Another week, another heartbreaker. After taking two of three from the Phillies, all looked bright as the Mets looked to use their (then) strong offense against the Braves and a struggling Nationals team; it was an incredible opportunity to gain some ground and, with the way the Nats and Phillies have been playing, move up one or two spots in the standings. But, as we have all learned by now, the Mets love to tease. Splitting the series with the Braves was a mediocre result, considering the way Monday’s game went. Losing 3/4 to the Nationals, however, was downright frustrating, especially after putting a smackdown on the Nats in the first game of the doubleheader. Anyhow, this post is not for voicing my dismay. I’m here to give you the positives of the week, and that is just what I am going to do. Here are your 3 Mets Players of the Week!
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Daniel Murphy. Number 28 singled in both Monday and Tuesday’s game, with a single in the 3rd, going 1-3 with a walk and 1-4. On Wednesday, he scored the teams’ only 2 runs, finishing Los Mets night with two doubles, 2 RBI and a walk. He continued to show signs of a hot streak by going 3-5 with 2 singles, a double and an RBI on Thursday night’s win. And then came Friday. The slugger had a career day by going 4-5 (2 homers and 2 singles) with 5 RBI. It was the icing on the cake in an astounding 11-0 shutout victory. The following days he cooled down a bit, going 2-4 with a walk in part II of the doubleheader, 1-4 on Saturday and 0-4 on Sunday. Regardless, it’s critical for Murphy to start heating up again, especially batting in the 2 hole with David Wright behind him. Murph may be a streaky hitter, but when he is hot, he is HOT.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Honestly, how can I NOT choose Juan Lagares again? This kid does it all. As Ron Darling has pointed out multiple times on the broadcast, the jumps he gets on each ball is incredible. Those kind of reads just cannot be taught. It seems like every ball hit into the gap is going to drop until Lagares suddenly rushes in and makes a sinking liner look like a routine play. David Wright did have a few sparkling plays in the hot corner, and Quintanilla and Murphy made their fair share of pretty plays, but Lagares once again stole the show with his superb defense. He is one of the biggest reasons to keep watching the Mets for the rest of the season.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: We’ve got another young stud to look forward to: Jenrry Mejia. After the failed bullpen experiment, we finally got a glimpse at what Mejia can blossom to become. His changeup was wicked, his slider had incredible movement and he could reach 95 on his fastball. He hurled 7.0 scoreless innings, giving up 7 hits, striking out 7 and walking 0. With Zack Wheeler getting accustomed to the bigs, Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero on the rise and Matt Harvey already being quick to prove himself as one of the best in the game, the Mets’ plethora of young pitching is an exciting thing to think about for years to come; especially for a franchise who has a reputation for harvesting incredible young pitching. This team is putting a lot of hopes on the future, and from what we can see of it now, it’s not hard to see why.
