Bill Whitehead| Special to TC Palm
PORT ST. LUCIE – The St. Lucie Mets’ quest for their sixth Florida State League championship will start on the road.
The FSL’s first-half champs, St. Lucie will open a best-of-three East Division series against the Palm Beach Cardinals. Game 1 is at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter Tuesday at 6:30.
Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) will be held Thursday and Friday nights at 6:10 at Clover Park, where the Mets (73-56) are a league-best 43-21.
After winning the first four matchups against the Cardinals, St. Lucie dropped 15 of the next 19 – the only club whom the Mets have a losing record against.
From this season: New York Mets star Jacob DeGrom strikes out five in rehab start with St. Lucie Mets
Opinion:On watching a St. Lucie Mets baseball game
“It’s a good test for our guys,” said St. Lucie first-year manager Robbie Robinson as the team practiced Monday morning. “We’re excited for the opportunity to have our guys compete against them.”
The opening task will be a tough one.
The Cardinals will likely send out right-handers Trent Baker (9-7, 3.14 in 25 starts) or Tink Hence (0-1, 1.38 in 16 starts) in Game 1.
Baker is 2-1 with a 4.12 ERA in four starts against the Mets. St. Lucie has hit .275 with four homers across 19 2/3 innings.
Pitching in short-inning starts, Hence holds an 0-0 mark with a 2.53 ERA in three starts. The Mets hit .176 over 10 2/3 innings.
“We’re going to see those two guys. Two solid arms. Baker has been here all year – older guy who commands the zone really well with his pitches. Hence we’ve seen in one inning, two innings, max of four. I think they’re just cautious with him being so young,” Robinson said.
This season under Robinson, St. Lucie torched the FSL in the first half, posting a 40-25 record, cruising to a 5½-game margin over second-place Jupiter and earning its first playoff appearance since 2016.
The Mets had the league’s best record and were the only club to own a winning record in both halves in 2022.
With a shutdown pitching staff and the most talented outfield St. Lucie has fielded since probably its 2006 title-winning club led by manager Gary Carter, the Mets won 23 of their first 29 home games.
Overall, 24 players were promoted to High-A Brooklyn, where they helped the Cyclones make the New York-Penn League playoffs by winning the second half.
Highly-touted outfielders Stanley Consuegra and Alex Ramirez plus infielder William Lugo were promoted midseason, taking a boatload of production to Brooklyn and leaving big holes to be filled in the heart of the order.
Carlos Dominguez (team-high 20 homers) and Tanner Murphy have been productive in the outfield in the second half, but Raul Beracierta found more playing time and emerged as the biggest surprise in the summer.
Beracierta -- a corner outfielder, first baseman and backup catcher -- ended the season by hitting .300 with 13 homers and 39 RBIs in 93 games.
The 23-year-old Venezuelan batted .318 (57-for-179) with nine homers and 31 RBIs in 52 games across July, August and September.
“He’s out there hacking,” Robinson said of Beracierta, whose vicious swing generated some of the longest homers this year. “Everyone loves him. He’s a great team guy who brings the most out of all of our guys.
“He’s thrived at the plate and shown he can hit the ball out from the left-field line to the right-field line. He went (out) dead center in Fort Myers.”
Omar De Los Santos stayed around and was nearing the team’s record of 75 stolen bases – set by Wayne Lydon in 2003 – but the strong-armed, slugging outfielder suffered a hand injury on a basestealing attempt 10 days ago and is questionable.
He finished 2022 with 70 stolen bases in 85 attempts over 111 games – 22 fewer games than Lydon.
Robinson will hand the ball to newcomer Blade Tidwell in Game 1 of the series.
Tidwell, 21, has history of success that St. Lucie hopes will carry over to the series opener.
At Loretto High School in south Tennessee, the 2022 second-round draft pick (52ndoverall) pitched the Mustangs to a 2017 state title before taking his skills to Knoxville to pitch for the University of Tennessee and fiery coach Tony Vitello.
In two seasons for the Volunteers, he went 13-5 with a 3.53 ERA, including a 10-3 slate in 2021 that was second to former Met R.A. Dickey for most wins by a UT freshman.
“His stuff is super elite,” said Robinson, who said he asked Tidwell what is was like to play for Vitello. “He said, ‘Aw, it’s great, I loved it. I loved the energy and the mentality.’ (Blade’s) just a phenomenal athlete. He’s ready for it and pumped up for the opportunity.”
In four games for St. Lucie, he is 0-1 with a 2.16 ERA across 8 1/3 innings. He has allowed two runs on four hits -- with the opposition batting .143 against him – with six strikeouts, two walks and two hit batsmen.
St. Lucie’s rotation was phenomenal from the start and keyed its first-half run, but it’s a vestige of what is was in April when the season opened.
Carson Seymour (4-0, 1.19) and left-hander Nick Zwack were dealt to the San Francisco Giants as part of the Darin Ruf trade. Dominic Hamel (5-2, 3.84) was promoted to High-A Brooklyn on July 4. Southpaw Keyshawn Askew (4-0, 1.93) went to up to the Cyclones on Aug. 5.
Standout closer Grant Hartwig (3-0, 4.30, three saves) was the only player who was eventually promoted to Double-A Binghamton.
