After another successful week for the New York Mets, going 5-1 against the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves from September 5-11, they now hold a half game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card spot before their Tuesday night game against the Washington Nationals.
The Mets held a six-game winning streak last week, extending from their Saturday, September 3 win against the Nationals to their Friday, September 9 victory against the Braves. It was their second longest winning streak of 2016, as they had an eight-game winning streak from April 22-30 against the Braves, Reds, and San Francisco Giants.
The Mets opened up a big three game series against the Washington Nationals on Monday, winning only the middle game Tuesday night, with a tremendous pitching performance by Noah Syndergaard and late inning heroics from T.J. Rivera, swatting his first major league homer in the top of the 10th to give the Mets a 4-3 lead.
While the Mets didn’t lose any ground in the wild card standings, they could’ve taken advantage of the Cardinals losing two out of three to the Chicago Cubs, and the Giants getting swept at home by the San Diego Padres.
Following the Nationals series, the rest of the Mets schedule is against teams currently under .500, including the Minnesota Twins, Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and Miami Marlins.
As always, here are your MMO Players of the Week for September 5-11.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: YOENIS CESPEDES
Yoenis Cespedes earns MMO’s Offensive Player of the Week, going 6-for-22 with five runs scored, three home runs, 10 RBI, two walks, one intentional walk, and a double.
Cespedes set the tone early for the Mets on Sunday, where he drove in the first run of the game on a groundout to second in the first inning. But the real damage was done in the third, as Cespedes stepped to the plate with the bases juiced and only one out. On a 1-0 count, Braves starter Williams Perez threw a sinker to Cespedes that he promptly drilled into left field for his 30th home run on the season. It was Cespedes’ second grand slam this season, and fourth of his career.
With his 35 combined homers from Detroit and New York last year, Cespedes has his first back-to-back 30 homer seasons of his career.
Since his return from the disabled list on August 19, due to a strained right quad, the Mets have gone 16-7, as opposed to 5-9 during his absence from August 4-18. His value on this team can’t be discussed enough, as he keeps getting big hit after big hit for this club. His secondary numbers are fantastic, evident by his wRC+ at 145 before Tuesday’s game, good for 11th best in baseball, and also 9 points better than what he put up combined between Detroit and New York last season (136).
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: SETH LUGO
Seth Lugo earns MMO’s Pitcher of the Week honors, as his brilliant seven innings of two-run ball helped propel the Mets to the second wild card spot this past Sunday against the Braves.
After losing the night before in extra innings along with the Cardinals beating the Milwaukee Brewers, the Mets were sitting a half game back and mere percentage points behind the Cardinals for the second wild card spot, and needed a win Sunday to keep from potentially falling behind further against St. Louis, who had won five out of their last seven games.
Lugo, 26, was up to the challenge, tossing seven innings while giving up two earned runs on six hits, walking one, and striking out five. Lugo was economical with his pitch count, leaving the game with 95 pitches, 62 for strikes.
Lugo faced trouble in the bottom of the fourth, when he gave up a double to Adonis Garcia followed by three singles from Freddie Freeman, Matt Kemp, and Nick Markakis. The Braves only scored one run though, as Lugo got Anthony Recker to hit into an infield fly rule to first, followed by Dansby Swanson hitting into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
The only other run Lugo allowed came in the bottom of the seventh, as pinch-hitter Brandon Snyder smacked a 2-2 changeup into left-center, making it a 10-2 ballgame.
Lugo has been tremendous in his last four starts for the Mets, winning all four starts while tossing 25 innings, giving up 19 hits, five walks to 18 strikeouts, and five earned runs.
Terry Collins has to be pleased from what he’s seen from Lugo so far, and was heaping plenty of praise after his most recent outing.
“This guy has a feel for pitching,” manager Terry Collins said. “He knows how to get a ground ball to help him get out of trouble, which some pitchers need to learn it. And Seth Lugo I think has a feel for it.”
While it’s still premature to tell how Lugo would fare over a full major league season, there is plenty of optimism going forward with the tall right-hander, as he offers the Mets an affordable rotation option for the 2017 season.
