The Mets and Astros meet for the first time in 2020 today in St. Lucie! The Mets and Astros generally play each other a lot in spring – their camps are physically located near each other and being in opposite leagues means there’s no feeling like you have to hide your pitchers from each other. Generally we think little of the Mets match-ups with the Astros except this year due to the Astros cheating scandal. The Mets and Astros also play each other in the regular season. If you thought the Mets would be able to just focus on themselves after the Carlos Beltran hiring/firing and former Astros on the Mets making apologies, it just probably won’t happen. Interesting note – four Astros have already been hit by a pitch in 3 games so far this Spring.
Recap of Yesterday’s Game:
After a four low scoring games to open the spring the Mets lost a high scoring affair 9-6 against the Tigers. Wacha, who is in a position battle, did well, pitching two scoreless innings to open up the game with a hit and walk while striking out 2. The damage was done against Gilliam, trying to break onto the roster who allowed 5 runs in 0.2 innings and Smith, a prospect who rocketed up the system, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned in one inning of relief.
The headline from the Mets offense was Tebow hitting a homer, his first hit this Spring. Jarrett Parker, trying to move up the depth chart, had a homer as well and is hitting .400 early on this year. Mazeika was the only Met with 2 hits on the day.
Who’s On The Mound:
The real story of today for the Mets are the arms. Noah Syndergaard and Edwin Diaz both make their spring debuts. Syndergaard had a 4.28 ERA, 1.234 WHIP, 3.60 FIP and 95 ERA+ in his most difficult year in the majors. But there was a stretch of 14 games and 88.0 innings from early June to the first week of September where he was himself, posting a 3.17 ERA.
Edwin Diaz had just a year to forget. In 58.0 innings he had a 5.59 ERA, 4.51 FIP, and a 1.379 WHIP – all career highs by a long shot. Worth noting though, using BP’s metrics, Diaz’s DRA last year was 2.95 which was better than Syndergaard’s last year at 3.40. Diaz looks to put all of last year behind him starting today.
Mets Lineup:
- Jeff McNeil
- Brandon Nimmo
- Pete Alonso
- Michael Conforto
- Wilson Ramos
- Amed Rosario
- Dominic Smith
- Eduardo Nunez (DH)
- Luis Guillorme
With the exception of Nunez at DH, this is fairly close to a line up the Mets could use when Davis/Cano don’t play. It is also worth noting that this is the second time this spring the Mets have placed McNeil in the leadoff spot ahead of Nimmo.
