It’s difficult to write a Players of the Week after such a rough showing this weekend. But the Mets did have a pair of deserving standout players.
With the way the pitching lined up, many fans and writers had the Mets sweeping the Braves this weekend, however it was the Braves that essentially knocked the Mets around like they were sparring in the ring, and swept the Mets. The Braves outscored the Mets 15-4 in the three game set, and also out-hit them 29-14. But hey, at least fans were treated to a nice Andy Grammer post-game concert after Saturday’s debacle.
The Mets have a much tougher schedule on the horizon, including two against the suddenly hot Kansas City Royals on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs in the last week of June. The calendar is turning fast, and the Mets need to turn this slump around if they want any chance at keeping pace with the surging Nationals heading into the later months of summer.
While the play this past week left many fans feeling queasy or reaching for a bottle of Tums, there were a few standout performances to highlight.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: YOENIS CESPEDES
Yoenis Cespedes gets the nod for Offensive Player of the Week, after he went 7-for-20 with four walks, four runs batted in, four runs scored, and a home run. La Potencia now has 17 home runs on the year in 63 games, on-par with his pace from last season where in 57 games he hit 17 bombs. His production has been stellar, with a slash line of .280/.352/.564, 17 home runs, and 43 runs batted in. He’s currently tied for fourth in the National League with Rockies’ shortstop Trevor Story in home runs, and should be a starting outfielder in this year’s All Star Game in San Diego.
Cespedes provided an early run for the Mets in Saturday’s contest, where in the bottom of the third against Braves RHP Aaron Blair, Cespedes blasted a 2-1 hanging curve into the left-center field seats to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead. Alas, the Mets would end up losing the game, as they did all their scoring the the third and fourth innings and allowed the Braves to chip away late in the game.
But a solid takeaway is that Cespedes continues to rake, and has but up almost identical numbers to what he posted in the 57 games he played in 2015 with the team.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: NOAH SYNDERGAARD
Noah Syndergaard was the easy choice for MMO Pitcher of the Week. His sparkling outing against a tough lineup in the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday June 15th was absolutely brilliant. Syndergaard pitched into the ninth with an 11-0 lead, and was looking to pitch his first complete game, and complete game shutout.
Unfortunately neither happened, as Syndergaard gave up a leadoff double to John Jaso in the top of the ninth. Gregory Polanco grounded out to Thor, which moved Jaso over to third. Manager Terry Collins seemed to be taking the ninth one batter at time with Syndergaard, who gave up another double to David Freese, with Jaso scoring the Pirates first run of the night. At that point, Syndergaard had thrown 115 pitches, a season high for the six-foot-six right-hander. He left to a standing ovation from the Citi faithful and watched as Jeurys Familia came in to get the final two outs of the game.
His final line on the night was 8 1/3 innings, five hits, two runs, one earned, no walks, while striking out 11, his fourth double-digit strikeout performance this year. Syndergaard also recorded his 100th strikeout on the season that night, and became the fastest Met pitcher to reach that mark in team history in 80 1/3 innings, previously held by Pedro Martinez who did it in 86 innings.
I was in attendance that night, sitting in section 126 down the third base line. Even sitting a distance away from the batter’s box, I could still hear the “thwap” the ball was making when it hit Rene Rivera’s mitt. Syndergaard was absolutely dominating and locating his fastball perfectly that night. In fact, his average fastball that night according to ESPN, was 99 mph, and had his second-highest miss rate (39.7) on the season.
On the year, Syndergaard has posted a 7-2 record, with a 1.91 earned run average, 0.96 WHIP, and 106 strikeouts in 85 innings pitched. Syndergaard should be joining Cespedes to San Diego to compete in his first All Star Game, something that Syndergaard himself set as a goal.
“It was a goal of mine this year. I watched Jacob (deGrom) last year and I thought that was pretty cool, so I want to go,” Syndergaard said earlier this month. “I am not above dropping some hints. I’ll start sucking up (to Warthen and Collins) a little bit. I might mention, ‘Hey the All-Star Game is coming pretty soon, you guys know any reason I shouldn’t make plans?’ Just to let them know.”
