The Mets announced that tonight’s game against the Florida Marlins is rained out and will be played on Monday July 18th at 7:10pm. The field was a mess last night and the weather has been a mess here for days. They did the right thing because the field didn’t look like it was in playing condition. There were bad hops and sliding looked like going into a sand pit.
Florida Marlins (24-16) at New York Mets (19-22) 7:10pm
Ricky Nolasco (3-0 3.02) vs. Jon Niese (2-4 5.03)
TV: SNY Radio: WFAN
What to watch: The Mets try to even the short series tonight behind Niese. He didn’t look great in his last start in Colorado, but he did enough to get a win because Carlos Beltran supported him with three home runs.
Nolasco has been pitching really well this year for the Marlins. They’re 5-3 in games he’s started. He’s only allowed 3 earned runs in his last two starts over 13.1 innings.
Florida Marlins (23-16) at New York Mets (19-21) 7:10pm
Josh Johnson (3-1 1.63) vs. Mike Pelfrey (3-3 5.74)
TV: SNY Radio: WFAN
What to watch: Of course, the concern with this game is that the Mets can’t compete against Johnson. He’s one of the best, if not the best, pitchers in baseball and he already beat the Mets on opening day this year. But the Marlins have lost two of the last three games that he started.
Pelfrey finally seems to have gotten it together and won the last the two games he started. I’m just worried that going against Johnson is the kind of game that Pelfrey shrinks from. He got roughed up on opening day when he faced Johnson and Pelfrey is more of a front runner than a mountain climber.
The Mets took the rubber game of the series against the Astros today in Houston behind a 5 RBI day from Justin Turner. It didn’t look good from the start as the Mets were no hit for the first four innings by Aneury Rodriguez. He looked fantastic through four but lost his you know what in the fifth inning when the Mets scored 4. Turner had a 2-run double and Jason Pridie scored on a double steal of home.
Turner hit a 3-run homer in the sixth inning to make it 7-2 at the time. The Mets only had 5 hits and 6 walks in the game.
Chris Capuano had another decent start going 5 innings and allowing only 2 runs. It took him 94 pitches to get through five, so it wasn’t exactly efficient. But it got the job done.
The Mets finish the road trip at 4-2 taking both series’ from Houston and Colorado. They’ll face the Marlins and Nationals at home this week.
In this week’s video weekly Mets Report with Kerel Cooper of On The Black we first talk about R.A. Dickey and the disappointing season that he’s having. It’s only the middle of May but Dickey hasn’t won a game in more than a month. He signed a 2-year deal before the season but certainly isn’t living up to the expectations that the Mets had for him when they signed the deal.
We also get into Daniel Murphy playing first base with Ike Davis on the disabled list. Kerel asks if this is going to hurt Murphy’s defensive development at second base. He’s definitely made some strides defensively but Murphy is probably the best backup corner infielder on the team.
The last topic that we touch on is Carlos Beltran and the resurgent season that he’s having in the final year of his contract with the Mets. The timing is great for Beltran and the Mets if they’re planning to trade him, which you have to assume that the Mets are. Beltran does have a full no-trade clause but the Mets haven’t done anything yet this season to appear to make a run at the playoffs. So he would probably waive that clause for a chance to get into a playoff race. Maybe he could even do some major damage like he did with the Astros in the ’04 postseason.
New York Mets (18-21) at Houston Astros (15-24) 2:05pm
Chris Capuano (2-4 4.93) vs. Aneury Rodriguez (0-1 5.50)
TV: SNY Radio: WFAN
What to watch: The Mets and Astros play the rubber game of the series today in Houston. Capuano has lost three straight decisions, although the last two games he pitched very well. He gave up 4 runs over 13 innings over that span.
Rodriguez is making his third start of the season after coming out of the bullpen into the rotation. He got hit hard by the Reds in his last start for 5 runs in 5 innings. Both his previous starts this season were against the Reds. He’s a 23 year old righty from the Dominican Republic.
R.A. Dickey continued his losing ways in Houston today. The dream season that he had last year is nowhere to be found. He blew the game in the first innings by giving up 4 runs on 6 hits and throwing 45 pitches. It was really ugly. He stayed in the game into the sixth finishing with 5.1 innings, 6 runs allowed on 11 hits and no walks.
There wasn’t a lot of offense from the Mets against J.A. Happ today. They had 7 hits and 4 walks as a team. Daniel Murphy hit a solo homer to right in the fourth inning. They strung together some hits to score one in the third and one in the ninth. That was it.
The Mets and Astros will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow afternoon.
The Mets Report 