Series Preview: Reds (35-27) at Mets (35-29), Father’s Day Weekend Edition
This Father’s Day Weekend at Citi Field features a three-game series between two teams coming off recent interleague sweeps; the Reds against the Indians and of course, the Mets against the Rays. Cincinnati has been playing good baseball ever since they and the Mets split a two-game set at Citi back on May 17-18. With their sweep of Cleveland, the Reds have moved into sole possession of first place in the weak NL Central and are 2.5 games ahead of the surprising Pirates. Lets’ take a look at some other notes on this series between plus-.500 teams:
- Toms’ River, NJ native Todd Frazier, a 3rd-baseman for Cincinnati, returns to Citi Field where he had his first career multi-homer game in the Reds’ May 16th win over the Mets. Frazier has a lot of power and tormented Mets pitching in that series, going 3 for 7 with 2 HRs and 3 RBIs
- Joey Votto is having another MVP-type season and with the moved-in fences in right and right-center field at Citi, he might have a big series. The Canadian first baseman is batting a crazy .362 on the year to go along with 12 HRs and 44 RBIs
- After pitching 29 consecutive scoreless innings to start the season, flamethrowing reliever Aroldis Chapman has given up at least one earned run in each of his last three outings for the Reds. Even with his recent swoon, Chapman has beyond electric stuff and a fastball that routinely reaches 100 mph. However, he isn’t unhittable and if you remember, The Mets were the first team to score a run on him this year, albeit an unearned run, in the game on May 17th
- The Reds’ probable pitchers for this series are Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey, and Johnny Cueto. These pitchers present a mixed bag to the Mets as Arroyo (career vs. Mets- 13 GS, 7-3, 3.57 ERA) has had sustained success against the Mets throughout his career while Bailey (2 GS, 0-1, 13.00 ERA) and Cueto (5 GS, 0-3, 6.57 ERA) haven’t had nearly as much. David Wright has done well against Bailey and Cueto in his career (4-6, 2 RBIs and 5-14, 1 HR, 2 RBIs and respectively) while Daniel Murphy is 6-10 in his career against Arroyo
- One final note, the Reds may be a little shorthanded for some of the series because a serious flu bug has been going around their clubhouse in recent days.
Pitching Matchups (stats for 2012 season)
Friday, June 15th, 7:10 pm: Bronson Arroyo (2-4, 3.79 ERA) at Dillon Gee (4-4, 4.42 ERA)
Saturday, June 16th, 7:15 pm: Homer Bailey (4-4, 4.35 ERA) at Jonathan Niese (4-2, 3.69 ERA)
Sunday, June 17th (Happy Father’s Day), 1:10 pm: Johnny Cueto (7-3, 2.46 ERA) at Chris Young (1-0, 3.38 ERA)
About the Author
Josh Burton is a student at Lynbrook High School on Long Island in New York. He enjoys writing about his favorite sports teams like the Mets, New Jersey Nets, and others. Josh has been a Mets fan since birth and has stuck with the team through the highs of the Bobby Valentine and Willie Randolph managerialships and the lows of the Art Howe and Jerry Manuel managerialships; of course the jury is still out on Terry Collins. His one dream with the New York Mets is to personally witness a World Series Championship in his lifetime. Ya Gotta Believe!
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Nicely done, Josh. Arroyo has been gettimg hammered lately; I’m hoping it continues.
Weak NL Central?? LOL!! That’s a good one!!
I miss the joke. The Brewers, Astros and Cubs are pretty weak. The Pirates are 32-30. The Cards 33-31. One might go on a run, but the other is due to fall back to earth.
Feel sorry for Bay, btw, honestly I do, but just bad mojo now. Gee had another 5th starter outing. Hefner really had a thankless role — you can’t expect a young starter to come cold like that and do well.