Spring Training Game Thread: Cardinals vs Mets, 1:10 PM

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (5-6) VS. NEW YORK METS (4-7-1)
Wednesday, March 4, 2020 • 1:10 p.m.
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, FL
RHP Jack Flaherty (1-0, 1.93) vs. RHP Marcus Stroman (0-1, 4.91)
ESPN

The Mets play the Cardinals at home today before they head over to Jupiter tomorrow to play them again! Because it’s spring training. Here’s hoping another team eventually decides to move to the East Coast of Florida in the future.

What Happened Yesterday

The Mets played the Marlins (shocker) and lost 6-1. But it’s spring training and the score is hiding the details of how the Mets really performed.

Noah Syndergaard‘s line looks messy – two hits, three runs, two earned, over three innings but according to people who were able to watch the game, the defense behind him was quite shaky, leading to the runs, and the homer he allowed was very much a wind-assisted homer. He was getting swings and misses on pitches which led to five strikeouts.

Brad Brach and Jeurys Familia also had great days in the bullpen allowing no runs (neither has allowed a run all Spring) and despite allowing two hits, Sewald also didn’t allow a run (and he hasn’t allowed an earned run all spring either).

The offense was quiet yesterday except for Jeff McNeil and Andres Gimenez. McNeil had two hits including a homer and Gimenez had his second double of the spring.

On The Mound Today

Marcus Stroman will make his third start of spring today and probably pitch around three innings. So far he has pitched 3.2 innings over two games allowing four hits and two runs from two homers, two walks and has struck out three. Scheduled to pitch behind him are Erasmo Ramirez, Daniel Zamora, Chasen Schreve and Stephen Nogosek.

Ramirez and Schreve are in camp on non-roster invitations. Zamora and Nogosek are part of the group of bullpen pitchers competing for the last spot in the pen. Zamora so far has been impressive in Spring allowing one hit and nothing else while striking out four in three innings over three games. Stephen Nogosek has had some bumps – allowing two runs from two hits including a homer in 2.2 innings over three games.

At The Plate

There’s no one-off to a hotter start right now than Jeff McNeil. In his first 15 at-bats, he’s hitting .533/.563/.800, obviously not sustainable, but he’s hot now. Here’s hoping he stays hot. Nimmo, who lost significant time last week due to medical testing in 14 Ab’s is hitting .357/.471/.429.

Most impressive this spring has been top prospect Andres Gimenez who is hitting .333/.400/.611 in eight games and 18 at-bats. The main knock on him has been “can he hit for power?” He added a leg kick and now he’s breathing down Rosario’s neck who hasn’t had a hit yet this Spring over 14 at-bats.