In his last two starts, Jacob deGrom was masterful through 7 innings. Then in one start he kicked off the 8th inning a bad way and the bullpen had a historic meltdown. In the next start the bullpen had a meltdown on their own in the 8th inning. Last night broke the trend! Jacob dominated through 7.1 innings and the bullpen held the game together as the Mets took the opener in the series from the Padres.
Jason Vargas will finally make his Mets debut tonight after breaking his catching hand in Spring Training. Jason, signed to increase the depth of the Mets rotation, now becomes a critical piece as Harvey has landed himself in the bullpen and Matz and Wheeler are raising questions again. Last year, an All-Star season, Jason went 18-11 over 32 games and 179.2 innings posting a 4.16 ERA, 4.67 FIP, 1.330 WHIP and 109 ERA+. If he sounds familiar to you, like you swear you’ve seen him in the orange in blue, well first, you’re correct, and second, thanks for following the Mets for over 10 years! Vargas pitched 10.1 innings for the Mets in 2007 leading to 14 ER from 17 hits and 2 walks. He has made one career start in San Diego where he allowed 2 runs from 7 hits and 2 walks in 6.0 innings. The Padres have the following numbers against him:
- Hosmer 1-13, 2 BB, 3 K
- Headley 3-13, 5 K
- Myers 1-7, 2 BB, 3 K
- Ellis 2-3
The Mets bats will face Joey Lucchesi tonight for the first time. The rookie is 2-1 over 5 games and 26.2 innings with a 2.70 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.125 WHIP and 141 ERA+. He’s coming off his worst start of the season allowing 4 runs in 5.0 innings from 5 hits and 4 walks. His first start of the season also wasn’t the best, which combined with his ERA/FIP/WHIP numbers let you know how dominate he was in starts 2-4. Joey was 11-7 in 139.0 innings last year in the minors with a 2.20 ERA and 2.78 RAvg striking out 148 batters and walking only 33. He split the season in High A and AA. The Padres, seeing something the rest of the world was just starting to (he was a fringe top 100 prospect if that at the time) moved him to start the second game of the season this year.
Let’s Go Mets!
