The Mets will look for a series win against the Dodgers this afternoon at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles at 7:15 PM ET.
Here is today’s starting lineup for New York:
Curtis Granderson RF
Daniel Murphy 3B
Lucas Duda 1B
Wilmer Flores 2B
Darrell Ceciliani LF
Ruben Tejada SS
Kevin Plawecki C
Matt Harvey RHP
Juan Lagares CF
Here is today’s pitching matchup:
Matt Harvey (7-5, 2.99 ERA) will start for the Mets.
Zack Greinke (6-2, 1.58 ERA) will start for the Dodgers.
Here’s what I am looking for tonight from the Mets:
It’s #HarveyDay.
Harvey has been stellar in his last three starts, allowing just one earned run in 19 2/3 innings during that span with three walks and 14 strikeouts to his credit as well. His slider has been utterly filthy as of late, resembling the Dark Knight who made such a splashy return in the first six weeks of the season.
He’s going to need to be at his absolute best on a big stage in Los Angeles tonight, as his opponent in Greinke allows next to nothing in his starts and his offense continuing to sputter along as well.
The little things.
If Greinke is on for Los Angeles today, runs are going to be that much harder to come by for a Met team averaging under 1.7 runs per game in their last 15 contests. That means the defense must be air tight, and when baserunners do get on, they cannot run themselves out of innings, must execute bunt situations, and have to find a way to potentially score without the benefit of a hit.
That’s what good teams do when they’re searching for run scoring opportunities.
Find a kink in Greinke’s armor.
There isn’t a lot Greinke has been bad at in 2015. However, he has been slightly weaker against left-handed hitting in 2015, although it’s not like lefties are lighting it up against the Cy Young candidate at the moment. Still, they’re hitting .211 with a .587 OPS, which is actually notably higher than that against right-handed hitters. And, the Mets have four left-handed hitters in the lineup, three of which at the top of the order.
It’s not much, but if Greinke is just a little bit off on Saturday, perhaps it will be the left-handed hitters in the Mets lineup who can push through that crack.
Just Mets 