Everything Riding On Batista, No, Wait, What?

Starting Lineup

1. Ruben Tejada – SS
2. Andres Torres – CF
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Scott Hairston – RF
5. Jason Bay – LF
6. Ike Davis – 1B
7. Ronny Cedeno – 2B
8. Mike Nickeas – C
9. Miguel Batista – RHP

The Mets suffered a disappointing loss last night as they dropped the series opener 7-6 to the Dodgers. They look to move past it this afternoon as they take on the Dodgers and Chris Capuano behind Miguel Batista. As a quick side note. Could you imagine if the rolls were reversed and the Mets were playing at 10 AM local time? Odd. Anyway…

Miguel Batista’s (and more specifically Matt Harvey’s) future role on this team depends on his start today. If he is mediocre to good, then he most likely stays for at least the rest of the month. If he is terrible, he probably forces the Mets hand to make a move. On the season Batista is 1-2 on the season over 29 games and 43.2 innings of work with an ERA of 4.33. His last outing was in DC where he allowed 2 ER against the Nationals over 0.2 innings of work. In 0.2 innings of work against the Dodgers this year, he allowed one earned run. The Dodgers have the following numbers against Batista:

Uribe 9-32, 3 2B
Abreu 12-31, 2 2B, 3B, HR
Ellis 6-23, 4 2B
Kennedy 4-17, 2B, 3B
Ethier 5-11, 2 2B, HR
Kemp 3-5

The Mets bats will get a crack at Capuano today, who is 9-5 over 19 starts and a 2.75 ERA this season. In his last two starts he has allowed 5 ER, 9 runs total, in his last 11.2 innings of work. He allowed 3 ER against the Mets last time out while he pitched 7 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Chris:

Bay 8-21, 2 2B, 3 HR
Cedeno 3-23, 2B, 3B
Wright 6-15, 2 2B, 2 HR
Torres 1-4, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

Thoughts from Joe D.

It must suck to be Terry Collins today. All that work and effort he put into getting this team to believe in themselves has been nothing short of remarkable. He took a team comprised of heaps of scrap metal and unwanted spare parts and somehow had them owning a wild card spot for almost the entire first half. Then in the space of week since the All Star break he loses one of his horses in Dillon Gee, can’t get Chris Young to throw anything more than five effective innings in any one start, and of course the most devastating blow of all – what happened to Johan Santana.

Today in a game that have all become must-wins for the Mets, he will look beyond the dugout rail and see his season hanging on the shoulders of Miguel Batista?

Forgive me for saying this, but this homestand is starting to look a bit like something out of nightmarish, post-apocalyptic vision.