MMO Game Thread: Giants vs Mets, 1:10 PM, (Colon Bids For 200th Win!)

After a thrilling victory on Saturday night, the Mets and Giants go into game three of their 4-game series with one win apiece. Bartolo Colon (10-8, 3.88), who many thought would be traded at the deadline, takes the mound for the Mets and will oppose left-hander Madison Bumgarner (12-8, 3.41) for San Francisco in a 1:10 PM start at Citi Field.

This is a big game for Colon who is bidding for his 200th career victory. With 199 wins already in the bank, the veteran righthander ranks third among active pitchers behind CC Sabathia who has 208, and Tim Hudson who has 213. He also can become only the third Dominican-born pitcher to reach the 200 win plateau, joining Juan Marichal (243) and Pedro Martinez (219).

Lucas Duda has hit six home runs and collected 12 RBI in his last 10 games. He has a career-best 20 home runs, tied for
the fifth-most in the NL. Duda is seventh in the NL with a .511 slugging percentage and tied for 11th with 61 RBI. He’s reached safely in 31 of his last 33 games.

Michael Conforto, the Mets 2014 first-round pick, hit his first professional home run, a solo shot, last night for the Brooklyn Cyclones. Conforto is hitting .352 (19-54) with five doubles, one home run, eight RBI and a .446 on-base percentage in 15 games with the Clones.

Juan Lagares is 8-for-his-last-18 (.444) with three RBI and at least one hit in each of his last five games. Lagares is batting .301 (37-123) at Citi Field this season.

Starting Lineup

Curtis Granderson – RF
Ruben Tejada – SS
David Wright – 3B
Eric Campbell – 1B
Chris Young – LF
Juan Lagares – CF
Wilmer Flores – 2B
Anthony Recker – C
Bartolo Colon – RHP

The Mets put the Giants down last night behind the arm of Jacob deGrom who brought a no-hitter deep into the game. Today, they turn to Bartolo Colon, the last pitcher on the Mets to bring a no-no deep into a game, to do the same. On the season, Colon is 10-8 over 21 games and 141.2 innings with a 3.88 ERA. In his last two starts he has pitched 15.0 innings allowing 3 ER while striking out 11 batters and walking only 2. Earlier this year he faced the Giants allowing 1 earned run, three total over 5.2 innings while striking out 4. The Giants have the following numbers against Colon:

Pence 3-5, HR
Crawford 3-5
Morse 2-6
Posey 1-4
Blanco 1-4
Belt 0-3

The Mets bats will get a look at Madison Bumgarner, who is 12-8 on the season over 23 games and 145.0 innings with a 3.41 ERA coming off of his second straight all-star season. Two games ago, he had a tremendous game against the Phillies where he shut out the Phillies over 8.0 innings but in his last game against the Pirates he allowed 5 ER over 4.0 innings. Last year he held the Mets to one earned run over 7.0 innings, striking out 10 batters. The Mets have the following numbers against Madison: