Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Looking Ahead: Meet The Mets

For now, at least, they aren't a total mess.

Not that they're good either. I picked them 4th in the NL East, and they come to Denver after a 2-4 homestand that was capped with back-to-back ugly losses to Washington. Ick.

Aside from Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and Daniel Murphy, they appear to be as healthy as the Rockies have seen them in three years. Jose Reyes is back in there. Johan Santana is healthy, but we won't see him. And David Wright, who debuted his Marvin The Martian helmet last season in Denver, has completely shaken the cobwebs from Matt Cain's fastball.

They added Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur, Mike Jacobs and held onto a guy the Rockies were very interested in this offseason in Fernando Tatis, so the offense will be capable of putting some hits together. And yes, stringing those hits together is important because there's not a whole lot of 1st-to-3rd athleticism amongst that group.

Greg Smith vs. John Maine

Thought the Rockies might skip Smith because of the two off days since he and Cook last pitched. Generally you want to keep your sinkerballer on schedule due to lost effectiveness with too much rest. Either Jim Tracy doesn't care about that, he's unaware of that, or he just believes in Smith that much. I sincerely hope it's the third option.

John Maine has a somewhat limited history against the Rox. The results favor him as he's posted a 2-1 record with a 2.66 ERA in three starts. But the only everyday Rockie with more than 4 ABs against Maine is Todd Helton (3-for-8), so again, throw the numbers out.

Simulation

Mets 7, Rockies 3

Greg Smith was okay over 5 innings of 4 run (2 earned) ball. The damaging blow a 2-run Alex Cora single immediately following a Clint Barmes error. Matt Belisle held things in check in the 7th, but Manny Corpas was also victimized by Cora in the 8th. A Tatis HR off Esmil Rogers in the 9th capped the Mets scoring.

Fowler, Tulowitzki and Hawpe had an RBI apiece.

David Wright: 4-for-4; Alex Cora 3-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 R; Fernando Tatis: 2-for-4 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R

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