“We really believe it every time” – Francisco Lindor, after Saturday night’s walk-off win.
The Mets had traffic on the base paths most innings in last night’s game, consistently getting runners on and in scoring position. They just couldn’t get runners home. Then Jesse Winker hit his second triple of the game, bringing in two runs. Lindor would hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth.
The confidence that Lindor talked about after the game (that Will Sammon credits to Pete Alonso in linked article) is what made the Mets a force in June of last year. We love to see that confidence in April and we hope it can carry the Mets to a sweep of the Blue Jays this afternoon at Citi Field.
David Peterson allowed only two runs off of five hits and three walks in his first start while striking out nine batters. Obviously its early, but so far this season his 36 Whiff% is good for the 85th percentile. Peterson had a rough start against the Blue Jays last September where he allowed five runs, four earned over 4 1/3 innings from eight hits hits and two walks while striking out two. The Blue Jays have the following career numbers against Peterson:
- Bo Bichette 0-3, K
- Ernie Clement 1-3
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 0-4, BB
- Tyler Heineman 0-1
- Alejandro Kirk 1-3, 2B
- Anthony Santander 1-6, BB, K
- Davis Schneider 1-2, 3B, K
- George Springer 1-3
Bowden Francis had a very similar stat line to David Peterson in his first start of the season. Francis allowed two runs from two hits and three walks while striking out four over six innings. Last season Francis split time between the bullpen and the rotation totaling 103 2/3 innings over 27 games with a 3.30 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 0.926 WHIP and a 121 ERA+. He was much more effective as a starter, posting a 2.92 ERA, 0.753 WHIP over 77 innings. This includes a stellar start against the Mets where he held the Mets to a solo home run and nothing else over eight innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Pete Alonso 0-2
- Francisco Lindor 1-4, HR
- Starling Marte 0-2, BB
- Brandon Nimmo 0-3
- Juan Soto 1-2, K
- Mark Vientos 0-3, K
- Jesse Winker 0-1
Three Things To Watch For:
- Seeing Double. On Friday afternoon the Mets had three doubles (Lindor, Soto and Nimmo). On Saturday night the Mets had two doubles (Lindor, Winker). The Mets have hit five of their 16 total doubles this season in the first two games of this series, good for 6th in the league. For context, the Diamondbacks and Cubs lead the league with 22 doubles and the Mariners are in 30th with only five. While the Mets have only scored eight runs this series, lets hope the extra-base hit barrage continues this afternoon.
- Ryne Stanek. We’ll probably see Ryne Stanek this afternoon. Stanek has only pitched 1 1/3 innings this season, last pitching on Wednesday. Over his two games he has allowed a hit, two walks and struck out one batter. His fastball has averaged 98.7 mph so far this season, which is almost a full mph faster than 2024 (averaged 97.8). We also have to take that with a grain of salt as he has only thrown 16 fastballs this season.
- Francisco Lindor. Friday was the first game this season where Lindor got on base twice by hits or walks. He did it again yesterday! In his last two games he is 2-for-5 with three walks, two doubles and three runs scored. He also had the walk-off sacrifice fly last night. It feels like Lindor is starting to heat up!
Let’s Go Mets!
