Locked On Mets is a daily podcast on the Locked On Podcast Network, hosted by MMO’s own Ryan Finkelstein. This week, Ryan was joined New York Mets relief pitcher Chasen Shreve.

In part 1 of the two-part episode, Shreve talks about what it was like to grow up in Las Vegas playing alongside fellow MLB talent such as Bryce Harper, Tyler Chatwood and fellow Met reliever Paul Sewald. He also discusses his time in New York playing with the Yankees.

In part 2, Shreve explains why he chose to sign with the Mets this offseason and how he has enjoyed being with the team thus far. He also shares how he is staying in pitching shape while in self-quarantine and his thoughts on the potential for the MLB to return this season.

Episodes of Locked On Mets can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.

The post Locked On Mets: Special Guest, Chasen Shreve appeared first on Metsmerized.

We are starting to see some major moves. Tyler Chatwood signed with the Cubs and Dee Gordon got traded to the Mariners.

Though the market still waits on the NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton who we now know will accept a trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros.

This comes from a report by Craig Mish of SiriusXM, who has done a great job covering the saga.

Latest Mets News

Brandon Nimmo played Santa Claus in the Mets holiday party. Noah Syndergaard, Jerry Blevins, and Kevin Plawecki played his elves. Nimmo

MMO’s own, Rob Piersall, was there and has full coverage on the event. A much recommended read for everyone.

Anthony Dicomo of MLB.com writes about what the Mets could do next week.

The Mets will also host their annual coat drive next Wednesday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Anyone who donates will get two tickets in 2018.

According to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports, considered Mitch Moreland. He added that it’s unlikely.

Former Met, Tracy Stallard, passed away yesterday. We at MMO send our condolences to his family.

Latest MLB News

The Mariners officially got Dee Gordon. They also got $1 million towards their international bonus pool in the deal. The Mariners plan on using Gordon in center field and now have the most slot money possible to get Shohei Ohtani.

The Cubs signed Tyler Chatwood on a three-year deal for $38 million.

Bill Livingston of Cleveland.com submitted his Hall-of-Fame ballot. He voted for two people, Omar Vizquel and Jim Thome because he covered both and knows they are clean. Livingston is going off his assumptions and no one asked him to be the moral arbiter of baseball.

Latest NL East News

Mark Zuckerman of MASN answers questions from Nationals’ fans.

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes about the Gordon trade from Miami’s side.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com talks about what the Braves can do in the winter meetings.

Matt Breen of Philly.com writes about what Gabe Kapler thinks about Rob Thomson.

Latest on MMO

Joe D. posts his offseason plan for the Mets.

Mathew Brownstein talks with Glendon Rusch.

This Day in Mets History

1983: The Mets acquire southpaw, Sid Fernandez, from the Dodgers. The lefty was one of the more underrated pitchers in Mets history.

Birthdays: Alex Torres turns 30. He got a new hat as a gift.

The post Morning Briefing: Stanton Will Approve Trade to Four Teams appeared first on Metsmerized.

Tyler Chatwood

Position: Starting Pitcher

Bats: Right – Throws: Right

Born: December 16, 1989 (age 27)

2017 Stats: 33 G (25 GS), 147.2 IP, 8-15, 4.69 ERA, 1.442 WHIP, .250 AVG, 1.2 HR/9, 120 SO, 1.1 WAR

Predicted by many as a free agent sleeper, Tyler Chatwood’s stats don’t seem to show it. However, if you dive deeper in his pitching, you begin to appreciate the fact that he is an above-average pitcher, decimated by the cruel stadium known as Coors Field.

His 8-15 record and 4.69 ERA may not looking appealing to possible suitors, however every team knows that he fell victim to the curse of Coors Field. Located up in the Rockies, Coors is a monstrosity to every pitcher, as higher altitude stadiums always induce baseballs to travel faster and further. Although his home ERA was 6.01, his road ERA was 3.49.

The 27-year-old’s season was a tale of two halves. In the first half, he struggled mightily. His season was in a tailspin and it looked like he would need to sign a deal as a reclamation project. Though as his season concluded, he turned it on. After August 9, he started to dominate. In his final 35.1 innings, he pitched to a 3.08 ERA, allowing a .175 batting average against, and guaranteed that he would receive a decent deal this offseason.

Part of the reason for his success was a simple change in his pitching arsenal. He threw his sinker more and decreased the usage of his four-seam fastball and changeup. Beginning in August, he began to throw his sinker 20% more and decreased his usage of his fastball and curveball by 12% and 9% respectively.

Chatwood’s pitches will flourish outside Coors Field. He threw his fastball in the 95 mph range, ranking 28th in fastball velocity this season. His fastball, curveball and changeup all generate an elite amount of ground balls, which prospective teams are certain to notice. Chatwood’s specialty is his above average spin rate on his fastball. His 2980 RPM(rotations per minute) was fifth highest in the MLB this season.

Although it may not guarantee Chatwood an extra year on his contract, he just won a Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award, which is given to the best fielding pitcher in the MLB.

Chatwood has always been an injury-prone pitcher. This season, he lived up to that reputation, as he landed on the DL in July, with a right calf strain. Nonetheless, it was encouraging that he did not have an arm injury. Chatwood also suffered from an increase in HR/9; last year he allowed .85 HR/9, however this year, that number exploded to 1.22 HR/9. Also his command has always been an issue. He finished fourth in the majors in walks with 77 in 2017.

He has a 2.57 cumulative road ERA over the past two seasons which is the sixth-best in baseball and saw a jump from 92.6 MPH in 2016 to 94.6 MPH on his four-seamer in 2017.

Contract:

Due to his strong finish to the season, he will be looking for a multi-year deal. The free agent market has a dearth of decent free agent starting pitchers so many teams will be willing to sign a pitcher that has suffered from the Coors Field effect over the past five years. I project that Chatwood will sign a 3-year deal worth $27 million dollars.

Recommendation:

Chatwood is in a very unique position this year. With age still on his side, teams will start salivating over his road stats. He’s never been a proven starter, however many teams will vie for his services due to his excellent ground-ball percentage and his performace away from Coors Field. Sandy Alderson may not be willing to sign a pitcher who already had two serious arm injuries to a multi-year deal. His walk rate is also troubling, especially for a staff that finished fourth in walks during 2017.  Nevertheless, his contract would fit directly in the Mets’ price range. If the Mets were to sign Chatwood, he would join the competition for the last two starting spots with Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo.

I think that Mets should bid for Chatwood, though they have more pressing needs in the infield and bullpen. He does come with risk given two Tommy John surgeries, walk issues and having only thrown over 150 innings once as a big leaguer. Given these factors and the likelihood of him getting more than a two-year deal I don’t expect to see him in a Mets uniform in 2018.

The post MMO Free Agent Profile: Tyler Chatwood, SP appeared first on Metsmerized.

Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports released his contract predictions for whom he deemed to be the Top 80 free agents.

Along with his contract predictions he has a “trusty expert” make his own and Heyman admits that the expert has been closer with his analysis over the last ten years.

In light of Heyman admitting the experts picks are better let’s take a look at some of them that may pertain to players the Mets have been tied to or play positions they should upgrade.

To kick things off, Heyman has Eric Hosmer as his No.1 ranked free agent and the expert thinks he will get $165 million over seven years. Heyman agrees on the years but thinks Hosmer will get $160 million, either way the soon-to-be former Royal is getting paid.

Third Base

Mike Moustakas – five years, $92 million
Todd Frazier – three years, $32 million
Eduardo Nunez – two years, $14 million
Yunel Escobar – two years, $10 million

Tough to imagine the Mets having any interest in Moustakas at that price.

First Base

Carlos Santana – three years, $38 million
Logan Morrison – two years, $22 million
Yonder Alonso – two years, $15 million
Lucas Duda – one year, $5 million
Mark Reynolds – one year, $5.5 million

Despite Duda’s struggles in 2017 that type of deal is going to be a nice bargain for someone.

Middle Infield

Zack Cozart – three years, $35 million
Neil Walker – two years, $21 million
Howie Kendrick – one year, $7 million
Jose Reyes – one year, $6 million

Crazy to think Reyes has made himself that much money after a horrendous first half.

Outfield

J.D. Martinez – six years, $162 million
Lorenzo Cain – four years, $68 million
Jay Bruce – three years, $40 million
Carlos Gonzalez – one year, $14 million
Jarrod Dyson – two years, $14 million
Austin Jackson – two years, $15 million
Jose Bautista – one year, $4 million

Two low-buy options here in Gonzalez in Bautista.

Starters

Yu Darvish – six years, $146 million
Alex Cobb – four years, $58 million
Lance Lynn – five years, $75 million
Tyler Chatwood – three years, $24 million
Jason Vargas – two years, $14 million
C.C. Sabathia – one year, $14 million
Miles Mikolas – two years, $7.5 million
R.A. Dickey – one year, $6.5 million

Chatwood at that price tag should absolutely be of interest to the Mets as should Dickey if he decides to pitch in 2018

Relievers

Wade Davis – four years, $64 million
Greg Holland – four years, $60 million
Addison Reed – four years, $35 million
Mike Minor – four years, $32 million
Anthony Swarzak – four years, $28 million
Steve Cishek – three years, $20 million
Bryan Shaw – two years, $12 million
Pat Neshek – two years, $13 million
Jake McGee – two years, $15 million
Joe Smith – two years, $9 million
David Hernandez – one year, $4 million

This is certainly the market that will probably get the most attention not only because the Mets have expressed a strong interest in bolstering their bullpen but there’s a ton of good relievers available that aren’t even listed above.

I would do the predictions for Shaw, Neshek, McGee and Hernandez in a heart beat. All of them are reasonable short-term deals that stay away from the risk of the deals you see for guys like Minor and Swarzak.

Remember these are just predictions from one persons opinion but serves as a fun baseline to look at as we wait for the hot stove season to heat up.

The post Heyman’s Free Agent Contract Predictions Has Hosmer Taking the Cake appeared first on Metsmerized.

The New York Mets (49-56) beat the Colorado Rockies (61-47) 10-5 on Wednesday night at Coors Field. The Mets were down 5-0 going into the fourth inning and ended up scoring 10 unanswered runs.

Pitching

Chris Flexen (0-1, 9.00 ERA) made his second career MLB start for the Mets. Just like his first start he didn’t pitch more than three innings. In the three innings he did pitch, he gave up eight hits, five runs, and one walk while striking out two. On top of his poor performance, Flexen left the game with a blister on his index finger.

Chasen Bradford took over for Flexen and picked up the win after pitching two perfect innings.

Fernando Salas took the mound for the sixth and struck out two in a scoreless inning.

Paul Sewald pitched the seventh and delivered a perfect inning. He stayed in the game for the eighth and pitched a scoreless frame.

AJ Ramos came in for the ninth inning in a non-save situation and kept the Rockies off the board.

Offense

The Mets faced Tyler Chatwood (6-11, 4.78 ERA) who took the mound for the Rockies. He kept them off base for the first three innings.

The Mets got to Chatwood in the fourth. One of his pitches hit home plate umpire Kerwin Danley who then had to come out of the game. After the umpire injury delay, Chatwood proceeded to give up three hits and two runs in the inning. Yoenis Cespedes grounded into a double play to drive in the Mets’ first run. Jay Bruce then followed with a solo shot to left center field to cut the Rockies lead to 5-2.

Amed Rosario tripled in a run in the fourth for his first career RBI. He then scored on a Travis d’Arnaud groundout.

Cespedes tied the game on a RBI double in the sixth. Later in the inning Curtis Granderson hit a three-run homer to right center field to knock Chatwood out of the game and give the Mets an 8-5 lead. The Mets added two more runs in the inning on a RBI single from Michael Conforto and a RBI double from Asdrubal Cabrera.

On Deck

The Mets will look to take the rubber game of this series on Thursday. Rafael Montero (1-7, 5.72 ERA) will take the hill for the Mets and will be opposed by German Marquez (9-4, 4.08 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 pm.

The post Rapid Reaction: Mets Overcome 5-0 Deficit to Beat Rockies 10-5 appeared first on Metsmerized.

Friday, July 29, 2016 • 7:10 p.m.
Citi Field • Flushing, N.Y.
RHP Tyler Chatwood (9-6, 3.65) vs. LHP Steven Matz (8-6, 3.36)
SNY • WOR 710 AM • ESPN 1050 AM

The Mets are coming off back to back disappointing losses as the offense struggles to get the gear back into the position. But things can change fast. A year ago today is when the Flores trade fell through. So tomorrow will be a year ago to day of one of the worst losses in the 2015 season. After that things changed quickly, so lets hope y’all!

Mets Lineup

1. Curtis Granderson RF
2. Travis d’Arnaud – C
3. Yoenis Cespedes – LF
4. James Loney – 1B
5. Neil Walker – 2B
6. Wilmer Flores – 3B
7. Asdrubal Cabrera – SS
8. Michael Conforto – CF
9. Steven Matz – SP

Rockies Lineup

1. Charlie Blackmon – CF
2. DJ LeMahieu – 2B
3. Nolan Arenado – 3B
4. Carlos Gonzalez – RF
5. Trevor Story – SS
6. Ryan Raburn – LF
7. Mark Reynolds – 1B
8. Nick Hundley – C
9. Tyler Chatwood – SP

Steven Matz takes the mound tonight. He’s 8-6 over 18 starts and 107.0 innings with a 3.36 ERA. His last time out he picked up his first win since May 25th as he tossed 6.0 scoreless innings against the Marlins in a game the Mets won 3-0. Matz missed the Rockies the first time around this year and didn’t face them last year so tonight will be his first time. No one on the Rockies roster faced Steven as a member of a different team.

The Mets will get a look at Tyler Chatwood tonight who has tossed 103.2 innings over 18 starts with a 9-6 record and a 3.65 ERA. After back to back starts in July where he allowed 11 ER over 8.0 innings, in his last start he allowed only one hit and no runs against the Braves in 5.0 innings (but walked 8 batters). In May he allowed 3 ER against the Mets over 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Chatwood:

• Cabrera 2-7, HR
• Reyes 2-7, 3B
• Loney 1-6
• De Aza 0-4
• Cespedes 1-3, HR
• Conforto 1-3
• Granderson 1-3, HR
• Lagares 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Rockies vs Mets, Cespedes Returns appeared first on Metsmerized.

Cespedes has a 178 wRC+ which ranks No. 1 in MLB

When Yoenis Cespedes re-signed with the New York Mets this off-season, fans were elated. Even if it’s just for one season, (Cespedes has the opt-out after 2016) the Mets finally have a legitimate power bat to hit in the middle of the lineup, something the Mets have lacked since the days of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado.

What a difference it makes for their lineup to have that dynamic power and run-producing threat, day in and day out. The easiest job Manager Terry Collins has when constructing his lineup is penciling in Cespedes’ name in the cleanup or number three spot. After Sunday’s win and sweep against the Milwaukee Brewers, Yoenis Cespedes is ranking in the top three of many major offensive categories across Major League Baseball.

As of this writing on Sunday night, Cespedes is tied for the Major League lead in home runs (14), 2nd in runs batted in (35), 2nd in slugging percentage (.660), and 2nd in OPS (1.041).

When Cespedes, 30, came over to the Mets last season in the trade with the Detroit Tigers, he provided instant power and a reason to stay glued to your seats for each of his at-bats. While critics will argue that he feasts on inferior pitching and is a free swinger at the plate, 2016 has provided the chance for Cespedes to prove those critics wrong.

And so far through the first 43 games of the year, he has done so on a near regular basis.

First look at the home runs he’s hit. When I started researching the times Cespedes has homered, I noticed that he’s hit a fair amount of clutch home runs to date. And when I mention clutch, I’m speaking of times where his home runs have either put the Mets ahead or tied the game for them. Of the 14 home runs he’s blasted, four of them have tied the game, one has cut the deficit to one run, and two have put the Mets ahead. Six of the home runs have come at Citi Field, proving no ballpark is too big to contain the power of “La Potencia”.

And the part about him hitting only bad pitching? Well this year Cespedes has hit several home runs against some good competition to date. Cespedes’ first and fifth home runs of the year came off of Phillies’ RHP Jeremy Hellickson, whose pitched to a 4-2 record, with a 3.99 earned run average and a 103 in E.R.A. plus. Cespedes has also taken Philadelphia Phillies’ future ace Vince Velasquez deep on April 19th, who is currently top 15 in the Majors in earned run average (2.42), WHIP (0.99), and strikeouts (59).

Cespedes took RHP James Shields and Andrew Cashner deep in the San Diego Padres series back in early May, and also LHP reliever Brad Hand, who’s sporting a 2.82 earned run average and has 28 strikeouts in 22.1 innings pitched as of Sunday. And in the Rockies’ series, he hit a solo shot off of RHP Tyler Chatwood in the top of the third to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead. Chatwood on the year, is 5-3 with a 3.02 earned run average for the surprising second-place Rockies. He also took perennial Mets killer Gio Gonzalez deep against the Nationals on May 18th, hitting a solo shot on a 3-1 count that tied the game for the Mets in the bottom of the fourth. After the Nationals won that game last Wednesday night, Gonzalez is now 7-1 in 12 Citi Field starts, in which he’s put up an earned run average of 1.53.

And how about this for clutch, with 2-outs and runners in scoring position, Cespedes on the year is posting an OPS of 1.083, with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, and 7 runs batted in.

Cespedes has also seen a dramatic spike in walks this year, already with 17 on the season. Combining the Tigers and Mets stats from last season, Cespedes drew a total of 33 walks, good for a walk rate of 4.9%. So far this year, Cespedes has a walk rate of over 10%, more than doubling last year’s numbers.

What’s impressive is that Cespedes, throughout his entire career, has been a free-swinger, and after a rookie year which he walked 8% of the time, was trending down each season thereafter in that category. For him to be able to shrink the strike zone at this stage of his career says a lot about the time and effort he puts in the cage to get better at his craft.

Taking a look at Fangraphs, their O-Swing%, or the percentage of pitches a batter swings at outside the strike zone, indicates that Cespedes is laying off the outside pitch more than he’s done since his rookie season in 2012. He’s currently under 36%, an improvement on his 2014 season (37.2%) and 2015 season (37.5%).

Andrew Beaton of The Wall Street Journal had a great stat on Cespedes and his power and walk rate. He said between 2012 and 2015, 34 players hit at least 90 home runs, and only one player (Adam Jones) has walked less than Cespedes among that group.

Cespedes’ patience at the plate has paid off to a .381 OBP, which is higher than players that normally get on base at a high clip such as Joe Mauer, Jose Bautista, Eric Hosmer, Adrian Gonzalez, and Joey Votto.

If Cespedes can keep up his gaudy stat line, he’ll be in line to be a strong candidate for National League M.V.P. this year. But more importantly, his power and patience at the plate have taken tremendous strides thus far, something that was at a loss in last year’s postseason. Combining all three rounds last year, Cespedes hit .222/.232/.352 with two home runs, both coming in the NLDS, with 17 strikeouts compared to one walk.

If Cespedes can become the force that he’s been for the Mets in the regular season into the playoffs, they’ll have a weapon that can neutralize any pitching at any given moment. Inserting that type of force into a lineup would make any manager smile ear-to-ear, but Collins is hoping that both he and Cespedes will be smiling at the end of this year’s World Series.

The post Yoenis Cespedes: Power, Patience, Performance appeared first on Metsmerized.

Sunday, May 15, 2016 • 4:10 p.m. (ET)
Coors Field • Denver, CO
RHP Jacob deGrom (3-1, 2.12) vs. RHP Tyler Chatwood (4-3, 3.09)
SNY • WWOR 710 AM • ESPN 1050 AM

The Mets will try to savage a game in Colorado and avoid a sweep this afternoon behind Jacob deGrom before finally heading home. The Mets are 4-6 on their season-high 11- game road trip (2-2 in San Diego, 2-2 in Los Angeles and 0-2 in Colorado).

Mets Lineup

1. Alejandro De Aza, RF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
3. Michael Conforto, LF
4. Yoenis Cespedes, CF
5. Lucas Duda, 1B
6. Neil Walker, 2B
7. Kevin Plawecki, C
8. Eric Campbell, 3B
9. Jacob deGrom, RHP

Rockies Lineup

1. Charlie Blackmon, CF
2. Trevor Story, SS
3. Nolan Arenado, 3B
4. Gerardo Parra, LF
5. Carlos Gonzalez, RF
6. Mark Reynolds, 1B
7. DJ LeMahieu, 2B
8. Dustin Garneau, C
9. Tyler Chatwood, RHP

Jacob is 3-1 over 5 starts on the season and 29.2 innings of work while posting a 2.12 ERA. In his last start in LA, responded from his worst start on the season by going 7.0 innings allowing 2 ER, no walks and striking out 4. Last year deGrom made one start against the Rockies holding them scoreless over 7.0 innings and striking out 10 batters. The Rockies have the following numbers against Jacob:

• Parra 1-9, HR
• Reynolds, 0-9
• Arenado 1-6, 2B
• Blackmon 0-6
• LeMahieu 1-6, 2B
• Gonzalez 0-2

The Mets bats will get a look at Tyler Chatwood who missed all of 2015 and has returned in 2016 with a 4-3 record over 7 starts and 43.2 innings with an ERA of 3.09. Its been a while since he faced the Mets. The last time they matched up was back in 2013 allowing 1 ER over 6.0 innings with 4 hits, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers against Chatwood:

• Cabrera 1-4, HR, 2 BB
• Granderson 1-3, HR
• Lagares 1-3
• Rivera 0-2
• Wright 1-2
• Duda 0-1

Let’s Go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Mets vs Rockies, 4:10 PM appeared first on Metsmerized.

ROCKIES AT METS • 12:10 PM

Jeff Manship (0-0 , 0.00) vs Dillon Gee (7-8, 3.97)

Starting Lineup

1. Eric Young, Jr. – LF
2. Juan Lagares – CF
3. Daniel Murphy – 2B
4. Marlon Byrd – RF
5. Ike Davis – 1B
6. Wilmer Flores – 3B
7. Anthony Recker – C
8. Omar Quintanilla – SS
9. Dillon Gee – RHP

Video of the Day

Hey, I told you Harvey was gonna Rock This Town last night… Here’s another eighties She Stadium staple…

[iframe]<iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/CdqoNKCCt7A” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>[/iframe]

Game Notes

• RHP Matt Harvey authored the first complete game and first shutout of his career Wednesday night, when he tossed a four-hitter to lead the Mets past the Rockies, 5-0. Harvey, the National League’s leader in strikeouts, whiffed only six but walked none and threw just 106 pitches—including 78 strikes—in the gem. He went to a three-ball count just twice, threw a first-pitch strike to 24 of the 30 batters he faced, threw more than 11 pitches in an inning just three times, retired 15 of the game’s final 17 batters and allowed only one runner to advance beyond first base. Harvey’s masterpiece was endangered when Charlie Blackmon lined a single off his right kneecap with two outs in the ninth, but Harvey needed to throw just one warm-up pitch and showed no ill effects while walking through the locker room with the knee wrapped. Harvey improved to 9-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.09, second-best in the NL behind Clayton Kershaw.
• RHP Dillon Gee will look to maintain his recent dominance at home when he takes the mound Thursday afternoon for the Mets in the finale of a three-game series against the Rockies at Citi Field. Gee didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start last Friday, when he opened the Mets’ six-game homestand by allowing just one run on three hits and two walks while striking out four over seven innings in the Mets’ 4-2, 11-inning win. Gee is 2-0 with a 1.34 ERA in his last five home starts dating back to June 12. Gee has a 2.22 ERA in his last 12 home starts dating back to June 20, 2012 and has a lifetime 3.15 ERA in 38 games (36 starts) at Citi Field. Lately, Gee has been almost as good away from Citi Field: In his last 12 starts dating back to May 30, Gee is 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA, a stretch in which he’s lowered his overall ERA from 6.34 to 3.97, the lowest it has been since following his first start of the season. Gee will be making his third career start against the Rockies and his first at Citi Field. He is 1-1 with a 6.17 ERA against Colorado. He earned the win in his most recent start against the Rockies on April 28, 2012, when he allowed four runs (three earned) over seven innings in the Mets’ 7-5 win.
• LF Lucas Duda was activated from the 15-day disabled list Wednesday and optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. Duda went on the disabled list June 22 with a strained left intercostal muscle and ended up losing his job to Eric Young, who has cemented himself as the Mets’ leadoff hitter in Duda’s absence while also providing a vast upgrade over Duda in left field. Duda began a minor league rehab assignment July 24 and hit just .156 with one homer, six RBIs and 17 strikeouts in 45 at-bats between Las Vegas, the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Mets and Class A St. Lucie. Duda was hitting .235 with 11 homers and 23 RBIs in 68 games for the Mets prior to getting hurt.
• SS Ruben Tejada appears no closer to returning to the Mets. Tejada, who suffered a strained right quad on May 29 and was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas upon the completion of his rehab assignment July 7, is hitting .280 for Las Vegas but entered Wednesday with just four hits in his last 34 at-bats. “I don’t know when we’re going to see Ruben back here,” Mets manager Terry Collins said Wednesday afternoon. Tejada hit just .209 with 10 RBIs in 187 at-bats for the Mets and frustrated the Mets with a lack of conditioning as well as lapses on defense.
• 3B Wilmer Flores had a memorable second big league game Wednesday night when he collected his first career hit, scored his first run and racked up his first three RBIs in the Mets’ 5-0 win over the Rockies. Flores’ one-out single in the second inning was the first of three straight hits by the Mets, the last of which scored Flores from third base. In the eighth inning, Flores delivered a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double down the left field line to expand the lead to 5-0. He finished 2-for-4 and played a clean third base one night after he went 0-for-4 and was charged with an error in his big league debut.

Game Preview by Elliot Teichman

The Mets go for the series sweep this afternoon in Queens against the Rockies as this blogger finds himself in an unusual situation. I usually write these articles before 6 AM and the Rockies, who will be playing 6 hours and 15 minutes from this exact moment (5:45 AM) still have not announced a starter yet.

*** Rockies manager named righty Jeff Manship as Thursday’s starter after Tyler Chatwood was scratched late Wednesday night. Chatwood is headed to the disabled list with right elbow inflammation.

Dillon Gee is 7-8 on the season with a 3.97 ERA pitching 131.1 innings. His last start was a nice bounce back as he allowed only 1 ER over 7 innings of work and now has allowed 1 ER or fewer over 6.2 innings or more in three of his last four starts. He faced Colorado before this season and it was a rough game as he allowed 5 ER over 4.2 innings and 7 hits. The Rockies have the following numbers against Gee:

Herrera 0-7
Cuddyer 2-5, 2B
Gonzalez 3-4, HR
Helton 2-5, 2B
Tulo 2-5
Fowler 0-3

Lets Go Mets!

The post Rockies vs Mets: Gee, Flores, Lagares Primed For The Sweep! appeared first on Metsmerized.

FLORES SINGLES FOR HIS FIRST MLB HIT

The Mets took their second straight game against the Rockies and beat them by the score of 5-0 on the strength of a dazzling pitching performance by Matt Harvey and a stunning offensive showing by Wilmer Flores.

Wow, what a performance by Matt Harvey… In spectacular fashion, Harvey tossed the first shutout of his career tonight – a four-hit gem with no walks and six strikeouts. In all, the righty phenom threw 106 pitches, 78 of them for strikes. He only had two three-ball counts in the game.

In the ninth with two outs, Harvey took a line drive off his right knee, but after one warm-up pitch he waved Collins back to the dugout and got the final out. Matt Harvey is the best pitcher in the game and he’s a Met.  He improves his ERA to 2.09 for the season, second best in the league. Wow…

Wilmer Flores was the offensive hero of the game tonight. He got things started in his first at-bat in the second when he worked the count to 3-2 and singled for his first major league hit. Flores would come around and score the first run of the game courtesy of an Omar Quintanilla RBI single. But the best was yet to come.

In the eighth inning a very confident Flores came up in a critical moment of the game with the bases loaded and two outs, and then he electrified the crowd and got them on their feet with a three-run double to put the Mets up 5-0. Trade showcase my ass… Flores is the next great Mets hitter…

Ike Davis singled and walked while hustling from first to score a run. Buck contributed two hits and drove in the other run in the game.

This was a tremendous game that showcased two of the Mets core players – Harvey and Flores – doing what they do best – pitch lights out and drive in runs with a perfect line-drive swing. Tonight, that combo was the recipe for success!

The Mets complete their homestand and go for the sweep tomorrow in a 12:10 PM matinee. Dillon Gee (7-8, 3.97 ERA) opposes right-hander Tyler Chatwood (7-4, 3.15).

May there be many more games like this one… Lets Go Mets…

The post Harvey Throws First Career Shutout, Flores Drives In Three In Amazins’ 5-0 Win appeared first on Metsmerized.