NewsMets hope to avoid effects of long travel
New York (51-57) at San Diego (45-65), 10:05 p.m. ET
By Marty Noble / MLB.com
08/07/09 1:58 AM ET
SAN DIEGO -- Losses, disappointments, poor play and now fatigue. The Mets had hoped to lead the league in victories this season. Now they are contending for the lead in adversity.They seldom have prospered in swings through California. When each season included two, three-stop trips to the left coast, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco often constituted a Bermuda Triangle for them. And it hasn't been a whole better since the scheduling system has been revised to include stops in Denver and Phoenix.
One thing has held true even with the changes in the schedule. Players generally feel the effects of cross-country flying most on the second day after the flight. The Mets flew to San Diego on Wednesday night. So Met-lag should take effect Friday night when they play their second game at PETCO Park.
Fatigue hardly guarantees defeat. The Mets won the second game of their first West Coast excursion on May, beating the Giants at AT&T Park. But it is quite genuine phenomenon. Coast-to-coast travel drains even the best-conditioned athletes.
From 1969 through 1993, the Braves and Reds, both in the Eastern time zone, were in the National League West and made five or six West Coast swings each season. Sparky Anderson, the Reds manager in nine of those seasons, would joke that his players were more experienced travelers and more accomplished sleepers than others.
But he acknowledged the travel wore on them. And now, with Interleague scheduling, any Eastern time zone team can make three trips to the Coast.
And now the put-upon Mets, riddled with injuries and no particularly well-rested, are out here again. No one said it was supposed to be easy.
Pitching matchupNYM: LHP Oliver Perez (2-3, 7.03 ERA)
Perez was Perez once again on Saturday against the D-backs, needing 112 pitches to get through five innings. He allowed six hits, five walks and three runs. That no-decision marked the sixth time in 10 starts that Perez's walk total equaled or exceeded his inning total. No other pitcher in the the big leagues has produced more than three such starts. Perez has walked 47 batters in 48 2/3 innings. That ratio yield a rate of 0.97 walks per innings. Joel Pineiro of the Cardinals has walked 15 batters in 141 1/3 inning or .96 walks per nine innings, the lowest rate in the big leagues. Perez now faces the team with whom he began his big league career. He has 2-3 record and a 4.55 ERA in six career starts against the Padres. One of the victories came April 15 when Perez produced his best start of the season, allowing one run on three hits and two walks in six innings. In his three starts at PETCO Park, he has a 1-1 record with a 4.50 ERA. The current Padres roster has had minimal success in its limited opportunities against Perez -- seven hits in 33 at-bats. SD: RHP Kevin Correia (7-9, 4.73 ERA)
Padres manager Bud Black said pitcher Kevin Correia "deserved a better fate" in his last start, a 6-1 loss to the Brewers at PETCO Park on Sunday. Correia allowed two hits, three walks and three runs in 6 1/3 innings. Two of the runs scored after his departure. Beginning in July, he has lost four of six decisions and produced a 5.87 ERA in seven starts and 38 1/3 innings. His first loss this season came, opposite Perez, at Citi Field in his second career start against the Mets. He allowed two runs in five innings which put his career ERA in 21 2/3 innings against them at 2.08. David Wright has six hits, including two home runs and two doubles, in eight career at-bats against Correia.
Tidbits: To create roster room for Anderson Hernandez, acquired in trade from the Nationals on Thursday, the Mets designated infielder Angel Berroa for assignment.
This date in Mets history, Aug. 7: The Mets lost, 7-5, to the Dodgers in Los Angeles in 1962. Their record stood at 29-82 and assured them of a losing record in their inaugural season. ... A year later, leadoff man Jim Hickman hit a home run in the sixth inning to become the first Met to hit for the cycle. He did so against the Cardinals in a 7-3 Mets victory at the Polo Grounds. ... In 1964, the Mets traded Frank Thomas to the ill-fated Phillies after Thomas had ridden the Mets' bus to Connie Mack Stadium. Thomas drove in two runs that day and three more in the next two games as the Phillies swept a three-game series. ... The Mets demolished the Braves, 20-6, in Atlanta in 1971. Ken Boswell had four hits and five RBIs, and Wayne Garrett and Donn Clendenon each drove in three runs. ... Mets manager Yogi Berra was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. One the same day, second baseman Boswell played all 13 innings of the a 3-2 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis and never touched the baseball -- no chances. ... In 2000, Kurt Abbott hit an 11th-inning home run to beat the Astros, 6-5, at what then was Enron Field.
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• WFAN 660, WADO 1280 (Español) Up next
• Saturday: Mets (Bobby Parnell, 2-1, 3.74) at Padres (Mat Latos, 3-1, 2.66), 10:05 p.m. ET
• Sunday: Mets (Johan Santana, 12-8, 3.10) at Padres (Tim Stauffer, 1-3, 3.12), 4:05 p.m. ET
• Monday: Mets (Mike Pelfrey, 8-7, 4.75) at Diamondbacks (TBD), 9:40 p.m. ET
Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
