Here's what happened in Mets Land on Friday, in case you missed it...

• Justin Verlander struck out five over 3.1 innings in his second start of the spring as the Mets beat the Houston Astros 7-2 on Friday afternoon

• Starling Marte made his first appearance of spring training against the Astros and roped a double down the left field line his first time up and smoked a two-run home run to left-center

• After the game, Marte added he is confident he will be ready for Opening Day

• Verlander addressed some of the "common sense" issues around the pitch clock and he also spoke about wanting to win a championship for the Mets and Steve Cohen

• The gang on Baseball Night in NY debated what kind of numbers New York should expect from Verlander

• In the second game of the day, the Mets fell 7-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night. Starter Elieser Hernandez struggled, allowing four earned runs over 2.2 innings. Francisco Alvarez was behind the plate again and notched an RBI hit

• Manager Buck Showalter talked about the struggles of Hernandez and Marte's work ethic

• Darin Ruf says his wrist injury feels a "bit better" but the slugger is unsure how the injury will affect him
  

• Danny Abriano released an updated prediction for the Mets' 26-man roster for the season

• On a new episode of The Mets Pod, Connor and Joe discussed if the Mets should name a team captain for 2023