Happy Pi Day from a wintery day in New York!
While it’s winter weather up in the tri-state area today, the weather is nice, sunny, and in the low to mid 70’s down in St. Lucie today as the Mets take on the Nationals. The Mets will try to return to a .500 winning percentage this spring.
Yesterday the Mets fired on all cylinders, beating the Marlins 9-3 on the road. Darin Ruf had his first great day of spring, collecting two hits including a double and a walk in four trips to the plate. Mark Vientos had his first terrible day at the plate collecting three strikeouts.
The big story though from yesterday’s game was Tylor Megill who allowed no runs from three hits and a walk over four innings while striking out three. With Quintana down for an unknown, but seemingly lengthy, amount of time, we now have a rotation battle opening up between Tylor Megill and today’s starter David Peterson.
Three Things To Watch For:
- David Peterson: Peterson has looked good so far in spring, allowing no hits and three walks in four innings while striking out four. He’s been sidelined with a foot injury and returns to the mound today. Last season Peterson pitched 105 2/3 innings over 28 games, 19 starts, with a 3.83 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.334 WHIP and a 101 ERA+. No matter what happens today, the position battle with Peterson and Megill will probably continue until the end of spring training.
- Danny Mendick: The Mets signed Mendick as utility depth this off-season and he’ll see his third official game of the season today. Last Wednesday was his first game (exhibition against Nicaragua) in eight months. He’s been recovering from an ACL injury that happened during a collision on the field in late June last year. Before the injury he was hitting .289/.343/.443 over 31 games with a 121 OPS+. Could Mendick join the ranks of the lofted bench-mob players?
- Two Walks or Two Jogs? Brandon Nimmo made his long anticipated Mets debut on Sunday and got two walks in his first two plate appearances. I wasn’t watching the game, but I’m assuming Brandon Nimmo took his patented jog to first base after ball four each time. Nimmo gets the leadoff spot again this afternoon!
Let’s Go Mets!
