“OK, we won a game yesterday. If we win today, it’s called ‘two in a row’. And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called a ‘winning streak’. It’s has happened before”. – Lou Brown (James Gammon), Major League
The Mets had the type of game last night that has so alluded them in 2023. An easy, cruise control win. The Mets scored bunch early. The starting pitching from Tylor Megill was great. The bullpen closed the door behind them. The game was never in doubt. This was the calling card of the 2022 Mets. Can the Mets do it again today?
Kodai Senga makes his 13th start of the season tonight. Over his first 12 games and 64 2/3 innings, he has a 3.34 ERA, 4.09 FIP, 1.376 WHIP with a 124 ERA+. Senga had a fairly terrible start back on June 4th. He allowed four runs from four hits and five walks over 2 2/3 innings. He rebounded in his last start allowing only one unearned run over seven innings of work from two hits and four walks. It was his second time in his last three starts that he allowed 0 earned runs. Senga allowed five homers in his first four major league starts. Since then he’s allowed only two homers in seven starts. When he keeps the ball in the park, and his walks down, he’s tremendous.
The Cardinals send out their ageless wonder Adam Wainwright tonight. Over seven starts and 37 1/3 innings he has a 5.79 ERA, 4.43 FIP, 1.714 WHIP and a 75 ERA+. His WHIP shows a lot of his struggles sitting about 500 points higher than his career mark at 1.223 and about 450 points higher than last season. In his first four starts of the season he allowed at least four runs in every start. Since then he’s allowed exactly three runs in each start, but hasn’t finished the sixth inning. He’s allowed at least eight hits in his last four starts. The Mets have the following career numbers against Wainwright:
- Starling Marte 14-51, 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 9 K
- Omar Narváez 9-24, 3 2B, HR, 3 BB, 2 K
- Eduardo Escobar 4-15, 2B, 3 BB, 3 K
- Tommy Pham 5-14, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB
- Daniel Vogelbach 2-13, HR, BB, 5 K
- Francisco Lindor 2-9, BB, 2 K
- Jeff McNeil 1-8, BB, 2 K
- Mark Canha 2-5, 2B, 3 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Who’s ready in the bullpen? The Mets are playing down Drew Smith for ten days and his roster spot. Luckily last night Walker and Leone were able to get the job done, leaving everyone else in the bullpen without at least two calendar days of rest. The Mets need all of theri starters to go deep into games for the next week to keep the pressure off the bullpen. For context, on Tuesday and Wednesday the Mets used five different relivers each night.
- The DH going forward. Daniel Vogelbach returned to the lineup last night and hit his first homerun since May 7th. There was a lot of criticism before the game (correct criticism in my opinion) that Vogelbach was starting as the DH instead of Álvarez. The Mets are still running into an issue where they are not giving Vientos the playing time he needs to get consistent ABs. Pham is a great example of a player for the Mets who has turned his season around after getting consistent at bats. We’ll be paying attention to how the Mets play the DH spot for the rest of the weekend, especially with the late afternoon start and the early afternoon start tomorrow for the catchers on staff.
- More Jeff McHits: Jeff McNeil recorded his third two-hit game in his last seven last night. During his last seven games Jeff is 8-for-29 with a double and a homer, hitting .276/.323/.414. This is essentially his season line. Right now Jeff McNeil is feast or famine, collecting hits in bunches or none at all. Does McNeil eat today against Wanwright’s WHIP?
Let’s Go Mets!
