Amed Rosario is a Met. The future is now. Right? You would think this would have been an exciting week for the Mets considering the arrival of hopefully their next franchise player. Wrong. First fans had to stomach the Mets dropping two of three to the Colorado Rockies. Don’t get me wrong, the Rockies are a good ball club, but the Mets have had some recent success against them. To make matters worse, they then had to witness the best team in baseball come into town and pound on the Amazins’ with their freshly acquired star pitcher, Yu Darvish. Darvish shut out the Mets in his National League debut on Friday, and the Mets posted a meager four runs the entire weekend. This club is in dire straights as they are 11 games under .500 for the first time since 2014.
The imminent arrival of future cornerstone first baseman, Dominic Smith, should be another exciting moment to look forward to, but the fact of the matter is that nobody wants to watch a struggling ball club. The Rangers may be a struggling ball club as well, but they have a good chance to pick up two wins considering the starters the Mets are pushing out there. Between Chris Flexen and Rafael Montero, any run differential less than -15 would be a blessing in disguise. Strap in, Mets fans. It’s going to be a long week.
Oh, and before we get to details, I wanted to take a moment to shout out Rangers reliever Jake Diekman. Diekman has suffered from Ulcerative Colitis almost his entire life and opted to have his colon removed in offseason. Two surgeries later, he is nearing a return to the mound, but has his work cut out for him. As someone who underwent the same ordeal, I just want to wish him the best of luck and hope he’s back on the field soon.
WHEN AND WHERE
Game 1: Tuesday @ 7:10 p.m. EST (TV: SNY; RADIO: 710 WOR, ESPN Deportes)
Game 2: Wednesday @ 12:10 p.m. EST (TV: SNY; RADIO: 710 WOR, ESPN Deportes)
BASEBALL WEATHER
Tuesday: Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. High around 80F with a low around 64F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 MPH.
Wednesday: Sunny with a high of 84F and a Low of 67F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 MPH.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Tuesday: RHP Chris Flexen (0-1, 12.00 ERA, 8.58 DRA, .458 TAv, -0.2 WARP) vs. RHP Andrew Cashner (7-8, 3.36 ERA, 5.28 DRA, .236 TAv, 0.4 WARP)
Wednesday: RHP Rafael Montero (1-7, 5.78 ERA, 6.05 DRA, .309 TAv, -0.4 WARP) vs. RHP A.J. Griffin (5-2, 5.20 ERA, 6.50 DRA, .262 TAv, -0.5 WARP)
WHO’S HOT?
Mets OF Michael Conforto: .309/.364/.602 slash line, 8 home runs, 16 RBIs over his last 98 ABs.
Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre: .297/.340/.462 slash line, three home runs, 15 RBIs over his last 91 ABs. (Joined the 3000 hits club.
Rangers 2B Rougned Odor: 7 home runs and 13 RBIs over his last 95 ABs.
WHO’S NOT?
Mets OF Curtis Granderson: .167 BA with 14 strikeouts over his last 48 ABs.
Mets SP Rafael Montero: 5.79 ERA with 28 hits and 8 walks surrendered over his last 23.1 innings.
Rangers OF Nomar Mazara: .192 BA with 19 strikeouts over his last 78 ABs.
WHEN WE LAST MET
The Mets last saw the Texas Rangers during a two game stint in Texas on June 6 and 7. The Amazins’ split the series with the Rangers, dropping the first game 10-8 and winning the second game 4-3.
IT’S LITERALLY A 10-DAY DL
Mets: Fresh off his “Game of Thrones” cameo as a soldier in the Lannister army, Noah Syndergaard is targeting a September return. Syndergaard, currently recovering from a torn lat, has progressed from throwing on flat ground to tossing at 150 feet. Matt Harvey continued his rehab from a scapula injury with a bullpen session this past Sunday. He is expected to throw another bullpen session Wednesday. Juan Lagares continued to work back from a fractured thumb by going 2-4 with a run scored in his rehab assignment with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. He is expected to make his last rehab start on Tuesday.
Rangers: Jake Diekman, currently recovering from a multi-stage procedure to remove his colon, is expected to wait a little longer before going on a rehab assignment. The left-handed reliever suffered from Ulcerative Colitis for a large portion of his life before opting to have his colon removed and a J-Pouch constructed. Adrian Beltre was struck in the back of the head by a foul ball this past Sunday, but passed the concussion protocol and remained in the game.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
“My body has never felt better. My arm is feeling really good.” – Noah Syndergaard on his continued recovery from a torn lat muscle.
“At some point, we’ll just do it. If necessary, we’ll just make the playing time available.” – Sandy Alderson on the imminent arrival of Dominic Smith.
“That his situation remains unresolved is just one indication that there doesn’t seem to be a clamoring within the Mets organization to retain Collins, and it may well be that — after seven years of managing the Mets — he’s ready to move on to something else. Nobody has said anything out loud, one way or the other.” – ESPN.com’s Buster Olney on the future of Terry Collins.
“We were overmatched. They outplayed us in every facet of the game. They obviously hit better than us, they pitched better than us. When you’re hitting home runs you don’t have to steal too much, you don’t have to run the bases very often. You just have to jog. They did that more than us too.” – Terry Collins on getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers after Sunday night’s game.
Photo credit: Kevin Jairaj – USA Today Sports