Opening Day! Ace vs Ace! With all of the terrible facts about the Mets your “friends” might be telling you today, in order to bring you down, here's one you can tell them. The Mets have the longest active Opening Day winning streak at 4 games and have the best overall Opening Day record at 31-17 (and of course, knock on wood to hope all of that continues). Anyway our ace returns to the mound today to battle a pitcher who is always ready to play the Mets, Josh Johnson. Both Santana and Johnson have had success agains their opponents today, meaning today could be a pitching duel.
Let's break down Santana. Last season Santana went 13-9 over 166.2 innings pitched and had a 3.13 ERA. He pitched against the Marlins twice to the tune of a 0-1 record, but during that time he had a 1.29 ERA and 20 K's. Historically, Santana baffles the Marlins' lineup:
Helms 3-17, 7 K
Ramierez 2-15, 6 K
Uggla 1-17, 10 K
Ross 3-16, 3 K
Bonifacio 1-12, 4 K
The key for Santana will be keeping the ball in the park. His biggest weakness last year was the longball. As long as he can keep the ball in the park, then he should have no problem. As the numbers show above, statistically, the Marlins whiff often vs Santana, which would be a nice trend to start the season on.
Johnson was the Mets kryptonite last season. Against all opponents, Johnson was 15-5, pitched 209 innings and had a 3.23 ERA. Against the Mets, he pitched four games, lasted 28.0 innings, had a 3-0 record, 22 K and a “nice” 2.89 ERA. In the past, the Mets have been able to put up these numbers individually against Johnson:
Wright 3-18
Tatis 8-12, 2B, HR
Castillo 3-9
Bay 1-3, HR
First criticism of Jerry Manual for the new season. If you want your lineup to have a statistical advantage, wouldn't you want Tatis at first base today? He is getting 2 hits out of every 3 trips against Johnson in his carear, and those numbers are really striking. Also key note to make, the Mets just saw Johnson last week. Originally, Johnson would have not pitched against the Mets since he was going to see them again today, but he missed his previous start due to illness and needed another start against Major League hitting. During that last Spring outing, David Wright took Johnson deep as did Jason Bay (and Chris Carter, who is on his way to Buffalo).
Today is the start of a long marathon, and looks to be an exciting start as the ace of the Mets take on the ace of the Marlins in Citi Field. Lets go Mets! Fry the Fish!
