Will the Mets play baseball tonight? Probably not!
The weather in Queens has been dreadful this week. There was heavy rain Monday morning that saturated the field before the Mets and Tigers played on a clear Monday night. It rained all day yesterday and there was a fleeting hope that the Mets and Tigers maybe could get the game in during a small window late in the evening, but that never materialized. Now the Mets repeat the same waiting process today with even worse weather. It is difficult for the Mets and Tigers to reschedule one game, let alone two, but it’s trending that way right now.
The Mets officially are having one of their roughest starts to the season ever after last night’s loss. They are now 0-4, which has happened only four other times (1962, 1963, 1964 and 2005). Monday night the Mets got amazing pitching for the first nine innings of the game but could not turn any of their hits into runs. On the positive side, multiple players had extremely hard-hit lineouts, and at some point that has to start to break for the Mets.
Adrian Houser will make his Mets debut tonight. Over 23 games, 21 starts, last season he tossed 111 1/3 innings with a 4.12 ERA, 3.99 FIP, 1.392 WHIP and a 105 ERA+. According to Baseball Savant, while Houser left a lot to be desired last season in terms of missing bats (xBA 25th percentile, Chase % 20th percentile, Hard-Hit % 5th percentile) he produced a lot of ground balls (73rd percentile). If the defense is strong behind him he can be quite effective. The Tigers have the following career numbers against him:
- Javier Báez 2-10 2B, BB, 2 K
- Mark Canha 0-2, K
- Jack Flaherty 0-2
- Carson Kelly 0-1, K
Casey Mize makes his return to the mound for his first start since Tommy John surgery, which has sidelined the former number 1 overall pick since 2022 (where he made only two starts). In his only full season, 2021, he made 30 starts totaling 150 1/3 innings with a 3.71 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 1.137 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. If the Tigers are going to make a surprise run for the post-season this year, they need Casey Mize to make a triumphant return. A few Mets players have seen Mize in previous games:
- Harrison Bader 0-2
- Francisco Lindor 0-2, BB
- DJ Stewart 1-4, BB, 2 K
- Joey Wendle 1-2
Three Things To Watch For:
- The top of the lineup sets the tone. In Monday night’s game the top of the lineup (Nimmo, Lindor, Alonso) went 0-for-11 with two walks. Nimmo and Lindor are off to cold starts this season and Alonso had his first rough game of the season. When the top of the lineup fully turns around, the whole team will follow.
- Reed Garrett: Reed Garrett was recalled before the start of Monday’s game with Tylor Megill landing on the injured list. Over nine games last season Garrett pitched 17 innings with a 5.82 ERA, 4.90 FIP, 1.235 WHIP and a 74 ERA+. In one game this season he pitched two innings for Syracuse allowing a hit and nothing else while striking out four batters. If there is an extended delay in the middle of today’s game or a doubleheader later this week, the Mets are going to need Garrett to eat some innings save the bullpen.
- Early Managerial Trends: Edwin Díaz has pitched in two games so far this season, neither of them being a save situation. In Edwin’s first game, he came in while the Mets were losing – this outing made sense because Edwin was overdue at that point to get into game. He came into last night’s game with the Mets tied 0-0 in the top of the ninth. He had two good outings so non-save situations hasn’t been an issue. The Mets haven’t given him a save situation yet. Once we get farther into the season, it will be interesting to see if Edwin is brought into tie games at home in the future.
Let’s Go Mets!
