3 Up

1. Finally Some Offense

Coming into the series against the Cleveland Indians, the Mets ranked last in the major leagues in both team batting average and slugging percentage. It didn’t take them long to find their power as they hit four home runs on Friday night. They went on to hit a total of seven in the series. They had just two home runs on the season prior to Friday night. The Mets didn’t just do it by the long ball however, they also had a total of 10 extra base hits. Before their trip to Cleveland, the Mets offense struggled mightily, however this weekend the offense broke out with a total of 31 hits between the three games.

2. Conforto Flourished in the Three Hole

Terry Collins decided to make a slight change to the Mets lineup heading into Friday night’s game, and it proved to work brilliantly. He decided to bat Michael Conforto third, moving Yoenis Cespedes into the cleanup spot. Conforto then went on to get things started Friday night with a first inning homerun to deep center that ignited the Mets offense. On the series Conforto went 5 for 12 with a HR, three doubles, and three RBI. His move to the 3 hole looked as though it also jump started Cespedes, who went on to hit two mammoth home runs as well as going 5 for 12 on the series. I think Conforto found his spot in the lineup.

3. Matz Was Magnificent

Following the worst outing of his young career, Terry Collins and the Mets were once again asking the 24 year-old Matz to provide them with a much needed solid outing. The bullpen had been taxed coming into the game on Sunday, and it was up to Matz to wipe the slate clean and give the Mets the start they needed. He did just that. Matz was masterful on Sunday, going seven strong innings while only allowing three hits. He also recorded nine strikeouts, which was a career high. With the shutout he was able to lower his ERA from 37.80 down to 7.27.

3 Down

1. Harvey Struggles Again

After Harvey was dealt his second loss of the season against the Phillies in his last outing, many people believed it was cause for concern. I myself thought he pitched not great, but well enough to give the Mets a chance to win the game. After watching him struggle against the Indians on Saturday night, you have to be pretty concerned now. It was a promising start to the game for Harvey, as he retired the first 13 batters he faced. But just like in his previous outings, he hit a wall in the 5th inning. Harvey lasted just 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on six hits. What’s more bothersome is that his strikeouts have been alarmingly down. Harvey has just nine total strikeouts in his first three outings.

2. Hitting With RISP Still An Issue

If it wasn’t for Sunday’s game, the Mets would have been absolutely dreadful yet again with RISP. They were able to go 5-for-7 with RISP on Sunday, but just 1 for 15 in the first two games of the series. While I am just as happy as anybody that the bats finally broke out this weekend, and the home runs were a plentiful, there should still be some level of concern for the Mets when it comes to manufacturing runs other ways than just the long ball.

3. Montero Provided No Relief

It’s a very small sample size, but Rafael Montero did not look very sharp in his first appearance in 2016. Montero was called in after Matt Harvey was pulled in Saturday night’s game. It was his first appearance since April 28th, 2015, and it’s one that he’ll have to forget about. He allowed three hits and a pair of runs all in 1 1/3 innings. Again, it’s just one appearance, but Montero has had plenty of opportunities and he is going to need to start capitalizing on some of them this year.