April 17, 7:10 PM: Livan Hernandez vs. Dave Bush April 18, 1:10 PM: Johan Santana vs. Yovani Gallardo April 19, 1:10 PM: Mike Pelfrey vs. Jeff Suppan Scouting reports from MLB.com: April 17 Brewers: Bush settled for no decision in his first start of the season on Saturday, when he surrendered three earned runs on six hits in 6 1/3 effective innings against the Cubs. Bush walked two and struck out five, and might have been out of trouble with only two runs on his record if not for a close call at first base by umpire Angel Hernandez that went against Milwaukee. Bush has traditionally struggled away from home; he was 28-20 with a 3.82 ERA in home games and 15-26 with a 5.18 ERA away from home entering this season, a trend he will look to reverse. He has pitched twice in New York, but both outings were against the Yankees during Bush's Blue Jays days. He is 2-1 despite a 6.75 ERA in three career starts against the Mets. Mets: Needing some measure of length from their fifth starter after none of the previous four had survived the middle innings, the Mets received precisely that from Hernandez. Against a Marlins team that had averaged nearly eight runs per game heading into Saturday's game, Hernandez pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs -- one on a bloop, the other on the bullpen's inherited runner. For his career against the Brewers, Hernandez is 7-6 with a 3.77 ERA. April 18 Brewers: Milwaukee's ace in the making imploded in the third inning of his most recent start against the Reds after his teammates built him a comfortable 5-1 lead. Gallardo retired the first two hitters he faced, but the next six reached safely on two hits, three walks and a hit batsmen. The hit batsman was Jay Bruce with the bases loaded, and Edwin Encarnacion launched Gallardo's next pitch for a go-ahead grand slam. Gallardo has never faced the Mets. He'll be pitching on regular rest here, despite the Brewers' off-day since his last start, because manager Ken Macha flipped Gallardo and Jeff Suppan in the rotation. Mets: Despite striking out 13 batters and allowing just three hits, Santana took his first loss of the season in last Sunday's game against the Marlins. Sound familiar? This one wasn't the fault of the bullpen, but of some shaky defense in left field and an offense that could not muster a single run. Santana, now 1-1 with one earned run and 20 strikeouts in two starts, will look to change his luck against the Brewers. Against the Brewers last year, he recorded a loss and a no-decision -- and 17 strikeouts -- in two starts. April 19 Brewers: The good news was that Suppan surrendered only two hits in his most recent outing against the Cubs. The bad news was that he issued six walks, including four in the fourth inning and three with the bases loaded, and he didn't make it through that frame. In two starts this season, Suppan has started only nine of the 20 hitters he's faced with Strike 1, and pitching coach Bill Castro planned to work with the veteran between starts on "throwing" his pitches with conviction instead of "aiming" them. "It's mental more than anything else," Castro said. In his last eight starts dating to last season and including the playoffs, Suppan is winless with a 10.13 ERA and has surrendered 12 home runs. He will be pitching on two extra days' rest here, a move that allowed Suppan three between-starts throwing sessions instead of his usual two. Mets: An MRI taken on Tuesday revealed that Pelfrey has been throwing with right forearm tendinitis, putting the right-hander at risk of missing this start. Manager Jerry Manuel said Wednesday that the team plans on scaling back Pelfrey's workload and will make a decision later in the week on whether the big righty will start the finale against the Brewers. Pelfrey exited after five innings in the Citi Field opener on Monday, allowing eight hits and five earned runs. He got a no-decision in the loss to the Padres.
