Just Mets

The Mets will look to take the rubber game of their three-game series against the Padres tonight at Petco Park in San Diego at 9:10 PM ET.

Here is tonight’s starting lineup for New York:

Curtis Granderson – RF
Ruben Tejada – 3B
Lucas Duda – 1B
Daniel Murphy – 2B
Wilmer Flores – SS
Darrell Ceciliani – LF
Juan Lagares – CF
Anthony Recker – C
Dillon Gee – RHP

Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:

Dillon Gee (0-2, 3.86 ERA) will start for the Mets.

Career vs. Padres: 2-2, 2.52 ERA, 4 starts
Career at Petco Park: 1-1, 3.86 ERA, 2 starts

James Shields (6-0, 3.69 ERA) will start for the Padres.

Career vs. Mets: 1-0, 1.29 ERA 1 start.
Career at Petco Park: 3-0, 2.56 ERA, 6 starts

Here is what I am looking for tonight:

What to make of Dillon Gee?

It’s the beginning of a new age for the Mets tonight in San Diego as Dillon Gee returns and the much ballyhooed 6-man rotation is in swing. While he has yet to be credited with a win, Gee had pitched well prior to heading to the DL, as he’s pitched to a 3.86 ERA.

As he described it last week, it’s been “the weirdest damn year in baseball” for Gee as he’s gone from the starting rotation, to the bullpen, back to the starting rotation and then onto the disabled list, all while being the subject of various trade rumors over the past seven-to-eight months.

I’ll be very interested to see how Gee performs tonight in San Diego, as the Mets are looking to take a series from the Padres.

The worst bench in baseball?

As the Mets expand to a 6-man rotation, they sent down Danny Muno to Triple-A in order to make room for Dillon Gee. With the demotion of Muno, the Mets have gone back to a 4-man bench–something they had done for the first couple weeks of the season. With Michael Cuddyer being scratched from tonight’s game with neck stiffness, the Mets bench will be comprised of Kevin Plawecki (.198), John Mayberry Jr. (.137) and Eric Campbell (.179). It’s even gotten to the point where Terry Collins told reporters today that he may go to starting pitchers Noah Syndergaard (.400) and Jacob deGrom (.217) as pinch-hitters late in the game.

Personally, I am kind of fascinated to see Syndergaard or deGrom in a big spot at the plate, but really, a major league team should never have to rely on pitchers to come through off the bench unless you’re in a very long extra inning affair. We’ll see how this plays out tonight.