The Mets made a 1200+ mile journey last night to go from a day game in Miami to a day game in Milwaukee this afternoon for the Brewers home opener. The Mets are coming off of a series win Miami and are looking to rack up more wins before they return to Queens at the end of the week.
Yesterday’s game started off rocky as Kodai Senga loaded the bases and allowed a run before recording his first out. He rebounded, allowing no more runs while striking out eight batters. Tommy Pham got the start and was a star with the bat going 3-4 and hitting a homer. Who is going to be the player who steps up today?
Carlos Carrasco makes his 2023 debut today. His 2022 campaign was much better than his first time around with the Mets. Over 152 innings and 29 starts last season, Carrasco had a 3.97 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.329 WHIP and a 97 ERA+. This includes a start against the Brewers last September in Milwaukee where he allowed three runs from from five hits and two walks over four innings. The Brewers have the following career numbers against Carlos:
- Christian Yelich 3-17, 2B, 2 BB, 10 K
- Brian Anderson 3-12, 2B, K
- Willy Adames 7-9, 2B, HR, BB, K (Yes, actually 7-9)
- Luke Voit 0-7, 2 BB, 3 K
- Jesse Winker 3-9, 2 2B, 3 K
- Rowdy Tellez 3-7, 2 2B, BB, 3 K
- William Contreras 3-6, 2 HR, K
- Luis Urías 1-6
Freddy Peralta gets the home opener for the Brewers this afternoon. Last season, over 18 games and 17 starts, he pitched 78 innings with a 3.58 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 1.038 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. Peralta hasn’t faced the Mets since the end of the 2021 season where he allowed four runs from five hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Eduardo Escobar 0-8, 6 K
- Starling Marte 2-7, 3B
- Tommy Pham 1-5, BB, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-3, HR, BB, K
- Daniel Vogelbach 1-4, K
- Pete Alonso 1-1, 2B, BB, HBP
- Brandon Nimmo 0-3
- Tim Locastro 0-1, K
- Jeff McNeil 0-2, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Energy Up: Home Openers have a lot of energy and the Mets will be the visiting team for the second time in five games. On top of extra fanfare, this newly built Brewers lineup have great great career numbers against Carrasco. The Brewers have also had an off-day and are traveling from Chicago while the Mets have played everyday so far and had a much longer journey. Can the Mets feed on the energy and play spoiler today?
- What did you expect with Canha and Locastro? The 2022 Mets broke the franchise record getting hit by an astounding 112 pitches last season. Through the first four games this season the Mets have been hit four times, mainly thanks to yesterday’s game when Locastro was hit twice and Lindor was hit once (Canha was hit earlier in the season). Currently, by small sample size, the Mets are on pace to break pre-modern era record set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1898 (160 hit by pitches). We are hoping this isn’t the case as more HBP means a higher injury risk. But with Canha and Locastro on the same roster, breaking last year’s record seems like destiny.
- Keep the ball in the park Carrasco! When Carlos Carrasco returned from injury in 2021 he struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark. Over his career he has allowed homers at a pace of 1.1 per nine innings but in 2021 he allowed them at a rate of 2.0, leading to an ERA over six and an ERA+ of 67. Last season he allowed 1.0 homers per nine inning and he had a much better season. Carlos allowed four homers in 13 innings during spring training. Can Carrasco return to his 2022 form in his debut?
Let’s Go Mets!
