The Mets open a three-game series against the Padres tonight at Petco Park in San Diego at 10:10 PM ET.
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for New York:
Curtis Granderson – RF
Ruben Tejada – 3B
Daniel Murphy – 2B
Michael Cuddyer – 1B
Wilmer Flores – SS
Darrell Ceciliani – LF
Juan Lagares – CF
Kevin Plawecki – C
Jacob deGrom – RHP
Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:
Jacob deGrom (5-4, 2.71 ERA) will start for the Mets.
Career vs. San Diego: First career start
Key matchups vs. deGrom:
Matt Kemp: 2-for-6, 2B
Melvin Upton, Jr.: 3-for-6, BB
Justin Upton: 2-for-9, 5 K
Andrew Cashner (2-7, 3.00 ERA) will start for the Padres.
Career vs. New York: 0-1, 4.26 ERA, 6 appearances, 1 start
Career at Petco Park: 12-13, 2.12 ERA, 50 appearances, 28 starts
Key matchups vs. Cashner:
Michael Cuddyer: 4-for-14, 2B, HR, 3 RBI
Curtis Granderson: 0-for-3, K
Ruben Tejada: 1-for-4, 3 K
Here’s what I am looking for from the Mets tonight:
Lights out pitching.
The Mets are without their best hitter tonight in Lucas Duda, who is sidelined with a sore right knee. The Mets offense lacks any kind of punch or fear factor as a result, and could very well struggle to scratch even two or three runs across against Cashner tonight, who has pitched very well despite his poor record. So, the Mets are going to need deGrom to be vintage deGrom, and probably a little better than that if they’re going to be able to win tonight.
Hopefully, that happens.
Play a clean game.
Because they’re depending on good pitching, they need to do the little things virtually flawlessly tonight. That means, execute bunts, run the bases well, and both field and throw the ball well. They simply cannot afford any kind of physical or mental mistakes tonight – they’ll be hard pressed to overcome them with the lack of offensive firepower at their disposal.
Get off on the right foot.
The west coast swings are notoriously difficult for the Mets, and a lot of clubs for that matter. Getting it started with a win tonight after a disappointing weekend against Miami would be great emotionally, especially since they’ll be without Duda for most of the evening, if not all night long.
Just Mets 