MMO Game Thread: Nationals vs Mets, 7:10 PM, (SNY)

Nationals vs Mets

Wednesday 4/2, 7:10 PM ET at Citi Field

Starting Lineup

Juan Lagares – CF
Wilmer Flores – 2B
David Wright – 3B
Curtis Granderson – RF
Chris Young – LF
Josh Satin – 1B
Travis d’Arnaud – C
Ruben Tejada – SS
Bartolo Colon – RHP

Mets Notes

The team announced that outfielder Chris Young will be in tonight’s starting lineup and make his Mets debut tonight. Young missed Monday’s game against the Nationals due to a strained right quad muscle.

Kyle Farnsworth and Wilmer Flores were added to the 25 man roster. To make room for them, the Mets placed Bobby Parnell on the 15-day Disabled List and Daniel Murphy on the Paternity Leave List. Reliever Ryan Reid was outrighted to make room for Farnsworth on the 40 man roster.

Jon Niese threw 4.2 innings in a simulated game in Port St. Lucie tonight, allowing four runs (two earned) while walking one and striking out four. He threw 49 of 76 pitches for strikes. This is the second minor league start since Niese received a cortisone shot in his pitching elbow to alleviate inflammation. He is on target to be activated on Sunday, April 6 for his start against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field.

RHP Cory Mazzoni, who strained his right triceps in the Grapefruit League finale, remained in Port St. Lucie when Triple-A Las Vegas players broke camp. The injury is considered “nothing significant” and Mazzoni is unlikely to miss much time, a Mets official suggested. Still, Mazzoni is due for a follow-up appointment with team doctors in New York. (Rubin)

Nationals vs Mets Preview

The Mets look to bounce back from their Opening Day loss against the Nationals tonight as Bartolo Colon makes his Mets debut. Gee pitched well on Monday, but that pattern was not transmitted to the bullpen which fumbled on multiple occasions, even after a go-ahead homer by Juan Lagares. Anyway, the Mets ended up losing 9-7, a score that was assisted by a two run homer by Captain Wright in the bottom of the tenth. On a positive note, the Mets hit three homers, including Andrew Brown who a lot of us, including myself, made fun of for being in the lineup that day.

Bartolo Colon looks to build off of his impressive 2013 campaign for the Athletics where he went 18-6 over 30 games and 190.1 innings of work with a 2.65 ERA. He has made two career starts against the Nationals allowing 3 ER over 17.0 innings of work, which is a 1.59 ERA while posting a 1-1 record. The Nationals have the following numbers against Colon:

Span 0-3
LaRoche 0-2
McLouth 2-3

And that’s it. No extra base hits against Colon and a lot of mystery against the Big Man.

On the Nationals side of the diamond, Gio Gonzalez gets the nod as he looks to build off of a 2013 that saw him go 11-8 over 32 games and 195.2 innings of work with a 3.36 ERA. He made three starts against the Mets last year pitching 20.0 innings allowing 5 ER and only 9 hits while striking out 20 batters (a 2.25 ERA). The Mets have the following numbers against Gio: