3 UP

1. Lefty 30 HR Hitters Are Scorching

Coming into the season, the Mets had the rare roster than had three different left-handed 30-home run hitters. Unfortunately, the best laid plans did not immediately come to fruition. Curtis Granderson was dreadful in April. Lucas Duda was injured and didn’t hit immediately upon his return from the disabled list. As hot as Jay Bruce was in April, he has been that cold for May.  Until the Mets arrived in Pittsburgh, the Mets had none of these bats going.

Now they do, and it is a sight to behold. In the series, the trio combined to hit five doubles, a triple, three homers, and six RBI. As a result, the Mets scored 19 runs over the three game set. While Yoenis Cespedes is the Mets most important position player, the team is not going to miss him as long as this trio and Michael Conforto keeps hitting the way they have been hitting.

2. Starting Pitching Getting Deeper Into Games

For a long stretch of games this season, it seemed as if the Mets were struggling to get just five innings from their starters. This has led to an overworked bullpen that has struggled to maintain leads. Thankfully, the Mets starters stepped it up in this series.

After his seven inning outing, Jacob deGrom was even better on Friday throwing 8.1 brilliant innings. Zack Wheeler continued his progression this season by throwing six innings, and for this first time in over a month, Matt Harvey threw six innings in a game. That’s three quality starts in a three game series exactly when the Mets needed it most.

3. Lagares In Gold Glove Form

When the Mets lost on Saturday, there were many fingers to be pointed, but none were pointed at Juan Lagares. Lagares did all he could in the three innings he played to both keep the lead and keep the game going. He covered more ground in center than Phileas Fogg could ever dream of covering. It is all part of Lagares once again showing everyone what a great defender he is.

Despite playing just 133.1 innings this year, he has already posted a 3 DRS. If he had enough innings to qualify, that would rank him second in the National League just one behind Odubel Herrera, who has logged nearly three times the amount of innings Lagares has. Putting the numbers aside, it is just a joy to watch Lagares in the field. He gets to everything out there, and he makes exciting play after exciting play. He is clearly the Mets’ best defender, and he might just be the best defender in all of baseball.

3 DOWN

1.  What Is Collins Doing With This Bullpen?

One of the narratives that has been going on this season is you cannot blame Terry Collins for the bullpen’s struggles because he has had some terrible relievers in the bullpen this year plus the suspension and injury of Jeurys Familia. This narrative overlooks how Collins chooses to deploy his bullpen. This series was a perfect example of that.

On Friday, after deGrom departed with an 8-1 lead with one out in the ninth, Collins went to Fernando Salas to get the last two outs. The following night, with the Mets up just one in the seventh inning, Collins elects to go to Neil Ramirez, who is by far his worst reliever (now that Rafael Montero is gone), to hold onto the lead. With a runner on third and less than two outs, Collins was forced to go to Jerry Blevins. This also begat Collins needing four relievers to get through two innings and seven relievers to get through 3.2 innings.

On Sunday, with the Mets having a five run lead entering the seventh, Collins elects to go with Paul Sewald for two innings. Sewald has been the Mets’ best reliever of late, and now he’s again unavailable for another game or two. It should also be mentioned that although Blevins just entered one game, he warmed up in all three games of this series.

Yes, with Familia gone, the bullpen is not the dominant unit most imagined it would be. However, Collins’ use, nay overuse, of his best relievers, even in blowouts, has led to some of the fatigue and unexpected poor performances we have seen.

2. Reed May Not Be The Answer At Closer

From 2012-2013, Addison Reed was the closer for the Chicago White Sox and in 2014 held that role with the Diamondbacks. Over that span, Reed did average 34 saves a season, but he was far from the dominant shut down closer you want coming out of the bullpen. In that three-year span, Reed had a 4.22 ERA and a 1.217 WHIP. He was more heart in your throat like John Franco than a shut down closer like Randy Myers.

When Reed came to the Mets, he figured something out. Entering this season, Reed appeared in 97 games for the Mets pitching to a 1.84 ERA and a 0.957 WHIP while recording two saves and 46 holds. Last season, he was arguably the best relief pitcher in the National League leading all relievers in WAR. Whatever he had since first joining the Mets seems to have diminished.

So far this season, Reed has a 3.51 ERA and a 1.091 WHIP. He has blown two saves in eight attempts this season, and both of his blown saves have led to Mets losses. That includes the Mets’ brutal loss on Saturday.

Maybe it’s mechanics. It could possibly be fatigue after Reed made a career high 80 appearances last year, and he’s on an 88 appearances pace this season. The possibility that Reed struggles as a closer also should not be dismissed. Whatever the case, this is not the same Reed we have grown accustomed to with the Mets. If he continues to pitch the way he has, the Mets may need to look elsewhere for a closer.

3. Cespedes Set-Back

Even with the big bats carrying their weight this series, the team still misses Cespedes. He could very well be the only Mets hitter that strikes fear into the opponent. He brings a certain energy both the team and the fans in the stadium and it should should not be overlooked that Cespedes is a Gold Glove left fielder.

There was some hope he could come back quickly with his starting rehab games in St. Lucie. Unfortunately, that lasted just one game, and the Mets are sitting him out until Tuesday. Hopefully, he bounces back because the team needs him back sooner rather than later.