3 Up
1. Jake the Ace
Jacob deGrom has quietly had a very solid season this year for the Mets. After allowing just four hits and a walk with eight strikeouts without allowing a run on Tuesday night, deGrom moved past Noah Syndergaard for the team’s best ERA at 2.40. That ERA is also good for fourth best in the National League. deGrom is now 7-5 on the year and has a 1.55 ERA in his last seven starts.
2. Loney and Walker Steady
This week’s “3 Up 3 Down” gets two Mets for the price of one. Both James Loney and Neil Walker had a solid series at the plate against the Yankees, one stayed hot, and the other continued to remain quietly consistent. Both had six hits in the four games, while Loney had a hit in every single one of them. In total, between the two of them, they had 12 hits while driving in four runs. Walker went deep on Wednesday night in a 9-5 loss for his 18th home run of the season. The Mets are going to need to rely heavily on guys like Walker and Loney with Yoenis Cespedes now on the DL. Jay Bruce is the obvious threat in the lineup, but these two can provide much needed protection.
3. The Bruce Is Loose
While it may have taken him the first three games to get his feet wet in a Mets uniform, his one swing on Thursday night changed the entire outlook the series. With the Mets already leading 1-0 in the top half of the fifth inning, Bruce launched a three-run home run to right center to give the Mets a 4-0 lead and some cushion. It was the jolt the Mets needed, and instead of dropping three of four to their cross-town rivals, the Mets took the split. With the way things have been going lately, the Mets will take that.
3 Down
1. Reed Has a Hiccup
Everything was going exactly the way the Mets had wanted things to go on Monday night. The Yankees took an early lead, and then the Mets regained it from an unlikely source, Matt Reynolds, with his three-run blast in the sixth inning. However it was not to be. When Jerry Blevins walked the leadoff man in the top of the 8th inning, Addison Reed had come in to try and stop the threat. In 16 innings prior, Reed had not allowed a run since June 25th. Instead this time Reed faltered, allowing a bloop two-run single off the bat of Didi Gregorius to give the Yankees the lead. The Yankees held on to win the game 6-5.
2. Matz Struggles in Yankee Stadium Debut
On Wednesday night the Mets looked to Steven Matz to provide them with a solid outing and give them their first back-to-back win in almost a month. It was not to be had. Matz allowed six runs in the first two innings, including a three-run home run off the bat of Mark Teixeira. He eventually settled in and retired 13 of 14 batters at one point, but the Met offense couldn’t pull through for him. Matz also stirred some bad blood with Teixeira later in the fifth, when he hit him in the leg which caused both benches to clear. Matz has lost seven of his last eight outing while posting a 4.81 ERA.
3. Cespedes Heads to DL
There are all sorts of issues to talk about on the topic of Yoenis Cespedes’s recent trip to the DL. First, the Mets felt as though they could hold off on putting Cespedes on the DL with his ailing quad that had affected him all the way back in early July. With the Mets playing five straight games in AL ballparks, Cespedes could spend his time in a DH role. In his last at-bat on Wednesday night Cespedes seemed to have re-aggravated that quad, which led to his placing on the DL. It also just so happened that Cespedes had been out golfing earlier that day. Do I think that is what led to what happened later that night? No, but do I think it looks good for Cespedes and the Mets? No.
