The Mets will play a two-game series against the Baltimore Orioles today and tomorrow. The projected starters are listed as follows:
Tuesday, 7:10 p.m.: RHP Bartolo Colon (4-1, 3.31) vs. RHP Bud Norris (1-2, 12.18)
Wednesday 7:10 p.m.: RHP Jacob deGrom (2-3, 3.34) vs. RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (2-1, 1.59)
Orioles News and Notes
Don’t Count Out The O’s Arms: The Orioles have won five of their last six games dating back to last weekend before they had two games postponed due to the riots in Baltimore. During that time, the birds rotation has pitched to a 1.91 ERA led by a revitalized Ubaldo Jimenez who is in his second season with the Orioles. He is currently 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA. The other pitcher the Mets will face is Bud Norris who despite struggling early this year (12.18 ERA), had his strongest start in his most recent outing where he held the Red Sox to just three runs.
Adam Jones Is Red Hot: Adam Jones is one of the hottest players in baseball right now. His .402 batting average is the highest in the American League at this point. Jones has hit five home runs thus far and has an incredible 1.104 OPS. One of the more interesting “match ups” to look out for is the competition to lock-down centerfield. Jones, a perennial gold glove award winner against Juan Lagares, who won the award for the first time last season. Lets see which player can be the most impressive in locking down centerfield.
Paredes Will Take A Seat: The Orioles DH Jimmy Paredes has been a key producer in their lineup this year. The 26-year-old is producing at a .353/.365/.667 clip so far this season with three home runs. However, he has only started one game at second base, his natural position so far this season. The switch-hitter could be a dangerous pinch hit option for Buck Showalter late in games.
Mets News and Notes
Time To Rebound: It’s unfortunate that the Mets must demand such incredible pitching night-in and night-out from their top-of-the-rotation guys. Last start, Colon gave up four earned runs for the first time this season and struck out only two (had at least 5 k’s in first four starts). The performance gave him his first loss of the season, but ultimately wasn’t horrible. DeGrom was roughed up two starts back in the Bronx, giving up six earned runs to the Yankees including three home runs. He bounced back a bit last start against Washington, giving up three earned runs and walking two in 5.1 innings. He was the losing pitcher in both outings. The lack luster offensive performances the Mets are receiving right now put added pressure on the pitching. Bart and deGrom must really grind out these starts and limit the dangerous O’s lineup to support the Mets’ bats.
Monell’s Long Awaited Call-Up/Homecoming: The Mets announced Monday that they are calling up catcher Johnny Monell from Las Vegas. Monell hit the ball well in spring training and carried that over to the Pacific Coast League for the 51s. The 29-year-old is a journey man of sorts and is making his long awaited debut back at home. He was born in the Bronx and attended Christopher Columbus High School. Monell is batting a ridiculous .397/.455/.638 right now in AAA over the course of 17 games. He also has some pop from the left side of the plate with four home runs already this season. I would imagine he will get a start against one of the righties in this series.
Lagares Is Rolling: The Mets are looking smarter and smarter everyday for paying Lagares before the start of this season. The gold glover is batting .457/.486/.571 over the past nine games. His overall batting average so far this season is .324, among the leaders in the Mets lineup. Couple that with some stellar offense, and Lagares is really becoming a star. Watching him play centerfield is almost worth the price of admission itself. It’s going to be exciting to see him continue to develop as a player this season.
Flores Needs To Right The Ship: We have seen Wilmer Flores struggle in the field so far this year. Several throwing errors and his inability to turn double plays with Daniel Murphy have cost the Mets more than once this year and have made the Citi Field fans restless.Terry Collins gave Flores back-to-back days off with the hope that Flores would clear his head a bit. We’ve seen him take his struggles to the offensive side of the ball, batting .194/.219/.226 over his past nine games with seven strikeouts. The Mets can sure use his bat this series to help stimulate the offense.
This is a key mini series for the Metropolitans. They have two of their better pitchers on the hill and really need to get their offense rolling tonight before facing off against Jimenez in game two.
