Just Mets

The Mets open a critical three-game series against the Nationals on Friday night at Citi Field at 7:10 PM.

Here is tonight’s starting lineup for New York:

Curtis Granderson – RF
Ruben Tejada – SS
Daniel Murphy – 1B
Juan Uribe – 3B
Travis d’Arnaud – C
Wilmer Flores – 2B
Juan Lagares – CF
Eric Campbell – LF
Matt Harvey – RHP

Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:

Matt Harvey (9-7, 3.16 ERA) will start for the Mets.

Gio Gonzalez (8-4, 3.83 ERA) will start for the Nationals.

Here’s what I am looking for from the Mets on Friday:

A game of significant importance.

There are 60 games left in the season, the Mets lost a crucial one to the Padres on Thursday ahead of this series against the Nationals.

There is no messing around now. It’s essential the Mets win tonight against Washington and pull back to within two games of their division rival.

That means the defense needs to be on point, they need a sharp, lights out effort from Harvey, and Terry Collins needs to manage every pitch to win this game. Setting the tone with some early execution offensively could go a long way towards securing a win on Friday.

Establish a presence.

The Mets are 6-27 against the Nationals at Citi Field over the last four years. If that trend doesn’t reverse quickly, Citi Field will not be opened beyond October 4.

The Mets have to prove they can play with the big boys in order to establish themselves as a big boy. Starting with a win today and in this series against Washington, they can take important steps in doing so.

It’s #HarveyDay.

It all starts with the big boy on the mound for the Mets tonight. He’s coming off a strong start in a blow out win against the Dodgers last Saturday. But this is obviously a start with major implications tied to it, and the kind of start he has claimed to live for, so hopefully he is sharp, on top of his game, and can deliver a clutch, shutdown performance against what is now a revitalized Nationals lineup.