Senior Editor Mark Haverty's work has regularly appears in such places as FOX Sports and Sporting News, where Mark is one of TSN's lead minor league analysts. Mark has also been featured in multiple print publications and as a featured guest on multiple radio shows.
While the Mets might have just passed the Dodgers for games played in the five boroughs, many New York fans will think of Ebbets Field as the home of New York's other team.
Series of the Week – Early Edition
New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers
While all the other teams fool around with the silliness that is interleague play, we get a classic matchup between New York’s old other team and New York’s new other team. For those that do not know, the Mets recently topped the Dodgers for games played within the five boroughs, yet there are still many that will not think of the Dodgers as a Californian team. Well, this series is being played in California, and will be called by a voice – Vin Scully – that is beloved in both cities.
The series kicks off on Monday with El Duque, Orlando Hernandez, taking the mound for the Mets against Randy Wolf. Since returning to the rotation on May 25th, El Duque has gone 1-0 with a 0.947 ERA in three starts, allowing just 12 hits and walks in 19 innings while striking out 10. Wolf cannot say as many nice things about his last couple of starts, or anything nice really, as he has been beat up in his last two outings. In his two June starts so far, Wolf has been knocked out after just five innings both times, and he has an ERA of 8.10.
Tuesday’s starters are John Maine and Hong-Chih Kuo. Maine has been spectacular for the Mets this year, although he did hit a rough patch in the middle of May. Since then, though, he has rolled off three straight quality starts, and overall nine of his 12 starts this year have been quality starts. Kuo’s results in his last start were good, but his control was shaky throughout, and he is far too risky against a potent lineup like the Mets.
David Wright was supposed to have a breakout year this year, but a horrid start turned many off. Wright hit just .244 through April, with no home runs, but he would go on to knock eight out of the park in May, along with a .294 batting average, and he has really heated up in June, hitting .333 with three homers in the first nine days of June.
The Dodgers’ third baseman, Tony Abreu, has been hitting for a high average so far this year, and is hitting .324 in June, but that is really all he is doing. He has yet to hit a home run in his 56 major-league at-bats, and he has just five total RBI on the season. He also does not run, with no stolen base attempts this year, and what you have is the most hollow .324 hitter in the game. He might not strike out much, with just six strikeouts this year, but he also has just two walks, so you pretty much know he is going up to the plate looking to make contact. So, to sum up, no power, no speed, no great on-base skills, and a solid average that just has to come down thanks to both his minor league track record and his unwillingness to take a walk.
Series of the Week – Weekend Edition
Atlanta Braves at Cleveland Indians
It’s a 1995 World Series rematch, not that there are many players left on either team from that series. Let’s see – Chipper Jones and John Smoltz for the Braves and absolutely no one on the Indians. Both are looking to get back to the World Series this year, although the Indians’ chances are certainly better. At 37-23 as of this writing, the Indians are in first place in the American League Central, 2.5 games up on the Tigers. The Braves are holding strong at 34-29, 3.5 games back of the Mets, and two games behind the Diamondbacks in the Wild Card race.
The marquee matchup in this series is Friday, with Fausto Carmona facing the previously mentioned hanger-on from the 1995 World Series, Smoltz. Smoltz followed up a solid April with a spectacular May, going 4-1 with a 1.66 ERA and a spectacular 35:6 K/BB ratio over 38 innings. His first start of June was a loss to the Marlins despite holding them to just three hits and two earned runs in six innings of work. Carmona might not be a great closer, as the Indians learned last year, but he has been a spectacular starter this year. Carmona has won his last seven straight decisions, and since lasting just 4 1/3 innings in his first start of the season he has yet to get knocked out before completing at least six. Since that first start, nine of his ten starts have been quality starts.
The Braves are still waiting for Andruw Jones to really get on track. In 40 at-bats this month, Jones has three homers and six RBI, but also a batting average of just .200. This comes after hitting just .202 in May, and there are no signs of Jones pulling out of this season long slump anytime soon.
Jhonny Peralta’s batting average has come around from his horrid April and lost 2006 season, and he is just one homer shy of matching his total from last year. This month, Peralta is hitting .300, with two homers, three RBI, and seven runs in 30 at-bats. Peralta is on pace to top the 24 homers and 78 RBI career highs he posted in 2005.
