Preview: Cubs at Mets April 22, 2010

Chicago Cubs (6-9) at New York Mets (6-9)  7:10 pm

Tom Gorzelanny (0-1 1.93) vs. Johan Santana (1-1 3.00)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets and Cubs are playing the final game of their four game series tonight. The Mets can take the series with a win which would be their first series win of the season. Gorzelanny left his last start against Houston after only 3 innings when he took a line drive off his left arm. Santana was great in his last start in St. Louis throwing 7 shutout innings in what would go onto become the “marathon game”.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Facebook page during the game to chat with other Mets fans! Connect with The Mets Report on Twitter too.

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Cubs 9 – Mets 3 April 21, 2010

MLB: Nationals vs Mets APR 11

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThis was one of those games where the Mets ran into a buzz saw, Carlos Silva. He was really on tonight. He went 6 IP and only gave up a solo homer to Rod Barajas. The surprise was that Lou Piniella pulled him after only 87 pitches. He could have gotten at least one more inning out of him and the Cubs had a 3-1 lead at the time.

Oliver Perez went 5 IP giving up 3 runs and throwing 97 pitches. He still looks like he’s having trouble generating velocity consistently on his fastball. You never really expect him to have great control. But he needs velocity to have success. Dan Warthen will need to keep an eye on that in his bullpen sessions.

The Mets did nothing on offense. They only had 6 hits all night. And I thought they might be able to get something going when Silva came out against the Cubs shoddy bullpen. But they only managed to score a run in the eighth on an RBI triple by Luis Castillo.

If you look at the Mets starting lineup, nobody is hitting .300 right now. There’s a serious lack of hitting going on. I thought this was going to be an offense-heavy team this year but it isn’t happening right now.

The Mets need to take the last game of the series tomorrow against the Cubs to win the series, which they haven’t done yet this season.

Box score

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Preview: Cubs at Mets April 21, 2010

Chicago Cubs (5-9) at New York Mets (6-8)  7:10 pm

Carlos Silva (1-0 0.69) vs. Oliver Perez (0-1 3.75)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets go for their third straight win over the Cubs tonight at Citi Field. The big question is whether Perez can duplicate the good start he had in St. Louis going 6.1 IP and giving up 1 ER. He hasn’t exactly been the model of consistency in his career. Silva’s been around MLB for 8 years and the last couple have been pretty poor. But his first two starts of this season have been excellent throwing 13 IP and only giving up 1 ER.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Facebook page during the game to chat with other Mets fans! Connect with The Mets Report on Twitter too.

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Mets’ Mike Pelfrey 2010 Early Season Success

Mike Pelfrey’s 3-0 start to the 2010 season has Mets fans buzzing that he’s finally developed into a legitimate #2 starter. It looks like the split finger fastball is the big difference.

Courtesy of Wikimedia

The biggest surprise for me this season has been Mike Pelfrey’s astounding success through his first three starts. His ERA is down to 0.86 after his start against the Cubs last night. It’s a huge turnaround from the regression he experienced in 2009 with a 10-13 record and 5.03 ERA.

The only physical difference is that he lost about 25 pounds in the offseason. But that can’t account for his tremendous early success after such a disappointing 2009. He wasn’t exactly overweight before this year.

It looks like the biggest difference is the development of the split finger fastball this year. He seems to have quickly developed a feel for it to get a nice, late sink on it. His motion with it is so deceptive because he doesn’t appear to deviate from his motion when throwing a fastball, which always had some sink on it anyway. I’m curious to know if Dan Warthen had any role in his development of the split finger. Continue reading “Mets’ Mike Pelfrey 2010 Early Season Success”

Mets 4 – Cubs 0 April 20, 2010

New York Mets starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey throws a pitch to the Chicago Cubs in the second inning of their MLB National League baseball game in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsI have to admit that it’s surprising to see the Mets win two in a row and have a shot to finally win a series this season. This is how the Mets drew it up in the offseason. Mike Pelfrey had another dominant performance for his third win of the season. Pelfrey has been unbelievable and the split finger that he’s throwing now is completely working for him.

The offensive hero of the game was Jose Reyes going 4 for 5 with a 2-run triple in the second inning. Reyes finally looked like he was on the ball after appearing to be have no timing over the last couple of weeks.

Fernando Tatis chipped in with a nice pinch-hit 2-run homer in the eighth to tack some run onto the lead. That’s exactly what you need to win close games. And pinch hitting is where Tatis can be really valuable to the Mets. He’s just not an everyday player, especially at first base. He isn’t consistent enough on a daily basis, but really seems to have a knack for pinch hitting. At least he did in 2008. Maybe he can recapture some of that magic.

Box score

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Preview: Cubs at Mets April 20, 2010

Chicago Cubs (5-8) at New York Mets (5-8)  7:10 pm

Carlos Zambrano (1-1 9.45) vs. Mike Pelfrey (2-0 1.29)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The hoopla surrounding Ike Davis will probably still continue for a few days. Pelfrey has been outstanding so far this season. And Zambrano has been somewhat hittable. Although he did just have one horrendous start to begin the season and his last two haven’t been that bad. The Mets go for two wins in a row over the Cubs.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!

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Forbes 2010 Baseball Team Values

The annual Forbes list of baseball team valuations lists the Mets as the third most valuable team in MLB. They lost 6% from 2009 and stand behind only the Yankees and Red Sox.

Forbes came out with their annual list of team values yesterday. The Mets are listed as the third most valuable team in the game behind the Yankees and Red Sox. That’s not a big surprise to any of us. What is interesting is that the Mets declined in value by 6% from last year, the only team in the top half of the league to do so.

You can still see the 2009 list of values on Forbes’ website. The Mets fell behind the Red Sox by losing value. The heavy debt from Citi Field and the poor season certainly are to blame for the devaluation. Continue reading “Forbes 2010 Baseball Team Values”