Tonight, the Rest of the Season Begins

Color me Captain Obvious. Of course the rest of the season begins. It begins every game. Anyhow...



Three against the Philth starting tonight. Johan, Maine and Ollie for the good guys. Blanton, Myers and Moyer for the Philth. After this, 5 games remain between the two teams. It is time for a statement from the Mets. Two of three is the minimum. A sweep would be beautiful.



After floundering for the better part of the first half of the season, the Mets have gotten on a roll. The Phils on the other hand did not take the opportunity to run away from the Mets or even the Marlins during a first couple of months where they played well. The Philth received good starting pitching for the most part, good hitting, and very good work from their pen. Of late however, the pen has started to leak, the hitting has slowed, and the starters, well, they just traded for 5-12 Joe Blanton, so that speaks for itself.



Myers is fresh off a rehab stint in the minors, after performing to the tune of a 3-9 5.84 era 1.56 WHIP. This after moving back to the rotation following the aquisition of Brad Lidge in the off season. Myers was supposed to solidify the Philth staff, but has failed to do so. We shall see if a stint in the minors has helped.



Moyer is 45 and is 9-6 with a 3.90 era and 1.36 WHIP. He is 1-1 vs the Mets this year, with a 3.83 ERA and 1.3 ish WHIP. He is positively Glavinesque at this point, he throws slop, which of course means the Mets struggle against him.



Tonight, Joe Blanton, the "innings eater" who has been linked to the Mets seemingly forever, makes his first start for the Philth. It will be interesting to see the approach the Mets hitters take. He is not overpowering. Shea may be a pitchers park, but it is no Oakland Coliseum, with its vast stretches of foul territory.



Last season, the Phils won the final 8 against the Mets. This year, the Mets own a 7-3 edge. Time to make that edge a bit larger. The Mets taking two of three will mean a 1 game lead. That's not enough. I want a 3 game lead for the Mets once the series is over. The Philth are having some internal troubles, Cholly is upset about situational hitting, Burrel is upset over being lifted late in games. Rollins may be playing hurt. Feast on them Mets. Beat them down. Take this opportunity by the throat and grab it. As PLD said in 2006 - Bury Them. Or at least throw a few shovel fulls of dirt on them.



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Mets Worries



Well, Angel Pagan and Moises are done for the year. El Duque may be as well. Pedro has a groin issue. Castillo is still aching. Church is an unknown. Easley has leg pain, and Endy causes Mets fans pains when they watch him swing for the fences every at-bat. The walking wounded are increasing in numbers. I was already ruling out El Duque and Angel. I had hoped Alou could come back, but torn hammies are bad. Castillo could be back next week, or later, who knows. Same for Church. He was to be re-evaluated this week. Figure a couple of weeks for him once he is cleared to resume baseball activities.



And now Billy has pain in his upper back/arm/shoulder and went for an MRI. No word on if he is available for this series. Fine. The bats simply need to explode and win each game by 5. Let Billy have a few days of rest. I for one have concerns about Dirty or Heilman in the closer role, so lets not try them out, OK?



Just.Win.Series.



LGM