The Mets play the 4:00 game today against the Washington Nationals and their star starting pitcher, Stephen Strasburg. Stephen has been dominating since coming up the majors (31.2 IP, 48 K, 2.27 ERA) however he has been plagued with a horrible curse. The Nationals just can't score runs when he pitches. That being said, I am worried about one aspect today when he pitches against us. When you look at the Mets as a team, we have a lot of free swingers at the plate, and lot of players that can easily fall to a strikeout. Strasburg is the type of pitcher that matches favorably against the Mets (for the opposition). The main strategy for Strasburg is to remember that he is a rookie and like all rookies, the Mets need to be patient at the plate. Take those borderline pitches, and force him the second time through the order to have to make those tough pitches.
The Mets will be sending out R.A. Dickey who will look to rebound from his last start. Up until his last time out, he was fantastic, and unbeaten, but we all know that streak had to end eventually and it did in San Juan. Overall on the season, R.A. is 6-1 with a 2.98 ERA over 51.1 innings. His first start was actually against the Nationals where he recieved a no decision while pitching 6 innings, allowing 2 ER, walking 4 and striking out 2. I feel its fair to say that he has become a different pitcher since that start, he has been made better with success. The Nationals have these numbers against Dickey:
Pudge 2-9
Guzman 1-8
Morgan 0-3
Dunn 1-2
Lets Go Mets!
