3 UP

1. Straight G

Because Brodie Van Wagenen won’t permit Mickey Callaway to put his best reliever in the highest leverage situations, it was Robert Gsellman entering the eight to get out a jam with runners at the corners with one out.

Gsellman got out of the jam, putting the Mets in a position to win the only game they’d win in the series.

In his next appearance, Gsellman pitched three shutout innings. That appearance both kept the Mets in the game and saved the bullpen.

Quietly, the right-hander is having a very good year. In 11 appearances, he has a 2.57 ERA, 1.143 WHIP, and a 9.0 K/9. Over his last seven appearances, he’s allowed just one earned with a 0.800 WHIP.

Suddenly, Gsellman has become the Mets most reliable set-up man.

2. Polar Bear No Longer Hibernating

Starting in Atlanta, Pete Alonso had fallen into his first slump as a Major Leaguer. In a six game stretch, he was just 4-for-24 at the plate with just one extra base hit and seven strikeouts.

Well, it turns out this wasn’t the league figuring him out. Rather, this looked much more like a blip.

In the series against the Cardinals, Alonso was 4-for-12 with two long home runs. That’s exactly the player he was early in the year, and it’s a really good sign he was able to get back to that in relatively short order after his slump.

3. Good Health News

Both Alonso and Robinson Cano were hit on the hands in the series, and X-rays for both were negative. While we have yet to see how Cano rebounds, Alonso homered the next day.

On the pitching front, despite not having an MRI, Jacob deGrom pitched on the side, and he declared himself to be much better putting him to come off the Injured List on Friday. (That said, how do you not go for the precautionary MRI).

Speaking of the Injured List, it appears Todd Frazier is set to be activated tomorrow. It’s not a moment too soon as the Mets defense has been terrible, and the team is in desperate need for an upgrade over J.D. Davis, who is statistically the worst infielder in the majors this year with a -7 DRS.

3 DOWN

1. Starting Pitching “Depth”

For all the “Come get us” bravado and talk about being all-in, Brodie Van Wagenen built a team with just four Major League caliber starters. The Mets couldn’t even get through April before it became an issue.

Jason Vargas gave everything he had, which meant he could only go four innings. Fortunately, the wind was blowing in, so balls died on the warning track.

The bad news for the Mets was this was the best start they got in the series.

Starting with a Wilson Ramos passed ball, the flood gates opened on Chris Flexen, who was starting in place for the injured Jacob deGromon Saturday.

With Flexen allowing five earned over 5.1 innings, his career ERA now stands at 8.59. That would normally beg the question why you would pitch him if he’s that bad, but of course, we know the answer is because there isn’t really a better option.

As an aside, for all the talk of being all-in, against a team the Mets hope to compete for a Wild Card spot, they threw Flexen, Luis Avilan, Jacob Rhame, and Paul Sewald.

As bad as that is, Noah Syndergaard‘s start was arguably the worst of the series, and that’s two poor starts in a row for him.

2. Surprised He’s Still Not Ready

At some point, we really need to question if this is who Amed Rosario is.

A year after having the worst DRS among National League shortstops, he has the worst DRS among all shortstops this year.

He has a 5.9 percent walk rate which is slightly better than his 4.9 percent career mark. That’s offset by his 27.1 percent strike out rate. Ultimately, he so far has an 85 wRC+ which is slightly better than his career mark of 83.

With Rosario, he’s still just 23, and his stats so far this year are really the product of a small sample size. Still, when he shows little to no process, it’s fair to question if he’s ever going to be better than this.

3. Maybe This Isn’t a Good Team

Through 21 games, the Mets have a -19 run differential. Their 5.66 staff ERA is the worst in the National League. Their -21 DRS is the worst in the National League. Offensively, they’ve scored runs, but at a .329 BABIP, they’ve been lucky.

When you break it down, that’s what the Mets are – lucky. They’re lucky they’re still over .500 despite all their issues. It’s now incumbent upon them to start playing well again to take advantage of their luck.