The end is near. This afternoon at Citi Field the New York Mets will play their final game of the season, a rubber match against the Houston Astros. The veteran Bartolo Colon (14-13, 4.08) will close out the 2014 campaign for the Mets and he’ll be opposed by Astros right-hander Nick Tropeano (1-2, 3.78) in a 1:10 PM start.
The Mets (78-83) enter the final day of the season tied with the Atlanta Braves for second place in the NL East, and one game ahead of the fourth place Miami Marlins.
Colon is just 3.2 innings shy of reaching the 200-inning plateau for the Mets. The last time he tossed 200 innings was in 2005, when he went 21-8 and won the American League Cy Young Award for the Los Angeles Angels.
Bobby Abreu is expected to be in the lineup for what will be his final start as a major leaguer. On Friday, the 40-year-old veteran outfielder announced that he would retire after this season. “I feel happy with my career,” he said. “I’m blessed. We all create goals in our lives. And to me, as a baseball player, I created all my goals and I met all those goals.”
After hitting a dramatic walk-off home run on Saturday night, Lucas Duda is just one more longball away from a 30-homer season. He’s also two runs batted in away from a 90 RBI season.
No matter what happens today, the Mets will not have a protected draft pick in 2015. That means they will forfeit their first-round selection next June if they sign a free agent who receives a qualifying offer from his former team.
Starting Lineup
- Matt den Dekker – LF
- Bobby Abreu – RF
- Daniel Murphy – 3B
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Curtis Granderson – CF
- Wilmer Flores – 2B
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Juan Centeno – C
- Bartolo Colon – RHP
The Mets and Astros button up the jerseys for one more time this season as they look to turn the lights out on the 2014 season. Last night, the Mets won thanks to a walk-off homer from Lucas Duda, his 29th of the season, and today they look to win 79 games in a season for the first time since 2010. Today Bartolo Colon takes the mound as he squares off against Nick Tropeano.
Bartolo Colon is 14-13 over 30 games this season pitching 196.1 innings with a 4.08 ERA. Colon is going to have to bounce back from a poor start in Washington where he allowed 4 ER over 6.0 innings. Last year he pitched against Houston four times allowing 3 earned over 6, none over 7, 5 over 4 and 1 over 6. The Astros have the following numbers against Colon:
- Altuve 5-14, 2B
- Dominguez 2-12, 2B
- Castro 6-9, HR
- Carter 1-10, 2B
- Villar 1-5
Nick Tropeano gets the fourth start of his rookie season. He is coming off of the worst start of his brief career, allowing 4 ER over 6.2 innings. He has not faced the Mets in a major league game and has never faced any current Mets players.
This is my last game preview of the year. It’s been a pleasure writing these for you. I’ll be back again in the Spring when I begin my 8th season with the best group of Mets writers on the web – Metsmerized!
Lets Go Mets!
