The New York Mets get back on track with a simple 4-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. The Mets lead over the Washington Nationals increases to 6.5 games with their magic number to clinch the division now at seven.
Here are four encouraging points from last nights victory.
Jon Niese: W, 6.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 SO, 2 BB
With his first win in a month, Niese pitched well against a weak Braves lineup, throwing well located two-seam fastballs and cut-fastballs (cutters) low in the strike zone. Niese used his curveball to keep Braves batters off-balance and produce a 13.6% swing and miss rate (miss/whiff rate).
This resulted in his second highest ground ball rate at 78.9%, well above his season average of 54.5%. Unlike Sundays sixth inning, the Mets infield fielded very well, even gloving some tough hops off the infield grass.
This strong defense can be attributed to Niese pitching at a fast pace. Working quickly keeps your position players on their toes, ready to field the baseball.
Curtis Granderson Leading the Way
Under the radar, Granderson is the catalyst to the Mets offense scoring two runs via a single and two walks last night.
A leadoff hitters motto is, “get on and get in”. Simply, great leadoff hitters make pitchers work by taking pitches, produce a high on-base percentage and score a high number of runs.
Over the past 30 days, Granderson MLB ranking are 11th in runs scored (21), eighth in on-base percentage (.451) and second in walks (27).
Addison Reed to Tyler Clippard to Jeurys Familia
The Mets 7th, 8th and 9th inning relief combination shut the door last night, striking out three and no walks over three scoreless innings.
This threesome isn’t unhittable as we saw with the 2014 Kansas City Royals. But Sandy Alderson has constructed a top five MLB trio combination heading into the playoffs. Hate him or love him, either way please credit Alderson for bolstering the backend of this bullpen for the playoff run.
Michael Conforto Homers
Conforto continues showing off his natural power with another opposite field missile home run. Although it’s too late in the season to switch the Mets platoon situation, I would love to see Conforto face left-handed pitchers in 2016.
Follow Chris Zaccherio on Twitter @ziography for more Mets insight going beyond statistics.
