213 Miles From Shea

The Mets can win another series this afternoon! Friday was a disparaging night. The Mets offense looked flat. Clay Holmes suffered a fracture on his fibula on a comebacker sidelining him to at least August. Things looked bleak.

Last night was the reverse! The Mets scored six runs, including two on a wild pitch. Peterson had eight strikeouts in only four innings. They survived an error in the outfield and got out of a bases loaded, no-out jam in the 7th inning. Luke Weaver pitched two massive innings in relief and Devin Williams shut the door on his old team. A good night all around! Now the Mets look to keep the vibes going this afternoon!

Freddy Peralta has pitched 49 1/3 innings over nine starts with a 3.10 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 1.216 WHIP and a 128 ERA+. In his last three starts he has allowed five runs, only three earned, over 17 innings while striking out 14 (1.59 ERA). He hasn’t faced the Yankees since his first start in 2025 where he allowed two runs over five innings. The Yankees have the following career numbers against him:

• Cody Bellinger 6-14, 2B, HR, BB, 5 K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2-10, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 4 K
• Paul Goldschmidt 9-35, 5 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 10 K
• Trent Grisham 1-5, 2B, 3 K
• Aaron Judge 0-3, 2 K
• Ryan McMahon 1-12, 3 BB, 3 K
• Ben Rice 1-2, K
• Amed Roasrio 1-4, BB, K
• Anthony Volpe 1-2, HR, K
• Austin Wells 1-2, HR, BB, K

Elmer Rodríguez will make his third major league start today. Over his first two starts he has allowed five runs from 10 hits over 8 2/3 innings (5.19 ERA, 84 ERA+). Both starts have been similar. In his major league debut at the end of April he allowed two runs on four hits and four walks over four innings. On May 5th he allowed three runs on six hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. He has been tearing up Triple A this season with a 1.38 ERA over five starts (26 innings). Over his first two starts he has used his mid-90’s sinker and four seamer about 2/3rds of the time. He mixes in a slider, changeup and curveball to round out his arsenal.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Juan Soto is heating up. Over his last three games, Soto has gone 5-for-10 at the plate with two home runs, three walks and four runs scored. He stole two bases in one inning last night. Soto is doing all the things things you expect Soto to do.
2. Carson Benge. Yes, Benge made a bad error in the outfield yesterday. He also had a tremendous day at the plate going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. In his last seven games he is hitting .367/.367/.400 and in his last 15 games he’s slashing .340/.386/.472. Let’s see how Benge bounces back in the field and if he can keep his incredibly hot streak at the plate going.
3. Bo Bichette. The Mets have to get Bo Bichette going. The good news is worked a walk last night and scored two runs. The bad news is he’s hitless in his last three games, going 0-for-11 at the plate with two walks. In his last seven games he has gone 2-for-25 with five walks, slashing .080/.233/.080. At the some point he has to return to his career numbers.

Let’s Go Mets!

The bad news just continues for the 2026 Mets. Clay Holmes, in the midst of a career year, fractured his fibula last night taking a comebacker from Spencer Jones. The Mets will have to file this under next week’s problems as they just need to get through this weekend first.

Today the Mets will try their mostly successful strategy again of using David Peterson behind Huascar Brazobán tonight. Here’s hoping Brazobán, Peterson and the bats give the Mets fans some positive news during these trying times!

David Peterson gets the bulk work tonight. Over nine games this season he has pitched 39 1/3 innings with a 5.49 ERA, 3.05 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and a 73 ERA+. He pitched five innings, the most he has done in a while last time out, allowing three unearned runs from four hits and no walks. As a reliever he has pitched 16 innings with a 1.69 ERA and 0.938 WHIP. Peterson faced the Yankees once last year holding them to two runs, one earned over six innings. The Yankees have the following career numbers against him:

• Cody Bellinger 1-5, 2B, 2 BB, K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2-12, BB, 3 K
• Paul Goldschmidt 0-2, BB
• Trent Grisham 1-7, 2 K
• Aaron Judge 1-3, 2B, 2 BB
• Ryan McMahon 3-7, 2B, HR, BB, K
• Amed Rosario 1-3
• Max Schuemann 0-1, BB
• Anthony Volpe 1-6, 3 K
• Austin Wells 0-3, K

Carlos Rodón made his 2026 debut last week. He had surgery last October to remove loose bodies and to attend to a bone spur in his elbow. This spring he injured his hamstring, which delayed the start of the season. Last week he allowed three runs from two hits and five walks over 4 1/3 innings against the Brewers. His two starts against the Mets last year were quite different. In May he held the Mets to one run over five innings. In July he allowed seven runs, six earned, over five innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Bo Bichette 4-14, 2 2B, B, 3 K
• MJ Melendez 0-2
• Marcus Semien 5-28, 2B, HR, BB, 6 K
• Juan Soto 0-4, 4 BB, K
• Tyrone Taylor 2-6, HR, K
• Luis Torrens 1-5, HR, 2 K
• Mark Vientos 2-8, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Huascar Brazobán. Brazobán is coming off of an excellent relief outing where he allowed no runs over 2 1/3 innings in an extra-inning win against the Tigers. In 18 outings this season he has pitched 21 innings with a 2.14 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 0.952 WHIP and a 187 ERA+. Opposing hitters are struggling to make solid contact against him getting a hard-hit only 22.8% of the time (98th percentile). Balls are flying off bats with an 83.4 mph average exit velocity (98th percentile).
2. Juan Soto. Soto is starting to heat up! He homered in second consecutive game last night and has gone 5-for-16 in his last four games. If the Mets are going to dig out of this hole and fix the vibes, they need Soto to go on an MVP-esque run. He’s never had a hit off of Rodón, but he has worked four walks, good for a .500 career OBP.
3. Brett Baty. Baty has quietly put together a four game hitting streak this week going 6-for-17 with a home run and two walks. Since May 3rd he has gone 10-for-34 slashing .294/.400/.441 raising his season slash line from .207/.265/.304 to .230/.303/.341.

Let’s Go Mets!

What a time for the Mets offense to come alive!

The Yankees head to Queens today to take on the Mets who just swept the Detroit Tigers. Yesterday five different Mets players hit a home run and only two players recorded a strikeout. It’s the best the Mets bats have looked in a long time.

The Yankees are 10 games over .500 but have lost six of their last ten. The Mets are seven games under .500 and have won seven of their last 10. Each team has a sub-2 ERA pitcher on the mound tonight!

Clay Holmes has pitched 48 1/3 innings over eight games with a 1.86 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 1.014 WHIP and a 214 ERA+. He already has 1.9 bWAR this season (last season he had 2.0 bWAR over 33 games). Holmes has also struck out exactly six batters in each of his last three games. Those 18 batters are a season high in any three game stretch this season. The Yankees have the following career numbers against Holmes:

• Cody Bellinger 1-4, 2B, BB, K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 0-2, BB, K
• Paul Goldschmidt 1-8, HR, 4 K
• Trent Grisham 0-0, 3 BB
• Ryan McMahon 1-6, HR, 2 BB
• Amed Rosario 2-8, 3 K
• Max Schuemann 0-1, K

The Mets bats face off tonight against one of the best pitchers in the American League. Cam Schlittler has tossed 53 1/3 innings over nine starts with a league leading 1.35 ERA, 1.65 FIP, 0.806 WHIP and a 312 ERA+. He also leads the league in in H/9 at 5.7. This will be the Mets first time facing Schlittler and the only player on the roster who has seen him is Bo Bichette (1-for-4, 2B, K).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Recent Call-ups. What a first week for A.J. Ewing! In his first three major league games A.J. Ewing has gone 3-for-9 with a triple, home run, stolen base and three walks (.538) while scoring four runs. The Mets have won every game he’s played. The Yankees called up Spencer Jones last week and he has gone 1-for-12 over his first five games with three walks. Before getting his call-up, Jones had 11 home runs in 33 games in Triple A (.258/.366/.592). The story of today’s game are the two sub-2 ERA pitchers. The story of the weekend could be Ewing and Jones.
2. Home Runs. The Mets slugged five home runs yesterday bringing them to 36 on the season. They are now 25th in the majors. Going into play yesterday they were basically last, hanging out with the Brewers and the Giants. The Mets roster is constructed to get moderate pop from just about everyone. That’s tough to do without Lindor, Alvarez, Polanco, Mauricio and Roberts. Yesterday showed that the baby Mets (Vientos, Baty) and join the new Mets plus Juan Soto to put on a show.
3. Marcus Semien. Semien got off to a slow start this season. Through his first 19 games he slashed .194/.257/.269. In the 24 games since he is slashing .253/.309/.368 with five stolen bases and two home runs. He’s not lighting the world on fire but his last 24 games are much closer to what he has done in recent years (.230/.305/.364 in 2025, .237/.308/.391 in 2024).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have a chance to go for the sweep this afternoon! There were a lot of reasons to give up on last night’s game. The Tigers took an early 2-0 lead. The Mets struggled with runners in scoring position. Some weird calls went against the Mets (for example, an umpire claiming he saw Baty challenge a pitch). Juan Soto left the game after fouling a ball off his leg just below his guard. But the Mets rallied late, sending the game into extra innings. In the the bottom of the tenth Carson Benge drove home a speedy A.J. Ewing to win the game!

To keep those vibes going today the Mets will also have to battle the weather, which doesn’t look great today. With the Tigers leaving town, the Mets and Tigers will do everything they can to get todays game in.

The Mets ace gets the ball today! Nolan McLean has made eight starts totaling 45 1/3 innings with a 2.78 ERA, 2.38 FIP, 0.904 WHIP and a 143 ERA+. He has 57 strikeouts, which matches his exact total of strikeouts in eight starts in 2025 (48 innings). McLean is coming off of a strong start against the Diamondbacks, holding them to one run over six innings while striking out six. McLean faced the Tigers last September holding them to two runs over six innings. The Tigers have the following career numbers against McLean:

• Dillon Dingler 1-2, K
• Riley Greene 0-2, BB
• Colt Keith 0-3, K
• Zach McKinstry 0-1, BB
• Wenceel Perez 1-2, K
• Spencer Torkelson 1-2

Keider Montero has pitched 39 2/3 innings over seven starts this season with a 3.18 ERA, 3.23 FIP, 0.958 WHIP and a 134 ERA+. He’s been on a roll in May, allowing only two runs over 12 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career stats against Keider Montero:

• Bo Bichette 1-3, 2B
• Marcus Semien 0-1, BB K
• Austin Slater 1-3, K
• Juan Soto 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Carson Benge. Last night’s hero has been heating up. He had a three-hit night and since moving to the leadoff spot he has gone 5-for-10 with a run, two RBI’s and a stolen base. In his last nine games he has gone 12-for-31 with seven runs scored, seven RBI’s, while slashing .378/.457/.581. The Mets needed someone to take lead the offense and its the rookie doing it!
2. Nolan McLean 100 innings? Nolan McLean is sitting at 93 1/3 innings. Weather depending, it possible today that he clears 100 career innings. In his first 93 1/3 innings with the Mets he has a 2.41 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 0.975 WHIP, 168 ERA+ and 114 K’s. If the Mets are going to dig out of this hole from their terrible April, it’s going to be because of Nolan McLean.
3. Hit hard, don’t expect walks. Keider Montero has walked only 5.2% of hitters this season, good for the 92nd percentile. His xBA is also solid at .230 (66th percentile). On the other side though, when hitters make contact, they are hitting Montero hard. Hitters are getting hard contact 43.2% of the time (29th percentile), barreling the ball 10.3% of the time (24th percentile) and the average exit velocity is 91.3 mph (12th percentile). The Mets are 7th in the majors with an average exit velocity of 89.7 mph and 15th in raw number of barrels.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets got the spark they were looking for! A.J. Ewing had a tremendous major league debut last night recording a triple and three walks in a 10-2 romp of the Tigers. For the first time in a while the vibes feel good! It went beyond Ewing as the Mets recorded 13 hits with Benge, Soto, Vientos and Baty all recording two hits each.

Now the Mets will try to keep those vibes going tonight as they take on Framber Valdez.

Christian Scott will make his fourth start of the year tonight. Over his first three starts he has tossed 11 innings with a 3.27 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.182 WHIP and a 125 ERA+. He’s coming off of a solid start in Colorado where he held the Rockies to only three hits and one run over 4 2/3 innings while striking out six. No one on the Tigers have faced Scott in a Major League game.

Framber Valdez signed a 70 million two year deal with Tigers this off season. The long time Astros ace will be returning from a five game suspension tonight. Over eight starts, 43 1/3 innings, Valdez has a 4.57 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 1.408 WHIP and a 94 ERA+. He has allowed 26 runs, 22 earned, this season, but the vast majority of that happened in tow starts. He allowed eight runs over five innings against the Twins on April 8th.

His last time out he allowed 10 runs, seven earned, over three innings against the Red Sox. During this start he intentionally threw at Trevor Story after giving up back-to-back home runs to open the fourth inning. Valdez says that it wasn’t intentionally and that he lost his grip on his fastball, and he’s been working on that during his suspension. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Alvarez 1-6, 2B, 2 K
• Bo Bichette 4-13, HR, K
• MJ Melendez 2-5, BB, 3 K
• Marcus Semien 12-41, 2B, 2 HR, 7 BB, 10 K
• Austin Slater 6-15, 4 K
• Juan Soto 3-7, 3 BB, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-5, BB
• Luis Torrens 3-14, 2B, 3 K
• Mark Vientos 1-6, HR, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Christian Scott. Scott has had a weird season so far. In his first start he struggled to get an out, in his second start he pitched a lot better than his line said (5 innings, 3 runs, 8 strikeouts). His xERA is 3.30 and xBA is .172. If he was a qualifying pitcher in Statcast, his xBA would somewhere in the 90th-ish percentile. This is true for his K% (31.3) and Hard-Hit% (29.2) as well. Despite the high K% he’s not generating a ton of chase (30.5%) and whiff’s (23%). As he makes more starts it will be interesting to see how some of these numbers start to settle.
2. A.J. Ewing. What does Ewing do tonight as an encore? The Mets have been struggling this season to get hits, score runs, steal bases and work walks. Ewing had a triple, scored two runs, worked three walks and stole a base all in his first start. He’s already 12th on the Mets for walks in 2026. What a start!
3. Carson Benge. Every player to watch tonight is part of the next generation of Mets players! Benge was moved to the leadoff spot last night and went 2-for-5 with a run scored. In his last eight games he has gone 9-for-26 with three doubles, a home runs, four walks and seven runs scored. That’s a .346/.433/.577 slash line. Since April 22nd he has raised his season slash line from .136/.219/.197 to .215/.280/.331.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets desperately need to shake things up after the offense has evaporated. The Mets have scored one run in each of their last two games and are now tied for the fewest runs scored in the Majors. They need a spark to get going!

Desperate times call for bold moves and the Mets are doing that calling up A.J. Ewing, the number two prospect behind Jonah Tong in the Mets system. It’s time for the next generation to take over!

Freddy Peralta has pitched 43 1/3 innings over eight starts with a 3.12 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 1.200 WHIP and a 128 ERA+. He’s coming off of a strong start against the Rockies where he held them scoreless over five innings. In his last three starts he has a 1.62 ERA over 16 2/3 innings (against the Rockies twice and the Nationals). The Tigers have the following career numbers against him:

• Riley Greene 1-4, BB
• Colt Keith 0-1
• Zach McKinstry 0-7, BB, K
• Jake Rogers 1-2
• Spencer Torkelson 0-2, K
• Matt Vierling 1-4, 2B, BB, 2 K

Jack Flaherty has tossed 34 innings over eight starts this season with a 5.56 ERA, 5.29 FIP, 1.647 WHIP and a 77 ERA+. In his last three starts he has allowed 14 runs, 12 earned over 10 2/3 innings with a 10.13 ERA. He has struck out 18 batters in that stretch, but he has also allowed four home runs. The Mets have the following numbers against Flaherty:

• Francisco Alvarez 2-4, 2B, K
• Bo Bichette 7-13, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Marcus Semien 3-10, HR, BB, 3 K
• Austin Slater 1-3, 2B, K
• Juan Soto 2-11, 2B, 8 BB, 3 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-7, BB, 2 K
• Mark Vientos 0-6, 2 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. A.J. Ewing. Ewing was tearing up Binghamton earlier this season, slashing .349/.481/.571 over 18 games with nine extra base hits and 12 stolen bases. He got the quick promotion to Syracuse where he hit .326/.392/.435 with four extra base hits and five stolen bases over 12 games. Over his minor league career he hit .290/.395/.425 with 101 stolen bases over 251 games. The Mets have not been getting on base and have not been stealing bases – two things Ewing does well! Welcome to the big leagues!
2. Kevin McGonigle. McGonigle has turned a lot of heads in his rookie season hitting .293/.395/.435 with a 132 OPS+ and 2.2 bWAR through 39 games this season. He is a double hitting machine with 11 of them so far this year and has worked 23 walks. Shuting McGonigle down is critical for getting through this Tigers squad.
3. Bo Bichette. The Mets need Bichette to get through his current slump tonight. In his last four games Bichette has gone 0-for-13 with three walks. The Mets have gone 1-3 in those games. In the five games before that Bichette went 7-for-23 and the Mets went 4-1 in those games.

Let’s Go Mets!

Missing: The Mets Offense.

The Mets took a 1-0 lead early last night but then couldn’t do anything else as the fell 2-1 to the Diamondbacks. Today the Mets have a chance to win their third consecutive series and end this long, west coast road trip on a happy note. But to do that they’ll need to do something that has evaded them most of the year. They’ll need to score some runs.

The Mets will be using Huascar Brazobán as an opener with David Peterson set to take on the bulk of the work this afternoon. Over eight games and 34 1/3 innings, Peterson has a 6.29 ERA, 3.25 FIP, 1.602 WHIP and a 64 ERA+. In 11 innings as a reliever he has a 2.45 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP. His K/BB rate goes from 2.00 as a starter to 9.00 as a reliever. Peterson had a tough start against the Diamondbacks earlier this season allowing five runs over five innings from six hits and two walks. The Diamondbacks have the following career numbers against him:

• Nolan Arenado 2-6, 2 K
• Jorge Barrosa 1-3, 2B, BB, K
• Corbin Carroll 4-12, 2 2B, 3 K
• Jose Fernandez 1-2, K
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 4-10, 2B, 2 HR
• Ketel Maarte 3-13, 2B, HR, 5 K
• James McCann 0-0, BB
• Gabriel Moreno 1-4, 2 K
• Geraldo Perdomo 3-9, 2B, 4 BB, K
• Tim Tawa 0-2
• Ildermaro Vargas 5-14, 2 2B, K

Eduardo Rodríguez has made seven starts totaling 39 2/3 innings with a 2.50 ERA, 4.42 FIP, 1.286 WHIP and a 168 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed two runs from 7 hits over 11 2/3 innings while striking out 11 batters. He was solid against the Mets earlier this season holding the Mets to one run over six innings, scattering five hits and two walks. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Alvarez 1-9, 2 K
• Brett Baty 1-3
• Bo Bichette 6-15, 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K
• Vidal Bruján 0-0, BB
• Andy Ibáñez 3-5, 2 2B, HR, K
• MJ Melendez 1-9, BB, 6 K
• Marcus Semien 7-28, 2B, 3 BB, 10 K
• Austin Slater 1-6, 2 K
• Juan Soto 0-4, 2 BB, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 3-4, 2 2B
• Luis Torrens 1-5, K
• Mark Vientos 0-8, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Huascar Brazobán. Brazobán pitched a scoreless first inning against the Rockies a few days ago opening up a game where David Peterson got the bulk of the work. Hitters are just not making solid contact right now against Brazobán who is in the 97th percentile for average exit velocity (84.8 mph). Hitters are barreling the ball 2.0% of the time (95th percentile), getting a hard-hit 26.5% (96th percentile) and grounding out 55.1% (90th percentile).
2. Score Runs. The 2026 Mets have scored 138 runs this season, good for 29th in the Majors. Their pitching is tied for 9th fewest runs allowed, at 165. The Mets don’t need a crazy bump in offense to turn things around, but they need something, anything to give them a spark.
3. Luis Torrens. Torrens may be the secret to David Peterson. In 26 2/3 innings throwing to Alvarez this season, Peterson has a 7.42 ERA. In 7 2/3 innings throwing to Torrens, Peterson has a 2.35 ERA. The numbers weren’t as stark last year, but the trend was there as well. Peterson had a 4.95 ERA with Alvarez catching compared to a 3.52 ERA with Torrens. Torrens has continued to excel at catching base runners, throwing out three already, putting him in the 98th percentile. He’s doing this as the backup catcher!

Let’s Go Mets!

Believe it or not, the Mets are on the verge of winning their third consecutive series, despite being eight games under .500. The Mets beat the Diamondbacks in an extra-inning game overnight thanks to Mark Vientos who has been the engine of the Mets offense for the last week. Now the Mets turn to one of their most consistent pitchers this season to lock down the series win.

Clay Holmes has pitched 42 2/3 innings this season over seven starts with a league leading 1.69 ERA and 235 ERA+. He has a 3.65 FIP, 0.984 WHIP and is allowing 5.9 H/9, way below his career rate of 7.7. In his last two starts he allowed only one run from seven hits over 12 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career stats against Holmes:

• Nolan Arendado 2-7, BB, K
• Corbin Carroll 1-1
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 2-8, K
• Ketel Marte 0-3, K
• James McCann 0-2, BB, K
• Gerarldo Perdomo 0-1

Merrill Kelly has gotten off to a rough start this season. Last year he made 32 starts between the Rangers and Diamondbacks with a 3.52 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 1.114 WHIP and a 116 ERA+. This season he has made four starts totaling 19 innings with a 9.95 ERA, 8.13 FIP, 2.316 WHIP and a 42 ERA+. His first start of the season against the Orioles was solid, holding them to two runs over 5 1/3. Since then he has allowed 19 earned runs over 13 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Kelly:

• Francisco Alvarez 0-3, 3 K
• Brett Baty 0-3, K
• Andy Ibáñez 0-1
• Marcus Semien 2-8, HR, 3 K
• Austin Slater 2-11, BB, 3 K
• Juan Soto 5-19, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 1-8, K
• Luis Torrens 1-4, 2B, BB
• Mark Vientos 0-1, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mark Vientos. Mark Vientos was the Mets offense again last night. He now has eight RBI’s in his last five games, is leading the Mets in home runs and is tied for the lead in RBI’s. Vientos’ eight RBI’s come in games when the Mets scored a total 11 runs, meaning Vientos is putting the whole team on his back some nights.
2. Strikeouts. Merrill Kelly has rarely lit the world on fire with strikeouts. His career rate is 8.1 K/9, with only one season above 9.5. This season he is struggling, striking out hitters 6.6 per nine. The Mets struggled a lot with swinging last night, racking up 10 K’s as a team. Three players (Soto, Torrens, Melendez) each struck out two times.
3. Bullpen. The Mets had to use Weaver, Raley, Williams and Myers last night. Most likely they’ll be opening tomorrow’s game with an opener or two since it worked out well last time. Brazobán and Warren both haven’t pitched since Thursday but they are most likely candidates to open a game. Kimbrel hasn’t pitched since allowing a go-ahead grand slam to the Rockies. Sean Manaea hasn’t pitched since Wednesday when he allowed three hits before recording his first out. The Mets have avoided using anyone back-to-back days for the last week, and it feels like that stretch will probably end today. Devin Williams has only tossed a total of 25 pitches in his last three games (five days).

Let’s Go Mets!

The good news is the Mets have won two consecutive series on the road. That being said, yesterday’s game was a winnable game that the Mets just couldn’t close the deal on. The Mets look to shake it off as they head to Arizona to end this long west coast road trip.

Nolan McLean gets the start for the Mets today! Over seven games and 39 1/3 innings, he has a 2.97 ERA, 2.12 FIP (league leading), 0.914 WHIP and a 134 ERA+. McLean is coming off of his shortest start of the season where he allowed three runs from six hits and one walk over four innings against the Angels. He still managed to strike out six batters. The Diamondbacks have the following career numbers against McLean:

• Jorge Barrosa 0-2, K
• Adrian Del Castillo 0-3, 2 K
• Jose Fernandez 2-3, 2B
• Ketel Marte 0-3, K
• James McCann 0-2, 2 K
• Geraldo Perdomo 0-2, BB
• Tim Tawa 1-2
• Alek Thomas 0-2, K
• Ildemaro Vargas 0-2, BB, K

Ryne Nelson has pitched 31 1/3 innings over seven starts this season with a 6.61 ERA, 5.50 FIP, 1.436 WHIP and a 64 ERA+. Nelson has been either great or terrible this season, very little in-between. Against the Mets earlier this season he allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings. His last time out against the Cubs he allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings. He also has three starts where he allowed six run or more. The Mets have the following career stats against Nelson:

• Francisco Alvarez 2-10, HR, 4 K
• Brett Baty 1-4, BB, K
• Carson Benge 0-2
• Bo Bichette 3-8, BB, K
• Vidal Bruján  0-1,K
• Marcus Semien 1-7, 2 K
• Juan Soto 3-12, 3B, 2 HR, 7 BB, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 1-4, K
• Luis Torrens 0-2
• Mark Vientos 2-9, 2 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Be Patient Mets. Ryne Nelson has a 3.7 BB/9 this season, which is quite a bit above his 2.5 rate. Juan Soto has a great record of working walks against Nelson. The last time the Mets faced Nelson they worked zero starts, the only start for Nelson this year where that happened. Let’s take the patient approach tonight and make Nelson work.
2. Mark Vientos. Earlier in the week Vientos was the engine pushing the entire Mets offense, recording six RBI’s over two games. Since then he has gone 0-for-8 at the plate with a walk and two strikeouts. Vientos doesn’t have great numbers in Arizona, going 4-for-17 with one RBI in his career. Can he flip the script tonight?
3. Too many double plays. The Mets are tied with the Astros and the Rangers for 5th in the majors with 30 GIDP’s this season. Francisco Alvarez has 10 of them, following by Bo Bichette with 6. Alvarez is leading the league and Bichette is tied for 6th. So it’s not just you if you’re watching games at home thinking the Mets are ending rallies early, often.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to get out of Colorado with a sweep!

Overnight the Mets secured their second consecutive series win with a 10-5 victory over the Rockies. It was a typical game in Denver meaning that nothing about this game was typical. The temperature was right around freezing all night and the Mets opened the game up with an 8-0 lead over the first six innings. That’s when this game became a Coors Field game. Myers struggled in 2/3rds of an inning allowing four runs, Manaea later allowed three hits and recorded one out. So despite massive lead, the Mets needed to use Raley, Weaver and Williams to lock down the win.

It will still feel like winter when the Mets wake up, but by game time it should be near 60 and rising. It’s a great day to sweep the Rockies!

The Mets used six pitchers last night so it’s imperative that Christian Scott has a solid outing this afternoon. Scott’s debut this season was rough, allowing one run on no hits and five walks over 1 1/3 innings. He was much more effective his last time out allowing three runs, two earned, from three hits and no walks over five innings while striking out eight batters. The only two hitters on the Rockies who have seen Scott in a Major League game are Brenton Doyle (1-for-2) and Ezequiel Tovar (1-for-3, 2B, K).

Jose Quintana stands between the Mets and a series sweep. Over five starts (24 1/3 innings), Quintana has a 4.07 ERA, 6.30 FIP, 1.356 WHIP and a 118 ERA+. Over his last two starts Quintana has allowed only two runs from seven hits over 11 1/3 innings (5 1/3 against the Mets). Both his runs came on solo homers, and that has been Quintana’s weakness this season. He’s allowed five so far for a 1.8 HR/9, double his career rate. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Brett Baty 0-4, 2 K
• Bo Bichette 0-3, 2 BB
• Andy Ibáñez 0-2, BB
• MJ Melendez 0-2, BB
• Marcus Semien 6-17, 3 2B, BB, 4 K
• Austin Slater 3-10, HR, BB, 3 K
• Juan Soto 2-16, 2 BB, 4 K
• Tyrone Taylor 3-8, 2B, HR, 3 K
• Luis Torrens 0-7, K
• Mark Vientos 2-4

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The race for five homers. It is May 7th, the Mets still do not have a player with five home runs. Francisco Alvarez has been sitting at four homers for a while. Juan Soto hit his fourth home run last night (and would already be at five if it wasn’t for James Wood robbing him last weekend). Mark Vientos has four after his two home run game earlier this week. He should be at five or six if it wasn’t for the wind blowing straight in on Tuesday afternoon at Coors Field. As a team the Mets have hit 30 home runs, good for 25th in the majors. With Quintana’s home run struggles, today feels like a good day for someone to finally get to five.
2. Marcus Semien. For the better part of the last two weeks we’ve been highlighting how Marcus Semien has good stats against the opposing starting pitcher. This goes back to the last homestand against the Rockies when the Mets faced Quintana. Semien is coming off of his best night as a Met, going 4-for-5 at the plate with a double and a home run. In his last nine games he has gone 9-for-34 and is slashing .265/.286/.382. Last night is doing a lot of lifting, but there are signs that Semien has been slowly breaking out of his slump.
3. Who comes in after Christian Scott? With the Mets using Myers, Manaea, Raley, Weaver and Williams yesterday, the Mets enter play today stretched a little thin. Huascar Brazobán and Austin Warren haven’t pitched since they opened Tuesday night’s game. Today would make sense for them to get some work in as they will probably open Sunday’s game before David Peterson. Brazobán’s Baseball Savant page looks amazing. He has an xERA of 2.70 and is in the 92nd percentile or higher for BB%, Barrel%, Hard-hit%, GB% and Average Velocity. Austin Warren has a 1.42 ERA over 6 1/3 innings while striking out eight batters.

Let’s Go Mets!