The New York Mets will host the Atlanta Braves at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie this afternoon at 1:10 PM. The game will be broadcast on WPIX and WOR.
Zack Wheeler makes his second start of the Spring and opposes right-hander Kris Medlen for the Braves. During his last start, Wheeler tossed three scoreless innings against the Houston Astros, allowing only two hits while striking out three.
Also scheduled to pitch today are Carlos Torres, Kyle Farnsworth, Jose Valverde, Jack Leathersich, Jeurys Familia and Ryan Reid.
Here is today’s starting lineup:
New York Mets
Chris Young, LF
Wilmer Flores, 2B
David Wright, 3B
Curtis Granderson, RF
Travis d’Arnaud, C
Matt Clark, 1B
Brandon Allen, DH
Juan Lagares, CF
Ruben Tejada, SS
Thoughts:
Despite a .439 on-base percentage plus two hits and a stolen base yesterday, Juan Lagares was dropped from the leadoff spot in favor of Chris Young. Terry Collins has maintained that whomever produces the best this spring will get the centerfield AND leadoff job for the Mets. Lagares (.906) has over a 300 point lead in OPS, but there’s still 2 1/12 weeks left for both Chris Young (.602) and Eric Young (.604) to get their numbers up.
Matt Clark gets rewarded with a start after delivering a pinch-hit double in the ninth to drive home two runs and win the game for the Mets 3-2 over the Cardinals on Saturday.
As you can see Wright is back in the lineup after a day off on Saturday, and Flores goes back to second base where he has played the majority of this Spring.
There is still no timetable for Ike Davis and Lucas Duda to return to the lineup. Both are battling soreness and calf strains.
Expect the first wave of cuts from Mets camp by Wednesday at the latest. It will be interesting to see if the Mets keep Syndergaard and Montero in big league camp.
We’re here at Tradition Field and we’ll try to round up anything juicy for you… Ha ha ha… Enjoy the game…
(Photo by Brad Barr, USATSI)
