IGT 09/13 -- Gnats at Mets

[Guest d'Kong76]

Washington at NY Mets
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, September 13, 2014
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
SportsDirect Inc.

After snapping their 12-game home losing streak against the Washington Nationals, the New York Mets look to gain the advantage in the four-game series when the division rivals play the third contest at Citi Field on Saturday. New York has won five of its last six to remain within 6 1/2 games of Pittsburgh in the race for the second wild card in the National League with 14 contests remaining on its schedule. Eric Young Jr., who recorded two hits and scored twice in Friday's 4-3 win, is a sizzling 7-for-11 in his last three games.

Despite falling to the Mets for the third time in 14 meetings, Washington trimmed its magic number to eight in its bid to clinch the NL East title and holds a commanding 8 1/2-game lead over Atlanta. Anthony Rendon has gone 3-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored in each contest of the series. The 24-year-old is 4-for-11 in his career versus Saturday starter Zack Wheeler.

TV:
7 p.m. ET, MASN (Washington), WPIX (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP:
Nationals RH Doug Fister (13-6, 2.53 ERA) vs. Mets RH Zack Wheeler (10-9, 3.38)

Fister snapped a three-start losing streak with a splendid outing on Monday, scattering two hits over seven scoreless innings in a 2-1 triumph over the Braves. The 30-year-old has dominated the Mets in three career meetings, permitting just two runs in 20 2/3 frames for a 0.44 ERA while registering a 1.11 WHIP. After allowing one run in 7 1/3 frames of a 7-1 victory over New York on Aug. 6, Fister yielded seven hits over seven scoreless innings in a 7-1 win six days later.

Wheeler recorded his seventh triumph in eight decisions as he permitted one run on five hits in six innings of a 4-3 triumph over Cincinnati on Sunday. The 24-year-old dropped his first two meetings with the Nationals this season before allowing one run in 6 2/3 frames of a 6-1 victory on Aug. 5. Wheeler continues to struggle with his control, however, issuing multiple walks in each of his last nine trips to the mound.

WALK-OFFS:
1. Washington 1B Adam LaRoche is 3-for-6 with a homer, four RBIs and three runs scored in the series. He also walked on four occasions on Friday.
2. New York CF Juan Lagares, who had the go-ahead RBI double on Friday, has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 outings.
3. The Nationals have won 42 of their last 55 meetings with the Mets - including 26 of 31 at Citi Field.

[Guest Trachsel My Tears]

Don't even control-artists issue "multiple" walks in the vast majority of their starts?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Fangraphs says re: BB/9:
Excellent... 1.5
Great ...2.3
Above Average...2.8
Average...3.3
Below Average...4.0
Poor...4.5
Awful ...5.0

[Ceetar]

d'Kong76 wrote: Fangraphs says re: BB/9: Excellent... 1.5 Great ...2.3 Above Average...2.8 Average...3.3 Below Average...4.0 Poor...4.5 Awful ...5.0

and since few go 9, that's usually at least 2 walks a game.

fwiw, over the last nine games Wheeler has a 4.02 BB/9 which accounts for his 2.57 ERA despite a 3.72 xFIP.

[Edgy MD]

1. Denard Span, cf
2. Anthony Rendon, 3b
3. Jayson Werth, rf
4. Adam LaRoche, 1b
5. Ian Desmond, ss
6. Bryce Harper, lf
7. Asdrubal Cabrera, 2b
8. Jose Lobaton, c
9. Doug Fister, rhp

1. Three-Straight-Multi-Hit-Games, Jr., lf
2. Gold-Glove-in-the-Bag, cf
3. Wrist-Feels-Better, 3b
4. Crush-Crumble-Beard, 1b
5. d'Arnawesome, c
6. Low-Ball-Hitter, rf
7. Lazy-Feet, ss
8. Kiss-My-Sterling-Award, 2b
9. Effectively-Wild, rhp

Nats	Mets

[Guest d'Kong76]

Lol, aka:
Young, LF
Lagares, CF
Murphy, 3B
Duda, 1B
d'Arnaud, C
Granderson, RF
Flores, SS
Herrera, 2B
Wheeler, P

[Frayed Knot]

This game is simply absurd.
Wheeler's needed more than twice as many pitches to get through 3 innings as compared to Fister (and the 4th isn't going any better). On top of that, virtually everything the Nats have hit, including most of their outs and foul balls, have been hard while NYM bats have one single plus a bunch of soft grounders and easy FOs.


If this game ever does end it's going to be about 4 hours from now and the score isn't going to be pretty.

[Frayed Knot]

How often do you suppose NYM pitchers have turned come-backers to the mound into outs this season?
20% of the time, maybe 30%?


It was the one fucking time this week that they kept Rendon in the infield and they still don't get an out of it.

Edited September 13, 2014 by Guest

[Ceetar]

I don't think I'm staying awake for the end of this one.

[Frayed Knot]

When was the last runner d'Arnaud threw out?
Has there been one?

[Edgy MD]

This game butts.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Butts we watch anyways, 'cause that's what we do.

[Zvon]

What's all this then? DOH! And only the 7th inning?

[Zvon]

Hey, lets allow even more runs in the 9th! Jeeze, this game really does butt.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Did Keith just rip up his scorecard?