Mets Starting Lineup
- Collin Cowgill – CF
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- John Buck – C
- Lucas Duda – LF
- Marlon Byrd – RF
- Ike Davis – 1B
- Justin Turner – DH
- Ruben Tejada – SS
Matt Harvey – RHP
Game Notes
The Mets had three players with four RBI last night, Daniel Murphy, David Wright and John Buck. It marks the second time in franchise history that the Mets had three or players with four or more RBI in the same game. New York tied a major league on June 27, 2012 at Chicago-NL when four players had four or more RBI (Wright, Murphy, Ike Davis and Scott Hairston) accomplished the feat.
After tallying three hits on Wednesday against the Phillies, center fielder Jordany Valdespin was slotted into the leadoff position in the Mets’ lineup Friday for the second straight game. He finished the game going 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Jon Niese saw his streak of 22 consecutive starts of six innings or more end last night. The grueling wether conditions played a big part as Niese lost the feel for the ball and was not able to get a proper grip on most of his pitches.
John Buck has hit a home run in four straight games (April 8 – present) extending his career-best. David Wright was the last Met to hit a home run in four consecutive games during the 2007 season. Richard Hidalgo holds the franchise record with a home run in five straight games from July 1-5, 2004.
Game Preview
The Mets and Twins play the second game of their series this afternoon as the Mets look to win their third series of the year. Last night the Mets stormed into the Twin Cities by putting up a 16 spot on the scoreboard with a grand slam by John Buck. Yep, that is the forth game in a row where John Buck has hit a homer, putting up 19 RBI’s in his first 10 games as a Met. Anyway the Harvey show goes on the road today as he faces Scott Diamond in his 2013 debut.
Matt Harvey has been tremendous this season with a 2-0 record over 14 innings allowing only 1 ER and 19 strikeouts. One of the moments from his last start that really sticks out in my mind occurred after Harvey walked the first batter. He responded by striking out the side! As you probably can imagine, Harvey has never faced the Twins, nor has faced any batters in the Twins organization, so there are no statistics to report here.
Scott Diamond is making his first start of the season today. Last year he went 12-9 over 27 games he pitched 173.0 innings while posting a 3.54 ERA. In that stretch he walked 31 batters and struck out 91 while boasting a WHIP of 1.243. In 2011 he went 1-5 over 7 games while pitching 39.0 innings with a 5.08 ERA. Diamond has never faced the Mets but he has faced Colin Cowgill who is 3-3, all singles against Scott.
Let’s Go Mets!
