Mets conclude road trip with three against Phillies

The Mets (3-1) will conclude their first road trip of 2022 with three games in The City of Brotherly Love against the Phillies (2-1). The Mets went 9-10 against Philadelphia in 2021, and their next win against their division rivals will be their 500th of all time.

The Mets won their first series of the season by taking three of four against the Nationals, though they missed a golden opportunity to sweep a four-game series to start the season for the first time in franchise history. With Jacob deGrom on the shelf for the first two months or so, Tylor Megill took the ball on Opening Day and was solid over five shutout innings, including a big strikeout of Juan Soto. On offense, the Mets had a balanced attack with every starter, minus James McCann, collecting at least one hit. In total, the Mets has 12 hits on the overcast evening and scored five, which was more than enough to pick up the win.

Max Scherzer made his anticipated Mets debut on Friday against his old club and picked up the victory with six innings of three-run ball in a 7-3 win. The bats followed up a 12-hit effort on Thursday with a 13-hit attack on Friday, including a birthday home run for Jeff McNeil. After two Mets were hit on Opening Day, Francisco Lindor was beaned, which led to a benches clearing incident. Lindor would exit but would not miss any time beyond that.

The Mets won their third in a row behind Chris Bassitt’s stellar debut and Pete Alonso’s first career Grand Slam. In his Mets’ debut, Bassitt punched out eight Nationals hitters over six shutout innings. Alonso’s big blast was all the club needed on offense, though they picked up another run in the ninth on a wild pitch.

The Mets fell short of a season-starting sweep with a 4-2 loss on Sunday. Carlos Carrasco’s first inning troubles continued as he served up a home run to Nelson Cruz. Cookie would rebound to retire the final 15 batters he faced and had an encouraging start overall. With his effort, the team’s starters posted a 1.59 ERA in the series. Lindor hit his first homer of the season, and the Mets went ahead in the same frame on Mark Canha’s run-scoring hit. However, Buck Showalter’s curious decision to go with Trevor Williams in the eighth, mixed with a couple of miscues from Alonso in the field, resulted in three Nationals runs in the inning.

The Phillies are coming off a series win against the Athletics. Like the Mets, Philadelphia picked up wins but fell short of a sweep with a Sunday defeat.

Monday, April 11: Taijuan Walker vs. Ranger Suarez, 6:45 p.m. on SNY

Walker (2021): 159.0 IP, 146 K, 55 BB, 26 HR, 4.47 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 1.18 WHIP, 0.5 bWAR

Walker was an All Star in 2021, but he took a nose dive in the second half of the season. He finished the first half of the year with a 2.66 ERA but posted an unsightly 7.13 ERA in the second half. He underwent knee surgery in the offseason, and the hope is that he will be close to full strength following the procedure. He wasn’t able to fully stretch out in his final start and likely will not be able to give the team a full start. Still, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s held back at all by his knee.

Suarez (2021): 106.0 IP, 107 K, 33 BB, 4 HR, 1.36 ERA, 2.77 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 5.6 bWAR

After beginning 2021 as a reliever, Suarez transitioned to a starter mid-season and continued his dominant season. He pitched to a 1.51 ERA in 65.1 innings as a starter after posting a 1.12 ERA over 40.1 innings out of the bullpen. He concluded the year with the lowest ERA among pitchers who tossed at least 100 innings.

Tuesday, April 12: Tylor Megill vs. Zack Wheeler, 6:45 p.m. on SNY

Megill (2022): 5.0 IP, 6 K, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA, 0.53 FIP, 0.60 WHIP, 0.0 bWAR

Megill was splendid in his first career Opening Day start. He scattered three hits over five shutout innings and had a big strikeout of Soto at a key juncture of the game. Megill was a dependable presence for parts of his rookie season, though he tapered off later in the year as the leageu started to catch up to him. It’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts in his second year in the majors, and he will get plenty of chances to prove his value with deGrom out for th eforeseeable future.

Wheeler (2021): 213.1 IP, 247 K, 46 BB, 16 HR, 2.78 ERA, 2.59 FIP, 1.01 WHIP, 7.5 bWAR

Wheeler broke out in a big way last season en route to finishing as the runner up for the NL Cy Young award. The former Met led the NL in strikeouts (247), complete games (3), shutouts (2), innings (213.1) and batters faced (849) and was a force throughout the year. He has been especially good against his former club, posting a 2.10 ERA in five starts against the Mets since they let him leave. Wheeler missed his first turn with a shoulder ailment, though he is good to go for his Tuesday start.

Wednesday, April 13: Max Scherzer vs. Aaron Nola, 1:05 p.m. on SNY

Scherzer (2022): 6.0 IP, 6 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 4.50 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 0.67 WHIP, 0.0 bWAR

All eyes were on Mad Max on Friday as he made his Mets debut in the ballpark where he had some of his best seasons. Scherzer did not disappoint, earning his first Mets victory with six strong innings. The biggest blemish against his record was a long home run off the bat of Josh Bell in the fourth but he recovered to retire eight of the final nine batters he faced. With deGrom out, Scherzer will assume the role of ace, and they’re lucky to have such a reliable presence leading the way with their normal ace out for what should be at least the season’s first two months.

Nola (2022): 6.0 IP, 7 K, 0 BB, 2 HR, 6.00 ERA, 5.43 FIP, 0.67 WHIP, 0.0 bWAR

Nola was less than sharp in his first start of the season, but he was good enough to get the win against the A’s. The Phillies’ right-hander lasted six inning and allowed four earned runs. He served up two home runs on four hits, but he did not walk a batter in the outing while striking out seven. In four starts against the Mets in 2022, he allowed five runs in 20.0 innings.

Prediction: The Mets drop two of three in Philadelphia to return to New York with a 4-3 record.