3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Drop Another Series Behind Pitching Struggles

As the midpoint of the 2023 season draws ever nearer, it becomes ever clearer that this New York Mets team is the worst that money can buy. That begins with a starting rotation that cannot get their legs under them. While one of the Mets’ big-money pitchers showed up in the series, the other two starters did not. The Mets have scored seven or more runs seven times in their last 22 games—and have one win to show for it.

3 Up

Vintage Max

Max Scherzer put up a vintage performance after back-to-back rough outings. He had allowed 11 runs in his previous two starts but gave up just one run on four hits in eight dominant innings against the Astros. Scherzer got his slider going, something that had not happened in the prior two performances. He struck out eight Houston batters yet still managed to keep his pitch count at just 91.

Perhaps Scherzer can shrug off those two bad turns and continue what had previously been a string of four consecutive strong showings. His Baseball Savant page continues to show many red (above average) areas, but consistency has still eluded him.

Designated Hitting

Whatever adjustments Daniel Vogelbach made during his team-imposed hiatus seem to have worked. Vogelbach went 5-for-10 with a homer and six RBI in the two games he played in the series. He has his OPS back over the .700 mark and showed what the Mets’ lineup can look like when he (and some other players) are hitting as their track record says they should.

To understand how quickly things can change with two good games, Vogelbach’s slash line over his last seven games now reads .292/.346/.583, compared to his last 15 of .205/.286/.386.

Happy Father’s Week

Francisco Lindor has enjoyed a mini resurgence since the birth of his second daughter, Amapola, last week. Lindor went 3-for-9 in the series with a homer, two doubles, six RBI, and four walks. His five-RBI night in the series opener first pushed the Mets to a 5-0 lead and later put the game out of reach at 8-1. The contradiction between Lindor’s .217 batting average and 51 RBI continues to be stark, and he’s certainly not out of the hole yet. Still, the shortstop can try to use this as a springboard for more consistent play.

3 Down

Destined for Disaster?

At this point, both Justin Verlander and Tylor Megill have shown that they are completely inconsistent as starting pitchers. With both coming off strong previous outings, neither was able to replicate their performance. That has been a recurring theme for both players.

Verlander went seven innings to preserve a short Mets bullpen, but he yielded four earned runs on eight hits. Once again, strikeouts did not come easily to him (five), and he gave up a home run to Alex Bregman on an abysmal pitch sequence. True, he did not get run support from the Mets’ offense, but this is the kind of game in which a $43 million defending Cy Young Award winner is expected to outpitch the other team’s good pitcher. Verlander failed to do so. He is now well below average in average exit velocity (12th percentile), hard-hit rate (19th percentile), strikeout rate (32nd percentile), and whiff rate (26th percentile), which matches up with his run-production results.

Meanwhile, Megill’s performance was once again predicted by the location of the start. Another away outing for him resulted in another sub-three-inning effort. Megill allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts. He once again put the Mets in a hole in the first inning, surrendering two runs immediately. Surprisingly, the home run ball was not involved, but two wild pitches were, one of which resulted in the first run of the game.

Megill now has a 7.99 ERA away from Citi Field with a 2.23 WHIP and a .345 batting average against.

Nimm-no

Brandon Nimmo had a tough series against the Astros. He went 1-for-12 with six strikeouts in the series, picking up two walks in the finale but otherwise completely failing to make an impact. Nimmo is hitting .243/.343/.413 over his last 30 games and simply has not looked comfortable at the plate since a red-hot April. His 22.6% strikeout rate is his lowest since 2019, while his walk rate over the last two years is five percent lower than it had been in the five years prior.

Nimmo has had his moments but has not been the table-setter he was early in the season.

McHitless

Jeff McNeil is another player who has struggled since his .298/.416/.415 slash line at the end of April. McNeil went 2-for-5 with an RBI in the series opener but then finished 2-for-12 with four strikeouts. McNeil’s stat line now sits at .267/.348/.338, a .686 OPS that is a far cry from the .836 he put up last year. The biggest difference is his complete lack of extra-base hits, as he had 48 (39 doubles, nine homers, nine percent XBH rate) a year ago compared to just 11 (eight doubles, three homers, 4.2 percent XBH rate) this season.

McNeil is prominent among the underachieving Mets hitters who have contributed to an offense that is still below average in many categories.

The Mets continue their road trip this weekend with a series in Philadelphia on Friday night (7:05 p.m. ET).