New York @ Cleveland preview
Progressive Field
Last Meeting ( Mar 22, 2008 ) NY Mets 2, Cleveland 5
It wasn’t very long ago that the New York Mets were in last place in the NL East, seven games out of first and looking to be in real trouble.
In just a little over three weeks, they’ve slashed the deficit to 1 1/2 games and could do even more damage as they open a three-game set against the lowly Cleveland Indians.
The Mets have won four straight and 15 of their last 20. Now they’ll give the ball to ace Johan Santana, who faced the Indians plenty of times as a member of the Minnesota Twins.
Santana is 7-7 lifetime with a 3.42 ERA against Cleveland, but went 0-5 with a 4.38 ERA by the Indians in 2007 - his last year with the Twins. That Indians team won the AL Central and was within a game of the World Series.
This is a far different lineup now.
Two of the holdovers from Santana’s days with the Twins, Jhonny Peralta and Travis Hafner, both struggle against the lefty. Peralta is 3-for-28 lifetime with 22 strikeouts, while Hafner is just 6-for-40 – although four of those six hits have been homers.
Otherwise, Cleveland’s lineup is stacked with fresh faces, including recently recalled catching prospect Carlos Santana.
This Santana is one of the best prospects in baseball and Indians officials aren’t afraid to throw him into the deep end. Santana had one of the two hits off Washington phenom Stephen Strasburg on Sunday. Now, he gets a crack at Santana.
Cleveland hasn’t lost a series since June 1-3, when it dropped two of three to the Detroit Tigers. The Indians are 6-4 since and have played better during the month of June. That includes Tuesday starter Justin Masterson, who is certainly pitching better now than he was a few weeks ago.
Masterson pitched a two-hit gem against Boston, his former team, in his last start out.
Masterson’s rotation spot was in jeopardy just a few turns ago, but he is 2-0 in his last three starts with a 1.66 ERA. Two of the three teams he faced during that stretch were the Red Sox and Yankees, who possess two of the most dangerous lineups in baseball.
Now he’ll face a Mets lineup that is getting healthy and beginning to play better. New York has won four straight and capped a three-game sweep of the lowly Baltimore Orioles over the weekend by pounding out 18 hits and 11 runs on Sunday.
The Mets are now just 11-18 on the road, but they had won eight of their first 26 road games before visiting Baltimore over the weekend.