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:
- 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?
- 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.
- 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!
