213 Miles From Shea

The cynics won out last night! The Marlins, fresh off a four game sweep of the Orioles came into town using a starting pitcher who hasn’t pitched above single A. He was able to hold the Mets to one run and got six strikeouts, including striking out the side in first inning. Wacha struggled earlier and the Mets eventually lost 4-3.

The Marlins, noticing how that worked out for them last night, are going to try it again tonight with a pitcher who has actually seen action in AA> Daniel Castano makes his major league debut tonight. The 25 year old was acquired by the Marlins in the Marcel Ozuna trade (which also brought over Sandy Alcantara). He pitched in 30 games last year and made 11 starts totaling 119 innings across A+ and AA ball with a 3.48 ERA. In AA alone he had a 3.35 ERA (that’s also where all of his starts were).

The Mets send out their own rookie to take on the Marlins – David Peterson. Peterson has allowed 5 runs over 11.2 innings from 12 hits and 3 walks so far in two starts this year while striking out 11 batters. He has also slowly been building arm strength, going from 78 to 87 pitches between his two starts. This will be David Peterson’s first start at home.

Usually we spend time here in game previews going through batters on the rosters vs today’s starters. As you probably figured by now, there are no records for today’s game. Instead lets just bask in the early season success of Michael Conforto who after last night is now hitting .308/.400/.481 (.881 OPS). Please extend him.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets open up a three game series with the Marlins that I’m surprised is happening. The Marlins were able to cobble together a roster with a good amount of players still on the injured list and baseball decided that it was still in the competitive spirit to let the Marlins play – so here we are.

The Marlins, to their credit, won every game in Baltimore in their first series back since the coronavirus outbreak on their team. Don Mattingly last night recorded more wins as a Marlins manager than any other manager. My worry with this success story is baseball turning the “replacement” players as heroes rather than looking at the selfish actions from MLB that led to this happening in the first place. But that’s neither here nor there.

The Mets, to their credit, won with Rick Porcello on the mound on Wednesday. Porcello looked like a different version of himself as he put in seven innings of good baseball. I was pretty down on him in my last preview and I will gladly eat crow.

Michael Wacha gets to take on the first place Marlins tonight. In two starts this season he has allowed 6 runs on 12 hits and 3 walks while striking out 9 batters in 9.0 innings. This line is due to one bad start and one good start. He opened up the season allowing only one run over 5.0 innings against the Red Sox. Then he allowed 5 runs in 4.0 innings against the Braves. Wacha made one start against the Marlins last year and shut them out over 6.0 innings, holding them to 5 hits. The Marlins have the following numbers against Wacha, who is making his first home start this season:

• Logan Forsythe 0-1, BB
• Matt Joyce 1-2
• Ryan Lavarnway 1-3, 2B, K
• Corey Dickerson 2-5, BB, K
• Francisco Cervelli 5-16, HR, 2 BB, 4 K
• Jonathan Villar 2-11, HR, BB, 6 K
• Jesus Aguilar 2-12, HR, BB, 3 K
• Brian Anderson 0-2, BB, K

Overnight the Associated Press reported that Sandy Alcantara would be returning to the mound tonight after being sidelined with a covid19 in the viral outbreak on the Marlins. But that ended up not happening – Humberto Mejia will instead make his major league debut tonight for the Marlins. Mejia has not pitched above Advanced A ball in his career. Last year he had a 2.28 ERA in the Florida State League over 5 games and 4 starts, 23.2 innings. He spent most of the season Midwest League (A ball) where he was pretty much exactly the average age. He pitched 66.2 innings over 13 games and 10 starts with a 2.03 ERA. The season before he pitched in Batavia (New York Penn League) with a 3.30 ERA over 62.2 innings.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets had another frustrating loss tonight as they look to split the two game series with the Nationals before heading into their first day off this season. Matz had a rough start yesterday, but the bullpen was able to bail him out and kept more Nationals from crossing the plate. The Mets bats though, both still suffering from their collective slump and missing three regulars with injuries just couldn’t make it happen. The Mets need the day off tomorrow badly to regroup, hopefully they can squeeze out a win before hand.

It’s going to be tough though to make that win happen. The Mets will be sending out Rick Porcello to go head to head with Max Scherzer. Porcello has gotten off to a rough start as a Met, allowing 11 runs, 9 earned from 12 hits and 6 walks in 6.0 innings. He hasn’t allowed a homer yet though. The Nationals have the following numbers against Porcello:

• Emilio Bonifacio 1-2, 2B
• Wilmer Difo 2-3, K
• Adam Eaton 6-15, 2B, 3B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
• Juan Soto 1-2, BB, K
• Yan Gomes 6-18, 3 2B, 2 K
• Starlin Castro 6-19, 2B, 3B, 3 K
• Kurt Suzuki 6-25, 2 2B, HR, 4 BB, K
• Howie Kendrick 10-31, 3 2B, 9 K
• Asdrubal Cabrera 17-62, 3 2B, 3 BB, 10 K
• Trea Turner 0-3
• Michael Taylor 0-4, K

The Mets, who can’t seem to find a hit with runners in scoring position, get to figure things out against Max Scherzer. How fun. He has allowed 4 runs over 12.2 innings (2.84 ERA) from 9 hits and 7 walks while striking out 21 this season. Last year in 27 starts he pitched 172.1 innings with a 2.92 ERA, 2.45 FIP (league leading), 1.027 WHIP and 155 ERA+. The Mets, to their credit, scored 10 runs in 26.0 innings against him last year (3.46 ERA) from 19 hits and 6 walks while striking out 35 times. The Mets have the following numbers against Max:

• Michael Conforto 10-31, 2B, 4 HR, 3 BB, 13 K
• J.D. Davis 2-5, 2B, 2 K
• Billy Hamilton 3-9, 2 2B, 2 K, 2 SB
• Brian Dozier 3-17, HR, 4 BB, 7 K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-19, 2B, HR, 4 BB, 11 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-12, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Amed Rosario 4-15, 2B, 7 K
• Wilson Ramos 4-17, 2B, K
• Pete Alonso 2-12, 2B, 7 K
• Dominic Smith 0-6, BB, 4 K

Let’s Go Mets!

As of 2 PM, the game tonight hasn’t been cancelled, so here we go! The Mets and the Nationals will try to play some baseball tonight as long as the weather holds out.

It has been a very different last couple of days for both teams. The Mets were in the midst of a terrible losing streak that they ended last night behind Jacob deGrom. However, one day after Cespedes opted out of the season, the Mets had to play without Jeff McNeil, Robinson Cano and Amed Rosario for all or part of the game due to injuries. So if your line of thinking this season has been something about the Mets cramming as much Mets like behavior as they can one season, then you probably feel vindicated right now.

The Nationals have had the whole weekend off, and a scheduled off-day yesterday. They were supposed to go down to Miami for the weekend but those games were cancelled due to the outbreak on the Marlins team. The Nationals also have an off day on Thursday. So if the game doesn’t happen tonight, they’ll go 5 days without playing, have a doubleheader tomorrow, and then another off-day. Crazy.

Steven Matz will get the start for the Mets tonight. He has allowed 4 runs off 10 hits in 11.1 innings this year (3.18 ERA) while walking 3 and striking out 10. Steven had a dominate start against Atlanta to open up the season, 1 run over 6.0 innings from 2 hits and an average start against Boston allowing 3 runs on 5.1 runs. Tonight will be his first road start of the year. He made two starts against the Nationals last season, allowing 1 run from 12 hits and 6 walks while striking out 15 batters in 11.0 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

• Josh Harrison 4-9, 3B, HR, 2 K
• Victor Robles 2-6, HR, BB, 2 K
• Trea Turner 8-25, 3 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Starlin Castro 7-23, 2B, HR, 5 K
• Adam Eaton 4-11, BB, K
• Michael Taylor 4-23, HR, 2 BB, 13 K
• Yan Gomes 1-6, 2 BB, 3 K
• Howie Kendrick 2-13, 3 K

The Mets bats will get a look at Patrick Corbin making his second start of 2020. In his first start he allowed 1 run on 2 hits and no walks while striking out 8 over 6.1 innings. Last year he made 33 starts and pitched 202.0 innings with a 3.25 ERA, 3.49 FIP, 1.183 WHIP and a 139 ERA+, the best ERA+ of his career. He made more starts against the Mets last year than any other team, making 5 starts and pitching 31.0 innings allowing 12 runs on 26 hits with 8 walks and 39 strikeouts. Homers were his big weakness against the Mets, giving up 7 bombs over the year. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Michael Conforto 7-19, 2B, 4 HR, BB, 6 K
• J.D. Davis 5-18, 2 2B, 3 HR, BB, 6 K
• Pete Alonso 4-14, 2 2B, HR, BB, 7 K
• Robinson Cano 2-11, HR, BB, 3 K
• Amed Rosario 3-22, 2B, 2 HR, BB, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-12, BB, 6 K
• Wilson Ramos 1-12, HR, 2 BB, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-9, BB, 3 K
• Brian Dozier 0-3, K

Overall, players on the Mets roster have had 134 PA’s against Corbin and have hit 12 homers, but only have 26 hits leading to a fascinating line of .208/.261/.544/.805.

Let’s Go Mets!

If you are Mets fan, you are dealing with three different baseball related emergencies right now. There’s the overall crisis – can (or should) continue playing baseball in a pandemic. The continued stories of Cardinals players testing positive, the Marlins having half of their roster test positive seem to be glaring, flashing stop signs. Manfred has seemingly walked back from “competitive integrity” to intending to play the games.

Then, almost as always with the Mets, there’s the “how does this organization even function” emergency. The team now has traded away three arms this week and has received money and an outfielder they could have signed as a free agent in the off-season. The team may have led a shame campaign against Cespedes yesterday as he was opting out – leading the fan base to be worried about his well being for a significant chunk of time. This is the same organization that forced him to play hurt, and forced Devin Mesoraco into early retirement.

Finally, there’s the play on the field. Yesterday the Mets were an abysmal 1-15 with RISP, capping off a trend for the last four games where they can’t seem to push runners across the plate. The Mets have scored 38 runs over 10 games so far this season with 10 of those runs coming in one game that they lost 11-10. Something needs to turn around.

And what better day to turn it around than Jacob deGrom day. In two starts and 11.0 innings this year, Jacob has allowed 2 runs off 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 12. This will be his second start against the Braves. On Opening Day he pitched 5.0 innings of shutout ball against them, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out eight. In his first outing he tossed 72 pitches and last time he pitched 88 as he continues to get back into normal rhythm. The Braves have the following numbers against deGrom:

• Austin Riley 2-7, HR, 4 K
• Freddie Freeman 15-55, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 BB, 15 K
• Tyler Flowers 4-16, HR, 3 BB, 7 K
• Johan Camargo 7-24, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 8 K
• Dansby Swanson 4-18, 2 2B, 3 BB, 9 K
• Ronald Acuna Jr 6-22, 2B, 2 BB, 6 K
• Marcell Ozuna 9-38, 2 2B, HR, BB, 13 K
• Mat Adams 5-20, 3B, 10 K
• Ender Inciarte 7-39, 2 2B, 2 BB, 9 K
• Ozzie Albies 5-34, 2B, BB, 7 K

The Mets bats will get their second look at Mike Soroka this season. Over the last two days the Mets have faced pitchers that struggled against the Rays but saw bounce back performances (at least in terms of runs scored) against the Mets. Soroka has allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 11.1 innings from 8 hits and 3 walks while striking out 8. Most of the damage was done in his last start against the Rays. In his first start of the season he allowed 4 hits but no runs against the Mets in 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• J.D. Davis 1-4, HR, 2 K
• Tomas Nido 3-6, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Pete Alonso 4-12, HR, 4 K
• Robinson Cano 3-10, HR
• Amed Rosario 4-13, 2B, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 2-8, K
• Michael Conforto 3-15, BB, K
• Brian Dozier 1-5, 2 K
• Dominic Smith 1-5, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-9, 2B, K
• Wilson Ramos 0-5, K

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Major League Baseball are living in two different emergencies right now. MLB has a real crisis on its hand with coronavirus breakouts on two teams. They never had a concrete, specific, and objective response plan for something that seemed inevitable in a global pandemic. Over the last couple of days, MLB has decided to blame athletes (their general response for everything) rather than taking the blame themselves for not preparing. It remains a mystery how much longer baseball can (and should) continue.

Meanwhile, the Mets are having a baseball emergency. They’ve now dropped 4 games in a row, which is like losing 11.2 games in a row in a normal season. The first two were games the Mets really should have come back to win, the third was a game the Mets should have never lost lead in and last night was just terrible.

So it all falls to the rookie David Peterson making his second career start to the stop the slide in the first early afternoon game the Mets have played all season. In his major league debut Peterson allowed 2 runs off 7 hits and 2 walks over 5.2 innings while striking out 3 at Fenway. Today will be his first time facing an NL East team and playing in an official major league game at a stadium with normal field proportions.

The Mets bats will get their first 2020 look at Kyle Wright who struggled against the Rays earlier in the week. He allowed 5 runs from 4 hits and 3 walks over 2.2 innings. Last year he pitched in 7 games, 4 starts, allowing 19 runs over 19.2 innings for the Braves. This includes one start against the Mets where he allowed 6 runs over 3.2 innings off 8 hits and 4 walks while striking out 3. Wright had a 4.17 ERA over 21 starts and 112.1 innings in AAA Gwinnett during the 2019 season. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Brandon Nimmo 2-2, HR
• Michael Confortio 2-3, 2B, HR, BB
• Dominic Smith 2-3, HR
• Brian Dozier 1-1, BB
• Jeff McNeil 2-3, 2B
• Robinson Cano 1-3, 2B
• Wilson Ramos 0-2, 2 BB, K
• Amed Rosario 0-3, K

Let’s Go Mets!

This has been quite a week for the Mets.

The Mets lost back to back games in Boston that were winnable. Many chances early and late with runners in scoring position and the Mets just fell flat. It happens. Yesterday, after being in an early 2-0 hole, the bats erupted, scoring 10 runs. That wouldn’t be enough as the bullpen continued to dissolve and the Mets ended up losing 11-10.

Meanwhile, the Coronavirus situation with the Cardinals has gone from bad to worse and like every other day this week – there is serious concern that the season will be able to continue.

But while MLB tries to figure that out, Michael Wacha will get the start against Atlanta and try to get the Mets back on track. In his first start of the season in Boston, he allowed 1 run, a homer, over 5.0 innings with 5 hits, a walk and 4 strikeouts. Last year he faced the Braves once, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, over 5.0 innings from 4 hits, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. The Braves have the following numbers against Michael:

• Austin Riley 1-2, HR, K
• Travis d’Arnaud 2-3, HR, BB
• Charlie Culberson 2-3
• Ender Inciarte 6-9
• Freddie Freeman 4-9, 3 BB, 2 K
• Matt Adams 1-2, K
• Marcell Ozuna 2-5, K
• Adam Duvall 4-19, 2 2B, 4 BB, 3 K
• Ronald Acuna Jr. 1-3
• Dansby Swanson 1-7, 2 K
• Ozzie Albies 0-3

The Mets will get a look at Touki Toussaint who is making his first start of the season. In his one relief appearance against the Rays this past week, he allowed 6 runs from 5 hits and a walk over 2.2 innings, while striking out 6. He pitched in 24 games (and made one start) in 2019, totaling 41.2 innings with a 5.62 ERA, 4.99 FIP, 1.680 WHIP and 82 ERA+. He pitched 3 games and 9.2 innings against the Mets last year allowing 5 runs, 4 earned, on 8 hits and 5 walks while striking out 10. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Robinson Cano 1-1, 2B
• Michael Conforto 2-4, 2 2B, 3 BB
• Jeff McNeil 3-7, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 0-1, 2 BB
• Amed Rosario 1-7, BB, K
• Pete Alonso 0-4, BB, 2 K

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are in mid-season form: they have left a ton of runners in scoring position the last two nights. In each of the last two nights – just one hit – by the Mets in one of several opportunities probably means the Mets win the ball game. It’s frustrating. Especially when it happens for deGrom and Matz at the top of the rotation.

Anyway, the Mets go on the road today, although not literally. They took advantage of Boston’s proximity to New York to travel by bus early in the week. Last night they went to Atlanta in a slightly larger plane than they normally do to space out.

Rick Porcello makes the start for the Mets tonight. In his Mets debut on Sunday, he allowed 7 runs, 6 earned, over 2.0 innings in a game the Mets eventually lost 14-1. But now he gets to face the Braves again! Since the Mets and Porcello took on the Braves at the start of the season, the team has cleared both Tyler Flowers and former Met Travis d’Arnaud to play. Right before the start of the season, they both had flu-like symptoms but negative tests, out of an abundance of caution, they stayed back in Atlanta. What a concept. Anyway, the Braves now have the following numbers against Porcello:

• Dansby Swanson 2-2, 2B
• Marcell Ozuna 1-2, 2B
• Travis d’Arnaud 3-8, HR
• Matt Adams 2-4, BB, K
• Freddie Freeman 5-11, 3 BB, K
• Adam Duvall 1-3
• Ozzie Albies 1-4, 2B, K
• Ender Inciarte 1-4
• Charlie Culberson 1-4, 2 K
• Tyler Flower 3-20, 2B, 2 BB
• Johan Camargo 0-2, K
• Austin Riley 0-1
• Ronald Acuna Jr 0-5, 2 K

The Mets bats will get another look at Sean Newcomb as he continues to get stretched out into a starting pitcher again. In his first start of the season, against the Mets, he allowed 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks over 3.1 innings. Last year he mostly pitched as a reliever, pitching in 55 games making only 4 starts with a 3.16 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Tomas Nido 2-4, 2B, BB
• Rene Rivera 2-4, 2 BB, 2 K
• Pete Alonso 1-3, 2B, K
• Amed Rosario 5-12, 2 2B, 3 K
• Robinson Cano 1-3, 2B
• Jeff McNeil 2-7, 2B
• Dominic Smith 1-5, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-8, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K
• J.D. Davis 0-2, 2 BB
• Yoenis Cespedes 1-9, 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
• Michael Conforto 1-9, 3 BB, 3 K
• Brian Dozier 0-2, BB, 2 K
• Wilson Ramos 0-4, BB

Let’s Go Mets!

Over the course of a season a team will win a handful games they had no business of winning and lose a handful of games that should have been wins. In baseball, this makes all the difference some years. In a season with only 60 games, that’s magnified. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th with no outs, the Mets had yet another opportunity last night to put up some runs. They didn’t. It means the Mets just lost 2.7 games that they should have won. Painful but it isn’t the end of the world.

Now the Mets will try to put themselves back together as they look to take the four game home/away set from the Red Sox behind Steven Matz. In his 2020 debut, Matz allowed 1 run off 2 hits (one homer) and a walk while striking out 7. Last week we noted that Steven’s 4.21 season ERA last year didn’t tell the whole story as the in his last 14 games he had a 3.52 ERA, and in a 9 game stretch he had a 2.32 ERA. Tonight will pretty much be a mystery for Matz and the Red Sox – only Kevin Pillar has faced Matz. He’s 0-3 with a strikeout.

The Mets bats will get a look at Martin Perez today. The long time Texas Ranger signed with the Twins on a one year deal in 2019 and has signed with Boston this year. In his first start of the season against the Orioles he allowed 5 runs, 4 earned over 5.0 innings from 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2. Last season he pitched in 32 games making 29 starts logging 165.1 innings with a 5.12 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 1.518 WHIP and 90 ERA+. He actually ended up facing the Mets both times they faced the Twins in interleague play last season. In April he made a relief appearance for 2.0 innings allowing 3 runs off 3 hits and 2 walks. In July he held the Mets to 2 runs, 1 earned over 6.0 innings from 5 hits and a walk. The Mets have the following numbers against Perez:

• Amed Rosario 2-6, HR, BB, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-2
• Wilson Ramos 3-7, 2B, K
• Yoenis Cespedes 5-15, 2B, 3B, 2 BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-4
• J.D. Davis 2-8, K
• Robinson Cano 7-39, 3 BB, 5 K
• Michael Conforto 1-7, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 0-3, BB, K
• Ryan Cordell 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets head down the eastern seaboard back home tonight to play the first game against the Red Sox this week in Queens! Last night the Mets powered their way through the Red Sox pitching behind J.D. Davis’ first* homer of the season, the shortest in the league at 328 feet off the Pesky pole!

*He hit a foul ball the night before that should have been challenged – it was a homer.

Anyway the real story from last night was David Peterson who looked good making his major league debut in one of the more chaotic days in baseball due to the spread of the Coronavirus on the Marlins and baseball’s less than adequately planned response. The bullpen behind Peterson was able to hold the game together and I am imagine the bus trip from Boston felt very different than the bus trip to Boston.

It’s Jacob deGrom day! The Mets ace was as advertised in his first start of the season on Opening Day holding the Braves to 1 hit and 1 walk over 5.0 innings while striking out 8. His average pitch velocity in the first inning was 99.2 mph. Opening Day was also a very typical deGrom start in another way – the Mets gave him zero support. Jacob last faced the Red Sox in September of 2018 allowing 3 runs over 7.0 innings from 5 hits while striking out 12. The Red Sox have the following numbers against him:

• Kevin Pillar 1-3, 2B
• J.D. Martinez 1-3
• Rafeal Devers 1-3, K
• Christian Vazquez 1-3, K
• Jose Peraza 4-14, 3 K, 3 SB
• Jonathan Lucroy 3-17, 2B, 2 K
• Jackie Bradley Jr. 1-6, 3 K
• Alex Verdugo 0-4
• Andrew Benintendi 0-3
• Xander Bogaerts 0-3
• Mitch Moreland 0-3, 2 K

For the first time in this home-away 4-game series, the Mets will face a true starting pitcher in Nathan Eovaldi, and it feels like the Mets are facing an old friend. Eovaldi has pitched in 180 games and made 161 starts since 2011, and 10 of those starts were against the Mets. Nine of those starts were between 2012 and 2016. Ten starts doesn’t sound like a lot but over the course his career he has played for the Dodgers, Marlins, Yankees, Rays and now the Red Sox and after tonight he has started against the Mets in each of those uniforms. His last start against the Mets was in 2018 where he allowed 1 hit and no runs while striking out 9 over 7.0 innings as a member of the Rays.

Anyway, Eovaldi was the Opening Day pitcher for the Red Sox and allowed 1 run over 6.0 innings from 5 hits against the Orioles. Since that point, things have fallen apart for the Red Sox, so he’s also playing the roll of stopper tonight. Last season in 12 starts and 23 games he pitched 67.2 innings with a 5.99 ERA, 5.90 FIP, 1.581 WHIP and 81 ERA+, by far his worst season of baseball (his career ERA is 4.28). The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Eduardo Nunez 4-9, K
• Wilson Ramos 6-18, 2 2B, BB, K
• Yoenis Cespedes 4-11, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 1-3, K
• Robinson Cano 1-3
• Amed Rosario 0-1
• Dominic Smith 0-2, 2 K
• Michael Conforto 0-5

Let’s Go Mets!