IGT 80 7/1/12 New York Mets @ Former Brooklyn Bridegrooms

[Ceetar]

Things look a little dusty in LA. anyone have a broom?

Dillon Gee against Clayton Edward Kershaw (hmm.. Nathan Edward Eovaldi was yesterday.. lots of Eds)

Kershaw claims to be the great-nephew of the discoverer of Pluto, presumably astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Like, it's unconfirmed?

Between Kershaw's leftyness and his ability to make opposing hitters look like they've just smelled something terrible, this smells like a tight loss in the making.

[Ceetar]

from a chat:

Rick Hernandez (Pasadena, CA) Pluto. Planet or Kuiper belt object? Clayton Kershaw (1:13 PM) I don't know if you know this or not, but my great-uncle discovered Pluto, so I'll stick with his definition of it as a planet.

[G-Fafif]

I was guessing Superbas, but Bridegrooms works, too.

[bmfc1]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Between Kershaw's leftyness and his ability to make opposing hitters look like they've just smelled something terrible, this smells like a tight loss in the making.

Let's hope that The Mets are not already satisfied with winning the series or distracted/annoyed by having to play another Sunday night game and then travelling across the country, thereby losing some of their day off. Kick 'em while they're down!

[Edgy MD]

[*:uslo1jt6]Andres Torres, cf [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]Ruben Tejada, ss [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]David Wright, 3b [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]Scott Hairston, lf [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]Lucas Duda, rf [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]Justin Turner, 1b [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]Ronny Cede�o, 2b [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]Mike Nickeas, c [/*:m:uslo1jt6]
[*:uslo1jt6]Dillon Gee, rhp[/*:m:uslo1jt6][/list:o:uslo1jt6]

Really dislike this Turner-at-first thing.

[bmfc1]

Edgy DC wrote: Really dislike this Turner-at-first thing.

Agreed. It didn't work so great last Sunday night. Turner needs some ABs but I'd rather have hot-Ike, even against a hot-lefty, to have his defense.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Will Kershaw continue to dominate Mets?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the fourth team in the live ball era to be shut out at least five times in a six-game span, joining the 1958 Senators, 1963 Colt 45s and the 1992 Cubs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The only team since 1900 to be shut out six times in a seven-game span is the Colt 45s. The Dodgers are hoping to avoid that fate when they face the New York Mets tonight at 8 ET on ESPN. Of course, they need their bats to avoid being shut out, but they also need some help from their ace Clayton Kershaw, who goes head-to-head with Mets starter Dillon Gee. CLAYTON KERSHAW Kershaw has dominated the Mets since 2009. In his last four starts, he�s 4-0 with a 0.31 ERA. He�s allowed one earned run in 28 ? innings, while Mets opponents have hit .208 against him. In Kershaw's five career starts against the Mets, he has a 1.39 ERA. Among starting pitchers with at least five starts against the Mets, only Doc Medich has a lower ERA (0.85) than Kershaw. Best Career ERA as Starter vs Mets Minimum 5 Starts Doc Medich 0.85 3-1 Clayton Kershaw 1.39 4-0 Sandy Koufax 1.44 17-2 Bob Friend 1.61 14-2 Among pitchers with a minimum of 500 innings pitched since 2009, Kershaw has the lowest ERA (2.65), just ahead of Roy Halladay (2.66). In the last 30 years, Dwight Gooden (2.62) is the only National League pitcher with a lower ERA in his first five career seasons than Kershaw (2.86). Kershaw�s slider hasn�t quite been where it was last year. In 2011, opponents hit .121 with three home runs and a .184 slugging percentage against his slider. This season, opponents are hitting .194 with six home runs and a .408 slugging percentage against Kershaw�s slider. Five of those six homers came in the last month. Kershaw is 28-15 with a 2.51 in his career at home. No active starting pitcher with at least 400 innings pitched has a lower career home ERA. DILLON GEE Gee is 20-14 in his 1st 50 career games. Only two Mets � Dwight Gooden and Tom Seaver � have begun their careers with more wins in their first 50 games. Based on peripheral numbers, Gee is having a better season than he did last year. After striking out 6.4 batters and walking 4.0 batters per nine innings last year, he�s striking out 8.4 batters and walking 2.4 batters per nine innings this season. A stat that helps encapsulate this is xFIP (expected fielding independent pitching). Even though his ERA is unchanged this year, Dillon�s xFIP is significantly down in 2012 (3.42) compared to 2011 (4.46). The Mets gave him 4.8 runs per start last year. That�s down to 4.4. Gee has the highest chase percentage among National League starters. His 34 chase percentage is slightly ahead of Jeff Samardzija, Cliff Lee, R.A. Dickey and Ian Kennedy. Gee will be making his third career start against the Dodgers. In his previous two starts, he�s 0-1 with a 5.73 ERA. With Josh Thole behind the plate, Gee was a 3.42 career ERA.

http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/46130/kershaw-tries-to-continue-dominance-vs-mets

[MFS62]

What's a chase percentage?
What's a good number?
Is it better to be higher or lower than that?


Later

[Ceetar]

MFS62 wrote: What's a chase percentage? What's a good number? Is it better to be higher or lower than that? Later

chase percentage would be pitches swung at outside the zone.

I don't know what's considered 'good' and I suspect there's a lot of variable to that that hasn't been figured out.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

MFS62 wrote: What's a chase percentage? What's a good number? Is it better to be higher or lower than that? Later

Percentage of pitches outside of the zone that get swings from batters (known on Fangraphs-- and searchable/sortable among their league-leaders stat pages-- as "O-Swing"). It's usually an indicator of filthy stuff (particularly the offspeed stuff; Dickey and a bunch of guys with nasty curves populate the rest of the top 15-20). League average among starters is usually around 29-30%; Gee's above 35% this year (Kershaw's just above-average, at 30.7%).

Edited July 1, 2012 by Guest

[MFS62]

Thanks to you both.
Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

Gee's revamped changeup this year has significantly more drop (all of it last instant) than in the past. This accounts for Gee's top notch chase percentage and higher K rate. It's a high-wire act though, because if Gee's changeup is flat, it's a meatball.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Geez. Goodwin should hold Torres by the belt loops when he gets on. No reason to give this guy any outs.

[Zvon]

Nice ribby single by Hairball. But we are running ourselves out of a big first inning.

[nymr83]

shit, thats TWO outs the Mets have run into this inning. trying to stretch a single makes sense with 2 outs, its a TERRIBLE idea with one out and a runner headed to 3rd beacuse now you cant score that guy ahead of you on an out.

[Frayed Knot]

Kershaw retired ONE batter that inning and got away with just one run.
Can't be doing that with quality pitchers on the mound.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Frayed Knot wrote: Kershaw retired ONE batter that inning and got away with just one run. Can't be doing that with quality pitchers on the mound.

And the one out would have scored a run from third had it been the first out it was supposed to be. This should be 3-0, runner on first, one out. Instead we're watching commercials.

[Piggiestomatoes]

Torres should not be allowed to run. Agree with the idea of Goodwin holding him by the belt loop.

[ashie62]

PiggiesTomatoes wrote: Torres should not be allowed to run. Agree with the idea of Goodwin holding him by the belt loop.

Like twice yesterday, Torres is not paying attention.

[Frayed Knot]

Man, a couple of years ago I would have bet on Loney being a star by now.
And now he's 0 for his last 26 ABs!

[Guest Swan Swan H]

When a grounder is hit to Ruben Tejada, a sense of calm and serenity comes over me.

[Piggiestomatoes]

More Dodgers' shaky fielding.

[Zvon]

Ha! Gordon sux.

[Piggiestomatoes]

Wow, those two errors and runs sort of makes up for the two outs we gave them in the 1st...maybe more so.

[Edgy MD]

That had to be one of Wright's cheaper trips around the bases.

[ashie62]

Frayed Knot wrote: Man, a couple of years ago I would have bet on Loney being a star by now. And now he's 0 for his last 26 ABs!

He fooled most..He just cant hit with that toolsy body.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Mets looking like the Globetrotters around second base in this series. Dodgers looking like the Washington Generals.

[Lefty Specialist]

Torres makes me nostalgic for Angel Pagan.

[Lefty Specialist]

Did RA Dickey just bite Ike's arm in the dugout while they were interviewing Terry?