David Troy
Videos by OutKick
Mets vs. Diamondbacks, 4:10 ET
Today is my favorite day of the year. I think this is the most complete holiday of the entire year. The weather is typically great – I love warm weather. You get some of the best food because pretty much everyone is doing a barbecue. Plus the day’s activities are some of the best, you start by swimming and end it with watching fireworks. It’s a great day and we can make it even better with a win in a game between the Mets and Diamondbacks.
All-Star participants were just announced a day or so ago and the team with the highest payroll in all of baseball has just one participant. It was one selected by the league. If you’re not familiar every team has to have one representative. If the fans don’t elect someone, and the players don’t vote someone in, the league appoints an All-Star. Pete Alonso is that All-Star and most of the reason he is chosen is that he can mash the ball and they want him in the Home Run Derby. But, the main point of this is that there has been a disastrous start for the Mets to start the season. Kodai Senga is taking the ball to start the game for the Mets. He’s been fairly reliable as a starter in his first season over from Japan. However, this is the worst scenario for the Mets to play in as he has been rough on the road in comparison to his home starts. Have to give him a bit of credit as he has allowed just five earned runs over his past 17.1 innings on the road. The Diamondbacks have never faced Senga so it could take them a turn through the order to get things going.
Speaking of All-Stars, the Diamondbacks are leading a division and put three players in the game. In fact, one of their players, Corbin Carroll, is starting in the outfield. The other two players on the squad are Lourdes Gurriel and Zac Gallen. Gallen has been great for the Diamondbacks so that didn’t surprise me much. It is exciting to see this team get a bit of recognition even if the casual fan doesn’t quite recognize these players. That’s about the only good thing for the All-Star Game – getting people exposed to some of the other lesser-known players. Today, the Diamondbacks have Zach Davies on the mound. Davies has looked a bit rough this season, and that might be an understatement. He allowed 23 earned runs over 30 innings in June. That includes his most recent start where he went seven innings and allowed just two hits and no runs. The Diamondbacks have dropped five of the past seven Davies starts.
The Mets have been so bad on the road this season that it can be very hard to convince yourself to back them. I really want to here, but the logical conclusion for me is to take the over 9 runs in this game. I am not overly confident in either offense, but Davies has looked rough and Senga has been worse on the road. I do lean Mets to win the game, so a sprinkle could be in play here.
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