Washington Nationals (8-6) vs. New York Mets (8-7)
Sunday, March 21, 2021 • 1:05 p.m.
Ballpark of the Palm Beaches • West Palm Beach, FL
RHP Max Scherzer (0-0, 2.08) vs. RHP Jacob deGrom (2-0, 1.00)
Recapping Friday’s Game
The Mets had the rare Saturday day off – a Spring Training exclusive – after a terrific game on Friday that saw Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam for his second homer of the preseason. Lindor got off to a slow start this spring but this past week he’s been killing it, his batting average has gone up to .310 and his OPS has gone up to .892. Tomas Nido also showed off a bit a of power hitting his first spring homer on a day where he went 3-for-3 at the plate. Alonso continued his terrific spring with his fifth double of spring, raising his OPS to 1.367.
But the big story of the day was the pitching. Friday morning, there were talks about Carlos Carrasco’s injury and how the Mets would need Taijuan Walker to step up. Walker pitched four innings allowing one hit and a walk while striking out three with no runs. Jerry Blevins came in after and pitched a perfect inning. Corey Oswalt, who was in competition for the fifth starting spot, but very far down the depth chart, likely pitched his way out of the competition allowing five runs over 2.2 innings. Finally, Daniel Zamora continued his very good spring with another scoreless inning of work, keeping his ERA at 0.
Mets Lineup
- Brandon Nimmo – CF
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Dominic Smith – LF
- Michael Conforto – RF
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Jeff McNeil – 2B
- J.D. Davis – 3B
- Tomas Nido – C
- Jacob deGrom – RHP
Nationals Lineup
- Victor Robles – CF
- Juan Soto – RF
- Trea Turner – SS
- Josh Bell – 1B
- Kyle Schwarber – LF
- Luis Garcia – 2B
- Yan Gomes – C
- Jordy Mercer – 3B
- Max Scherzer – RHP
What We Are Watching Today
It’s another Jacob deGrom start on a weekend, on the road. You know that means? No television coverage! After facing Zack Grienke twice on the road, deGrom faces Scherzer today. You would think MLB would want to do everything they could to promote a start like this today, especially with the basketball tournaments happening at the same time. But no. No cameras.
Anyway, today will be deGrom’s first start against an NL East team this spring. In his first three starts (two against the Astros, one against the Cardinals) he has allowed one run on a solo homer and three hits total in nine innings while striking out an absurd 16 batters.
In another important turn of events, Dominic Smith returns to the lineup today after being sidelined for the better part of a week with a wrist injury. Anyway today’s lineup is pretty close to an Opening Day lineup (Nido instead of McCann), including no DH and deGrom getting some AB’s too.
