The New York Mets will be shooting for an opening series sweep of the San Diego Padres at CitiField today at 1:00 p.m. The game can be watched on SNY, listened to on 101.9 WFAN FM, or 660 on the AM radio dial. It can also be live streamed for free here, or here for a fee and higher quality.
The Mets have been sparked by the hot starts of catcher John Buck, acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in the R.A. Dickey trade and Lucas Duda, the left fielder in what was supposed to be one of baseball's worst outfields. Buck is hitting .500 in the first two games, with one home run and four RBI. Duda is batting .400 with one home run, two RBI and three walks.
The other major factor in the Mets' two dominant wins has been stellar starting pitching, which is less of a surprise. Jonathon Niese went six and two thirds innings on Opening Day, giving up two runs and striking out four. Matt Harvey followed suit Wednesday night, going seven strong innings, giving up no runs, and one hit while striking out 10 batters.
Harvey is considered a cornerstone of the Mets' future, and manager Terry Collins was very pleased with the youngster's effort on a cold night in Queens. "He pitched an absolutely - under the circumstances - an unbelievable game. The fact that he commanded his stuff as well as he did was impressive.''
Today, the Mets will trot Dillon Gee to the mound, and the Padres will counter with Eric Stults. Last season, Stults was an impressive 8-3, with a 3.29 ERA and 1.20 WHIP despite missing two months with a strained left lat.
The Padres will need more than the .125 batting average first baseman Yonder Alonso has provided in the first two games if they plan on scoring runs in CitiField against the Mets' surprising staff. San Diego's lone bright spot has been shortstop Everth Cabrera, who is sporting a .333 batting average.
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