The Mets open a three-game series against the Dodgers tonight at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles at 10:10 PM ET.
Curtis Granderson – RF
Juan Lagares – CF
Daniel Murphy – 3B
John Mayberry Jr. – LF
Lucas Duda – 1B
Wilmer Flores – 2B
Kevin Plawecki – C
Ruben Tejada – SS
Noah Syndergaard – RHP
Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:
Noah Syndergaard (3-4, 3.59 ERA) will start for the Mets.
Clayton Kershaw (5-6, 3.20 ERA) will start for the Dodgers.
Here’s what I am looking for from the Mets tonight:
The task gets taller.
If the Mets thought they had it hard against the Cubs earlier this week, now they face the challenge of playing the Dodgers, out west and on the road. What’s worse, they open their road trip facing Kershaw tonight, and Zack Greinke on Saturday.
Kershaw has owned the Mets in his career – he is 5-0 with a 1.62 ERA, and that has usually come against a much more competitive lineup than the Mets are featuring at the moment.
So, just when we thought we’ve seen an offense that has lacked as much iron as it can, it’s possible it could in fact get worse this weekend. But, let’s see what happens.
Happy #ThorsDay.
Syndergaard is coming off his best start of the year against the Reds last week, allowing only a single run in eight innings for the third win of his young career.
Pitching on the road has been a major problem for Syndergaard so far in 2015 – he’s 0-3 with a 6.52 ERA in four starts away from Flushing, allowing 28 hits an six walks in only 19 1/3 innings. He’s going to have to straighten himself out in foreign territory.
The good news is he’s learning quickly and is coming off a real confidence booster against the Reds. Maybe he can feed off of that success last week and build it into a start he badly needs to pitch well in tonight.
Show of hands: Can anyone hit?
Even the worst offenses in the history of baseball sometimes have good games, right? Is that a reach?
Perhaps it is.
The Mets have scored an average of 1.64 runs per game in their last 14 games, posting a .516 OPS with seven double plays in that span.
Just do better, that is all.
Just Mets 
One response to “What to look for: Mets vs. Dodgers, 10:10 PM ET”
Thanks for that last stat on double plays, with the little offense we do manage to muster, much of it has been erased due to our propensity to hit into a disproportionate number of double plays.
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