The Mets have a chance to complete a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon in St. Louis. Now winners of six of their last seven games, the Mets are playing like a different team since they got routed in a doubleheader last week against the Braves. After those games were complete, the Mets were nine games out of the Wild Card. Now they are six games out. There’s a lot for the Mets to overcome in the next couple of weeks, and their opponents have been on the weaker side this past week. That being said, the Mets have shown a tremendous amount of fight and grit in the last week. Let’s see what happens!
Carlos Carrasco has tossed 84 1/3 innings over 18 starts with a 6.40 ERA, 5.83 FIP, 1.625 WHIP and a 65 ERA+. The good news is he’s allowed only two runs in each of his last two starts. The bad news is that in last start he threw 88 pitches over only three innings and the Mets bullpen had to bail him out the rest of the way. Carlos already faced the Cardinals this season and it wasn’t good. He allowed six runs, five earned, from five hits and three walks over three innings. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against him:
- Paul Goldschmidt 4-8, 2 2B, K
- Willson Contreras 2-9
- Tommy Edman 2-6, 2B, 2 K, 2 BB
- Tyler O’Neil1-5, 2 K
- Taylor Motter 0-3, K
- Nolan Arenado 3-4, HR, K
- Jordan Walker 0-1, BB
The Mets bats will try to continue the roll they’ve been on facing off against Dakota Hudson today. Over 10 games, four starts, this season, Hudson has thrown 38 innings with a 4.03 ERA, 4.92 FIP, 1.316 WHIP and a 108 ERA+. Hudson rejoined the rotation after the trade deadline and since then he has allowed eight runs over 18 2/3 innings (3.86 ERA, 6.05 FIP), from 14 hits and five walks. Homers have been his weakness, he’s allowed four in this stretch, but has limited the overall damage those homers have done. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Pete Alonso 3-7, HR, BB, K
- Brandon Nimmo 1-6
- Jeff McNeil 0-4, K
- Francisco Lindor 0-0, 2 BB
- Omar Narváez 1-3
- Rafael Ortega 1-4, 2B
- Danny Mendick 0-1
Three Things To Watch For:
- Can the Mets fire on all cylinders again? The Mets are on a good run right now, but there have been games they’ve won, like Carrasco last start, where a major part of the team was off. Mainly it’s been difficult for them to get their offense and their starting pitching to both click on the same night. That has happened two nights in a row. The result has been stress-free bullpen use and games that haven’t been close. This was a key part of the 2022 Mets that was missing most of this season.
- What does Lindor do after his big night? Lindor was a table setter all night yesterday. He went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, and scored three runs for the Mets. We’ve talked a lot this week about players having big nights at the plate, but the rest of the Mets bats not necessarily pushing them across the plate. Behind Lindor was Alonso going 2-for-4 and Jeff McNeil going 3-for-5. More of this for the next few weeks please!
- DJ Stewart. Stewart had another massive night at the plate going 2-for-4 hitting his fifth homer of the season. It was also his fourth homer in his last three games. How long can Stewart ride this streak?
Let’s Go Mets!
