The Mets open up a weekend series with Atlanta with our ace, Johan
Santana, taking on the somehow not injured Mike Hampton. As the
Phillies take on the Brewers right now, this is a great time for Mets
to beat up on the Braves and attempt to extend their lead in the NL
East. When the schedule was first made, this was supposed to be a
battle for first place in the East series, as the Braves were expected
by many Baseball Pundants to make the World Series. A season of
injuries and disappointments, the Braves will be very happy tonight to
try to play spoiler against the Mets this afternoon. Now that this is a double header, it is very important that the Mets make their impact heard.
Hampton is 2-2 in
9 starts season. He has pitched 55.0 innings and has an ERA of 5.60. In
his last five games he is 1-1 with an ERA of 4.09. He made one start
against the Mets in that stretch, his one start against them this
season, where he went 6 innings, allowed 8 hits and 3 runs, walked one
and struck out 2. The Mets have put these numbers against Hampton over
their careers:
Castillo 16-44 (.364 BA), 3 2B, 3B
Reyes 8-19, 3 2B, HR
Tatis 6-15, 2 2B
Beltran 8-16, 2 2B, HR
Delgado 8-12, 3 2B, HR, 7 RBI
Wright 3-11, 2B, HR
On
the whole, these Mets have good numbers against Hampton. It felt like a
few years ago when he was with the Braves before his big injuiries, the
Mets could not touch him. These numbers suggest that these Mets can and
they have to. Santana shouldn't pitch like what we have seen in the
past few days, but just in case, lets get those bats going. They have
done real well the last two days so lets hope for some hangover affect
and lets demoralize the Braves.
On the other side of the ball,
Santana will be going for hsi 14th win of the season. His last time out
he surpassed 200 innings pitched and on the season he has an ERA of
2.70. In his last five games, he is 3-0 over 33.1 innings ptiched with
an ERA of 1.78. He has walked only 8 in that stretch while striking otu
34 (175 on the season). He has a 0-2 record against the Braves in start
sthis season, but he has an ERA of 2.57, no walks and 4 K's in 14
innings. The run support has been the issue, and these games where
towards the start of the seaosn when the Mets were really struggling
against the Braves (I believe one Braves blog writer at that point in
May declared the Mets season dead). Here are some Braves numbers
against Santana:
Infante 1-20, 7 K
Jones 5-11
Francoer 1-10, 2B
Johnson 4-10, 2B
McCann 3-9, 2B, HR
The
people the pitch carefully around are not surprising. I am always
afraid of Kelly Johnson, I feel he's a Met killer. Not so much this
year but in 07 he seemed to be one, or at least felt like he was one.
Santana's numbers against Infante and Francoer are the types of numbers
that are fun to look at. If he can handle the lineup, hoepfully the
Mets will be able to give him the runsupport he needs.
Jon Niese will be starting the second game for the Mets today. Last time out he struggled and looked very nervous. Hopefully, now that he has his first game under his belt, and that he is not facing a lineup like the Brewers, we will be able to see a better pitcher from him tonight. His curveball is really devestating and is his best pitch. There were times last game when it did break 16 inches. If you want to follow his curveball I suggest that you go to MLB Gameday as they show the speed, the break, and a few other things about every pitch thrown in a game. Its a great thing for stat heads.
The Braves starter has struggled a bit this year for the second game and he is Jo-Jo Reyes. His ERA this season is above 5.00 and he has a record of 3-10 to go along with that. In his last five games though, he is 0-1 over 24.1 innings pitched with an ERA above 6.00. Don't count him out though because his best startduring that stretch was against the Mets where he lasted 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs. The Mets gotta show some run support for Niese, and they got to hit on Reyes. As a side note, the Mets did win that game by a score of 6-3.
Lets Go Mets! Win this Day! Keep them at Bay!
