The Mets try to make two in a row tonight as they continue their series with the Rangers. The Mets will once again face an unknown pitcher tonight in Gabbard. Last night, they were able to toss away the mystery and rock Feldman for 7 runs. Taking the hill for the Mets will be Pedro. I'm curious to see if and how the Mets use Nixon tonight. Gabbard is a left handed pitcher and Nixon is a career .214 hitter against lefties. Against right handers he is a .289 hitter.
Who is Gabbard? This season he has a 1-2 record over 9 games and 41.2 innings pitched. He has started all nine of those games and has a 4.75 ERA to show for it. Over his last three games he has struggled going 0-2 over 12 innings. During those 12 innings, he has allowed 18 hits, 15 ER (11.25 ERA), 15 BB and 9 K's. The Mets will want to expound on those numbers tonight. He has never faced any current Mets but here are some quick splits:
Right Handed Batters .303 BA
Left Handed Batters .250 BA
The Mets need to hit Gabbard early. Last night they struck early and with Perez, were able to get into a winning position early, the Mets will have to do that again tonight.
On the pitching side, the Mets will send out the always entertaining Pedro. In his first two games being back with the team, he is 1-0, over 11 innings, has allowed 7 runs, walked 3 and struck out 4. A lot of the damage is from his last start where he allowed 4 runs over 5 innings, didn't walk any but he did allow 10 hits, he also struck out 4. Hopefully pitching at Shea will awaken a lights out performance. Here are some Ranger numbers against Pedro:
Cantalanotto 3-26, 8 K
Young 5-19, 2B, HR, 8 K
Hamilton 2-3
Young seems to be able to hit Pedro, but the strikeouts also show that Pedro can easily get him out. Hamilton will be the main player to worry about tonight.I would almost go as far to say that if a man is on second, and Hamilton is coming up to bat, depending on the outs, it might be a good idea to just intentionally walk him. Thats not Pedro's style, but later in the game, it might be an option.
There are few hitting stats that should be highlighted. Endy has really turned it up over the last few days. He is hitting around .220 right now. In the month of the June, he is hitting .245, which isn't really good, but is good considering his struggles on the season. Over the last two games he is 4-7 with 2R, 2B and a BB. He really looks different though. He looked really dialed in on Thursday, and was playing with a real fire. Beltran is also have a good couple days. In the last 4 games, he is 6-16, 4R, HR, 5 RBI, 4 BB. He has an OBP of .500! It would be great to see him to start carrying that cleanup spot. He has done it before.
Lets Go Mets!
