The Mets will look for a series sweep of the Nationals tonight at Citi Field at 8:08 PM.
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for New York:
Curtis Granderson – RF
Daniel Murphy – 2B
Yoenis Cespedes – CF
Lucas Duda – 1B
Juan Uribe – 3B
Kelly Johnson – LF
Kevin Plawecki – C
Noah Syndergaard – RHP
Ruben Tejada – SS
Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:
Noah Syndergaard (5-5, 2.70 ERA) will start for the Mets.
Jordan Zimmermann (8-6, 3.36 ERA) will start for the Nationals.
Here’s what I am looking for from the Mets tonight:
A sweep.
Winning tonight would secure the club’s first sweep of the Nationals at Citi Field since April, 2009. It would also secure a winning 6-4 homestand. It would also get the Mets into a virtual tie for first place with the Nationals, when just 48 hours before they were sitting three games behind them.
They’re going to have to do it against a tough pitcher in Zimmermann tonight. Of course, they had enough problems scoring runs against the Nationals over the last two nights, so facing a top caliber pitcher shouldn’t change much for them today.
Speaking of scoring runs…
It would be nice if the Mets put up a crooked number early against Zimmermann, and establish command of this game right from the beginning. The key to beating Zimmermann is doing just that, and not letting him get into any kind of groove. He is a strike throwing machine, so the Mets should expect more of the same and attack early in counts if they’re going to have any kind of success against the Nationals right-hander.
The end of a tough road.
The Mets have finally reached the end of their most difficult stretch of the season, and they’ve done pretty well under the circumstances, going 14-13 against the league’s best during that span. A win tonight would ensure a winning record during this stretch, which would say a lot for the Mets given they’ve been shorthanded with a fragmented roster for mostly the entire time.
Just Mets 