3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Lead Getting Reeled In

3 UP

Great Starting Pitching

The one thing the Mets did very well in this series was pitch. The starting pitching was excellent, and it might’ve been the best series Mets starters have had all season long.

Trevor Williams got the Mets started off right in this series shutting out the Marlins over seven innings while allowing just two hits and striking out seven. Williams has stepped up for the Mets all season, this was another level. The Mets are very much in the position they are in because Williams has pitched well helping the Mets navigate through all of the injuries.

After Williams got the Mets started off, the starters allowed just four runs total in this series while pitching 26 innings striking out 22 and walking just three. Williams’ great start in the series was book-ended by Taijuan Walker, who had his own seven shutout inning performance with seven strikeouts.

With pitching like this, the Mets will always be in the game, and as we saw on Saturday, that will allow the team to pull out a late miracle.

Four All-Stars

The All-Star Game rosters were announced, and the Mets are sending four players to the All-Star Game. This is the most the Mets have had since 2007.

This is also a rare feat for the Mets. In fact, in their history, they have had four All-Stars just seven times. Five of those times came from 1984 – 1988 when Gary Carter, Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, and Darryl Strawberry were leading the way.

Looking at this group of All-Stars, maybe that will be Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil. After all, this is the second time in their careers they are both going to the game.

Joining Alonso and McNeil will be Edwin Diaz and Starling Marte. For Diaz, this is another chapter in his redemption story after a very disappointing first year in Queens. For Marte, this was the first time a Mets free agent signee was an All-Star since Francisco Rodriguez in 2009.

What’s incredible is the Mets had a number of snubs, and as we see the need for injury replacements, we may see this number grow.

KE17H

For all the complaining we did as fans during the Wilpon Era for not honoring the team history, Steve Cohen has righted many of those wrongs. Part of that was the Mets answering fans’ longtime call to retire Keith Hernandez‘s 17.

It was a moving ceremony reminding Mets fans of Keith’s incredible and long-lasting impact on this franchise. Really, when you break it down, it was a ceremony befitting a man who is second only to Tom Seaver in terms of his stature in this franchise’s history.

Everything about the day was perfect. That included Buck Showalter ensuring the current Mets were out there to pay their respects. Of course, there was no better way to end the day than the Mets winning in extra innings on a rally started by the catcher and an error at first base while Keith was watching on TV.

3 DOWN

McCann Hurt

Things seemed to be coming back together when James McCann returned from the IL. He was still framing, and his bat was starting to come around. He had the double in extra innings in the previous series, and he homered in the series opener. Then, he got hurt again.

McCann has worked so well with Mets pitchers this year, and his not being around hurts the pitching staff. Another issue is the Mets have been reticent to use Patrick Mazeika.

Of course, this will heighten the calls for Francisco Alvarez, but the Mets aren’t ready to call him up just yet. To a certain degree, you can’t blame them with Alvarez hitting .125/.286/.188 in his five games in Triple-A.

With McCann out for a while, the Mets are in a bad spot. They are comfortable with Tomas Nido, but they don’t quite know what to do for a backup. The injury may have the Mets looking for a catcher on the trade market, but there really isn’t any upgrades available (Willson Contreras‘ framing metrics are terrible).

Basically, the Mets just have to hold the fort until McCann is healthy again, or Alvarez is ready. In all honesty, neither may not happen this year.

All-Star Snubs

Brandon Nimmo should have unequivocally been an All-Star this season. By bWAR, he has been the second best player on the Mets (Marte edges him by 0.1 WAR). He’s also second by fWAR trailing only Francisco Lindor.

By fWAR, Nimmo has been the second best outfielder in the National League all season trailing just Mookie Betts. There is just no way to justify Nimmo not being an All-Star.

There are other cases to be made for Lindor, Chris Bassitt, and Walker. Perhaps, he will see them as injury replacements. While they may not be snubs per se, they did have first halves arguably worthy of an All-Star nod.

1.5

At this point last season, the Mets had a 4.0 game division lead. This year, despite the Mets being a significantly better team playing much better baseball, that lead is now only 1.5 games. Now, the Braves are coming to town with an opportunity to grab the division lead.

There are still some worries and reasons why this gap closed. There are the injuries. Eduardo Escobar and the DH spot haven’t given anything close to what they need to give. Drew Smith and the bridge to Diaz came crashing to earth. The hitting with RISP hasn’t been as proficient. The list goes on and on.

This is the type of series which can set the tone for the rest of the season. If the Mets don’t take care of business, the surging Braves will only feel all the more beholden while the Mets fan base will ponder about whether this will be another 2021 season.

On the bright side, Max Scherzer will take the ball, and he will look to send a message to the Braves to start this series.