The Miami Marlins and the New York Mets have gotten off to slow starts and will face off for their third series of the season in New York this weekend. The Marlins won the first and second series, capturing five of the seven head-to-head matchups thus far.
Despite that advantage, the teams enter with identical 12-15 marks, which is already 6.5 games behind the Nationals in the division. The Mets could be favored to win the majority of games in this series because of their home field advantage.
This series will be contested from Friday, May 5, 2017 through Sunday, May 7, 2017 at Citi Field in Queens, New York.
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Pitching Matchups
Miami will have Tom Koehler on the mound on Friday facing off against the Mets Rafael Montero. Koehler is 1-1 on the season with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP. He has 20 strikeouts and 11 walks in 25 innings pitched and will aim to lower his ERA in this one, although Koehler is nothing special as a starter. Montero 0-2 with an ugly 9.45 ERA, although that is in less than seven innings pitched. Wildness has been an issue and Montero must be much better against a pretty good Miami lineup.
Saturday’s matchup will feature the Marlins Wei-Yin Chen against Robert Gsellman for New York. Chen is 2-1 with a 4.33 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. He has a career ERA of 3.92 and is a solid pitcher who the Mets will need to solve. Gsellman is 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.65 WHIP. He has allowed 10 earned runs and 16 hits in his past two outings, which have only totaled nine innings.
On Sunday, Justin Nicolino will get the start for the Marlins against Matt Harvey of the Mets. This is one New York has a clear advantage, as Harvey is a solid pitcher despite this year’s 2-2 record and 5.14 ERA. He should be able to lower that in this one, while Nicolino is expected to come up from Triple-A to pitch in this one for the Marlins.
Mets Starting Pitching Woes
It’s only May and the Mets starting pitching rotation is looking thin. The team, which was already down Steven Matz and Seth Lugo, both out with elbow injuries, also lost its ace.
Right-hander Noah Syndergaard was ruled out indefinitely earlier this week after being diagnosed with a torn lat. Initial reports said the injury could keep the young flamethrower out of rotation for up to three months.
New York relies heavily on its starting pitching because the team’s offense is mediocre. Harvey and Jacob DeGrom are still around, but the depth will be tested with so many key arms on the shelf. The offense also has suffered a big blow with Yoenis Cespedes out for a while due to injury. Young prospect Michael Conforto has been a revelation at the top of the batting order, but he’s going to need some help.
Cold Front in Miami
The Marlins offense has been hot and cold the last few weeks, struggling for consistency and for wins lately. In the last three series against Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, Miami managed just two wins.
The victories they did have were impressive with the offense combining for 20 runs in those games. In the losses, however, the offense struggled. The Marlins scored two runs or less in their last six losses including being shut out by the Pirates on April 29th.
Both teams are having their issues right now, and will aim to turn it around in New York.
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