Mets vs. Reds Preview: Game #118 — Matt Harvey vs. Homer Bailey

Today's game notes, courtesy of @Mets.

Teams: Mets vs. Reds
Date: Thursday, August 16, 2012 • 7:10 p.m
Location: Great American Ball Park • Cincinnati, OH
Starters: RHP Matt Harvey (1-3, 3.63) vs. RHP Homer Bailey (10-7, 4.08)
TV/Radio: SNY • WFAN • WQBU
Info: Game #118 • Road Game #60

Lineup

Ruben Tejada – SS
Mike Baxter – RF
David Wright – 3B
Ike Davis – 1B
Scott Hairston – CF
Justin Turner – 2B
Jason Bay – LF
Kelly Shoppach – C
Matt Harvey – RHP

METS AT A GLANCE: The Mets have lost two in a row and seven of their last nine games and are 3-7 in their last 10 games...New York is 9-22 since the All-Star break.

SERIES NOTES: The Mets are now 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.

VS. CINCINNATI: New York has dropped the first two games of this series at Cincinnati...The Reds swept the Mets earlier this season at Citi Field, June 15-17...The Mets have dropped five in a row to the Reds and are 1-6 this season vs. Cincinnati...The last time the Reds swept a three-game series from the Mets in Cincinnati was April 4-7, 2005.

TRAILING AFTER ONE: The Mets dropped to 7-23 when they trail after the first inning…The Reds took a 1-0 lead into the second inning last night…In comparison, the Mets are 26-2 if they lead after one.

ON THE ROAD: The Mets are 3-4-2 on road trips in 2012 after going 6-4-3 on road trips last year...The Mets are 27-32 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 .347 road batting average...The Mets are 7-12 since the All-Star break on the road.

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 eighth with a .321 batting average and tied for fifth with 35 doubles...Wright is ninth in the National League with 75 RBI and is 10th with 70 runs scored...He is tied for second in the NL with 53 extra-base hits and sixth with a .319 batting average vs. righties.

RUBEN ON THE ROAD: Ruben Tejada’s current 14-game road hitting streak (.375, 24-64) is the second-longest of the season by a Mets player...David Wright hit safely in his first 20 road games this year.

RUBEN TEJADA: Has collected at least one hit in 18 of his last 19 games...Tejada is batting .345 (29-84) over these 19 games, which dates back to July 26...He has 10 multi-hit games during this stretch...Overall, Tejada’s .321 batting average is the highest among all major league shortstops (min. 299 at-bats) and his .365 on-base percentage is the second-highest among all major league shortstops, trailing Texas’ Elvis Andrus (.367).

KELLY SHOPPACH: Has hit 64 home runs in his major league career, 61 of them as a catcher...(He’s hit two pinch-hit homers and one as a designated hitter)...Shoppach’s career average of one home run every 22.4 at-bats as a catcher is the fourth-highest among active players with at least 1000 at-bats as a backstop...The top three are Mike Napoli (15.8), David Ross (20.3) and Brian McCann (21.8)...Information courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau.

MIKE BAXTER: Has hit in a career-best five straight games, going 7-16 (.438) dating back to August 9...Started in the leadoff spot last night...The Mets are 6-1 this year when he starts in the leadoff spot.

STARTERS/RELIEVERS: Mets starters rank ninth in the majors with a 3.92 ERA...New York’s bullpen has the worst ERA (5.03) in the majors...The Mets are 5-8 this month and the pitching staff has posted a 4.62 ERA (58 earned runs/113.0 innings) this month.

HARVEY HISTORY: Matt Harvey has 26 strikeouts through his first four major league games, that total is tied for the most in franchise history through four games...Dick Selma (1965) and Dwight Gooden (1984) also accomplished the feat...Research courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau...Harvey’s 11 strikeouts in his major league debut on July 26 at Arizona were the most in team history for a pitcher making his major league debut and were tied for the eighth-most since 1900...Including tonight, four of his first five starts have come on the road.

R.A. DICKEY: Racked up nine strikeouts last night...Dickey leads the National League and is second in the majors with 175 strikeouts...The last Mets pitcher to lead the NL in strikeouts was David Cone in 1991 with 241...Dickey leads the majors with 28 strikeouts this month.

JON RAUCH: Has allowed one run over his last 19 appearances, spanning 14.0 innings (0.64 ERA) dating back to June 28...Rauch has yielded five hits, issued two walks and notched eight strikeouts during that stretch.

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.

RISP: The Mets went 0-3 with runners in scoring position last night and are 0-11 with runners in scoring position during this series...New York is 16-78 (.205) with RISP over their last 11 contests...The Mets are hitting .260 with RISP on the season, ranking 10th in the majors...The Mets are hitting .276 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the highest average in the majors.

TWO-OUTS: The Mets have scored 21 of their last 34 runs with two outs...New York is tied with Atlanta for the major league lead with 228 two-out runs this year...New York is hitting .266 with two outs, the third-highest average in the majors...New York’s pitching staff has permitted 212 runs with two outs, including one last night, to tie for the fourth-most in the majors.

MINOR NOTES: RHP Zack Wheeler will make his third start for Buffalo (AAA) of the International League today vs. Lehigh Valley...Wheeler is 0-0 with a 2.53 ERA (three earned runs/10.2 innings) with 11 strikeouts over his first two starts...The Bisons will travel to Fenway Park to play the Pawtucket Red Sox this Saturday in the 7th Annual Futures at Fenway Game.

LAST START: In his first career start at Citi Field, Harvey took the loss in the Mets’ 4-0 defeat to the Atlanta Braves on August 10...Pitched a season high-tying 6.0 innings and allowed two runs, earned, a season-low two hits and a season-high five walks...Struck out three.

RUN SUPPORT: In his four starts this season, Harvey has received only six runs of support (1.50 RS/start)...The only Mets starting pitcher to receive less run support per start is Miguel Batista (1.20 RS/start)...Has received three runs of support in his last three starts.

ROOKIE STRIKEOUTS: His 18 strikeouts set a franchise record for most strikeouts by a pitcher after his first two Major League games...According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only three other active pitchers struck out at least 18 batters in their first two major league games: Stephen Strasburg (22), Tim Hudson (19) and Johnny Cueto (18).

MAJOR LEAGUE HISTORY: Harvey made major league history on July 25 by becoming the first player in the modern era (since 1900) to throw 10 or more strikeouts and have at least two hits in his major league debut...Research courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau.

STRIKEOUTS: Harvey’s 11 strikeouts were the most in franchise history for a pitcher making his major league debut...The previous record of eight strikeouts was held by Tom Seaver, April 13, 1967 vs. Pittsburgh and Bill Denehy, April 16, 1967 at Philadelphia...His 11 strikeouts were tied for the eighth-most since 1900 for a pitcher making his major league debut. more harvey: Walked a season-high five in his last start vs. Atlanta, and has issued 12 base-on-balls through the first four starts of his career...Lost his third straight start despite allowing two runs, earned...Has allowed two earned runs or less in three of his four starts.

THE REST OF THE STORY: Harvey is the fourth pitcher since 1960 to strike out 11 or more batters without allowing a run in his major league debut, joining Milwaukee's Steve Woodard (July 28, 1997), Cleveland's Luis Tiant (July 19, 1964) and San Francisco's Juan Marichal (July 19, 1960)... Information courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau.

ACTIVATED: Harvey was placed on the Mets’ taxi squad on July 23 and was activated to the 25-man roster on July 24...At the time of his promotion, the 23-year old ranked second in the International League with 112 strikeouts...Also tied for the Bisons lead in wins (seven) and had the second-best ERA (3.68) on the team among qualifying pitchers.

TEN STRIKEOUTS: Struck out double-digits in three starts for Buffalo this season...Fanned 10 in 6.0 innings on April 20 at Syracuse, then fanned a season-best 11 on May 18 vs. Gwinnett...Struck out another 10 vs. Pawtucket on June 14.

FIRST-ROUND METS: Harvey is the 10th pitcher chosen in the first round by the Mets to make a start for the team...He is the first since RHP Mike Pelfrey made his Mets debut on July 8, 2006...Including Harvey, eight of the the 10 are righties.

2012 ALL-STAR: Named MiLB.com Top Star honors in the 2012 Triple-AAll-Star Game on July 11...Threw two hitless innings, striking out two.

STRONG STRETCH: From April 20-June 3, went 5-0 with a 2.68 ERA and 52 strikeouts in nine starts. 2011 hiGhLiGhtS: In his first professional season, finished with a combined 13-5 record and a 3.32 ERA (50 earned runs/135.2 innings) in 26 starts with St. Lucie (A) of the Florida State League and Binghamton (AA) of the Eastern League...Was 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA in 14 starts for St. Lucie and 5-3 with a 4.53 ERA in 12 games for Binghamton.