Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets took two of three from the Washington Nationals this past weekend behind two strong pitching (and defensive) outings from their starters. The team’s staff continues to carry the Mets has their bats continue to work on igniting three weeks into the season.

There were some signs of life this series, though, and the two wins put the Mets back above .500 as they remain in first place.

3 Up

Jacob deGrom’s Slider

With someone so masterful at their craft, you wonder where someone like Jacob deGrom can get even better.

In 2021 so far, he’s shown improvement with his fastball (in how fast it is and how much he’s throwing it), but his slider working off that fastball has shown sharper bite and better results. Mind you, deGrom has had one of the best sliders in baseball over the last three years. It’s even better now.

He’s using his slider 26.6% of the time so far this year, a number not far off from his career average, though it’s a number that’s down from 2019 and 2020.

DeGrom’s slider has produced career-best numbers in terms of batting average, slugging, and on-base percentage so far. (The expected statistics for all those back up how good the slider his, too.) He also has a whiff percentage over 50.0% for the first time with his slider, and the put away percentage sits at 42.5% — a career high.

His slider is arriving further down and away in the zone than previous years, too. Check out the heat maps for deGrom’s slider from 2021 (left) and 2020 (right).

His slider heat maps from 2019 and before look more like 2020 than 2021, too.

Look at all that red down and out of the zone (to righties, at least). When deGrom peppers the upper half of the zone with his fastball — those heat maps show a tight red cluster in the upper — that slider that starts down in the zone looks enticing. DeGrom is putting it in places where it’s really hard to connect with.

DeGrom will test his slider out this week against a solid Boston Red Sox lineup.

Francisco Lindor’s Defense

Team defense has been an issue for the Mets for years. While Francisco Lindor is still trying to get things going at the plate, he’s already made a positive impact with his glove.

From 2016 to 2020, the Mets ranked dead last in Outs Above Average from the shortstop position (-56).

This year, they’re first. (Don’t look now, but Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso are producing positive OAA numbers so far at their positions, too.)

Lindor made a play on a liner by Yan Gomes on Sunday that had an xBA of .720. He was able to range quickly to his right and nab it out of the air.

Most of his OAA value this year (and in previous years) has come ranging to his left. Lindor will figure things out at the plate. Thankfully, his defense has been rock solid in the field while he works through that.

J.D. Davis’ Offense

J.D. Davis‘ defensive struggles were highlighted last series. His offensive successes, though, are a highlight this time around.

The third baseman was 4-for-11 against the Nats, with a particularly notable domination of Patrick Corbin, whom Davis has made it a routine to harass now.

He’s now slashing .414/.485/1.175 for the year 222 wRC+ (one point below deGrom, of course). He has one of the top barrels per plate appearance in the league (15.2%, min. 15 batted-ball events), according to Statcast, and average exit velocities per batted-ball events. He’s also among the best in the league in weighted on-base average at .502.

Davis’ bat will be in the lineup more often than not, especially if he keeps hitting like this. The pros will far outweigh the defensive cons at that point.

3 Down

Taijuan Walker’s Walk Rate

Taijuan Walker has been a wonderful back-end starter for the Mets so far this year. Through four starts, he’s pitched 21 innings and given up six runs — a wonderful mark that produces a 2.14 ERA.

Where Walker has been struggling, though, is the number of walks he’s given up. He’s given up more walks (14) than hits (12), and his walk rate is an astronomical 16.1% — almost double his career high. That number came down a bit after walking just three in seven innings Sunday afternoon, but continuously allowing walks at such a high rate is going to hurt Walker when his defense isn’t playing like it was behind him on Sunday, where the defense saved him at least three runs.

Stephen Tarpley’s Bullpen Spot

The 28-year-old journeyman didn’t have a great debut on Saturday.

Stephen Tarpley was called up in place of Joey Lucchesi with the presumption the team could get more innings out of a guy like Tarpley before they needed to start Lucchesi again. Tarpley couldn’t record an out, though, as he was trying to help keep the game close in relief of Marcus Stroman. (Whether that should’ve been Tarpley’s job in the first place is another question.)

Just four of Tarpley’s pitches ended up as strikes. He allowed two walks and hit a batter while giving up two runs (one on the hit batsman, and one when Robert Gsellman relieved him). His Mets ERA currently is infinity.

Tarpley had a couple nice spring training outings before a disastrous one toward the end of the spring, which probably prevented him from making the team. Now that he’s with the team, though, he’ll have to prove his merit at his latest stop.

The Offense with RISP

This was an issue in 2020, it was an issue a couple series into the season, and it’s a problem now.

As a team, the Mets are batting .189 with runners in scoring position. This is actually an improvement from after the Marlins series — the second of the year — when they were batting .146 with RISP to start the year, but the batting average number has hovered around .190 since the three-game sweep of the Phillies in the middle of the month.

The Mets are last in slugging percentage in these situations, too, at .250. So they aren’t hitting, and when they hit, they aren’t big back-breaking hits.

The primary culprits are Dominic Smith (2-for-17), Michael Conforto (2-for-15), Jeff McNeil (1-for-14) and Lindor (1-for-11), with Smith and Conforto each striking out seven times while runners are in scoring position. McNeil and Lindor have put the ball in play, just to no avail so far.

The Mets will really pop off on an offensive tear at some point this year. We’ll check back in on this number when they do, as I’m sure it’ll be 70 points higher.

Yet, as I feel I’ve ended a couple of these 3 Up, 3 Downs, the Mets are 9-8 and still in first place in the NL East.