213 Miles From Shea

For the second straight day the Mets will try to do something they failed to last season – win a series against the Padres. Last night the Mets were able to load the bases in the first inning but couldn’t score any runs. After that it became a tightly pitched game with the Padres eventually winning 4-2. Can the Mets string some hits together and score runs against lefty this afternoon? Can the Mets get through the San Diego albatross?

Tylor Megill has a 1.64 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.182 WHIP and a 273 ERA+ over his first two starts and 11 innings this season. Megill played stopper his time out, righting the Mets ship after being swept by the Marlins and providing the Mets with their first shutout outing by a starting pitcher this season. This will be the first time all season that Megill has faced a team not named the Miami Marlins and he didn’t face the Padres at all last season. The Padres have the following career numbers against Megill:

• Juan Soto 1-6, HR, 3 BB, 2 K
• Nelson Cruz 1-4, HR, K
• Rougned Odor 0-1, K

The Mets bats close out the series against Blake Snell this afternoon. Over two starts this season Snell has allowed seven runs from 12 hits and five walks (7.88 ERA). In his first start he was able to rack up 9 strikeouts against the Rockies, but only tossed 4 1/3 innings after allowing three runs from six hits. His last start against the Braves was a mess where he allowed four runs from six hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.

Snell’s two regular season starts against the Mets last year were opposite experiences for the Mets. In June he allowed five runs, four earned, from three walks and seven hits. In July he held the Mets scoreless over five innings. Snell was the only pitcher the Mets were able to get to in the Wild Card Series last year, scoring twice in 3 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Snell:

• Francisco Lindor 3-25, 2B, 5 K
• Starling Marte 5-15, 2B, HR, 5 K
• Mark Canha 4-11, 2B, 3 BB, 2 K
• Pete Alonso 3-9, 2B, HR, 3 BB, K
• Eduardo Escobar 2-12, 2B, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-9, 2B, BB, K
• Tim Locastro, 0-4, BB, 2 K, HBP
• Jeff McNeil 2-5, K
• Tomás Nido 0-3
• Tommy Pham 0-2, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Multi-Inning Bullpen Heroes: Yesterday Denyi Reyes tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings. A few days ago Nogosek tossed 3 1/3 innings allowing one run and scattering three hits. While the Mets starters haven’t been able to go terribly deep into games, the Mets are getting multi-inning outings from some surprising sources.
2. Please cash in on free passes: We’ve already discussed this a few times this season and it is still relevant today – the Mets aren’t capitalizing on walks and hit by pitches. The Mets have already been walked 52 times this year, the fourth highest amount in the majors. They’ve been hit by 10 pitches, the most in the majors. The Mets have scored only 46 runs, which ranks 23rd. It’s also not like the Mets are striking out a ton, they have 87 K’s on the season, good for 24th in the league. At some point putting the ball in play will work for the Mets. Today would be a great day for that to start.
3. Power Up: Related to not cashing in on free passes, the Mets as a team have only hit 10 homers (23rd in the league). Pete Alonso is one four players in the majors with five homers this season. The remaining five homers on the Mets roster spread between Canha, Escobar, Lindor, Marte and Pham who have hit one each. The Mets could really use a player outside of Pete Alonso to get hot.

Let’s Go Mets!

The New York Mets look to do something they didn’t do all of last season – win a series against the Padres.

Max Scherzer labored last night and was still able to give the Mets five innings of shutout baseball. The bullpen behind him returned the favor. Meanwhile the offense provided one of the more memorable innings of 2023 with two perfect bunts that set up a two-run hit by Francisco Lindor to break the game open. Not exactly the gameplan, but it worked!

David Peterson looks to bounce back from his last start tonight. Over his first two games he has allowed six runs from 13 hits and six walks while striking out 10 leading to a 6.00 ERA, 6.06 FIP, 2.111 WHIP and a 79 ERA+. Almost all of the damage was done in his last start where he allowed five runs from five hits and five walks against the Brewers in Milwaukee. Last season he faced the Padres once in the regular season, allowing a run on two hits and a walk in one inning of relief. He then faced the Padres twice in the Wild Card Series allowing one run from two hits across two innings. The Padres have the following career regular season numbers against Peterson:

• Juan Soto 1-6, 2B, 3 BB, 2 K
• Xander Bogaerts 0-5, BB
• Nelson Cruz 0-3, K
• Matt Carpenter 0-1, K
• Ha-Seong Kim 0-1
• Austin Nola 1-1

The Mets bats will get a look at Ryan Weathers tonight who is making his second start of the season. In his first start he allowed two runs from five hits and a walk while striking out two in five innings of work. He only made one start in the majors last season where he allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings. Weathers pitched in 31 games including 22 starts with El Paso in 2022 where he had a 6.73 ERA and a 1.789 WHIP over 123 innings. Only a few Mets have seen Weathers in a game before:

• Starling Marte 0-1
• Eduardo Escobar 0-1, K
• Tim Locastro 0-1

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Winning twice: In June of last year the Mets won the series opener against the Padres, and then lost the next two games. In July the Mets lost the first two games in San Diego, and then one last game of the series to avoid being swept. In October the Mets won second game of the Wild Card Series as the Padres eliminated them in a best of three series. Today the Mets have a chance to do something they couldn’t do all of last year – win two games in a series against the Padres. The Mets have had a rough go of it so far in 2023 with injuries and being swept by the Brewers. The secret of the Mets success last season was winning series. Let’s get that 2022 energy back today!
2. Bullpen usage: The Mets have used six different pitchers in their bullpen over the last two games (Nogosek, Santana, Curtiss, Smith, Robertson, Ottavino). Out of the group, Nogosek was the hero, tossing 3 1/3 innings on Sunday and preventing even more pitchers from having to enter the game. Everyone who pitched yesterday only went in one inning. The Mets aren’t in a dire situation yet, but an early exit by Peterson tonight could create one for tomorrow’s getaway game.
3. Brandon the Swiper? Brandon Nimmo stole only three bases in 2022. Prior to this season he stole 23 bases over his seven seasons and 608 games in the major leagues. Last night he stole for the third time already in 2023. We knew stolen bases were going to be up this year with the rule changes and this looks like a significant development.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look revenge today as they take on the Padres for the first time since the Padres knocked the Mets out of the 2022 playoffs. The Mets enter tonight’s series coming off of a series win against the Marlins. The Padres are coming off a series win against the Braves. It’s time for an early season statement series!

Max Scherzer is looking to get himself and the Mets rotation back on the right track today. Through two starts this season Max has allowed eight runs from 12 hits and four walks over 11 1/3 innings while striking out eight batters. He’s coming off of a particularly rough start against the Brewers where he allowed five runs from eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. There was a moment where he allowed back to back to back homers. Just terrible vibes.

In the regular season last year Scherzer made one start against the Padres where he allowed two runs from five hits and a walk while striking out eight over six innings. The Padres got the best of Max though in the Wild Card Series, tagging him for seven runs from seven hits, including four homers. The Padres have the following career regular season numbers against Max:

• Manny Machado 8-50, 2 2B, 2 HR, 20 K
• Matt Carpenter 8-31, 3 2B, BB, 10 K
• Nelson Cruz 10-27, 2B, HR, 7 K
• Trent Grisham 2-15, 2B, BB, 4 K
• Jake Cronenworth 0-13, BB, 4 K
• Xander Bogaerts 2-11, 5 K
• Juan Soto 1-3, HR, 3 BB
• Ha-Seong Kim 0-3, 2 K

The Mets bats draw Yu Darvish’s second start of the season. In his first start he allowed one run from three hits and four walks over five innings while striking out three. He’s coming off of a great year where he made 30 starts tossing 194 2/3 innings with a 3.10 ERA, 5.80 FIP, 1.400 WHIP and a 254 ERA+. Darvish was fantastic against the Mets in the regular season last year allowing only one run from 14 innings and six hits. Between those two games he struck out 15 batters. Then in the Wild Card Series last year he held the Mets to only one run from six hits over seven innings. The Mets have the following regular season career numbers against Yu:

• Francisco Lindor 5-16, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
• Starling Marte 7-17, 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
• Eduardo Escobar 3-17, 2 2B, HR, 7 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-11, HR, BB, 2 K
• Pete Alonso 2-10, HR, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-6, 2 K
• Luis Guillorme 1-6, 2B, 2 K
• Mark Canha 1-4, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 2-3

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Can the Mets push out Darvish early? The only blemish that Darvish had in his first start was walks. He issued four of them, contributing to his pitch count. The Mets are third in the league with walks at 45 (Dodgers have 58). Darvish lasted seven innings each of his last three starts against the Mets. Can the Mets make him work early and get to the bullpen?
2. Please stop throwing at the Mets: It’s time for another check-in on the Mets HBP numbers. Through ten games this season the Mets have already been hit nine times this season. The Mets currently lead the league in this category but there are several other teams with abnormally high HBP amounts so far this season. The Rays have been hit eight times. The Diamondbacks, Astros and Giants each have been hit seven times.
3. Old Friends! The Padres have several former Mets on the roster, some of whom we’ll see today and some we’ll see in quick clips of them saying hello to their old teammates. Most notably is Seth Lugo who pitched against the Braves last night. In addition to Lugo, the Padres have Domingo Tapia, Michael Wacha, and Nabil Crismatt on their roster.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to close out the weekend with a win and a sweep this afternoon at Citi Field! Yesterday the Mets rolled through the Marlins thanks to an excellent start from Kodai Senga and Pete Alonso’s fourth homer in three games.

This afternoon though all eyes are on Francisco Álvarez as the Mets top prospect gets his first start in 2023. Lets break down today’s matchup!

Carlos Carrasco looks to bounce back for a disastrous first game of the season where he allowed five runs from four hits in four innings against the Brewers. Carrasco allowed a home run, a calling card that he’s in trouble, and his velocity vanished about midway through the start. The whole game made for a disturbing start of the series for the Mets. Hopefully the Mets get a more familiar version of Carrasco this afternoon. Carrasco faced the Marlins five times last season allowing 10 runs from 29 hits and seven walks in 28 2/3 innings (3.14 ERA) while striking out 27 batters. The Marlins have the following career numbers against him:

• Avisaíl García 12-45, 2B, HR, BB, 13 K
• Jean Segura 7-18, 2B, 3 HR, 3 K
• Bryan De La Cruz 4-16, 2B, HR, 5 K
• Yuli Gurriel 5-15, 2 2B, 3 K
• Jon Berti 3-12, 2 2B, 2 K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2-11, 2B, BB, 4 K
• Jacob Stallings 1-11, 3 K
• Garrett Cooper 4-10, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Jesús Sánchez 1-10, BB, 3 K
• Jorge Soler 1-7, 2 BB, 4 K
• Nick Fortes 3-5, K
• Luis Arraez 0-5, 2 K

Braxton Garrett will make his first start of the season today. So far he has pitched in one game as a reliever, tossing three innings against the Mets. In those three innings he allowed two runs from six hits, including a homer. Garrett made 17 starts last season totaling 88 innings with a 3.58 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 1.250 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. This includes two starts against the Mets who racked up six runs on eight hits and three walks over 9 2/3 innings. The Mets have these career numbers against him:

• Tommy Pham 4-10, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 2-7, HR, 2 BB
• Brandon Nimmo 0-7
• Mark Canha 2-5, HR, BB, K
• Eduardo Escobar 0-6, K
• Francisco Lindor 3-6, 2B, 2 HR, K
• Starling Marte 2-4, 2B, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-3

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Francisco Álvarez: Today is really Francisco’s day. The Mets top prospect was playing in Syracuse to start the season, 5.5 years younger than the average player. In four games and 19 PA’s he collected four hits including a double and two homers. Last season he had a .885 OPS between Binghamton and Syracuse before the Mets called him up. It’s difficult to not expect the world from him today.
2. Four in Three Games? Pete Alonso is tied for the league lead in homers with five after hitting his fourth homer in three games yesterday. Alonso only has eight hits so far this season. Here’s hoping he continues to ride this hot streak (and his very early, way to small sample size .706 slugging percentage).
3. See you later Marlins! The Mets faced the Marlins six times during spring training. Then the Mets played the Marlins seven times over the first ten games of the season (including today). The Mets and Marlins won’t see each other again until late September when they will do another two series against each other over a week and a half. I for one cannot wait for the Mets to get a break from Luis Arraez. See you in the fall Marlins!

Let’s Go Mets!

Winning cures all ails! The Mets came home to Citi Field yesterday after a terrible three game set with the Brewers. The team record was only 3-4 but it felt like the Mets were in this spiral of ineffective pitching and lackluster hitting.

Winning changes everything though! Tylor Megill became the first starter in 2023 to not allow any runs. The Mets offense turned walks into runs, getting a 6-0 lead against the Marlins. When the Marlins capitalized on walks in the 8th inning, cutting the lead to 6-3, the Mets bats responded back picking up three more runs and cruising to a 9-3 lead. Now the Mets look to win the series today behind Kodai Senga.

Kodai Senga pitched 5 1/3 innings in his debut, allowing one run on three hits and three walks while striking out eight. It was a rocky start of the game for Senga, who had to wait through a long first half of the frame and then allowed a run and loaded the bases before he even recorded his first out. Then everything came together for Senga as he chopped up the Marlins lineup. All eight of strikeouts came on the ghost fork. The Marlins have the following numbers against him:

• Luis Arraez 2-3
• Jorge Soler 1-3, 2B, 2 K
• Jazz Chisholm 0-2, BB, 2 K
• Avisaíl García 0-1, BB
• Yuli Gurriel 0-2, K
• Jesús Sánchez 0-2, 2 K
• Jon Berti 0-2
• Jacob Stallings 0-1, BB, K

Trevor Rogers, like every other starting pitcher so far in this series, is making his second start of the season against the same team he pitched against the first time around. Last week the Mets were able to tag him for four runs, three earned, over 4 1/3 innings from two walks and four hits. Additionally, he hit two Mets with pitches. The Mets batters yesterday were patient and worked a dozen walks. Look for the Mets today to something similar to keep getting into the Marlins bullpen. The Mets have the following career numbers against Rogers:

• Pete Alonso 1-15, HR, BB, 6 K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-13, 2 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 3-12, 2B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 4-11, 3 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Eduardo Escobar 1-8, 5 K
• Starling Marte 3-9, 4 K
• Mark Canha 1-5, 2 BB,2 K
• Luis Guillorme 1-5, BB, 2 K
• Tommy Pham 3-5, HR, K
• Tim Locastro 1-3, 2B, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. What adjustments have the Marlins made? The Marlins are the only team that has seen the ghost fork so far as Kodai Senga threw it very rarely in spring training this year. What adjustments are they going to make? They only struck out on the ghost fork itself last week. When the pitch was working, it traveled in a similar trajectory as Kodai’s other pitches until the last moment when it broke way out of the zone. Are the Marlins going to take more pitches late in counts? Are they going to go aggressively swing at the first pitch they see? The Marlins are essentially writing the major league blue print right now on how to approach Kodai.
2. Three-Pete: After going 0-for-11 in a three game stretch, Alonso has really turned it on over the last two games. He is 4-for-9 with three homers and six RBI’s. His homer yesterday provided the Mets with their 9th run of the day and made the game feel out of reach for the Marlins. The Mets need this Pete Alonso all season.
3. Brandon walks again and again (x2): Brandon Nimmo became the 28th Met in history to walk four times in a major league game. He has now walked 10 times this season. That’s 10 times in only eight games! Further, this was Nimmo’s third multi-walk game of the year. Shockingly (or disappointingly?) Nimmo has only scored three times this season. He’s doing his part by getting on base. Can the Mets please bring him home?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets finally play at home today for the first time in 2023. The Mets have gone through a long spring training and first week of the season that has seen numerous injuries, a disappearing offense, struggling pitching and a rainout. But at the end of the day, the Mets are only one game below .500 and have only played seven games this year. It’s not time to move into Panic City just yet.

Tylor Megill will look to get the Mets back on the winning track as he faces off against the Marlins for the second time this season. Last time out he held the Marlins to two runs from six hits and two walks while striking out seven over five innings. In his career now he has now faced the Marlins three times, allowing seven runs, six earned over 11 innings while striking out 13 batters. The Marlins have the following numbers against him:

• Juan Segura 1-7, K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 3-5, 2B, BB, K
• Bryan De La Cruz 0-5, 2 K
• Jacob Stallings 1-3, 2 BB, K
• Luis Arraez 3-3
• Garrett Cooper 0-3, 2 K
• Jorge Soler 0-3, K
• Nick Fortes 1-2, HR
• Avisaíl García 0-2

The Mets bats will get another look at Edward Cabrera, who made his 2023 debut against the Mets last week. Edward lasted four innings, allowing only two runs from two hits and six walks. The Mets figured out the being patient part last time, working counts against him and getting on base. They didn’t quite figure out the scoring part. Hopefully the Mets can put all the pieces together this afternoon. Anyway, the Mets have the following career numbers against Cabrera:

• Pete Alonso 3-8, 3 HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Francisco Lindor 1-9, BB, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-6, 4 BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-9, 2B
• Mark Canha 2-3, 2B, BB
• Eduardo Escobar 0-4
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-4, 2 K
• Tomás Nido 1-2, 2B, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Luis Arraez can hit: Arraez is already leading the league with 11 hits in 26 trips to the plate this season hitting a smooth .458/.500/.500 (174 OPS+). Almost all of this happened against the Mets where he went 9-for-16 including a perfect 3-for-3 against Megill. Arraez has cooled off the last two games, going hitless in three at-bats (but still getting a walk). If the Megill and the Mets can keep him off the base paths today, the Mets will probably have a good day.
2. Pete Hot Streak? Pete Alonso entered Wednesday’s game going 0-for-11 over his last three games. The positive news was he only had two strikeouts. Anyway, Pete had a huge game on Wednesday collecting two homers and carrying the Mets offense. Can he do it again today?
3. What about Álvarez? Omar Narváez was pulled from Wednesday’s game early. Whispers then started that Francisco Álvarez was on his way to New York, which signaled that whatever was ailing Narváez, it had to be serious. He will be activated before today’s game and is not starting (or hitting as a DH) as the Mets are sticking to their original Opening Day script. Today will be our first chance at seeing how the Mets plan on using him when he is not starting.

Let’s Go Mets!

The last two days of Mets baseball have been tough. The Mets have been outscored 19-0 in Milwaukee and now have been held scoreless for 20 innings. The Mets starting pitching has allowed ten runs. The bullpen has allowed nine runs. The vibes are not great right now.

On Thursday the Mets are coming home for the first time in 2023, today doesn’t feel like a must win game, but it’s incredibly important for the Mets to show they are righting the ship in multiple ways.

The Mets hope Peterson can get their starting pitching back on track this afternoon. In his first start of the season Peterson allowed one run (a solo homer) from eight hits and a walk while striking out five. Peterson pitched against the Brewers twice last season, a start and a relief outing, where he allowed five runs from six hits over 4 2/3 innings. The Brewers have the following numbers against Peterson:

• Willy Adames 2-5, 2B, 2 BB
• Luke Voit 2-5, BB
• Brian Anderson 2-4, BB, K
• William Contreras 1-3, K
• Christian Yelich 1-4, K
• Victor Caratini 1-2, K
• Luis Urías 1-2

The Mets bats will try to get themselves going against the ace of the Brewers pitching staff, Corbin Burnes. Burnes is coming off of a rough first start of the season where he allowed four runs from four hits and three walks over five innings. Last season he made 33 starts totaling 202 innings with a 2.94 ERA, 3.14 FIP, 0.965 WHIP and a 134 ERA+. Burnes had a good start against the Mets in June where he held them to two runs over six innings. In September he faced the Mets in Milwaukee and allowed five runs from seven hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 3-15, 3B, 8 K
• Pete Alonso 4-12, 2B, HR, B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 4-13, HR, K
• Brandon Nimmo 6-12, 2B, 2 3B, 2 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 2-9, 2B, HR, 3 K
• Starling Marte 2-5, 2 K
• Mark Canha 0-4, BB, 2 K
• Eduardo Escobar 1-4, K
• Luis Guillorme 0-4, 2K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The offense has been offensive: The Mets offense hasn’t scored a run in 20 innings now. This is despite the Mets working walks, getting hit by pitches, and slapping singles. The pitching hasn’t helped things the last couple of days with the starting pitching allowing ten runs and the bullpen allowing nine runs. The pitching staff could allow only one run and it wouldn’t matter if the bats don’t push runs across the plate. Let’s hope the Mets can get some momentum going into the home opener tomorrow.
2. Brewers burning Burnes: Burnes lost a brutal arbitration case against the Brewers this off-season. The Brewers saved less than three quarters of a million dollars in the process. In the grand scheme of things, it seems like a small sum of money to go to court and embarrass an ace pitcher. Burnes talked about experience afterwards. Right now it seems difficult to see how the two sides can reconcile in the future. Further, Burnes had a rough start last time out. This story line is on a direct collision course with the story of the Mets offense.
3. Jeff McHits: Jeff McNeil was one of the few bright spots for the Mets last night, picking up three hits. Going into last night’s game he had only four hits (and no walks) in 21 AB’s. Jeff also struggled in spring training collecting only four hits in 23 AB’s. The Mets desperately need this performance to be start of a hot streak for Jeff.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to bounce back from a rough one yesterday. The Brewers took the first game of the series 10-0. They scored a run in the third, two in the fourth and then a whopping seven runs in the fifth inning. Carrasco and Hunter allowed five earned runs and a homer each. The Mets bats on the other hand got only three hits, and weren’t able to capitalize at all on their six walks.

The bright spot on the Mets was Luis Guillorme who went 2-4 at the plate and added a scoreless inning of relief to boot. Hopefully the Mets can channel his magic tonight.

Max Scherzer heads out to the mound for the second time this season. In his first start he allowed three runs from four hits and two walks while striking out six. Last year Scherzer faced the Brewers once and kept the Brewers hitless over six innings while striking out nine batters. He was coming off of the injured list and was pulled before the start of the seventh inning (Megill would allow a hit to break up the no-no). The Brewers have the following career numbers against Scherzer:

• Christian Yelich 10-34, 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 2 BB, 11 K
• Brian Anderson 4-21, 3 2B, BB, 7 K
• Victor Caratini 7-15, 2B, HR, 2 K
• Jesse Winker 1-9, 2 BB, 4 K
• Luke Voit 3-8, BB, 3 K
• Rowdy Tellez 1-7, BB, K
• Willy Adames 0-7, 6 K
• William Contreras 2-4, 2 K

The Mets bats will get to experience Wade Miley’s (second) Milwaukee debut. The veteran starting pitcher who started his career with the Diamondbacks has gone to Seattle, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Houston, Cincinnati, Chicago and now back to Milwaukee. Last season he was limited to nine games (eight starts) pitching 37 innings with a 3.16 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.216 WHIP and a 131 ERA+. The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2021 where he allowed five runs, four earned over 13 1/3 innings while striking out 10. The Mets have the following career numbers against Miley:

• Starling Marte 9-22, 2B, BB, 6 K
• Mark Canha 4-16, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 5-13, 3 2B, 3 BB, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-10, HR, BB, 2 K
• Tommy Pham 2-9, 2B, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 3-6, HR
• Jeff McNeil 1-6, K
• Eduardo Escobar 0-5, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-4, 3 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. I’m Sorry Pham: I admit, I was one of many Mets fans on Twitter on Sunday that criticized the lineup with Pham hitting lead-off against the lefty. Pham responded by going 3-4 at the plate including a homer and was a large reason why the Mets ended up winning their first series of the year. Sorry Pham! Let’s see what Tommy can cook up today against another lefty.
2. Watch Out Mark! Last year Mark Canha set the Mets record getting hit by 27 pitches. We even talked about this before yesterday’s game with the Mets getting hit three times on Sunday. Well Locastro got hit again yesterday. In four plate appearances this year Locastro has been hit three times in four trips to the plate. Mark’s record could be in jeopardy.
3. Sprint this way! Brandon Nimmo doesn’t walk this way when he gets four balls, he sprints. It’s one of the best things to watch in sports, never gets old! Brandon Nimmo has already walked six times in the first five games this year including two games where he has walked twice. Branon Nimmo has only scored one run so far. First, can Nimmo keep this pace up? Second, can the Mets take advantage?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets made a 1200+ mile journey last night to go from a day game in Miami to a day game in Milwaukee this afternoon for the Brewers home opener. The Mets are coming off of a series win Miami and are looking to rack up more wins before they return to Queens at the end of the week.

Yesterday’s game started off rocky as Kodai Senga loaded the bases and allowed a run before recording his first out. He rebounded, allowing no more runs while striking out eight batters. Tommy Pham got the start and was a star with the bat going 3-4 and hitting a homer. Who is going to be the player who steps up today?

Carlos Carrasco makes his 2023 debut today. His 2022 campaign was much better than his first time around with the Mets. Over 152 innings and 29 starts last season, Carrasco had a 3.97 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.329 WHIP and a 97 ERA+. This includes a start against the Brewers last September in Milwaukee where he allowed three runs from from five hits and two walks over four innings. The Brewers have the following career numbers against Carlos:

• Christian Yelich 3-17, 2B, 2 BB, 10 K
• Brian Anderson 3-12, 2B, K
• Willy Adames 7-9, 2B, HR, BB, K (Yes, actually 7-9)
• Luke Voit 0-7, 2 BB, 3 K
• Jesse Winker 3-9, 2 2B, 3 K
• Rowdy Tellez 3-7, 2 2B, BB, 3 K
• William Contreras 3-6, 2 HR, K
• Luis Urías 1-6

Freddy Peralta gets the home opener for the Brewers this afternoon. Last season, over 18 games and 17 starts, he pitched 78 innings with a 3.58 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 1.038 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. Peralta hasn’t faced the Mets since the end of the 2021 season where he allowed four runs from five hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Eduardo Escobar 0-8, 6 K
• Starling Marte 2-7, 3B
• Tommy Pham 1-5, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 1-3, HR, BB, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-4, K
• Pete Alonso 1-1, 2B, BB, HBP
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3
• Tim Locastro 0-1, K
• Jeff McNeil 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Energy Up: Home Openers have a lot of energy and the Mets will be the visiting team for the second time in five games. On top of extra fanfare, this newly built Brewers lineup have great great career numbers against Carrasco. The Brewers have also had an off-day and are traveling from Chicago while the Mets have played everyday so far and had a much longer journey. Can the Mets feed on the energy and play spoiler today?
2. What did you expect with Canha and Locastro? The 2022 Mets broke the franchise record getting hit by an astounding 112 pitches last season. Through the first four games this season the Mets have been hit four times, mainly thanks to yesterday’s game when Locastro was hit twice and Lindor was hit once (Canha was hit earlier in the season). Currently, by small sample size, the Mets are on pace to break pre-modern era record set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1898 (160 hit by pitches). We are hoping this isn’t the case as more HBP means a higher injury risk. But with Canha and Locastro on the same roster, breaking last year’s record seems like destiny.
3. Keep the ball in the park Carrasco! When Carlos Carrasco returned from injury in 2021 he struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark. Over his career he has allowed homers at a pace of 1.1 per nine innings but in 2021 he allowed them at a rate of 2.0, leading to an ERA over six and an ERA+ of 67. Last season he allowed 1.0 homers per nine inning and he had a much better season. Carlos allowed four homers in 13 innings during spring training. Can Carrasco return to his 2022 form in his debut?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins wrap up their first series of the season this afternoon with the Mets going for a series win and the Marlins trying to force a series split.

Yesterday the Mets went up 1-0 early but the Marlins were able to claw back and make it 2-1. After that the game switched to all Mets with the Amazin’s scoring five more runs to win 6-2. Canha had the big day for the Mets. After starting the season slow in his first two games he went 3-4 with a double and a homer leading the Mets to victory.

Today we get to see the highly anticipated major league debut of Kodai Senga (2:40 AM local time in Japan). Last year for Softbank he had a 1.89 ERA and 1.041 WHIP over 148 innings. How much of his ghost forkball will we see in today’s game? It was reported that he was avoiding it during Spring Training in order to stay healthy for the regular season. In his first spring start he tossed it a few times and it was linked to a finger injury. Even with limiting his most famous pitch in spring training, he still managed to strike out 10 batters over nine innings this spring.

Trevor Rogers will make his 2023 debut for the Marlins this afternoon. He was an All-Star in 2021 with a 2.64 ERA and 160 ERA+ over 133 innings. Last year was a different story. Over 23 starts (107 innings) he had a 5.47 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.505 WHIP and a 74 ERA+. He faced the Mets last year on back to back starts at the end of June where he allowed seven runs, six earned over 9 1/3 innings from 12 hits and three walks. The Mets have the following numbers against Rogers:

• Pete Alonso 1-14, HR, 6 K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-15, 2 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 3-10, 2B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 3-9, 3 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Eduardo Escobar 1-6, 3 K
• Luis Guillorme 1-5, BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 3-6, 2 K
• Mark Canha 0-4, BB, 2 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-3, BB, K
• Tim Locastro 1-2, 2B, K
• Tommy Pham 1-3, K
• Tomás Nido 1-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Reversing Sunday Woes: In 2020 the Mets lost 8 of 10 games they played on Sunday. In 2021 the Mets lost 12 of 26 games they played on Sunday. Last year they improved to only losing 10 of 28 games on Sunday. Sunday losses always felt significant for two reasons. First, if the Mets won the first two games of the series, that meant they couldn’t close the door during the Sunday sweep. Second, the Mets are more likely to have an off-day on Monday, so the loss sits for an extra day. What will this first Sunday in 2023 bring?
2. Pete Alonso’s Hot Start: Not mentioned earlier was Alonso’s game yesterday. He went 2-3 and improved to 3-11 with three walks on the season. He has a double and a homer as well bringing his early season OPS to 1.065. Alonso has struggled against Rogers historically (1-14, 6 K). We are looking to see if his hot start can push back his historical numbers against Rogers.
3. Pressure Building on Escobar: Eduardo has always been a streaky hitter and in the first three games this year he looks to be on a cold streak, collecting one hit in 12 trips to the plate. Meanwhile Brett Baty went 4-4 yesterday with two homers and a terrific play in the field. By sending Baty to Syracuse the Mets are signaling that they are probably giving Escobar about month as the starting third basemen.

Let’s Go Mets!