We will meet the New York Mets for a 3-game series in Citi Field, which seats 41922 and plays like a slight pitchers’ park. With a record of 6 wins and 7 losses, the Mets have a winning percentage of .462. They are in 3rd place in the East Division, 2.0 games behind the leader. Their number of runs scored, 66, ranks 2nd in the National League; their .248 batting average ranks tied for 5th. On the other side of the diamond, they have given up 78 runs (14th) with their starters compiling an ERA of 4.94, which ranks 11th. Their bullpen sports an ERA of 8.33, ranking 15th.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP B. Singer (0-1, 3.65 ERA) vs RHP C. Scott (0-0, 3.75 ERA)
RHP M. Sauer (0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs RHP A. Houser (0-1, 9.31 ERA)
RHP S. Lugo (2-1, 4.00 ERA) vs LHP J. Quintana (1-1, 4.91 ERA)
The top 5 players on their team are:
1. CL Edwin Díaz (Age: 30, Overall: 80, Potential: 80)
2. SS Francisco Lindor (30, 75, 75)
3. LF Brandon Nimmo (31, 65, 65)
4. 1B Pete Alonso (29, 60, 60)
5. RP Brooks Raley (35, 55, 55)
Game Summary – April 12th – Mets Down Royals, 8-4
The New York Mets grabbed a win, 8-4, over the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field. New York third baseman Brett Baty went 3-4 with a home run and 2 singles, while scoring 3. The victory makes New York 7-7. Mark Vientos had a big 2-run home run for the Mets in the bottom of the sixth inning. With New York trailing 4-3 and a runner on 1st, he sized up a changeup from 27-year-old right-handed pitcher Brady Singer and punished it. The result was his 1st home run of the season, which put the Mets on top, 5-4.
"Trying isn't good enough in this league," said Vientos. "You've got to get results."
Well, he’s right about that! Not a great start to our road series with NY Mets.
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Brett Baty
Ballpark: Citi Field
Weather: Partly Cloudy (53 degrees), wind blowing left to right at 12 mph
Start Time: 7:10 PM ET
Time: 3:01
Attendance: 26100
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Game Summary – April 13th – Mets Win at Home, 6-2
New York beat Kansas City on the strength of starting pitcher Adrian Houser's fine effort. The right-hander led his team to a win, 6-2. The winning pitcher was Houser, now 1-1. He tossed 7.2 innings of 4-hit ball, while walking 2 and fanning 2. The Royals drop to 7-8 and continue their mediocre start to the 2024 season. Brett Baty had a big 2-run double for the Mets in the bottom of the first inning. With New York leading 1-0 and the bases loaded, he got a fastball from 25-year-old right-handed pitcher Matt Sauer and swatted a double to right-center. It was his 1st double of the season, and more importantly, it put the Mets ahead, 3-0.
"The key at this level is throwing strike one," said Houser. "Successful pitchers do it."
My management of this game was poor, and I’m not happy with myself. Let’s get that out front right away!
However, Matt Sauer was horrid, giving up 6 runs at the bottom of the first. He was just lobbing balls across the plate for batting practice until he finally figured his rhythm out. But it was too late at that point. I think I need to look across the waiver wire and down in Triple-A to see if we got someone that can replace him in the rotation, then release him back to the Yankees. I made some lineup moves to sit Salvy for this one and put in Pratto against RHP Adrian Houser, but it did not pan out like I thought. Houser was not pitching well after 2 starts and had given up 12 hits and 5 HRs after just 9.2 IPs, so I was hoping we could ding him a little to get a win tonight. I bumped switch hitter Drew Waters to bat second with Blanco batting last, but it kept some baserunning around the order for hopefully some scoring, which didn’t matter either.
I’m sure Renfroe isn’t too happy, but he’s been cold lately, and I’m thinking he may be my first trade offer coming up soon. He’s got a decent bat, but after a few opportunities to produce, he’s just not getting it done. I’m not throwing the towel in on him yet, but he’s walking a tight rope with me, and I need to free up some cash somewhere soon.
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Adrian Houser
Ballpark: Citi Field
Weather: Clear skies (47 degrees), wind blowing in from center at 12 mph
Start Time: 1:40 PM ET
Time: 2:56
Attendance: 29296
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Game Summary – April 14th – Royals Beaten by Mets, 2-1
The New York Mets had to overcome a good performance from Kansas City pitcher Seth Lugo to claim a 2-1 win at Citi Field. Lugo went 7.1 innings and allowed 2 runs. Max Kranick, now 1-0, picked up the win in relief. He allowed no runs on 3 hits in 4 innings. Edwin Díaz finished to wrap up his 3rd save. Francisco Lindor drove in one run for New York. The two-time Great Glove Award winner had a key at-bat in the bottom of the sixth. With one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, he broke a 1-1 tie with a run-scoring ground out off Seth Lugo. It was his 13th RBI of the season. The loss puts Kansas City at 7-9.
"We made a couple of mistakes," said Kansas City skipper Todd "BigP" Pollard, "and it cost us."
Seth was incredible again, pitching 7 innings and only giving up 2 runs. Those 2 runs unfortunately gave the Mets the win. What we couldn’t get going once again were the bats. The top of the 4th was our downfall; Nimmo had a spectacular catch robbing Salvy of a run-scoring double, which would have brought in 2 runs and possibly rallied us for the win.
Code:
Player Rslt (W-L) IP H R ER BB K HR PI ERA
S. Lugo L (2-2) 7.1 4 2 2 2 4 0 90 3.55
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Seth Lugo
Ballpark: Citi Field
Weather: Partly Cloudy (52 degrees), wind blowing in from center at 13 mph
Start Time: 1:40 PM ET
Time: 2:41
Attendance: 30668
Special Notes: SP Jose Quintana was injured while pitching.
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After the game last night, I gave some thought about how to transform this team into a playoff contender this year. I looked at a couple of key areas which I think I need to address soon.
The first is to find a 4th and/or 5th lefty starter that can bring some unpredictability to the starting rotation. We’ve got some pitchers on the IL that will need to be decided on soon, and they could offer us some early trade barter.
26-year-old Kris Bubic looked like he was going to be that guy since about 2021, but he pitched poorly in 2022 and then suffered a torn UCL, and subsequent Tommy John surgery set back his return even more. He’s still got more than a month left on the IL and then rehab, which puts a best-case return date at about the All-Star break. More conservatively, though September roster expansion is when I’d think about bringing him back, since our trainer Kyle Turner plain sucks at rehabbing pitchers back from arm injuries. Something I should have pieced together back in pre-season when taking on this challenge. Anyway, he, Bubic I mean, could be a barter piece in a trade, or depending on how he performs after his rehab time, we put him on waivers and DFA him. Maybe someone else wants him. Overall, he’s a slim, marginal player rated at 40 with little more left for development except maybe his movement. But now with the UCL surgery tagged on him, he’s not going to improve. At least conventional wisdom would suggest that, so he's a money suck, which, if I want to keep my job, I need to fix soon.
Of the other pitchers we have riding the IL right now, two more are lefties, Josh Taylor and Jake Brentz, both relievers that don’t have the stamina for even a back-end starter role. Josh Taylor is performing well in his rehab assignment at Omaha, throwing a
3.18 ERA and a
61 FIP- after 11.1 IP across 7 relief appearances. I’m looking forward to getting him back to the clubhouse soon. Jake Brentz, on the other hand, has incredible stuff, but his control is essentially non-existent, rated at 25. So, I honestly don’t know what to do with him. His lack of control hardly makes him a highly valued trade piece, but outside of that, you look at his pitches and overall rating, you’d think he’s a stud.
Finally, there’s Carlos Hernandez and Kyle Wright, both RHPs. A healthy Kyle Wright I see as our 4th or 5th starter, but unfortunately, his return is still a season away, and I can’t wait that long just for a 4th or 5th starter. But what that does mean is he’s our most valuable trade piece come trade deadline or when he’s healthier and other teams show an interest. I might shop him around and see if I get any teams interested in him and see what they want to give up. Carlos is due to come off the IL in about 2 weeks, and he could be a temporary 4th or 5th fill, but I wouldn’t rely on him there in the long term. We have no more options with him, so he’d ride the waiver wire and DFA all season if we get into sticky situations, and we would likely be looking for another guy anyway. But he’s a good near-term solution, and given his rehab time, he could be with us in late May or early June.
The more I review the IL throughout the organization right now, the more worried I get. ALL the major injuries are pitcher arms, and we have a team trainer that couldn’t rehab an arm to save his own life! It just makes me sick and regret not replacing him this past pre-season! This could show our season end right here!