Having three double headers in one week for the Mets wouldn’t be a crazy large issue if the Mets had more pitchers who could start. This stretch of double headers came at the same time that the Mets rotation is basically depleted – more than any time I can recall in recent memory. Between injuries, struggle on the field and questionable roster decisions the Mets were forced to stretch out both Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo.
This afternoon its Seth Lugo’s turn to continue his journey into a starter. On the season he has pitched in 10 games and made 1 start totaling 13.1 innings with a 2.03 ERA, 2.16 FIP, 0.750 WHIP and 212 ERA+. Five days ago he made his first start where tossed 39 pitches across 3.0 innings while striking out 5, allowing nothing. Lugo pitched two scoreless, hitless innings against the Yankees last year. The Yankees have the following numbers against Lugo:
Luke Voit 1-4, HR, K
DJ LeMahieu 3-6
Gary Sanchez 1-5, K
Aaron Hicks 0-3, 2 BB, 2 K
Jordy Mercer 0-2, K
Gio Urshela 0-1, K
Brett Gardner 0-4, K
Deivi Garcia will make his major league debut for the Yankees today. At 20 years old, he pitched across three levels in the minors last year starting in high A all the way to AAA. In A+ ball he posted a 3.06 ERA over 17.2 innings. Next he made 11 starts, 53.2 innings AA ball with a 3.86 ERA. Finally he pitched in 11 games, 6 starts, in AAA ball for 40.0 innings with a 5.40 ERA. He was 6.2 years younger than the average player in the league at that point. It feels like the Mets have struggled against the deluge of players making their major league debuts against them this year, hopefully they’ll get the better of Garcia today.
The Mets had a double header sweep of the Yankees on Friday and were close to beating the Yankees yesterday. The Yankees got a great start from J.A. Happ and as soon as the Yankees took him out of the game, the Mets tied the game thanks to Wilson Ramos. Eventually the Mets lost 2-1 in a game that just barely slipped away.
The concern for the Mets heading into today’s game – how many arms are available? The Mets had to use a lot more pitchers yesterday than they intended with Steven Matz lasting only one inning after feeling shoulder discomfort. This is going to put a lot of pressure on Rick Porcello, opening the game for the Mets since Seth Lugo is still getting stretched out when he starts the second game.
Rick Porcello is 1-4 over 6 games and 28.0 innings with a 6.43 ERA, 3.03 FIP, 1.643 WHIP and 66 ERA+. Porcello got off to a good start in August, allowing 3 runs over 13.0 innings while striking out 9 but his last two starts have been lacking. He has allowed 8 runs from 15 hits over 9.0 innings. He faced the Yankees four times last year allowing 20 runs from 27 hits over 15.0 innings. The Yankees have the following numbers against Porcello:
Mike Tauchman 3-4, 2B, HR, K
Luke Voit 6-11, 2 2B, 4 K
Gio Urshela 3-5
Brett Gardner 17-60, 5 2B, 2 HR3 BB, 10 K
Gary Sanchez 3-18, HR, 3 BB, 4 K
Aaron Hicks 5-39, 3 HR, 5 BB, 8 K
Clit Frazier 1-5, 2 K
Mike King will make his second start of the season pitching in his fifth game today. He has pitched 13.2 innings this season, allowing 10 runs leading to a 6.59 ERA, 5.55 FIP, 1.098 WHIP and 66 ERA+. Mike King had an incredibly 2018 season in the minors where he had a 1.79 ERA over 161.1 innings from high A ball to AAA (1.15 ERA over 6 starts). The following year he had arm issues in spring training that kept him off the field for most of the year. He made only 11 appearances in the minors in 2019 with a 5.87 ERA over 46.0 innings.
What a night for the Mets! They came back to win, twice! In the first game of the doubleheader, the Mets were in a 4-0 hole early but thanks to a big 6th inning with homers from Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith and Marisnick the Mets took a 6-4 lead. Rosario was the hero of the night cap, hitting a 2 run, walk-off shot as the away team, in the bottom of the seventh. A sentence that could only be uttered in 2020.
Robert Gsellman makes his 3rd start of the season as he continues to get stretched out into a starter. On the year he has allowed 4 runs from 8 hits and 2 walks in 4.2 innings. In his last start he lasted only 1.2 innings, less than his previous start, but he increased his pitch count from 33 to 47. The Yankees have the following numbers against Gsellman:
Jordy Mercer 2-4, 2B, BB, K
Miguel Andujar 1-2, K
Gio Urshela 0-1, BB
Gary Sanchez 0-4, BB, 2 K
Aaron Hicks 0-5, BB, K
Brett Gardner 0-5, BB, K
The Mets have been struggling with most of their starters this season. The Yankees have their own version of this struggle with J.A. Happ. Happ has pitched 3 games and 12.2 innings this year with a 6.39 ERA, 8.68 FIP, 1.579 WHIP and a 68 ERA+. His last start was his most promising of the season, he allowed only 1 run over 5.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Happ:
I’ve been doing Game Previews almost every game since 2008. I generally know what I’m going to say.
I really have no idea for this game.
Like I’ve been thinking about this preview for hours. Nothing. See I generally write in a formulaic way. Start off with a review of the last game, then go into each starting pitcher, their last start and the batter vs pitcher record. End with a Let’s Go Mets and call it a day. For game 2 tonight, I’m writing the preview while the Mets are currently down 4-0 in the top of the second, so I don’t know how that game ends. David Peterson is starting, so that will be the next paragraph, but he’s never faced the Yankees before. The Yankees still haven’t announced their starter for their game and it’s going to be a bullpen game, so there goes the last paragraph. 2020 y’all.
Anyway, here’s the sure thing – David Peterson is making his return to the mound. In his first four starts of his career he has thrown 21.2 innings with a 2.91 ERA, 4.03 FIP, 1.154 WHIP and 146 ERA+. In his last start he allowed one run, unearned, over 5.0 innings after an early-ish exit and then landed on the IL. So far he is one of the largest bright spots of this 2020 Mets fiasco of a team.
Speaking of 2020 bright spots, let’s talk about a few Mets hitters. First, there’s the breakout season for Dominic Smith, who before game 1 today, was hitting .315/.402/.699 over 87 PA’s, a 1.101 OPS, leading the team. Who would have thought that Cano, in 74 PA’s would be second on the team in OPS at 1.051 with a slash line of .382/.419/.632. If I knew just those two things, I would think that the Mets would be leading the division. Alas, things in the rotation, runners in scoring positions, etc, have not worked out well for the Mets. This weekend would be a great time though to shock the world.
Yesterday was an important day in Mets history as the Mets joined many other teams in not playing baseball to bring more attention to Racism and Police Brutality that permeate throughout America. In normal Mets fashion, the front office almost made the story about their own disorganization, their own “not getting it”. In the end we were left with a strong statement about the need to stand up for each other, to call out when we see something that is racist and unjust. If you haven’t seen Dominic Smith’s comments from Wednesday night, you really should.
For the Mets, it’s going to be a busy weekend with 5 games against the Yankees over three days. Michael Wacha makes his return to the rotation for the Mets. He made three starts before hitting the IL totaling 14.0 innings with a 6.43 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 1.643 WHIP and a 67 ERA+. After starting the season with a 5.0 inning, 1 run performance, he has allowed 9 runs over 9 innings in his following two starts including 4 runs in 5.0 innings against the Marlins. He has only faced two Yankees before. Brett Gardner is 0-3 with 3 walks and Aaron Judge is 0-3 with two strikeouts.
The Mets bats will face Jodran Montgomery this afternoon. Montgomery has made 4 starts this season pitching 19.1 innings with a 4.66 ERA, 4.34 FIP, 1.086 WHIP and 93 ERA+. Montgomery missed the vast majority of 2019 and half of 2018 recovering from TJ surgery. In his career he has pitched in 41 games and 206.0 innings with a 3.98 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 1.243 WHIP with a 93 ERA+. Due to his injuries over the last couple of years, only two players on the Mets have seen Montgomery in action. WIlson Ramos is 2-6 with 2 strikeouts and Billy Hamilton is 0-3 with a strikeout.
The Mets finally returned to baseball last night with two 7-inning doubleheaders against the Marlins. The first game, which was mercifully delayed by a storm, was terrible from the start. The Mets started off in a hole and then couldn’t buy a hit with runners in scoring position. There was one bright spot though – Corey Oswalt – who allowed only one hit in 4.0 innings. The second game wasn’t so bad. Lugo had a great start, striking out 5 batters over 3.0 innings allowing nothing. The problem – the Mets couldn’t get any hits.
Anyway the Mets need a new day. Maybe yesterday was rust. What better way to starting a new day with Jacob deGrom! Jacob will make his sixth start of the season today. Over his first 5 starts he has pitched 28.0 innings with a 1.93 ERA, 2.10 FIP (league leading), 0.893 WHIP and a 220 ERA+. His last start, against the Marlins, was his best start of the season, where he shut out the Marlins over 6.0 innings. His last two starts were both against the Marlins, pitching 11.0 innings with 11 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs and 13 strikeouts. The Marlins have the following numbers against Jacob:
Jesus Aguilar 4-9, 2B, HR, K
Jon Berti 6-15, 3 2B, 2 K, 3 SB
Brian Anderson 8-30, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB, 6 K
Jorge Alfaro 3-13, HR, BB, 6 K
Jonathan Villar 2-8, 2B, BB, 3 K
Magneuris Sierra 2-6, 2 K
Miguel Rojas 7-32, 3 BB, 5 K
Corey Dickerson 2-9, 2 K
Lewis Brinson 4-22, 2B, 8 K
Matt Joyce 1-12, BB, 7 K
The Mets bats will try to break out of their funk against Elieser Hernandez tonight. In his first four starts of the year, pitching 19.2 innings, he has a 2.29 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 0.763 WHIP and 195 ERA+. Last year he pitched in 21 games, 15 starts, totaling 82.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA, 5.58 FIP, 1.239 WHIP, and a 84 ERA+. He faced the Mets twice in relief last year, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing 1 hit (a solo homer). The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Before last Thursday’s game the Mets had a player and a coach each test positive for Covid19. As of 6 AM today, the only news we’ve heard about both individuals is that they were symptomatic and are recovering well. We hope this continues to be the case and are keeping them in our thoughts.
Before the Covid19 interruption, the Mets were on a roll while everything around the box score was falling apart. After a weekend of losing three straight to the Phillies, they won the first three games against the Marlins. The rotation was being hampered by injuries and question marks (would Matz return? would Lugo be stretched out?)
The break from baseball has done nothing to settle anything and has actually complicated it more as the Mets will now play 9 games over the next 6 days and 34 games in the next 34 days. Over the next 6 days they will play 3 double-headers. These will also be the first games the Mets play under the new seven inning game rules. The Mets will play six shortened games this week and three full ones.
Game 1:
Rick Porcello gets the first start for the Mets tonight. Over his first five starts he has pitched 25.0 innings with a 5.76 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 1.640 WHIP and 74 ERA+. He started off August with two strong back to back starts, allowing 3 runs over 13.0 innings before facing the Phillies where he allowed 4 runs from 10 hits over 6.0 innings. He hasn’t pitched in 9 days. The Marlins have the following stats against Porcello:
Jesus Aguilar 2-3
Jorge Alfaro 0-2
Corey Dickerson 9-41, 4 2B, HR, 8 K
Logan Forsythe 8-31, 3B, 2 BB, 6 K
Matt Joyce 6-20, 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 4 K
Magneuris Sierra 2-3
Jonathan Villar 3-8, BB, K
The Mets bats will see Daniel Castano again! The Mets saw his major league debut a couple of weeks ago as Castano skipped AAA ball in the roster madness that the Marlins endured after the Covid19 outbreak. Daniel has made three starts this year, totaling 10.2 innings, allowing 8 runs, 7 earned. The Mets scored 5 runs, 4 earned, over 4.1 innings thanks to two homers. Daniel rebounded in his next start against the Braves who only scored one run off a solo homer in 6.0 innings. In his next start, he only recorded one out facing 4 batters, allowing 2 runs. Anyway – Alonso and Conforto were the two Mets who homered against and Smith, Davis and McNeil also collected hits. Rosario, Hamilton and Ramos went a combined 0-7.
Game 2:
Seth Lugo, who has been tremendously successful as a reliever, will be starting the night cap and joining the rotation for the foreseeable future. Seth Lugo made his first mark on the Mets as a starter in 2016 and was a big reason for Puerto Rico’s success in the following World Baseball Classic. But the Mets bullpen feels significantly weaker without him in it. Through 10.1 innings over 9 games this year he he has a 2.61 ERA, 2.85 FIP, 0.968 WHIP and a 168 ERA+. In his career he has a 3.25 ERA and a 1.120 WHIP. As a starter he has a 4.06 ERA with a 1.307 WHIP (of course – this is skewed towards the start of his career). The Marlins have the following numbers against Lugo:
Jesus Aguilar 2-3
Jorge Alfaro 2-7
Brian Anderson 3-13, 3 K
Jon Berti 0-0, BB
Lewis Brinson 1-4, 2 K
Corey Dickerson 0-4, BB, 2 K
Logan Forsythe 0-3, K
Matt Joyce 0-4, 2 K
Miguel Rojas, 1-7, K
The Mets will see yet another pitcher make their major league debut tonight – Trevor Rogers. The 22 year old pitched in high A ball last season making 19 starts and tossing 110.1 innings with an ERA of 2.53, he was almost two years younger than the average player in the league. He was then moved to AA where he made 5 starts and pitched 26.0 innings with a 4.50 ERA.
The Mets have now won three games in a row against the Marlins and go for the four game sweep before heading to the first Subway Series of 2020. Mets ace Jacob deGrom returned to the mound last night and was his normal self for 6.0 innings. The bullpen behind him though regressed to their normal version of themselves on a deGrom night but Edwin Diaz was able to stick it out and things worked out!
Speaking of things working out – there are a lot of questions about the new Mets plan going into tonight’s game. Seth Lugo, who has been tremendously successful as a reliever, will be starting the game and joining the rotation for the foreseeable future. Seth Lugo made his first mark on the Mets as a starter in 2016 and was a big reason for Puerto Rico’s success in the following World Baseball Classic. But the Mets bullpen feels significantly weaker without him in it. Through 10.1 innings over 9 games this year he he has a 2.61 ERA, 2.85 FIP, 0.968 WHIP and a 168 ERA+. In his career he has a 3.25 ERA and a 1.120 WHIP. As a starter he has a 4.06 ERA with a 1.307 WHIP (of course – this is skewed towards the start of his career).
The Mets bats will see Daniel Castano again! The Mets saw his major league debut a couple of weeks ago as Castano skipped AAA ball in the roster madness that the Marlins endured after the Covid19 outbreak. On the season he has allowed 6 runs, 5 earned over 10.1 innings but those numbers hide how different his two major league starts have been. The Mets scored 5 runs, 4 earned, over 4.1 innings thanks to two homers. Daniel rebounded in his next start against the Braves who only scored one run off a solo homer in 6.0 innings. Anyway – Alonso and Conforto were the two Mets who homered against and Smith, Davis and McNeil also collected hits. Rosario, Hamilton and Ramos went a combined 0-7.
Yesterday felt like it was going to be a typical day in 2020 – but it wasn’t!
Not too long before first pitch, David Peterson was scratched due to issues with his shoulder (which were noted by the team at the end of last start). Cue 2020 dread. Oswalt was called up and pitched well at the start but around the 4th inning started to let a few runs score and the Mets lead that was built on some early power started to evaporate. Cue more dread. But the bullpen behind him was effective and the Mets had a huge 8th inning to put the game out of reach. Oswalt finished with a good night and the bullpen put in a lot of good work – again.
And now we tentatively hope they’ll get some rest. Jacob deGrom is starting for the Mets tonight, but he was scratched late in his last start due to the an issue on his finger that caused him some issues in his start before that. Over 22.0 innings and 4 starts, deGrom has a 2.45 ERA, 2.44 FIP, 0.955 WHIP and 178 ERA+. His last start was against the Marlins where he allowed 2 runs from 7 hits and 2 walks over 5.0 innings while striking out 6. The Marlins have the following numbers against deGrom:
Eddy Alvarez 2-2, SB
Jesus Aguilar 3-6, 2B, HR, K
Magneuris Sierra 2-3
Jon Berti 6-15, 3 2B, 2 K
Brian Anderson 8-27, 2 2 B, HR, 2 BB, 5 K
Jonathan Villar 2-8, 2B, BB, 3 K
Lewis Brinson 4-20, 2B, 8 K
Corey Dickerson 1-6, 2 K
Francisco Cervelli 0-5, K
The Mets bats draw Pablo Lopez who is off to a good start of 2020 over his first 3 games. He has pitched 16.0 innings allowing 5 runs, 4 earned and has posted a 2.25 ERA, 2.31 FIP, 1.125 WHIP and 207 ERA+. His second start of the season was against the Mets where he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, over 5.0 innings while walking and striking out 4. The Mets have the following numbers against Lopez:
The 2020 Mets are the masters of flipping the switch. After a weekend of being just terrible, the Mets came out in a big way last night in a game that lasted nearly 4 hours. Gsellman labored through 1.2 innings to start, and then the bullpen took over. Shreve had a fantastic 2.1 innings with 5 strikeouts. And there was power! Robinson had two homers! Alonso had two homers!
Key for the Mets – can they keep it going?
David Peterson will try to make that reality tonight. In his first four starts and 21.2 innings he has a 2.91 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 1.154 WHIP and a 149 ERA+. He’s made one start against the Marlins back on August 8th where he allowed 2 runs over 5.0 innings from 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 3. In that game Logan Forsythe got the better of Peterson with a homer and a walk. Peterson got the better of Villar, Brinson, Berti and Cervelli who were a combined went 0-10 against David.
Humberto Mejia will make the start against the Mets today, his only major league start came against the Mets on 8/7. Humberto skipped multiple levels of the minors to face the Mets 11 days ago, allowing 1 run from a homer over 2.1 innings in a game the Mets eventually lost. Dominic Smith hit the homer because he’s amazing. Anyway, for some reason the Marlins sent Mejia down after that start – and he’s back. To face the Mets again.
