3 UP
1. Road Warrior
Amed Rosario has been great on the road this year hitting .316/.348/.469. That great play on the road continued in this important series against the Braves with Rosario following a 4-for-5 day at the plate on Wednesday with a 5-for-6 game one homer short of the cycle on Thursday. With Pete Alonso also having a five hit day, they became the first Mets teammates to have five hits in the same game (Alonso also tied Cody Bellinger‘s National League rookie home run record). With Rosario, the story is more about his development than his road stats.
Something clicked for him as the calendar turned to July. Since July 1, Rosario is hitting .343/.380/.493. In the field, he has gone from a Major League worst -16 DRS at the break to now a -13 DRS. Overall, his level of play has dramatically improved, and the game is slowing down for him. Suddenly, Rosario is looking like the player he was expected to be when he was first called up to the Majors.
2. Vintage Lagares
Juan Lagares has not been good at all this year. Up until July 1, he was hitting .179/.247/.257 (35 wRC+). Overall on the season, he has a career worst -4 DRS and -4.1 UZR in center. However, now that the Mets need him Lagares has turned his season around, and he is contributing.
Since the All Star Break, Lagares is hitting .313/.389/.406, and he has been vintage Lagares in center field. We have seen him rob an extra base hit against Yan Gomes on Saturday, and he was getting great breaks on balls in the Atlanta series not allowing hard hit balls to drop in for hits.
In some ways, this is akin to what Lagares did in 2015. After his play forced the Mets to trade for Yoenis Cespedes, Lagares would hit .287/.326/.471 over the final two months of that season, and he hit .348/.375/.435 in the postseason while playing defense at the level he had in prior seasons. Hopefully, we are seeing a similar response from Lagares than we saw from him four years ago.
To that end, as noted by MMO’s Michael Mayer, Lagares was 8-for-13 in this series. In his previous 15 games, Lagares was 8-for-52.
3. Bullpen Rounding Into Shape
It wasn’t too long ago Seth Lugo was the only reliever in the Mets bullpen in whom the team could trust. Recently, things have changed with other relievers showing their mettle.
Since joining the Mets, Brad Brach has pitched 2.1 scoreless striking out two and walking none.
Left-handed relievers Luis Avilan and Justin Wilson are having great second halves with Avilan not allowing a run over 11.0 innings, and Wilson has allowed just two earned over 12.0.
Jeurys Familia continues his renaissance with his 2.70 second half ERA, and Edwin Diaz came up in a big spot on Thursday, and he recorded the save.
Looking at this bullpen, it’s made significant strides forward. With Brach and Familia turning back the clock, along with Wilson, that gives the Mets three battled tested late inning relievers to combine with Lugo, who as Mickey Callaway puts it, is the best reliever in baseball. Suddenly, this bullpen is looking much better.
3 DOWN
1. McNeil Injured
By WAR, Jeff McNeil has been the Mets best position player. Due to everything he does and what he means to this Mets team, McNeil is the most indispensable player on this Mets roster. He was the one guy the Mets could least afford to lose.
He would go down in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game with a hamstring injury. While subsequent MRIs gave the Mets some room for optimism McNeil could return as soon as the 10 days are up, hamstrings are tricky injuries. It’s hopeful McNeil returns, and it’s very possible he has a setback.
While he is gone, Juan Lagares is the team’s everyday center fielder while Joe Panik and Ruben Tejada platoon at second base. That’s right, Tejada who has never been a league average hitter at the Major League level and in fact has not been in the Majors for two years is suddenly sharing time at second for a team fighting for a postseason spot.
One side note to the Mets decision, Tejada was 0-for-4 in his return, and Dilson Herrera has gone 3-for-6 with three runs, two homers, five RBI, and two walks in the two games since the Mets made the decision to call up Tejada over Herrera.
2. Lugo Implodes
Taking everything into account, Mickey Callaway made the right move lifting Steven Matz for Seth Lugo instead of letting Matz have a repeat of his June 19 game against the Braves, or really any other of his games where he suddenly loses it after having a dominant stretch in a game.
The problem with the decision is Lugo and the Mets imploded in the seventh. Wilson Ramos wasn’t getting the low pitches or the corners. Pete Alonso vacated first to try to field what was a routine ball to the second baseman. There were a number of dunks and bleeders which found holes. Put another way, Lugo was bad, and this was the type of nightmare inning we have come to expect from a late season Mets and Braves match-up.
We have seen Lugo be better than this, and we should expect him to be better than this in these spots. In all honesty, the Mets cannot win games like these if Lugo isn’t going to be at the top of his game.
3. Wild Card Competition Wakes Up
One of the reasons why the Mets were able to get back in the postseason picture is because the rest of the National League had allowed it by playing middling baseball. While the National League let the Mets back in the race, the Mets are now going to have to really earn it.
After salvaging the last series in the weekend series against the Mets, the Nationals swept the Reds. Bryce Harper has been red hot leading the Phillies ahead of the Mets again in the standings. The Cubs are about to take on the Pirates, and the Cardinals (current Central leaders) have the Redss. With the Nationals and Brewers playing this weekend, it will be difficult to make ground over the weekend.
