Players of the Week: Alonso, Megill Lead the Way

After a frustrating weekend series in Pittsburgh, the Mets bounced back with a huge week.

The offense exploded out of the break in the Great American Bambox and then kept the good times rolling back at home. The Mets homered seven times in a crazy series opening 15-11 win over the Reds. They rallied late but fell short in the second game, then Marcus Stroman carried them to a series win.

Young right-hander Tylor Megill then shined in Steven Matz’s return to Citi Field. Pete Alonso crushed a pair of homers in the 3-0 series opening win over the Jays.

Taijuan Walker’s struggles continued, and the powerful Jays ran away in the 10-3 win. The Mets then again rallied late and defeated the Jays 5-4 in Rich Hill’s orange and blue debut. Alonso homered again, and Jeff McNeil came off the bench with a clutch two-run double.

Overall, the Mets went 4-2 on the week against a pair of solid ball-clubs.

Hitter of the Week: Pete Alonso

Remember when everyone said the Home Run Derby was going to ruin Pete Alonso’s swing? Yeah, me too.

So far, Alonso has hit safely in all nine games in the second-half. He’s also hitting a scorching hot .368 with five homers, 10 RBI, eight runs scored, and a 1.231 OPS in that nine game span.

Alonso certainly loved hitting in the hitter friendly confines of Great American Ballpark. He opened the series going 2-for-6 with a trio of RBI in the 15-11 extra-inning win. He homered in the top of the first and added an RBI single later in the game.

Big Pete followed that up launching another homer in the top of the first in the second game of the series. He added a single later in the night for another multi-hit game.

Alonso then continued his hot stretch when the team returned home. He debuted the ‘Home Run Horse’ and welcomed Steven Matz back with a two-run shot on Friday night. He then crushed his second homer of the night, a 450 foot moonshot, later in the game.

He reached three times and drove in another run in Saturday’s loss. Alonso then came through again for the Mets on Sunday afternoon.

With the Mets trailing 3-1 on the bottom of the sixth, Alonso dug in against left-hander Ryan Borucki. He worked the count full, and then cracked a game-tying two run shot to deep left field.

Alonso is on another level right now, and he’s carrying this offense as they need him to. As Jeff McNeil said following Sunday’s game, “when Pete comes up in that situation, I’m beginning I expect him to hit a home run there.”

Big Pete now has 22 homers and 59 RBI on the season, and is hitting .265 with an .858 OPS.

Pitcher of the Week: Tylor Megill

First of all, I have to give a hat-tip to Marcus Stroman for his effort on Wednesday afternoon.

With the Mets bullpen taxed, Stro put together his strongest outing as a Met. He tossed eight stellar innings of one-hit ball and struck out seven in the 7-0 win.

Stroman provided the Mets with exactly the type of performance they needed out there. However, he is not our pitcher of the week. This week I have to go with Tylor Megill, again.

I mean come on, the rookie right-handed has been an absolute god-sent for the Mets. With numerous holes in the rotation, Megill was recalled after just three starts with Triple-A Syracuse. Since then, he has provided the Mets with exactly what they needed and some.

In his first five big league starts, he posted a 2.63 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, just seven earned runs, and 28 strikeouts over 24 innings pitched.

He had one of his biggest tests thus far on Friday night, and passed with flying colors. Megill absolutely dominated the young and powerful Toronto Blue Jays lineup. He threw six strong innings of two-hit ball while walking just one and striking out five.

Megill was pulled with just 78 pitches, but the bullpen held on and earned the kid his first career win. The youngster hasn’t shied away from anything and has shown no fear on the mound in his young career.

“I go out there thinking I’m the best man out there. There’s no reason to be scared while you’re out there. You’re there for a reason, go out and pitch,” Megill said Friday night.

Megill also reached a milestone at the plate, lining a two-out single of right field for his first career hit.

It’ll be interesting to see what the Mets do with the trade deadline this week, but Megill has certainly shown he belongs. He’s lined up to take the mound next on Wednesday night against left-hander Max Fried and the Atlanta Braves.