Game Preview: Mets @ Phillies

Let’s try that again!

The Mets look to finally get their season started tonight after a Covid-19 delay. Last Thursday, Mets fans woke up to amazing news. Overnight, Francisco Lindor agreed to a 10-year extension with the Mets. Everything was looking great! However, concern was starting to grow with the Nationals. The previous day they announced they had a positive case and 5 team members (4 players) who were deemed close contacts and couldn’t play. But they didn’t make any corresponding moves. By late morning on Thursday, rumors were flying that there were more positive tests and eventually the game was called off completely. The next day, the Nationals announced they had a full on outbreak and they whole series needed to be postponed.

Meanwhile, the Phillies, who the Mets will now open up their season against, are coming off of a three game sweep of the Atlanta Braves (who are facing at least one postponed game with the Nationals). So the Mets will have to shake off the rust today, playing their first game in a week, against a team that is on a roll.

With all that, it’s great to state: IT’S DEGROM DAY. Jacob deGrom takes the mound for the Mets. Last year in 12 starts and 68.0 innings, he posted a 2.38 ERA, 2.26 FIP, 0.959 WHIP and 183 ERA+. He also recorded a league leading 104 K’s for a second straight season. In two starts against the Phillies last year, deGrom allowed 4 runs over 9.0 innings while striking out 13 batters. The Phillies have the following numbers against him:

Andrew Knapp 4-9, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
Ronald Torreyes 2-3, 2B
Byrce Harper 11-38, 2 2B, 2 HR, 8 BB, 13 K
Rhys Hoskins 3-16, 2B, 4 BB, 6 K
Andrew McCutchen 5-22, BB, 7 K
Jean Segura 4-19, 2B, 5 K
Matt Joyce 2-16, 2B, 3 BB, 9 K
J.T. Realmuto 4-25, 2B, 9 K
Didi Gregorius 3-19, 4 K

The Mets bats will get to see the Phillies debut of Matt Moore. The long time Ray was traded in 2016 to the Giants at the deadline and to the Rangers after the end of the 2017 season. He then signed a contract with the Tigers after the 2018 season was a free agent from the end of October 2019 until February when the Phillies picked him up. Matt Moore got off to a good start with the Tigers, pitching 10.0 scoreless innings over 2 starts but an injury knocked him out for the rest of the year (he was avoiding a comebacker which messed up his knee). Spring Training stats don’t mean much, but we don’t really have recent numbers on Moore. In Spring he pitched 15.2 innings over 5 outings with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.149 WHIP. The Mets have the following numbers against Moore: