For the second time in a week, the Pittsburgh Pirates once again take on the New York Mets in a three game series, this time at Citi Field in New York.
The Pirates, who are 3-9 in June, are coming off of a series sweep at the hands of the St Louis Cardinals in which they were outscored 22-7 in three games. The Pirates (32-31) now find themselves in third place in the National League Central division, while the New York Mets (34-28) are five games behind the Washington Nationals for first place in the NL East.
As we saw last week, the Pirates and the Mets are very similar in many ways. Each team has an abundance of young talent and will give fans another opportunity to see some interesting matchups to watch involving some of the games brightest stars.
3.) Gregory Polanco vs Jacob deGrom
When it comes to Gregory Polanco, it’s not necessarily a surprise to see how much success he is having for the Pirates this year. Polanco, who is in his third season with the Bucs, has improved throughout the last few years, finally becoming the player that fans and those in the Pirates organization have expected him to be.
This season, Polanco has put up big numbers, hitting .296 with nine home runs, 39 RBI and a National League leading 22 doubles. Polanco also ranks in the top 15 in categories such as walks (32) and on-base percentage (.379).
In this series, Polanco and the Bucs face a Mets team that has plenty of fire power within their starting rotation and the man who takes the hill tonight is no exception. Jacob deGrom will make his second start of the season against the Pirates tonight and will be looking to bounce back from his last outing in which he took the loss after giving up three earned runs in six innings of work while striking out nine.
The Polanco-deGrom matchup is bound to be an exciting one due to the stellar seasons that these two players are having. This season, deGrom is 3-2 with a 2.80 ERA in ten starts, while Polanco continues to build upon an impressive resume of his own.
These two have only met on a few occasions, with deGrom has kept Polanco hitless. However, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this change tonight. Despite only hitting .214 in his last seven games, Polanco has dominated right handed pitching this season, hitting .312 with seven home runs and 31 RBI.
Polanco has become a much different hitter in 2016. He has made adjustments every step of the way and is a much different overall player than he was when he first entered the league. It will be interesting to see if Polanco can continue to lead the Pirates stellar offensive attack and if he can finally get into the hit column against the talented deGrom.
2.) Andrew McCutchen vs Noah Syndergaard
What would usually be a matchup between two stars actually happens to be a matchup between a rising ace and a struggling superstar. The matchup between Andrew McCutchen and Noah Syndergaard is bound to be one that could go either very badly for Cutch, or could provide him with an opportunity to break out of what could arguably be the worst slump of his major league career.
This season, Andrew McCutchen has not been at his best. The Pirates center fielder is only hitting .241 this season with nine home runs and 25 RBI in 60 games. In his last 15 games, McCutchen is hitting .186 and is coming off of a three game series that he would most likely like to forget in which he went 1-for-14 with six strikeouts against the St Louis Cardinals.
The high strikeout rate has been the most concerning part of Mccutchen’s struggles this season. The 29-year old ranks sixth in the National League in strikeouts (68) and that’s not something to necessarily be proud of. McCutchen has always been a hardworking player and there’s no doubt that he’s working day in and day out to improve and break out of this slump, but it doesn’t get any easier with this series against the Mets and their stellar starting rotation.
In game two of the series, Noah Syndergaard takes the mound for the Mets, hoping to bounce back from his last start against the Pirates in which they knocked him around for two runs on seven hits in six innings. Syndergaard, who is 6-2 this season with a 2.00 ERA that ranks him fifth in the NL, is a huge strikeout pitcher and will hope to use that against McCutchen and the Pirates offense. Syndergaard ranks sixth in the NL in strikeouts (95) and seventh in WHIP (1.00), so he may be favored in most of the matchups he finds himself in tomorrow night.
Despite the stellar numbers for Syndergaard, if the Pirates are able to duplicate last week’s performance against him, they should be alright when it comes to offensive production. However, McCutchen will likely have to be a key contributor. Cutch may find himself in trouble against a tough strikeout pitcher like Syndergaard, but if there is a time to get out of a huge slump, these next three games might be a perfect time for him to do it.
1.) Terry Collins Return
This last matchup isn’t exactly a matchup, but it’s something that I think all fans of the game of baseball will be happy to see.
Before Sunday’s Mets game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee, Mets Manager Terry Collins was hospitalized after feeling ill. As a human being rather than just a fan of the game of baseball, this is news that is very scary, mainly because of the lack of details regarding this visit to the hospital and the specific illness.
Nonetheless, Collins, who at the age of 67 is the oldest manager in Major League Baseball, was released from the hospital after test results came back negative and will be to manage the series opener tonight at Citi Field.
Despite whether or not this was all just precautionary, it’s tough to hear news like this and makes you appreciate things aside from the game of baseball. It will be very encouraging to see Terry Collins back where he belongs, in the Mets dugout.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
