3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Close Strong First Half

3 UP

Escobar to the Rescue

This has certainly been a maddening first half for Eduardo Escobar. On the one hand, he has a 94 wRC+ and -3 OAA at third. By those numbers, you see a player who has been holding a team back.

That said, there are just some series where Escobar goes off and carries the team. This was one of these series.

At the plate, Escobar was 6-for-17 with a double, homer, and RBI. However, Escobar didn’t really make a mark on this series with his bat. He made it with his glove.

In the first end of the doubleheader, the Chicago Cubs seemed primed to win the game in the 10th. The speedy Christopher Morel hit a ball to Escobar’s left. By all accounts and measures, this would’ve been a walk-off infield single.

Instead, Escobar made a quick play with a strong throw where he was partially bailed out by J.D. Davis who made a phenomenal pick to end the inning. The Mets would win the game in the 11th.

In the second end of the doubleheader, the Mets were up 4-3 in the 10th, and the Cubs had the bases loaded with one out. Frank Schwindel hit a ball at Escobar. Escobar made the quick decision to step on third to start the game ending 5-5-3 double play.

Those were two huge wins where Escobar and his glove saved the day. With his hitting much better of late (.941 OPS over the last week), perhaps, this is the sign of a big second half for Escobar.

Starting Pitching Dominant Again

The Mets are in first place largely because of their starting pitching. In this series, the Mets starting pitching was again dominant.

Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, Max Scherzer, and David Peterson combined to allow just three earned over 21 1/3 innings pitched (0.84 ERA) striking out 30 batters. When the Mets pitchers pitch like this, the team can take three out of four in a series when there bats go ice cold.

Another note here, while Trevor Williams did not start in this series, he three three scoreless on Thursday to earn his first career save.

Should’ve Been an All-Star

Brandon Nimmo capped off what was a very strong first half of the season going 5-for-16 at the plate with a double, homer, RBI, and three walks. With that, he finished the first half of the season with a 3.1 bWAR and fWAR.

Nimmo leads the Mets in bWAR, and he trails Francisco Lindor in fWAR. Moreover, Nimmo ranks as the second best outfielder in the National League and the fourth best in all of baseball. Really, Nimmo is among the best of the best.

Nimmo not being an All-Star was a farce. With the season Nimmo is having, he is going to put himself in the MVP conversation. Heopuflly, he will not be overlooked there as well.

3 DOWN

McNeil Not Hitting

Personally, things are great for Jeff McNeil. He’s a first time father, and he was named a starter for the All-Star Game at second base.

However, at the plate, things are a disaster right now. Since coming back from paternity, he is just 2-for-16. Since injuring his leg, he is 10-for-54.

This is what happened to McNeil last season. He tried to play through an injury, and it effectively tanked his season. You can argue more than anyone he needs rest, but he’s not going to get it with his heading to Los Angeles. Hopefully, he gets whatever rest he needs to have a huge second half.

Not Drewing Well

The Mets pitching was phenomenal all series. As noted above, the starters were lights out. Williams sparked what was a great run for the bullpen.

Nearly every reliever posted a zero. Colin Holderman, Tommy Hunter, and Yoan Lopez came up big in big spots. And then, there was Drew Smith.

Smith is becoming increasingly unreliable as evidenced by his allowing two runs in his 1 2/3 innings of work being the only Mets pitcher to take a loss in the series.

Since May 24, Smith has a 5.06 ERA with a 5.18 FIP. Opposing batters are hitting .259/.308/.494 against him. Simply put, he’s not fooling anyone, and he’s getting hit hard. With every appearance we see he’s not only not in the mix for the late innings, but at a certain point, you have to question if you even want him out there.

Francisco Alvarez Slumping

Since being promoted to Triple-A, Francisco Alvarez is hitting a woeful .087/.324/.140. On the bright side he does not appear over-matched as evidenced by his drawing seven walks and striking out just 26.4% of the time.

On the other hand, he’s not hitting, and as long as he’s not hitting, he is not going to force the Mets to call him up to the majors. That is even with both Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom being impressed with Alvarez’s work behind the plate.

The thing is the Mets really need him to hit now and force his way to the majors. Tomas Nido has a 46 wRC+, and Patrick Mazeika has a 43.

Overall, the Mets offense has a 100 wRC+ since June 1 ranking 20th in the majors over this stretch. That’s a steep drop for a team who had the best offense in baseball over the first two months of the season.

The Mets really do need Alvarez’s bat in the lineup. He can be a difference maker for this team and help propel them much like Michael Conforto helped in 2015.