Jun
23
2012

Subway Series Preview: Streaking Mets Send Young To Hill Against The Yanks

An article by Elliot Teichman

Starting Lineup

Kirk Nieuwenhuis CF
Daniel Murphy 2B
David Wright 3B
Lucas Duda RF
Ike Davis 1B
Scott Hairston LF
Omar Quintanilla SS
Josh Thole C
Chris Young SP

Mets Notes

Prior to tonight’s game, Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey will receive their NL Player of the Week awards in a pre-game ceremony. Santana won for the week of May 28-June 3, after tossing the first no-hitter in team history on June 1 vs. St. Louis. Dickey was named for the week of May 21-27. He went 2-0 and allowed one run over 14.1 innings (0.63 ERA) with one walk and 21 strikeouts during that week.

With a win tonight, the Mets would move to eight games over .500 which would equal their high water point this season. New York was eight games over .500 after beating the Cardinals on June 3 (31-23).

Ronny Cedeno was activated from the disabled list on Friday. Cedeno had been on the DL since May 30 with a strained left calf. Despite going just 5-for-29 in seven rehab games with Triple-A Buffalo, Cedeno started and played shortstop against the Yankees on Friday. Cedeno finished the game 1-for-3 with a run scored and two strikeouts.

The Mets have 23 wins at Citi Field this season and trail only the Dodgers (24) for most wins at home.

David Wright is riding a 12-game hitting streak, batting .369 (17-for-46) over that span. It’s Wright’s third hitting streak this season of at least 10 games.

Game Preview

The Subway Series continues tonight as the Mets look to make it two in a row against the Yanks. On a wet night, the Mets were able to put a five spot on the Yankees early, and then held on to the lead for the rest of the game which included Francisco handling “the chickens” on the Yankees (although it wasn’t even close to a clean inning). Tonight the Mets will face the pitcher with most wins in the American League, Ivan Nova, as he takes on Chris Young.

Chris Young is 1-1 on the season over 3 starts with a 3.06 ERA with 17.2 innings of work, 5 walks and 8 strikeouts. In his career he has faced the Yankees twice totaling 8.2 innings with a 6.32 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against the Yankees:

Ibanez 9-32, 2B, 3B
Martin 8-25, 2 2B
Jones 3-14, 3 HR
Chavez 4-11
Swisher 2-7, 2B, HR
Tex 0-6
Jeter 0-4

Ivan Nova leads the American League in wins with his 9-3 record that comes with a 4.32 ERA over 85.1 innings. The month of June has been very good to Ivan as he has pitched 22.2 innings with a 0.79 ERA. May was another story as he pitched 6 games with a 5.87 ERA. Last year he faced the Mets twice going 11.2 innings with an ERA of 3.09. The Mets have the following numbers against Nova:

Murphy 1-6
Turner 2-6

Let’s Go Mets!

About the Author: Elliot Teichman

7 Comments + Add Comment

oleosmirf June 23, 2012 at 4:18 pm

The big question right now is what to do when Tejada returns (should be any day now). Obviously, Rottino is going down for a pitcher (hopefully Beato and not Ramon Ramirez), but who should go down for Tejada?

Quintanilla is out of options, is a plus defender at 2B, SS and 3B and is our only infielder that can hits lefty. Not to mention, he’s been productive and is important for depth purposes.

Valdespin has been good lately, but he needs regular AB and some more maturing in all aspects. His only real value is at 2B, which is occupied and it’s hard to give up on Murphy considering how good he was with the bat last season.

I send down Spin and give Murphy a few weeks to right the ship and then, if Murphy is still doing bad, bench him or trade him and platoon Valdespin with Turner at 2B for the rest of the year…
- Even Flow June 23, 2012 at 5:39 pm
  
  I think they’d rather trade Murph before sending down Valdespin. It would be pointless to send him back down when Valdespin has been very productive playing on the regular. With Murph, you can deal him to an AL team for relief pitching. Don’t forget, things are gonna be even tighter when Baxter returns.
  - oleosmirf June 23, 2012 at 5:55 pm
    
    I wouldn’t say very productive. He’s been good the last few games, but you don’t trade Murphy when his value is at its lowest point. He needs to get a hot streak going so he becomes a bit more attractive to other teams.
    
    Just looking around the majors, I feel like he’d be a perfect fit at 3B for the ChiSox, but if you can’t get anything good for him, might as well keep him on the bench as a PH instead of dumping him for a AAAA player.
    - Even Flow June 23, 2012 at 6:17 pm
      
      Well right now, it’s been known that the Mets said they won’t start with the trade process for another few weeks so maybe Murph will build up his value until then. The last thing they wanna do is waste another option on Valdespin.
      
      Chicago would be a nice fit for him, but I see Oakland as a better destination for Murph. Big upgrade from Inge, plus they need offense in the worst way. For Murph, I’d take Blevins.
      - oleosmirf June 23, 2012 at 6:55 pm
        
        A common misconception, due to the phrasing of “out of options,” is that a player may only be moved between the major and minor leagues a finite number of times. On the contrary, a player has a finite number of option years in which he may be moved between the major and minor leagues an unlimited number of times.
        
        Valdespin can be freely moved as many times as the Mets want during the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons
srt June 23, 2012 at 6:02 pm

I’m reading Ike is a late scratch due to illness. Murph at first, Spin at second.
- oleosmirf June 23, 2012 at 6:37 pm
  
  why is it that all these athletes get food poisoning. It’s not like these guys are cooking themselves…

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