The Mets attempt to sweep, improve to three straight wins and 9 wins out of the last 10 games when they play the Braves tonight in an interesting pitching match up. For the Mets, Pedro will make another start and for the Braves, Hampton will be making a start (finally pitching in New York after all these injury plagued years).
Pedro is doing a lot better now than his season stats let on. His record of 4-3 with and ERA of 4.96 says he's struggling, but you have to look at his more recent stats. In his last three starts, he has gone 1-1 over 19.1 innings with an ERA of 1.86. He's getting stronger and he is locating his pitches. His BB to K ration during that time (8 BB to 10 K, or a ratio of 4:5), is a little high, but I'm sure that will start to go down over time. Last time Pedro pitched against the Braves was in 2006 when he had a 3-1 record over 4 games and 22.1 innings against them. Even though he won a lot, he still allowed 16 runs (a 6.45 ERA). Here are some current Brave stats against him:
Chipper 9-45, 2B, 3 HR, .200 BA
Francoeur 3-14, HR
McCann 2-15, HR
Kotsay 2-11
Johnson 0-5
Historically, Pedro has done very well against this line up, Chipper has the best BA against him, and thats at the mendoza line. Hopefully that history, plus his recent surge will help Pedro plow through this lineup tonight.
I am still in disbelief that Hampton is on the mound this year, but anyway, he continues his comeback tonight with a 2-1 record over 5 games and 26 innings pitched. In his last three games, to compare to Pedro's, he is 2-1 in 17 innings pitched with a 5.29 ERA. He has been spectacular, but he has been effective to win and he goes for back to back wins tonight. The Mets however, have hit him well in the past:
Reyes 7-16, 3 2B, HR
Tatis 5-12, 2 2B
Beltran 8-13, 2 2B, HR
Delgado 5-9, 2 2B, HR
Wright 1-9
Out of players who have stats against Hampton, Wright is the only one who has struggled. Beltran has been surging of late and Delgado has been declining a bit. If history follows course, they should both have big nights. The Mets seem to see the ball well off of Hampton as their power numbers show it. For example, 4 of 7 hits by Reyes have been for extra bases.
Lets Go Mets! Sweep Atlanta!
