His Sexiness Bartolo Colon is on the mound. Let’s sweep them. NL Least!!

Mets Beat Philly; Wright Is CEO Of Citizens Bank

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Final Score: Mets 5, Phillies 2

I talked about how David Wright loves hitting in Philly in the series preview. Well the CEO of Citizens Bank Park hit a first inning solo home run to give us the 1-0 lead, and he added a second solo dinger in the top of the 9th for our fifth run. He now has 22 career long balls at Citizens Bank.

I talked in the series preview about how Lucas Duda has been his typical streaky self so far this season. So far he’s been streaking in the bad direction. That was until he broke out tonight. He had an opposite field double in the 6th inning to drive in Yoenis Cespedes making it 2-1. Then in the 8th inning, he launched his first home run. The exit velocity was 112 MPH. It was an absolute laser bomb. And Neil Walker went back to back with an opposite field solo shot to make it 4-1. Walker leads the team with 4 home runs. We already knew that Neil Walker had a hell of an MLB resume. But he’s come out of the gate strong in New York and had real positive results. That’s huge and not every player who comes here can say that.

The offense was great to see tonight considering we didn’t support Noah Syndergaard in his last dominant performance. Tonight he went 7 innings, gave up a run, and struck out 8. Thor is really on another level in 2016. He was dominating all spring, and he’s kept that going into the season. He’s striking out everyone. Right now, we are lucky to be witnessing his dominance. I hope this is the start to a special season for him, and ultimately a special career.

Philly Can Pitch: Jerad Eickhoff was not too shabby tonight in his matchup against Syndergaard. He almost matched him frame for frame going 7 innings, giving up 2 runs and striking out 9. His hammer rivaled that of Thor. Between his three quality starts against us in 2015 and his two solid outings this season, he’s showing the Mets that the Phillies starting rotation needs to be taken seriously.

Cappy Keeps Raking, Grandy Keeps Mopping: Asdrubal Cabrera had 3 hits tonight. He’s batting .349. Curtis Granderson went 0-4 with 2 Ks. He’s hitting .143. The law of averages is such a real thing. The Grandy/Cappy roller coaster ride to .260 should be fun. 

Natural Born Reliever: Antonio Bastardo aka Anthony Sand struck out the side in the 8th inning. His velocity looked good as he was hitting 93 MPH. His three pitch strikeout of Maikel Franco was straight up nasty.

Tomorrow: Vincent Velasquez will be tough tomorrow. With Eickhoff and Velasquez, the Phillies have starters that strike people out, and we have some hitters that are susceptible to the K. Hopefully Logan Verrett keeps us in this game like he did in his last spot start and our offense continues to display the power.

Series Preview: Mets Head To Philly, Home Of Wawa

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Wawa_Market

After a big road series win in Cleveland, the Mets head to Philly where they will try to keep the momentum going. Our offense is finally heating up. Philly just lost 2 out of 3 to the scorching hot Nationals, but they took the series finale in an extra inning walk off win. They beat their former closer Jonathan Papelbon. The Phillies are a young team, but so far this season they’ve shown they aren’t going to just accept the “we’re rebuilding” narrative. They won’t just roll over, so we need to force the issue and take it to them. We need to get some payback after that embarrassing home opening series.

On a related note, I was making my way through New Jersey this weekend, and I stopped off at Wawa for breakfast. I ordered a breakfast sandwich on a hoagie, and it was delicious. I’ve always wondered why Wawa never made it’s way into New York City. According to Wikipedia, in the 1990s the decision was made to abandon the franchised stores in New York as it was “too competitive”. I think Wawa’s approach to expansion really sums up the New York/Philadelphia sports rivalry quite well.

Pitching Matchups:

Game 1: Noah Syndergaard vs. Jerad Eickhoff. Eickhoff was good through five innings against us at Citi Field during the home opener. But we got to him in the 6th and chased him from the game after scoring a few runs. Michael Conforto and Curtis Granderson both hit home runs off of Eickhoff in 2015, and Conforto is actually 5 for 10 overall. He had a big RBI hit against him during the home opener. Unfortunately, the rest of the Mets have not fared so well against Eickhoff in his young career. After that dominant no-decision Thor got against Miami, it would be so nice if we could score him some damn runs.

Game 2: Logan Verrett vs. Vincent Velasquez. Velasquez has been dominant for the Phillies thus far. He’s a 23 year old pitcher the Phillies acquired in the offseason trade of their former closer Ken Giles. So far that trade has looked real good for them. He’s been throwing his fastball extra hard. Mid to upper 90s. He shut us out over 6 innings last week and had 9 strikeouts. He also recently struck out 16 Padres in a complete game shutout. But Logan Verrett was impressive in his first fill in start for deGrom against Miami. And we saw Velasquez once, so hopefully that will help us in this second go round.

Game 3: Bartolo Colon vs. Jeremy Hellickson. Bartolo may have lost to Velasquez last series against Philly, but he dominated in that game. One run over 6 innings with 7 strikeouts. That’s some sexiness right there. Last year Bartolo was 1-1 at Citizens Bank. Hellickson barely went 5 innings in his first outing against the Mets. Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker have had some success against Hellickson in their careers. He took his first loss of the season last time out against the Nationals. They rocked him, scoring 6 runs in three innings. Let’s hope we have similar success.

Things To Look For:

David Loves Philly: David Wright has the most home runs by a visiting player in the history of Citizens Bank Park. It would be tough for him to pull a Chipper Jones and name his first born child Citizens Bank. If it’s a boy, maybe he can go with Anthony Thomas Michael Wright and call him ATM for short.

We’re Going Streaking: Lucas Duda had a big two RBI hit in Sunday’s finale against Cleveland, but he’s off to a slow start. He’s hitting .205 with 1 double and no home runs. I can’t wait for Lucas to finally show up in May and hit .875 with 15 home runs. Then he’ll disappear for two months like Keyser Söze, only to reappear for a two week stretch at the end of the season to hit his other 15 home runs. He’s really Mr. Streak.

Fear the Reaper: Yoenis Cespedes is still a little sore after jumping into the stands during the series against the Marlins at home. He DH’d all weekend, but despite his soreness he had a lot of success at the plate going 4 for 12. Travis d’Arnaud got plunked on the elbow on Saturday, and it’s still bugging him. He’s expected back at some point during the Philly series this week. Despite those minor injuries and the Jacob deGrom lat issue, we have been running our full lineup out there to start the season. The gods have blessed us so far with good health, but not really good fortune as far as wins and losses. We need to stockpile the wins now while we have our health for as we all know Valar Morghulis.

Mets Flop Again; So Much For A Strong Start

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jerry race
Final Score: Phillies 5, Mets 2

Well we dropped two of three to the “terrible” Phillies at home. What a joke. Stanky Jeremy Hellickson carved us up like a cake. It’s really my fault. I told everyone not to read into the spring. I guess spring games do matter because our offensive problems have carried right into the regular season. Although the TV man said we started 2-3 in 1986 and in 2015. So now I don’t know what to believe. My Sunday plan was to watch the Mets win and then pop on something funny. Maybe some Seinfeld or The Office. Keep the mood light all day. A nice little Sunday on the couch. After this loss, I’m going straight to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. It’s officially a “vicious felony” kind of day.

Matt Harvey was sharp enough today, but once again not at his absolute best. He gave up a couple of singles (including one to the pitcher) in the 3rd, and then a sac fly to Freddy Galvis. Odubel Herrera hit a two run bomb off of him in the 6th to make it 3-0. Once again, our offense was stagnant most of the game. But in the bottom of the 6th inning with two outs, David Wright hit a double and then Yoenis Cespedes on the 11th pitch of an amazing at bat, hit a 2 run jack to drive Jeremy Hellickson out of the game. That made it 3-2. We may not be producing offensively thus far, but it’s nice to have guys who consistently put up major league at-bats. Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Neil Walker, and the rest of our guys all hang in there and consistently have professional plate appearances. It’s such a refreshing change from the 4 pitch ABs that Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Eric Campbell had so often last year.

Jim Henderson looked great again in the 7th inning and after that mediocre 8th from Addison Reed, Jim may earn himself a promotion to setup man before long. As long as his shoulder is still attached by the end of May. Also, my first reaction when the bases were loaded for Ryan Howard in the 8th was, “Where is Jerry Blevins?” I guess Terry preferred Reed vs. Howard over Blevins vs. Darin Ruf. It’s crazy that at this point in his career, we’d rather face Howard. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Reed ended up getting the sac fly to limit the damage, so the point was ultimately moot. Also, speaking of Jerry Blevins, he kind of looks like Henderson. I guess it’s a little bit of a stretch, but they are both skinny long necked bearded brachiosaurus types.

Week Old Slice: So I must admit, I had a bad feeling about this game long before it was over. Around the 6th inning I started rummaging through the fridge, and I snagged a week old slice of pizza for lunch. It had an unusual cheese on it. Not your typical Parmesan or mozzarella. Anyway it wasn’t smelling 100%. But I figured I was going to feel like crap after the loss anyway so I popped it into the toaster oven and went to town. So far so good.

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Steve Gelbs Segment: I took a bathroom break around the 3rd or 4th inning when Steve Gelbs popped on the screen for an update. I cranked the volume on the TV so I could hear it from the bathroom, but I couldn’t make it all out. Then I came back, and Gelbs was wearing an antique glove ranting about war heroes or something. I miss our Emmy nominated golden boy Kevin Burkhardt. Those eyes of his could make anything interesting. But I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright.

Series Preview: El Stinko Phillies Visit NYC

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Thank the old gods and the new for the NL Least. So far the Phillies are 0-3, the Braves are 0-2, and the Marlins are 1-2. The Phillies just got swept by the actively tanking Reds. What a joke. The weakness of our divisional foes is arguably the biggest advantage we have over the other NL teams. We need to beat up on Philly, Atlanta, and Miami. We did it last year. We were 47-29 against the NL East last season. And we went a mere .500 against the rest of the league. Obviously the Nats are in our division too, and we’ll still need to beat them when the time comes. But a home three game set against the cellar dwelling Phillies needs to be a slam dunk series victory and preferably a sweep all season long.

Pitching Matchups:

Jacob deGrom is scheduled to pitch the home opener on Friday at 1pm. However, his wife is due to have their first child any day now. If she gives birth tonight or tomorrow, it’ll probably mean Bartolo starts the home opener with Steven Matz going Saturday and Harvey on Sunday. But assuming his wife doesn’t give birth on Friday, these are the tentative matchups:

Game 1: Jacob deGrom vs. Jerad Eickhoff. Eickhoff was good last year in his 8 rookie starts. He faced the Mets three times and hurled three quality starts. His last appearance on October 1st, he pitched 7 shutout innings against the Mets with 10 strikeouts. But that’s a fairly small sample size. DeGrom had two great starts against the Phillies at Citi last year. But his worst start of 2015 was in Philadelphia when he only lasted 2.2 innings and gave up a bunch of runs. But we are in NYC this weekend. So he should be fine. Right? Michael Conforto and Curtis Granderson both hit home runs off of Eickhoff last season and Conforto actually went 4 for 8 overall.

Game 2: Bartolo Colon vs. Vincent Velasquez. Velasquez is a 23 year old pitcher the Phillies acquired in the offseason trade of their former closer Ken Giles. He made 7 starts last season and a bunch of relief appearances. He’s never faced the Mets. He throws a low to mid 90s fastball, change-up and curve. Hopefully old dog Tolo teaches this new dog a couple tricks. Bartolo went 4-1 against Philly in 2015.

Game 3: Matt Harvey vs. Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson came over from Arizona and was originally a Tampa Bay Ray. He’s always been back end of the rotation filler. He gives you a chance to win and eats innings. Perfect rotation placeholder for Philly while they rebuild. He pitched really well in his 2016 debut against the stinky Reds going 6 innings and only giving up a run. But Philly found a way to stink more and their pen blew it. Yoenis Cespedes is 2 for 6 against him, Neil Walker is 2 for 5, and Asdrubal Cabrera is 2 for 8. Granderson and Alejandro De Aza have faced him the most going 3 for 17 and 4 for 15 respectively. We should really beat down on him. Harvey went 2-1 with 3 quality starts against Philly last year. The loss came in May back when we didn’t score runs ever.

Things To Look For:

Citi Field Collapsing: We are back home for the first time since our run to the World Series. The stadium is going to be bananas over the weekend. Get there early so you don’t have to wait on line behind a bunch of morons who don’t know how to scan their print at home tickets.

Yo Dingers: Cespedes was a road hitting warrior last year for the Mets. But he also feasts on mediocre pitching. It’s how he makes his living. Hell it’s how most hitters make their living. I’m hoping he crushes Hellickson on Sunday and these young dudes on Friday and Saturday while also taking advantage of any opportunity he gets to expose the Philly pen.

Tobacco Ban: With the NYC stadium smokeless tobacco ban officially in effect, Harvey can’t dip and Yo can’t crush cigarettes anymore. Keep your eye on the Mets dugout this weekend to see if they’re ripping vape pens in there like a couple of degenerates.

Somos Familia: Jeurys Familia has new custom walk up music. He dumped my jam Danza Kuduro. I’m sad that I won’t hear Danza Kuduro at Mets games anymore, but I will have to settle for hearing it 10 times a week on Spotify during my commute. But trust me, this new Bachata song called Somos Familia es fuego. Hopefully we hear it three times this weekend.