213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to pick up the pieces from their latest series loss and end July on a high note as they welcome the San Francisco Giants to town. Last night the Mets had the bases loaded in the seventh and the ninth inning, but didn’t score at all and lost 3-2. They are now nine games below .500 at the halfway point of the season. The Giants are nine games above .500 and come to New York trying to stop a two game slide.

Carlos Carrasco will make his 11th start of the season tonight. Over 48 innings he has a 6.19 ERA, 6.57 FIP, 1.563 WHIP and a 67 ERA+. He’s coming off of a short start his last time out where he held the Phillies to only two runs, but couldn’t go beyond four innings after allowing five hits and two walks. Carrasco is still struggling to keep the ball int he ballpark. His April 15th start in Oakland is the only start this season where he hasn’t allowed a home run. The Giants have the following career numbers against him:

• Brandon Crawford 1-13, 2B, 4 K
• Mitch Haniger 4-9, 2B, HR,2 BB, 3 K
• Isan Díaz 0-6, K
• Wilmer Flores 1-6
• Joc Pederson 1-5, HR, K
• Mike Yastrzemski 2-6, K
• Thairo Estrada 1-3
• LaMonte Wade Jr. 1-3, K
• Alex Wood 0-2

The Mets bats will try to shake off the last two days as they take on Alex Cobb tonight. Over 14 starts, 78 2/3 innings, he has a 3.09 ERA, 3.25 FIP, 1.373 WHIP and a 139 ERA+ (his best ERA+ since 2013). Cobb is coming off of the injury list tonight. In mid-June he landed on the list due to an oblique strain. Last Saturday he made a rehab start with the Giants low-A team where he struck out nine batters over 3 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Cobb:

• Francisco Lindor 4-13, 2B, 5 K
• Mark Canha 1-9, 3 K
• Starling Marte 3-7, 2B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-5, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 2-6, 4 K
• Pete Alonso 2-5, HR
• Omar Narváez 0-2
• Tommy Pham 0-2
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Carlos Carrasco could be traded. If the Mets continue to fall, the Mets are going to move veterans who are in their last season on contract. Carlos Carrasco is a veteran pitcher who could entice teams if he goes on a bit of a hot streak in his next three to four starts. Just like the Mets playoff hopes, time is running out for Carrasco to increase his trade value.
2. Welcoming old friends back home. The San Francisco Giants still boast quite a few former Mets. J.D. Davis, Wilmer Flores, and Michael Conforto are all on their way back to Citi Field. Flores has been back a bunch of times already, so let’s focus on the other players. J.D. Davis is having a great year with a .829 OPS and a 126 OPS+. Both stats are the highest they’ve been since 2019. Michael Conforto is having an excellent return to baseball with 12 homers, .755 OPS and 106 OPS+. The Mets could be welcoming even more former Mets home tonight but Thomas Szapucki is on the 60-day injured list.
3. Pham continues to rack up hits. After going 3-for-3 on Wednesday night, Pham went 2-for-4 last night. In the 25 games since May 28th he is now hitting .345/.402/.632 and is the Mets hottest hitter in the lineup right now. Tonight he will face off against Joc Pederson, which should continue to fire him up.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to escape their four game series against the Brewers with a split tonight. After an easy victory on Tuesday, the Mets fell flat last night and couldn’t overcome some difficult calls by the umpire. Steven Cohen said before the game “All is not lost yet, but it’s getting late”. Last night’s game made it feel later than it already is.

Max Scherzer has pitched 70 2/3 innings this season with a 3.95 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 1.175 WHIP and a 104 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed only three runs from 11 hits and two walks while striking out 16 batters over 14 innings. In five of his last six games he has struck out at least eight batters . Before these six games the most batters he stuck out in an individual game was six. His start against the Brewers at the beginning of the season was forgettable. He allowed five runs from eight hits over 5 1/3 innings including back to back to back homers. The Brewers have the following career numbers against him:

• Christian Yelich 11-37, 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 2 BB, 11 K
• Brian Anderson 6-24, 4 2B, HR, BB, 8 K
• Victor Caratini 8-17, 2B, 3B, BB, 2 K
• Jesse Winker 1-12, 2 BB, 5 K
• Darin Ruf 3-12, 2B, 5 K
• Rowdy Tellez 2-10, HR, BB, K
• Willy Adames 1-10, 6 K
• Garrett Mitchell 1-5, HR, 2 K
• Raimel Tapia 1-5, HR
• William Contreras 2-4, 2 K

The Mets bats will try to get going again tonight as they take on Adrian Houser. Over nine games, seven starts and 40 1/3 innings, Houser has a 4.02 ERA, 3.97 FIP, 1.537 WHIP and a 107 ERA+. He allows a lot of hits (10.9 H/9), but not a ton of homers (0.7 HR/9). Houser had one terrible start this month against Oakland. Outside of that he had one terrific start (one run over seven innings), one short, but effective start (two runs, one earned over four innings) and a shutout inning of relief. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Tommy Pham 4-9, 4 BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 2-8, 2 K
• Peter Alonso 2-5, BB
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-4, 2 BB, K
• Luis Guillorme 1-5
• Francisco Lidnor 1-5
• Brandon Nimmo 3-5, 2B, K
• Mark Canha 0-2, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-4, 2B
• Denny Mendick 2-2, 2B
• Omar Narváez 1-1

Three Things To Watch:

1. The Mets need a good start from Max Scherzer tonight. During Steve Cohen’s press conference, Cohen suggested that the players need to play better, that the team still has a chance at the wild card, and if the team doesn’t look like it has a chance at the deadline they’ll reevaluate what actions to take. It was also reported this week that Scherzer could be willing to waive his no-trade if the Mets end up as sellers. For both situations (the Mets go for the wild card, the Mets become sellers), the Mets need Scherzer to have a great game tonight.
2. Tommy Pham continues his hot stretch. Tommy Pham went 3-for-3 at the plate last night with his eighth homer of the season. Since May 28th he has five homers and is hitting .337/.398/.639 (1.036). Before that he was hitting .200/.286/.341 (.627). Similar to Scherzer, the Mets need Pham to continue this hot streak as long as possible. Either it lifts the team up to a position where they can content or it increases the return they’ll get for him if the Mets become sellers at the end of July.
3. Will the Mets hit with runners in scoring position tonight? In the first game of the series, the Mets had only three hits. Last night they had seven hits! But the Mets went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position last night. Can they string together some hits tonight?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets finally got an easy win last night and look to use it as a momentum builder for game three of their four game set. The first inning looked rocky for David Peterson, but he was able to get out of jam without allowing any runs to score and ended up turning in a brilliant, six-inning, shutout performance. Brandon Nimmo hit two homers. Francisco Lindor and Vogelbach each hit one and the Mets cruised to a 7-2 victory. Now Kodai Senga pitches for just the second time on regular rest as the Mets look to make it back-to-back wins.

Kodai Senga has a 3.52 ERA, 4.12 FIP, 1.343 WHIP and a 118 ERA+ through 76 2/3 innings this year. He officially leads the league now in walks (44) and wild pitches (8) but has a strong K/9 (10.9) to balance things out. Senga is coming off of back to back starts where he has allowed four runs in each game, but only two runs were earned in his last start. This will be first start against the Brewers.

The Mets bats will look to keep yesterday’s good vibes going against Wade Miley tonight. Over 52 2/3 innings eh has a 2.91 ERA, 4.30 FIP, 1.025 WHIP and a 148 ERA+ (his highest ERA+ since 2018). Since returning from injury, he’s pitched 11 innings scattering five hits and two walks allowing no runs to score. His first start this season was against the Mets and he held the Mets scoreless over six innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Starling Marte 10-25, 2B, BB, 6 K
• Mark Canha 4-18, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 5-16, 3 2B, 3 BB, K
• Tommy Pham 2-12, 2B, 4 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-10, HR, BB, 2 K
• Pete Alonso 3-9, HR
• Jeff McNeil 2-7, K
• Brandon Nimmo 2-7, 3 K
• Omar Narváez 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. How does Senga handle regular rest? June 4th was the first game Senga pitched on regular rest and he allowed four runs, three earned, over 2 2/3 innings. The Blue Jays were able to rack up four hits and work five walks against him in his shortest outing of the season. The defense behind him wasn’t great, but it was also clear he didn’t have his best stuff that night. The Mets need him to have at least a quality start tonight.
2. Francisco Lindor, the All-Star Finalist. When the first phase of All-Star voting came to an end last week, Francisco Lindor was the only Met who made it into the next round of voting. Lindor continued to show last night why he should be the National League starter. He made a tremendous throw in the field and crushed the ball going 2-for-4 at the plate. Since June 18th he’s now gone 11-for-31, with two doubles and four homers. He has a .436 OBP during this stretch (.308 on the season) and a 1.242 OPS (.760 on the season).
3. Brandon Nimmo’s very good season continues. Brandon Nimmo, like most seasons, is quietly putting together a very good season. Last night he hit is 9th and 10th homer of the season, which definitely puts him on pace to break his career best mark of 17. He has four triples, which means his career high of 8 in 2018 is in jeopardy. His 38 RBI’s means he has a real shot of eclipsing his career best of 64 he had last season. With 44 runs already scored, he likely doesn’t beat his career high of 102 from last season, but he’ll probably end with the second most runs scored in his career.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have had few nights this season where the bats, the starting pitching and the bullpen click on the same night. Yesterday the Mets got a solid five innings from Justin Verlander. Drew Smith allowed two runs in one inning in his return from suspension, and the rest of the pen looked great. But the bats never arrived and the Mets ended up losing 2-1. Now tonight the Mets will hope that the bats can come back and David Peterson can find a positive groove for the first time since his 2023 debut.

The Mets sent down Tylor Megill after his last start, but didn’t rearrange the Syracuse rotation, so David Peterson, despite his recent struggles, gets another chance in the majors tonight. As a Met this season, Peterson has pitched 39 innings over eight games with a 8.08 ERA, 4.78 FIP, 1.744 WHIP and a 52 ERA+. His H/9 was the worst it ever was in his career at a staggering 12.5 (next closest was 8.6) and his HR/9 was also a career worst at 1.8. Things didn’t get much better for Peterson in Syracuse. Over 37 innings (seven starts) he has a 4.86 ERA and 1.622 WHIP. In his first AAA game he pitched eight shutout innings. Since then he has a 6.00 ERA over 24 innings. He’s already faced the Brewers this season allowing five runs from five hits and five walks over four innings. The Brewers have the following career numbers against him:

• Willy Adames 2-6, 2B, 4 BB, K
• Brian Anderson 2-5, 2 BB, K
• Christian Yelich 1-6, BB, 3 K
• Mike Brosseau 1-6, 3 K
• William Contreras 1-4, BB, K
• Darin Ruf 1-5, BB, 2 K
• Raimel Tapia 0-3, 2 K
• Luis Urías 1-2
• Joey Wiemer 1-2, HR
• Jesse Winker 1-2, 2B

The Mets bats will get a look at an old NL East foe tonight in Juilo Teheran. Julio is off to a fantastic start for the Brewers with a 1.53 ERA, 3.92 FIP, 0.877 WHIP and 131 ERA+ over his first six starts. Julio has had a lot of bumps in the road since his long tenure with Atlanta. He’s been part of the Angels and Tigers organization and was injured for most of 2021. He then bounced around between the Atlantic and Mexican leagues before landing a minor league contract with the Padres. Things weren’t great for him there (5.63 ERA) and he opted out of his contract before coming over to Milwaukee. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Starling Marte 5-27, BB, 6 K
• Jeff McNeil 5-13, 3 2B, BB, K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-9, 2B, 4 BB, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 5-7, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB
• Tommy Pham 2-10, BB, 2 K
• Luis Guillorme 0-2, BB
• Mark Canha 1-1
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-0, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Work the counts! The Mets didn’t strike out a ton last night like they tend to do when the offense struggles, the just didn’t really fight at all at the plate. The Mets saw only 113 pitches in the game, including only 27 pitches when the Rea left the game after 6 1/3 innings. If you blinked the game was over!
2. Lindor has a five game hitting streak. Lindor has the longest current steak on the Mets right now and when you expand the window to his last eight games he has gone 9-for-27 at the plate with two doubles and three homers. That’s a 1.169 OPS compared to his .747 season OPS. He also has three stolen bases during this window!
   
3. Nittoli and McFarland have the fresh arms. The Mets bullpen usage has been the hot topic of conversation the last couple of days and only two arms now are really fresh after the last three games. Nittoli has allowed one hit over two games and 1 2/3 innings. McFarland was called up before yesterdays game. He has a 2.76 ERA over 32 2/3 innings and 23 games this season. He last pitched on the 24th and should be good to go tonight.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets will try to turn a new page this evening after possibly their worst game of the year yesterday. The Mets imploded in the 8th inning and lost a three-run lead thanks to an error and hitting two Phillies with the bases loaded. Buck Showalter made the curious decision to not use his best reliever in the bullpen while the gaming was slipping away. In the end, the Mets lost a game that they both needed to win and should have won. Things in Metsville are getting pretty bad with their playoff chances falling to 16% on Fangraphs.

Justin Verlander looks to turn around the team fortunes tonight as he makes his 10th start as a Met. Over 52 innings he has a 4.50 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 1.212 WHIP and a 93 ERA+. Since his second start of the season he has had good start followed by a bad start over and over again. Last time out was a bad start, allowing four runs over seven innings. Before that he allowed one run over six innings. If the pattern holds, tonight should be a good one. The Brewers have the following career numbers against Verlander:

• Jesse Winker 3-20, 2B, HR, 6 K
• Abraham Toro 0-9, K
• Christian Yelich 0-6, 2 K
• Willy Adames 1-5, 2 K
• Raimel Tapia 1-3
• Rowdy Tellez 0-3, 3 K

Colin Rea is on the bump tonight for the Brewers. Over 13 games and 62 2/3 innings this season he has a 4.88 ERA, 4.86 FIP, 1.277 WHIP and an 88 ERA+. He has struggled in his last two starts, allowing nine runs, eight earned, over 10 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Tommy Pham 0-3, BB, K
• Starling Marte 0-3, K
• Omar Narváez 0-2
• Francisco Lindor 0-1, K
• Danny Mendick 0-1, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Can the Mets set the tone for the series early? Colin Rea has struggled recently, but has pitched at least five innings in all but one of his starts this season. The Mets have an opportunity today to capitalize on his recent struggles, get him out of the game early and get into a Brewers bullpen that has pitched a lot in the last three days. This can cascade through the rest of the series.
2. Pete is still in the homer chase. One of the few bright spots for the Mets this season has been Pete Alonso’s power. He hit his 24th homer of the season yesterday and trails Matt Olson and Shohei Ohtani by one.
3. Brett Baty has quietly been collecting hits. Whether Buck plays Baty is another story, but Baty has been quietly collecting hits recently. In his last eight games he’s gone 10-for-32 at the plate with a double and seven runs scored. This gives him a .313 batting average compared to his .243 season batting average. His OBP isn’t that different than his season numbers (+0.015), due to his walk numbers and the power has disappeared. All that being said, he’s getting on base and figuring things out. He has four multi-hit games in his last eight.

Let’s Go Mets!

The last time the Mets won a series was against the Phillies on June 1st. The Mets will attempt to win another series against the Phillies, and get back on the right track this afternoon as they take on the Phillies in the rubber game.

Max Scherzer labored through the humidity yesterday and kept the Mets in the game all afternoon. When the Phillies erased the Mets 2-0 lead, the Mets were able punch right back and take a 4-2 lead. The Mets showed two things yesterday that they displayed all the time in 2022. First, the ability to take the lead right back after they lost. Second, to score runs by keeping the line moving. Was it a blip in 2023? Or can it become a trend?

Carlos Carrasco takes the mound today for the Mets. Showalter has scrambled the rotation a bit, having Max Scherzer yesterday pitch on regular rest in order to insert Carrasco in-between Scherzer and Verlander. Over nine games and 44 innings, Carrasco has a 6.34 ERA, 6.66 FIP, 1.545 WHIP and a 66 ERA+. His last good start was against the Phillies where he allowed only one run from six hits and walk over six innings of work. Since then he has allowed 12 runs, 11 earned, from 17 hits and eight walks over 12 2/3 innings, including four homers. The Phillies have the following numbers against him:

• Nick Castellanos 12-52, 3 BB, 16 K
• Bryce Harper 4-12, BB, 2 K
• Trea Turner 6-11, 3 2B
• J.T. Realmuto 2-10, 4 K
• Kyle Schwarber 0-8, BB, 3 K
• Brandon Marsh 1-4, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Bryson Stott 1-5, K
• Edmundo Sosa 1-3, HR, K
• Kody Clemens 1-2
• Garrett Stubbs 0-2

The Mets draw an old friend this afternoon as they take on Zack Wheeler. Over 15 starts (88 innings) Wheeler has a 3.48 ERA, 2.67 FIP, 1.114 WHIP and a 122 ERA+. At the start of June Wheeler had a terrible game against the Nationals where he allowed seven runs over 3 2/3 innings. In his three games since he has allowed only two runs, one earned, from 11 hits and four walks over 19 1/3 innings while striking out 19 batters. It is by far his best three game stretch this season. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Brandon Nimmo 9-33, 3 2B, HR, BB, 6 K
• Pete Alonso 9-25, 2 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
• Jeff McNeil 5-26, 2 BB, 6 K
• Francisco Lindor 6-23, 2B, 3B, 5 K
• Starling Marte 6-18, 2B, 3B, BB, 2 K
• Luis Guillorme 3-14, 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Tommy Pham 4-8, HR, 4 BB, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-9, HR, BB, 3 K
• Mark Canha 2-8
• Omar Narváez 1-5, 2 K
• Brett Baty 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Is Starling Marte coming around? Marte was a huge for the 2022 Mets. You can make the argument that their fall in September had a lot to do with Marte’s injury. On June 8th, Marte went 3-for-5 at the plate. In the 13 games since then, Marte has gone 17-for-56 with two doubles, a homer (which he hit yesterday) and 11 runs scored. His OPS in this stretch is .721, which is 70 points higher than his season OPS of .651. If the Mets were going to go on a little run to save their season, Marte needs to be part of it.
2. Who is available in the bullpen today? The Mets needed Robertson to get a five out save yesterday. Normally that would put Robertson in the not-available category for today, but only needed 13 pitches thanks to the defense turning two double plays. Ottavino, who Robertson bailed out, worked hard tossing 26 pitches. Brooks Raley has now pitched on back to back days. The rest of the bullpen is well rested. My gut says we’ll see Leone and Hartwig today who haven’t pitched since Wednesday.
3. The defensive giveth and taketh. Friday night’s game was a defensive mess for the Mets. Yesterday Guillorme, Lindor and Alonso turned three double plays, bailing out pitchers multiple times. One double play quickly killed a rally in the bottom of the 8th. Another sealed the Mets win.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets spiral continued last night as the offense could only muster three hits, falling to the Phillies 5-1. Defense plagued the Mets, making the night difficult for Kodai Senga as he got tagged for four runs, only two earned. The Mets also traded Eduardo Escobar for prospects in the middle of the game. Now the Mets look to refocus and force a rubber game against the Phillies tomorrow.

Max Scherzer had a tremendous start for the Mets his last time out, allowing one run from four hits while striking out eight over eight innings. The Mets need another start like that today. Over 12 starts and 64 2/3 innings this season, Max has a 4.04 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.160 WHIP and a 103 ERA+. His amazing start last time out came on the heels of two terrible starts that saw him give up 11 runs over nine innings. Before those games, Max had a terrific start against the Phillies, holding them to two runs, one earned, over seven innings. The Phillies have the following career numbers against Scherzer:

• J.T. Realmuto 7-61, 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, 18 K
• Bryce Harper 6-22, 2 2B, 3 HR, 6 BB, 9, K
• Nick Castellanos 5-22, 2 2B, BB, 10 K
• Alec Bohm 6-19, 5 K
• Kyle Schwarber 4-14, 2 HR, 4 BB, 5 K
• Josh Harrison 0-12, 5 K
• Bryson Stott 6-10, 2B, K
• Edmundo Sosa 2-11, 6 K
• Brandon Marsh 1-6, 3 K
• Darick Hall 1-3, K
• Kody Clemens 0-3, K
• Trea Turner 1-3, 2 K
• Garrett Stubbs 1-2, K

The Mets bats draw Christopher Sanchez in just his third game of the season. His first start was back on April 22nd where he allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings. He returned to the Phillies last week and pitched four innings of one hit, shutout baseball. He’s pitched in 10 games and 49 2/3 innings for Lehigh Valley this season with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.450 WHIP. The Mets have the following limited numbers against him:

• Starling Marte 1-4, K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-2, BB, K
• Pete Alonso 1-3, HR, K
• Mark Canha 0-2, BB
• Francisco Lindor 1-2
• Jeff McNeill 1-3, 2B, K
• Luis Guillorme 0-1, K
• Omar Narváez 0-1

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brandon Nimmo’s power year? Brandon Nimmo hit his eighth homer of the season last night. In 2018 he hit a career high 17 homers, he came close last year with 16 homers. This is now his 4th season with eight homers, and he’s on track right now to have more homers than he did in 2018. Further, last year he led the league with seven triples. He already has four triples this season, putting him on pace to break his career high mark of eight, also set in 2018. His next triple will make him the sole holder of #7 on the Mets all time leader board.
2. Jeff McNeil’s and Brandon Nimmo’s next double. Jeff McNeil has 129 doubles as a Met. If he hits a double today, he’ll tie Rusty Staub for #19 on the Mets all-time list. Brandon Nimmo is currently tied with Toddy Hundley with 118 (#22).
3. Walks and strikeouts. During the Mets 10-8 loss on Wednesday, they walked an astounding eight times, but also struck out 14 times. Last night the Mets walked only three times and they struck out 10 times. There was only one player, Tommy Pham, during Wednesday’s game that recorded two walks and two strikeouts. That is to say, even though the Mets offense was scored eight runs on Wednesday night, the strikeouts piling up shows that there were players struggling in the lineup. Six players had two strikeouts in that game. Can the Mets keep the strikeouts down today and get the walks back up?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have had a rough month – can they turn it around in Philly?

After taking the first game in Houston, the Mets dropped the next two games in disappointing fashion. Now they start a series against the red-hot Phillies. Despite losing their last two games, the Phillies have won seven of their last ten games and are now two games above .500. It’s worth noting that their expected record is 35-39 and they have a -19 run differential. The Mets have an expected record of 36-38, better than their actual record, with a -15 run differential.

The Mets turn to Kodai Senga today to get the team back on track. Over 13 games and 71 1/3 innings, Senga has a 3.53 ERA, 4.24 FIP, 1.332 WHIP and a 118 ERA+. In his last start he allowed four runs over 6 2/3 innings. Senga looked good against the Cardinals, racking up eight strikeouts, but the homers crushed him early. His best start of the season was against the Phillies, where he held them to one hit while striking out nine over seven innings of work. The Phillies have the following numbers against Senga:

• Nick Castellanos 0-3, K
• Kyle Schwarber 0-3, 2 K
• Bryson Stott 0-3, K
• Trea Turner 0-3
• Alec Bohm 0-2, K
• Kody Clemens 1-2, K
• Brandon Marsh 0-2, K
• J.T. Realmuto 0-2, K

The Mets bats will get to see an old friend today as they take on Taijuan Walker this evening. Over 15 starts and 77 1/3 innings he has a 4.31 ERA, 4.53 FIP, 1.280 WHIP and a 98 ERA+. Walker is coming off of an excellent start where he allowed only one run, scattering seven hits, over eight innings. In his last three starts he’s allowed only one run over 20 innings while striking out 21 batters. Before this hot streak he took on the Mets who got him for three runs from two hits and homer over four innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Walker:

• Tommy Pham 1-9, BB, K
• Mark Canha 4-7, 2 HR, BB
• Francisco Lindor 1-7, BB, K
• Starling Marte 0-3, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 1-4, 2B, BB
• Omar Narváez 0-2, BB
• Pete Alonso 0-1, BB, K
• Francisco Álvarez 0-2, K
• Brett Baty 0-2
• Eduardo Escobar 0-2
• Jeff McNeil 1-2
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Welcome Vinny Nittoli. Nittoli was traded to the Cubs from the Mets for future considerations at the start of June. In five games for Syracuse this season he has a 5.06 ERA over 5 1/3 innings. Nittoli has bounced around several organizations during his time in professional ball. He was drafted by the Mariners in 2014, released in 2017 and then signed with the Diamondbacks in 2018. He then went to the Blue Jays, back to the Mariners, to the Twins, to the Yankees, back to the Blue Jays, was traded to the Phillies and finally to the Cubs before joining the Mets. He’s only pitched three innings in the major leagues, including two scoreless innings last year.
2. Alonso is back! After having a few difficult games since returning from the injured list, Alonso hit his 23rd homer of the season on Wednesday. Alonso continues to lead the National league in homers and is only one homer behind Ohtani for the major league lead. Looking ahead to this series, Alonso has a .459 slugging percentage at Citizens Bank Park and has hit seven homers over 34 games.
3. Is Vogel-back? Daniel Vogelbach went 3-for-5 in Wednesday’s game. It was his second consecutive game where he had multiple hits. Since June 16th, when he hit his first homer in five weeks, Vogelbach has gone 7-for-17 at the plate with a double and two homers and only three strikeouts. Can he keep his 1.268 OPS during this stretch going?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Astros play a rubber game this afternoon full of daytime baseball. After taking the first game in the series, the Mets couldn’t come back last night losing 4-2. Justin Verlander allowed four runs over seven innings and the Mets couldn’t break through the Astros pitching until the 8th inning. Now the Mets will face a tough pitcher for a second straight day in Cristian Javier. Let’s get this series win!

Tylor Megill pitched n 15 games in all of 2022, and he will be pitching in his 15th game in 2023 this afternoon. So far, over 69 innings, Megill has a 4.83 ERA, 5.05 FIP, 1.609 WHIP and an 87 ERA+. Megill is coming off of a terrific start against the Cardinals where he held them to a solo homer and nothing else really over six innings, while tying his season high for strikeouts at seven. He looks to make back-to-back quality starts for the first time this season. Tonight is also an interesting question in familiarity. Tylor has never faced anyone on the Astros roster in a major league game before, but with the proximity of Astros and Mets spring training camps, he’s probably faced them in Florida.

Cristian Javier had a tremendous 2022 that saw him go from the bullpen to becoming a mainstay in the rotation. He’s off to another great start this year with a 2.90 ERA, 3.59 FIP, 1.041 WHIP and a 145 ERA+ over 80 2/3 innings. After four consecutive starts (starting on May 16th) of allowing exactly one run, he hit a bump on June 9th against Cleveland. Cleveland was able to tag him for four runs over five innings, probably his worst start of the season. He rebounded nicely his last time out against the Nationals, holding them scoreless over six innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Mark Canha 2-12, 3 BB, 7 K
• Tommy Pham 1-5, BB, K
• Starling Marte 0-4, K
• Eduardo Escobar 1-4, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Tommy Pham is having a month. Since June 4th, the first game in June when Tommy registered a plate appearance, Tommy has gone 17-for-53 with six doubles, four homers and 10 runs scored. That’s a .321/.330/.660 slash line. He is currently in a six game hitting streak where he has gone 9-for-24 with two doubles and homer (.375/.400/.583).
2. The Mets bullpen is rested. Thanks to Max Scherzer going eight innings on Monday and Verlander going seven yesterday, the short-handed Mets bullpen has gotten a lot of rest. Grant Hartwig made his major league debut on Monday and Jeff Brigham was the only pitcher used last night. Hopefully this means that bullpen is ready to go this afternoon if needed.
3. A series to forget so far for Brandon Nimmo. Brandon Nimmo has gone 0-for-9 at the plate in Houston with five strikeouts. The whole thing is very un-Nimmo. The only series I can find that really compares in is Atlanta at the end of April he went 1-for-12 with six strikeouts. Can Nimmo get some hits today before this starts to turn into a slump?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to win two-in-a-row against the Astros tonight! Yesterday the Mets got a dominating, vintager performance from Max Scherzer who held the Astros to one run over eight innings. The Mets offense went off scoring 11 runs, including five runs in the ninth inning to give the Mets their easiest victory of the season.

Tonight Justin Verlander makes his return to Houston as he faces off against their ace Framber Valdez. Verlander got his World Series ring before last night’s game, will we get a 2022 performance from him tonight?

Justin Verlander has tossed 45 innings this season with a 4.40 ERA, 4.44 FIP, 1.222 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. You have to go all the way back to 2014 to find a year where Verlander finished with an ERA+ under 100. Last week on Verlander day we wrote about how Verlander has been in a pattern since May 10th where he has a good/great start followed by a terrible start. His last time out he allowed one run over six innings, holding the Yankees to three hits. If the pattern holds, tonight would be a rough night for Justin. Hopefully he can break free tonight of this back and forth dichotomy of outcomes that has defined his season. The Astros have the following career numbers against him:

• Michael Brantley 22-76, 2 2B, 3B, 5 BB, 8 K
• José Abreu 19-49, 3 2B, 6 HR, 5 BB, 10 K
• Jose Altuve 9-16, 2B, 3 BB, K
• Alex Bregman 0-10, 3 K
• Martín Maldonado 0-8, 5 K

The Mets bats have scored a bunch of runs over the last two games, but face a test tonight against Framber Valdez. Over 14 starts (91 innings) Valdez has a 2.27 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 1.033 WHIP and a 186 ERA+. In his last five starts he has allowed five runs from 22 hits and eight walks over 34 innings. Three of those five runs came in the same start against the Blue Jays in Toronto. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Mark Canha 3-12, 2 BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 4-12, 2 2B, 3 K
• Tommy Pham 1-3, HR, 2 BB, K
• Francisco Lindor 0-3, BB
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-3, BB
• Pete Alonso 1-3
• Eduardo Escobar 0-2, BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-3, K
• Omar Narváez 0-1

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Daniel Vogelbach and Francisco Lindor are back! Vogelbach has gone 4-for-12 with two homers in his last four games, doubling his homerun total for the season. In his last two games Lindor has gone 3-for-8 with a double and two homers. The Mets could desperately use a Lindor/Vogelbach hot streak right now.
2. Multi-hit games for everyone! So many Mets players are coming off of a two hit day yesterday. Marte, Lindor, Pham, McNeil, Vogelbach and Baty each had two hits at the plate. For Pham, it continued his impressive hot streak he’s currently on. Everyone else really needed the big day at the plate.
3. The pressure is on for Houston. The Mets have been in free-fall for so long it barely even registers anymore (at least as a fan). The Astros are new to it and have currently lost five games in a row and seven of their last ten. If the Mets can get to Framber early tonight, and if Verlander looks good, they can keep that pressure up on the current World Champs.

Let’s Go Mets!