3 UP

1. Starting Pitching Is Back

Sometimes the best way to get pitchers on track is to see an offense as poor as the Reds. In this series, Zack Wheeler, Jason Vargas, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard combined to allow five earned runs over 27.1 innings pitched (1.65 ERA).

The most pleasant surprise of this group is deGrom. With their being concerns about his having been on the Injured List and his struggling in rain delayed games, he came out on Wednesday, and he completely shut down the Reds. This was reminiscent of the deGrom who pitched in 2018.

As great as deGrom was Syndergaard was even better. He would strike out 10 Reds in a complete game shut out. He’d also get the win because he hit a home run. The home run not only tied him with Tom Seaver for second on the Mets all-time pitcher home run list, but it would also make him the first ever Mets pitcher to pitch a complete game and hit a solo homer to win a 1-0 game. In fact, Syndergaard is just the ninth ever pitcher to do it in Major League history.

2. Rosario Rebounds

After a difficult start to the 2019 season, Rosario has turned things around recently, and he had a five game hitting streak snapped in the final game of the series against the Reds. In that five game hitting streak, Rosario hit .389/.421/.611 with a double, homer, four RBI, and a walk. He also has a stolen base over this stretch.

With the hitting streak, it does appear Rosario is getting back to not chasing balls outside the strike zone and just finding his pitch to hit. While this approach may not yield a number of walks, it is helping him strike out much less. In fact, up until this stretch, Rosario had struck out in 24.7 percent of his plate appearances.

Over this current stretch, Rosario has struck out just twice in 19 plate appearances. This is important because with his ability to square up pitches in the zone and his speed, Rosario does have the ability to do damage once a ball is put in play.

In addition to his improvements at the plate, Rosario has been much better in the field. After having a -9 DRS and consecutive two error games, Rosario has now had seven consecutive errorless games. We have also seen his DRS improve to a -8 over this stretch.

This improved play is coming at the right time for Rosario because Jed Lowrie has been playing in rehab games, and he has been seeing time at shortstop. If Rosario continues playing like this, there is very little chance he will lose any playing time to Lowrie.

3. Right Way To Retaliate

Jesse Winker was a pain in this four game series. After homering off Edwin Diaz, he took his time circling the bases, and he was waving good bye to the fans and the Mets players. When he made a sliding grab off a Brandon Nimmo foul ball, he got up and waved at the fans. His behavior led to Jon Heyman to suggest Noah Syndergaard go on the mound and throw at Winker.

Syndergaard did one better. In Winker’s four at-bats against Syndergaard, he would strike out three times. Winker would be so bothered by the last strikeout, he would get tossed from the game. If you think about it, it’s funny how Winker can dish it, but he can’t take being embarrassed by Syndergaard.

Overall, we can have an honest discussion about old school versus new school and the right and wrong ways to retaliate. There should be room for both schools of thought in the modern game. However, no matter which end of the spectrum you lie, you have to admit it doesn’t get any better than striking out Winker three times and having him so unraveled that he gets thrown out of the game.

3 DOWN

1. Buffalo Coming Up Lame

When the Mets signed Wilson Ramos, everyone believed he would be a significant upgrade to the Mets catching situation. When you consider the Mets other catcher was going to be Travis d’Arnaud, Ramos has proved to be a significant upgrade over that. However, Ramos has not been anywhere near what the Mets thought he would be.

So far this year, Ramos is hitting just .247/.311/.312 with some troubling trends. For example, he has what is so far a career worst 3.62 GB/FB ratio and 62.7 percent ground ball rate. It should be noted these are also the worst ground ball rates in the Majors this year. Certainly, this is a contributing factor to his hitting for little to no power this year.

As troubling as his bat is, Ramos has been worse behind the plate. So far this year, he has a -1.6 FRAA. He is leading the league in passed balls, and there have been an additional nine wild pitches with him behind the plate. While it is over valued, it is noteworthy, he has gone from a career 32 percent caught stealing to just 14 percent this year.

2. Familia Pain

So far, this has been the worst season of Jeurys Familia‘s career. In 14 appearances, he has a 6.28 ERA, 2.023 WHIP, 8.2 BB/9, and a 9.4 K/9. Despite his struggles, due to the Mets being short in the bullpen, Familia was slated to go six outs to get the save. He was so close.

After recording the first five outs, Familia would walk Jesse Winker on four pitches. He would have 0-2 counts on both Jose Iglesias and Kyle Farmer, and he was not able to put either batter away. Instead of closing the game out, he would blow the save and need to be bailed out by Drew Gagnon.

This would lead to Mickey Callaway utilizing the old Terry Collins favorite about needing to get players going. In addition to that, he would wake up the next morning with a sore shoulder sending him to the Injured List. Given the Mets history, there will continue to be questions about when that shoulder first became an issue.

More pressing than that is with Familia down and not performing, the Mets are lacking an obvious answer for the eighth inning. Of course, because he would cost actual money, bringing Craig Kimbrel aboard (whether it is for the eighth or ninth) is not on the table.

3. Diaz All Tied Up

Mets closer Edwin Diaz made two appearances in tied games in the ninth. Both times, Diaz would get the first two batters out before allowing what proved to be the game winning homer. Not unlike most closers, we have seen Diaz be a different reliever in non-save situations.

As noted by Tim Britton of The Athletic, opposing batters are hitting .333/.403/.608 against Diaz when he enters into a tie game. To his credit, Britton did characterize this stat as both “weird” and a “small sample.”

At the moment, it is way too soon to overreact to this, especially with how dominant Diaz has been. That said, it is something the Mets should monitor as the season continues to unfold.