The Dodgers were able to snap the Mets winning streak yesterday as the Mets offense fell silent. Now the Mets and Dodgers have a matinee rubber game matchup this afternoon. If the Mets win, they would clinch their fourth series victory in a row.
Last night the Mets announced that Carlos Carrasco was heading to the 15-day IL and that Verlander’s rehab schedule sets him to return near the beginning of May. So the Mets still have two more weeks of surviving a rotation that is patched together. That means there is even more pressure tonight on Max Scherzer who has battled velocity issues and soreness so far this season. He skipped his last scheduled start (Sunday) to rest up and be 100% for tonight’s game. The Mets really need Max Scherzer to be Max Scherzer today.
Over three starts and 16 1/3 innings this season, Max has a 4.41 ERA, 6.07 FIP, 1.224 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. His last start was on April 10th against the Padres where he held their explosive lineup to one hit and no runs while walking three over five innings of work. He wasn’t classic Max in that start – he labored through the whole thing – but it was a great rebound from his previous start where he allowed back to back to back homers against the Brewers. His pitch count became an issue early on and he used his grit and expertise to make sure most of the full counts batters got into turned into outs and not walks. Tonight will be Max’s first start against the Dodgers since he was a Dodger back in 2021. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against him:
- Freddie Freeman 11-47, 4 2B, 3 HR, 7 BB, 12 K
- Miguel Rojas 9-35, 3 2B, HR, 3 BB, 5 K
- David Peralta 6-20, 2 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 K
- Jason Heyward 5-17, 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
- Max Muncy 4-13, HR, 3 BB, 4 K
- Chris Taylor 2-12, 2B, 3B, BB, 7 K
- Mookie Betts 1-5, 2B, BB
Noah Syndgergaard will finally face the New York Mets! Syndergaard signed with the Angels before the 2022 season. Last season when the Mets and Angels matched up in Anaheim, the Angels manager gave Syndergaard two extra days of rest, moving him out of the series against the Mets. He then got traded to the Phillies in the middle of the season and got an extra day of rest again when the Phillies and Mets matched up. In the background of all of this was a bit of messy separation of the former Mets star and the organization.
Syndergaard has made three starts and pitched 16 innings with a 5.63 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 1.250 WHIP and an 80 ERA+. The numbers are a bit deceptive though. Syndergaard had a great start against the Diamondbacks to start the season, then a terrible start against the Diamondbacks the second time around. Last time out he gave the exact definition of a quality start – six innings, three runs – against the Chicago Cubs. The Mets have the following career numbers against Syndergaard:
- Tommy Pham 4-10, 2B, 2 K
- Starling Marte 0-8, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-3, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Both of the Mets top prospects will start at the same time! Brett Baty and Francisco Álvarez should both get starts today. They both played in last night’s game, getting pinch hits. Álvarez has had a lot of time on the bench since he was called up. Despite Nido’s hot spring, he’s been cold since the season started so it’s been frustrating to see Álvarez not get reps out in the field. I know this isn’t the reason why the Mets did this, but at least the first game both Baty and Álvarez will play in happens during the afternoon and not in the middle of the night for the Mets fan base.
- Mookie at shortstop? Dave Roberts told reporters before yesterday’s game that he was thinking about using Mookie at short tonight. Mookie has been taking reps for a few days now at short. The last time Betts has played shortstop was in 2012 for the Lowell Spinners.
- Jeff McNeil: Jeff McNeil has quietly rebounding from his first week or so of the season. He’s hitting .254/.382/.349 overall which isn’t tremendous, but the .382 is good for the second highest on the team behind Brandon Nimmo and ahead of Pete Alonso. He is still quite a bit behind his career batting average (.305) and his current 104 OPS+ is low Jeff, but this could all be due to his slow start to the season. In his last 10 games his stat line improves to .281/.452/.438.
Let’s Go Mets!
