3 UP

1. There’s Still Fight In This Team

It’s easy to get despondent about this team. The starters are having nightmare seasons. The bullpen is undermanned and overworked. Despite all of this, the Mets still fight.

Down five against Matt Bush and his 1.37 ERA, the Mets rallied hitting two homers scoring three runs. They had runners on first and second with no outs, but they could not bring them home.

The following night, they did get to Bush.  The team not only picked themselves off the mat after a demoralizing loss the previous night, but they survived losing the lead with their best reliever on the mound.

2.  Wheeler Is An Ace

There can be no doubt now with the injuries and the poor performances.  Zack Wheeler is the ace of this Mets staff.

After Tuesday’s brutal loss, Wheeler played the role of stopper allowing just one unearned run over seven innings to right the ship.  He gave the Mets an opportunity to win, and he helped save a tired bullpen.  That’s the type of start you need and expect from your ace.

Overall, Wheeler has been better this year than he has been at any point in his career.  Including last night’s game, Wheeler is 2-1 with a 2.41 ERA.

3.  Lagares Has Life

It was Juan Lagares inability to hit that put the Mets in the position to first try to obtain Carlos Gomez, and when that trade fell through, Yoenis Cespedes. Since that point, Lagares has become a bench player predominantly used for late inning defense.

Quietly, Lagares has started to hit this year. Over the past month, he’s hitting .344/.364/.594 with two doubles, two homers, two RBI, and a stolen base. This good run was highlighted by his going 3 for 4 with an opposite field home run on Tuesday.

Lagares still has his terrific glove, and at 28-years-old, we can’t rule out him potentially putting everything together at the plate. Considering he still has two years and $15.5 million left on his contract, the Mets need him to be more like this player we’ve seen over the past month.

3 DOWN

1. Tears, No Joy

After starts against the Angels and Pirates, Jacob deGrom seemed to have figured everything out and was ready to resume his role as the Mets ace at a time the Mets desperately needed him. It was false hope.

In his two subsequent starts against the Brewers and Rangers, deGrom didn’t throw a pitch in the fifth inning. In those starts, he’s allowed 15 earned runs with the opposition hitting four homers against him.

These two starts left both Mets fans and deGrom despondent and looking for a hug.

2.   Cabrera Has To Be Better

Throughout his career, Asdrubal Cabrera has been a second half player. As we learned this year, he can carry a team on one of his hot second half stretches. Those second halves are the reason you could live with some of Cabrera’s first half struggles.

With that said, Cabrera is struggling more than usual. He’s already made more errors than he did all of last year. His -7 DRS and -3.5 UZR are the worst in the National League. He’s hitting just .255/.331/.382. All of this put together equates to a -0.2 WAR, which ranks him just above Dansby Swanson and Jose Reyes among National League shortstops.

You could wait for Cabrera’s hot streak if the Mets weren’t seven games under .500 and if he wasn’t blocking Amed Rosario.  

3. Collins Decision Making Yet Again

With Neil Walker missing the game with what could possibly be a knee injury, Terry Collins went Reyes at third with his .190/.263/.307 batting line. He went with Reyes despite Reyes poor fielding and despite T.J. Rivera presumably being available. To make matters worse, Reyes hit seventh. It should come as no surprise that Reyes went hitless.

This wasn’t even Collins’ biggest mistake on the night.  That was his leaving Blevins out there to close out the eighth inning.

Despite Blevins having a terrific year with a 1.42 ERA, he has struggled against righties. On the season, righties are hitting .364/.481/.591 off of him. The batter, Chirinos, the Rangers version of Wilmer Flores, is hitting .353/.389/.529 off lefties. Chirinos struggles against righties hitting just .210/.310/.460 off them. Looking at the splits, it was an obvious spot for Addison Reed to go with the four out save with the Mets having a day off tomorrow.

If not Reed, at least Fernando Salas, who was warming in the bullpen. Instead of Salas, Collins stuck with Blevins, who hung one to Chirinos. Tie game.

The Mets now get a much needed day off before starting a four game series with the Atlanta Braves.