MMO Game Thread: Mets vs Dodgers, 3:10 PM
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 • 3:10 PM
Dodger Stadium • Los Angeles, California
RHP Max Scherzer (2-1, 4.41) vs. RHP Noah Syndergaard (0-2, 5.63)
SNY
Metsmerized Online was saddened Wednesday to share the news of the passing of our site’s founder, Joe DeCaro. To honor Joe’s legacy and the site he built, we will continue to strive to provide the best Mets coverage possible, including by posting this game thread.
The Dodgers were able to snap the Mets winning streak yesterday as the Mets offense fell silent. Now the Mets and Dodgers have a matinee rubber game matchup this afternoon. If the Mets win, they would clinch their fourth series victory in a row.
Last night the Mets announced that Carlos Carrasco was heading to the 15-day IL and that Justin Verlander’s rehab schedule sets him to return near the beginning of May. So the Mets still have at least two more weeks of surviving a rotation that is patched together. That means there is even more pressure tonight on Max Scherzer, who has battled velocity issues and soreness so far this season. He skipped his last scheduled start (Sunday) to rest up and be 100% for this afternoon’s game. The Mets really need Max Scherzer to be Max Scherzer today.
Mets Lineup
https://twitter.com/Mets/status/1648728237323825160
Over three starts and 16 1/3 innings this season, Scherzer has a 4.41 ERA, 6.07 FIP, 1.224 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. His last start was on April 10th against the Padres where he held their explosive lineup to one hit and no runs while walking three over five innings of work. He wasn’t classic Max in that start – he labored through the whole thing – but it was a great rebound from his previous start where he allowed back-to-back-to-back homers against the Brewers. His pitch count became an issue early on, and he used his grit and expertise to make sure most of the full counts batters got into turned into outs and not walks. Tonight will be Max’s first start against the Dodgers since he played for them back in 2021. The Dodgers in today’s lineup have the following career numbers against him:
- Freddie Freeman 11-47, 4 2B, 3 HR, 7 BB, 12 K
- David Peralta 6-20, 2 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 K
- Jason Heyward 5-17, 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
- Max Muncy 4-13, HR, 3 BB, 4 K
- Chris Taylor 2-12, 2B, 3B, BB, 7
Dodgers Lineup
Today’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Mets: pic.twitter.com/egBu6LAyt8
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 19, 2023
Noah Syndgergaard will finally face the New York Mets! Syndergaard signed with the Angels before the 2022 season. Last season when the Mets and Angels matched up in Anaheim, the Angels gave Syndergaard two extra days of rest, moving him out of the series against his former team. He then got traded to the Phillies in the middle of the season and got an extra day of rest again when the Phillies and Mets matched up on his projected starting day. In the background of all of this was a bit of messy separation of the former Mets star and the organization.
Syndergaard has made three starts this season for the Dodgers and has pitched 16 innings with a 5.63 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 1.250 WHIP and an 80 ERA+. The numbers are a bit deceptive though. Syndergaard had a great start against the Diamondbacks to start the season, then a terrible start against the Diamondbacks the second time around. His last time out, Syndergaard gave the exact definition of a quality start – six innings, three runs – against the Chicago Cubs. The Mets have the following career numbers against Thor:
- Starling Marte 0-8, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-3, K
Game Notes
With Carrasco heading to the IL, we may be seeing the return of Joey Lucchesi to the big leagues soon. Lucchesi was supposed to start for Syracuse on Wednesday but no longer will. Lucchesi has a 2.30 ERA for the Syracuse Mets this season. Buck Showalter said on Wednesday that Carrasco received an injection and will be shut down for 3-5 days. The team plans to reevaluate the right-hander after that.
The Mets activated Tommy Hunter on Wednesday and optioned Denyi Reyes back to Triple-A ahead of Wednesday’s game.
After not starting the first two games of the series, Francisco Álvarez is behind the plate today, catching Scherzer. Andy Martino of SNY reported that Scherzer has expressed a willingness to work with the young catcher.
The Mets have won four of their first five series of the season and can make it five of six with a victory today over the Dodgers. New York had its five-game winning streak snapped in Tuesday night’s loss. They enter Wednesday three games behind the Braves in the NL East. Atlanta has won eight straight.
Three Things To Watch For
- Both of the Mets top prospects will start at the same time! Brett Baty and Francisco Álvarez are both in the lineup on Wednesday. They both played in last night’s game, getting pinch hits. Álvarez has had a lot of time on the bench since he was called up. Despite Tomas Nido’s hot spring, he’s been cold since the season started so it’s been frustrating to see Álvarez not get reps out in the field. I know this isn’t the reason why the Mets did this, but at least the first game both Baty and Álvarez will play in happens during the afternoon and not in the middle of the night for the Mets fan base.
- Mookie at shortstop? Dave Roberts told reporters before yesterday’s game that he was thinking about using Mookie at short on Wednesday, but he is not in the lineup coming off of paternity leave, and Luke Williams will start at shortstop. Betts has been taking reps for a few days now at short, and it is possible Los Angeles plays him on the infield in the near future The last time Betts has played shortstop was in 2012 for the Lowell Spinners.
- Jeff McNeil: Jeff McNeil has quietly rebounded from his first week or so of the season. He’s hitting .254/.382/.349 overall which isn’t tremendous, but the .382 OPB is good for the second highest on the team behind Brandon Nimmo and is ahead of Pete Alonso. McNeil is still quite a bit behind his career batting average (.305) and his current 104 OPS+ is low for his standards, but he looks to be turning the corner. In his last 10 games his slash line .281/.452/.438.
Let’s go Mets!
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