The Mets will try to “put it in the books” for the last time at home this season. Before today’s game the Mets are honoring Howie Rose’s legendary career. The long time voice of the Mets, Howie Rose has been the soundtrack for many of us over the years, connecting generations of Mets fans. Hopefully the Mets can close the season at home the right way, in his honor.
Jonah Tong has pitched in five games this season totaling 21 innings, surpassing his inning total for last season. He has a 3.43 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.190 WHIP and a 121 ERA+. Tong is coming off of his best start of the season where he held the Orioles bats to one unearned run over six innings while striking out six batters. He has 13 strikeouts in his last 11 innings pitched. The only player on the Phillies who has faced Tong before is Luis Arráez (1-for-1).
The Mets have a tall order this afternoon in Cristopher Sánchez. Sánchez is having a superb season, making 31 starts totaling 193 2/3 innings with a 2.93 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 1.224 WHIP and a 156 ERA+. He is currently leading the league with 7.6 bWAR and if that holds it will be his second consecutive season leading the league in bWAR (8.1 last season). That being said, he’s had a really rough last couple of games where he has allowed 11 runs over 12 1/3 innings. Sánchez has a 6.87 ERA in the month of September and has allowed at least three runs in four of his last five starts. In his one start against the Mets this season, he held the Mets to one run over six innings. The Mets have the following career stats against him:
- Francisco Alvarez 1-11, 4 K
- Brett Baty 0-4, 3 K
- Carson Benge 0-3, 2 K
- Bo Bichette 2-12, 3 K
- Francisco Lindor 6-20, 2 BB, K
- Ronny Mauricio 1-4, HR, 3 K
- Christopher Morel 0-6, BB, 3 K
- Marcus Semien 1-5, BB
- Juan Soto 6-17, 2B, BB, 4 K
- Luis Torrens 1-10, 2B, BB, 3 K
- Mark Vientos 6-17, 4 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, 8 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Carson Benge 300. Benge went 3-for-4 on Saturday hitting his 19th home run of the season and breaking Pete Alonso’s record for most hits by a Mets rookie. He’s now only one home run away from a 20-20 season!
- 300. Francisco Lindor has one more chance at home to get his 300th career home run. Lindor hit two home runs Saturday of last weekend (9/12) and has been sitting at 299 since then.
- Last game at home. It’s been a trying year for the Mets. Sky high expectations to start that fell apart with a disastrous losing streak in mid-April. Lackluster play in May and June, injuries to star players, the Mets were basically out of it by the end of June. After trading away stars in July the team was rejuvenated and has played well for the last two months. This last week at home has been trying, with fans cheering players on other teams to levels noticeable to players on the Mets. With a potential lockout looming next season, we aren’t sure the next time the Mets will play at home. Let’s just make it a good day today.
Let’s Go Mets!
