Series Preview: Mets Continue Road Trip With Three Games In Miami

The New York Mets (20-17, first place in the National League’s eastern division) continue their nine-game road trip with three games against manager Don Mattingly‘s Miami Marlins (20-23, fourth place in the National League’s eastern division).

The Mets are coming from Atlanta, where they took two of three from the Braves after dropping three games in Tampa Bay, giving the Mets a 2-4 record thus far on their road trip.

The Mets, already depleted by severe bites from the injury bug,  sustained more injuries in Atlanta, with Kevin Pillar going down after a gruesome hit-by-pitch, and Taijuan Walker landing on the injured list with left-side tightness. After Wednesday night’s game, Luis Rojas announced that Pete Alonso was unavailable for the game due to soreness in his left wrist, and the first baseman was to go for an MRI on Thursday. The Mets have indicated that results of the MRI will be announced on Friday.

The Mets are relying on, and getting, above-expectation performances by “bench mob” players such as Jonathan Villar and Tomas Nido, and have had to import new bodies in Khalil Lee, Wilfredo Tovar, Johneshwy Fargas, and Cameron Maybin to fill their roster. The Mets have shown grit and fortitude to be able to tread water and maintain their grip on first place. One has to wonder how long the surprisingly good can continue under these conditions.

The good news is that J.D. Davis, Jacob deGrom, Seth Lugo, and Noah Syndergaard are getting closer to returning. The immediate futures of Brandon Nimmo, Albert Almora, Luis Guillorme, and Carlos Carrasco are unclear. Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto may be out for a while with hamstring injuries. This is quite a list of players on the injured list.

The Mets have played the Marlins twice this year at Citi Field, and the teams have split those games. One game was rained out, and will be made up in August. Weather will not be an issue for this series in Miami, as the Marlins have a retractable roof.

Let’s take a look at the projected pitching matchups for the series.

Friday , May 21, RHP Marcus Stroman (3-4) NYM vs RHP Jordan Holloway (1-2) MIA, 7:10 pm

Stroman in 2021: GS: 8, ERA: 2.72, WHIP: 1.06,  IP: 46.1, H: 39, BB: 10, SO: 35,  ER: 14, HR: 6

Last 3 starts: May 5 vs. STL (L, 5.0IP, 2ER), May 11 vs. BAL (ND, 6.1IP, 1ER), May 16 vs. TBR (L, 6.0IP, 5ER)

Holloway in 2021: GS: 2, ERA: 2.70, WHIP: 1.26, IP: 16.2, H: 11, BB: 10, SO: 13, ER: 5, HR: 0

Last 2 starts: May 10 vs. ARI (L, 3.2, IP, 3ER), May 15 vs. LAD (L, 3.0IP, 2ER)

Stroman, after starting the season pitching brilliantly to a 3-9 record, has hit a bit of rough patch in his season. In his last start at Tampa Bay, he uncharacteristically surrendered three home runs in taking the loss. With the injuries to the Mets’ rotation, the team needs Stroman to step up and deliver a solid outing, especially after the heavy bullpen usage in Atlanta and the likelihood of at least one bullpen game in this series.

Holloway began his career in. 2020, throwing just one-third of an inning. He was used as a reliever this season until his start on May 10. He throws his fastball and slider equally at 44% of the time for each pitch. The Marlins may be trying to stretch him out into a permanent starter’s role. It will be interesting to see how far he goes in this game.

The game can be seen locally on SNY and heard locally on WCBS radio 880 a.m.

Saturday, May 22, Undecided NYM vs LHP Pablo Lopez (1-3) MIA, 4:10 pm

Lopez in 2021: GS: 9, ERA: 3.12, WHIP: 1.24, IP: 49.0, H: 45, BB: 16, SO: 46, ER: 17, HR: 5

Last 3 starts: May 5 vs. ARI (ND 5.0, IP, 1ER), May 11 vs. ARI (L, 4.1IP, 6ER), May 15 vs. LAD (W, 5.0IP, 2ER)

The Mets have a couple of options for this game. They may call up Jordan Yamamoto, who tossed 2.2 innings in St. Louis on May 5, getting the win in relief in a bullpen game. The Mets may also give a look to Thomas Szapucki, who is 0-1 with a 4.00 ERA for Triple-A Syracuse this season. Joey Lucchesi is also a candidate to start, or the Mets could go with a bullpen game.

Lopez has a career record of 14-19. He features a fastball that he throws 56% of the time, and a changeup that he throws 26% of the time. Lopez will also mix in cutter and a curveball.

The game can be seen locally on WPIX and heard locally on WCBS radio 880 a.m.

Sunday, May 23, Undecided NYM vs RHP Cody Poteet (1-0) MIA, 1:10 pm

Poteet in 2021: GS: 2, ERA: 1.80, WHIP: 0.90,  IP: 10.0, H: 7, BB: 2, SO: 9,  ER: 2, HR: 1

Last 2 starts: May 12 vs. ARI (W, 5.0IP, 2ER), May 18 vs. PHI (ND, 5.0IP, 0ER)

The Mets have not announced a starter for the game. They have the same options as listed above for the May 22 game.

Poteet is in his rookie season. He throws a fastball 55% of the time, and divides the remainder of his pitches essentially equally among a slider, curveball, and changeup. The Mets often struggle against pitchers they have not seen before, so this will be an interesting game to watch to see if this trend continues.

The game can be seen locally on WPIX and heard locally on WCBS radio 880 a.m.

Series Notes for Mets (stats through games of May 5)

Mets by the numbers, with MLB rankings:

BA .230 (20th)

OBP .315 (12th)

SLG .350 (29th)

OPS .664 (25th)

Team ERA 3.28 (5th)

Starters’ ERA 2.95 (4th)

Relievers’ ERA 3.77 (10th)

Mets OPS leaders (among players who are active) are Tomas Nido (.902), Pete Alonso who is currently on the active roster, pending his MRI (.769), Jonathan Villar (.716)

Francisco Lindor ended his hitless streak at 26 ABs in Thursday’s game, and is now slashing .189/.301/.280

James McCann is slashing .202/.269/.242

Series Notes for Marlins (stats through games of May 19)

Marlins by the numbers, with MLB rankings:

BA .231 (18th)

OBP .295 (27th)

SLG .368 (25th)

OPS .663 (26th)

Team ERA 3.60 (7th)

Starters’ ERA 3.57 (8th)

Relievers’ ERA 3.64 (8th)

Active Marlins OPS leaders are Jazz Chisholm (.997), Jesus Aguilar (.879), Miguel Rojas (.806)

Starling Marte, Jorge Alfaro, and Lewis Brinson are on the injured list.

As noted earlier, the Mets will continue to play with a roster that looks nothing like their opening day 26-man crew. They’ve been fun to watch, playing with heart and resilience since the onslaught of the injuries. Their thin roster, particularly on the pitching side, will once again be tested in this series against the Marlins, where they clearly will give their bullpen a heavy workload.

Beginning with this series, the Mets will play 17 days in a row, which will further tax the bullpen and exacerbate the need for reinforcements (that hopefully are not far off).

Statistically, the Mets and Marlins are quite similar (though the Mets’ numbers are skewed by players not currently available). The Mets will have to find a way to win with their compromised roster. Teams will sustain significant injuries to their pitching staffs or their lineups; seldom do teams incur the numbers of injuries the Mets have on both sides of their roster.

The Mets will need to continue to dig deep and ask players to outperform expectations if they are to remain competitive within their division.