A quick 2-game series against the New York Mets will kick off Monday night in Atlanta. The 2 teams are currently going in opposite directions; the Braves have won 5 out of their last 6 and are 6-4 in the past 10 games. Compare this to the Mets who have lost 5 in a row and 7 out of 10 and it's no wonder why the Mets have fallen from the top to the bottom of the NL East.
The Mets haven't received much from their starting pitchers. Their rotation is anchored by Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey, who have both been solid this year. Their rotation is rounded out by John Maine, Oliver Perez (haha!) and Jon Niese, but both Perez and Niese were injured during their most recent series against the Marlins. They're currently 11th in the NL in team ERA and 12th in innings pitched.
Where the Mets (surprisingly) strive is in the bullpen. Despite already pitching a ridiculous 133.2 innings, they've posted the #1 bullpen ERA in the NL with an impressive mark of 2.63. As everyone knows, they're led by wild-yet-effective closer Francisco Rodriguez. Besides K-Rod, Hisanori Takahashi, Manny Acosta (haha!), Fernando Nieve, Pedro Feliciano and impressive rookie Jenrry Mejia fill out the 'pen for New York. The Braves tore the DBacks and Brewers bullpens apart. Let's hope they do the same to the Mutts.
Offensively, the Mets have been an average club. They're still without CF Carlos Beltran, but have received good play from rookie 1B Ike Davis to help make up for the loss. The Mets have a ton of speed at the top of their lineup with douchebag SS Jose Reyes and 2B Luis Castillo. The middle of their order features David Wright, Jason Bay, the afore mentioned Davis and former Brave Jeff Francoeur (haha!). Catcher Rod Barajas has been a very pleasant surprise for the Mets, who leads the team with 9 HRs.
The Mets are 10th in the NL in runs scored and struggle with the long ball at times, but do a great job on the base paths with an impressive 34 steals in 42 attempts. The spacious Citi Field plays a role in this, but the Mets also lead the NL in triples. It'll be interesting to see if the Braves are able to shut the Mutts down on the base paths.
Monday, 7:10EST - Mike Pelfrey vs. Derek Lowe
Pelfrey's Line: 4-1 3.14ERA 43.0IP 17BB/31K 1.35WHIP
Lowe's Line: 5-3 5.73ERA 44IP 21BB/25K 1.61WHIP
Pelfrey's Last Start: His last start certainly wasn't a pretty one. Pelfrey went 5.2 innings against the Nationals and struggled, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Pelfrey made a start against the Braves earlier this year and won 1-0 in a rain-shortened game. Similar to the Nationals game, Pelfrey had a ton of runners on base as he walked 5 and gave up 5 hits.
Lowe's Last Start: Our $60MM "ace" pitched very well in Milwaukee, going 6 strong innings against the potent Brewers lineup. DLowe probably could've gone deeper into the game, but the Brew Crew (finally) broke through against him. He hasn't faced the Mets in 2010.
Tuesday, 7:10EST - Johan Santana vs. Kris Medlen
Santana's Line: 3-2 3.88ERA 48.2IP 12BB/40K 1.21WHIP
Medlen's Line: 1-1 2.35ERA 23.0IP 3BB/20K 1.22WHIP
Santana's Last Start: The ace lefty pitched a great game in his last start against the Marlins. He pitched 7 innings and allowed 1 un-earned run on only 6 hits and a walk. Santana hasn't faced the Braves in 2010.
Medlen's Last Start: Medlen, who made his first start of the year last Saturday afternoon against the Phillies, was a victim of a high pitch count and was way too hittable for the Phillies lineup. He went 4.2 innings and gave up 9 hits, but somehow managed to hold the opposition to 1 run. Meds made a relief appearance against the Mets and threw a scoreless inning.
Questions for the Series:
1. Will the Braves continue to hit the ball well? They hit well against the Brewers and DBacks, but the Braves will face the Mutts top-2 pitchers and one of the best bullpens in the NL.
2. How will Kris Medlen, a relative unknown, pitch against Johan Santana, one of the top pitchers in baseball?
3. Will the Braves continue to play well at home? They have an impressive 10-5 record on the season so far.
GO BRAVES!
0 recs | 50 comments
Don’t like the pitching matchups one bit.
Hopefully our lineup continues to click, and Mclouth and Hinske continue to be X factors.
ATLandUNC - May 17, 2010
Its amazing how Hinske has gotten to the WS in all of the last three years.
bestbostonsports - May 17, 2010
4, we hope
Mr. Sanchez - May 17, 2010
We get their 1/2 and they get our 3/4. Oh well I still think we can take both of them. They’re still the Mets
eaheckman10 - May 17, 2010
And to be honest, our 3/4 are as good as their 1/2...
Pelfrey has been much improved, but is it for real or just a little early season French fool’s gold? And Santana reminds me a bit of Dan Haren. Formerly dominant and unhittable, but has been inconsistent and not their usual selves so far. Santana is capable of shutting us down like Jamie Moyer, but the question is will he? I could see him throing a 1 hit complete game almost as easily as blowing up and being pulled before getting 6 outs.
Mr. Sanchez - May 17, 2010
Historically though we’ve more than held our own against Santana. I don’t know off the top of my head if we’ve ever saddled him with a loss, but I can remember a couple of games where we at least dueled him to a no decision, and still fondly remember Smoltz outpitching him the first time we saw him in a Mets uni.
J-Freak - May 17, 2010
For his career he has 8 starts, 53 IP, 1-5, 2.21 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 38/11 K/BB
Smoltz's Beard - May 17, 2010
Ah, you guys have Zach Greinked him
Still, pretty impressive. That’s probably the tale of the tape against him last year for the whole NL. Seems like the Mets don’t give him that much run support.
souldrummer - May 17, 2010
I never said he wasn’t an impressive pitcher, just that somehow we’ve managed to outmaneuver him. I know in that game where Smoltz outdueled him we edged them out by a run or so. We never touched him up for some serious runs, but we always seem to come out unscathed.
J-Freak - May 17, 2010
Braves need to win some games from teams not at the bottom of the NL. Pretty unlucky to get Pelfrey and Santana, also unlucky to get the Reds when they are heating up. Luck be damned, beat these guys. Don’t fiddle fart around acting like they are getting no-hit. If the Braves are going to have a chance, we have to win some of these match-ups against decent pitchers and hot teams. I see this week as important.
bighop - May 17, 2010
“Braves need to win some games from teams not at the bottom of the NL.”
Braves need to win some in the NL East Period.
Pavy848 - May 17, 2010
Split?
Lowe wins game 1 easily, same for Santana in game 2
homerlanding - May 17, 2010
WTF?
justincredubil02 - May 17, 2010
Santana is still very good, but I think his best years are behind him. He just doesn’t seem like the dominant force that he used to be. Of course, he’s left-handed, so we’ll probably struggle against him all the same.
Pelfrey, though, I think we can hit. We should have scored off of him the last time and (hopefully) this time he won’t be bailed out by the rain. Plus, last time, he was hot and the Braves hitters were ice cold. This time, he’s come back to earth and the Braves’ bats are on fire. Should be a different result.
Gotta win at least 1 of these, however we do it.
Jacob Peterson - May 17, 2010
I watched the first game of the Marlins-Mets series on Thursday night. It was Santana vs Josh Johnson. Anyway, the announcers were talking about how this year Santana has been sitting at 89-92, while in years past he was 94-95. And his change-up might not be as devastating, with the drop in the fastball velocity. Be curious to see if it plays out…
dunnytwogloves - May 17, 2010
I agree, completely.
Santana’s still fine because he’s smart and experienced but he’s working with a less overwhelming set of tools these days.
And we should stomp Pelfrey’s ass.
Sam Jethroe - May 17, 2010
Yep, first time through the league that new splitter was working
He made the Nats look silly in the rain. 2nd time through we got him. Control and makeup are still issues for him and he is being asked to carry more than his fair share in their rotation.
souldrummer - May 17, 2010
Good lineup, yet again
Nitram
ROY
Grandpa
Heap
POWAH
Tats (does this work for Hinske?)
Crazy Cuban
Nasty Nate
DLowe
Scott Coleman - May 17, 2010 via mobile
Who's ROY
and why is Heyward not starting.
homerlanding - May 17, 2010
…are you serious or joking?
MBL1 - May 17, 2010 via mobile
Beep beep beep
My snark detector just lit up.
souldrummer - May 17, 2010
Didn’t we decide Hinske’s name is Mr. Plow?
Smoltz's Beard - May 17, 2010
That's his name, that name again is Mr. Plow
Mr. Sanchez - May 17, 2010
It’s nice to feel like I’ve contributed something
BraveSaluki - May 17, 2010
Where’s Pablo?
GoBravesNY - May 17, 2010
Random Thoughts
1. Never been much of a fan of the phrase “victim of a high pitch count”. This, to me, implies that it is someone else’s fault (other than the pitcher’s) that the pitch count is so high. If Medlen gets through innings, but labors to do so, then that’s essentially on him.
2. Pitching matchups seem to be completely immaterial to the Braves right now. Kyle Kendrick blanks us for 8 straight, and we bomb Dan Haren in 4.1. I’m focused less on who the other team’s SP is and more on how our lineup is doing lately. I hope Yunel can get in a groove soon, because I don’t want to wait through another 20-25 games of 1 pitch groundouts for Bobby to give Omar another shot, even though he really isn’t a long term “starter”. Sucks going 4-4 and then hitting the bench — I hate to cool off a hot bat when we are so desperate for them.
fphjr01 - May 17, 2010
One request this series: Do NOT let Frenchy beat you.
I would like them to leave ATL without 1 single highlight that involves him having success either at the plate or in the field against us.
Is that too harsh?
NCChopper - May 17, 2010
Not too harsh. But there are still some Frenchy fans in Atlanta. I went to a game against the Mets at The Ted shortly after he was traded, and there were lots of cheers when he came up to bat.
MBL1 - May 17, 2010 via mobile
Frenchy’s not in the linuep tonight. Just heard that on the radio.
You know, when it was announced that the Mets got Johan everyone said they’d go to the WS, and I was scared. Then they got K-Rod and everyone said they’d go to the WS and I got scared. Now, I’m not scared anymore
GoBravesNY - May 17, 2010
And...
When they got Frenchy everyone said they’d go to the WS…..oh wait.
dragonhawk26 - May 17, 2010
no, seriously. Every NYer said the Mets (in their pompus, sterotypical loud NY way) were going to the WS with those two. Not with FYF or Bay :)
GoBravesNY - May 17, 2010
Well, they didn't bank on Beltran or Reyes getting hurt...
…and they drank the Kool-aid on Ollie and Maine. That is one screwed up roster right now, though. Mets and Nats are blessed not to have bad contracts.
souldrummer - May 17, 2010
kind of
the educated ones knew coming in about Beltran and Reyes and proceeded with caution about Ollie. They never really, from what I heard, gave up on Maine. Now they just know they suck but hesitate to admit it
GoBravesNY - May 17, 2010
Oh yeah
and Bay is a horrible contract
GoBravesNY - May 17, 2010
Bwahahahahahahaha
They got so fooled by Frenchy’s hot start. What did you get for Frenchy? Just Ryan Church and the right to unload some salary correct?
souldrummer - May 17, 2010
Also, a lot of us
…have had the rate of our hair turning gray slowed dramatically by Francoeur’s departure, so that’s a net positive.
Sam Jethroe - May 17, 2010
1. Pretty much agree with this, although there are players like Todd Helton et al. that will foul balls off until the pitcher is blue in the face. Dunno how much this played into Medlen’s last start, however. It seems like there’s a couple of Phillies that do it with some regularity, but again, no clue if that was a factor in that particular game.
-C
cthabeerman - May 17, 2010
Reply fail
Above comment was Re: Random Thoughts
-C
cthabeerman - May 17, 2010
My condolensces on the pitching matchups but I can't get but so blue about this
Your pain is our gain. Nats don’t have to go against either Pelf or Santana which means they need to sweep their two game series against the Mets.
souldrummer - May 17, 2010
We'll cream Pelfrey
his last 4 starts haven’t been good. we got 5 walks and 5 hits, and his may era is 6.88
Braves Biceps - May 17, 2010
Serious question:
Where would Santana fit in our rotation? I have him at #3 behind Huddy and Hanson.
justincredubil02 - May 17, 2010
He’d make the perfect filling in a Huddy/Hanson sandwich, then JJ when healthy, then DLowe. I’d put KK there, but Lowe is just too expensive to move to the pen. We’re not the Cubs.
UMDBHIK - May 17, 2010
a little off topic
when Escobar gets healthy he hits in the 2 hole. That’s when JH moves
to the 3 spot.
Prado can flat out hit, and infante is so versatile he can fill in for
esco, chip, and the OF. My opinion only is Infante can lead off, not in
classic style, but more than ok. could omar play CF/
Frankly if not, braves need to be looking for a leadoff CF. yeah yeah
Schafer is rehabbing. I is talking about this year and copping a playoff slot.
sealift67 - May 17, 2010
Please do not let this happen. Please, please, please.
justincredubil02 - May 17, 2010
Will you be releasing the English version of your post sometime this week?
Scott Coleman - May 18, 2010
This should be your new signature, since you stole someone else’s:
justincredubil02 - May 18, 2010
Nice!
Lizziebeth - May 18, 2010
Your ideas are intriguing and I wish…ah, who am I kidding this is a mess. At least he spelled all the names right.
Smoltz's Beard - May 18, 2010
I is serius
I is: colloquial ‘our gang’ conjugation, meant for purpose of lightening
the pathos of an obvious difficulty.
copping: colloquialism used by gangsters and drugsters in the 1950’s
and 1960’s for ‘obtaining with stealth’.
names are not spelled ‘right’, they are spelled ‘correctly’ ,
and you are welcome to use my quote as your new signature.
I is what I is and I’m sticking by my story.
sealift67 - May 18, 2010
Why do all of your posts make me think of limrics?
justincredubil02 - May 18, 2010
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