The Mets face an old friend today in Jason Marquis. In his travels throughout the National League, Marquis has started 18 games (plus seven relief appearances) against the Mets and pitched 110 total innings. His 4.58 ERA and 1.51 WHIP against New York and pretty much in line with his career total versus everyone, so it’s not like Marquis has been particularly vexing (or not) for the Mets.

This season, Marquis made seven starts for the Twins and was horrible (8.47 ERA in 34 innings), but then he was released and picked up by the Padres at the end of May. With San Diego, Marquis has played with a passable 4.08 ERA in 68.1 innings. Most surprsing, though, is the 61 strikeouts logged by Marquis in those innings (and only 19 walks). Over a full season, that’s around 180 punch outs, a mark that Marquis hasn’t even come close to in his career.

While a pitcher finding success by moving to PetCo is not a new thing, Marquis’ increased strikeout numbers suggest that he may be at least a little bit for real. Plus, it’s not like Minnesota’s Target Field is a bandbox.

Sunday #Mets lineup: Tejada-SS, Valdespin-CF, Wright-3B, Davis-1B, Murphy-2B, Bay-LF, Baxter-RF, Johnson-C, Harvey-RHP

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New York Mets (@Mets) August 05, 2012

Hopefully Matt Harvey will get a bunch of groundballs in his third career MLB start, because Valdespin in center field makes me queasy. Even though Andres Torres was terrible last night, playing Bay over him against the righty isn’t likely much of an improvement.

San Diego manager Bud Black has moved Everth Cabrera up in the order, which could be a response to him reaching base four times in the past two games. He’s pretty much put up the same offensive profile as Logan Forsythe this season, anyway. Forsythe, by the way, is sitting again to make room for 23-year-old Alexi Amarista.

Remember to enjoy today’s game, everyone. Follow me @apy5000 and let’s hope Matt Harvey has an awesome day.