Mets vs. Phillies Preview, Lineups, And Broadcast Info: Game #129 — Chris Young vs. Vance Worley

Today's game notes, courtesy of @Mets.

Teams: Mets vs. Phillies
Date: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 • 7:05 p.m
Location: Citizens Bank Park • Philadelphia, PA
Starters: RHP Chris Young (3-7, 4.33) vs. RHP Vance Worley (6-9, 4.06)
TV/Radio: SNY • WFAN • WQBU
Info: Game #129 • Road Game #64

Lineup

Ruben Tejada – SS
Daniel Murphy – 2B
David Wright – 3B
Ike Davis – 1B
Lucas Duda – LF
Kelly Shoppach – C
Mike Baxter – RF
Andres Torres – CF
Chris Young – RHP

METS AT A GLANCE: New York has won two games in a row...The Mets won consecutive games at Citi Field for the first time since June 20 and June 22, when they beat Baltimore and the Yankees…The Mets had not strung together back-to-back wins since August 1 and 2 in San Francisco...The Mets are 3-7 in their last 10 games...New York is 13-29 (9-14 on the road) since the All-Star break...The Mets are 9-15 this month.

WALKOFF: Ike Davis hit his second career walkoff home run on Sunday off Houston’s Wilton Lopez in New York’s 2-1 win...Davis’ other game-ending home run came on June 8, 2010 off San Diego’s Edward Mujica...It was the club’s fifth walkoff win of the year and the first since July 5 vs. Philadelphia when David Wright singled home Ronny Cedeno in the ninth inning...The victory was also the club’s 10th win in its last at-bat.

FOURTH PLAYER IN TEAM HISTORY: Ike Davis became the fourth player in franchise history to have a multiple-home run game while accounting for all the team's runs with solo shots in a Mets' victory...Ed Charles did that in a 2-1 win over the Pirates on May 20, 1968 (including a game-ending home run), as did Ed Kranepool in a 2-0 win at Montreal on April 29, 1969 and Cliff Floyd in a 2-0 victory against the Cardinals on May 13, 2005...Research courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau.

ON THE ROAD: The Mets embark on a nine-game road trip starting tonight...The trip is the club’s second-longest of the season...New York went on an 11-game road trip from July 26-August 5...After this series in Philadelphia, the Mets will travel to Miami and then St. Louis...The Mets are 29-34 on the road this year after going 43-38 away from Citi Field in 2011...David Wright is second in the National League with a .341 road batting average.

SERIES NOTES: The Mets took two of three from the Houston Astros to win their first home series since the All-Star break and improve to 2-10-1 in 13 second-half series...New York also improved to 5-7 in rubber games.

ONE RUN OR LESS: The Mets have held their opponents to one run or less 31 times this year, the most in the majors...Oakland is second with 30 such games.

IKE DAVIS: Finished with his fourth-career multi-home run game on Sunday and second of this season…Davis hit three home runs on July 28 in Arizona…Davis has a career-high 24 home runs, which is tied for the sixth-most in team history among Mets first basemen.

IKE IN AUGUST: Ike Davis is hitting .296 (21-71) in August with four home runs and 10 RBI.

WRIGHT IN CBP: David Wright has the most home runs by a visiting player at Citizens Bank Park...Wright has connected on 16 home runs in 71 career games in this park.

WRIGHT RANKINGS: David Wright ranks second in the majors with a .410 on-base percentage, tied for fourth with 36 doubles and is ninth with a .317 batting average...Wright is tied for 12th in the National League with 75 runs scored...He is tied for seventh in the NL with 55 extra-base hits...Wright is ninth in the NL with a .319 batting average with runners in scoring position.

METS STARTERS: Mets starters rank eighth in the majors with a 3.79 ERA...The starters have posted a 2.05 ERA (14 earned runs/61.1 innings) over their last nine games and over their last 14 contests they have a 2.59 ERA (27 earned runs/93.2 innings).

DURING THE HOMESTAND: Mets starters tossed 49.0 innings on the homestand, compiling a 1.65 ERA (nine earned runs)…They struck out 47, walked 10 and allowed 29 hits…They allowed two home runs.

CHRIS YOUNG: In his last two road starts, Chris Young is 1-0 with a 0.71 ERA (one earned run/12.2 innings)...Overall, Young is 3-3 with a 4.22 ERA (20 earned runs/42.2 innings) on the road this season...He is 2-1 with a 3.95 ERA (12 earned runs/27.1 innings) in five career starts at Citizens Bank Park.

FIELDING: The Mets played their 15th error-free game of the season on Sunday...New York has made nine errors this month, tied for the second-fewest in the majors...The Yankees have committed the fewest (eight)...Since July 1, the Mets have the fourth-best fielding percentage in the majors (.987)...Overall, New York ranks 23rd in the majors with a .982 fielding percentage.

RISP: The Mets went 0-3 with runners in scoring position Sunday and are 3-for-their-last-32 (.094) with RISP...The Mets are hitting .166 (27-163) with runners in scoring position since August 1...The Mets are hitting .251 with RISP on the season, ranking 18th in the majors...The Mets are hitting .272 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the third-highest average in the majors.

TWO-OUTS: The Mets have scored 32 of their last 61 runs with two outs (52 percent)...New York has scored 239 two-out runs, which is fifth in the majors...New York is hitting .263 with two outs, the fifth-highest average in the majors...New York’s pitching staff has permitted 220 runs with two outs, tied for the 10th-most in the majors.

MINOR NOTE: Zack Wheeler won his first Triple-A game on Sunday, firing 7.0 shutout innings in game one of a doubleheader vs. Rochester ...He allowed three hits and struck out seven...Overall, Wheeler is 1-2 with a 3.52 ERA (11 earned runs/28.0 innings) with 26 strikeouts in five starts with Buffalo (AAA).

LAST START: Took the loss in the Mets’ 6-2 defeat against Colorado on August 21 at Citi Field...Pitched a season-high-tying 7.0 innings and allowed four runs, two earned, five hits, and one walk...Young also struck out the first four batters he faced, becoming the first Mets starter to begin a game with four strikeouts since Chris Capuano on May 27 of last season vs. Philadelphia…Finished with nine strikeouts, his most since also striking out nine on September 13, 2008, while with San Diego vs. San Francisco...Extended his longest scoreless streak of the season to 10.2 innings before allowing four runs in the sixth inning...Has gone seven innings five times this season.

RECENT ROAD: In his last two road starts, Young is 1-0 with a 0.71 ERA (one earned run/12.2 innings).

POST-ALL-STAR: Since the All-Star break, Young is 1-4 with a 5.59 ERA (23 earned runs/37.0 innings)...For his career, Young is 16-17 with a 4.30 ERA (165 earned runs/345.1 innings pitched) after the All-Star break, but is 36-24 with a 3.45 ERA (196 earned runs/511.1 innings pitched) before the All-Star break.

RUN SUPPORT: Has received the least run support on average (2.43 runs per start) of the six Mets starters who have made at least seven starts this season...New York has been shut out twice and scored only two runs in Young’s last three starts...The team has scored three or fewer runs in 10 of the last 12 games Young has started...The Mets are 3-11 in Young’s 14 starts.

LEFTY/RIGHTY: In his last 11 starts dating to June 23 against the Yankees, Young has held right-handed batters to a .205 (25-122) batting average, a .244 on-base percentage, and a .369 slugging percentage, striking out 32 while walking only seven...Over the same period, left-handed batters are hitting .310 (36-116) against him with a .385 on-base percentage, a .578 slugging percentage, 15 strikeouts, and 13 walks.

NIGHTTIME PITCHING: This year, Young is 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA (33 earned runs/60.0 innings) at night and 1-2 with a 2.57 ERA (six earned runs/21.0 innings pitched) during the day...For his career, Young is 37-35 with a 4.09 ERA (283 earned runs/622.1 innings pitched) as a nighttime starter and 15-6 with a 3.00 ERA (78 earned runs/234.1 innings pitched) as a daytime starter.

THIRD TIME THROUGH: Opposing batters are hitting .350 (28-80) the third time they face Young in a game this season, .360 (9-25) in the seventh inning or later, and .462 (6-13) in late and close situations...For his career, Young has held opposing hitters to a .231 batting average when facing them for the third time in a game, but they have hit .254 against him in late and close situations.

PITCHING TO CONTACT: Young is averaging 6.1 strikeouts and 2.8 walks per nine innings this season, both down from his career averages of 7.7 strikeouts and 3.5 walks per nine innings...Opposing hitters are putting 20.8 percent of his pitches in play, up 3.5 percent from Young’s career average of 17.3 percent, and opposing hitters are batting .299 on balls in play, up 42 points from Young’s career average of .257...They are also swinging and missing 18.4 percent of the time, down 2.8 percent from Young’s career average of 21.2 percent...Opposing hitters are swinging at 30.1 percent of Young’s first pitches, up 1.7 percent from Young’s career average of 28.4 percent.

PITCHES PER INNING: Young’s career pitches per inning average of 16.9 (14,458 pitches/856.2 innings) is sixth-highest among active pitchers who have started at least 80 games and thrown at least 800.0 career innings...Young is averaging 15.7 pitches per inning (1272 pitches/81.0 innings) this season.

GROUND BALL/FLY BALL RATIO: Among pitchers who began their careers after the stat began to be kept in 1987 and have made at least 25 starts, Young has the lowest ground ball/fly ball ratio at 0.54 (677 ground balls/1260 fly balls)...This season, Young has a ground ball/fly ball ratio of 0.41 (61 ground balls/150 fly balls), which is lowest among pitchers with at least three starts...For his career, Young has gotten 34 ground-ball double plays in 533 possible situations (6.4%)...The 34 total GIDP and 6.4% are both fewest in the majors among active pitchers with at least 100 career starts.

STOLEN BASE PERCENTAGE: Since 1974, no pitcher with at least 40 career starts has had bases stolen against him at a higher rate than Young...Base stealers have been successful against Young on 90.1 percent of their attempts (155 steals on 172 attempts)...This season, base stealers have been successful on 80.0 percent (12-15) of their attempts against Young.

OPPONENT BATTING AVERAGE: Ranks second behind the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw among active pitchers who have made at least 50 career starts with an opponent batting average of .224...Kershaw is first at .215...Young’s opponent batting average this season is .272, which for him would be a career-high for a season.

LAST WIN VS. PHILADELPHIA: Won, 7-1, on April 5, 2011 at Citizens Bank Park...Pitched 5.1 innings and allowed one run, earned, five hits, and four walks...Struck out seven.

LAST LOSS VS. PHILADELPHIA: Lost, 9-2, on July 4, 2012 at Citi Field...Pitched 7.0 innings and allowed three runs, earned, and five hits (two home runs)...Did not walk a batter and struck out three.

CAREER VS. PHILADELPHIA: In eight career games, all starts, Young is 3-3 with a 3.42 ERA (18 earned runs/47.1 innings) vs. the Phillies.

KEY MATCHUPS:

• Jimmy Rollins - .125 (2-16, 2 BB, 3 K)
• Ryan Howard - .154 (2-13, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 5 K)
• Chase Utley - .313 (5-16, 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, BB, 3 K)