The Mets will look to even their series against the Braves tonight at 7:10 PM at Turner Field in Atlanta.
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for the Mets:
1) Curtis Granderson RF
2) David Wright 3B
3) Lucas Duda 1B
4) Michael Cuddyer LF
5) Daniel Murphy 2B
6) Juan Lagares CF
7) Travis d’Arnaud C
8) Wilmer Flores SS
9) Dillon Gee RHP
Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:
Dillon Gee (7-8, 4.00 ERA in 2014) will start for the Mets, Gee is coming off a disappointing season in which he struggled with both injury and effectiveness in 2014. Despite his struggles last year, he has made 46 straight starts of five innings or more dating to May 19, 2013, the longest active streak in the majors. Gee is coming off a strong camp despite being shuttled in and out of the bullpen, going 2-0 with a 2.73 ERA in eight games in March. He is looking to extend his personal winning streak against Atlanta to four consecutive games. He is 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA in six career starts at Turner Field, and is 6-4 with a 2.73 ERA in 14 career starts overall against Atlanta.
Key matchups vs. Gee:
Freddie Freeman: 7-for-29, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Chris Johnson: 3-for-15, 2B
Andrelton Simmons: 3-for-15, 2B
Julio Teheran (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will start for the Braves. Teheran has emerged as a young ace of the Braves pitching staff. He pitched a career-high 221 innings for Atlanta last season and allowed only 188 hits and 54 walks and 22 home runs in 33 starts with four complete games in 2014. He pitched on Opening Day for Atlanta and allowed only a run on eight hits in six innings to earn his first win of the 2015 season. Teheran is making his eighth career start against the Mets tonight – he is 3-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 44 1/3 innings against them.
Key matchups vs. Teheran:
Lucas Duda: 5-for-17, 2B, 2 HR
Curtis Granderson: 3-for-10, 2B, HR
Daniel Murphy: 5-for-13, 2 2B, 2 RBI
Travis d’Arnaud: 1-for-10
Here’s what I’m looking for during tonight’s game:
Wilmer Flores needs to get back on the horse.
It’s been a week to forget for Flores, who has had a painful run of it on both sides of the ball. He’s committed three errors in the last two games and going just 2-for-14 with a run scored and three strikeouts in his first four games of the year. There’s only one way to get beyond it, and that is to get out there, play and just execute better. Sandy Alderson has identified Flores as a, “central player” on this roster, the club has put a lot of stock into his ability to grow into the position, and so he should be afforded continued confidence and playing time to prove he is better than what he’s put on display so far this season.
Gee needs to provide quality length.
When Gee returned from the disabled list last year, he struggled to throw quality strikes in the zone, and in turn had trouble giving the club extended outings on a consistent basis. His struggled the third and fourth time through the order are no secret at this point, so it will be important for him to remain efficient early, use his change-up and keep it down, and work quickly to prevent Atlanta from getting comfortable in the batters box.
It’s time for Daniel Murphy to get going.
Murphy didn’t get that many spring at-bats in the second half of March thanks to pulling his hamstring, so he could be trying to shake off some rust and get his eye back in the early part of the season. He’s struggling to hit the ball with any authority so far this season, but he is making contact to this point, which means it could be a matter of time before he gets everything in sync and he appears like the Murphy we have come to know over the years.
Just Mets 