213 Miles From Shea

The Mets 11th hour post-season run took a big hit yesterday as the Cardinals were able to beat the Mets and avoid the four game sweep. Tonight starts a big test for the Mets who need to have a good showing against Atlanta, a team that absolutely trounced them before this hot streak, in order to keep the miracle run alive.

David Peterson gets another start for the Mets tonight. Over 20 games and 14 starts this season he has pitched 72 2/3 innings with a 5.45 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 1.651 WHIP and a 77 ERA+. Since returning to the rotation he has pitched 10 1/3 inning over three starts allowing only three runs (2.61 ERA, 7.14 FIP). Base runners have really hurt his ability to go deep into games though as he has allowed eight hits and walked 11 batters during this stretch. His last time out he was able to throw 91 pitches, almost 30 pitches more than his previous start. But that doesn’t matter if it doesn’t get you deep into a game. In his one start against the Braves this year he allowed four runs from five hits and a walk over five innings of work. The Braves have the following career numbers against him:

• Ronald Acuña Jr. 3-15, 2B, HR, 5 K, 5 BB
• Austin Riley 8-18, 3 2B, 5 K, 2 BB
• Travis d’Arnaud 0-10, 5 K, 2 BB
• Marcell Ozuna 0-12, 6 K, BB
• Matt Olson 3-11, 3 K, 2 BB
• Michael Harris II 0-7, 4 K
• Luke Williams 1-6, 2 K
• Orlando Arcia 0-3, K, BB
• Kevin Pillar 3-5, 2 2B
• Sean Murphy 0-2, K

Allan Winans will make another start for Atlanta tonight. Over two starts (11 1/3) innings this season he has a 1.59 ERA, 1.86 FIP, 1.059 WHIP and a 290 ERA+. This includes a start against the Mets where he tossed seven scoreless innings against the Mets allowing only four hits and two walks while striking out nine, a game the Braves infamously won 21-3. The Mets have the following batting lines from that game against Winans:

• Omar Narváez 2-3, 2B
• Jeff McNeil 1-3
• Jonathan Araúz 0-3, K
• Rafael Ortega 0-3, BB
• DJ Stewart 0-3, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-2
• Pete Alonso 0-2, BB, 2 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pete Alonso. Pete Alonso hit his 39th homer of the season last night, his second homer in two days as he continues this terrific hot streak. The next homer he hits will tie his season total for fourth best in Mets history with himself (2022) and Mike Piazza (1999). Carlos Beltran (2006) and Todd Hundley (1996) are both tied for second with 41 homers in a season.
2. The Mets bullpen has become a revolving door. The Mets bullpen over the last week or so has just become a revolving door of pitchers coming in and pitchers coming out as they are used to their maximum extension. Before yesterday’s game the Mets optioned Vinny Nittoli who did the bulk of the relief on Saturday night to call up Reed Garrett. Garrett then tossed 23 pitches last night to pitch 1 2/3 innings. David Peterson (and Carrasco + Megill) could do a lot to stabilize the frequency of roster moves if they could just pitch deeper into games.
3. Francisco Álvarez. Álvarez is mired in a deep slump right now, going just 6-for-45 in his last 14 games with a double and no homers. Yesterday though he came in off the bench and went 1-for-2 with an RBI. That was his only his second RBI in his last 14 games. Here’s hoping that was the spark of something so he can start to lift himself out of this slump.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have a chance to complete a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon in St. Louis. Now winners of six of their last seven games, the Mets are playing like a different team since they got routed in a doubleheader last week against the Braves. After those games were complete, the Mets were nine games out of the Wild Card. Now they are six games out. There’s a lot for the Mets to overcome in the next couple of weeks, and their opponents have been on the weaker side this past week. That being said, the Mets have shown a tremendous amount of fight and grit in the last week. Let’s see what happens!

Carlos Carrasco has tossed 84 1/3 innings over 18 starts with a 6.40 ERA, 5.83 FIP, 1.625 WHIP and a 65 ERA+. The good news is he’s allowed only two runs in each of his last two starts. The bad news is that in last start he threw 88 pitches over only three innings and the Mets bullpen had to bail him out the rest of the way. Carlos already faced the Cardinals this season and it wasn’t good. He allowed six runs, five earned, from five hits and three walks over three innings. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against him:

• Paul Goldschmidt 4-8, 2 2B, K
• Willson Contreras 2-9
• Tommy Edman 2-6, 2B, 2 K, 2 BB
• Tyler O’Neil1-5, 2 K
• Taylor Motter 0-3, K
• Nolan Arenado 3-4, HR, K
• Jordan Walker 0-1, BB

The Mets bats will try to continue the roll they’ve been on facing off against Dakota Hudson today. Over 10 games, four starts, this season, Hudson has thrown 38 innings with a 4.03 ERA, 4.92 FIP, 1.316 WHIP and a 108 ERA+. Hudson rejoined the rotation after the trade deadline and since then he has allowed eight runs over 18 2/3 innings (3.86 ERA, 6.05 FIP), from 14 hits and five walks. Homers have been his weakness, he’s allowed four in this stretch, but has limited the overall damage those homers have done. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 3-7, HR, BB, K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-6
• Jeff McNeil 0-4, K
• Francisco Lindor 0-0, 2 BB
• Omar Narváez 1-3
• Rafael Ortega 1-4, 2B
• Danny Mendick 0-1

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Can the Mets fire on all cylinders again? The Mets are on a good run right now, but there have been games they’ve won, like Carrasco last start, where a major part of the team was off. Mainly it’s been difficult for them to get their offense and their starting pitching to both click on the same night. That has happened two nights in a row. The result has been stress-free bullpen use and games that haven’t been close. This was a key part of the 2022 Mets that was missing most of this season.
2. What does Lindor do after his big night? Lindor was a table setter all night yesterday. He went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, and scored three runs for the Mets. We’ve talked a lot this week about players having big nights at the plate, but the rest of the Mets bats not necessarily pushing them across the plate. Behind Lindor was Alonso going 2-for-4 and Jeff McNeil going 3-for-5. More of this for the next few weeks please!
3. DJ Stewart. Stewart had another massive night at the plate going 2-for-4 hitting his fifth homer of the season. It was also his fourth homer in his last three games. How long can Stewart ride this streak?

Let’s Go Mets!

Are the Mets making a little post-season run? Probably not, but the Mets have won five of their last six games and have seen their playoff odds on fan graphs go from a season low of 0.7% a few days ago rise up to 1.9%. Last night the Mets got a great spot start from Joey Lucchesi who made his case to stay in the rotation. Joey was starting yesterday so Kodai could get an extra day of rest. If Kodai and the Mets win today, they’ll clinch the series victory in St. Louis!

Kodai Senga has tossed 122 2/3 innings this season with a 3.30 ERA, 3.54 FIP, 1.288 WHIP and a 128 ERA+. His last four starts have been more or less indicative of his season numbers, allowing nine runs over 23 2/3 innings (3.42 ERA, 2.50 FIP) with nine walks and 24 strikeouts. He hasn’t allowed a homer in four starts either. Senga pitched against the Cardinals earlier this season and allowed four runs from five hits over 6 2/3 innings, including two homers:

• Tommy Edman 1-3, 2B, K
• Jordan Walker 1-2, HR, K, BB
• Nolan Arenado 0-3
• Alec Burleson 0-3, K
• Paul Goldschmidt 2-3, HR, K
• Willson Contreras 0-2

The Mets bats look to keep their streaks going against Miles Mikolas tonight. Miles has started a league leading 26 games so far this season throwing 147 2/3 innings with a 4.27 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.280 WHIP and a 101 ERA+. He’s coming off of an average start against the Athletics where he allowed four runs over 6 1/3. Before that he allowed five runs spread across two starts and 14 innings. He’s already faced the Mets this year who were able to tag him for six runs over six innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Omar Narváez 4-17, 2 2B, 3B, 3 K, BB
• Rafael Ortega 6-18, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 0-11, 2 BB
• Daniel Vogelbach 4-12, 2 HR, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 6-11, 2 2B, K, BB
• Francisco Lindor 1-8, K
• Pete Alonso 2-10, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brandon Nimmo hot streak season. Nimmo went 3-for-5 hitting his 18th homer of the season, a person best! Since August 12th, Nimmo has gone 14-for-28 at the plate with two doubles and three homers, leading to a ridiculous .500/.576/.893 batting line. It’s no surprise that the Mets have won five of their last six games with Nimmo hitting like this. Despite being on base multiple times in each of his last seven games, before last night Nimmo had only scored three runs. Last night he scored twice. Let’s see how long the Mets can ride this streak.
2. Jeff McNeil. McNeil’s huge 2022 kept the offense humming. This season hasn’t been his greatest (.259/.331/.348) but lately he’s been turning things around. Since August 5th he has played in 14 games going 17-for-53 at the plate with three homers (half of his season’s total amount) leading to a much more McNeil-like .321/.383/.528 line.
3. Rafael Ortega. It’s been a while since all three things to watch for have been offense related (and probably the only time this season that’s been true, and we didn’t talk about Pete Alonso). Since August 7th, when Ortega went 2-for-4 at the plate, he has played in 12 games and gone 12-for-37 with four walks. He hasn’t shown much power at all but he is rocking a .390 on base percentage with three stolen bases and six runs scored.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have won four of their last five games. For the second game in a row, everything looked pretty good with the Mets. They got an excellent start from Quintana, the offense provided just enough, and the bullpen held things down. This is the type of run that makes you start wondering about what if things were a little different in June and July. Can the Mets keep this up through the weekend?

The Mets have three open spots in their rotation next season and Joey Lucchesi is still on this team. Tonight he gets a spot start to give Kodai Senga an extra start of rest. For Lucchesi this is definitely an audition for next year. With the Mets this year Lucchesi made five starts totaling 22 1/3 innings with a 4.43 ERA, 5.14 FIP, 1.343 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. Over 12 games in Syracuse he’s tossed 67 2/3 innings with a 3.99 ERA. He has been on the injured list for about the last month healing from a knee injury. He’s had two solid starts in Brooklyn where he has allowed only one run from five hits over eight innings. Last time out he tossed a bit above 60 innings, so it will probably be a longer night for the bullpen. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against him:

• Nolan Arenado 8-22, 3B, 3B, 3 HR, BB, 7 K
• Paul Goldschmidt 8-16, 2B, 2 HR, 5 BB, 3 K
• Willson Contreras 3-5, 2 K
• Tommy Edman 1-5, 3B, 2 K
• Tyler O’Neill 1-4, 2B, K
• Dylan Carlson 1-1

The Mets bats will get a look at Zack Thompson. Thompson has pitched in 17 games this season, but only start, totaling 25 innings. Over those 25 innings he has a 3.96 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 1.480 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. His only start came on August 6th where he allowed one run off two hits over four innings against the Rockies. On the 11th the Cardinals used an opener to start the game and then Thompson came in to pitch the next four innings, allowing one run from four hits. Over those combined eight innings he has struck out 13 batters. Thompson also increased the total pitches he had thrown from 60 to 73, so his arm is getting some length (besides that he has thrown 30+ pitches only twice this season). Only two Mets have seen Zack Thompson in a major league game: Daniel Vogelbach (0-for-3) and Rafael Ortega (1-for-1, BB).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pete Alonso. Pete has homered in two consecutive games, bringing his season total to 37. Since July 25th, Alonso has homered 11 times in 23 games. He’s hitting .268/.378/.707 over that stretch. Whatever was ailing him from before has passed and he’s back to being the player he was in April/May when it looked like he had a chance of catching 60 homers. While that total seems unreachable, 50 homers feels plausible right now and Alonso may even have a chance to set a personal/Mets record by the end of the season.
2. The Mets bullpen has been under stress lately. The Megill/Peterson/Carrasco starts have required a lot of extra use of pitchers out of the bullpen recently. Quintana helped right the ship a bit last night going six innings. Hartwig and Gott being able to hold the game after Smith meant that Ottavino and Raley were able to get the rest they need for tonight. As of writing, the Mets haven’t named a corresponding move to bring in Lucchesi tonight. Dennis Santana was called up a few days ago, but he hasn’t been used yet. Sam Coonrod hasn’t played since throwing 28 pitches on Monday. I would venture a guess that if either player isn’t sent back down for Lucchesi, one of them is in line for multiple innings tonight.
3. Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo has had five multi-hit games in his last six games played. Going back to August 5th, Nimmo has played in 12 games going 16-for-44 with seven walks, slashing .364/.451/.568. His OPS over this 12 game stretch is similar to Alonso’s OPS over the last month. Despite how many times he’s been on base though, Nimmo has only scored four runs. He’s in a hot streak right now, can the Mets take advantage of it?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets won the series against the Pirates and now head to St. Louis to start a series with another NL Central team. Yesterday the Mets had an all around good day at the office, scoring a bunch of runs, having a starter pitch at least five innings and a bullpen that gave up only one run in four innings of relief. They now face a struggling Cardinals team that is in last place, but has won six of their last ten games.

José Quintana looks to start the long weekend in St. Louis off on the right foot for the Mets. Over five starts this season, Quintana has a 3.03 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 1.281 WHIP and a 139 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed three runs over 12 innings (2.25 ERA, 2.85 FIP). In his first five starts he allowed exactly six hits per start. Quintana broke that streak last time out where he held the Braves to only four hits. Despite how well Quintana has pitched this season, the Mets have never won a Quintana start. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against him:

• Paul Goldschmidt 11-17, 3 2B, 3 HR, 2 K, BB
• Nolan Arenado 2-15, 2 HR, 5 K, BB
• Willson Contreras 0-9, 2 BB
• Tommy Edman 2-5, 3B
• Taylor Motter 0-3, 2 K

The Mets bats draw their old rival Adam Wainwright. Adam has started 15 games totaling 66 2/3 innings this season with a 8.78 ERA, 6.04 FIP, 2.085 WHIP and a 49 ERA+. In August he has started two games, pitching four innings, allowing 15 runs on 18 hits and two walks (33.75 ERA, 8.76 FIP). He pitched well against the Mets earlier this season, holding them to three runs over 6 1/3 innings, in a game the Cardinals won. The Mets have the following career numbers against Adam:

• Omar Narváez 9-24, 3 2B, HR, 2 K, 3 BB
• Daniel Vogelbach 3-15, HR, 5 K, 2 BB
• Rafael Ortega 6-14, 3B, K, BB
• Jeff McNeil 1-11, 2 K, BB
• Pete Alonso 3-7, 2 2B, K, 2 BB
• Francisco Lindor 2-9, 2 K, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 1-2, HR, BB
• Tim Locastro 1-2, K, BB
• Francisco Álvarez 1-3
• Danny Mendick 2-2, 2B

Three Things To Watch For:

1. DJ Stewart, the engine to the offense? Stewart has gone 4-for-6 the last two games at the plate, hitting three homers. Stewart was hitless from August 4th to the 13th (0-for-14) before revving his engine and smacking three balls out of the park. He’s going to continue to get a lot of playing time for the rest of this season and make an impression for a role on the 2024 squad.
2. Mets Bullpen changes and usage. For two straight days the Mets had to send a pitcher down to the minors after being over used to bring up a fresh arm. The Mets went through four relievers yesterday, with Bickford putting in the most work tossing 30 pitches. Sam Coonrod has two day’s rest. Also Dennis Santana, who was recalled before yesterday’s game, wasn’t used at all so he should be good to go if needed.
3. Adam Wainwright. Tonight is probably the last time the Mets will face Adam Wainwright in a major league game. Wainwright has had a 3.52 career ERA over 18 seasons and cemented himself in Mets history when he struck out Carlos Beltran to end the 2006 NLCS. A rarity in today’s game, Wainwright stayed with the Cardinals throughout his entire career. Cheers to a great career (even though the image of the Cardinals celebrating at Shea is forever burned into my mind).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Pirates play the rubber game of the series this afternoon at Citi Field. After winning the first game fairly convincingly, the Mets struggled last night and lost 7-4. Brandon Nimmo led the game with a homer, the Pirates responded right away with a run of their own and then the bats fell silent after that until the seventh inning. The Pirates tagged the Mets struggling and overworked bullpen for six runs, the Mets responded with three of their own. Now the Mets and Pirates have identical records heading into the last game of the series.

The Mets bullpen needs a respectable start from Tylor Megill today. Over 17 starts (81 1/3 innings), Megill has a 5.64 ERA, 5.08 FIP, 1.697 WHIP and a 74 ERA+. In his first two starts back with the Mets he has allowed 11 runs, 10 earned, over 10 innings of work (9.00 ERA, 4.97 FIP). The good news is his arm is stretched out. He’s tossed 102 and 84 pitches in both starts, so if he can limit the hits (exactly nine in each start so far), he can give the bullpen the break it needs. Tylor had a disastrous start against the Pirates back when they were in first place in June where he allowed nine runs, seven earned from eight hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings. The Pirates have the following career numbers against him:

• Bryan Reynolds 2-8
• Ke’Bryan Hayes 5-7, K
• Andrew McCutchen 1-3, 2 K, 2 BB
• Jack Suwinski 0-1, BB
• Josh Palacios 1-3

Johan Oviedo has pitched 136 1/3 innings this year over 24 starts with a 4.42 ERA, 4.28 FIP, 1.306 WHIP and a 102 ERA+. He’s coming off of a rough start against the Reds where he allowed six runs over five innings from five hits and two walks. Before that start he had a stretch of three starts in a row where he posted a 0.90 ERA, 3.02 FIP in 20 innings of work. He was effective against the Mets back in June, holding the Mets to two runs from four hits over 6 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Brandon Nimmo 4-6, 2 BB
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-8, K, BB
• Jeff McNeil 1-6, K, 2 BB
• Francisco Lindor 1-5, K, BB
• Pete Alonso 0-4, 2 K, BB
• Rafael Ortega 2-4, 2 2B, K BB
• Francisco Álvarez 0-3
• Tim Locastro 0-2
• Omar Narváez 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mets bullpen use. We talked about this yesterday that the Mets would probably need to make a move before the game to get a fresh arm into the pen. Before yesterday’s game Tyson Miller was sent down Butto was brought up. Butto had to put in serious work, tossing 63 pitches. At least Adam Ottavine, Trevor Gott and Phil Bickford were all avoided yesterday, but they each have pitched twice since Saturday. If the Mets don’t make another move before gametime they are really going to need Megill to go deep.
2. Jonathan Araúz. Araúz has gone deep two days in a row now. This season he has gone 4-for-27 at the plate, scoring two runs with five RBI. That means in his last two days he has had 50% of the hits he’s had this season, scored all of the runs he’s scored this season, recorded 60% of his season total of RBI’s. Araúz hot streak?
3. Brandon Nimmo. Brandon Nimmo lead of the game yesterday with his 17th homer of the season, tying his season best. He is now one homer away from a person record and has a very good chance of recording at least 20 on the season. Further Nimmo has now had four games in a row where he has recorded at least two hits. In his last five games he has gone 9-for-18 with a double, two homers and four walks leading to a .500/.591/.889 slash line.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to improve to ten games below .500 tonight as they take on the Pirates for game two of their series. The Mets offense was effective last night, scoring six runs on the highly touted prospect Quinn Priester who has a rough start to his major league career. Carlos Carrasco labored through three innings for the Mets which turned into a bullpen game of sorts with the Mets needing five pitchers from the pen to get through the game. Tyson Miller and Sam Coonrod both made their Mets debut and combined allowed a hit and three walks on their way to pitching three scoreless innings. All around, a pretty good night for New York.

David Peterson continues his return to the rotation tonight for the Mets. On the season he has pitched in 19 games with a 5.61 ERA, 4.44 FIP, 1.609 WHIP and a 75 ERA+. Since returning to the rotation he has allowed two runs from five hits over 6 2/3 innings spread across two starts. Most of those numbers occurred in his last start against the Cubs where he allowed two runs from four hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings. He was able to stretch his arm from 52 pitches to 62 as he continues to work on stamina after a lengthy time in the bullpen. The only two members of the Pirates who have seen Peterson in a major league game are Andrew McCutchen (1-for-11, HR, 3 K, 3 BB) and Bryan Reynolds (0-for-1, K).

The Mets bats will get a look Bailey Falter, who was acquired by the Pirates at the deadline this year for Rodolfo Castro. Overall this year, Falter has pitched in 10 games (48 1/3 innings) with a 5.21 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.552 WHIP and an 84 ERA+. In his last two starts as a member of the Pirates he’s allowed five runs over eight innings from 14 hits and three walks (5.63 ERA, 6.39 FIP, 2.125 WHIP, 84 ERA+). The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 1-3, 3 BB
• Brandon Nimmo 0-4, 2 K, BB
• Pete Alonso 1-4, HR, BB
• Jeff McNeil 1-4
• Rafael Ortega 0-0, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. What does Lindor do next? Francisco Lindor stole his 20th base of the season last night, marking the third time in his career that he’s had a 20-20 season. Lindor (116 OPS+, 4.3 WAR) is having a monster year for the Mets and can still easily reach several personal milestones by the end of the season. He’s only four doubles away from his first 30+ double season since 2019. He’s only five homers away from besting his total from last season.
2. The Mets bullpen and David Peterson. The Mets have made a flurry of bullpen moves over the last couple of days thanks to their doubleheader on Saturday. Unless the Mets make an additional move before today’s game, every member of the bullpen has pitched over the last two games. David Peterson has had two short outings in a row. We’ll see what Buck does to remedy this tonight.
3. Daniel Vogelbach. On Friday night Vogelbach went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. Since then he has gone 4-for-10 with two homers and four walks. Vogelbach is a streaky hitter, are we finally getting a Vogelbach hot streak in 2023?

Let’s Go Mets!

When the Mets took two of three from the Pirates in June, they were a first place team in the NL Central (granted they were only four games above .500 going into the series). After a tailspin during the first two weeks of July, the Pirates sold players at the deadline and are now 12 games below .500. The Mets are, of course, and have had their own tailspin of late. Currently the Mets and Pirates have identical records. There’s a bit of a race to the bottom happening, but there are still six weeks of baseball left.

Carlos Carrasco gets the start for the Mets tonight. Over 17 games (81 1/3 innings) Carrasco has a 6.42 ERA, 5.94 FIP, 1.598 WHIP and a 65 ERA+. He’s coming off of an average start against the Cubs where he held them to three hits and two runs over five innings of work. This was a significant improvement compared to his previous four starts where he had a 12.33 ERA, 6.20 FIP, over 15 1/3 innings. Against the Pirates earlier this year Carrasco allowed two runs from six hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings. The Pirates have the following career numbers against him:

• Andrew McCutchen 3-9, 2 2B, 2 K, 2 BB
• Bryan Reynolds 2-8, K, 2 BB
• Ke’Bryan Hayes 0-7, K, BB
• Connor Joe 2-6, K
• Jack Suwinski 2-4, HR, 2 K
• Jason Delay 0-2, K
• Alfonso Rivas 0-2, K

Quinn Priester looks to the right the ship against the Mets tonight. Priester is a top prospect in the Pirates system and was recently listed the #99 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline (the sixth Pirate on that list). Over five starts and 23 2/3 innings this season he has allowed 23 runs from 30 hits and 15 walks, including five homers. This led to a small-sample size 8.75 ERA, 6.35 FIP, 1.901 WHIP and a 52 ERA+. In the minors this year he has made 18 starts (87 2/3 innings) with a 4.31 ERA.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The lineup looks so much better with Brandon Nimmo leading off. Brandon Nimmo is 4-for-9 in his last two games with a double and two walks. He also made a terrific catch in the outfield last night. The Mets offense needs Nimmo in order to function, and it was great seeing him have a productive two nights in a row.
2. Jeff McHits is back! It took a long time this season, but Jeff McHits is back! In his last 12 games McNeil has gone 15-for-46 at the plate with a double and two homers, slashing .326/.392/.478/.871. That’s a significant improvement from his season slash line of .259/.334/.343/.677. The Mets offense as a whole hasn’t been a lot to write about over that same time stretch. Jeff McNeil has been a consistent source of hitting during this stretch, with only three hitless games (all near the start of this stretch). Here’s hoping he goes on a little run for the rest of the season.
3. Rafael Ortega. Ortega has had nine hits in his first 12 games as a Met. Three of them came last night. Ortega arguably had the biggest hit of the night that scored two runs and busted the game open for the Mets, stretching their lead to 7-3. As the Braves clawed back those two RBI for Ortega proved critical to holding onto the lead. Ortega played over 100 games each of the last two seasons for the Cubs. With the Mets current state, he will probably be a regular in the lineup for the next six weeks.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets try to salvage a game from a four game set with the Braves tonight on national television. It was a tough day in Queens yesterday as the Mets lost the first game 21-3 and then lost the nightcap 6-0. In the first game just about everything went wrong for the Mets. In the second game they got a solid start from Quintana but the bats couldn’t come through. Then the bullpen self-destructed late making the game impossible for the Mets. The Mets are now half a game out of last place in the NL East.

Kodai Senga has been one of the few bright spots this season for the Mets. Over 21 starts (116 2/3 innings) Senga has a 3.24 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 1.303 WHIP and a 129 ERA+. In his last six starts (35 innings) he has a 2.57 ERA and 2.78 FIP. The key change for Senga over the last two months compared to his first two months has been better control and keeping the ball in the park. In his last eight starts he has allowed only two homers, he had nine homers in the 13 starts before that. His walks have also taken a dramatic drop. This will be Senga’s first start against the Braves.

The Mets bats, who have struggled a lot this weekend, will look to get things going tonight against Yonny Chirinos. Yonny was picked up on waivers by the Braves towards the end of July. Overall in 2023 he has pitched in 18 games making seven starts totaling 76 1/3 innings with a 4.83 ERA, 5.60 FIP, 1.323 WHIP and an 87 ERA+. His three starts as a Brave have been a bit uglier allowing 13 runs runs from 19 hits over 13 2/3 innings, leading to an 8.56 ERA, 6.04 FIP, 1.683 WHIP and a 54 ERA+. The Mets have the following career numbers against Yonny:

• Omar Narváez 1-4, K
• Francisco Lindor 0-2
• Brandon Nimmo 0-2
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2
• DJ Stewart 0-1, BB
• Pete Alonso 1-2, HR
• Francisco Álvarez 0-2, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Nimmo and Lindor played last night! Lindor and Nimmo have both been dealing with injuries this weekend. Lindor sat on Friday and the first game on Saturday. Nimmo was taken out of the game Friday night which force Jeff McNeil to play a bit of centerfield. Last night Lindor went 0-for-4 at the plate while Nimmo went 2-for-2 with two walks. The Mets lineup is definitely rough right now, but without Nimmo and Lindor the lineup looks like a spring training split-squad lineup.
2. Daniel Vogelbach responded to the boos. After a terrible Friday night where Vogelbach went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, Vogelbach responded with three hits over the two games, including a three-run homer which is responsible for the only runs the Mets have scored all weekend.
3. Ozzie Albies. Ozzie had a pretty fantastic day at the plate yesterday. After the game he was quoted saying, “a lot of pleasure, of course, because they always say they’re going to beat us. That’s all I can say. I won’t say much” when asked how much pleasure the Braves take in beating the Mets. It’s been a long time since the Mets have said anything like this, especially with how the Mets are right now. This is the type of quote that could live beyond this season.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets got absolutely trounced in the first game of the doubleheader this afternoon. The game was 13-0 heading into the bottom half of the 8th, where the Mets finally picked up their first three runs of the weekend on a Daniel Vogelbach homer. Then with Danny Mendick pitching the Braves just unloaded on the Mets and ended up winning 21-3. Ouch. Anyway the Mets could win 2-1 or something tonight and the day will be an overall loss for the Braves. Let’s go!

José Quintana has had an interesting first four starts as a New York Met. Over 23 2/3 innings he’s allowed 24 hits and 10 runs leading to a 3.24 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 1.310 WHIP and a 122 ERA+. He’s allowed exactly six hits in each start and either two or three runs in each start. He’s kept the Mets in each game he’s pitched in and two of his starts have been quality starts. The Mets bats though have not returned the favor and the Mets have lost every game that he has started. Anyway, the Braves the following career numbers against Quintana:

• Orlando Arcia 4-29, 2B, 6 K, 4 BB
• Marcell Ozuna 7-16, HR, 3 K, 2 BB
• Matt Olson 2-12, 2B, 5 K, 2 BB
• Eddie Rosario 4-16, 3 K, BB
• Kevin Pillar 5-15, 3 2B, 4 K, BB
• Ronald Acuña Jr. 0-7, 2 K, 2 BB
• Ozzie Albies 5-8, 2 2B, 2 HR, K
• Austin Riley 0-5, K, BB
• Travis d’Arnaud 1-4
• Sean Murphy 2-4, 2B
• Michael Harris II 2-4, 2B, K

The Mets bats will try to find themselves tonight against Spencer Strider. On the season Strider has a 3.94 ERA, 2.93 FIP (league leading), 1.126 WHIP and a 115 ERA+ over 132 1/3 innings. He’s also leading the league with an absurd 14.4 K/9. In his last five starts he has allowed 19 runs, 18 earned, from 28 hits over 27 2/3 innings. He’s also struck out 45 batters over this stretch (5.86 ERA, 3.34 FIP). Against the Mets this season he has allowed 12 runs over nine innings while striking out 16 batters. The Mets have the following numbers against Strider:

• Brandon Nimmo 6-14, 3B, 2 HR, 2 K, 2 BB
• Francisco Lindor 6-13, 3B, 2 K, 2 BB
• Pete Alonso 2-9, 2B, HR, 6 K, BB
• Jeff McNeil 3-10, 2B, 2 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-8, 4 K, 2 BB
• Francisco Álvarez 1-3, HR, 2 K
• Mark Vientos 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Where is the Mets offense? The Mets were very close to getting shutout again, but Daniel Vogelbach through the boos, collected a three-run homer to get the Mets on the scoreboard. As a team though the Mets only got six hits today with four walks. They’ve hit Strider well this season but this Mets lineup is much weaker than what Strider has already seen.
2. The pitching situation was a disaster earlier. The only good thing about the Mets bullpen right now is Yacabonis saved them last night and Reed Garrett with Danny Mendick saved them today. Everyone that is more reliable for the Mets is still fresh and ready to go. None of that matters though when your long-man gives up six runs (like Garrett did earlier today). The bar is low for this evening for the pen.
3. How does the earlier game impact tonight? The Mets and Braves played a three hour and 12 minute game this afternoon where the Braves had 22 hits. The Mets had to endure that entire barrage out on the field. That has to cause fatigue.

Let’s Go Mets!