Johan Santana

#57 / Pitcher / New York Mets

Height: 6-0

Weight: 210

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Mar 13, 1979

Mike Leake

#44 / Pitcher / Cincinnati Reds

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Nov 12, 1987

Mets' lineup:

1. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF
2. Mike Baxter, LF
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Lucas Duda, RF
5. Daniel Murphy, 2B
6. Ike Davis, 1B
7. Justin Turner, SS
8. Mike Nickeas, C
9. Johan Santana, P

Reds' lineup:

1. Zack Cozart, SS
2. Drew Stubbs, CF
3. Joey Votto, 1B
4. Brandon Phillips, 2B
5. Chris Heisey, RF
6. Ryan Ludwick, LF
7. Todd Frazier, 3B
8. Devin Mesoraco, C
9. Mike Leake, P

The Cincinnati Reds are coming into town for a pair of games beginning tonight and that means it's time for another edition of Amazin' Avenue's Five For Five series preview. The Reds sit in second place in the NL Central at 18-17, two and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. I checked in with RijoSaboCaseyWKRP, manager of SB Nation's Reds Blog "Red Reporter" and this is what he had to say about the team:
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SS: Coming off of a disappointing 2011, the Reds are sitting at 18-17 and they came into 2012 with some higher expectations after an offseason facelift that saw them bring in Mat Latos, Sean Marshall and Ryan Madson and re-sign Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips to long-term contracts. Through the first month and a half, what would you say has been the biggest success story and what has been the biggest disappointment?

RR: The players you might expect to be really good - Votto, Bruce, Cueto and Chapman - have been REALLY good. While no one expected Chapman to be this dominant, he's also a pitcher with disgustingly filthy stuff working in a set-up role. Chapman might be the best pitching talent on the team, but compared to expectations, the biggest success story might be Bronson Arroyo or Logan Ondrusek. Arroyo is coming off a season where he nearly set the modern record for starting pitcher HR-rate, but has been staying away from the long-ball this season (by his standards). His breaking balls look crisp and his trick bag of pitches has been Poppins-esque. He has the lowest BB-rate in the NL and the highest SO/BB. Ondrusek, meanwhile, has thrown 15.1 scoreless innings.

The biggest disappointment before the season even started was the Ryan Madson signing you mentioned. It was a great bargain, but he ended up sidelined for the season before even throwing a spring training pitch. Thirty-five games in, I'd say half of the regular starting offense has been disappointing. Phillips might have the biggest gap between performance and expectations, but he's been playing hurt.

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Forgive me if I hold the applause for the announcement that the Mets will host the 2013 MLB All-Star Game at Citi Field.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm excited in as much as All-Star baseball is still better than no baseball at all. Still, this news has been forthcoming for so long than any lingering suspense in the hearts of Mets fans must be completely contrived. So you're saying the Mets will host the 84th Midsummer Classic in 14 months' time? How quaint. I still won't believe it until I'm officially shut out from being able to buy tickets because of the presumably large demand.

The New York Post's Kevin Kernan said the Mets would get the All-Star Game three years ago. Jon Heyman declared over 16 months ago that the Mets getting the Midsummer Classic was a done deal. Hell, even Fred Wilpon himself expected last February that the Mets would get the game. The only thing that could make the news shocking is if we learn in the coming days that the Mets hadn't actually started to prepare to host it.

Still, does the first occurrence of All-Star festivities in Flushing since 1964 mean anything? Should we feel slighted that it took so long?

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click to embiggen

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One way or another, we can now breathe easier in knowing that there will be All Stars at Citi Field next season.

Major League Baseball confirmed Wednesday morning that our New York Mets will host the 2013 MLB All-Star Game in Flushing next July. The announcement took place at City Hall on Wednesday morning as Mr. Met conceded the microphone to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig among other baseball dignitaries to confirm what's long been speculated as the preferred venue for next year's Midsummer Classic.

Seriously, he did. Take a look (via @sbnation):

Beaurcratic silliness likely caused the delay in the announcement, as navigating New York City policies and procudures for this scale of event can drive the average person mad. One thing that did not cause concern for Selig was the Wilpons' dire financial straits in recent months.

From ESPN New York:

"I have great faith in the Wilpons and the family and I was very confident they would work things out, and they have. I had no trepidation at all," Selig said.

The announcement means that the Mets will host the All-Star Game for the first time since Shea Stadium's inaugural season in 1964. With the Kansas City Royals hosting the big game this summer, the Los Angeles Dodgers now take over the mantle as the team with the longest All Star drought after last hosting the game in 1980.

The game itself should also put an exclamation point on what will hopefully be a wild year in New York sports in 2013,with the Yankees being the Yankees, the Brooklyn Nets coming to fruition, revitalized local sports teams with the Knicks, Rangers and Devils, and WrestleMania XXIX coming to MetLife Stadium next April and Super Bowl XXLVIII taking place there at the end of the 2013 NFL season. (And, hey, Islanders tickets are still cheap.)

The official press release is after the jump for those of you who are into that sort of thing.

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Here is part two of this week's TWISNY, continued from yesterday. The weekend series against the Marlins in Miami could probably fill its own post. Here we go.

Sunday, May 6th

National treasure Ralph Kiner made his regular season debut:

He was his usual charismatic self and dropped a memorable one-liner:

Ralph: Paul Revere was the first sign stealer.

If you have not already done so, please read (and share) "An Open Letter to the New York Mets Regarding Ralph Kiner on his 50th Anniversary with the Organization."

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Meet the Mets

In case you've been living under a rock for the past few years, Zack Greinke is really good at throwing baseballs. Really good may even be an understatement. The Mets are good at hitting baseballs, watching baseballs and walking to first base but sometimes you run into an outstanding pitcher and that's what happened to the Mets on Tuesday night. They fell to the Brewers 8-0, resulting in a series split with the Brew Crew. Dillon Gee was...um, well...let's just say not nearly as good as Greinke and we'll leave it at that. First baseman Travis Ishikawa had a big day, delivering two home runs for the Brewers, putting the game firmly out of reach with the second. Offensively, the Mets did little against Greinke, who allowed just five hits while striking out seven. He toyed with the Mets batters, like a puppeteer pulling invisible strings connected to their bats. Oh well, it happens sometimes.

Choose Your Recap: MLB.com, ESPN NY, Daily News, Star-Ledger, Associated Press, NY Times

The Mets start a two-game set with the Reds tonight at 7:10 PM. Johan Santana heads to the hill and he'll take on Mike Leake.

There was some interesting extracurricular activity that took place during the seventh inning of last night's game. D.J. Carrasco allowed a solo home run to Brewers 2B Rickie Weeks. On the very first pitch to the next batter Ryan Braun, Carrasco hit Braun in the arm, forcing Braun to first base and sending home plate umpire Gary Darling out to immediately eject Carrasco from the game. In the next half inning, Terry Collins pinch hit for David Wright, who was seen in the dugout yelling angrily at Collins for pulling him from the game. Not long after, Collins and Wright spoke with each other and made up and the two of them, along with Carrasco, spoke to the media about the situation. Collins said that he did not want Wright getting hit with a retaliation pitch, should the Brewers decide to throw one. Patrick Flood also penned an excellent breakdown of the inning's events.

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