3 Up
1. Walker Wakes Up
After struggling for most of the month of July, Neil Walker has been on a tear. In his last four games, Walker has gone 12-19 and has three three-hit games during that span. He went 3-4 with four RBI on Sunday afternoon, including a huge three-run homerun in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Mets a 6-4 lead over the Rockies. The Mets desperately needed a big hit, and Walker came up clutch at just the right time.
2. De Aza Stays Hot
A month ago I never thought I would catch myself putting this as an “Up” in my series, but sure enough, Alejandro De Aza has been swinging a hot bat. De Aza went 2-3 with an RBI in the series finale on Sunday afternoon, giving him a .375 batting average for the month of July. He had a total of four hits throughout the series against the Rockies.
3. Reed Continues to be Lights Out
Addison Reed has been brilliant thus far for the Mets this season. He did not allow a single run in the month of July, and on Sunday he recorded his 26th hold of the season, tying him with Aaron Heilman in 2006 for the club record. He has been the bridge to Jeurys Familia and a very solid one at that. When the Mets have called his name, he has delivered.
3 Down
1. Colon Struggles on Three Days Rest
It was his first start on three days rest since 2005, and it eventually caught up to him on Saturday night. Bartolo Colon looked great through the first three innings, but then surrendered three runs in the fourth and two more runs in the fifth. He allowed seven hits over five innings, one of those hits being a two-run homerun off the bat of David Dahl. In his last five starts, Colon has an ERA of 6.07 and has given up seven home runs during that stretch.
2. Offensive Woes Continue
Coming into Sunday’s series finale, the Mets offense could only muster up a total of four runs in the first three games against an average Colorado Rockies pitching staff. What’s more is the fact that the Mets hadn’t scored more than five runs since putting up nine against the Nationals on July 7th. Finally the Mets put up a six spot on Sunday to break that trend, however they still only managed to go 6-29 with RISP against the Rockies.
3. Injury Bug Plagues Mets
Every team goes through their fair share of injuries throughout the course of the season, but it seems as though the Mets have been given the short end of the stick in that department this year. On Saturday, Jose Reyes was put on the 15-day DL with a strained left oblique muscle.
On Sunday, Asdrubal Cabrera slipped rounding third on a Neil Walker triple that led to him needing to be helped off the field. Turns out Cabrera has a strained patella tendon, the same one that was giving him fits in March. Terry Collins is concerned with the severity of it, mentioning that he didn’t need to be helped off the field when it happened four months ago. Couple all of this with the fact that the Mets best player, Yoenis Cespedes is still nursing a quad injury that has put him at 85% at best.
