The New York Mets (6-6) were victorious tonight in their first contest at Citizens Bank Park against the Philadelphia Phillies (6-8) by the final score of 5-2. For a full boxscore recap follow the link below…

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2016_04_18_nynmlb_phimlb_1#game=2016_04_18_nynmlb_phimlb_1,game_tab=box,game_state=Wrapup

Game Notes:

• David Wright was 2-5 tonight with 2 solo HR’s.
• Noah Syndergaard received his second win of the season pitching 7 innings while only allowing 1 run on 5 hits. Syndergaard struck out 8 and only walked 1.
• Lucas Duda was 2-4 with a solo HR and a double. Duda had 2 RBI’s on the night.
• Neil Walker was 1-4 with a solo HR.
• Yoenis Cespedes was 1-4 with a triple.
• Asdrubal Cabrera was 3-4 with a double.
• Jeurys Familia pitched an inning in relief and allowed 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 2.

Another solid win for the Mets tonight on this 9-game road trip. The Mets have now won 3 of 4 thus far on the trip and can go for the series win tomorrow night. The Mets seemed to be more relaxed since leaving New York and the results prove it. David Wright is a bonafide Phillies killer as tonight he just padded his great career numbers against the Phillies by registering two home runs which added to his career total at Citizens Bank Park. Wright is the all time leading visiting player in home runs at Citizens Bank Park with 22 home runs, and he will look to continue his success over the next two games. Wright even made another beautiful barehand play in the field tonight in the bottom of the fourth. What back injury right? The Mets bats are beginning to wake up as they have 24 extra-base hits in their last four games, and as the weather gets warmer I believe their offense will begin to catch up with their great pitching. 

Noah Syndergaard was once again electric tonight as he threw three pitches in the first inning that registered 101 mph on the radar gun. I’m beginning to run out of words to explain his dominance to start the season but he just continues to get better with every start, and he looks to have no issues with becoming the anchor of the Mets rotation right now. According to ESPN Stats & Information Syndergaard has put together at least eight strikeouts while allowing one run or less in each his first three games this season. The only other player to accomplish that feat over the last 100 years  to start a season is the great left-hander Randy Johnson, which is an amazing statistic. Syndergaard also became the seventh pitcher in franchise history to allow one run or fewer and toss at least six innings in each of his first three appearances in a season. He joins Matt Harvey on that list who accomplished that feat back in 2013. Keep up the great work Noah!

Jeurys Familia in my eyes looks a little overworked. I don’t think he needed to brought in tonight in a 4-run ball game as I believe he needs to get as much rest as possible with the way he is used. The Phillies hit the ball hard off of him tonight and I hope the next couple of nights the Mets have a big enough lead where they are not forced to use him. These games against the Phillies are not going to be as easy as they were a year ago as the Phillies are starting to trot out some pretty good young pitchers. Jerad Eickhoff seems to always give the Mets fits in his young career thus far, and they will face a dynamic pitcher in Vince Velasquez tomorrow night. Velasquez has thrown fifteen scoreless innings to start the season while striking out twenty five of the batters he’s faced. Sixteen of those twenty-five strikeouts came in his historic last start. Let’s hope the Mets can put a dent in that scoreless streak tomorrow night! 

• The Mets to look to get above .500 tomorrow night against the Phillies in the second game of their three game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm et and can be seen on SNY.

• Logan Verrett (0-0, 1.69 ERA) will make his second start in place of Jacob deGrom and face Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez (2-0, 0.00 ERA).