Miami Marlins vs New York Mets: Three Stories To Watch

When Will The Marlins Start Resting The Stars? 

The season is young at only eight games old, and what’s more, that small slate of Marlins action has already been broken up by two off-days. They haven’t even played a true day game since Opening Day, between a rain delayed late afternoon start last Thursday and a Sunday Night Baseball appearance.

But two games into a traditional nine-game stretch now, it seems fair to ask, when can we expect to start seeing A.J. Ellis and Ichiro Suzuki breaking into the startling lineup?

Ellis has admittedly played once, along with the bulk of the bench. But the shuffling around of Derek Dietrich, Tyler Moore, J.T. Riddle, and Miguel Rojas has been more about injuries or poor performance- not giving guys a breather.

What really makes it a point of curiosity is that the back end of this nine-game stretch. The Fish take a cross-country road trip to American League Safeco Field. Will the knowledge that three days of DH lie ahead keep the Marlins outfield trio on the field the whole series, should Sunday’s game prove pivotal? Or will we see the first day off for them a bit sooner?

Personally, I vote for giving Stanton a break on Syndergaard day.

Proof Adam Conley Can Be Consistent?  

The knock on Adam Conley during his still relatively brief stint with the Marlins has been his inconsistency, whether it be going through hot and cold streaks on the mound, or even from inning to inning. Even when he’s having a relatively good night, it often takes a ridiculous amount of pitches to achieve those results.

Conley has had this problem for a while and attempted to address it for quite some time last year. Conley pitched a decent five frames of work in his first outing. But, he will have to find a way to extend that a bit to help out the bullpen.

In all cases, the Miami Marlins need some steadiness from their most talented starting pitcher.

If he can match or improve upon his last effort against the Mets, his start might be the must-watch game of the series. His opponent? Thor himself.

Mets win in a blowout or Marlins win close would seem to be the only outcomes in that one. But again, that’s the perception Conley needs to change in 2017.

Will The Slump End, and Will The Ball Leave Dade County When It Does?

I was just kidding on the first slide- the Marlins can’t sit Stanton against Noah Syndergaard. That anticipated what-if scenario of power meeting power has been too hyped up to avoid; ESPN’s David Schoenfield is far from alone in painting a pretty picture of what that would like.

I think that I can speak for everyone when I say, Stanton crushing a home run off of Syndergaard would be phenomenal. NASA and the International Space Station may get a front row seat to a ball going into orbit.

Of course, the reality is that Syndergaard has made Stanton look about as gentle as our rally cat thus far in his career. He’s never recorded a hit against him, to the point even contact is rare.

However, Syndergaard has that effect on a lot of batters. Stanton will need to find a way to be more efficient against the power righty if the Fish will have any chance of staying afloat against Thor.

Will that story change this series? Expect quite the reaction when it does.

Next: Miami Marlins: Gone But Not Forgotten

Those are your stories for this series, Marlins fans. Let’s just hope that come Monday, we like the answers.