The Mets lose a tough one in Atlanta

The New York Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves by the score of 8-7 on Saturday evening. The game took place at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and he wasn’t very good once again. The Mets bullpen wasn’t very good again also. Ruben Tejada, David Wright and Jordany Valdespin all had good games. Andres Torres led the Mets offense though. Tommy Hanson didn’t pitch very well but the Braves bullpen did pitch well. Freddie Freeman led the Braves offense. 
Dickey pitched five innings giving up eight hits and five runs. He walked two and struck out four. Josh Edgin pitched an inning walking one and striking out three, Jon Rauch pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and Tim Byrdak pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a run and a walk. Pedro Beato pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout and Bobby Parnell blew his fourth save of the season and took his second loss of the season. Parnell pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout. Hanson pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up nine hits and six runs. He walked two and struck out five. Chad Durbin pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and striking out one, Luis Avilan faced one batter and struck him out and Cristhian Martinez pitched one inning giving up a hit and a run with two strikeouts. Anthony Varvaro pitched one inning giving up a hit and striking out two and he picked up his first win of the season. Craig Kimbrel earned his 27^th save of the season pitching a perfect inning striking out the side.

Tejada had two hits and two RBI, Valdespin had two hits and an RBI and Ike Davis had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Daniel Murphy had a hit, Kirk Nieuwenhuis drew a walk and Josh Thole had two hits and an RBI. Torres had three hits and an RBI and Justin Turner had a hit and an RBI. Davis, Thole and Torres each had a double. Davis hit a homerun and the Mets were 6-13 with runners in scoring position with eight men left on base. Nieuwenhuis was caught stealing, Thole had a passed ball and Torres had an outfield assist.

Michael Bourn had two hits and two RBI, Martin Prado had two hits and an RBI and Jason Heyward had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Freeman had three hits and two RBI, Brian McCann had a hit and drew a walk and Dan Uggla had a hit and drew a walk. Eric Hinske had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk, Matt Diaz drew a walk. Hinske and Freeman each had a double. The Braves were 6-15 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

In the second inning Thole hit an RBI double to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Hinske hit a two run double in the second and Bourn hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 Braves. Davis hit an RBI single and Torres had an RBI single in the fourth to tie the game at three. Freeman hit a two run double in the fifth inning to make it 5-3 Braves. It came after a controversial play where the umpires said that the Mets had caught a ball and got a double play. They then changed the call and the Braves scored after that. The Mets manager Terry Collins got ejected. Turner hit an RBI single in the sixth, Tejada had an RBI single and Valdespin had an RBI single to make it 6-5 Mets. Tejada had an RBI single in the eighth to make it 7-5 Mets. Bourn had an RBI single, Prado had an RBI single and Heyward had an RBI single in the eighth inning. The score became 8-7 Braves and that was the final score.

The Mets record fell to 46-42 and the Braves record improved to 48-39. The Mets will try and avoid a three game sweep on Sunday afternoon.

The New York Yankees win their second in a row over the Angels

The New York Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by the score of 5-3 on Saturday afternoon. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and had a rough first inning but then settled down. The Yankees bullpen was great. The Yankees hit two two run homeruns. Jerome Williams pitched ok for the Angels and Mike Trout led their offense. 
Garcia pitched five innings giving up three runs on five hits. He walked five and struck out four. Garcia earned his fourth win of the season, Cody Eppley pitched two innings giving up a hit, Dave Robertson gave up a hit and struck out two in his one inning and Rafael Soriano picked up his 22^nd save of the season. Soriano pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Williams lost his sixth game of the season pitching six innings giving up seven hits and five runs for the Angels. He walked one and struck out four, Hisanori Takahashi pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and LaTroy Hawkins pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson had a hit and two RBI and Alex Rodriguez had two hits. Robinson Cano had two hits and three RBI, Nick Swisher drew a walk and Raul Ibanez had a hit. Chris Stewart had a hit. Rodriguez had a double, Cano and Granderson each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-5 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. Rodriguez had a stolen base and Swisher was caught stealing.

Trout had three hits, Erik Aybar had a hit and drew a walk and Albert Pujols drew a walk. Kendry Morales drew a walk, Mark Trumbo drew a walk and Alberto Callaspo had a hit and two RBI. Howie Kendrick drew a walk, Peter Bourjos had a hit and Bobby Wilson had a hit and an RBI. Trout had a double and the Angels were 1-8 with runners in scoring position leaving nine men on base. Kendrick had a stolen base and Trout had two.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Callaspo had a two run single. The Yankees came back and tied it at two in the bottom of the first. Cano hit a two run homerun. In the third Granderson hit a two run homerun to make it 4-2 Yankees. The Angels would cut the lead to 4-3 in the fourth. Wilson grounded out to score the run. Cano hit an RBI single in the sixth for the fifth and final run for the Yankees. It was 5-3 Yankees and they would hold that lead for the rest of the game.

The Yankees have the best record in baseball and have taken the first two games coming out of the break. The Yankees will try to sweep the three game series with the Angels on Sunday afternoon. The Yankees record improved to 54-33. The Angels record dropped to 48-40.

The New York Mets start the second half with a loss in Atlanta

The New York Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves by the score of 7-5 on Friday night. The game took place at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a weird game with a rain delay and also a blackout delay. Chris Young started for the Mets and did not pitch well. Tim Hudson also struggled in the start for the Braves. The bullpens for each team were pretty good. Ruben Tejada, David Wright and Scott Hairston all led the offense. Chipper Jones, Freddie Freeman and Hudson led the Braves offense. 
Young pitched three innings giving up six hits and five runs. He walked three and struck out two and took his third loss of the season. Miguel Batista pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and walking four, Josh Edgin pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and two runs and struck out three and Ramon Ramirez pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Tim Byrdak pitched 2/3 of an inning and gave up two walks and Pedro Beato pitched 1/3 of an inning walking and striking out a batter. Hudson pitched four innings giving up eight hits and four runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Cristhian Martinez won the game pitching an inning giving up a walk and striking out two, Kris Medlen pitched two innings giving up a walk and and striking out three and Eric O’Flaherty pitched an inning giving up two hits and a run and he struck out one. Craig Kimbrel saved his 26^th game of the season. He pitched an inning giving up a hit and struck out three.

Tejada had two hits and an RBI, Wright had two hits and Ike Davis had a hit and drew two walks. Lucas Duda drew two walks, Hairston had two hits and an RBI and Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit and two RBI. Ronny Cedeno had a hit, Josh Thole had a hit and Andres Torres had a hit and an RBI. Wright, Hairston and Cedeno each had a double. The Mets were 4-12 with runners in scoring position and they left 10 men on base.

Michael Bourn had a hit, Jason Heyward had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks and Chipper Jones had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Freeman had two hits and drew two walks, Dan Uggla had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks. David Ross had a hit, four RBI and drew three walks, Eric Hinske drew a walk and Hudson had two hits. Bourn, Jones, Hudson and Freeman each had a double. Ross and Jones each hit a homerun. The Braves were 4-15 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Heyward and Uggla each had a stolen base and Heyward was caught stealing.

The Mets record fell to 46-41 and the Braves record improved to 47-39. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday afternoon.

The New York Yankees with a comeback win over the Angels to open the second half

The New York Yankees defeated the Anaheim Angels by the score of 6-5 on Friday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched well for the most part. He had one bad innings. C.J. Wilson started for the Angels and pitched very well, his bullpen let him down. The offensive star for the Yankees was Mark Teixeira and Russell Martin had a big night. The Angels were led by Mark Trumbo. 
Kuroda pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and five runs with a walk and six strikeouts. Chad Qualls got his second win of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning and retiring both hitters and Rafael Soriano picked up his 21^st save of the season. Soriano pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one. Wilson pitched seven innings giving up five hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out seven. Scott Downs pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and four runs with two walks and Kevin Jepsen pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and walking a batter.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk and Teixeira had two hits and five RBI. Robinson Cano had a hit, Nick Swisher had a hit and drew two walks and Raul Ibanez was intentionally walked. Martin had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. Swisher and Jeter each had a double, Granderson hit a triple and Teixeira hit two homeruns. The Yankees were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. DeWayne Wise had a stolen base.

Mike Trout had two hits, Albert Pujols had two hits and an RBI and Trumbo had two hits and three RBI. Alberto Callaspo drew a walk, Howie Kendrick had two hits and Erik Aybar had a hit and an RBI. Kendrick, Trout and Pujols hit a double. Aybar and Trumbo each hit a homerun. The Angels were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Trout had two stolen bases, Trumbo and Callaspo were caught stealing. Callaspo committed an error. In the third Aybar hit a solo homerun to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. The Yankees took a 2-1 lead on a Teixeira homerun in the bottom of the third inning. Trumbo hit a three run homerun in the seventh inning to make it 4-2 Angels. In the eighth Pujols hit an RBI double to make it 5-2. In the bottom of the eighth Teixeira hit a three run homerun and Martin hit an RBI single to make it 6-5 Yankees and that was the final score.

The Yankees record improved to 53-33 and the Angels record dropped to 48-39. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees have the best record in baseball and the Angels have been playing great after their terrible start to the season.

The New York Mets First Half Report

The New York Mets had a surprising first half of the season. Why do I say that?? They finished above 500 and were an exciting team. There wasn’t anyone not even the most optimistic fan who thought that the Mets would be any good this year. They have proved a lot of people wrong in the first half of the season.

The Mets have had great starting pitching led by R.A. Dickey who is having a career year and continues to be a great story. Johan Santana has also been great and he has stayed healthy. Santana was coming back, but I don’t think you could of predicted him being healthy and this productive. Chris Young has also come back from shoulder surgery and been healthy. Jon Niese and Dillon Gee were pitching pretty well also and until the All Star Break when Gee was diagnosed with a blood clot in his shoulder, they were also healthy.

The Mets weakness has been their bullpen, it is a work in progress. The Mets will try and improve it through a trade if they can but it looks like they will try to promote from within to start. They will see what they have in the minor leagues and if that could help first. The Mets also have had a pretty good lineup led by lots of youngsters and home grown players. Ike Davis started off miserably but he has picked it up lately. Ruben Tejada has made the Mets fans forget Jose Reyes, he did miss some time with injury but he has been great. Kirk Nieuwenhuis has been an exciting player for them and Jordany Valdespin when he has been up has also been exciting. Daniel Murphy has always been a good hitter and it looks like he has found a home at second base. He has played a pretty good second for them.

The Mets biggest key to them staying in the race in the second half is their health. This can all fall apart if they start losing players. The Mets really have no depth and if that gets tested they won’t be able to withstand it at all. They may have lost Gee for the season and that will hurt but I think they can survive that. They may call up one of their top pitching prospects in Matt Harvey although I think they should be careful about rushing him. The Mets look to continue and surprise people and maybe actually make the playoffs.

The New York Yankees First Half Report

The New York Yankees ended the first half with the best record in baseball. If you just look at that you have to say it was a very successful first half of the season. The Yankees didn’t have it easy though, they were 21-21 at one point. The Yankees lost their closer, they lost one of their better pitchers in Andy Pettitte and Brett Gardner has only played a handful of games all season. The Yankees have had an ongoing problem with runners in scoring position. 
The main reason that the Yankees ended the first half with the best record is their pitching. Their bullpen continues to be a strength but after the first month or so the starting staff started to become a big plus also. Hiroki Kuroda has been great for the Yankees. He probably just needed some time to adjust to the American League and New York. CC Sabathia is the ace but he actually for a while was their worst starter, Phil Hughes turned it around and has been pitching really well and Ivan Nova continues to do what he does best which is win games. Pettitte really seemed to help their starting staff and he was pitching great before he broke his ankle in a freak play. He got hit in the ankle on a line drive and probably won’t be back until at least September.

The Yankees offense scores a lot of runs but they do it mainly on homeruns. The Yankees aren’t very good with runners in scoring position and that could come back to haunt them eventually. They hit a lot of homeruns though and they are sometimes very big hits. The Yankees like to say that when they are in the batters box there is a runner in scoring position. They say that because they have so many guys who can hit it out at any time. They are right to an extent but you would like to see more clutch hitting and less reliance on the homerun. The Yankees just aren’t built that way though, it could hurt in the playoffs but pitching remains the most important thing still.

The Yankees as crazy as it seems can get better in the second half. They need to keep up their pitching and stay healthy. They should get some guys back such as Brett Gardner, Andy Pettitte eventually and even Joba Chamberlain. The Yankees hitters can also get better, most of them are hitting under their career averages and some of them don’t have as many RBI as you would think. They have a seven game lead in the division so they are in good shape. It won’t be easy but they should be able to win the division and head into the playoffs in good shape. The wild cards this year will play a one game playoff and not be able to set up their rotation for the playoffs. The Yankees should have the luxury of a little rest and being able to set up their staff.

The NL wins the 84th MLB All Star Game in a blowout

The National League defeated the American League by the score of 8-0 on Tuesday night in the All Star Game. The game took place at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Justin Verlander started for the American League and pitched poorly in his one inning of work. Matt Cain started for the National League and pitched well in his two innings of work. Melky Cabrera won the MVP award for the game. Pablo Sandoval his teammate with the San Francisco Giants also had a good game for the NL. Derek Jeter had a hit in two plate appearances. Jeter has the most hits of any Yankee ever in the All Star game and is also batting 440 career in the All Star Game. The National league has now won three straight All Star games and they will have home field advantage in the World Series. 
Verlander pitched an inning giving up five runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He took the loss in the game. Joe Nathan and David Price each pitched a perfect inning. Matt Harrison of the Texas Rangers didn’t pitch so well either. He gave up four hits and three runs in an inning of work. Jered Weaver walked a batter in his scoreless inning, Chris Sale gave up two hits but no runs in an inning of work including a strikeout and Ryan Cook pitched a perfect inning including two strikeouts. Jim Johnson and Fernando Rodney each pitched a perfect inning.

Cain won the game for the National league. He gave up a hit and struck out one in two scoreless innings. Gio Gonzalez pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Stephen Strasburg gave up a hit and a walk in one scoreless inning and Clayton Kershaw pitched one inning giving up two hits and a walk. Dickey pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Cole Hamels pitched a perfect inning and Craig Kimbrel struck out the only two batters that he faced. Aroldis Chapman had a walk and a strikeout in 1/3 of an inning, Wade Miley gave up a hit in 1/3 of an inning and Jack Hanrahan struck out the only batter that he faced. Jonathan Papelbon got the final out of the game, it was the only batter that he faced.

Jeter had a hit in two at bats. Robinson Cano had a hit in two at bats, Mike Trout had a hit and drew a walk and Joe Mauer had a hit in his only at bat. David Ortiz and Mike Napoli each had a hit in two at bats. The hits were all singles for the AL. They were 0-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Trout did have a stolen base.

Matt Holliday did have a hit and an RBI in his only plate appearance. Chipper Jones in his final All Star Game had a it in his only appearance, Cabrera had two hits and two RBI and McCutchen had a hit in two at bats. Ryan Braun had two hits and an RBI, Sandoval had a hit and three RBI and Dan Uggla had a hit and an RBI. Rafael Furcal had a hit, Braun had a double and Sandoval, Furcal and Braun each had a triple. Cabrera hit a homerun and the National League was 3-8 with runners in scoring position. They left five men on base.

New York Yankees Postgame notes from Boston

Four games in three days at Fenway. We all knew it was coming, and we knew there was no hope of making it quick and easy. The best the Yankees could hope for was to win a few more games and go into the All-Star break on a roll, which is exactly what they’ve done.  The Yankees took three of four and lead the Red Sox by 10 in the loss column.  The Sox are battered and bruised, they could still make a run but it will take a lot for them to beat out the Yankees.  Here are the postgame notes from Sunday night in Boston.  Thanks to Chad Jennings of the Journal News and the Lohud Yankees blog for the information and my thoughts are mixed in. 

“I’d rather play four-hour games that we win than four-hour games that we lose,” Mark Teixeira said.
The Yankees took three of four here in Boston. They have the best record in baseball and a seven-game lead in the American League East. Monday will mark seven weeks since the Yankees lost that game against Kansas City, the loss that dropped them into a last-place tie with a .500 record. Since then they’ve gone 31-12.  I would say that is pretty impressive, they hit rock bottom and then a switch went on.  The Yankees have had injuries and ineffectiveness offensively but they have had great pitching and a great bench to lead them to this. 

“There’s a lot more attention paid when we play Boston,” Derek Jeter said. “But I think we’ve been playing good regardless of who the opposition has been.”  The Yankees have been playing good no matter who they are playing and have mostly played teams with winning records which makes it more impressive. 

 Jeter was rolling his shoulder around quite a bit tonight, especially early in the game. “It’s fine,” he said. “Just a little muscle spasm.” He’s still going to Kansas City and still planning to play in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

With that muscle spasm, Jeter had three hits including a first-inning single. He’s now hitting .400 in the first inning this season. He also tied Carl Yastrzemski for 16th place on baseball’s all-time runs scored list with 1,816.  It is amazing to see all the guys he is passing on different lists now. 

That said, which Jeter moment do you most remember from tonight’s game? “I wish I had a good story for you to say a bird hit it or something, but it basically was a popup and I dropped it,” Jeter said. “Nothing else to say. I think I’ve done it one other time in my career that I can remember, in Anaheim. I don’t know, man. I dropped it. I had two hands, and it didn’t go in my glove or my hand, so I dropped it. It’s probably, if you think about it, it’s probably the most embarrassing thing that can happen to a player on defense. Whether it’s an infielder, outfielder, catcher. I wish I could tell you the wind was gusting and blew it all over the place, but it didn’t happen. I just dropped it.”  You have to respect him for that honesty but what else could he say.  In that case there is nothing to say, he did just drop it, nothing else happened why even bother trying to say something happened when it didn't. 

Jeter said absolutely no one on the bench gave him a hard time about the error. “No, you don’t do that,” Jeter explained. “Because then there will be more popups hit. I remember the last time I did it, I was laughing at Johnny. Johnny Damon missed a popup to left field the day before and I was laughing at him, and the next day I dropped a popup.”

 Girardi’s take on the dropped popup: “I’ve seen it happen twice and both of them were under my managerial watch, so it must be me. He’s as good on popups as I’ve ever seen.”

 Andruw Jones has four home runs in two days. Surely he’d rather keep playing than take an All-Star break. “Not really,” he said. “Not after yesterday. I barely made it today.”  I thought he would say no way also but he said he was tired and looking forward to the break. 

 After throwing a lot of pitches early, Ivan Nova admitted that he didn’t think he’d be able to pitch past the fifth inning tonight. Instead, he started getting some quicker innings and gave the Yankees six innings with 10 strikeouts. “I wanted to keep pitching all day,” he said. “But (Girardi) said that I threw too many pitches.”  You have to love the competiveness and toughness of this guy. 

 This was Nova’s second double-digit strikeout game of the year. He said it’s beacuse of being aggressive more than anything else. “I’m getting aggressive, trying to get ahead in the count,” he said.

Sloppy defense behind him and a lot of men on base tonight, but Nova never let the Red Sox take the lead after that two-run first inning from the Yankees. “He overcame some things tonight and I think that’s a sign of maturity,” Girardi said.

 Robinson Cano’s ninth-inning double extended his hitting streak to 15 games, tying Jeter for the Yankees longest streak of the season. He’s hitting .393 with five home runs and 16 RBI during the streak.  He has been on an unbelievable streak and now your seeing the real Cano, he was hitting terrible the first couple of months of the season. 

 Mark Teixeira hit .348 with two doubles, two homers, seven runs and 10 RBI during this road trip.

Alex Rodriguez tripled for the first time since April 21, 2010 in Oakland. This was only his fourth triple since the start of the 2007 season.

The Yankees take the series in Boston behind a strong Nova

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 7-3 on Sunday night. The game took place at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and pitched very well. The bullpen was able to mix and match to close it out. Jon Lester started for the Red Sox and didn’t pitch great. Derek Jeter and Andruw Jones led the Yankees offense. Pedro Ciriaco led the Red Sox offense. 
Nova pitched six innings giving up six hits and two runs with one earned run. He walked two and struck out ten. Nova is now 10-3 on the season. Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two walks, Clay Rapada pitched to one batter and struck him out and Dave Robertson pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with two walks and a strikeout. Rafael Soriano struggled in a non save situation but pitched a scoreless inning. He walked two and struck out the side.

Lester lost his sixth game of the season pitching 4 1/3 innings giving up nine hits and five runs with four of them being earned. He walked two and struck out six. Scott Atchison pitched two innings giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout. Mark Melancon pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and he struck out three and Alfredo Aceves pitched an inning giving up a hit and walking one.

Jeter had three hits, Curtis Granderson had two hits and Mark Teixeira had two hits and an RBI. Alex Rodriguez had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had a hit and drew a walk. Cano extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Nick Swisher had two hits, an RBI and drew two walks, Jones had two hits and three RBI and Nix had a hit. Chris Stewart had an RBI, Teixeira, Nix, Swisher and Cano each had a double. Rodriguez had a triple and Jones hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Jeter committed an error.

Daniel Nava drew a walk, Ciriaco had three hits and drew a walk and David Ortiz had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Nick Punto had two hits and drew a walk, Cody Ross drew a walk and Jarrod Saltalamacchia drew a walk. Mauro Gomez drew a walk and Alex Aviles had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Ortiz and Aviles each hit a double. The Red Sox were 2-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Ciriaco had a stolen base and Saltalamacchia had a passed ball.

The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Teixeira had an RBI double and Swisher grounded into a force out scoring a run. Ross reached on an error by Jeter scoring a run to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the first inning. In the second Stewart hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 Yankees. In the bottom of the third Ortiz hit an RBI double to make it a 3-2 game. In the fifth Rodriguez had an RBI triple and Jones had an RBI single to make it 5-2. Jones hit a two run homerun in the seventh to give the Yankees a 7-2 lead. Aviles hit an RBI double in the eighth to cut the lead to 7-3. The final score was 7-3 as the Yankees closed out the series and the first half.

The Yankees improved their record to 52-33. They finish the first half with the best record in baseball. The Red Sox record dropped to 43-43 and they are ten games back of the Yankees in the loss column. The Yankees will have four days off and start the second half at home against the Anaheim Angels.

The Mets get shutout by the Cubs as they close out the first half

The New York Mets were defeated by the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon by the score of 7-0. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing,New York. Jon Niese started for the Mets and didn’t pitch well. The Mets bullpen did pitch well. Daniel Murphy led the Mets offense. Ryan Dempster and the bullpen pitched very well for the Cubs. Starlin Castro led the Cubs offense. 
Niese pitched seven innings giving up nine hits and seven runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three. Niese is now 7-4 on the season. Pedro Beato pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts and Tim Byrdak pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Dempster improved his record to 4-3. He pitched five innings giving up four hits and no runs with no walks and four strikeouts. Paul Maholm pitched one inning giving up two hits, Manual Corpas pitched an inning giving up a hit and James Russell pitched an inning giving up a hit. Shawn Camp pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Ruben Tejada had a hit, Murphy had three hits and David Wright had a hit. Scott Hairston had a hit, Jordany Valdespin had a hit and Niese had a hit. Hairston had a triple, the Mets were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Murphy had a stolen base.

Reed Johnson had two hits, Castro had two hits and three RBI and Alfonso Soriano had a hit and an RBI. Jeff Baker had two hits and an RBI, Geovany Soto had a hit and two RBI and Luis Valbuena had a hit. Baker had a double and Castro hit a homerun. The Cubs were 4-5 with runners in scoring position and left two men on base.

The Cubs took a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Soriano hit an RBI single, Baker had an RBI double and Soto had a two run single. Castro hit a three run homerun in the seventh inning to make it 7-0. That would be all the scoring in the game.

The Mets lost two out of three to the Cubs to close out the first half of the season. The Mets have had their trouble with the Cubs in the last month. The Mets record fell to 46-40. The Cubs improved their record to 33-52. The Mets still had a very good first half. They had very low expectations and have exceeded them. They are looking to stay in the race all the way to the end, it also helps that there is an extra wild card this year.

The Mets draw even with the Cubs behind Dillon Gee

The New York Mets defeated the Chicago Cubs by the score of 3-1 on Saturday evening. The game was played at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and pitched very well and Bobby Parnell closed it out. Jeff Samardzija started for the Cubs and pitched ok and their bullpen held the Mets down. The Mets offense was led by Jordany Valdespin and Ruben Tejada. Anthony Rizzo and Valbuena led the Cubs offense. 
Gee won his sixth game of the season pitching eight innings giving up seven hits and a run. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. Parnell saved his second game of the season pitching an inning and giving up a hit and he struck out a batter. Samardzija took his eighth loss of the season pitching seven innings and giving up three runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out four. Scott Maine pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and Manual Corpas pitched 1/3 of an inning retiring the only batter that he faced.

Tejada had two hits, Daniel Murphy had a hit and Wright had a hit and drew a walk. Ike Davis had a hit and two RBI, Lucas Duda had a hit and drew a walk and Valdespin had two hits and an RBI. Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit. Valdespin and Davis each hit a homerun. The Mets were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Wright had a stolen base.

David DeJesus had a hit and an RBI, Starlin Castro had a hit and Rizzo had two hits. Bryan LaHair had a hit, Darwin Barney had a hit and Luis Valbuena had two hits. Valbuena and Rizzo each had a double. The Cubs were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Castro had a stolen base.

Valdespin hit a solo homerun in the second to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. In the third Davis hit a two run homerun to make it 3-0 Mets. DeJesus hit an RBI single in the sixth to make it a 3-1 game but that would be all the scoring in the game.
The Mets and Cubs have split the first two games of the series. The rubber game will be played on Sunday afternoon. The Mets record improved to 46-39 on the season and the Cubs record fell to 32-52 on the season.