JA Happ v Bartolo Colon; Lineup (later) & Notes

Today's Game - JA Happ (4-7, 4.78) opens against Bartolo Colon (10-11, 4.76). JA compiled a 3.31 ERA in his first 11 starts for the Mariners, and then the wheels came off. He's put up a 6.80 ERA in his last 10 outings, losing six of his last seven decisions. The Bucs skipped his last start, so he should be strong after nine days off. This is a cross-your-fingers outing for Happ; another bad day or two at the office might provide the opening Vance Worley or Radhames Liz is looking for. He hasn't faced the Mets since 2012.

JA Happ gets his second Bucco start (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Colon likewise came out of the gates fast, but has managed just a 5.31 ERA over his last 14 starts and is 1-7 in his last eight decisions. He hasn't been consistently bad, but has gone Jekyll and Hyde from one appearance to the next. Bartolo is probably looking forward to this game; the Mets are very good at home, and in seven career starts against the Pirates, Colon is 4-2 with a 1.97 ERA, his best ERA against any MLB foe. He split a pair of 2014 outings against the Bucs, winning 5-0 and losing 5-2.

With series against the Cubs, Dodger and Cards in the rear view mirror (5-3 in those three series), New York is the latest en fuego challenge, having won 11-of-13 games as their hitting has begun to catch up (5.6 runs/game in the past 18 games) to the pitching. The game starts at 7:10 and will be on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Today's Lineup - Yah, taking awhile; the Bucs are doing some pre-game stuff to determine if Starling's hand is good to go; he ran and played the field late last night, but batting has been the sore point. So no lineup yet; we'll send it out as Clint publishes it.

• The Mets are 42-18 at Citi Field this season and have won seven in a row at home. Overall, New York is 11 games over .500 for the first time in five years.
• Offsetting that, the Pirates have won 12 of the past 16 meetings with NY and outscored them 21-4 while sweeping a three game set in Pittsburgh from May 22-24th.
• Yesterday's win in St. Louis snapped an eight game losing streak by the Pirates there that started on July 10th, 2014. 
• Jim Callis of MLB.com picked the Pirates minor league system as sixth best in MLB.
• We missed yesterday being left hander day (so, apparently, did Frankie). History.com has the scoop on why lefty hurlers are called southpaws.