Kodai Senga gets his wish granted tonight against the Phillies

Bulletin board material for the Philadelphia Phillies or some swagger for the New York Mets to live up to? We’ll find out Tuesday night when Kodai Senga gets his wish granted and he gets to face the Phillies lineup for the first time.

Shortly after signing, Senga was asked who he’s looking forward to pitching against. Senga pointed his Ghost Fork directly at the club down I-95.

The Mets and Phillies face off for the first time in 2023 with Kodai Senga on the mound

The two rivals meet for the first time the day after Memorial Day at an important juncture of the season. The day after Memorial Day has some added pressure for the 27-27 Mets and the 25-28 Phillies. Neither has played particularly well for a long period of time. The Mets starting staff deserves a large part of the blame. Down in Philadelphia, they haven’t gotten much from their starting staff either.

The pitching matchup looks to favor the Mets with Ranger Suarez toeing the rubber for Philadelphia. At 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA after only 3 starts, Suarez has progressed slower than the Phillies had hoped off the IL. He did go five innings in his most recent outing but with as many runs across the board, it’s not exactly the most promising appearance.

Senga is also fresh from a five-inning appearance where he took the loss and allowed 3 earned runs against the Chicago Cubs. The outing came following his absolutely domineering appearance prior versus the Tampa Bay Rays when he struck out 12 in 6 innings. While he may have only a 4-3 record, the Mets have won each of his no-decisions to give them a 6-3 overall record when he starts for them.

This series won’t sink either ball club but it can help them swap spots within the National League East. The mixed bag of results out of Senga have made it virtually impossible to tell how he’ll do in this one. It doesn’t help either for the Phillies to have one of those offenses that’ll put up double digits or go virtually hitless. 

Perhaps the difference will be the setting. At Citi Field, Senga is 2-1 with a 1.57 ERA in 4 starts. Away from it, he’s 2-2 with a 6.12 ERA.

Senga has been waiting since December to face this Phillies lineup. He gets his first chance tonight.