No matter what direction the 2012 Mets go in over the course of the year, it is definitely wonderful to see them beat the odds sitting on a five game cushion about a month into the season. Coming off another in-division sweep, the Mets begin a three-game road series in Miami against the these new brightly tailored Marlins.
The Mets stifled this same team a couple weeks ago at Citi; Mets pitching restricting them to no more than two runs in each game of that three-game series. It is pretty hard to believe that this team has pulled off three of these in-division sweeps in less than two months. With that said, there is more than plenty of baseball left in this young season.
With five consecutive wins under their belt, the Metropolitans will look to continue their recent road success down at the new Marlins Park with a battle between two dominant lefty aces on the horizon. Which team will strike first in the series? Well it may come down to who gets outpitched in this matchup between Johan Santana and Mark Buehrle.
Mets Lineup
Torres - Murphy - Wright - Duda - Hairston - Davis - Cedeno - Nickeas - Santana
The biggest downside to this series from a New York perspective is that the Mets are catching the Marlins during the biggest hot streak of the year to this point. Since the last time these two teams met, Jose Reyes has begun to reach base more and Giancarlo Stanton has seriously recovered his power stroke.
Mets pitching will be crucial. Whether its the starting pitching, or the late inning relief; quality starts and imperative, and dependency is going to be crucial with this wildly inconsistent Mets bullpen. There are three potentially close games coming up, and the pitching staff has to be prepared to get worked.
Marlins Lineup
Reyes - Infante - Ramirez - Morrison - Stanton - Sanchez - Bonifacio - Buck - Buehrle
A shaky Marlins bullpen will need to see some important pieces come out of the woodwork this series against the Mets, or else New York will be feasting on Marlins relief if the starter don’t get six or seven innings each time out.
The Marlins have a world of momentum, however, winning eight of the last nine. Almost all of their starting lineup is breaking out of a cold spell, and all they need to do is catch Mets pitchers napping and boom, an instant advantage in the series.
Matchup
NYM: Johan Santana (1-2, 2.61 ERA) Remember that time the Mets offense struggled to give Santana some decent run support? Oh…I’m sorry, thats just about every single start. He’s coming off a seven win, three run outing against Arizona in which he secured his first win of the year, but you seriously can judge him by his record. What a great feel good story so far, as he’s striking out guys left and right. It is like he never missed a beat. It’ll be these divisional matchups that up his expectations.
MIA: Mark Buehrle(2-4, 2.83 ERA) Fresh off a 116 pitch complete game, Mark Buehrle is transitioning to the National League with absolutely no disorder. Last time out against the Mets, he gave his team a great quality start, but his offense couldn’t propel him and the Marlins to victory back on April 25. This is exactly what the Marlins need to bypass their bullpen this evening. A strong outing from Buehrle means at least seven quality innings.
Stache Keys to the Game
- As always, give Johan Santana some run support. Seven or eight runs would be nice to back up the seven or eight k’s that Johan will rack up tonight.
- Make Mark Buehrle work. Force him into deep pitch counts. He may not fall for it and walk too many Mets, but the name of the game will be “Bring on the Marlins Bullpen.”
- Keep an eye on the recovery of Ike Davis. You’ll know he’s turning a corner if he can comfortably hit lefty Buehrle tonight. Same for Lucas Duda.
Slated for a 7:10 PM ET start, catch the game live on SNY and WFAN 660.
