The Mets head to Washington for a three game series against the 1st place Nats. It's crazy how quickly we have gotten used to saying 1st place Nats. For all the craziness we have seen in this first third of baseball we have all pretty much glossed over the first good year of this franchise. Thankfully for the Mets we are facing neither of the Nats two aces Strasburg or Gonzalez. Let's take a look at what we are up against:
Tonight the Mets face Jordan Zimmerman who has a stellar ERA/xFIP of 2.80/3/58, astonishingly this is only the third lowest ERA of the starters. The good news is that on a team full of strikeout machines we are facing one of the worst strikeout guys with a k/9 of only 6.16. Zimmerman is a young guy who has been improving every year, his career numbers and projections seem to indicate he isn't going to stay as good as he is but he is a guy to watch and another reason to fear the Nats in coming years.
Next up is owner of a no hitter and the Stephen Strasburg of 2001 Edwin Jackson. Edwin Jackson is having a stellar year that doesn't appear as stellar because Strasburg, Gonzalez and Zim are having more stellar years. His is currently pitching a svelte ERA/xFIP of 3.17/3.74 good for fourth lowest on the team. He is striking out about 7 guys per 9 which is good just not as good as 11 (Gio). I just don't know what to think about Edwin. He was a can't miss prospect who went on to suck for six years but then has slowly turned it around and has been good the last three. Let's just hope Wednesday we get 2004 Jackson and not 2012.
Then finally, gloriously, Chien-Ming Wang. During the June Crucible we face some of the best talent in baseball, Mr. Wang is not one of them. He is currently the owner of a 6.43 ERA, well you might be saying that's unfair because it is only over 7 innings. Well in his last two stints in the show show he has earned an 4.04 and a 9.64, earlier this year is AAA he pitched a 4.35. Suffice it to say the Mets should win this game.
The offensive stars of the team has been the frenchman Adam LaRoche and the phenom Bryce Harper. Monsieur LaRoche has a slash that sits at an excellent .276/.371/.506 with 8 home runs. Bryce Harper and his ultimate warrior face paint is currently hitting a very similar .288/.380/.542. When Harper came up I traded Duda for him in fantasy, I totally get the better of that deal. After that the offense starts to fall off a bit. They have a number of very average to above average role players that can get the job done, especially when pitchers are keeping the opponents to low scores.
As a team the Nats are 30-22. They have scored 196 runs and allowed 170.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Gettin' to know: Gavin Cecchini
The Mets have selected Gavin Cecchini with the first pick of the 2012 draft. Gavin is an 18 year old speedy SS from Barbe High School (Go Bucs!) in Louisiana. Gavin went 29 for 29 in stolen base attempts this year with a BA .413 BA. His older brother is Garin Cecchini, a 3b in the Red Sox organization. More info and analysis soon.
Monday Mets Prospectus
Well the Mets had about a good weekend as we can hope for. The Mets took three from the Cardinals, have all but gotten their run differential to even, are tied for first and oh wait...JOHAN SANTANA THREW A MOTHERFUCKING NO HITTER. In case you had forgotten. How great was it that not only did he throw a no no, but that Beltran, Yadi Molina and Adam Wainwright were all involved, the demons of '06 have be exorcised. It could have only been better if after Baxter came out of the game Endy Chavez just mysteriously walked out of the tunnel and started playing center.
Here are a few random Monday factoids for you:
1) Did you know the Mets four regular starters all have a k/9 over 8 (with Johan at a team high of 9)? This team is just strikeout city.
2) David Wright remains locked in second place for the best player in baseball right now. His WAR is 3.4, Josh Hamilton is at 3.5. I am watching daily for when he finally takes the spot.
3) The Mets successes have improved (or worsened depending on how you look at it) our Vegas odds for the pennant. When we last checked we were a +2500 bet to win the NL Pennant and are now down to +2000. Our odds to win the world series were +5000 and are now down to +3000. Hope you got your bets in early.
4) The Mets have the third lowest xFIP in baseball (3.65), behind only the Nats and Phillies.
5) The MLB draft is tonight. The draft has gotten a lot cooler since MLB network started showing it live and more and more players are reaching the league quickly. The Mets 1st round draft picks are usually not that great. Let's hope for a Scott Kazmir and not a Billy Taber.
Here are a few random Monday factoids for you:
1) Did you know the Mets four regular starters all have a k/9 over 8 (with Johan at a team high of 9)? This team is just strikeout city.
2) David Wright remains locked in second place for the best player in baseball right now. His WAR is 3.4, Josh Hamilton is at 3.5. I am watching daily for when he finally takes the spot.
3) The Mets successes have improved (or worsened depending on how you look at it) our Vegas odds for the pennant. When we last checked we were a +2500 bet to win the NL Pennant and are now down to +2000. Our odds to win the world series were +5000 and are now down to +3000. Hope you got your bets in early.
4) The Mets have the third lowest xFIP in baseball (3.65), behind only the Nats and Phillies.
5) The MLB draft is tonight. The draft has gotten a lot cooler since MLB network started showing it live and more and more players are reaching the league quickly. The Mets 1st round draft picks are usually not that great. Let's hope for a Scott Kazmir and not a Billy Taber.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
UCB Progressive Game Blog: The 5th Inning
We here at Metsrospectus are proud to present the Mets perspective on the 5th inning of today's game as part of the United Cardinal Bloggers progressive game blog, check it out here.
Hey everybody, in case you hadn't heard Johan Santana threw a no-hitter yesterday and the Mets are essentially unbeatable. In the fifth inning of today's game R.A. Dickey has given up some hits but is working on a shutout. Dickey has been great all year, he induces a fly for the first out which is good but I'm looking for strikeouts, he has had two 10 plus strikeout games and I wanna see the third. Dickey threw Yadi a 54 mph knuckler, nothing about the modern day MLB prepapres a man to have a ball thrown at him at 54 mph, you just cant be ready for that. He induces a ground out for Molina. The knuckler is really moving today. He get's the strikeout we were looking for. He is 6 away from double digits, doesn't look likely but then again neither did last nights no no. Cards have one of the highest powered offenses in baseball and haven't been able to do much against the Mets.
David Wright leads off, according to WAR he is the second most valuable player in baseball with a 3.3. Wright draws a walk , I sometimes wish baseball had a percentage of winning meter on the screen that changes after every at bat, like in poker on ESPN. I bet people would appreciate lead off walks more if we had that. Lucas Duda at bat now, killing it the last few days. Not this inning though, Lynn strikes him out. Dan Murphy is up, he is incapable of striking out, I am predicting a hit here. There has been a lot of chatter on Mets blogs lately about how Murph isn't good because he has a punchless 300 avg. poor guy, hitting 300 and still taking shit. I predicted correctly Murph with a hit, now has 7 a game streak going, look out Joe Dimmagio.
Ike Davis up now, struggling this season. He pops out but a cardinal error advances the runners. Holliday threw to Adams who wasn't there. Do people call Matt Adams Madams? I would.
Mike Matheny is out to the mound, seriously wasn't he a catcher like twenty minutes ago? How is he managing. Mets announcers are questioning that Lance Lynn might intentionally walk Quintanilla, that is simply not what the IBB was invented for... they pitch to him. Lynn walks Quinty unintentionally, he is coming out of the game. I am pleased with this since I have him going in fantasy today and don't want his day getting any worse.
Commercial break, all you St. Louiser's go grab a fried ravioli while we take a breather.
Josh Thole up now, having a great year, an OBP machine. Grounds out to end the inning stranding the loaded bases. The Thole remains unpaid (see what I did there?) On to the 6th at On the Outside Corner.
Hey everybody, in case you hadn't heard Johan Santana threw a no-hitter yesterday and the Mets are essentially unbeatable. In the fifth inning of today's game R.A. Dickey has given up some hits but is working on a shutout. Dickey has been great all year, he induces a fly for the first out which is good but I'm looking for strikeouts, he has had two 10 plus strikeout games and I wanna see the third. Dickey threw Yadi a 54 mph knuckler, nothing about the modern day MLB prepapres a man to have a ball thrown at him at 54 mph, you just cant be ready for that. He induces a ground out for Molina. The knuckler is really moving today. He get's the strikeout we were looking for. He is 6 away from double digits, doesn't look likely but then again neither did last nights no no. Cards have one of the highest powered offenses in baseball and haven't been able to do much against the Mets.
David Wright leads off, according to WAR he is the second most valuable player in baseball with a 3.3. Wright draws a walk , I sometimes wish baseball had a percentage of winning meter on the screen that changes after every at bat, like in poker on ESPN. I bet people would appreciate lead off walks more if we had that. Lucas Duda at bat now, killing it the last few days. Not this inning though, Lynn strikes him out. Dan Murphy is up, he is incapable of striking out, I am predicting a hit here. There has been a lot of chatter on Mets blogs lately about how Murph isn't good because he has a punchless 300 avg. poor guy, hitting 300 and still taking shit. I predicted correctly Murph with a hit, now has 7 a game streak going, look out Joe Dimmagio.
Ike Davis up now, struggling this season. He pops out but a cardinal error advances the runners. Holliday threw to Adams who wasn't there. Do people call Matt Adams Madams? I would.
Mike Matheny is out to the mound, seriously wasn't he a catcher like twenty minutes ago? How is he managing. Mets announcers are questioning that Lance Lynn might intentionally walk Quintanilla, that is simply not what the IBB was invented for... they pitch to him. Lynn walks Quinty unintentionally, he is coming out of the game. I am pleased with this since I have him going in fantasy today and don't want his day getting any worse.
Commercial break, all you St. Louiser's go grab a fried ravioli while we take a breather.
Josh Thole up now, having a great year, an OBP machine. Grounds out to end the inning stranding the loaded bases. The Thole remains unpaid (see what I did there?) On to the 6th at On the Outside Corner.
Friday, June 1, 2012
The June Crucible
Welcome to the Thunderdome! Or as the Mets call it, the month of June. The Mets that no one believed in have put together two months in a row with winning records, in June we face one of the hardest stretches of our schedule. Let's take a quick look:
We start off with a 4 game series against the defending World Champion Cardinals. They are in 2nd place in their division with a 27-24 record. They also feature a Carlos Beltran who think it's 2004.
Second are the NL East leading Nationals featuring two frightening starters in Gio Gionzalez and Stephen Strasburg plus the offense of righteous bro Bryce Harper.
Next up is the 27-23 Yankees. The Yankees haven't look as indomitable this year but let's face it, they are the Yankees and they are always scary.
Next up is the Rays who are in my opinion, the best team in baseball. They have a 29-22 record to prove it.
Follow this with the Reds, currently in 1st place in their division. The Mets split a series with them earlier in the year.
Next up is the improbably 29-22 Orioles, currently leading the Al East. We can only hope their inevitable collapse comes before we play them.
We get a brief reprieve playing the worst in baseball Cubs. They are having a fire sale right now so by the time we play them Theo Epstein might be playing short.
We end it with the best record in baseball L.A. Dodgers. Reports seem to indicate that Kemp won't be back by then, so we got that going for us.
This month is important for a few reasons. If we want to stay in contention down the line we need to keep banking wins now. Also this is the month that will prove what the 2012 Mets are. Will they rise to the occasion and prove their success is not a flash in the pan or fall apart and show everyone they were a 5th place team all along. Frankly I'm betting on the Mets, as Don Draper once said I think these guys are going to swim the English Channel and bathe in champagne by the time June ends. Bring on the Cardinals.
We start off with a 4 game series against the defending World Champion Cardinals. They are in 2nd place in their division with a 27-24 record. They also feature a Carlos Beltran who think it's 2004.
Second are the NL East leading Nationals featuring two frightening starters in Gio Gionzalez and Stephen Strasburg plus the offense of righteous bro Bryce Harper.
Next up is the 27-23 Yankees. The Yankees haven't look as indomitable this year but let's face it, they are the Yankees and they are always scary.
Next up is the Rays who are in my opinion, the best team in baseball. They have a 29-22 record to prove it.
Follow this with the Reds, currently in 1st place in their division. The Mets split a series with them earlier in the year.
Next up is the improbably 29-22 Orioles, currently leading the Al East. We can only hope their inevitable collapse comes before we play them.
We get a brief reprieve playing the worst in baseball Cubs. They are having a fire sale right now so by the time we play them Theo Epstein might be playing short.
We end it with the best record in baseball L.A. Dodgers. Reports seem to indicate that Kemp won't be back by then, so we got that going for us.
This month is important for a few reasons. If we want to stay in contention down the line we need to keep banking wins now. Also this is the month that will prove what the 2012 Mets are. Will they rise to the occasion and prove their success is not a flash in the pan or fall apart and show everyone they were a 5th place team all along. Frankly I'm betting on the Mets, as Don Draper once said I think these guys are going to swim the English Channel and bathe in champagne by the time June ends. Bring on the Cardinals.
Dickey at 10
R.A. Dickey is ten starts in and he could not be pitching better. Lets throw out a few stats about the Dickster
xFIP of 3.27, 11th lowest xFIP in the NL (15th in MLB)
ERA of 3.06, 20th lowest ERA in the NL (27th in MLB)
9 Quality Starts, tied for most quality starts in all of baseball.
k/9 of 8.49, 16th highest K/9 in the NL (25th in MLB)
7 wins, Tied for 2nd in Wins in MLB
Sure he walks some guys and gives up more home runs that I would like but he always battles back and has been an absolute highlight of the Mets this year. I said last year that R.A. was a top 25 pitcher in baseball and I stand by that claim for 2012 as well. Bring on the Cardinals.
xFIP of 3.27, 11th lowest xFIP in the NL (15th in MLB)
ERA of 3.06, 20th lowest ERA in the NL (27th in MLB)
9 Quality Starts, tied for most quality starts in all of baseball.
k/9 of 8.49, 16th highest K/9 in the NL (25th in MLB)
7 wins, Tied for 2nd in Wins in MLB
Sure he walks some guys and gives up more home runs that I would like but he always battles back and has been an absolute highlight of the Mets this year. I said last year that R.A. was a top 25 pitcher in baseball and I stand by that claim for 2012 as well. Bring on the Cardinals.
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