Keys to a Series Win
Offensive Improvement
The Met bats are more frigid than this unexpected spring weather.
The team’s total batting average ranks third-worst in the league, right now, sitting at .192 average. In 2015, that average was right around .242.
It’s early, and there’s no reason to panic, but the Mets will not win this series without some production from the heart of their lineup, the 1-2-3 hitters: Curtis Granderson, Yoenis Cespedes, and David Wright.
Cespedes and Wright, to their credit, may have ended the early slump, after each had 2-for-4 days on Sunday, including a monster Cespedes home run.
Granderson, though, is struggling…a lot. After a season in which he produced 70 RBI from the leadoff spot in the order, the Grandy Man is off to a terrible 1-for-20 start to the year, good for a .050 average.
Maintain Giancarlo Stanton
He’s gargantuan, he’s talented and he plays baseball for the Marlins, but, he’s not invincible.
Surely, Matz and Syndergaard have the ability to keep Stanton in check, but, who knows what Verrett will bring against the Marlins slugger.
Stanton is built like Syndergaard, at 6-6, 240 pounds, yet, one was born to throw, the other, born to mash.
Miami’s right fielder enters the series with one 400+ foot bomb to his name, already.
