St. Louis Cardinals (6-5) vs. New York Mets (7-7-1)
Friday, March 19, 2021 • 1:10 p.m.
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, FL
RHP Carlos Martinez (0-1, 8.31) vs. RHP Taijuan Walker (0-0, 9.00)
SNY/MLBN
Recapping Yesterday
The Mets dropped yesterday’s game 3-1 against the Nationals, moving both teams to a .500 record this spring. The game was pretty much the same story for the Mets – which is a good thing – that the star of the game was the starting pitching. Marcus Stroman pitched 5.0 innings allowing 2 hits and no walks leading to a run while striking out 6, dropping his ERA to 2.70.
Edwin Diaz had another good inning, he allowed 2 hits this time, but no hits and kept his spring ERA at 0. He was followed by Trevor May who had a perfect inning of work and even messed with his timing with a leg pause (like Marcus Stroman).
There wasn’t much to mention at the plate. Kevin Pillar continue his great spring (at the plate), picking up two hits and bumping his OPS to .966. McCann in the cleanup spot hit a double. Villar continue to to struggle, going 0-3 and dropping his OPS to .394.
Mets Lineup
- Brandon Nimmo – CF
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Michael Conforto – RF
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Jeff McNeil – 2B
- J.D. Davis – DH
- Kevin Pillar – LF
- Tomas Nido – C
- Brandon Drury – 3B
Cardinals
- Matt Carpenter – 2B
- Dylan Carlson – RF
- Nolan Arenado – 3B
- Tyler O’Neill – LF
- Andrew Knizner – C
- Harrison Bader – CF
- Edmundo Sosa – SS
- John Nogowski- 1B
- Carlos Martinez – RHP
What to Watch For Today
The Mets got some bad news with Carlos Carrasco yesterday – he has a hamstring tear and will be sidelined for an undetermined amount of time, but right now it looks like we are talking about months instead of weeks. So now the Mets depth is even more important.
The last big free agent signing for the Mets, Taijuan Walker, was signed to stretch out the rotation. His second spring start today is now even more important as he is effectively the Mets third starter in the rotation. In his first start he allowed 2 runs from 2 hits in 2.0 innings, where he was great in the first inning and ran into some trouble in the second. He also said he would wear the shark tooth necklace in his next spring start, so we are looking to see if that happens too.
Corey Oswalt is also scheduled to pitch. In a normal Mets season, he would now be slotted to be the Mets 5th starter (or an equivalent pitcher). There are still a few people ahead of him on the depth chart this year. That being said, in 2.0 innings of work this spring he has allowed no hits, no walks and struck out 5.
Let’s Go Mets!
Check 213 Miles From Shea!
