3 Up, 3 Down: Escobar Starts Fireworks

3 UP

Escobar Lights Up the Sky

Mets third baseman Eduardo Escobar could not have been struggling more since May 1. Over a two month stretch, he was hitting .210/.240/.355 while playing a poor third. To make matters worse, he had an emergency trip to the hospital.

Well, on Fireworks Night at Citi Field, Escobar would start the show with a three run homer. Escobar would go on from there to homer in all three games in the series while driving in six runs.

Early on in the season, Escobar was that protection in the lineup for Pete Alonso, and he and the Mets were thriving. If Escobar has rediscovered his stroke at the plate, this Mets team can be ready to play baseball at that level again.

Vote for Marte

The Mets fans desperately wanted Starling Marte in the offseason, and they showed their gratitude for his signing by making him a finalist for the All-Star voting. Marte, then, set out to prove he should be an All-Star.

Over this three game set, Marte was 4-for-1o with two homers and three RBI. He’d also flash his speed with his first stolen base since June 6. Overall, this was the dynamic game changing player the Mets believed they were getting when he was signed.

Notably, Marte is a second half player, and this is the point in the season where he usually takes off. We saw he is right on schedule with this series, and he should be ready to feast on a weaker second half schedule for the Mets.

Big Pitching Performances

With Chris Bassitt going on the COVID IL, an already thin and depleted Mets pitching rotation needed to rally again and put together quality starts while pitching on shorter rest.

David Peterson was the first to answer the call. The surprise starter would strike out 10 batters over six innings. Arguably, it was his best start of the season. You could also argue it was his biggest start given the circumstances surrounding it.

Trevor Williams would take the ball on three days rest to permit Carlos Carrasco to start on regular rest. Williams would run out of gas, and the Mets would lose the second game of the series. However, it allowed Carrasco to be at his top form when he took the ball on Sunday.

Carrasco shook off his recent struggles, and he was not going to allow an umpire to get him out of his game. For the first time since June 6, he allowed fewer than three runs in a game. For the first time since June 11, he would not walk more than a batter in the game.

The end result was a great eight strike out performance over 5 1/3 innings allowing just one earned. This is the Carrasco the Mets thought they were getting in the Francisco Lindor trade. This is the pitcher who makes this rotation all the deeper and more formidable.

3 DOWN

Szapucki Not Even Considered

The writing may well be on the wall for Thomas Szapucki and his future with the Mets. With Bassitt on the COVID IL, Szapucki was on turn on Saturday and is on the 40 man roster. Instead, as noted above, the Mets opted for Williams on three days rest. The Mets were willing to blow up their bullpen rather than give him another shot.

Worse yet for Szapucki, he didn’t even make his Triple-A start. Instead, the organization would call-up David Griffin from Double-A to make the start.

Szapucki was once considered one of the Mets top pitching prospects, but injuries have derailed his career. There are some who believe he should move to being a reliever where he could thrive. Others just think he’s never going to fulfill his potential. Whatever the case, it appears Szapucki is sidelined again, and the Mets can’t even consider him to pitch in the majors even in an emergency.

All Around Slumps

Right now, the Mets are dealing with a number of prolonged slumps. That is putting more onus on the rest of the lineup and the pitching staff.

Mark Canha has hit .154/.313/.289 since June 11. Luis Guillorme has hit .077 with no walks or extra base hits since June 24. Jeff McNeil has gone 2-for-14 with a double since injuring his hamstring. James McCann is 2-for-16 since coming off the IL.

Brandon Nimmo is in a 3-for-20 stretch with no walks as his newfound aggressiveness seems to be giving diminishing returns. Honestly, you can find a bad stretch right now for nearly everyone not named Escobar or Marte.

The Mets offense has been terrible for over a month now. Part of that has been good pitching. However, sooner or later, they need to snap out of these collective funks and start hitting. If they don’t, the Mets can replace them in the lineup with either a big trade or with players like Francisco Alvarez or Mark Vientos waiting in the wings.

Braves Won’t Lose

Make no mistake here, the Mets are not blowing the division by any means. They navigated a tough June schedule and some serious injuries with an over .500 record. They’re getting healthy again with Max Scherzer ready to return to the rotation on Tuesday, and Jacob deGrom‘s first three pitches in his rehab start going 100 MPH.

Still, the Mets division lead has gone from 10.5 games on June 1 to 3.5 games before games start on July 4.

That is because the Braves won’t lose. Since June 1, they have won 23 out of 30 games. That is a .767 winning percentage. Over 162 games, that would be a 124 win pace. Put another way, the Braves are on a historic stretch of games.

Much of that is just a dreadful list of opponents. That will change for the Braves sooner or later, and it does change when they and the Mets face-off in Atlanta July 11-13. It looks like the Mets are going to have to go out and make a statement.