Tuesday night was not ideal for the Mets who struggled in their first game of the series against the Braves in Atlanta. Potentially things can get thrown into chaos tonight. Atlanta is expecting quite a bit of rain today from a system that is unrelated to the hurricane that is on the way Thursday night. As of writing, MLB hasn’t released a clear plan of next steps if one or two games get cancelled due to the weather.
The most important thing for the Mets though is to just take this one day at a time and remember what got them to this point – the vibes! This is the vibes team!
David Peterson has pitched 114 innings with a 3.08 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 1.333 WHIP and a 128 ERA+. Peterson is coming off of a rough start against the Phillies where he allowed five runs, four earned, over 3 2/3 innings, his second five run start in his last three. Overall since August 3rd Peterson has pitched 60 1/3 innings with a 2.69 ERA, 2.83 FIP. The last time he faced the Braves was back on July 28th where he allowed four runs over five innings in Queens. The Braves have the following career numbers against Peterson:
- Ozzie Albies 2-12, K
- Orlando Arcia 1-5, 3 BB, 2 K
- Travis d’Arnaud 0-11, 3 BB, 6 K
- Adam Duvall 4-12, 2 2B, HR, BB, 4 K
- Michael Harris II 1-10, 2B, 4 K
- Ramon Laureano 0-2
- Sean Murphy 0-4, K
- Matt Olson 4-16, 4 HR, 3 BB, 8 K
- Marcell Ozuna 3-17, 2 HR, BB, 6 K
- Jorge Soler 3-7, HR, BB, K
Chris Sale has had a dominant year for Atlanta leading the league in ERA (2.38), FIP (2.08) and ERA+ (174). He has a 1.013 WHIP over 177 2/3 innings. Since August 12th he has a 1.44 ERA, 1.68 FIP over 50 innings spread over eight starts. The Mets were able to do some damage against him in July though. The Mets scored two runs over 7 1/3 innings on their way to beating Atlanta 3-2. It has been done, it can be done again! The Mets have the following career numbers against Sale:
- Pete Alonso 0-5, 3 K
- Francisco Alvarez 0-2
- José Iglesias 11-36, 2 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
- Francisco Lindor 14-34, 2 2B, 2 HR, BB, 7 K
- Starling Marte 0-3, 2 K
- J.D. Martinez 9-41, 2 2B, 3 HR, 3 BB, 18 K
- Brandon Nimmo, 1-4 K
- Tyrone Taylor 0-1, BB
- Mark Vientos 0-3, 2 K
- Jesse Winker 2-3
Three Things To Watch For:
- The Mets X-Factors. The Mets have had two X-Factors in 2024. First is Francisco Lindor, who was the Mets offense for large swaths of the season. In the middle of the game on Tuesday night he got his cleats and ended the game on deck. Then there’s Mark Vientos. Vientos made sure the Mets had something positive to talk about after the game. He went 2-for-4 Tuesday night with his 26th home run of the season. It was his third multi-hit game in his last six, where he is hitting .318/.400/.636.
- The Vibes. The SNY broadcast on Tuesday night talked about how the 2022 Mets tightened up throughout the last month of the season, and how that negatively impacted them in the final week of the season. The vibes of the 2024 Mets is their identity. They’re the fun team. They’re team that is having too much fun supporting each other to care about what the other team team is doing. On a night where they are facing the possible 2024 Cy Young award winner, the Mets should channel the spirit that brings their success. They are the fun team – and when they have fun, they start to win!
- Scoreboard Watching. The Giants did the Mets a real solid on Tuesday night. Right after the Mets dropped the game to the Braves, the Giants started their rout of the Diamondbacks. The loss kept the Diamondbacks in the third wild card spot and gives the Mets more avenues to the post-season. Tonight the Diamondbacks counter with one of their best pitchers this season, Zac Gallen (3.74 ERA) against the rookie Mason Black (5.88 ERA).
Let’s Go Mets!
