Farewell to Port St. Lucie
The New York Mets wrap up their Grapefruit League season this afternoon in a 12:05 PM start against the Washington Nationals at Tradition Field. Mets pitching prospect Cory Mazzoni will oppose Jordan Zimmermann for the Nats. The game will be broadcast on SNY.
This would have been Bartolo Colon‘s turn in the rotation, but to limit his exposure to the Nationals the Mets will have him pitch in a minor league game instead.
Adam Rubin included Mazzoni among his 12 Mets prospects he expects to debut at some point in 2014:
Although the 2011 second-round pick from NC State is due to continue as a starting pitcher in the minors, Terry Collins has mentioned him as a potential reliever at the big-league level. Mazzoni went 5-3 with a 4.36 ERA in 13 appearances (12 starts) for Binghamton last season before needing surgery to repair a torn knee meniscus. Read the rest of Rubin’s article here.
Here are today’s starting lineups:
Mets
- Eric Young Jr., LF
- Daniel Murphy, 2B
- David Wright, 3B
- Curtis Granderson, RF
- Chris Young, CF
- Ike Davis, 1B
- Travis d’Arnaud, C
- Ruben Tejada, SS
- Cory Mazzoni, RHP
Nationals
- Anthony Rendon, 3B
- Denard Span, CF
- Jayson Werth, RF
- Wilson Ramos, C
- Bryce Harper, LF
- Ian Desmond, SS
- Adam LaRoche, 1B
- Danny Espinosa, 2B
- Jordan Zimmermann, RHP
Juan Lagares hits the bench after another big day at the plate that saw him go 3-for-4 with a triple and his third stolen base without a caught stealing. Terry Collins, as you know, is not a big believer in things like momentum and going with hot hands.
Is that our Opening Day lineup?
After the game, the Mets will head to Montreal to play exhibition games against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and Saturday before opening the regular season on Monday, March 31, when they face the Washington Nationals at Citi Field.
Before Friday’s game in Montreal, there will be a pregame ceremony honoring the late Gary Carter, who starred for the Expos before arriving to the Mets in a trade. We’ll have a full article on this later today and I hope you check it out.
It’s down to the wire at the Daily Stache where Metsmerized Online is pitted against Amazin Avenue in their Mets Brackets. Vote for MMO here!
Enjoy today’s game and Lets Go Mets!
