3 UP

1. EL POW

So far, Pete Alonso has been better than anyone could have reasonably expected him to be. He’s the first MLB player to have 11 extra base hits in his first 10 games. He became the fourth Mets rookie to homer in three consecutive games. He leads the majors with the most hits with an exit velocity of 105.0 MPH or higher. He’s currently second in the National League in wRC+.

More than any of that, Alonso has shown himself to be a great teammate and better person. In fact, he even went so far as to credit a photographer who captured a photo of him celebrating. This is exactly the type of player who should be celebrated, and he is more than earning his status as a fan favorite.

2.MVP

If not for Alonso, the story with the Mets would be Michael Conforto performing at the MVP level. Since returning to Citi Field, his power has awoken, and like Alonso, he has hit a homer in three straight games. Right now, he is hitting any and everyone. In fact, for a player who wasn’t ever allowed to even look at a left-handed pitcher, he is hitting .333/.368/.556 off of them.

3. Walk This Way

So far this season, the Mets have been towards the bottom of the league in walks, which is surprising considering how many disciplined bats there are in this lineup

When these Mets bats are patient, they’re drawing walks, getting on base, and as a result, are scoring runs. In this two game set, the Mets drew 17 walks. Included in those 17 walks were the six fifth inning walks leading to a six run inning. Overall, the Mets would score 17 runs in this series.

If the Mets are mindful of their patience at the plate, we may see an already strong offensive club take a big step forward.

3 DOWN

1. deGrom Was Just Off

Jacob deGrom had not allowed four runs in a game in almost a year. On a wet, chilly night, deGrom would let up four runs alone in the third inning in a game he allowed three homers. As previously written by MMN‘s Marshall Field, this start ended a number of records for deGrom including his 31 consecutive starts not allowing more than three earned and his 26 consecutive quality starts. Both were MLB records, the latter he shares with Bob Gibson.

With deGrom being as bad as he was on the mound, many were simply shocked, and they were led searching for explanations. There were reasonable ones including the weather and the possibility the Mets re-configuring the rotation on the fly may have set deGrom off his routine. Then, there were just plain stupid explanations.

For example, there was SNY‘s Sal Licata who said, “This is all on d’Arnaud. He is the only difference. Can’t believe he is still on the team.”

On a night where deGrom’s command was completely off, his velocity was down a tick, and he was not getting the same break on his slider, somehow, the blame was being shifted to the catcher. Somehow, someway, it was all d’Arnaud’s fault deGrom couldn’t pitch well in sub optimal pitching conditions on a night the ball was flying out of Citi Field.

It should also be noted d’Arnaud was actually the catcher during the 2015 postseason when deGrom was actually at his best out-dueling future Hall of Fame pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Of course, that doesn’t fit the narrative.

2. Who Canos What’s Happening?

At some point, attention is going to focus on Robinson Cano. Inasmuch as the Mets want to portray the trade to get a young cost controlled closer in Edwin Diaz, one of the main thrusts of the deal was the Mets going to get Cano to be the centerpiece of their offense. While Cano has hit two big homers so far, he has been a poor hitter otherwise. In 10 games, he is hitting just .209/.244/.372. Arguably, he has been the Mets worst infielder.

Even though Cano has been a slow starter in his career, he has not been this slow of a starter. Still, it should be remembered the season is just 10 games old and any hitter, no matter the age or PED history, is entitled to have 10 poor games. That said, it is something which bears monitoring.

3. Vargassed

The Mets tried to convince everyone Jason Vargas was all set to be the team’s fifth starter. After all, he had a 3.81 second half ERA last year! Apparently, that was reason enough for the Mets to not bring in one legitimate pitcher who could challenge his spot in the rotation.

Well, that confidence suddenly devolved into only trusting him to pitch five innings against a terrible Marlins team before deciding to skip his second start of the season. There were ample opportunities for Mickey Callaway to use him, especially with the team getting shorter starts from deGrom and Zack Wheeler, but Callaway appeared reticent. We found out why with the Twins scoring four runs off Vargas before he could even record an out.

All offseason, the Mets were boastful declaring this a win-now team. They were going to do whatever it took to win even if it meant foregoing a year of service time from Alonso. And yet, despite all of that, the Mets have opted to make Vargas their fifth starter even though they know they can’t trust him out there.