Jul
7
2011

Mets To Face 7-Straight All-Stars, A Modern Day Murderer’s Row Of Pitching

An article by Clayton Collier

Well Met fans, if you were looking for a true test of this 2011 Amazin’ ballclub, you’ve got one. Starting Thursday, the Mets will face some of the games best pitching for seven-straight ball games. They will face Clayton Kershaw, Ryan Vogelsong, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels over the next week. All seven were elected to the 2011 All-Star Game and now in seven consecutive contests, one of them will take the hill against Flushing’s Finest.

To begin this unimaginable stretch, the Mets first task will be 23-year old Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has been phenomenal once again for the Dodgers, going 8-4 with a 3.23 ERA and a league-leading 138 punchouts to boot. The young southpaw has handled the Mets well in his career, earning a 3-0 record with a 1.85 ERA. This will be a particularly tough game for the Mets as Kershaw is 6-1 with a 2.09 ERA at homer. The Amazin’s will look to top their first or seven aces with arguably their own ace in that of Dillon Gee Thursday evening.

Continuing their West Coast excursion, the Mets will go to San Fransisco and will be greeted by the full front of the infamous Giants rotation. On Friday, they will face veteran Ryan Vogelsong. The 33-year old North Carolina native has been the R.A. Dickey of 2011, going 6-1 with a 2.13 ERA and earning his first All-Star appearance. In his career against the Amazin’s, Vogelsong is 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA. Earlier this season, the Mets faced Vogelsong, scoring five runs including home runs by both Ike Davis and Carlos Beltran. Although the Mets handled Vogelsong well in May, do not expect the same result this time around. The Giants hurler has a 1.01 ERA at home.

Then it gets “Freaky” as the 2-time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum will get the call to face the Amazin’s. Don’t let his 6-7 record fool you, Lincecum has been dominant, compiling a 3.14 ERA while punching out 126 batters so far this season. In Lincecum’s only start against the Mets this season, he came to play, dealing seven shutout innings while striking out twelve.

Day four of this perilous journey will feature another Giants All-Star, in that of Matt Cain. The 26-year old Alabama native earned his second call to the All-Star game earlier this week, but will not pitch given the fact that his start against the Mets will be the Sunday prior to the All-Star Game. In his career against the Amazin’s, Cain is 4-3 with a 4.03 ERA. The Mets may have a chance against Cain, so long as Reyes is healthy and ready to go for this game. Reyes is 8-for-14 in his career against Cain, including a home run and five RBIs.

After the All-Star Break, the Mets come home to play the rival 1st-place Phillies. The Amazin’s will bear the brunt of Philadelphia’s feared rotation facing Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. Halladay has continued his usual dominance, going 11-3 with a 2.44 ERA. He will get one more start before facing the Mets, but he has been particularly dominant over his past 3 starts, going 2-0 with a microscopic 1.88 ERA. The 34-year old reigning Cy-Young award winner will face a Mets squad that he has held in check, holding them to an average of 2.5 runs per game in his career.

There will be no easing up as Cliff Lee will go back to back with Halladay against the Amazin’s. Lee had been above average to start the season following his triumphant return to Philadelphia, but in June, the 32-year old southpaw was locked in, going 5-0 with a super-human 0.21 ERA. He came back down to earth in his most recent start, but as Keith Hernandez always says, look out for an ace coming off a bad start.

Wrapping up this dreadful week will be Cole Hamels. Although the 27-year old southpaw has not been much of a threat to the Mets in the past, batting .309 against him in his career, Hamels is off to the best year of his career, earning 10 wins compared to only 4 losses and compiling a 2.40 ERA. But with the possibility of David Wright returning, the Mets have a realistic chance of getting the better of Hamels after the All-Star break.

With a seemingly insurmountable task in the upcoming week, this will be the toughest 7-games any ballclub will have to take on in years. If the Mets can come out of this and still remain a .500 team, I will be impressed. Given that the wheels have fallen off the past few seasons around this time, the Mets will need to be clicking on all cylinders to have a chance against basically every top pitcher in the National League.

Facing more than half of the National League All-Star pitchers in a seven-game span? In the words of Terry Collins:

OH S***!

About the Author: Clayton Collier

Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com

16 Comments + Add Comment

alex68 July 7, 2011 at 7:22 am

wow.. great piece, quite frankly, i don’t care too much for that, is a team game more than anything, right now we’re playing good, we’ve faced tough teams and BEAT them in our recent stretch, that usually gives the team confidence, the dodgers are dead on the wter, so no matter how kershaw pitches we’ll SWEEP THEM tonight, lincecum shouldn’t have been an all star and if it wasn’t for his manager, neither he or volgerson or even matt cain would’ve been. the phillies are tough, but we’re at home and we play them tough as usual. reyes is the guy who should be in the lineup at full strenght by then, not likely wright, although it wouldnt hurt to have him back, bring them on and let’s hope for at least a 5-2 stretch in that time..
LET’S GO METS!!
jessep July 7, 2011 at 8:57 am

Clayton, I wrote a piece about the West Coast trip prior to the Yanks series and this was a quote from one of our favorite commenters to laugh at

“you don’t look past tonight. What a RIDICULOUS post.”

But I disagree with them. I thought this road trip was huge for the season and they are proving to Alderson right now that Beltran and KRod are here through July 31. (Waiver deal possible)

But you’re right. When you face those pitchers in a back to back fashion, you’re being tested. And this team has to continue to pass these tests because as we get closer to July 31st, the first “failed” test could mean the entire season.
- alex68 July 7, 2011 at 9:16 am
  
  you know, once again, 7 games, do you know how many things can happen between tonight and the last game of those 7 games? injuries, trades, sloppy baseball, etc..
  no wonder a lot of ppl here think you’re a dou-che.. me personally think you’re something bigger the way you carry yourself.. most of your comments are to either trade the team, no future on this team, can’t you just enjoy the ride?? you wanted to see what happened against rangers and tigers and yankees? we beat out rangers, tigers on the road. lost 2 of 3 to yankees, but since have won 4 staright, mets are 40-29 since starting 5-13, 27-20 w/o your lover wright, i mean, what do you want???? you complain more than a pregnant woman!!!!!!
  bayonne wrote that, and i second, third and fourth that if possible..
  test, test, you are praying the mets fault for some reason, i wonder why that is!!!!
  because dwright is not in the lineup and the mets DON’T NEED HIM!!!!
  - jessep July 7, 2011 at 9:23 am
    
    It’s weird that you say people think I’m this and I’m that. Between the 2 of us, how many were banned from commenting from this site in the past year?
    
    The Mets don’t need David Wright because they are 3 games over .500 in early July? See it’s stupid stuff like that, that paints you as an uneducated fan.
    
    Why don’t they need Wright? Because Turner is hitting .222 since June 1st? That makes Wright replaceable at 3B? You think people that defend Wright are all fan boys.
    
    I defend him because the things you say do not make sense. You say Wright isn’t clutch but you praise Jose who had terrible September 07 and Sept 08 (what’s clutch if September hitting when the team is in a funk isn’t?)
    
    You say the Mets are better without David Wright in the lineup when there isn’t an educated baseball person who would say the Mets lineup is better because Turner is at 3B instead of Wright. You honestly think Justin Turner is as good as hitter as David Wright is?
    
    These statements are not only wrong, they make you look like very ignorant.
    - alex68 July 7, 2011 at 9:34 am
      
      listen loser, what i meant to say is that in 2009 the mets falter with wright as the “leader” of the team after reyes and beltran went down (mind you mets had better pitching in 2009) but without wright this year the mets are actually playing even better, while turner is no wright, he’s a good kid, clutch and plays 2 position, i wish wright comes back healthy and provide his line drive swing of 2006-2007, but the mets don’t need or are missing his strikes out trust me,
    - Metsie July 7, 2011 at 1:57 pm
      
      So when are you two planning on getting married? LOL
- Clayton Collier July 7, 2011 at 9:23 am
  
  Thanks Jessep.
  
  Yes I think on paper they have two games that they can win easy and thats Cain and Hamels. Tonight every run is going to count. As will likely be the case for most of the next seven games.
  - jessep July 7, 2011 at 9:26 am
    
    Huh? They can win easy against Cain & Hamels?
    - Clayton Collier July 7, 2011 at 9:29 am
      
      Hamels is 3-9 in his career against the Mets. They have batted .309 when facing Hamels.
      
      Cain is 4-3 with a 4.03. Maybe I shouldn’t say hes an easy win but he is more winnable of the three. We might even have a chance against Lince. I think Vogelsong is going to shut the Mets down though.
      - jessep July 7, 2011 at 9:37 am
        
        but Clayton, I think we can both agree Cole Hamels 2011 is a little different than he has been in the past. Saying he’s an easy win is a big, big statement
        
        Clayton Collier July 7, 2011 at 9:46 am
        
        Well in comparison to the other 6 days prior as well.
        
        I’d say it may be a big statement for me to say that but not to mention he’s face the Mets twice in 2011. First time 2.2 innings, 6 runs, second outing, 7 innings 2 runs. Hes 1-1 so far this year against the Mets.
        
        Devin July 7, 2011 at 9:56 am
        
        The Mets own Cole Hamels and that’s just the way it is no matter how well he’s pitching against other teams. It’s like that even with great pitchers who for some reason cant perform in certain parks as well as teams. It gets into their heads.
        
        jessep July 7, 2011 at 10:00 am
        
        I’m not saying the Mets can’t beat all 7 of these guys. I’m saying that Hamels and Cain are by FAR and “easy” win.
        
        Hamels’ 1st start of the year was against the Mets and he got shelled. Since then really he’s been the best starter in baseball probably. Don’t forget he beat the Mets in late May with 7IP, 2ER, 10K
        
        t agee July 7, 2011 at 10:15 am
        
        It’s a tough 7 day stretch, no question about it. We will be doing well to get through it 4-3 and if we do hope that Atlanta does the same or worse.
        
        The Braves in the same time frame face Nicasio, Halliday, Lee, Hamels, Zimmerman, Marquis and L. Hernandez so it’s not a complete cake walk for them either.
        
        The big thing is for us to have any chance at all we can’t have the Braves pick up a couple more games on us. We don’t square offf with them until the end of August and middle of Sept and only for 6 games at that.
        
        Figure we could go 4-2 in those 6 meaning we really only need to shave 4 games from them between now and the middle of Sept to just be tied at the end of our last series so it’s not out of the question by any means and while the big star type pitcher did get us early in the season we’ve handled that type to some degree since then. It’s really the rookie that’s given us fits.
Mr North Jersey July 7, 2011 at 11:22 am

I liked Collins quote regarding this.

“How many teams have to face those guys? Well, we’ve got Kershaw and then Vogelsong and Lincecum and Cain, then we come out of the break and we’ve got those animals coming in from Philly. That’s seven in a row. So we’ve got to make sure we can be as good as we can be.”

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/for-mets-a-tough-task-awaits/

Here is what I have to say about those animals from Philly.

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l616/MrNorthJersey/RealDirtyMets/RDM%20Graphics/4-Horsemeat.png
Mets Set To Face Seven Straight All-Star Pitchers | NY Sports Digest July 7, 2011 at 1:46 pm

[...] it is eloquently put by Clayton Collier of MetsMErizedOnline.com: Starting Thursday, the Mets will face some of the games best pitching for seven-straight ball [...]

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