Braves' Dickey opposes former Mets teammates again (May 02, 2017)
ATLANTA -- The New York Mets are searching for some help.
The Mets, who meet the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday in the second game of a four-game set, are being forced to live without their best starting pitcher and their best hitter for an undetermined amount of time.
The club placed right-hander Noah Syndergaard on the 10-day disabled list Monday with a partial tear of his right lat muscle. No timetable for his return has been established, but a similar injury has kept Steven Matz out two months.
New York outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was placed on the DL with a left hamstring strain on April 28.
"I'm not asking any starting pitcher to become Noah Syndergaard," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "I'm asking him to be himself and go pitch a good game. In the case of offense with Ces in the middle your lineup, you're asking (Jay) Bruce, (Neil) Walker and Grandy (Curtis Granderson) to drive some runs in."
With Matz and Syndergaard both sidelined, general manager Sandy Alderson said the club may pursue a trade to bring in some experienced arms.
"This possibly could accelerate that process," Alderson said, "but I think we have to be realistic about what may be out there. There may be some pitchers who may be available who have not been pitching who would require a certain amount of time to ramp up and might not be available until about the time Matz would possibly be back."
Finding a starting arm isn't a concern Tuesday. The Mets will send right-hander Matt Harvey (2-1, 4.25 ERA) against Atlanta right-hander R.A. Dickey (2-2, 2.80), who beat his old club last week in New York.
Harvey will try to bounce back from a poor start against Atlanta when he was asked to take Syndergaard's spot at the last minute. He allowed six runs in 4 1/3 innings and matched his career high with five walks. Harvey is 3-5 with a 4.22 ERA in nine career starts against Atlanta, striking out 43 and walking 19 in 53 1/3 innings.
Dickey beat the Mets on April 27 when he allowed three runs, two earned, in five innings. The knuckleballer is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in four career appearances against New York.
Atlanta manager Brian Snitker has no complaints about his team's effort through the first 24 games and believes the club is on the verge of playing as it did at the end of last season. Atlanta has been held back by a hamstring injury that landed Matt Kemp on the DL.
"I don't think we've hit on all cylinders yet," Snitker said. "There have been an awfully lot of good things that have happened here. I think the guys are going to get better as a club. Don't think we've put together the whole game yet. We played pretty good at the end of the road trip, and starting to see what we're capable of."
The Mets beat Atlanta ace Julio Teheran 7-5 on Monday night to open the series. New York has won three of its last four to erase some of the bad taste from a 23-5 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday.
"I think it's very important," Collins said. "We have taught this for a number of years. Yesterday was an ugly, ugly day. The injury (to Syndergaard) was bigger than the score of the game for me. It just goes to show you, it's only one game, and you've got to move on."
