Los Angeles @ New York preview
Citi Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 9, 2009 ) LA Dodgers 11, NY Mets 2
The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers will play the first ever true doubleheader in Citi Field history on Tuesday afternoon.
Monday night's series opener between the clubs was postponed due to rain, so fans with tickets for Tuesday's game will get two for the price of one.
The Mets hope they can get two for the price of one, as well. They also hope the rainout won't slow the momentum they'd built over the previous 10 days. The red-hot Mets have won four straight, six of their last seven and seven of nine.
This hot streak has bumped them a game over .500. Considering the abominable season the Mets had last year, and the extremely low expectations placed on them to start the season, things are looking pretty good these days. Heck, they even swept their longtime rival Atlanta Braves over the weekend.
The Mets have gotten great starting pitching during this hot streak, and they hope that continues Tuesday with Johan Santana going in the first game and Oliver Perez going in the second.
Santana has been terrific as usual so far, and there's no reason to think he won't continue his excellence on Tuesday. He is 2-0 with a 0.61 ERA in his career versus the Dodgers. Among the Los Angeles regulars, only Reed Johnson (8-for-15, one home run) has had any real success against Santana.
The Dodgers' lineup is struggling as a whole, and the Mets pitchers will not have to face Manny Ramirez, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right calf and is back in Los Angeles for treatment.
Los Angeles starter Hiroki Kuroda, who was supposed to start Monday, has not been very good against the Mets in the past. He's 0-2 with a 10.45 ERA and most of the New York regulars have hit him well, albeit in limited sample sizes. Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Jeff Francoeur and Angel Pagan all are hitting over .300 versus Kuroda, but none has more than six at-bats.
David Wright is in a major slump, but has had success against Kuroda (4-for-7 with three RBIs). Wright is batting .222 for the season, and just .171 over his last 10 games. He was 1-for-9 in three games versus Atlanta over the weekend, and has been chasing pitches out of the strike zone.
Los Angeles manager Joe Torre's return to New York always sparks some interest, though less so now that he's three years removed from his days as Yankees skipper. Torre also managed the Mets from 1977-81. He was 286-420 in those five seasons before eventually going on to win four World Series championships as Yankees manager from 1996-2007.