Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets faced their stiffest competition in weeks this past weekend, going up against the San Diego Padres — a team likely to make the playoffs out of the NL West. They’re the first team since facing off against the Tampa Bay Rays that have a winning record, and the Mets were able to muster a series split over four games thanks to wonderful pitching from Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman.

Taijuan Walker and Joey Lucchesi, too, along with the rest of the bullpen and the aforementioned starters, were able to limit one of the more potent lineups in baseball to just eight runs over four games.

The Mets now sit at 29-23 and 3.5 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East. They’ll get two games in Baltimore with the Designated Hitter this week before the Padres come to Citi Field to complete the season series next weekend.

3 Up

Jacob deGrom’s Fastball Velocity

This is just ridiculous.

Jacob deGrom’s average fastball velocity is up this year — we’ve known that from his first couple starts. But not only is it up year-over-year, it’s also gotten faster as he’s come back from the injured list.

Check out this stat from Mathew Brownstein:

His slowest average fastball in a start this year is 98.5 miles-per-hour. That’s still almost one mile-per-hour than the second-highest average fastball velocity from a starter (Sandy Alcantara, 97.8 m.p.h).

Saturday night, deGrom threw more fastballs over 100 mph than under by over three times (33 vs. 11).

DeGrom will face San Diego again next weekend at Citi Field (Luis Rojas said Friday is the plan for now), so we’ll see what he has up his sleeve against the Padres’ solid lineup next time around.

Boppin’ Billy McKinney

Billy McKinney has brought much-needed pop to the Mets’ lineup since the team traded for him on May 26.

He has eight hits in 33 at-bats (virtually playing every day), and six of those hits are for extra bases. Since he joined the team, he’s third to only James McCann and Dominic Smith in OPS at .900. He has a 146 wRC+ in that time.

McKinney lead off most of this weekend, too, with Jonathan Villar on the shelf. He got on base seven times, knocked in two runs and stole a base. I wrote couple of weeks ago during the depths of the Mets’ injury woes about how the team was most desperate for consistent outfield play with guys like Brandon Drury and Cameron Maybin getting everyday run. McKinney has provided that sort of consistency over the last 12 days, along with Smith turning things around.

James McCann Hitting Dingers

McCann’s hot streak continued this series with two home runs added to his docket, including this one to extend the Mets’ lead on Sunday.

McCann, who started three of the four games in San Diego, only had two hits in the series, but they were both two-run homers. He’s been the Mets’ best offensive player over the last 15 days, with double the home runs (5) and RBI (13) than anyone else on the team in that stretch.

Before this streak, McCann’s OPS sat at .508. It’s now at .666 — a 158-point increase in just two weeks.

McCann has been performing about the same versus fastballs with regards to hitting them hard and hitting them in the air all season. His recent performance against breaking pitches, though, has improved significantly with consistent hard hits against those types of pitches. Three of his five home runs over the last two weeks came off breaking pitches — including Sunday’s.

3 Down

Brandon Drury’s Quality of Contact

Drury has one of the lowest xwOBA statistics in the league at .221, meaning he’s produced one of the lowest qualities of contact among all major leaguers with a minimum of 30 plate appearances. His other expected statistics (batting average, slugging, etc.) all rank in the lower doldrums of the league among guys with as many plate appearances (34) as Drury does.

He gets the benefit of the doubt for the fact that he likely wouldn’t have made the majors this season on the Mets’ roster should their position player injuries not have hit double digits. His 89 wRC+ is serviceable for now, especially for a member of the ReplaceMets. But when a player like Luis Guillorme is healthy and Villar can play a full game without risk to his hamstring, Drury should be one of the last men on the bench.

Injury Updates

We hoped by the middle of June the Mets would have Noah Syndergaard and Carlos Carrasco join the team’s rotation, adding to what already was one of the best staffs in the majors. We also thought the Mets would have a top-tier lineup with guys like J.D. Davis and McCann hitting eighth in the order.

The the injury bug bit. Then it bit again, and again, and again.

So far, the team hasn’t really been able to get any of its main core pieces back outside of Pete Alonso, who was out close to the minimum of 10 days, and Seth Lugo. Updates this weekend from Luis Rojas didn’t make it seem like Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Carrasco or Davis were particularly close to returning, either. The Mets are hopeful another day or two off for Jonathan Villar can solve his hamstring tightness, though it could be wise just to stick him on the injured list. (I can see why they don’t want to, though, because really, what’s the next option now?)

In some ray of hope, guys like Guillorme and Albert Almora, Jr. look to be coming back within a week or two barring any setbacks (and Lord knows the Mets have had some of those). They’ll provide nice upgrades over Mason Williams and Drury, who have been getting pretty consistent run over the last three weeks.

10 p.m. Start Times

Me at the beginning of the week: “Oh these 10 p.m. start times are fine, they’re actually kind of a nice switch up from the norm!”

Me, an utter fool, on Thursday night with the clock ticking past 12 a.m., quoting one of the best tweets ever crafted: “I am an accumulation of regrets shambling towards the grave, I am an aggregation of generational curses, I am a golem of sadness.”

The Mets only have one more of these West Coast trips this year in mid-August against the Giants and Dodgers. Over the seven games, five of them have start times of 9 p.m. or later. We can do this. Get your rest and bodies ready.