The Mets play an elimination game this afternoon in Queens. It has been a couple of weeks since the Mets have played an elimination game where they were the team that could be eliminated, but the end of September through the wild card series was filled with metaphorical elimination days.
When this team has been pushed all the way to the brink, they have pushed back. Do they have a little more magic for one more game?
David Peterson gets the start this afternoon! Over 21 games in the regular season he pitched 121 innings with a 2.90 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 1.289 WHIP and a 136 ERA+. He ended the regular season with an amazing seven inning out against the Brewers holding them to only one run. Peterson allowed no runs and four hits in his first three relief appearances this post season over 6 1/3 innings. Peterson’s first start of the season was against the Dodgers where he allowed three runs, two earned, scattering seven hits over five innings. In his one relief outing against the Dodgers this series he allowed three runs, two earned, over 2 1/3 innings. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Peterson:
- Austin Barnes 0-1, BB, K
- Mookie Betts 2-9, 2B, K
- Tommy Edman 1-1
- Freddie Freeman 6-19, 2 HR, BB, 7 K
- Enrique Kiké Hernández 4-7, 2B, 2 K
- Teoscar Hernández 2-5, HR
- Gavin Lux 0-2, BB
- Max Muncy 2-5, HR, K
- Shohei Ohtani 3-8, K
- Andy Pages 1-2
- Will Smith 2-3, 2B, HR, BB
- Chris Taylor 0-5, 3 K
The Mets bats will look to exorcise their demons this afternoon against Jack Flaherty. Flaherty had a fantastic start against the Mets in game one, holding them to two hits and two walks and nothing else over seven innings. In his postseason start before that against the Padres he allowed four runs over 5 1/3 innings. In his four starts between 9/14 and 10/6 he allowed 14 runs over 19 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Jack Flaherty:
- Pete Alonso 2-5, 2B, BB, 2 K
- Francisco Alvarez 0-2, K
- Jose Iglesias 1-7, K
- Francisco Lindor 0-6, 2 BB, 2 K
- Starling Marte 4-25, HR, BB, 8 K
- J.D. Martinez 1-2, K
- Jeff McNeil 1-3, K
- Brandon Nimmo 0-3
- Tyrone Taylor 0-6, 2 K
- Mark Vientos 0-3, 2 K
- Jesse Winker 9-24, 3 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 3 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- How do the Mets come out of the gate? The last series in September against the Brewers the Mets came out tight and took some of the worst at bats we saw this season. Quick at bats, trying to do too much and the Brewers just ran all over the Mets. At the end of the series the Mets came out like themselves, loose, fun, etc and smashed the Brewers. Then they did the same thing against the Braves. They have every reason to come out tight this afternoon, against a pitcher that shut them down earlier in the week. How the Mets come out in the first inning will tell us a lot about how the afternoon goes.
- No free passes! The Mets allowed 22 walks over the first three games of the series (7, 8 and then 7). The key for Thursday’s game was to limit the walks! Instead the Mets walked nine Dodgers. It’s difficult to win when you walk opposing hitters so often. The Mets need to keep the base paths clear to give themselves a chance.
- Mets big hitters need to come through. The Mets scored only two runs on Thursday from 10 hits. Several times throughout the game the Mets would get a rally going only to do nothing with it. At the end of the night they were 0-for-10 with RISP stranding 12 batters. Mark Vientos provided a huge solo shot at the start of the game. Today the Mets need someone to step up in a big moment to score some runs.
Let’s Go Mets!
