3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Make More History

3 UP

The Co-No

For 50 years, the Mets couldn’t get a no-hitter. Tom Seaver came so close as did many others. In many ways, it defined a franchise who traded away Nolan Ryan. Then, on one magical day, Johan Santana would accomplish the impossible.

Mets fans would only have to wait 10 years for the next. Thanks to Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo, and Edwin Diaz, we will have a moment that will last forever in Mets history. People can say it doesn’t quality or matter, but Mets fans know better. This one meant so much to us all.

As Ron Darling said, this was one of those special moments you get in a special season.

Four Play

No one, and I mean no one, needed a big day at the plate like Dominic Smith. With the possibility of getting optioned to Syracuse looming over his head, Smith went 4-for-4 at the plate with a double and three RBI. At the time, the Mets needed all of those hits and runs as the team was locked in a tight battle.

All-in-all, Smith has now made the Mets decision easy. The only question is if the Mets will make the right one and DFA Robinson Cano.

Not to be outdone, Jeff McNeil was 4-for-5 with two doubles at the plate. This is all part of his being red hot at the plate. More to the point, as we saw with his taking a James Norwood splitter and hitting it through the vacated shortstop position, McNeil is back to being McNeil. That’s being not just an All-Star level player, but it’s also being one of the most versatile and important players in the game.

Walker Back

There was some concern with the injury, but Taijuan Walker came out of his IL stint looking great. Over five shutout innings, he limited the Phillies to just two hits and two walks. With that start, he again looked like the player who was an All-Star last season.

With Walker pitching like this, the Mets rotation is all that much deeper. That is great because this team is obviously a starting pitching front team who has the ability to not only win the division but also lead the Mets to a World Series

3 DOWN

Schwarber Keeps Swatting Dingers 

One of the things that made the co-no possible was the Mets pitchers walked Kyle Schwarber in all three of his plate appearances. Not allowing him to get the bat off of his shoulder was a stroke of genius because Schwarber absolutely wore out Mets pitching in this series going 4-for-8 with three homers and five RBI.

This is nothing new for Schwarber who is a Mets killer with a 1.154 OPS against them in his career. With his signing with the Philadelphia Phillies, he will be in the division for at least three years. Fortunately, that will at least give the Mets a chance to take advantage of his defense in left field like they did in the 2015 NLCS.

2. Not So Starling

Over the series against the Philadelphia Phillies, you saw Starling Marte have an impact. He made a great diving play, and he had a big RBI single. However, those big moments are overshadowing some real struggles.

Over the series, Marte was only 2-for-13 at the plate, and he has an 86 wRC+ on the season. He also has a career worst 27.8 ft/sec sprint speed, which is at least a contributing factor to Marte ranking as the 16th best right fielder in all of baseball by OAA.

It’s still early, but so far, the Mets are not getting from Marte what they thought they would after signing him.

SRF TJ

In all likelihood, Sean Reid-Foley was going to be designated for assignment when the rosters shrunk from 28 to 26. Accordingly, his relief appearance on Saturday could have very well been his last in a Mets uniform.

Of course, you do have to wonder why Buck Showalter was pitching Reid-Foley in the eighth inning of a two-run game against a division rival. That, and the run he surrendered, would be overshadowed by his needing to come out of the game with an injury which was later discovered to be a torn UCL.