Saturday, March 9, 2024 • 1:05 PM
Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium • Jupiter, FL
LHP Sean Manaea (0-1, 10.13) vs. LHP Steven Matz (0-0, 0.00)
MLBTV • WCBS 880 Radio

The spring 2024 Mets are streaky! Essentially the spring has been a sustained winning streak, followed by a sustained losing streak, and now the Mets are back on a winning streak as they look to win their fourth win in a row this afternoon against the Cardinals. For the Mets, it means returning to the same stadium they played in last night as they take on Roger Dean Chevorelt’s other tenants, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Last night was a pretty good game for the Mets. Francisco Álvarez homered for the third time this spring (and on back-to-back days!). Pete Alonso hit his second homer of the spring. Severino looked great over three innings. José Buttó, competing for the last rotation spot, looked good in his first three-inning out of the year.

Today the Mets will get a chance to face off against an old friend, Steven Matz who is making the start for the Cardinals. Matz is coming off of a season where he pitched in 25 games, starting 17 of them, where pitched 105 innings with a 3.86 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 1.333 WHIP, and a 113 ERA+. He’s only pitched one inning in an official spring training game so far this season where he struck out two batters and allowed no hits and no runs.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Mets Lineup

  1. Brandon Nimmo LF
  2. Francisco Lindor SS
  3. Starling Marte RF
  4. Mark Vientos DH
  5. Ji-Man Choi 1B
  6. Brett Baty 3B
  7. Harrison Bader CF
  8. Omar Narváez C
  9. Joey Wendle 2B

Opposing Lineup

  1. Brendan Donovan 2B
  2. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
  3. Brandon Crawford DH
  4. Nolan Arenado 3B
  5. Willson Contreras C
  6. Dylan Carlson CF
  7. Alfonso Rivas LF
  8. Jared Young RF
  9. Arquímedes Gamboa SS

Game Notes

Yesterday, the Mets announced the following roster moves: OF Taylor Kohlwey, RHP Chad Smith, and LHP Nate Lavender were reassigned to minor league camp. OF Alex Ramírez was optioned to Double-A, while RHP Grant Hartwig and LHP Josh Walker were optioned to Triple-A.

Per Michelle Margaux of SNY, Jeff McNeil took some dry swings today and hit off a tee. McNeil said he “feels good and it’s a positive sign.”

Today, the Mets will play their fourth of six Grapefruit League games against the Cardinals. The Cardinals have taken two out of three from the Mets so far this spring.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Sean Manaea’s new look. We aren’t talking about a new pitch or throwing style, we are literally talking about his look. After his first start, Manaea cut his hair for the first time in four years. He said it was an impulsive decision. Many Mets fans across Twitter immediately made a connection to Jacob deGrom, who shocked the Mets fan base when he cut his hair. We’ll look for Manaea to be deGrom-like today as he makes his second start of spring.
  2. Nate Lavender’s third outing. Nate turned a lot of heads in his first game of the year where he struck out the side. That strong first impression catapulted him upwards on depth chart lists for pitchers outside of the 40-man roster trying to find a way on the active roster before camp breaks. He added another clean inning with one strikeout in his second outing. Does he continue to build his resume today?
  3. Trying to get Brett Bay and Mark Vientos going. Both Baty and Vientos are getting the start today for the Mets. Baty is just 4-for-21 so far this spring but has scored an impressive five times and has a homer. Vientos has three hits in 21 at-bats, but one of them was a home run. The Mets would love to see Vientos and Baty both collect some hits today and get their momentum going.

Let’s go Mets!