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The Mets: A fretful squad of nothings and no ones, piloted by David Wright and attempting to speed up the recovery of their best pitcher with ancient Chinese therapy.
ESPN's Adam Rubin recently expressed dismay per the Mets' run differential, but his nerves were quelled by the knowledge that soon, they would be playing the Phillies.
Yep. They stink. RT @AMirch729: No worries ... 4 games with Phillies on tap-er-ooski
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) August 7, 2014
Yes, all hail the mighty Mets, who are so superior to the last place Phillies that they are exactly one place ahead of them in the standings. Though that one guy is right, the Mets have outscored the Phillies 64-38 this season, and beaten them eight out of 12 times. Together, we make up the bottom of the NL East, and perhaps now is the time to put aside our past differences and work together to provide a fun, competitive baseball matDAVID WRIGHT IS BROKEN THE METS ARE EXPOSED KICK THEM KICK THEM KICK THEM WHILE THEY'RE DOWN.
The Phillies: Coming off a sweep [of the Astros], the Phillies are clearly back, with Ryan Howard having rediscovered his swing [against the Astros] and the team in general appearing more effective and dominant [ while playing the worst team].
Heavy Hitters
Ryan Howard had a 1.257 OPS throughout the Astros series, with five hits, a double, two home runs, eight RBI, and a mere five strikeouts in 14 at-bats. And no walks. Vintage Howard!
David Wright may be a broken man, but even as a shadow of his former self, he's fourth on the team in SLG and OPS. I mean, David Wright.
Daniel Murphy still has that Ben Revere-esque .300+ BA that you squint at and don't quite trust. But, there he is, hitting 27 points higher than the guy behind him (Juan Lagares).
Speaking of Juan Lagares, he may not be hitting a ton, but check out this montage of his body of work from the 2014 season:
It was just a typical week for @juanlagares2. http://t.co/JIVjiMe81l
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 8, 2014
HOLY CRAP that was just the past week.
Probable Starters
Bartolo Colon/A.J. Burnett
It's the battle of the guys who were not traded when everyone said they might be.
Dillon Gee/Cole Hamels
Well, the last time they faced each other was pretty awesome, so maybe it'll happen again?
Zack Wheeler/Kyle Kendrick
It's "Not Matt Harvey" vs. "Please Go Away", I'm sure people are lining up around the block for tickets already!
Editor's Note: SB Nation's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $18,000 Fantasy Baseball league for tonight's MLB games. It's $2 to join and first prize is $2,000. Jump in now. Here's the FanDuel link.