Starting Lineup
- Omar Quintanilla – SS
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Lucas Duda –LF
- John Buck – C
- Rick Ankiel – CF
- Marlon Byrd – RF
- Ike Davis – 1B
- Shaun Marcum – RHP
Game Notes
The Mets have won five games in a row for the first time since May 5-9, 2012. The last time the Mets won six in a row was April 21-27, 2011. New York is 10-8 in the first game of a series, 5-3 in such games on the road.
The Mets won all four games vs. the Yankees, the club’s first season series sweep of the Yankees. The four-game winning streak vs. the Yankees is also a franchise-high. It also marked the first time in team history that the Mets have swept a season series of four-or-more games from any opponent. The Mets outscored the Yankees 16-7 during the four games and Mets pitching staff notched 40 strikeouts over the four nights and issued only two walks.
Mets pitchers have not issued a walk in their last three games tying the franchise record (done three previous times, last, July 5-7, 1994). Also from May 14-16, 1994 and August 29-31, 1968. Cincinnati accomplished that feat earlier this year from April 15-17. The last team to not issue a walk in four straight games was the Yankees (August 1-4, 2011). The last National League team to go four consecutive games without allowing a walk was Philadelphia, June 4-7, 1976.
Dillon Gee struck out 12 and did not walk anybody against the Yankees last night. Gee is the third Mets pitcher this season with at least a dozen strikeouts and no walks in a game. Matt Harvey did it against the White Sox on May 7 and Shaun Marcum against the Braves on May 26. The Mets are only the third team since 1900 to have three different pitchers have a game with at least 12 strikeouts and no walks in the same season.
Dillon Gee became the second pitcher to strike out 12 Yankees, walk none, and allow four hits or fewer since the Yankees moved to New York in 1903. The other was Pedro Martinez in a 17 strikeout, one-hitter on September 10, 1999. Gee established a career-high with 12 strikeouts. His previous best was nine strikeouts.
Over the last nine games, Mets starters have posted a 2.91 ERA (19 earned runs/58.2 innings). over their last six games, Mets starters have tossed 40.1 innings and issued one walk, while notching 47 strikeouts. Overall, Mets starters have a 4.14 ERA, ranking 17th in the majors.
The Mets bullpen has surrendered two runs over its last 13.2 innings (1.32 ERA). New York relievers have seven victories this month, tied with Tampa Bay for the second-most in the majors, one behind Pittsburgh.
The Mets have allowed one run in three of their last four games and have allowed two or fewer runs in four of their last five games.
Bobby Parnell has converted seven straight save chances and earned his ninth save last night. Parnell has three wins and seven saves this month, tied for the fourth-most in the NL. He is tied for the major league lead among relievers in wins (four) and also ranks ninth in the NL with a 1.85 ERA (min. of 20 innings).
Marlon Byrd hit his sixth home run of the year last night. It was the second straight night he connected on a home run. The last time he had home runs in back-to-back games was May 18-19, 2011, with the Cubs against the Marlins. Byrd has five home runs this month, equaling his career-high for any calendar month. Byrd is hitting .258 (16-62) with two doubles, five home runs and 14 RBI in 19 games this month.
Daniel Murphy has at least one hit in 14 of his last 18 games, batting .375 (27-72) with nine doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI over that clip. Murphy collected his 17th double on Wednesday. He is second in the NL, one behind Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce. Since the start of 2012 season, he has 57 doubles, the third-most in the National League.
David Wright hit .357 (5-14) with four runs scored and two RBI vs. the Yankees. Wright has a .381 on-base percentage, the eighth-best mark in the NL. He is tied for fourth with 29 walks, tied for third with four triples and seventh with 11 stolen bases.
Game Preview
The Kings of New York, fresh off a four game sweep of the Yankees and on a five game winning streak fly down to Miami tonight to face a team that is on a 9 game losing streak while Israel and Honduras come to Citi Field to play soccer (as if you haven’t seen that commercial enough in recent days). Anyway the Mets are on an impressive streak when it comes to starting pitching but really could use their offense to step it up (with the exception Wednesday’s game). Tonight Shaun Marcum gets back on the hill as he takes on Jacob Tuner in his 2013 debut.
Shaun Marcum is 0-5 this season over 7 games, 6 starts with a 5.77 ERA over 34.1 innings. In his last start he pitched 7 innings allowing 2 ER while striking out 12 batters. He only made one bad pitch in that game which turned into a 2 run homer. Hopefully this is the start of something special for Shaun who faced the Marlins earlier this year in relief allowing 2 ER over 1.2 innings. The Marlins have the following numbers against Marcum:
Polanco 6-14, 2 2B
Pierre 3-11, 2B
Mathis 1-8
Dobbs 2-5, 2B
Ruggianno 1-4
Turner, making his season debut, went 1-4 last year over 7 starts and 42.2 innings of work while posting a 3.38 ERA. He had one bad start and one good start against the Mets last season. First he went 5 innings allowing 6 runs, 3 earned and then two starts later allowed only one run over 7.2 innings (#Mets). He is 3-4 over 10 starts with a 4.47 ERA this year in AAA. The Mets have the following numbers against Turner:
Tejada 1-7, 2B
Davis 1-6
Murphy 1-5
Wright 0-5
Duda 1-4
Baxter 1-1
Valdespin 1-1, 2B
Lets Go Mets!
