The Mets will take on the Phillies tonight in a great game at Citi Field. The game will be started off with an on field ceremony honoring the 40th anniversary of the miracle Mets that brought a World Series championship back to the National League Fans of New York. When the actual game starts it will feature Happ of the Phils, who has been wonderful this year and he will be going against Redding who has just recently returned to the rotation for Livan Hernandez.
Happ on the year is 9-2 with a 2.66 ERA over 128.2 innings pitched. In his last three games he has a 2-0 record over 22.2 innings pitched and a 1.19 ERA including a complete game shutout. He has pitched against the Mets three times this season with one start with totals to 11.0 innings pitched and a 3.27 ERA. Here are some stats the Mets have against Happ:
Francoeur 2-9
Castillo 0-5
Tatis 1-3, 2B
Santos 0-3
Murphy 0-1
The Mets got a quick 4 runs yesterday and that was all they needed to win. If the Mets can score early (and often) again then they should be able to get enough run support to help out Redding.
In order for that plan to work though, Redding has to be effective. On the season he is 1-4 with a 6.53 ERA over 71.2 innings. In his last three games he has pitched 6 innings and has allowed 6 runs (yes folks thats a 9.00 ERA). He made one start against the Phils this year he pitched 7 innings and allowed 3 runs. Here are some stats the Phils have against Redding:
Rollins 6-35
Howard 3-24
Utley 9-21, 2 HR
Victorino 6-19
Feliz 7-19, HR
If Redding can be effective and the Mets can hit tonight then well the Mets should win. If the Mets of 69 can rub off some magic on the Mets tonight! Lets go Mets! Take the series!
And now for tomorrow's game. I will be traveling to NJ/NY tonight so I will not be around a computer to write up tomorrow's preview and the resaon is because I will be attending tomorrow's game (my first trip to Citi, and I am very excited!). Anyway the big thing you need to know about the game tomorrow is Pedro will be returning to New York and so far with the Phillies he has been effective as a starter. Now the last time he returned to a former team was when he started in Fenway as a Met and we all know how badly that went for the Mets, so here is hoping that happens tomorrow. Lets not give him a rude homecoming, but we should bust the party!.
