The New York Mets are a team playing for today while the Philadelphia Phillies are one with the future more in focus than the present, yet these two teams are set to collide for a best of three spat starting on Monday in the City of Brotherly Love. The Fightin’ Phils snapped a three game losing streak in a big way on Saturday beating Washington 17-3 and continued the hot hand by taking the series on Sunday. They’ll look for a similar series upset against the Metropolitans.
This series will be contested from Monday, April 10, 2017 through Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at Citi Field in New York.
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Pitching Matchups
All of a sudden, with injuries to Seth Lugo and Steven Matz, the Mets’ pitching rotation isn’t nearly as deep as it appeared this spring, but that doesn’t take away from the matchup advantage the team has against the Phillies in their three game series starting on Monday.
For the Mets’ this series will feature Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ rotation isn’t too shabby itself and will counter these star pitchers with Jerad Eickhoff, Clay Buchholz and Vince Velasquez.
In Monday’s matchup, the former Rookie of the Year Award winner and All-Star Jacob deGrom will be making just his second start since elbow surgery, but he pitched like is old self in his season debut, holding a remade Braves lineup scoreless in six innings. On the flip side, Eickhoff went six and two-thirds in his season debut, giving up two runs in a loss to the Reds.
On Tuesday, the experience factor favors Philadelphia with Buchholz getting the ball, but the veteran right-hander has been enigma over his last few seasons. He’s generally been a very good pitcher when healthy, but struggled mightily for the first half of the 2016 season with the Red Sox before finding his way a bit in the second half after a stint in the bullpen. He looked out-of-form in his Philadelphia debut, giving up four runs to a not very good Reds team. He allowed eight hits and a pair of walks in just five innings. He was fortunate to get out of the fifth with just four runs allowed after escaping a couple other jams.
On the other side of that Tuesday matchup is Matt Harvey who had the Mets’ fans nervous for much of Spring Training as his velocity took some time to return and he looked rusty.
Harvey was up to 95 mph in his regular season debut and despite a rather low pitch count, he still went 6.2 innings as he allowed just three hits—albeit two of them being solo home runs—against the Braves.
Given the matchups in the first two games, it’s Wednesday’s matchup that may give the Phillies the advantage, at least on pure stuff. Vince Velasquez can be filthy when he’s pitching well. He showed that early on last year and did strike out 10 Nationals in his season debut, but his inability to control his pitching count, led to him throwing 94 pitches in just four innings.
On the other side, Wheeler is a former top prospect and he looked good in Spring Training, but he missed two years with his elbow injury and was flat in his debut, giving up five runs in four innings to the Marlins. He did shutdown the Fish in order in the first, but fell off from there against a pretty good lineup.
Players to Remember
Howie Kendrick saw his playtime decrease while with Los Angeles last year and his numbers weren’t what they usually are for the second-baseman-turned-outfielder. He decline got him traded to Philly where he was set to be the veteran presence for a youthful team needing leadership. He was exactly that throughout Spring Training, but his numbers continued to suffer. Since the start of the regular season, however, Kendrick has been swinging a hot bat.
The veteran left-fielder is hitting .429 in the early going and has five RBIs while collecting four extra base hits—three doubles and a triple. In addition to Kendrick, Freddy Galvis has been swinging a hot bat. The speedy shortstop became a home run threat last year and it has continued in 2017. He’s the team leader with two home runs.
The Phillies scored 17 runs on Saturday against the Nationals on the strength of a 12-run first inning, destroying Jeremy Guthrie. The Phillies are still susceptible to quality pitching, of which the Mets have plenty, but if the Phillies can work their way against the New York starters, the bullpen is a weak spot for this team and could be exploited.
Outfield Questions and Answers in New York
The Mets’ outfield has been a story for quite some time. The team was trying to move Jay Bruce most of the winter before sticking with the left-handed slugger. He’s looked good in the season’s first week, hitting his second home run on Sunday night.
New York’s outfield seems to be an answer rather than a question early. Sure, the defense is suspect, but the offense has made up the difference. Yoenis Cespedes is the team’s biggest thumper and with Bruce hitting well, the corners are covered and the defense there really isn’t bad. It’s centerfield that’s the question.
Michael Conforto held down the position on Sunday night and delivered a home run. He’s hitting well in limited chances which could earn him a few more starts while Curtis Granderson is still finding his way with five strike outs in 20 at bats and an early .190 OBP.
Essentially, the outfield is key. The outfield needs to provide the offense, but the defense could be the downfall for a team light in pitching in the back end with their closer suspended and one that otherwise relies on the starters to lead the way.
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