Game Preview: Marlins vs Mets

It is easy to be down on the Mets right now: dropping a series against the Phillies, losing a second game to the Phillies (something they did in September of last year), losing games it feels like they should win and worrying about Jacob deGrom’s lat.

It is also easy to remember that tonight the Mets play their 6th game of the season, meaning that they have 147 games to go, and that in 1986 they started the season 2-3 as well. (I’m not a fan though of mixing up correlation/causation/coincidence). Moreover, the Mets are finally going to play a normal week of baseball, and that’s why I’m excited for this week.

Steven Matz will get his first start of the season tonight. He was rock star in his rookie debut last year putting up great numbers on the mound and the plate, paving a road for his grandfather to enter our hearts. Overall in the regular season he went 4-0 over 6 starts and 35.2 innings with 34 K’s and a 2.27 ERA. He then tossed 14.1 innings over three starts with a 3.68 ERA in the postseason, keeping his rookie status intact. He made one start against the Marlins in Miami where he allowed 2 ER over 5.1 innings. It was his first outing coming back from the injury that sidelined him in July. The Marlins have the following numbers against Matz:

Dee Gordon 1-2
Prado 1-3
Yelich 0-3
Ozuna 1-1
Mathis 1-2, HR
Rojas 0-2

The Mets bats will get their first 2016 look at Jarred Cosart who finished hte year last year going 2-5 over 14 games, 13 starts with 69.2 innings and a 4.52 ERA. Like Matz, today will also be Cosart’s 2016 season debut. Cosart had three starts against the Mets, and they were each quite different. In his first start, he allowed 5 ER over 7 hits and 5.0 innings. About two weeks later he shut down the Mets allowing 2 hits, no runs over 8.0 innings (in a game the Mets eventually won). Finally he allowed 1 ER over 5 hits in 4.2 innings of work several months later. The Mets have the following numbers against Jarred: