Today's game notes, courtesy of @Mets.
Teams: Mets vs. Nationals
Date: Friday, August 17, 2012 • 7:05 p.m
Location: Nationals Park • Washington, D.C.
Starters: LHP Johan Santana (6-8, 4.58) vs. LHP Ross Detwiler (6-5, 3.18)
TV/Radio: SNY • WFAN • WQBU
Info: Game #119 • Road Game #61
Lineup
Ruben Tejada – SS
Andres Torres – CF
David Wright – 3B
Scott Hairston – RF
Daniel Murphy – 1B
Ronny Cedeno – 2B
Jason Bay – LF
Kelly Shoppach – C
Johan Santana – LHP
METS AT A GLANCE: The Mets snapped their two-game losing streak with last night’s 8-4 win...New York is 3-7 in its last 10 games and 10-22 since the All-Star break.
SERIES NOTES: The Mets are 1-8-1 in 10 series in the second half...New York’s last road series victory was taking three of four from the Giants at San Francisco (July 30-August 2)...Overall, the Mets are 14-21-3 in series this season...New York is 15-23 in the first game of a series, including 7-12 on the road.
ON THE ROAD: The Mets are 1-2 on this road trip and are 3-4-2 on road trips in 2012 after going 6-4-3 on road trips last year...The Mets are 28-32 overall on the road this year and went 43-38 away from Citi Field last year...David Wright is fifth in the majors with a .341 road batting average...The Mets are 8-12 since the All-Star break on the road.
ROAD RUNS: The Mets are averaging 4.83 runs per game on the road which is the fourth-most in the majors...The Angels are first (5.12), the Giants are second (5.11) and the Yankees are third (4.96)...The Mets have yielded 4.87 runs per game on the road, the seventh-most in the majors.
MATT HARVEY: Racked up eight strikeouts while tossing a career-best 7.2 innings last night...Harvey has 34 strikeouts through his first five games with the Mets...According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only pitcher in franchise history with more is Dwight Gooden, who had 36 strikeouts in his first five games in 1984...Harvey also delivered his first two major league RBI with his two-run double in the fourth-inning last night...He became the third Mets pitcher with a multi-RBI game within the first five games of his career, joining Julio Valera (1990) and Brian Bannister (2006)...In addition, the Reds were 0-13 with a walk in two strike counts...It was the third time in Harvey’s five starts, he’s held opponents to 0-10 or worse in such situations...Courtesy of ESPN Research.
MILESTONE NOTE: David Wright is one home run from becoming the third player in franchise history to reach the 200 home run plateau ...Darryl Strawberry (252) and Mike Piazza (220) are the others.
DAVID WRIGHT: Ranks fifth in the majors with a .412 on-base percentage, is ninth with a .320 batting average and tied for fifth with 35 doubles...Wright is ninth in the National League with 75 RBI and tied for ninth with 71 runs scored...He is tied for fifth in the NL with 53 extra-base hits.
RUBEN ON THE ROAD: Ruben Tejada’s current 15-game road hitting streak (.362, 25-69) is the second-longest of the season by a Mets player and the second-longest current road hitting streak in the majors, behind Washington’s Michael Morse’s 18-game streak...David Wright hit safely in his first 20 road games this year...Tejada has recorded at least two hits in 19 of his 38 road games this season.
RUBEN TEJADA: Has collected at least one hit in 19 of his last 20 games...Tejada is batting .337 (30-89) over these 20 games, which dates back to July 26...He has 10 multi-hit games during this stretch ...Overall, Tejada’s .319 batting average as a shortstop is the highest in the majors (min. 300 at-bats) and his .363 on-base percentage is the second-highest among all major league shortstops, trailing Texas’ Elvis Andrus (.369).
STARTERS/RELIEVERS: Mets starters rank 10th in the majors with a 3.89 ERA...New York’s bullpen has the worst ERA (5.10) in the majors ...The Mets are 6-8 this month and the pitching staff has posted a 4.57 ERA (62 earned runs/122.0 innings) this month.
JOHAN SANTANA: Was 6-4 with a 2.76 ERA (30 earned runs/98.0 innings) through June...Is 0-4 with a 17.36 (27 earned runs/14.0 innings) since July 1...Santana owns the second-best winning percentage (.726, 65-26) in major league history in the second half (min. 800 innings)...Only Roy Oswalt has a higher winning percentage (.742, 84-30).
JON RAUCH: Recorded the final out last night for his third save of the year...Rauch has allowed one run over his last 20 appearances, spanning 14.1 innings (0.63 ERA) dating back to June 28...Rauch has yielded five hits, issued two walks and notched nine strikeouts during that stretch.
MIKE BAXTER: Has hit in a career-best six straight games, going 8-21 (.381) dating back to August 9.
IKE DAVIS: Hit his 21st home run of the year last night...Davis leads all National Leaguers with 16 road home runs...Among major league first basemen, Davis is tied for third with the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira...Albert Pujols is first (24) and Adam LaRoche (23) is second.
ANDRES TORRES: Is hitting .307 (27-88) since the All-Star break with four doubles, three triples, one home run and 11 RBI in 29 games...Is batting .290 (29-100) as a right-handed batter this season.
SCOTT HAIRSTON: Nine of his 14 home run this year have come off left-handers...His nine home runs vs. lefties are tied for the 10th-most in the majors...Hairston is batting .327 (18-55) over his last 20 games, dating back to July 20.
RISP: The Mets went 3-9 with runners in scoring position last night and went 3-20 (.150) with runners in scoring position during their series at Cincinnati...New York is 19-87 (.218) with RISP over their last 13 contests...The Mets are hitting .260 with RISP on the season, ranking 10th in the majors...The Mets are hitting .278 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the highest average in the majors.
TWO-OUTS: The Mets have scored 26 of their last 42 runs with two outs...New York is second in the majors with 233 two-out runs, one behind Atlanta (234)...New York is hitting .266 with two outs, the third-highest average in the majors...New York’s pitching staff has permitted 214 runs with two outs, including two last night, the fifth-most in the majors.
LAST START: Took the loss in his first start off the Disabled List in the Mets’ 9-3 defeat vs. Atlanta on August 11 at Citi Field...Pitched a career low-tying 1.1 innings, allowing eight runs, earned, eight hits, and one walk...Struck out two in the 43-pitch outing...This outing marked the second time this season Santana has lasted less than 2.0 innings (1.1 innings on April 17 at Atlanta)...Last time Santana allowed at least eight earned runs was on May 2, 2010 at Philadelphia, when he allowed a career-most 10.
RECENT STRUGGLES: Has allowed at least six runs in each of his last four starts, going 0-4 with a 17.36 ERA(27 earned runs/14.0 innings pitched)...It ties for the longest such streak in franchise history...Al Leiter (May 4-May 20, 1999) and Pedro Astacio (August 11-August 30, 2002) suffered through similar skids... Santana’s struggles also tie the longest streak in the majors this season (Mike Minor, April 30-May 16)... Allowed a career high-tying 13 hits in his July 6 start vs. Chicago (NL).
SINCE NO-HITTER: In nine starts since Santana hurled the first no-hitter in Mets’ history on June 1 vs. the Cardinals, the left-hander has gone 3-6 with a 7.98 ERA (39 earned runs/44.0 innings pitched) ...Over that span, Santana has surrendered 11 home runs, more than twice the amount he allowed through his first 11 starts of the season (four home runs).
WHIFFLE BALL: Opponents are swinging and missing at a 26.4% rate of Santana’s pitches in 2012, good enough for the sixth-highest percentage among National League hurlers...Only Tim Lincecum (SF, 28.6%), Stephen Strasburg (WAS, 27.3%), Cole Hamels (PHI, 27.2%), Edwin Jackson (WAS, 27.1%), and Edinson Volquez (26.6%) boast a higher percentage.
NATS SUCCESS: In 10 career games, all starts, against the Nationals, Santana is 6-3 with a 2.91 ERA (21 earned runs/65.0 innings pitched)...The six wins tie him for the most wins against any NL East team (Miami)...Has struck out 69 Nationals in those 65.0 innings, good for a 9.55 K/9, his second-highest mark for any NL East team (Miami, 10.7)...The Mets are 20-24 against the NL East this year.
WINLESS IN DIVISION: In seven starts against NL East opponents in 2012, Santana is 0-4 with a 6.82 ERA (23 earned runs/30.1 innings pitched)...One of those losses have come against the Braves...Since becoming a full time starting pitcher in 2004, Santana has never gone winless in his division...The southpaw’s only losing divisional record came in 2007 when he went 5-9 in AL Central play while a member of the Minnesota Twins.
METS COMPLETE GAMES: Since his trade to the Mets prior to the 2008 season, Santana’s nine complete games (two this season) tie him with Cliff Lee (PHI), Cole Hamels (PHI), and Adam Wainwright (STL) for third-most among National League pitchers...Matt Cain’s (SF) 12 complete games rank second, while Roy Halladay (PHI) leads the NL with 17 complete games during that stretch, despite only having played in the NL since 2010.
RISP: Santana has held hitters to a .253 (23-91) batting average with runners in scoring position this season...Has limited opponents to a .163 (7-43) batting average with two outs in such situations...Overall, with runners on base, batters are hitting Johan at a .295 (51-173) clip...When there are no runners on base, Johan has held the opposition to a .225 (83-369) average.
EARNED RUN AVERAGE: Santana’s career ERA of 3.18 (715 earned runs/2020.2 innings pitched) is currently the fourth-best mark in the majors among active pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched, trailing only Felix Hernandez’s 3.17 (552 earned runs/1568.1 innings pitched), Adam Wainwright’s 3.11 ERA (352 earned runs/1019.2 innings pitched), and Mariano Rivera’s 2.21 ERA (300 earned runs/1219.2 innings pitched).
NO-HAN: Johan Santana’s first career no-hitter on June 1st vs. the Cardinals marked the first no-hitter by a National League pitcher since the Phillies’ Roy Halladay in Game One of the 2010 NLDS vs. Cincinnati...The previous five no-hitters were in the American League...Santana’s previous low-hit complete game was a three-hitter, done five times in his career, last on August 12, 2010 vs. Colorado.
LAST WIN VS. WASHINGTON: Won, 7-4, on May 27,2009 at Citi Field...Pitched 6.0 innings, allowing three runs, earned, three hits, and six walks...Struck out 11.
LAST LOSS VS. WASHINGTON: Lost, 4-0, on April 11, 2012 at Citi Field...Pitched 5.0 innings, allowing one run, earned, five hits, and three walks...Struck out eight.
CAREER VS. WASHINGTON: In 10 career games, all starts, Santana is 6-3 with a 2.91 ERA (21 earned runs/65.0 innings pitched) vs. the Nationals.
KEY MATCHUPS:
- Jayson Werth - .267 (8-30, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 7 K)
- Ryan Zimmerman - .273 (6-22, HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 5 K)
- Adam LaRoche - .250 (3-12, 2 2B, RBI, 2 BB, 6 K)