The Mets came from behind late to beat the Marlins 6-4 in Port St. Lucie on Tuesday. Here are some of my takeaways from the game…
Daniel Murphy didn’t have a great day.
A baserunning mistake, and a poor defensive play (which cost the team at least one run) defined Murphy’s afternoon on St. Patrick’s Day. He did reach base three times, but of course the focus was on the gaffes he made. But, that’s Murphy. He’s a hard nosed player, and sometimes he tries to do more than he’s capable of doing. He’s going to have these kinds of days, but hopefully not that many.
Jacob deGrom was sharp.
I’ve come to expect this from deGrom at this point. He was brilliant, throwing strike after strike, mixing it up with all of his pitches, and he just mowed the Marlins down from start to finish. He looks like he’s in mid-season form already, and is just waiting for the season to start. His final line today was five innings, one hit, six strikeouts.
Johnny Monell is having a nice camp.
Monell hit a go-ahead, three run home run in the eighth inning. He’s a lefty with a lot of pop, and he’s really had a nice couple of weeks in camp. He’s slated to be Kevin Plawecki’s backup in Las Vegas, but I’m sure the Mets will keep his bat in mind if Anthony Recker struggles or gets injured at some point during the season.
Monell is not on the 40-man roster, by the way…
Other notes from Tuesday:
Scott Rice allowed a run without retiring a batter on Tuesday, although that runner reached due to poor defense from Murphy and part of a two-run home run by Michael Morse against Erik Goeddel.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis delivered a double off the bench this afternoon, raising his average to .483 for the spring. That double came against LHP Mike Dunn in the eighth inning. He’s now 6-for-11 against lefties this spring.
Kevin Plawecki hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, his first of the spring. He now has five RBI in nine Grapefruit League games.
Just Mets 