3 Up, 3 Down: Giants Sweep Away Mets Hope

The Mets finished their grueling 13 game stretch against the class of the National League. All I have to say is, it is over, it is finally over. The Mets mustered up two wins over this stretch after getting swept by the Giants on Thursday night.

The Giants outclassed the Mets in the first game of this series thanks to a bad outing by Tylor Megill and a lack of production from the Mets offense. The second and third game of the series were both 3-2 wins by the Giants.

It was tough to find a lot that had gone well for the Mets over this last series (and 13 game period) and it was easy to find what went poorly. Here’s the highlights and lowlights of this past series before the Mets welcome in Miami for the weekend series.

3 Up 

Walker Looks to Have Righted the Ship 

The start of the second half was quite concerning for Taijuan Walker. He did not look like the pitcher he was in the first half and he was mostly laboring in his starts. Walker has not pitched a full season since 2017 so it was fair to wonder if his workload was starting to catch up to him.

Fortunately for Walker and the Mets, he has turned it around over these last couple of weeks. Walker has gone at least six innings in his last four starts and three of them have been quality starts. Over his last three games, he has had two starts where he has pitched into the seventh inning and given up two earned runs or less. Finishing the season on a strong note would give the Mets and Walker a lot of confidence that he can handle the rigors of a full MLB season.

Nimmo Continues to Get On Base

There is not much to be happy with when watching the Mets offense. If there is one bright spot, it would be Brandon Nimmo. Thanks to his three hit performance, he upped his slash line to .294/.413/.403 last night. If he qualified, his OBP would rank second behind Juan Soto‘s .442 figure. If there is one thing this season has answered, it would be “which outfielder should the Mets extend?”

Another positive was that all three of Nimmo’s hits came against a lefty. Nimmo is hitting .373/.500/.463 against lefties on the season.

Signs of Optimism for Cookie? 

Carlos Carrasco‘s tenure as a Met did not start off well. Between injuries, setbacks, and his struggles, Carrasco looked nothing like the pitcher they acquired in January. The optimist in me wants to attribute his struggles to rust and would like to believe his performance on Thursday was a sign of things to come going forward. Carrasco retired 20 out of the last 21 batters he faced, including 13 in a row to end his night. With an eye on 2022, Carrasco would be well served to alleviate some concerns going forward. His performance would give the Mets a good idea of what they have in stock for next season.

3 Down

The Lack of Power

Heading into last night, the Mets ranked 27th in slugging percentage. Only the Pirates, Rangers, and Marlins fall behind them. That is probably not the group of teams that the Mets had hoped to be associated with as they head towards September. Pete Alonso did club his 29th homer last night and will likely end up being the only Met to reach the 30 home run mark. He might be the only one to reach the 20 home run mark. Jonathan Villar has been extremely valuable to the Mets and was a very nice pickup for them. However, if you had told me in March that he would be second on the team in home runs, I would have asked if he found Robinson Cano‘s supplements.

The Season? 

The Braves have not won all week yet they managed to gain ground on the Mets. The Mets are 7.5 back with about five weeks left. Things look pretty bleak but if there is one solace for the Mets, they have 15 games against the Nationals and Marlins. Meanwhile, Atlanta have a series with San Francisco and the Dodgers, consecutively. The Mets have the edge for the remainder of their schedule, so it really is now or never for them. Plus, if we have learned anything, it’s that 7.5 game leads can be blown much more quickly than just five weeks. The 2007 Mets bullpen pulled it off in half the number of games!

The Lack of Big Hit

This seems to be the ongoing trend for the Mets. It can be fully encapsulated by the offensive struggles though. Ultimately, Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith, Michael Conforto, James McCann, Kevin Pillar, and Francisco Lindor have all produced well below their career numbers at the plate. Javier Baez has had his moments here and there but his numbers have been unspectacular in his limited plate appearances as a Met. When there are this many hitters in the lineup who just have not been doing their job, then you will not get “The big hit.” What hurts more about this stretch for the Mets is that seven of the 11 losses they had were by one run. A few hits in a few spots would have been very nice.