IGT 8/16/15 PIT @ NYM: Locke Day

[G-Fafif]

Reverse psychology thread title. Matt Harvey goes for New York.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Pittsburgh at NY Mets
When: 1:10 PM ET, Sunday, August 16, 2015
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
SportsDirect Inc.

Seeking to avoid being swept at home for only the second time this season, the New York Mets send ace Matt Harvey to the mound to face the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday in the finale of a three-game series. The Pirates have won the first two games in extra innings, including Saturday's 14-inning marathon, to improve to 5-0 against New York this season.

Harvey appears to be back to the dominant form he displayed prior to Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2014 season. The hard-throwing right-hander is 3-0 over his last four outings - a stretch that featured consecutive scoreless starts and one run allowed over his last 22 2/3 innings. Pittsburgh has won 14 of its last 20 games to maintain its 1 1/2-game lead over the surging Chicago Cubs for the top wild card in the National League. Aramis Ramirez and Gregory Polanco went deep in Saturday's 5-3 victory, extending the Pirates' streak to nine games with a home run.

TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, TBS, ROOT (Pittsburgh), SNY (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates LH Jeff Locke (6-7, 4.43 ERA) vs. Mets RH Matt Harvey (11-7, 2.61)

Since tossing eight scoreless innings of two-hit ball versus Cleveland on July 4, Locke has been in a bit of a tailspin while registering only one quality start over his last six turns. The 27-year-old is 1-3 during that span and has been reached for four runs in four of those six starts. Locke has not fared well away from home, posting a 3-4 record with a 6.51 ERA and 1.72 WHIP in nine road starts this season.

Harvey battled control problems during a three-start stretch sandwiching the All-Star break, walking 13 batters, but he has issued only one free pass during his current four-start unbeaten streak. He mowed down the Colorado Rockies in his last turn, allowing only four hits over eight innings, and limited Miami to two hits in seven scoreless frames on August 5. Harvey was shelled for seven runs over a season-low four innings at Pittsburgh on May 23.

WALK-OFFS:
1. Mets 3B Juan Uribe and LF Michael Conforto homered Saturday to set a team record with 69 homers at Citi Field this season.
2. Pittsburgh has won seven consecutive games in extra innings.
3. Mets rookie LHP Steven Matz pitched one inning in a rehab start at Class A St. Lucie, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Polanco, RF
Marte, CF
Walker, 2B
Ramirez, 3B
Alvarez, 1B
Ishikawa, LF
Stewart, C
Florimon, SS
Locke, P

Lagares, CF
Granderson, RF
Cespedes, LF
Uribe, 3B
Murphy, 2B
Cuddyer, 1B
d'Arnaud, C
Tejada, SS
Harvey, P

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Ugh. Another early deficit.

Tired of reruns.

[Frayed Knot]

Our pitching staff has graduated from 1st inning HRs to 2nd inning HRs.
I guess that's a form of progress.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

d'Arnau-mer!

[Lefty Specialist]

Another schlub pitcher making them look bad.

[Edgy MD]

Way to go to the breaking pitch, Harvey. Marte had the timing on those 98-MPH heaters down.

[Edgy MD]

Cuddy looking like Keith this afternoon.

[Gwreck]

When do *you* think the Mets will start hitting again?

[Edgy MD]

Come on, Cuddy. Hit like Keith also.

[Zvon]

RAIN DELAY!!

1-1 6th.

That should be the end of Harvey's Locke day and thankfully Locke's outta there as well (tho this Buc pen is a tough assignment).

[Frayed Knot]

Look at it this way, it's not like they could hit much worse if we did draw Cole & Liriano this series.

[Lefty Specialist]

Bright sunshine here in NJ, yet there's a rain delay.

And lol at Keith worrying about leaving his car windows open.

[Edgy MD]

We're under way and Keith is already tickling his mouth with his foot.

"He's just one of those rubber-armed Latino pitchers."

[Edgy MD]

Well, two quick outs (swing, d'Arnaud!) and Harvey is off the record. Looked like Parnell coming in.

[Zvon]

Ugh. I can't sit thru another Parnell inning.

[Edgy MD]

How did both players miss that?

I don't really put that on Parnell?

[Frayed Knot]

We're reverting to early season form around here when comebacks to the pitcher were seemingly turned into outs at about a 30% clip.

[Lefty Specialist]

Nats aren't going to lose every day, guys. You have to win a few on your own.

[Frayed Knot]

Even without the rain delay this might be the slowest 2-1, 7-inning game ever.

[Frayed Knot]

So basically the Pirates have one hit in this inning and yet already have two runs in and are set to score about five more before this is all over.

[Edgy MD]

d'Arnaud hurting the team on both sides of the ball this inning.

[Lefty Specialist]

Absolute shit-show of an inning. Rain delays are not the Mets' friend.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

.
.
.
..
.
[bigpurple:328ms8vs]BOOOOOOOOOOOOO[/bigpurple:328ms8vs]

[Frayed Knot]

And while we can blame sloppy play and Bobby Parnell all we want, the bottom line on this series is that they totaled 5 runs in 17 innings off the fearsome trio of Happ, Morton, & Locke (who had given up a combined 13 runs in 15 IP in their previous starts) and followed that up with ZERO runs in 12-2/3 innings (and counting) vs the Pitt pen.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Guest

[Guest d'Kong76]

Game and series has ducked bhmc dry.

[Gwreck]

I think we can see how there's still a big gap between the Mets and the 2 or 3 teams at the very top of the National League.

They certainly look good enough to make the playoffs, but can the Mets do anything once they get there? Results of this series not encouraging.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Sucked! Stupidphone.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm really tired of 'Toyota Jan'