THE BIG DAY.
Today is more than just Harvey day. It is more than Wheeler day. It is more than Wheeler debut day. It is Harvey and Wheeler Day! I would say chances of this happening again are rather slim but the Mets run into bad weather like I miss the subway (ie. a lot). Anyway, last night’s game got delayed until after 10 and the Mets ended up losing the game 2-1 after a 2 run homer in the ninth. Gee was very close to a complete game shutout and he ended up driving in the only run of the game (#Typical). Anyway, since I’ll be working all day, here are both game previews:
Game 1:
Matt Harvey is 5-1 on the season with a 2.04 ERA over 97.0 innings with 102 K’s vs 20 BB’s. In his last start, he allowed 1 ER over 7 innings and criticized himself for not putting up 0’s. In reality, he didn’t get any run support. Last year he allowed 2 ER over 6.0 innings of work while walking 5 and striking out 3 (one of the few games where he walked more than struck out). The Braves have the following numbers against Harvey:
Freeman 0-3
Heyward 1-3, HR
Uggla 0-1
J. Upton 0-2
Alex Wood takes the mound for the Braves in the first game, making his first start in his major league career. So far this year he has pitched in 6 games, finishing 4 allowing 3 ER over 7.2 innings of work. In the minors this year he made 10 starts totaling 57.0 innings with a sparkling 1.26 ERA at the AA level. In his previous season, at A level, he had a 2.22 ERA over 52.2 innings. As to be expected, he has never faced the Mets and no current Mets have any stats against him.
Game 2:
Zack Wheeler makes his major league debut in the night cap, very close to where he grew up (how many times will we hear that tonight?). At the beginning of the season, the story line was, “Harvey is good, Wheeler is better”. It is hard to believe at this point that will be true at least at the end of this season (Harvey has been better than expected by far) but Wheeler still brings it. In pitcher friendly PCL league, he pitched in 13 games with a 3.93 ERA over 68.2 innings while striking out 73 batters. There are no MLB players with official batting numbers against him.
Paul Maholm at the age of 31, finds himself at the far end of the veteran scale when compared to the other three starters fans will see today. Maholm is 7-5 over 14 games this year while pitching 86.1 innings with a 3.65 ERA. Last year he was fantastic against the Mets in two starts, he pitched 15.0 innings and allowed no runs at all. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Wright 8-29, 2B
Byrd 3-20, 2B
Buck 4-10, 2B, 3B, HR
Murphy 7-12
Duda 0-1
Lets Go Mets!
