The Mets begin a four-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at 10:10 EDT.
The Mets get the Dodgers at a very good time. Los Angeles is fading fast, losing 11 of 15 and eight of nine. The Dodgers started out fast, at one time having the best record in baseball and blowing away the rest of their division. They are now on the verge of losing the NL West lead to the Giants.
The Dodgers are a team similar to the Mets when it comes to offense. They can’t hit home runs and are 29th in baseball in that category. However, they are good at getting on base, much like the Mets. They are in the top ten in on-base percentage as well as walks.
While their offense may be sub-par, the Dodger pitching staff is terrific. They rank in the top five in ERA, quality starts, and batting average against, among others. They have a very good bullpen, led by up-and-coming closer Kenley Jansen.
Here are the pitching matchups for this series:
Game 1- Tonight 10:10
Chris Young (1-1, 3.42 ERA) vs. Chris Capuano (9-2, 2.60 ERA)
Game 2- Friday 10:10
R.A. Dickey (11-1, 2.31 ERA) vs. Aaron Harang (5-4, 3.81 ERA)
Game 3- Saturday 7:15
Johan Santana (5-4, 3.00 ERA) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (0-4, 4.04 ERA)
Game 4- Sunday 8:10
Dillon Gee (5-6, 4.42 ERA) vs. Clayton Kershaw (5-4, 2.74 ERA)
Notes:
- Andre Ethier left yesterday’s game with a left oblique injury. It’s unclear how long he will be out.
- If you are unaware, Matt Kemp has been out for quite a while with a hamstring injury that has been repeatedly flaring up. If he was healthy, he would be a deadly force in that lineup. Another break for the Mets in this series…
- How about that Chris Capuano? The lefty, who wanted a two-year deal from the Mets, decided not to sign on for one year, and instead went to Los Angeles. He has been incredible. He has a 2.60 ERA, compared to his career mark of 4.23. He also has a 1.13 WHIP along with a .221 batting average against.
14 comments
Mr North Jersey
6/28/2012-11:09am at 11:09 am (UTC -4)
So Ethier may be out?
Prismo
6/28/2012-11:14am at 11:14 am (UTC -4)
Ethier is definitely out. Sounds like he has the same injury Frank Frank has.
SaltyGary
6/28/2012-11:40am at 11:40 am (UTC -4)
The Mets need to take advantage of this team and get the wins.
Love the Dodger trips, only time I listen to a non mets broadcast feed. If you have the ability to listen to Scully do so, because you will hear a era that is now prehistoric.
darknova306
6/28/2012-12:10pm at 12:10 pm (UTC -4)
As much as I love the broadcast team the Mets have, Scully is in a league of his own. I watch Dodgers games on MLB.tv all the time just to have Vin’s game calling as background noise while I get stuff done. He’s just, hands down, the best in the business.
gategem
6/28/2012-4:56pm at 4:56 pm (UTC -4)
Scully sounds the same as he did back in his Brooklyn Dodgers days. However, back then they had a three man announcing crew similar to what the Mets had back in the beginning. Scully, now handles the announcing by himself proving you don’t need the circus we see at Fox Sports or ESPN.
Stickguy
6/28/2012-12:01pm at 12:01 pm (UTC -4)
why can’t the mets ever have an “up and coming closer”? Is there some kind of rule that we have to be stuck with old, overpriced, “big” names?
and given all the factors, if the Mets want to get back on the contender track, they need to make a statement by taking 3-4. a split of course is bare minimum, and taking less than 2 you can just not bother to return home from the coast!
darknova306
6/28/2012-12:16pm at 12:16 pm (UTC -4)
It’s the Omar Plan: find a hole on the team and stuff it full with an old guy getting paid boatloads of money.
And the Mets will either drop 3 games in LA and follow it up with winning 2 or 3 series in a row before falling off again, or they’ll sweep the Dodgers and everyone goes back to writing their “I told you so” end of the season blog diatribes before the team loses 2 series in a row again. Mediocrity, my friend… mediocrity.
Stickguy
6/28/2012-12:36pm at 12:36 pm (UTC -4)
well, the good news is, the Mets have a real shot at the playoffs.
because by your definition, pretty much the entire NL is mediocre too!
srt
6/28/2012-2:10pm at 2:10 pm (UTC -4)
I gave up trying to predict what this team will do from one series to the next. Even with a mediocre team – which most had predicted coming into this season – you usually beat up on lesser teams and lose against better teams. So far this season, we’ve lost series to some of the worst and won series against some of the better.
I’ll just be watching, enjoying the baseball, and seeing how this team holds up going deeper into the summer.
darknova306
6/28/2012-2:47pm at 2:47 pm (UTC -4)
Just another year on the Mets roller coaster. Wheeeeeee!!!
Stick
6/28/2012-4:21pm at 4:21 pm (UTC -4)
Well, the day started out well on the east coast.
Phils lose to the Pirates again. So much for their momentum from taking the first 2 games of that series!
guaranteed to be well below .500 making the turn into July. Not too many people saw that coming, though some of us (yes, looking at you SRT) desperately hoped for it!
gategem
6/28/2012-4:50pm at 4:50 pm (UTC -4)
Since the Phillies appear to be out of the running for a playoff spot when they play a team other than the Mets they no long concern me. It’s possible that down the stretch we may root for the Phillies to win against a team the Mets may be battling for a wild card position.
Mr North Jersey
6/28/2012-4:49pm at 4:49 pm (UTC -4)
phillies got it close there at the end getting within 1 run but fell short.
Stickguy
6/28/2012-5:35pm at 5:35 pm (UTC -4)
that is the big difference this year with them.
when they do put on a late game rally, it falls short. Not enough hitting, plus the pitching is putting them way further behind.
Payback to the fans I guess, since they have been getting quite vocal booing them off the field recently. 6 straight division titles or whatever ti was, 102 wins last year, and the ingrates are booing them for scuffling a little this year. They deserve to see a losing team!
Oh, and at lest this weekend one of the teams trailing the division will be falling farther behind. I am actually rooting for the marlins. This series only.