0:00
Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network.
0:14
If your group chats been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join
0:19
If you sign up for the everydayer club, you get access to the members' only group chats
0:22
for your favorite teams, plus national chats for every sport.
0:26
Personally, I love watching folks talk a little smack in the NFC South Trash talk chat.
0:31
You also get an ad-free version of your favorite Lockdown show and a whole lot more.
0:36
You can check it out by tapping the everydayer club link in the show notes.
0:56
Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
1:27
Before the game, especially as we have a little bit of a later start, 7.45 tonight.
1:33
Let's get right to the starting lineup.
1:36
Before we'll talk a little more about Kodai Sanke and make it his season debut.
1:40
An interesting line up to the New York Mets are putting out there tonight.
1:44
Top three, same as it's been all season, Lendor, Soto, the Shet.
1:48
Adding clean up, you got Luis Robert Jr., you got Jerry Young back in the lineup again,
1:54
and he is starting at first.
1:56
Mark Viantos gets his first start of the season, batting six, D.H.ing, Marcus Simian continues
2:01
in the 7th hole and playing second-based Carson Bench continues to get every start in
2:07
And Luis Lorenz is the starting catcher with Kodai Sanke.
2:12
I think the big thing that jumps out is Mark Viantos gets a start against a righty.
2:16
We were wondering why Jerry Young got in line up yesterday over Viantos, even though Kyle
2:22
Leahy had splits that favor, putting lefties in the lineup, you still would have thought
2:29
that Viantos who hadn't gotten his start yet this year might have gotten a nod to be
2:33
in the starting lineup.
2:34
It's not like Mark Viantos can't hit right-handed pitching, and as I talked about on this
2:39
morning show, you look at Viantos' career, he's actually homeworked more frequently
2:44
against right-handed pitchers than left-handed.
2:46
Granted, he has for a higher average against lefties and does have slightly better numbers
2:50
overall, but Viantos can't hit home runs against anybody.
2:55
So I was a little surprised that he wasn't in a lineup yesterday, and Jerry Young was.
2:59
Jerry Young ended up proving to be the right call, had that RBI double.
3:03
Now the match ends up going back to Jerry Young, give Brett Baby a blow, and Mark Viantos
3:08
does get in the lineup.
3:09
The one thing to note here, Andre Palante is going for the Cardinals, and Viantos is
3:15
two for four in a square against Palante, and he's hit a home run.
3:18
He's the only man who has homeworked in his career against Palante, who hasn't really
3:22
faced him that much.
3:23
The only guys who have gotten a ton of that bass against him, and by a ton, I'm talking
3:28
12-13 of that, is Francisco Lendor and Tyrone Taylor.
3:31
I'm sure a lot of those at that, I would imagine go back to the 2023 season when Tyrone
3:37
Taylor is with the Brewers in Palante, obviously, with the Cardinals.
3:41
You look at their numbers, both those guys have hit very well against Palante.
3:45
Lendor is six for 13 with three walks, Tyrone Taylor is six for 12, but he still is waiting
3:50
for his first start.
3:52
If I had to guess, that probably comes against the left-handed pitcher, that's your liberator
3:58
who's going to be going tomorrow afternoon, and I imagine we'll probably see Carson Benge
4:03
get his first down the bench.
4:05
I'll be curious if Brett Baby gets two days on the bench, and Mark Viantos gets in there.
4:10
Tonight's lineup, you obviously notice, no Jorge Palanco, but they talked about Palanco
4:15
having a little bit of an Achilles issue, so resting up his Achilles a little bit, giving
4:20
him a day off his feet.
4:21
You probably didn't want to start Palanco day game after a night game, so this way, as
4:26
you look at the starting lineup, you can have Palanco get a day off, but still be good
4:30
to go as one of the bats that you want to hit against lefties.
4:34
He'll be back out there, and my guess is he'll probably start at first base.
4:39
I do wonder how the meds view Viantos defensively.
4:42
Clearly, they think Jared Young is a better first baseman than Viantos is, otherwise Viantos
4:47
would be starting at first tonight instead of D.H., so I think that tomorrow, you'll probably
4:52
see Palanco in there at first, Viantos at D.H., and Brett Baby might get a couple days off
4:57
in our row here, which I don't entirely love.
5:00
I like Brett Baby getting plenty of time over Jared Young, but at the same time, Jared Young
5:04
has had some pretty good numbers over the past couple of years as a hitter, obviously
5:08
not in the big leagues, but hasn't got an extended run.
5:11
He doubled yesterday, and so maybe that is part of why they like this.
5:14
I'm sure they're probably just like the matchup.
5:17
They probably like the profile of Palante for Young compared to Badi, and maybe again,
5:21
they just want to get Badi a blow after he just played right field for the first time
5:26
night before, hadn't gotten a day off yet, and who knows, maybe Brett Baby is going
5:31
to start against the lefty the following day.
5:33
You do look at Palante's career splits, and it does make sense why you'd put more
5:38
righties in the lineup, even though he has a right handed pitcher.
5:42
Righties across Palante's career fit 288 against them lefties 242.
5:46
So definitely some reverse splits here, the odd base percentage, another big difference,
5:50
364 against righties, 304 against lefties, slug percentage, 423 against righties, 365 against
5:59
So it makes a good amount of sense that you go and then you kind of stop the lineup with
6:05
right handed bats instead of trying to get lefties in there like they did the night
6:08
before against Kyle Laihi.
6:10
So good stuff there by the mats.
6:12
I'm also interested a little bit, and if Luis Terenz is a favorable catcher for Kodai
6:17
Sanga moving forward, I did have a question from one of the insiders before the season
6:21
started about, you know, about Terenz, and if there'd be a pitcher that he could be
6:28
a personal catcher for, I didn't really have an answer, but Kodai Sanga could be that.
6:34
So this allows you to catch Francisco Alvarez with Freddie Peralta.
6:37
Maybe you want to keep some consistency there.
6:40
Those guys already worked together once this season working, we're working together throughout
6:45
So maybe you want to keep the familiarity going for Peralta.
6:48
And obviously again with the catcher, we're not going to go day game after night game.
6:52
This early in the season start Alvarez both.
6:54
So we knew he was going to be benched one of these games, and they choose this one Terenz
6:58
starts for with Kodai Sanga as his battery mate.
7:03
So one last time, we're going to read through this starting lineup, and then quick break
7:07
before we talk a little bit about Kodai Sanga again, Francisco Landoor, batting lead off
7:11
Juan Soto, Boba Shit, same thing there, Luis Robert scratches the top four for the first
7:18
So up in that, I would imagine would continue, I think you would potentially bat him
7:22
clean up when you have a lefty on the mound on Wednesday, Jared Young gets back out there
7:27
and mark the Antos, Marcus Simeon Carson Benj and Luis Terenz with Kodai Sanga on the
7:34
And that is the bigger story of the day, Kodai Sanga making his first start of the season.
7:40
We'll talk about that here in just a minute.
7:42
What if sports were traded like markets?
7:44
Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets.
7:48
It's not true against the house, it's too participating in a live market where you
7:51
can buy your cellular positions live all in long, use your sports knowledge in the moments
7:57
Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game.
7:59
It's the people moving the action.
8:01
So in the momentum shifts, you can move with it.
8:04
I always miss the game, but never had the dynamic way to apply that knowledge now.
8:08
I can actually take part live in a market that's powered by people where you're no longer
8:12
the spectator, play by play, you decide trade every play with Robin Hood now available
8:19
in the US, download the Robin Hood app now to begin.
8:23
This includes swaps trading involved significant risk and it's not appropriate for everyone.
8:26
Then contracts are offered by Robin Hood Gerber to the LLC, register futures commission
8:30
merchant and swap firm.
8:32
Thank you all for tuning in on YouTube.
8:50
Make sure you hit that subscribe button, help us to close the tour next goal of 17,000
8:56
All right, let's talk a little bit about Kodai saying, it's coming off a great spring
9:00
where he looked like the best version of Kodai saying, and now he gets to put it to
9:04
the test against a real lineup, big league game, all the true pressure, games that count.
9:11
And I'm really excited to watch him pitch, not a ton of experience against the Cardinals
9:17
Kind of got the clean slate against a lot of these guys.
9:19
Alex Burleson has six at best.
9:21
That's the most of any Cardinals hitter against Sangat.
9:24
He's over six with a pair of walks in a pair of strikeouts.
9:26
No one bore him in has five at bats.
9:28
He's over five with three strikeouts.
9:30
Everyone else has gone two at bats against Sangat.
9:32
So you're looking at a lineup that doesn't know Sangat well.
9:36
And we'll see what the 2026 version of Kodai Sangat looks like.
9:40
We saw the velocity was there this spring, kind of the opposite of what has been
9:45
happening with Shamanaya for Sangat.
9:47
We saw him sit in 95, touch in 97.
9:50
You see that ghost fork that just disappears.
9:53
His ability to use his cutter to pound the strike zone slider.
9:57
You've got a curve ball that he dumped in there like a e-fist looking curve ball that
10:01
he was able to use in the steel strike.
10:02
So there's a lot the Kodai Sangat has in his arsenal.
10:06
And he has as much upside as any starter in this rotation.
10:10
So right now, sure, he's your fifth starter in theory.
10:14
But that's a really good place to start with this rotation.
10:18
First time through, the meds have gotten very good starting pitching overall.
10:21
I have Freddie Peralta.
10:22
I think you know, the most earned runs with four on opening days.
10:25
They've got the win really gritty performance by Peralta on a day where
10:29
Paul Schien's got jumped and gave up a ton of runs.
10:33
He had Freddie Peralta hanging in there and getting you through five.
10:36
You've then seen David Peters to put together a solid performance.
10:39
Of course, Clay Holmes went last night.
10:41
He pitched pretty well.
10:42
I'm like an old McLean, not his best performance with solid solid star.
10:46
So first time through this rotation has looked pretty good.
10:50
Kodai Sangat has a chance to really put a stamp on this turn through the rotation
10:54
and show that the meds are here to play.
10:55
And they have a rotation that they're really going to like.
10:58
So Kodai Sangat's going to be fun to watch and pitch.
11:01
I imagine you're looking at 85 pitches max for Sangat.
11:05
But if he's on, that can still get him through six.
11:07
And honestly, length out of Sangat would be a very good thing for the New York
11:12
match. Look at the state of the bullpen right now.
11:14
Devon Williams and Brooks Raleigh both pitched yesterday.
11:17
And if they pitched again, they'd be going three times in four days.
11:20
That is something that teams try to avoid.
11:23
If it's a one run game and you could win a series,
11:26
I could still see Devon Williams going back out there.
11:28
But I imagine Brooks Raleigh will not pitch in this game.
11:31
And also would not be surprised if there was a save opportunity that it might
11:35
go to Luke Weaver instead of Devon Williams if they wanted to keep Williams from
11:40
going again, throwing three times in four days.
11:43
Well, it's got a browser bond, got a day off so you'd figure he'd be good to go.
11:46
Luis Garcia and Dickie Love Lady, they both got a day off.
11:50
So you'd think they'd be good to go.
11:52
But that's pretty much the city of the bullpen right now.
11:55
You got those four arms and then you got guys that'd be pitching back-to-backs
11:59
that might not do it.
12:00
Tobias Myers is not going to pitch a back-to-back.
12:03
I think the whole year he won't pitch a back-to-back.
12:06
Sean Manaya probably needs more than a day to help out,
12:10
even though he didn't throw a ton of pitches.
12:13
I guess if it's his throw-deb, I don't think it would be.
12:15
He pitched on what that was Sunday, so yeah, he's not going to go.
12:18
So that's pretty much what you got, a little bit of a lighter bullpen.
12:21
So it is pretty imperative that Cody Sanga gives them that's a little bit of length.
12:26
But if you can get them at least 15 outs, browser bond can come on.
12:31
Get you at least three, but who knows, maybe even a little more than that.
12:34
I mean, you can piece this thing together and again, if you had to go to Devon Williams
12:38
on a back-to-back in three times and four nights, I think they would.
12:41
I'd be very surprised if we saw Brooks really, though.
12:44
And so that's the one thing about this team
12:46
that I'm very curious to watch play out over the first couple weeks of the season,
12:51
especially when you have a stretch like this one,
12:53
where it's nine games and nine days.
12:55
When Sean Manaya is not available,
12:59
Tobias Myers has already been used.
13:01
Now your eight-man bullpen, it's a six-man bullpen.
13:04
And it can get taxed pretty quick.
13:07
So it's just more pressure for the starting pitchers to give you some length.
13:10
And maybe Cody Sanga is the first match starter that goes through six innings in a game.
13:16
We'll see. We'll see if that's what the match get in this one.
13:19
It should be a lot of fun to see if this team can go out there,
13:22
keep the momentum, win another series,
13:25
going to be excited to watch Mark Viantos going to start.
13:28
See if he's got a chip on his shoulder and what he can do with it,
13:30
because that's maybe the best place to put Mark Viantos.
13:33
You put him in a corner, he might just bash his way out of it.
13:35
So I'm excited to see what he's going to do with the start.
13:38
I'm excited to see Luis Robert getting a start in the cleanup spot.
13:41
And just to see what that top four is going to look like,
13:45
because it's a little different than Polanco in there.
13:47
And honestly, if Luis Robert continues to hit,
13:50
I know you like to go left, right, left, that whole deal.
13:54
But at the same time, if Robert continues to break this season,
13:58
you're going to want to put him further and further up that lineup.
14:01
You never know exactly where you end up settling in on the further
14:05
and further you get into the season.
14:06
But that is, you were locked on Metz game preview.
14:10
Appreciate all of you who tuned in live for any of you who will catch
14:13
the playback on YouTube or wherever you're at your podcast.
14:16
Let me know in the comments section if you like these types of live streams.
14:20
I can keep on doing them to give you a pre-game show before most Metz games.
14:25
I don't know if I'll do all 162, but it's something the audience likes.
14:28
I'll definitely make an effort to continue to do it.
14:30
Break down the starting lineup each day and talk about the keys to the game.
14:34
So appreciate all of you for tuning in.
14:35
Make sure you follow right in review wherever you get your podcasts.
14:38
Chris Schubert will have you live on YouTube for a post-game stream
14:42
as soon as the final out goes tonight.
14:44
And I will have a full recap for you all tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. on YouTube
14:48
whenever you get your podcasts.
14:49
Again, thank you all for listening.
14:51
Follow rate review, subscribe, all that good stuff.
14:53
Thank you for making a lot of time at your first list on your first watch every day.
14:56
And thank you for making a lot on the number one sports podcast network.