213 Miles From Shea

Tonight’s game for the Mets could become an inflection point for the team this season. On Monday night Luis Severino had a stellar outing for the Mets, bringing a no-hitter into the 8th inning. Joey Wendle made a defensive mistake that led to the tying Cubs run. In the top of the ninth Edwin Díaz allowed the go-ahead homer. The Mets bats left six runners on base, barely got anyone in scoring position and when they did, they went 0-for-2 at the plate.

If the Mets can feed off of the energy of Monday night’s missed opportunity, that makes tonight an inflection game. A win tonight makes a series split or even a series win all the more probable. A loss makes points the Mets in a direction of a third consecutive series loss.

Sean Manaea looks to build on Quintana and Severino’s last two starts. The Mets just got back-to-back games with their starter going eight innings. Manaea is coming off of a frustrating outing where he held the Giants scoreless over 4 2/3 innings, but managed to walk eight batters in addition to allowing eight hits thus tossing 101 pitches, a season high, before finishing the fifth inning. Overall in 2024, Manaea has made five starts totaling 24 1/3 innings with a 3.33 ERA, 3.45 FIP, 1.438 WHIP and a 120 ERA+.

Manaea pitched against the Cubs twice in 2023. In his first start against them he allowed no runs, no hits and no walks over 4 1/3 innings while striking out five batters. In his second outing he allowed two runs from four hits over three innings in relief. The Cubs have the following career numbers against him:

• Miguel Amaya 0-3, 2 K
• Michael Busch 0-2, 2 K
• Yan Gomes 0-4, 2 K
• Ian Hap 1-4, K
• Nico Hoerner 1-4, 3B
• Nick Madrigal 0-3
• Matt Mervis 0-2, K
• Christopher Morel 1-3, BB, K
• Dansby Swanson 0-10, 3 K
• Mike Tauchman 1-4, 2B, K
• Patrick Wisdom 2-3, K

The Mets bats will get a look at Javier Assad tonight who is off to a phenomenal start in 2024. Over five starts and 27 innings Assad has a 2.00 ERA, 3.31 FIP, 1.000 WHIP and a 214 ERA+. In 2023 Assad was used both as a reliever and a starter (with exactly 1/3 of an inning of relief against the Mets). During his longest stretch of a starter from the start of August to mid-September, Assad had a 2.84 ERA, 4.52 FIP over 50 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 0-3
• Harrison Bader 0-1
• Brett Baty 0-1, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-2, BB
• J.D. Martinez 0-2, K
• Jeff McNeil 0-2, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-1

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Evenly matched for power. The Mets as a team have hit 31 homers this season, good for a four-way tie for 11th in the league. The Cubs have hit 30 homers this season, tied with the Mariners for 15th in the league.
2. Will the Cubs steal a base? It’s no secret that the Mets have been susceptible to stolen bases this season. The Cubs have stolen a league worst eight bags this year, two behind the Rockies. (For context, the Reds and Nationals have stolen the most at 52, with the Brewers behind them at 35). Will the Cubs feel empowered to run against the Mets?
3. Dollar Dog Night at Citi Field. Hope you are going to the ballpark hungry tonight if you’re attending the game in person as the Mets are hosting dollar dog night. They even got America’s favorite veteran, Seymore Weiner, in on the advertisement. In other cities, dollar dog night has led to mild chaos with hot dogs being tossed from one section to another. Eat responsibly tonight!

The Mets started off the season 0-5 and then flipped the script after a walk-off win against the Tigers, ushering in about two weeks of winning. Going into Sunday’s game the Mets lost four of their last five games and were trying to avoid getting swept for a second series in a row.

The loss felt inevitable after the 10th inning when the Mets failed to move a runner in scoring position across the plate for what felt like the 30th time. Then the Cardinals scored to open up the 11th. But Mark Vientos said not today and smacked a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 11th. The vibes instantly improved.

The Mets will need the vibes as they welcome the 17-11 Cubs to Citi Field tonight. Can the Mets stop their roll?

Luis Severino has pitched 27 innings this season over five starts with a 2.67 ERA, 3.33 FIP, 1.259 WHIP and a 150 ERA+. He allowed three runs over six innings against the Giants his last time out, his second quality start in row for the Mets. More importantly, in his last start he didn’t walk a single batter. The Cubs have the following career numbers against Severino:

• Yan Gomes 1-8, 2 K
• Ian Happ 1-3, K
• Nico Hoerner 0-3, K
• Nick Madrigal 1-2
• Christopher Morel 1-3, K
• Patrick Wisdom 0-2, BB, 2 K

The Mets bats will catch Jameson Taillon making his third start of the season tonight. Over his first two starts he has allowed three runs, two earned, over 10 2/3 innings while striking out eight. Last season over 154 2/3 innings he had a 4.84 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 1.276 WHIP and a 93 ERA+. His one start against the Mets was a good one where he held the Mets to two runs and three hits over seven innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 1-3, HR
• Harrison Bader 2-12, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 2-7, 2 K
• J.D. Martinez 4-18, 2B, HR, BB, 6 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-3, K
• Omar Narváez 1-3, 2B, 2 BB
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3
• DJ Stewart 0-2, BB, K
• Tyrone Taylor 1-5, 2B, 2 K
• Mark Vientos 0-2, K
• Joey Wendle 0-3, 2 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Is Harrison Bader back? From April 9th to the 14th Bader had an absurd 14 hits in 33 trips to the plate batting .452/.485/.613. In the five games between then and Sunday’s game Bader went 1-for-18 at the plate hitting .056/.056/.056. Yesterday Bader went 2-for-5 and scored a run, is the pendulum swinging back to racking up hits mode?
2. Mark Vientos is seizing his opportunity. Since his call-up Mark Vientos has gone 3-for-4 at the plate with a walk-off home run. Not sure how the Mets will find playing time for all of J.D. Martinez, DJ Stewart, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos once Starling Marte returns (assuming that Vientos stays up with the team).
3. Mets need another quality start. In Sunday’s game preview we talked about how the Mets were tied with several other teams for fewest total quality starts of the season at five. The Mets got a magnificent start from Quintana yesterday, but then still needed their bullpen to pitch three innings due to the game going into extras. Adam Ottavino hasn’t pitched since Wednesday and he’s the only Met pitcher who has thrown in the last three days. Another quality start from Severino will go a long way for a bullpen that has recently been battered by injuries (Brooks Raley, Drew Smith).

Let’s Go Mets!

For a second straight series the Mets find themselves trying avoid the sweep. On Friday night the Mets dropped the game 4-2, falling early and couldn’t claw back. On Saturday afternoon the Mets fell early again, had one massive inning to bring them within two, and but couldn’t complete the comeback.

The Mets now find themselves back at .500, can they get back on the right track today?

Jose Quintana has pitched 25 2/3 innings over five starts this season with a 4.21 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.597 WHIP and a 94 ERA+. His numbers are inflated by his last start in San Francisco where he allowed five runs from seven hits and three walks over five innings. Another interesting quirk this season for Quintana – he has struck out exactly four batters in each of his five starts this season. Quintana’s former team has the following career numbers against him:

• Nolan Arenado 2-18, 2 HR, BB, 5 K
• Willson Contreras 0-11, 3 BB, 4 K
• Brandon Crawford 3-12, HR, K
• José Fermín 0-2
• Paul Goldschmidt 12-20, 3 2B, 3 HR, BB, 2 K

The Mets bats will get a look at the ageless Lance Lynn who is about two weeks away from his 37th birthday. Over five starts (25 2/3 innings) this season he has a 2.81 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.364 WHIP and a 149 ERA+. This is a pretty far departure from his 183 2/3 innings last season where he had a 5.73 ERA, 5.53 FIP, 1.394 WHIP and a 77 ERA+. The Mets have the following career numbers against Lynn:

• Harrison Bader 0-1, K
• Francisco Lindor 3-8, HR, BB
• J.D. Martinez 3-25, 3 BB, 9 K
• Omar Narváez 3-16, 2 BB, 3 K
• DJ Stewart 1-4, BB, K
• Tyrone Taylor 3-4, 3B
• Joey Wendle 6-14, HR

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brandon Nimmo is getting on base in bunches. Nimmo went 2-for-4 at the plate Saturday, marking his second consecutive game with two hits. It’s also his third consecutive game where he got on base twice (4-for-11, 2B, 3 BB, .500 OBP). He has now reached base safely at least once in nine straight games (.439 OBP).
2. Mets depth players getting the job done. In Saturday’s game DJ Stewart went 1-for-2 at the plate, working two walks raising his OPS to .827 on the season. Tyrone Taylor went 1-for-4 at the plate and scored a run. He’s hitting .321/.351/.491 so far. Teams win because of the players behind their regular starters and it feels like a while since the Mets have had solid, consistent play from role players.
3. The Mets need a quality start. The Mets are in a six-way tie for the least amount of quality starts by a starting pitching this year (5). The league average is nine quality starts per team. For comparison, the Phillies are leading the league with 18 so far.

Let’s Go Mets!

If you know New York, you know that the Mets are wearing their City Connect uniform set tonight for the first time.

The Mets become the latest team to join Nike’s City Connect line of uniforms, redesigned to bring out the energy of the city through creatively designed jerseys, pants, hats etc. You can read more about the Mets concrete gray uniforms that feature references to the Subway and the Queensboro bridge here.

The Mets baseball team will try to bounce back from Friday night’s loss. For most of the game it felt like the type of game the Mets would eventually claw out of, and the bullpen helped keep the Mets in the game. Alas, the comeback fell short and the Mets dropped the opener of the series to a struggling Cardinals squad. J.D. Martinez on the other hand did not disappoint and went 2-for-4 at the plate in his Mets debut with a double and a RBI.

The Mets are looking for a bounce back performance from Adrian Houser this afternoon. Over four starts, 19 1/3 innings, Houser has a 7.45 ERA, 5.04 FIP, 1.759 WHIP and a 53 ERA+. He is coming off of a dreadful start last weekend against the Dodgers who tagged him for eight runs off seven hits and four walks over four innings. The percentile rankings for Houser are also starting to ring alarm bells.

Houser faced the Cardinals twice at the end of 2023 and was successful (even if the defense behind him wasn’t). He allowed five runs, only three earned from seven hits over 11 innings while striking out nine batters. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against Houser:

• Nolan Arenado 2-14, 3 BB
• Willson Contreras 2-16, 3 BB, 5 K
• Brandon Crawford 1-1, 2B
• Brendan Donovan 2-3, 2B, BB
• José Fermín 1-4, K
• Paul Goldschmidt 9-34, 3 HR, 2 BB, 5 K
• Nolan Gorman 3-3, 2B, HR
• Lars Nootbaar 3-11, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Masyn Winn 0-3

The Mets bats will face off today against a rolling Sonny Gray. Over three starts (17 1/3 innings), Gray has a 1.04 ERA, 0.64 FIP, 0.865 WHIP and a 400 ERA+. He is coming off of a season where he lead the league in FIP (2.83) and HR/9 (0.4). Gray’s last start was the first time he allowed runs this season (2) and still managed to strike out 12 batters over 6 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Gray:

• Pete Alonso 0-2, BB
• Harrison Bader 2-10, HR, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 5-21, 2 HR, 4 BB, 5 K
• Starling Marte 3-12, HR, 2 BB
• J.D. Martinez 4-10, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-3, 2B
• Omar Narváez 3-15, 2 2B, K
• Tomás Nido 1-2
• Brandon Nimmo 1-5, 3 K
• Tyrone Taylor 2-5, HR, K
• Joey Wendle 1-6, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brandon Nimmo’s very Nimmo-esque stat line. If you have been watching Nimmo over his career, you know he goes through these streaks where he doesn’t pick up hits, but just works a ton of walks. Going into Friday night’s game, Nimmo was living that to the extreme. He was 1-for-17 over his last six games but had eight walks (and six runs scored). On Friday night Nimmo went 2-for-4 at the plate meaning that in his last eight games he is hitting .195/.417/.231. A dip in power but he’s getting on base at a healthy clip.
2. The Mets bullpen continues to keep them in games. Friday night the Mets allowed one hit, one walk and nothing else over 3 1/3 innings. They struck out six batters they faced. Everyone is chipping in. Jorge López pitched multiple innings last night. Reed Garrett is having a phenomenal season whether he is used in long relief or as a closer. Garrett last had a long outing on Wednesday and could be needed tonight in case Houser’s outing is short.
3. Brett Baty is struggling at the plate. Since returning to the lineup after injury, Baty has gone 2-for-19 at the plate over six games (.105/.191/.105). He started to show some signs of getting out of his slump the last two games in San Francisco collecting two hits and a walk in nine trips to the plate, but last night night he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets return home after a week away on the West Coast. They ended up splitting the road trip and open up a homestand tonight with a winning record as they welcome the Cardinals, a team they played approximately 34 times in spring training, to Citi Field.

The big news of the night is the arrival of J.D. Martinez. Martinez signed with the Mets at the end of spring training and needed time to ramp up (and work through a back injury). Last season Martinez hit .271/.321/.572 with a 134 OPS+ over 113 games. He’s been an All-Star five of the last six seasons. Combined with Marte’s resurgence, Martinez makes the first five hitters of the Mets lineup formidable.

Jose Buttó makes his fourth start of the season tonight. Over his first three games he’s pitched 16 1/3 innings with a 1.65 ERA, 2.59 FIP, 1.041 WHIP and a 241 ERA+. Buttó is coming off of his worst start of the season in Los Angeles where he allowed three runs from three hits and a whopping five walks over 4 1/3 innings. It was a departure from his previous start where he held the Royals to two hits and a walk and nothing else over six innings. Despite the walk troubles, Buttó kept his strikeout numbers up with six his last time out, bringing his season total to 21. No one on the Cardinals roster has faced Buttó in a major league game.

The Mets bats will look to keep the vibes from Wednesday going as they take on Miles Mikolas. Mikolas has made five starts pitching 26 1/3 innings with a 6.49 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.519 WHIP and a 64 ERA+. It is the third time in the last four seasons where his ERA+ has been below 100. He’s coming off a workhorse type season where he made a league leading 35 starts totaling 201 1/3 innings where he allowed a league leading 226 hits and 107 earned runs.

Looking more recently, Mikolas has allowed ten runs in his last two starts, five each in both starts, from 13 hits and three home runs. In his two starts against the Mets last year he allowed 13 runs over 10 2/3 innings from 15 hits. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 2-12, BB, 2 K
• Brett Baty 1-3, 2B
• Francisco Lindor 4-11, 2B, K
• Starling Marte 7-38, 2B, 2 BB, 6 K
• Jeff McNeil 8-14, 3 2B, BB, K
• Omar Narváez 4-17, 2 2B, 3B, BB, 3 K
• Tomás Nido 0-3, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-13, 3 BB, 3 K
• DJ Stewart 1-2, HR, K
• Tyrone Taylor 3-10, 2B, HR, 3 BB
• Joey Wendle 1-7, K
• J.D. Martinez 1-3, HR

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The new Mets lineup! The Mets bats are the main story tonight. A top of the lineup of Nimmo-Marte-Lindor-Alonso-Martinez is as good as the Mets have been in a while. There are other questions the Mets will need to figure out, like how to do they cycle in Tyrone Taylor enough in the lineup to get a meaningful amount of at bats. This is a good problem to have!
2. Lindor is coming in hot! Lindor returns home after a 4-for-5 afternoon on Wednesday where he smacked two homeruns with 4 RBI’s. Over his last six games Lindor has gone 9-for-24 at the plate with a double and three home runs.
3. Length from a starting pitcher. The Mets starting rotation has been struggling going into deep into games so far this season. On Wednesday Manaea kept the Giants off the scoreboard over 4 2/3 innings, but had to leave the game before he even qualified for a win due to his pitch count. The last time that Buttó pitched he walked five batters. He also has pitched six innings twice this season.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to avoid a sweep by the Giants this afternoon as they wrap up their first west coast trip of the year. If you are like me, your relationship with the Mets this week has been something like this. “Woah, the pitching for both teams looks good after one inning, time for bed!” That sentiment ends today as the Mets play a game starting in the mid-afternoon!

Sean Manaea looks to salvage the series for the Mets as he takes on his former team. Over four starts (19 2/3 innings) Manaea has a 4.12 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 1.373 WHIP and a 96 ERA+. Back on April 13th Manaea had a terrible start where he allowed eight runs against the Royals. He has only allowed 11 runs total this season. His last start was more normal as he held the Dodgers to just two runs from four hits and three walks over five innings. Since his first start of the season, he has not finished six full innings. The Giants have the following career numbers against him:

• Nick Ahmed 2-7, HR
• Michael Conforto 2-4, 2B
• Thairo Estrada 3-10, K
• Wilmer Flores 7-21, 2 2B, 3 K
• Tom Murphy 3-8, HR, BB, 2 K
• Austin Slater 3-20, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
• Jorge Soler 2-6, HR, K
• Mike Yastrzemski 2-8, 3B, BB, 3 K

Blake Snell signed a contract with the Giants late in spring training and has had a rough go of it coming back to the majors. Over his three starts, 11 2/3 innings, he has a 11.57 ERA, 4.62 FIP, 1.971 WHIP and a 35 ERA+. At some point his stats have to return to his career like numbers, the Mets are hoping that is not going to be tonight. Last season he lead the league with a 2.25 ERA, 185 ERA+ and 99 walks.

Snell had two very different starts against the Mets last season. In New York he allowed four runs, three earned, from six hits over five innings. Then in July he held the Mets to only one hit over six innings while striking out 11. The Mets have the following career numbers against Snell:

• Pete Alonso 5-16, 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, 4 K
• Harrison Bader 0-2
• Brett Baty 0-1, K
• Francisco Lindor 5-32, 2B, 2 HR, BB, 8 K
• Starling Marte 5-21, 2B, HR, BB, 7 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-10, 2 BB, 2 K
• Omar Narváez 0-1, 3 BB
• Tomás Nido 0-6, BB, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 9-17, 2 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• DJ Stewart 0-3, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-4, 2 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Starling Marte is heating up! Marte went 3-for-4 at the plate on Tuesday night with a double. It was his second consecutive game with multiple hits and his fifth time in his last eight games with multiple hits. Since April 13th, where Marte went 3-for-5 at the plate with a homer, Marte has gone 16-for-43 with three doubles, three homers and three stolen bases. On the season now he is hitting .305/.347/.474 with a 134 OPS+.
2. Hitting with runners in scoring position. During the Mets hot streak, they were raking with runners in scoring position. The Mets out-hit the Giants on Tuesday 9 to 8. They had three doubles compared to the Giants one double and one triple. The difference came to hitting with RISP. The Mets went 1-for-7 while the Giants went 4-for-9. The good news is the Mets are hitting, this should fall back together.
3. Working walks. The Mets pitchers collectively didn’t walk a single Giants batter on Tuesday night, a great trend the Mets hope continues this afternoon. The Mets hitters though only worked one walk (Brandon Nimmo). This afternoon they are facing a pitcher who works around the zone, led the league in walks last year and has struggled this year. Make the Giants pitching staff work today!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to end their two game skid tonight as they take on the Giants for game two of the series. After Sunday’s loss in Los Angeles, the Mets fell flat Monday in San Francisco only collecting four hits, all recorded by Starling Marte and Pete Alonso. The Giants offense scored four runs over the first three innings and never looked back.

On the line tonight is the Mets series win streak, a loss tonight will clinch the Mets first losing series since they lost to the Tigers the second series of the season.

Luis Severino looks to get the Mets back on the winning track this evening. Over four starts (21 innings) he has a 2.14 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.381 WHIP and a 189 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed only two runs, one earned, from six hits and seven walks while striking out eight. This is compared to 14 hits and two walks over his first two starts this season which led to eight total runs. The Giants have the following career numbers against Severino:

• Matt Chapman 1-13, 2 BB, 4 K
• Michael Conforto 0-8, BB, 4 K
• Wilmer Flores 0-4, 3 K
• Jorge Soler 1-3

The Mets will have to figure themselves out against Logan Webb. Over five starts (30 2/3 innings) Webb has a 2.93 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.174 WHIP and a 138 ERA+. He’s been even better in his last two starts where he allowed only one earned run over 14 innings while striking out nine in 14 innings of work. He’s coming off a season where he had a 3.25 ERA over a league leading 216 innings pitched.

Logan Webb faced the Mets exactly one year and one day ago. He held the Mets to two runs from five hits over seven innings on his way to his first win of the season. The Mets have the following career numbers against Webb:

• Pete Alonso 1-11, HR, BB, 5 K
• Harrison Bader 2-4, 2 BB
• Brett Baty 0-2, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 2-7, 2B, 2 K
• Starling Marte 4-11, K
• Jeff McNeil 2-9, 2B, BB, K
• Omar Narváez 0-5, K
• Tomás Nido 1-6
• Brandon Nimmo 1-11, HR, BB, 3 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-4, BB, 2 K
• Joey Wendle 0-3, 2 BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Middle of the night milestone? Pete Alonso hit his 199th career homerun Monday night, putting him just one away from 200 for his career. Alonso hit six homers over the first 14 games of the season. Before he hit homer 199, he was in a seven game home run drought where he went 4-for-26 at the plate. Hopefully the two hits last night gets his bat going again.
2. The back of the bullpen is ready to go. Between the lopsided game on Sunday and Monday’s lost, several key Mets pitchers in the bullpen have had a lot of rest. Adam Ottavino and Jake Diekman last pitched on Friday night. Edwin Díaz and Reed Garrett last pitched on Saturday. Overall the Mets bullpen is still putting in a lot of work as Mets starters have not been able to pitch beyond five innings recently, let alone six.
3. The back of the Giants bullpen on the other hand may not be ready to go. Camilo Doval had a rough ninth inning closing the door in Monday night’s game, allowing a run and walk, leading to 27 pitches thrown. He has now thrown 43 pitches over the last three calendar days. The setup man, Tyler Rogers, has thrown 21 pitches over the last three calendar days split over two games. If the Mets can knock Logan Webb out early tonight it could prove helpful both today’s game and tomorrow.

Let’s Go Mets!

Tonight is the first time this season the Mets will face a team with a losing record. Every team the Mets have faced, with the exception of the Pirates, still have a winning record! (As of writing, the Pirates are at .500). The first team with a losing record the Mets will face, the San Francisco Giants, were projected to finish the season with a winning record, so it’s not like tonight will be an easy event.

Despite getting crushed by the Dodgers on Sunday, the Mets are coming off of a successful weekend winning their fifth consecutive series in a row. Was Sunday a blip or does it impact play tonight?

Luis Severino looks to get the Mets back on the winning track this evening. Over four starts (21 innings) he has a 2.14 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.381 WHIP and a 189 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed only two runs, one earned, from six hits and seven walks while striking out eight. This is compared to 14 hits and two walks over his first two starts this season which led to eight total runs. The Giants have the following career numbers against Severino:

• Matt Chapman 1-13, 2 BB, 4 K
• Michael Conforto 0-8, BB, 4 K
• Wilmer Flores 0-4, 3 K
• Jorge Soler 1-3

Life doesn’t get a lot easier for the Mets bats tonight, going from Tyler Glasnow on Sunday to Logan Webb tonight. Over five starts (30 2/3 innings) Webb has a 2.93 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.174 WHIP and a 138 ERA+. He’s been even better in his last two starts where he allowed only one earned run over 14 innings while striking out nine in 14 innings of work. He’s coming off a season where he had a 3.25 ERA over a league leading 216 innings pitched.

Oddly enough, the last time that Logan Webb faced the Mets was April 22nd, 2023. He held the Mets to two runs from five hits over seven innings on his way to his first win of the season. The Mets have the following career numbers against Webb:

• Pete Alonso 1-11, HR, BB, 5 K
• Harrison Bader 2-4, 2 BB
• Brett Baty 0-2, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 2-7, 2B, 2 K
• Starling Marte 4-11, K
• Jeff McNeil 2-9, 2B, BB, K
• Omar Narváez 0-5, K
• Tomás Nido 1-6
• Brandon Nimmo 1-11, HR, BB, 3 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-4, BB, 2 K
• Joey Wendle 0-3, 2 BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Old Friends! The Mets and Giants are always a fun series if you like seeing old Met players. Wilmer Flores is hitting .218/.297/.273 this season over 64 plate appearances with a 65 OPS+. He has not hit a homer yet this season. Michael Conforto is hitting .259/.302/.469 over 86 plate appearances with a 117 OPS+. He already has four homers this season and nine extra-base hits total.
2. We tried it, didn’t work. The first two games of the series with the Dodgers the Mets were racking up stolen bases. Then Sunday happened and the Mets were thrown out twice during both of their attempts. Will the Mets be aggressive today like yesterday?
3. Tomás Nido tossed a runner out! Baserunners have been running wild on the Mets all season. Sunday Tomás Nido became the first catcher on the Mets to toss a runner out stealing a base. The Mets are going to need Nido and Narváez behind the plate to do this more often so teams don’t feel as empowered to steal.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look for their second consecutive sweep and seventh consecutive win this afternoon in Los Angeles!

The Mets won their sixth game in a row Saturday afternoon, clinching a series victory against the Dodgers. It was the second time in the last two weeks that the Mets had won a series against a World Series contending team. Saturday’s game featured the Mets doing one thing they haven’t done a lot of this year – stealing bases. The Mets stole three bases in the game (Nimmo, Wendle and Marte). Further there were four Mets who each collected two hits in the game (Marte, Lindor, McNeil and Wendle). We love to see it.

Adrian Houser is on the bump this afternoon for the Mets. Over three starts (15 1/3) innings this season, Houser has a 4.70 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and an 88 ERA+. Most of the damage to his season stats was done in Atlanta in his second start where he allowed five runs from eight hits over five innings of work. He bounced back nicely in his last start allowing only two runs from two hits (and five walks) over 5 1/3 innings of work. Houser faced the Dodgers once last season and allowed four runs, three earned, over 5 1/3 innings with no walks and six strikeouts. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Houser:

• Austin Barnes 0-2
• Mookie Betts 1-4, 2 BB, K
• Freddie Freeman 2-9, HR, 3 BB
• Teoscar Hernández 1-3, K
• Max Muncy 1-5, 3 K
• James Outman 0-2, 2 K
• Miguel Rojas 2-9, HR, 3 K
• Will Smith 0-3
• Chris Taylor 2-3, 2B

The Mets will not get out of town without facing the ace of the Dodgers staff – Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow has made five starts (29 innings) this season with a 3.72 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 0.966 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. He is coming off of his worst start of the season against the Nationals where he allowed six runs from eight hits and two walks over five innings of work. Before that start Glasnow had 2.25 ERA, 2.77 FIP over his first four starts including a start against the Twins where he struck out 14 batters over seven innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 0-6, 6 K
• Harrison Bader 1-7, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-10, 4 K
• Starling Marte 1-5, HR, 3 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-7, 2B, BB, K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-2, 3 BB
• DJ Stewart 0-3, 2 K
• Joey Wendle 0-1, BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Can the Mets limit walks today? The Mets pitchers allowed an absurd 10 walks in Saturday’s game with Buttó allowing five as a starter. You cannot give a team like the Dodgers a chance with free passes to first base. Further, it taxes the entire pitching staff. Houser is coming off of a start where he allowed five walks and already has nine total on the season.
2. Keep the strikeouts coming. The ten walks yesterday did not crush the Mets because the Mets batters got the Dodgers to strike out 14 times. The big three at the top of the lineup went 4-for-7, with two doubles, three RBI’s and one strikeout. That means the rest of the lineup had 13 K’s including Outman, Pages and Hernández who struck out three times each. This is a winning recipe.
3. Starling Marte! Marte has been a savior for the Mets lineup this season. Since April 6th, Marte has made 13 starts and has hit .322/.365/.509 (through April 5th, before this streak he was hitting .192/.250/.346). In his last five games he has gone 7-for-24 at the plate with two doubles and two homers, which are four of his overall six extra-base hits this season. He has now stolen bases in back-to-back games for the first time this season.

The Mets can win their fifth consecutive series this afternoon! Friday night the Mets extended their winning streak to five games with a 9-4 win over the Dodgers in a game that felt like three games. The Mets went up 4-0 early. Then after a few defensive mistakes, the Dodgers tied the game up. The vibes pendulum at this point had fully swung from good to terrible. The Mets then rallied and scored five runs over the final three innings to put the Dodgers away.

As of writing, there is a lot concern around Francisco Alvarez who stumbled rounding first base early in the game an injured the same thumb that he injured multiple times earlier in the week. Carlos Mendoza said after the game he was “pretty concerned”, and after the game is usually when injuries are downplayed.

Jose Buttó makes his third start of the season today. In his first two starts of the year he has allowed one run from five hits and four walks while striking out 15 batters in 12 innings. The Mets have had starting pitchers go six innings twice this year and Buttó has two of them. Obviously 12 innings is a bit early to start putting a lot of weight into Baseball Savant numbers, but so far this season his fastball run value is in the 98th percentile. He isn’t getting a ton of ground balls though (18th percentile) and is in 36th percentile for hard-hit%, which against the top of this Dodgers lineup is always a concern. This will be his first time facing the Dodgers and facing anyone on the Dodgers roster in a major league game.

The Mets bats look to keep the offense rolling against Gavin Stone this afternoon. Over three starts he has allowed 10 runs from 18 hits and five walks over 14 2/3 innings while striking out 15 (6.14 ERA, 2.18 FIP, 1.568 WHIP, 70 ERA+). Stone is coming off of his best start where he held the Padres to two runs on five hits over six innings. This will be Stone’s first start against the Mets and no one on the Mets major league roster has faced Stone in a major league game before.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. If Harrison Bader keeps hitting, we’ll keep writing about him. Bader went 4-for-5 at the plate Friday night with a double, a run scored and a stolen base. He has now reached base in eight consecutive games and has gone 14-for-31 over that stretch hitting an absurd .452/.485/.613. Before this streak his season line was .192/.222/.192 and now sits at .333/.367/.421.
2. DJ Stewart is having a DJ Stewart season. Last night Stewart went 2-for-4 at the plate with his third homer of the season. Five of his seven hits are for extra bases. At first I thought this was odd, but it seems like a small-sample size version of what happened last year. Stewart last season had a .244 batting average with a .506 slugging percentage. This year he’s hitting .241 with a cartoonish .621 slugging. The big difference about Stewart this year is his walk rate which has jumped from 8.1% to 18% (12.3% career average). This has translated to .410 OBP (compared to .333 in 2023).
3. Francisco Lindor. Lindor swung the vibe pendulum Friday night. After the Mets allowed the Dodgers to tie the game, Lindor hit a massive two-run homerun, his first from the left side of the plate this season. In his last five games he is 7-for-20 at the plate with a double, home run and a .409 OBP. Lindor looks like he’s having fun on the field and he is lifting up the energy of those around him.

Let’s Go Mets!