Tonight at 7:10, the Mets begin a three-game series with the Astros at Citi Field.
The Astros have been the worst team in baseball this season. They are 39-86, nine games worse than the Cubs, who have the second-worst record in the league. Overall, they aren’t very good at anything. Their starting pitching, bullpen, and offense are all well below league average in almost every category.
The Astros this season have stripped down to bare bones this season. They finally dumped veterans Carlos Lee and Wandy Rodriguez, getting rid of some of the money they owed them over the next few years. Now they are a young team in rebuilding mode with nowhere to go but up.
What worries me about this series for the Mets is that they might beat themselves. They just got swept by the Rockies, one of the worst teams in baseball and quite possibly the worst when they are playing on the road. The Mets, clearly the better team, got swept in four games. It’s not the pitching that’s given the Mets trouble, at least not the starting pitching. It’s been the offense. A two-run deficit right now makes me want to turn off the game because I know they have no shot at coming back. The Mets should win this series, without a doubt. But time and time again this season, they have failed to win these “easy” games, so I really have no idea what to expect.
Team Comparison
Pitching Matchups
Game 1- Tonight 7:10
Jon Niese (152 IP, 110 ERA+, 3.39 K/BB)
vs.
Jordan Lyles (102.2 IP, 71 ERA+, 2.26 K/BB)
Game 2- Saturday 1:10
R.A. Dickey (175.1 IP, 136 ERA+, 4.53 K/BB)
vs.
TBD
Game 3- Sunday 1:10
Jeremy Hefner (61.2 IP, 75 ERA+, 3.60 K/BB)
vs.
Lucas Harrell (151.1 IP, 100 ERA+, 1.83 K/BB)
Offensive Threats
- Jed Lowrie- .253/.343/.456, 14 HR 11.9 BB%, 17.1 K%
- Jose Altuve- .304/.356/.420, 5 HR, 6.9 BB%, 12.2 K%, 25 SB
- J.D. Martinez- .235/.308/.373, 11 HR, 9.4 BB%, 21.5 K%
Notes
- The Houston Astros fired manager Brad Mills last week. They were 39-82 under Mills. He was replaced by Tony DeFrancesco, who will have the job on an interim basis.
- The Houston bullpen may be the only one in baseball as bad as the Mets’. The front office traded away Brandon Lyon and Brett Myers, the only two decent relief pitchers on the team. There isn’t much left in the bullpen and it’s been awful recently.
- Remember Jordan Schafer? He was a former top prospect for the Braves a few years ago, but turned out to be a bust. He was supposed to become a great leadoff hitter for Atlanta, but the bat never developed. (He was also arrested on a felony drug charge. Oh, and he was suspended for HGH use earlier in his career) He’s fast (26 SB) but is hitting just .216 this season with a .304 on-base percentage.
- We will likely see former Met prospect Fernand Martinez in this series as well. Martinez is currently on Houston’s active roster and has gotten some playing tim this month after spending the majority of his season with Triple-A. He was having probably his best minor league season of his career and was staying healthy. He’s still only 23…
- Let’s go Mets!
5 comments
SaltyGary
8/24/2012-2:23pm at 2:23 pm (UTC -4)
Never been for or against TC and think he’s done a fine job overall. BUT if they get swept here again I would like to see Backman come up in september and take the reigns.
Stickguy
8/24/2012-2:39pm at 2:39 pm (UTC -4)
Terry is OK, but IMO he was always just a temp guy to help steer the ship through the rocky first couple of years. Same as Sandy, he has no intention of being around long.
I really can’t see Terry here past 2013 in any case, even if they don’t can him.
But, I don’t think he deserves to be axed right now. But in the off season? Would not surprise me to see some shake ups, and Terry moved into a different role (organizational development area, like he was in before, and apparently very happy at!)
I also, however, have no interest in seeing Backman at this point. Terry sac bunts enough as it is, and Wally does nothing for me to start with. Unless you think a guy running around screaming at everyone is what they need right now?
SaltyGary
8/24/2012-2:43pm at 2:43 pm (UTC -4)
Ya know I think Backman has cooled his jets a little and is doing everything to get up to the MLB. I agree TC was always a place holder. In the last round of manager possibilities, I was dead set against Backman, but I think he has earned the job and all I hear is the players love playing for him.
Yea it doesn’t have to happen is Sept but I do feel the players have given up. TC shouldn’t necessarily be fired just put in a different role. He is a good guy and did what was asked of him. Warthen absolutely needs to so this off-season. He needed to be fired back in 1978,
Stickguy
8/24/2012-2:53pm at 2:53 pm (UTC -4)
oh, no quibble at all about Warthen. still the biggest mystery in Metdom how he survived this long.
Hazmet
8/24/2012-7:11pm at 7:11 pm (UTC -4)
Did they have the number 1 staff in the NL in June before everyone got hurt? Were they pretty good the first half? This happens just about every year – their SP is OK and then they lose their staff to injury. Could they do better, probably. But he hasn’t been as horrendous as everyone thinks. It’s not like your getting Dave Duncan to walk through the door. But yes it’s time to change the voice in the room but he’ll be more the convenient fall guy as opposed to the reality of their having to run out flotsam and jetsum in the 5th spot the entire year and then the 3rd, 4th, and 5th spot for a chunk of the year. You want to pin the pen on him fine but look what he’s had to work with.