The Mets open up a four-game series against the Nationals tonight at Citi Field at 7:10 PM.
Here’s tonight’s starting lineup for New York:
1) Curtis Granderson – RF
2) Juan Lagares – CF
3) Lucas Duda – 1B
4) Michael Cuddyer – LF
5) Daniel Murphy – 2B
6) Eric Campbell – 3B
7) Wilmer Flores – SS
8) Kevin Plawecki – C
9) Jacob deGrom – RHP
Here’s what I am looking for from the Mets tonight…
Can deGrom bounce back?
Jacob deGrom is coming off of one of the toughest outings of his young career, allowing six earned runs vs. the Yankees last week. Tonight, he looks to rebound in a big game against the division rival Washington Nationals. An interesting note on deGrom is his struggles vs. left-handed hitters, who are batting .404 against him this season. The Nationals have three lefties in their starting line-up tonight.
Can they re-heat the offense?
The Mets are 5th in the National League in runs scored, but in the six game span since their 11-game winning streak was snapped, they’re averaging 3.6 runs per game and scored three runs or fewer in four of those six games. Michael Cuddyer homered in the 1st inning last night, and Daniel Murphy has looked better at the plate, so these are two guys who may turn things around offensively and could be an impact tonight.
Defense, defense, defense.
The sloppy play of the middle infield cost the Mets again on Wednesday when after they couldn’t turn a double play in the 1st, Giancarlo Stanton made them pay with a 2-run home run. Going into the season, the Mets middle infield defense was a known weakness, and it’s reared it’s ugly head lately. If this team wants to get back to their winning ways, they need to be more fundamentally sound and cannot continue to give their opponents extra outs.
Just Mets 