The Mets will open a three-game series with the Rays on Friday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg at 7:10 PM.
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for New York:
Curtis Granderson — RF
Daniel Murphy — DH
Yoenis Cespedes — CF
Lucas Duda — 1B
Juan Uribe — 3B
Michael Conforto — LF
Travis d’Arnaud — C
Kelly Johnson — 2B
Wilmer Flores — SS
Jacob deGrom — RHP
Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:
Jacob deGrom (10-6, 2.09 ERA) will start for the Mets.
Jake Odorizzi (6-6, 2.86 ERA) will start for the Rays.
Here’s what I’m looking for from the Mets tonight:
Don’t stop now.
The Mets have won six consecutive games and have a 1.5 game lead of first place entering tonight’s contest with Tampa Bay. Things have gone extremely well for this team in the past week, as their pitching continues to be stellar and since the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes, their offense has been completely transformed.
They’ve moved from one struggling Florida team to another this week, but while the Rays are under .500 for the season at 54-55 coming into Friday, they’re no picnic. This is a team that has to scrap and claw for runs on a nightly basis, so I expect the Mets pitching staff to continue to succeed, but what Tampa has that the Marlins didn’t is stellar starting pitching. Tonight the Mets face right-hander Jake Odorizzi, who’s flown under the radar on this staff but has an ERA under 3.00 pitching in the American League East. Tonight will be a challenge for this new offense, but considering the way they’ve performed of late, I’m expecting them to succeed on a daily basis at this point.
Keep pushing, keep fighting and keep your foot on the gas, Mets. Welcome to pennant race baseball.
Just Mets 