3 UP
1. Mets’ Starters Impress
Much has been talked about how the Mets starting rotation with Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard injured, would be a serious weak spot, at least for one series they proved that wrong.
Michael Wacha made his Mets debut on Monday with five innings of one-run ball against the Red Sox at Fenway in a 7-4 victory. Possibly the most important note from Wacha’s impressive start, was his average four-seam velocity was 94.3 mph after averaging only 93.0 in 2019 with the Cardinals.
Then Mets lefty David Peterson made his Major League debut on Tuesday, a successful one in an 8-3 win. Peterson allowed only two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. He worked out of a bases loaded and nobody out situation in the third inning that yielded only one run (could’ve been none if not for some questionable defense). He struck out J.D. Martinez to get the first out and then got Rafael Devers to hit into a funky double play.
Again, a big note here, is the velocity spike from 2019, with Peterson sitting more 88-92 mph last season and averaged 92.3 mph with his sinker on Tuesday.
The Mets will certainly need more starts like these from the back-end of the rotation if they have any chance of competing in the 2020 shortened season.
2. Lugo Comes Up Big
Nothing surprising here, but Seth Lugo came up big for the Mets in Game 1 of the series when he secured four outs to get the save. The talented right-handed reliever now has 3 1/3 scoreless innings on the season with a win and save. He’s allowed only one hit and struck out four.
Lugo is going to pitch in a variety of different roles for the Mets in 2020 – six and seventh innings with a lead in first game of season, then inherited runner and stays in for the save in Boston – as he’s likely their second best pitcher right now and manager Luis Rojas needs to squeeze as much value as possible out of him.
3. Davis Heating Up
After going just 1-for-10 in the oepning series against the Braves, left fielder J.D. Davis reached base multiple times in both games vs Boston. In the first game, he went 1-for-3 with a walk.
On Tuesday night, he went 2-for-3 with a key two-run homer in the fifth inning that extended the Mets lead to 5-1. He scored two runs and knocked in two runs in the game.
Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith, and Pete Alonso also hit their first home runs of the season in the quick two-game sweep of the Red Sox in Boston.
3 Down
1. Alonso Struggling Early
Despite the aforementioned home run, Alonso went 1-for-9 in the series with three strikeouts. The 2020 Major League National League Rookie of the Year, Home Run Derby champ, rookie home run record holder, and 2020 home run champ, is 2-for-20 with eight strikeouts on the season.
Certainly not going to overreact to five games and Alonso will likely start mashing soon, but struggled mightily to this point
2. Where’s the D, McNeil?
Jeff McNeil had an error in the second game of the series and another play that he certainly should’ve made as well. The Mets third baseman now leads the team with three errors in five games. While third base was McNeil’s least played position in terms of innings last season, he did have 4 defensive runs saved and 2.4 UZR there in 154 innings.
Unfortunately, the struggles for McNeil are not only defensively, the left-handed swinger has a disappointing .623 OPS through five games. Another guy – given his track record – that I’m not worried about though in the long run.
3. Ugly Outing for Familia
Given the importance of the Mets’ bullpen to their winning, the urgency of a shortened season, and Jeurys Familia‘s 2019 performance, every single outing from the right-hander (along with Edwin Diaz) is going to be heavily scrutined.
With the Mets winning 7-2 on Monday night, Rojas decided to bring Familia in to start the eight inning. Familia ended up allowing two earned runs on two and a walk, and recorded only two outs.
Familia did pitch a scoreless inning in his 2020 debut against the Braves, though he didn’t have a single swinging strike. The veteran right-hander has yet to throw a splitter in the 2020 regular season after flashing a couple of good ones in Summer Camp.
Overall, the Mets hitting came to life a bit in the series and they held the Red Sox away from having any big innings on offense. It was important series for the Mets to sweep, and know they will look do the same against Boston in a two-game series in Flushing.
