New York Mets (18-13) @ Miami Marlins (16-15) May 11 (Game 32)

This is a late night post and I do not feel like I have the energy necessary tonight to put forth a full series preview. So today, we will go with a game preview for tonight’s game. The New York Mets are in Miami this weekend to take on your red hot Miami Marlins.

The Marlins are coming off of an impressive 8-1 road trip, where they swept the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. The Marlins took two out of three games in their most recent series, against the Houston Astros.

The New York Mets on the other hand have kept their hot start alive. The Mets were able to complete a three game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies and are now a season high five games above the .500 mark. David Wright has returned to David Wright status.

New York Mets (18-13) @ Miami Marlins (16-15), May 11, Game 32

NL East Standings

Stadium: Marlins Park

Five-year Run PF*: N/A
Five-year HR PF*: N/A
Stadium Dimensions:
Left field line—340 ft.
Left-center field—384 ft.
Center field—416 ft.
Right-center field—392 ft.
Right field line—335 ft.

*Five-year regressed park factors provided by Patriot here

Now we will take a look at the pitching match-up for the first game of the three game set:

Projected Pitching Matchup:

May 11: Johan Santana vs. Mark Buehrle

ZiPS In-Season Projections

Projected Lineup

Game Notes:

• The New York Mets enter this series having dominated the NL East. So far in the young season, the Mets 13-5 against their NL East foes. The Miami Marlins are a pathetic 1-7, including losing both games they played against the Mets this season.
• Johan Santana will be pitching with an extra day of rest for the sixth time in his seven starts this season. Clearly, the Mets are not wanting to rush him too much, coming off of shoulder surgery.
• Both teams are sending lefties to the mound on Friday evening. The Mets are 6-8 vs lefties this season and the Marlins are 5-6.
• Santana out 11 Marlins over 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball earlier this year at Citi Field. Santana hopes to continue this dominance over the Miami Marlins.
• Santana’s dominant start against the Marlins came in April, in May, their offense has been completely different.
• Buehrle logged the Marlins first complete game of the season last time out, he will be looking to build on that performance this time out.
• This will be Buehrle’s second career start vs the Mets. Buehrle lost his only start against the Mets in a game he actually pitched a solid game in.
• Omar Infante owns a career .343 average against Santana in 23 at-bats, Hanley Ramirez on the other hand has struggled against the lefty, with a career .143 average in 21 at-bats.
• Rob Johnson is the only current Met with any at-bats vs Buehrle, he is one-for-three.
• Wright is fourth in the NL with a .376 average and 1.030 OPS  and has tallied a hit in all but four games this year.
•  Friday’s contest will mark the Mets’ 8,000th game in team history.
• Miami has dropped five straight to New York and has only two wins over the last 11 meetings between the two clubs.

Prediction:

The Miami Marlins offense will have one of their best showings of the season. The team will hit Johan Santana hard early and often. The team will tally six runs over three innings off of Santana and force him to the showers early. Giancarlo Stanton and Omar Infante will go deep off of Santana. Mark Buehrle will threaten with another complete game and the Marlins will win the game 8-1.

*May 14-15: Pittsburgh Pirates

May 16-17: @Atlanta Braves

May 18-20: @Cleveland Indians

*Get your tickets now from TiqIQ.

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