Grapefruit League Preview, Sky King, and "Ya Gotta Believe" on Another Metsian Podcast

From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

with SAM, RICH & MIKE

Opening Day in the Grapefruit League

Mets Roster Projections 

Bullpen - Third Base - Luis Rojas

Pete Alonso > Social Media < Steve Cohen

The 1973 National League Champion New York Mets

and so much more!

ninety-five minutes

#LGM

N.Y. Mets: One of These Starters is Not Like the Others

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

One of these performances just wasn't the same...

With Jacob deGrom's second start of the season underway against the Red Sox at Boston, the Mets starting rotation officially begins its next go-around.

First Time Around:

• Game One vs. ATL: Jacob degrom throws 72 pitch gem through five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, with eight  strikeouts.

• Game Two vs. ATL: Steven Matz throws 93 pitches through six innings, while limiting the Braves to one run on just two hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts.

• Game Three vs. ATL: Rick Porcello does not make it out of the third.  He yields seven runs (six earned) on seven hits, with three walks, before manager Luis Rojas summons relief.

• Game Four vs. BOS: Michael Wacha faces twenty batters, allows one run on just five hits and one walk, with five strikeouts.  Unlike deGrom and Matz whom exit to no-decisions, Wacha earns his first victory of the season.

• Game Five vs. BOS: With injuries to Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman, Dave Peterson is a victim of baptismal by fire.  The Mets 24-year old first round (20th overall) draft pick makes his major league debut on Tuesday.  He responds with two earned runs allowed on seven hits and just two walks, with three strikeouts over 5.2 innings pitched, to earn first major league victory.

All told the rotation's first five starters allow fourteen earned runs, on twenty-two hits and nine walks, with 23 strikeouts, through twenty innings pitched.  That equates to a 3.87 ERA, and 1.551 WHIP, and an average of four innings per start.

But we well realizes these stats are skewed because of what occurred on Sunday.  In truth there is no escaping that out of the aforementioned five starters, one respective performances didn't turn out like the others - one of those five starts just isn't the same (.. if that reference doesn't trigger a childhood memory, then too bad for you).  But the point remains: after a disappointing first start with the Mets, Rick Porcello will soon feel the heat of having all eyes beaming upon him.

N.Y. Mets: Tip of the Cap to Dave Peterson

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

DO WE HAVE A NEW HURLER OF THE METROPOLIS?

Well done!  Well done, indeed.

Dave Peterson, the Mets first round selection (20th overall) of the 2017 amateur draft, on Tuesday makes his major league debut against the Red Sox at Boston's Fenway Park.  All it took was 46 minor league appearances, during which he posts a 3.63 ERA through 247.0 innings pitched, before being summoned to the show.  In 2018 he splits the season between Port St. Lucie and Columbia.  Last year he spends the entire season with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies where he posts a 4.19 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 116.0 innings pitched.  That said, with no triple-A experience, here he is.  Staked to an early 3-0 cushion, the 24-year old rookie southpaw faces 23 batters, throws 78 pitches, with 46 (59%) going for strikes, and averages roughly 15 pitches per inning.  For the night Peterson yields two earned runs on seven hits and two walks, with a trio of strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.  I was pleased he lasted five innings, and rather happy he walked back out for the sixth.

Once again, well done, rook.  Congratulations on your first start, and your first ever major league victory.  He joins Michael Wacha in turning in a somewhat surprisingly effective performance at Fenway.

The Mets are 2-0 at Boston.

Thanks guys.