The Mets and Brewers square up for game two of the season this afternoon at Citi Field. We hope it’s not a literally squaring up after the fireworks yesterday between Jeff McNeil and Rhys Hoskins after Hoskins had a late slide into second that knocked McNeil down.
The Mets got a fairly solid day of pitching, keeping eight hits to only three runs. The bats were another story as the Mets only mustered up one hit, a rocket solo-homer by Starling Marte. The Mets overall seemed a bit off at the plate yesterday and hopefully today they can back on the right path.
Luis Severino officially makes his Mets debut today. The former Yankee has shown flashes of brilliance over his career. In 2017 he had an absurdly high ERA+ of 152 over 31 starts. As recently as 2022 he had an ERA+ of 124. Last season was a different story for Severino. Over 19 games and 89 1/3 innings he had a 6.65 ERA, 6.14 FIP, 1.646 WHIP and a 65 ERA+. It has been widely discussed that he was tipping pitches last year. His last start last year was against the Brewers where he allowed two runs from four hits over four innings of work while striking out five batters. The Brewers have the following career numbers against him:
- Willy Adames 2-8, HR, BB, 3 K
- Jake Bauers 3-6, 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
- William Contreras 0-2, K
- Sal Frelick 0-2, K
- Rhys Hoskins 0-3, 2 K
- Andruw Monasterio 0-1
- Brice Turang 1-2, K
- Christian Yelich 1-2, K
It’s an afternoon of team debut’s today! DL Hall makes his Brewers debut. The young lefty was traded with Joey Ortiz in the Corbin Burns trade with the Orioles this past winter. Hall debuted for the Orioles in 2022 and has mostly been used as a reliever in the major leagues. Last season over 18 games, 19 1/3 innings with a 3.26 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 1.190 WHIP and a 129 ERA+. He was used as a reliever and a starter in the minors last year, totaling 52 innings with a 3.98 ERA.
This will be DL Hall’s first time pitching against the Mets and the only person on the Mets roster who has seen Hall in a major league game is Zack Short who is 2-for-2 against Hall with a home run.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Jeff, Rhys and Tempers. After Rhys slid into Rhys yesterday, benches and bullpens emptied. There was no actual fight though. Rhys and the Mets have a history that peaked when Rhys Hoskins took 34 seconds to go around the bases after hitting a home run in 2019. Both players will be amped for today’s game and as we know from years of watch Jeff and Rhys, their baseline energy is already “amped”.
- Marte Party! Starling Marte is the x-factor for the 2024 New York Mets. If Marte returns to his 2022 version the Mets lineup is going to be dangerous. He hit a missile of a homer yesterday and could have more RBI’s later in the game if Jackson Chourio didn’t make an amazing play in the outfield.
- Strikeouts. Freddy Peralta was dealing yesterday and he got the Mets to rack up eight strikeouts over six innings. The Mets finished with ten strikeouts on the day with Brandon Nimmo, DJ Stewart, Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty each having two each. Stewart, Alvarez and Baty hit back-to-back-to-back in the linep, that’s a lot of strikeouts concentrated in a small space.
Let’s Go Mets!
