The Mets play the third game in their tough series with the Cubs tonight as they take on their ace, Carlos Zamrbrano. Last night, the Mets snapped their 3 game losing streak, held on to their spot in the Wild Card and moved within 1.5 games of the Phillies, and only one back in the lost column. This season is going to be a wild ride down to the very end and it continues tonight.
Perez, 10-7, will take the ball for the Mets tonight. In his last time out, he was effective but still did not get the win. On the season he has thrown 184.1 innings and has an ERA of 4.10. In his last five, he is 1-0 with 29 innings pitched and has a 4.66 ERA. If you look at his last two games, he has no decisions but has a 3.46 ERA over 13 innings. His stats over the last five are inflated by a terrible start at Washington where he gave up 7 runs over 3.1 innigns pitched. Here is what the Cubs can do against him, historically:
Lee 2-11, HR
Ramirez 4-11
Soriano 2-10
DeRosa 3-6, 2 2B
Perez has been great at times, he has been bad at times and now we need him just like we needed Santana last night to help us get to the postseason. A great start by him will do the Mets a lto fo good so the bullpen can stay rested and only have to pitch when they have too.
Zambrano has been interesting over the last five games. On the season he is 14-7 (going into this game just like our Ace, Santana last night did), and has pitched 184 innings (just like Perez, who he is facing tonight), and has an ERA of 3.77 (a little worse than Pelfrey's). Why all these comparisons? Zambrano, a great pitcher, is not as scary as his persona makes him out to be. At times he is lights out, Cy Young type of pitcher, like when he faced the Mets earlier this year and allowed only one run over 7 innings, but at times he is very hittable. He is also unhittable, like his no hitter two starts ago. In his last five games he is 2-1 over 27 innings and has an ERA of 6.00. During that time he had a no hitter, but he also followed it up by lasting 1.2 innings and allowing 8 runs. Before his no hitter, he had a bad start too. So, while he has past experience agaisnt the Mets, the batters cannot be afraid of him, and need to charge him because they can hit him, they can score a lot of runs off of him. Here are some Mets stats against him:
Delgado 4-16, HR
Chavez 6-19, 2B, 3B, HR
Beltran 1-13
Castillo 6-12, 7 BB
Wright 2-13
Schnieder 4-13, 2 2B
The Mets can hit him. The Mets can't hit him. Thats the way the stats look all the way down the page. When you look at Zambrano's stats, he's great, he's not great, and it goes like that all the way down the page. The Mets can do this tonight. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Cubs!
