The Mets will try to avoid the sweep this afternoon as they play their third straight day game at Wrigley (4th straight day game overall). They started this four game stretch trying to avoid the sweep from the Marlins which they were able to do, and now they will try to do it again today. Trying to lead the sweep will be Carlos Zambrano and he will duel with the Mets' Nelson Figueroa.
Figuroa is 1-3 on the season with a 5.40 ERA over 25.0 innings. In his last three games he is 0-3 over 8.1 innings with a 3.24 ERA. He played against the Cubs twice last season and pitched 6.0 innings, allowed 4 ER, walked 5 and struck out 4. He gets another chance to impress the Mets coaching staff today. Here are the Cubs stats against him:
Lee 1-12, HR
Ramirez 4-9, HR
Fukudome 2-2
Zambrano 1-4, 2B
Not a lot of Cubs have seen him (which has been a common trend for Mets starters vs the Cubs this week) and hopefully Figueroa will take advantage of that by mixing his pitches (more mixing later in the game) and keeping the Cubs off the bases. He will of course need and welcome any run support the Mets can give him.
The Mets draw Zambrano for the season finale. In his first start back this month he lasted 4.1 innings while allowing 7 hits, 8 ER, 3 BB and 4 K. (Hopefully the Mets will also be able to take advantage of this). On the season he is 7-5 with a 3.80 ERA over 128.0 innings pitched. Last season he pitched two games against the Mets where he was 1-0 over 11.2 innings of work and had a 4.63 ERA. Here are some Mets stats against him:
Castillo 6-12, 7 BB
Francoeur 4-17, 2B, 2 HR
Sheff 3-8, 2B
Sullivan 2-3
Murphy 0-2
The Mets offense was clicking early in yesterday's game but as the Cubs piled on the runs the Mets started to shut off, hopefully the Mets offense will be on cylinders again today as they try to avoid the sweep, get the win, and score some runs. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!
