With Toronto third baseman Brett Lawrie serving a suspension for his tirade on plate umpire Bill Miller, the Mets won’t have to worry about dodging unlucky helmet hops in this three game series against the Blue Jays. What they will have to worry about is the meat of the Toronto rotation, and a team that has been holding its own against the cream of the AL East crop.
On the flip side, the Mets begin a tricky interleague season against an AL team that actually manages to struggle against the National League. Its been over four years since the Blue Jays have recorded a winning record during interleague play, and the Mets have bettered them with a 14-4 all-time record.
Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow, and the young Henderson Alvarez will be on the Mets’ radar this weekend, and they form the better 60% of the Toronto rotation. With that trio on the mound, its been much smoother sailing this season. The Mets miss Kyle Drabek in the rotation this weekend, and even he has looked solid.
Entering the series, the Blue Jays have won two in a row against the Yankees and stand in the very middle of the muddled up early season AL East pack.
Jon Niese takes the mound for the Mets to kick off a six-game road trip, and the Mets take a fair 9-9 road record to the Rogers Centre this evening.
The unfamiliarity factor will play a role tonight for both starting pitchers and their opposing lineups.
Mets Lineup
Torres, CF - Turner, 1B - Wright, 3B - Duda, DH - Murphy, 2B - Hairston, LF - Nieuwenhuis, RF - Johnson, C - Cedeno, SS - Niese, SP
I like how Terry Collins leaves Duda in the cleanup role as the DH. Its an aggressive move to take advantage of Ricky Romero’s .282 batting average against lefties. Its a good day for Ike Davis to take a seat as the middle of the Mets lineup is a good mashup of streaking hitters from different sides of the plate.
Blue Jays Lineup
Johnson, 2B - Escobar, SS - Bautista, RF - Encarnacion, 1B - Arencibia, C - Francisco, DH - Thames, LF - Gomes, 3B - Davis, CF - Romero, SP
The better part of this lineup counters nicely against the lefty arm of Jon Niese. Bautista, Encarnacion and Arencibia are three right-handed power bats that have really come alive of late. They have taken the middle of this order by storm and could give the Mets fits.
Matchup
NYM: Jon Niese (2-1, 3.40 ERA) Not to much to complain about in regards to Jon Niese’s output thus far in 2012. Sure he has been spotty here and there, but he’s really settling into his guaranteed home of Queens, NY. Nothing really jumps out off of his statsheet, but he could become the paradigm for consistency, with only one outing this year that can be subject to serious skepticism. He deserves a bit more run support and bullpen security, considering he’s coming off six shutout innings in a no decision against the Marlins, the game the Mets blew 4-8.
TOR: Ricky Romero (4-1, 3.88 ERA) Off to a solid start, Romero is somewhat lacking the control he showed off in 2011. He’s either pitching strong through eight innings, or barely making it through the sixth. But records and pitch count speculation aside, Romero is still firing on all cylinders when opposing lineups stack up right-handed pitching against him. Righties are batting just .192 against is sharp, cutting stuff. The left-handed bats have figured him out a tad, but the former all-star is still one of the toughest arms locked into this Toronto rotation.
Stache Keys to the Game
- Niese will need some run support. Quality starts are great, but they aren’t at their most useful if they can’t be turned wins. It’s like I’m writing about Johan Santana here.
- The hot hitting must continue. Lucas Duda has turned it around, and one of these days I expect Daniel Murphy to rifle one out of the park. He’s been so fluid lately, he’s due for a blast.
- The Mets bullpen was on lockdown during the last three innings last night. With any potential close game this series, we’ll need to see that again.
Slated for a 7:07 PM ET start, catch the game live on SNY and WFAN 660.
