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July 18, 2006
Upcoming Series: Cincinnati Reds Pitchers
Coming off an impressive come-from-behind series win against the Cubs the Mets will continue their trek eastward as they head to Cincinnati, where they’ll meet up with the impressive 49-43 Reds. Since trading away their everyday rightfielder and shortstop for two middle relievers, the Reds have gone 5-0 — even grabbing first-place in the race for the NL Wild Card race. Though the Reds are hot, the Mets have been silently going about the business of winning as well — taking seven of their last ten. With the offense heating up once again, headed by Cliff Floyd, we could be in for a fun series at the launching pad that is Great American Ball Park. In the first game of the series, the Ace of the Future Mike Pelfrey (1-0, 3.60) will look to execute a more controlled gameplan against the Mets’ personal whipping-boy Eric Milton (6-4, 5.19). In tomorrow’s game, Steve Trachsel (9-4, 4.57) goes for his tenth win of the season against the Reds’ inning-eating machine Aaron Harang (10-6, 3.51). And, in the finale, Tom Glavine (11-3, 3.56) will try and inch ever closer to 300 when he takes on Bronson Arroyo (9-6, 2.96) Game 1: Eric MiltonWhat’s the Story? For Milton’s original scouting report, click here. This Year: Milton had been a steady, reliable pitcher for the competitive Reds… that was, of course, until he faced the Mets. Milton put up goose eggs until the fourth inning, when he gave up a two-run homer to David Wright and an RBI single by Nady. The next inning featured more of the same, with another RBI single by Beltran and another two-run David Wright homerun to wrap it up. All in all, Milton gave up six runs off nine hits in four and two thirds innings. He walked two and struck out three. Game 2: Aaron HarangWhat’s the Story? Aaron Harang has been one of the surprises of the season, and has pitched fairly well for the Reds. Though he’s been somewhat inconsistent at times, his control of his pitches has been solid all year long, and he’s pitched some excellent games against some tough ballclubs. Harang’s a workhorse — he’s already thrown four complete games and is third in the NL with 133.1 innings pitched — so the Mets’ hopes for a win lies in beating him, and not that (still) pretty bad Reds bullpen. Harang features a low-90’s two-seam fastball as well as a heavy sinker. He also throws a nice slider, a decent curve and a below-average changeup. Last Year: Harang was one of those infamous Reds pitchers that embarrassed the Mets to kick off the 2005 season, and boy oh boy did he ever do his job! Dominating the Mets in his only start against them, Harang allowed no runs and one Ramon Castro single over six and a third innings. He also walked three and struck out five. What to Expect: As a groundball pitcher, Harang will typically throws a lot of fastballs. Though he features a two-seamer along with the sinker, both have a lot of natural sink on them. Unlike a lot of groundball pitchers, however, Harang gets his fair share of strikeouts. In fact, he’s quietly racked up the third highest punch-out total (127) in the majors. This is mostly due to his slider, which is a real nice breaking pitch, and is thrown often with two strikes on a guy. The Mets have had trouble with breaking stuff so far this year, so Harang may be trouble once again. Righties should look down and away often, and expect a healthy dose of sliders. Against lefthanders he tends to work both sides of the plate, and isn’t afraid to climb the ladder to get outs. He’ll throw a lot of curves with two strikes, though it’s not a spectacular pitch by any means. Game 3: Bronson ArroyoThis Year: For Arroyo’s original scouting report, click here. This Year: Arroyo was sterling in a complete game seven-hitter against the Mets. Carlos Beltran was the big bat of the game, with an RBI groundout in the first inning and a solo shot in the ninth. Arroyo struck out five and walked one. You may remember that it really wasn’t much fun to watch. Overall:The Mets have arguably the easiest second-half schedule in the National League, but with the Reds and Astros both on the bill this week, it’d be nice if they didn’t go into hibernation mode just yet. Eric Milton is 1-3 with an ERA of 6.00 in seven lifetime stats against the Mets, and the Reds are just the kind of team a young strikeout pitcher like Pelfrey could feast on. Trachsel apparently is planning on losing for the rest of the season, so he probably takes that game, too. Personally, I haven’t liked the way Glavine’s been throwing recently, and Arroyo dominated the Mets last time out, so I’ll predict this is the game the Mets drop. Though I doubt Bronson will be going the distance again. 2-1 Mets. 16 Responses to “Upcoming Series: Cincinnati Reds Pitchers”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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Big start for Pelfrey in a hitters ballpark. It’s very simple throw first pitch strikes with the fastball and get ahead while working all parts of plate and locatiing the fastball on any count.
remember who told you first fellas
Mets To Trade Jeff Keppinger?
Astute Mets fans may have noticed that second baseman Jeff Keppinger of the team’s Triple A club is not in tonight’s lineup. He also didn’t play in Sunday’s game. From the folks I have spoken to close to the Norfolk Tides, Keppinger is not known to have an injury.
A source tells me that Norfolk Tides manager Ken Oberkfell has informed Keppinger that he is part of a deal with the Pirates. Keppinger, a 26 year-old, hit .337 for Norfolk last year. He’s known for his superb bat control, regularly making contact more than 90% of the time. Baseball America considers him a future utility man with a possibility of more. Keppinger previously played in the Pittsburgh organization, and was sent to the Mets in the Kris Benson deal.
A separate source of mine indicates that something is indeed going on with Keppinger. While Keppinger for Roberto Hernandez is feasible, he says the deal may be expanded to include Oliver Perez, among others.
source was mlbtraderumors.com
IMO i think the mets may have gotten solomon torres…which in part may mean the mets part wiith heilman for freddy garcia…just a guess who knows…
I feel good about this series. I expect good starts from both Pelfrey and Glavine and expect to win both those games. I’m more than happy with Trax’s recent performances but I’m still afraid he will come back down to earth but I think the Mets take at LEAST 2 of 3 in this series.
I hope they trade Heilman soon before his stock lowers anymore. And i hope they didnt trade Kepp because none of those pitchers are worth it.
why are the mets still playing? dont they know its over? they have too many holes?
Kepp doesnt have a future with the mets, unfortunately. Hey, even in that article discussing the rumor they describe him as a utility player. trading him for middle relief, a man who can eat innings, is a good deal for all. pirates save money. kepp gets a real chance. mets get more options.
just take 2 or 3 mets, live the dream. :)
wishful thinking here, but I really hope the padres tank and maybe they would deal piazza back to the mets. yeah, not gonna happen even if they do tank.
Andrew….in your Overall, I assume you meant to say that Trachsel is NOT planning on losing for the rest of the season, right? At least, that’s what I hope you meant! Or is it early and I’m not fully awake?
Perez really looked like he was going to be good. He’s fallen apart faster than Ben Johnson’s sprinting career. If we could send him to AAA to get together, maybe we could have something.
I also like the Mets 2 of 3 here. The Mets always hit Milton hard, always. And then I think they will split against Arroyo and Harang. Arroyo has been hit pretty hard since his start against the Mets (although his last start was sterling). The NL is hopefully figuring out that Arroyo is only slightly above average. I think the Mets can get to him tomorrow night.
Oliver Perez has terrible work habits. All the talent in the world can’t overcome that. Is he worth a flyer? Sure. But I think he was a flash in the pan. His velocity is down to the mid-to-high 80s. A lot of guys just never get it back, especially ones that don’t work hard. But he’s definitely still better than Dave Williams.
Check it out.
Good luck this series, you’ll need it.
A reds fan.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nym/history/anniversary_86.jsp
Links to some truly Amazing videos for us Metgeeks, so many memories, that postseason seems like yesterday to me
Things I noticed:
-Astrodome had a ton of foul play
-Players look alot smaller, to me
-dang Nolan Ryan threw gas(obvious)
-Lenny and Mookie could fly(same)
-seems like a lot more emotion then from fans and mainly players than now(I might be bias =))
-maybe the context of what happened but despite the pullovers, those jerseys were better than todays(I own an 87 road with no name on back, would love a 86 home with Gooden sometime soon)
Enjoy, with the Braves heating up time to show them they have no hope this year and step on it ourselves
Lets Go Mets!
Lets Go Mets!
The advanced physical regimens and supplements that these guys are on now make them physically much larger and stronger than the players from the 80s. Heck, Keith Hernandez used to retire into the clubhouse to smoke cigarettes during games. One of the reasons guys hit so many more homeruns today is because they’re much stronger. When you look at the players back then and compare them, you have to take into account that if they played today, they’d all be carrying around about 30 lbs of additional muscle mass.
its gonna be a tough but fun series looking foward to it still trying to find a way to skip work on thursday…
This should be a fun series, if you like hitting. The Reds staff actually has an excellent K/BB ratio. But the Great American Bandbox, or whatever the hell it’s called, hurts Red pitchers as much as Shea helps Met pitchers. Plus, with a slightly free-swinging ballclub, a team with good control like the Reds may not help them too much. Plus, the Mets are the ebst slugging team in the NL, so this ballpark plays into their strengths.
I think the scoring for the series will be VERY high. I’m throwing out “38 Runs” for the two teams in the three games as the over-under.
Whattaya’ think?
stupid blockquote error there. the second paragraph is me.
I meant to respond to this:
Mets only need 4 innings to surpass that!
I hope pelfrey pitches a nice, solid, game. We need him to step it up in the worst way. We dont need anyones #5 starter to trade for. I would love for one of “our” guys to step in and fill the position. Than we dont have to give up the farm unless its a team looking to dump salary.