Changes are coming to the New York Mets tonight in Philadelphia.
The Mets lost a rare Tuesday afternoon game / Tuesday getaway day game to Phillies 4-0, with the Mets barely putting up much of an offensive threat the afternoon. Before today’s game Joey Wendle will be officially DFA’d with Mark Vientos getting the call up to help the Mets struggling offense. Further, Joey Lucchesi will get the start over Adrian Houser, who had to warm up in Tuesday’s game because of the amount of pitchers the Mets used. It’s going to be a tall order for the Mets tonight against one of the best pitchers in baseball, can the roster shakeup boost everyone else’s performance?
Joey Lucchesi will make his 2024 debut this evening. Last season he made nine starts for the Mets totaling 46 2/3 innings with a 2.89 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.307 WHIP and a 144 ERA+. He has had a pretty good stint in Syracuse so far this season, pitching 38 1/3 innings over seven starts with a 3.29 ERA and 1.304 WHIP. The Phillies have the following career numbers against Joey:
- Alec Bohm 0-1, K
- Bryce Harper 1-1, BB
- Jeff Hoffman 0-3, K
- J.T. Realmuto 0-3, K
- Kyle Schwarber 0-5, BB, 4 K
The Mets offense will have to figure things out against one of the best pitchers in baseball right now, Ranger Suárez. Over eight starts (54 innings), Suárez has a 1.50 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 0.772 WHIP (league leading) and a 268 ERA+. He also leads the league in BB/9 at 1.3 and wins at 7. Suárez started the month looking a bit more human allowing three runs over six innings to the Giants but then rebounded in his last start holding the Marlins to no runs and three hits over seven innings. The Mets were able to get to Suárez in his two starts against them last year, scoring six runs from 10 hits over 12 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Mark Vientos 2-6, HR, 2 K
- Pete Alonso 0-12, 4 BB, 2 K
- Brett Baty 1-3
- Francisco Lindor 3-12, HR, K
- Starling Marte 4-12, BB, K
- J.D. Martinez 1-4, 2B, BB, 2 K
- Jeff McNeil 2-8, 2B, 3B, K
- Tomás Nido 0-2, 2 K
- Brandon Nimmo 3-16, 3 BB, 2 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-5, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- The new timeshare at third. Mark Vientos had a short stint in the majors earlier this season when Starling Marte went on the bereavement list. Vientos seized the opportunity and went 3-for-7 at the plate with a critical homer. In Syracuse this year he is hitting .285/.376/.500. Brett Baty has five extra-base hits this season and is hitting .230/.292/.317. There was a 15 game stretch early on where Baty hit .333/.390/.407. In his 23 games since he is hitting .159/.227/.261. We’ll be checking in a week from now to see how playing time develops for both players.
- Free passes are crushing the Mets. It’s not rocket science, walking opposing hitters increases the chances of something bad happening. The Mets allowed the Phillies to take the lead in the third on Tuesday thanks to a combination of walks and a hit by pitch. It was walks that allowed the Phillies to win on Monday. Overall they have walked 12 batters in their last two games and currently lead the majors with 187 walks (Miami is #2 with 177).
- Straight up, not having a good time in Philly. In 2023 the Mets went 1-7 in Philadelphia including losing their last five straight. This was a massive departure from 2022 when the Mets went 7-3 in the city of brotherly love. Obviously there are some differences between the two seasons that we are glossing over.
Let’s Go Mets!
