213 Miles From Shea

The Mets couldn’t complete the sweep of the White Sox but at least head into their weekend series with the Red Sox with some positive momentum winning three of their last four games. The Red Sox are trying to snap a two game losing streak tonight. Overall they’ve been good recently, going 7 and 3 in their last ten games. The Mets need a good weekend to stay relevant. The Red Sox need a good weekend to keep pace in the insane AL East.

Kodai Senga has pitched 95 2/3 innings over 17 starts with a 3.20 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 1.265 WHIP and a 129 ERA+. He’s coming off of a solid start against the Dodgers where he held them to one run and four hits over six innings while striking out nine. Over his two starts in July he has allowed only two earned runs and only three walks. Earlier this season Walks were crushing him and he now has five consecutive starts issuing three walks or less. Further his strikeout numbers haven’t diminished (11.5 K/9 on the season).

Kutter Crawford will make his 11th start of the season today. Over 67 1/3 innings he has a 3.47 ERA, 4.08 FIP, 1.129 WHIP and a 125 ERA+. As a starter he has a 4.73 ERA and 1.336 WHIP over 45 2/3 innings. He’s coming off of one of his best starts of the season where he one-hit the Cubs over six innings while striking out nine. This will be the first time the Kutter Crawford has faced anyone on the Mets in a major league game.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mark Vientos. With Starling Marte landing on the 10-day injured list, Mark Vientos is back with the major league club. The Mets botched his playing time the first time he was called up, sitting him for long stretches of time in favor of other more veteran players getting playing time. Between Marte’s injury and Pham’s injury during the game yesterday, Vientos should see more consistent playing time. Vientos hit .178/.224/.244 with a 31 OPS+ in the majors this season. In the minors he’s hitting .307/.386/.614 over 60 games.
2. Mets trade candidates. Mark Canha and Omar Narváez could be moved over the next nine days. Yesterday Canha went 0-for-3 at the plate with a strikeout. Omar Narváez had the best day yesterday of any Mets hitter, possibly his best day as a Met, going 2-for-3 with a homerun.
3. Old Friends! With the Mets playing the Red Sox for the first time this season, we’ll get to see a couple of familiar faces tonight. Justin Turner is playing his first season in Boston after many years in LA. He’s hitting .289/.358/.478 with a 122 OPS+ over 93 games. Joely Rodríguez is continuing his tour of eastern, I-95 based baseball teams with the Red Sox this season. The Red Sox activated him from the injured list right around the All-Star break. Since returning he has pitched four innings over four games, allowing two hits and nothing else.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets go for the sweep this afternoon against the White Sox! The Mets have now won three games in a row. A win today would erase their four game slide that happened after their six game winning streak. Currently the Mets are five games below .500 and seven games out of the Wild Card. All of the teams around them have won their last two games. The Marlins are on a six game slide which kept the Mets in the race right after the break. There’s still an opening for the Mets to make move!

José Quintana makes his New York Mets debut this afternoon! The long-time member of the Chicago White Sox will start off his 2023 campaign against his former team. Quintana was signed this off-season to bolster a Mets rotation that lost most of it’s regular starting pitchers to free agency. He had surgery back in March to treat a lesion on his ribs. After the maximum allotted time for rehab starts, and getting his debut pushed back a day while he battled flu-like symptoms, he is ready to go!

José Quintana split time with he Pirates and the Cardinals last season. Over 32 starts (165 2/3 innings), Quintana had a 2.93 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 1.213 WHIP and a 138 ERA+. He lead the league last season in HR/9 at a paltry 0.4. The White Sox have the following career numbers against him:

• Elvis Andrus 4-21, 2 K
• Yasmani Grandal 5-15, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K
• TIm Anderson 0-4, K
• Clint Frazier 1-3, 2B
• Yoán Moncada 1-3, 2 K
• Luis Robert Jr. 0-1

The Mets bats will try to finish out the series on a strong note today against Michael Kopech. Kopech has tossed 86 2/3 innings over 17 games with a 4.47 ERA, 5.90 FIP, 1.408 WHIP and a 99 ERA+. He’s coming off of any abysmal start about a week ago where he allowed four runs on a hit a four walks over 2/3rds of an inning against the Braves. His two starts before that weren’t great either and overall he’s allowed nine runs over his last 8 2/3 innings of work. He was on roll briefly before this stretch, where he allowed two runs or less in four of five starts. The only Mets who have seen him in a major league game before are Mark Canha (0-2, K) and Starling Marte (0-2).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Baby Mets continue to dominate the offense. This has been a series for the baby Mets. Brett Baty and Francisco Álvarez went back-to-back on Tuesday night. Álvarez even hit two homers! Last night Baty hit a homer for the second straight day. Álvarez went 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. While some of the other Mets are slumping right now, the Baby Mets are carrying the team.
2. Can Pete Alonso break out of his slump? Since the All-star break Alonso has gone 1-for-16 at the plate with three walks. This can be extended a bit, since July 7th he has gone 1-for-26 at the plate with five walks. He’s had four hits in July, two of them being homers. During his cold stretch the Mets have won six games in a row, lost four and now won three again. The Mets need their biggest power threat to return to being himself.
3. The bullpen should be more rested tonight. After a terrible Tuesday where the bullpen was overused and imploded in the 7th inning, Just Verlander essentially gave the bullpen the night off yesterday. Ottavino pitched the only inning of relief and it was second consecutive scoreless outing. Drew Smith and David Peterson haven’t been used in a minute and presumably will take on a larger role with any pitch count limitations with Quintana today.

Let’s Go Mets!

Just like that the Mets look to win their third game in a row this evening as they take on the White Sox in game two of their series. Last night the Mets were on the right side of a record night for baseball, as they beat the White Sox 11-10. It was the first time in major league history that three games had the final score of 11-10. The Mets accomplished this feat thanks to a five run first inning, two homers from Álvarez and a bullpen that couldn’t close the door late in the game. The Mets look to win tonight’s game in a much more normal fashion.

Justin Verlander has pitched 75 innings over 13 starts with a 3.72 ERA, 4.03 FIP, 1.227 WHIP and a 111 ERA+. He’s coming off of a weird start where he no-hit the Dodgers for four innings and then things completely fell apart in the fifth inning where they were able to tag him for three runs. Walks crushed him as he gave the Dodgers six free passes. The White Sox have the following career numbers against him:

• Elvis Andrus 22-71, 3 2B, 3 BB, 9 K
• Tim Anderson 2-21, 7 K
• Andrew Benintendi 2-15, 3B, BB, 4 K
• Yasmani Grandal 5-12, HR, 5 K
• Yoán Moncada 1-11, BB, 6 K
• Andrew Vaughn 1-7
• Eloy Jiménez 1-6, 3 K
• Clint Frazier 2-3, K

Touki Toussaint makes his third start of the season, pitching in his sixth game. Toussaint should be a familiar name to Mets fans as he broke into the majors with the Braves in 2018 (involved in the 2015 Bronson Arroyo trade). He was a highly touted prospect who struggled in the majors for the Braves and eventually made it over to Anaheim, Cleveland and now the Chicago White Sox organizations.

In 20 1/3 innings this season (for the White Sox), he has a 3.10 ERA, 4.17 FIP, 1.230 WHIP and a 144 ERA+. Over his last two games he has tossed a combined 10 1/3 innings allowing only three runs from eight hits and five walks. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Jeff McNeil 3-8, 2B, BB, K
• Pete Alonso 1-6, BB, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-2, 3 BB, K
• DJ Stewart 1-4, HR, K
• Tommy Pham 0-2
• Francisco Lindor 1-2, K
• Omar Narváez 0-1, K
• Luis Guillorme 0-1, K
• Starling Marte 0-1, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Francisco Álvarez! Last night’ was Álvarez’s third multi-homer game of the season. He now has 19 homers on the season and has an OPS at .837. His 19 homers ties Francisco Lindor for second on the club. He is also tied with Josh Jung on the rookie homer leader board and now one in front of Corbin Carroll. Álvarez is the spark this team needed!
2. Brett Baty homered! Baty hit his first homer in July last night, his first homer since June 28th. Before that his last homer was on May 19th. It has been a long drought for the Mets young star. Hopefully last night is the beginning of a turn-around.
3. The Mets bullpen is struggling. Last night the Mets bullpen allowed six runs, five earned. This all happened during a seventh inning that allowed the White Sox to completely get back into the game. Somehow, despite using five relievers yesterday, the Mets still have two relievers on multiple-days rest. David Peterson and Drew Smith haven’t pitched since Saturday. Both are looking for bounce back outings.

Let’s Go Mets!

No bats? No problem.

The Mets bats haven’t returned yet from the All-Star break but Sunday evening the Mets pitching did. Max Schezer tossed a gem and the Mets bullpen (mostly) held it together as the Mets were able to squeak out an extra-inning win to avoid being swept by the Dodgers. Now the Mets welcome the White Sox to town. Can the Mets put together a little run like they did at the end of the first half?

Carlos Carrasco threw an absolute gem for the Mets before the All-Star break. He went eight innings, allowing three hits and no runs while the Mets won 8-0. Over 61 innings and 12 starts he has a 5.16 ERA, 5.96 FIP, 1.426 WHIP and an 80 ERA+. In his last three starts now he has allowed four runs over 17 innings while striking out 15, dropping his season ERA from 6.34 to 5.16. The White Sox have the following career numbers against Carrasco:

• Tim Anderson 11-37, 2B, HR, 12 K
• Elvis Andrus 7-19, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
• Yoán Moncada 1-18, BB, 13 K
• Andrew Benintendi 2-7, 2 2B, K
• Eloy Jiménez 3-4, 2B, HR
• Clint Frazier 1-3, 2B, K

The Mets bats will get a look at Lucas Giolito tonight. Giolito has pitched 112 1/3 innings this season (19 starts) with a 3.45 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.139 WHIP and a 128 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed four earned runs over 13 innings (2.77 ERA). The Mets have the following numbers against Giolito:

• Francisco Lindor 6-18, 3 BB, 3 K
• DJ Stewart 1-7, 2 BB, 3 K
• Mark Canha 1-5, 5 K
• Tommy Pham 0-5, BB, 3 K
• Omar Narváez 2-5
• Pete Alonso 0-3, 2 K
• Starling Marte 2-3, K
• Jeff McNeil 0-3, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Can the Mets bats give Carrasco run support? Carlos Carrasco was fantastic in his last start and the Mets bats gave him tons of run support. Since the All-Star Break the bats have scored only two runs and have had only 10 hits (six of them in one game). No single Met has had two hits in a game yet since returning from the break. All of these trends need to break for the Mets to have a chance to make a wild card run.
2. Limited hits? No runs? Steal bases. With the Mets bats struggling this past weekend to score runs, the Mets switched back to a stealing strategy that worked for them during the win streak right before the All-Star break. On Sunday evening the Mets stole three basses (Marte, Canha, DJ Stewart). We are watching tonight to see if this was an outlier or the start of a trend for the Mets.
3. The return of David Robertson. The Mets bullpen struggled on Friday and Saturday. Gott gave up the tying run on Sunday night after he came in for Scherzer who tossed seven scoreless innings. Robertson would later come into the game and pitch two scoreless innings. The Mets will probably like to avoid using him tonight, but he showed on Sunday why he is the best reliever currently on the roster.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets got an amazing start from Kodai Senga last night and did nothing with it. Senga allowed only one run on a solo homer over six innings while striking out nine. The bullpen behind him self-destructed and the offense didn’t show up. Now the Mets find themselves this afternoon fighting to avoid being swept. Can they snap their four game losing streak?

Max Scherzer looks to get the Mets on the right track this afternoon as he takes on his old club. Over 16 starts, 87 2/3 innings, Scherzer has a 4.31 ERA, 4.53 FIP, 1.232 WHIP and a 96 ERA+. He’s had a rough July, allowing nine runs over 11 innings from 11 hits and five walks. While he has struck 16 batters out, he’s also allowed five homers. He’s now allowed a homer in seven consecutive starts and he’s allowed a total of 11 homers in that same stretch (5.63 ERA). The Dodgers have the following career numbers against him:

• Freddie Freeman 11-49, 4 2B, 3 HR, 7 BB, 13 K
• Miguel Rojas 9-35, 3 2B, HR, 3 BB, 5 K
• David Peralta 6-21, 2 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
• Jason Heyward 5-18, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K
• Max Muncy 4-13, HR, 4 BB, 4 K
• Chris Taylor 2-12, 2B, 3B, BB, 7 K
• J.D. Martinez 2-11, 2 HR, BB, 5 K
• Austin Barnes 1-11, 7 K
• Mookie Betts 1-5, 2B, BB

The Mets bats look to build off the four hits they’ve had in the last two games against Dodgers’ rookie Bobby Miller. Miller has pitched 44 innings over eight starts with a 4.50 ERA, 3.71 FIP, 1.227 WHIP and a 98 ERA+. In his last four starts he has allowed 20 earned runs from 27 hits and eight walks over 21 innings (8.57 ERA, 5.37 FIP). In his four starts before that he allowed only two runs over 23 innings. Which Bobby Miller will the Mets get today?

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brandon Nimmo. The Mets as a team have had four collective hits since returning from the All-Star break and Brandon Nimmo has two of then. He had the sole hit, a double, in Friday night’s game and he had the sole RBI in yesterday’s game, hitting a solo homer. He can’t do it alone and the Mets right now can do nothing without him.
2. Max Scherzer. Are the Mets buyers? Are the Mets sellers? Everything depends on Max Scherzer. If the Mets are going to make a run for the Wild Card, they need Max Scherzer to be vintage Max. If things fall apart for the Mets, they need Max to be vintage Max so he can net the most possible prospects in a trade. Everything depends on Max. He was originally supposed to pitch yesterday, but a neck issue pushed him back to today.
3. Can the bullpen get it together? Trevor Gott. Brooks Raley. Despite the Mets using seven different bullpen arms in their last two games, only two pitches have tossed a clean inning. Yesterday Ottavino allowed a run, Hartwig allowed three total, only two earned. Robertson is the only arm that hasn’t been used yet and probably will be today regardless of the situation. The Mets need the bullpen to step up if they are going to make any sort of a run.

Let’s Go Mets!

The good news was the Mets kept the Dodgers hitless through the first four innings yesterday. Then everything fell off the rails. The Dodgers would score three runs off Verlander in the fifth inning and would eventually beat the Mets 6-0. Brandon Nimmo had the only the hit for the Mets as their losing streak extended to three games. The Mets look to bounce back tonight to force a rubber game on Sunday.

Kodai Senga returns to the mound tonight. Selected as a replacement in the All-Star game, Senga declined to pitch so he would be well rested and ready to go tonight. Senga had his last game pushed back before the All-Star break so he could get extra rest. Tonight he was pushed forward a game so Scherzer could get extra rest.

On the season Senga has made 16 starts totaling 89 2/3 innings with a 3.31 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.283 WHIP and a 125 ERA+. Over his last three starts he has pitched 18 1/3 innings allowing seven runs, five earned. During this stretch he has struck out an outstanding 26 batters while only walking six, his early season weakness. His last start was the best of the season where he pitched eight innings, holding the Diamondbacks to only one run while striking out 12 batters. This will be the first time he has faced the Dodgers this season.

Tony Gonsolin makes his 14th start of the season tonight. Over 67 2/3 innings he has a 3.86 ERA, 4.64 FIP, 1.123 WHIP and a 113 ERA+. Things have not been great for Tony over his last four starts where he has allowed four earned runs in three of them, and seven earned runs in the other. This totals up to 19 runs over 21 innings (8.14 ERA, 5.47 FIP). The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Starling Marte 0-7
• Tommy Pham 1-6, 2B, 3 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-3, BB, 2 K
• Luis Guillorme 1-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3, K
• Pete Alonso 0-2, K
• Mark Canha 0-2
• Jeff McNeil 0-1, BB
• Omar Narváez 0-1, BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Bullpen usage – already. The Mets had to use four arms last night to finish out the game (Peterson, Gott, Leone, and Smith). The Mets didn’t need to use their two big arms in Ottavino and Robertson, but it stinks to be one game into the second half of the season, already use a chunk of the bullpen, and for three of those four pitches to have rough-ish outings.
2. Can the Mets rack up some hits tonight? The last time the Mets faced Gonsolin was June 2022 and Gonsolin was able to hold the Mets to just two hits and a walk in a game the Dodgers won 6-0. One of those two hits was by a plyer who isn’t even on the Mets anymore (J.D. Davis).
3. Kodai Senga’s advanced stats reflect his improvement. If you go to Kodai’s Baseball Savant page, you’ll see that his xwOBA has improved over his last 100 PA’s. This has been true since mid-to-late June. After last night, the Mets are really going to need Senga to be at his best to help jump start the club.

Let’s Go Mets

The Mets return to Queens tonight to kick off the second half of the season. Right now the Mets are six games under .500 after dropping the last two against the Padres. They are 18.5 games back in the division and 7.0 games back in the Wild Card. Currently the Marlins, Diamondbacks and Giants have the three wild card spots. In between the Mets and the third spot are the Phillies, Brewers, Padres and Cubs. A good weekend against the Dodgers can put the Mets closer to a buy mode. A terrible weekend can put the Mets closer to a sell mode. There’s a lot at stake – let’s go!

Justin Verlander starts things off for the Mets tonight. Over 12 starts, 70 innings, this season he has a 3.60 ERA, 4.00 FIP, 1.200 WHIP and a 115 ERA+. He’s coming off of a solid start against the Padres where he allowed three runs, two earned, over six innings from five hits. In his last three starts he has allowed four runs total, two earned, over 18 innings (1.00 ERA) despite allowing 15 hits and six walks. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Verlander:

• Mookie Betts 0-16, 2 BB, 2 K
• David Peralta 2-12, HR, BB, 4 K
• J.D. Martinez 3-6, 2 K
• Trayce Thompson 0-4, 2 BB, K
• Miguel Rojas 1-5
• Austin Barnes 1-3
• Freddie Freeman 0-2
• Max Muncy 0-3, 3 K

The Mets bats draw Julio Urías tonight. Over 12 starts (64 1/3 innings), Urías has a 4.76 ERA, 4.90 FIP, 1.181 WHIP and a 92 ERA+. He is coming off a season where he led league in ERA (2.16) and ERA+ (188). Urías had a solid start before the All-Star break allowing only two runs and three hits over six innings while striking out eight. Before that he allowed 11 runs over six innings across two starts. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Tommy Pham 3-12, 2B, HR, BB, 4 K
• Starling Marte 3-12, HR, 4 K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-6, K
• Pete Alonso 1-6, K
• Mark Canha 1-2, 2 BB
• Francisco Lindor 1-2, BB
• Luis Guillorme 0-2
• Omar Narváez 0-2
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 0-1, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Tommy Pham’s health. Tommy Pham has been one of hottest hitters in the Mets lineup recently. He tweaked his groin before the All-Star break. Tests came back negative and because of the break he was able to get several days off in a row. The Mets don’t want to do anything though that could turn a non-serious injury into a very serious one. If he plays tonight, we’ll be looking to see what, if any, aspects of his game are impacted.
2. What does Francisco Álvarez do in the second half? Álvarez had a terrific first half of the season smacking 17 homers in 66 games. If he gets to 32 by the end of the season, he would start to break into the top 25 single-season homers by a New York Met. Currently 32 homers in the season is a three way tie between Gary Carter, Ike Davis and Robin Ventura). It’s also worth noting that Francisco Lindor is on pace this season to join this list!
3. Francisco Lindor Appreciation Time, again. Francisco Lindor, the most notable All-Star snub on the Mets, has been putting up amazing numbers this season. If you haven’t recently, check out his Baseball Savant page. He’s in top half of every category except for two (xBA where he’s exactly at the 50th percentile and Arm Strength). His spray chart shows power in all directions. He’s having a phenomenal season and the Mets will need him to come out strong in the second half.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have a critical rubber game this afternoon against the San Diego Padres. On Friday night the Mets won a back-and-forth, extra-inning affair. Yesterday the Padres were able to score three runs early and the Mets could only muster one run in response. Now both the Padres and the Mets sit at 42-47 records. A win means going into the All-Star break only four games below .500. A win means a chance to be buyers at the deadline. A loss makes that door close ever so slightly more on the season.

Max Scherzer has pitched 82 2/3 innings over 15 games this season with a 4.03 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 1.198 WHIP and a 103 ERA+. He’s coming off of a start where he allowed three homers, leading to four runs over six innings. Before that he allowed only five runs over 20 innings (three starts). Max had a solid start against the Padres earlier this year where he held them to one hit and no runs over five innings. The Padres have the following career numbers against Scherzer:

• Manny Machado 8-52, 2 2B, 2 HR, 21 K
• Matt Carpenter 8-33, 3 2B, BB, 12 K
• Trent Grisham 2-15, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
• Jake Cronenworth 0-15, BB, 4 K
• Fernando Tatis Jr. 1-14, HR, 7 K
• Xander Bogaerts 2-13, 5 K
• Preston Tucker 2-8, 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
• Juan Soto 1-4, 4 BB
• Rougned Odor 1-4, BB, K
• Ha-Seong Kim 1-5, 3 K
• Gary Sánchez 0-3, 3 K

The Mets bats will try to pick themselves back up tonight against Joe Musgrove. Over 13 starts, 73 1/3 innings, Musgrove has a 3.56 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.200 WHIP, 115 ERA+. In his last three games he has allowed only four runs over 20 innings from 16 hits while striking out 24 batters. This is the Mets first time facing him since the Wild Card last year where Musgrove allowed one hit and one walk, no runs, over seven innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 6-17, 2 2B, 2 HR, BB, 8 K
• Omar Narváez 1-11, 2B, BB, 4 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-9, 2 BB, 5 K
• Pete Alonso 3-8, HR, BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 3-9, K
• Jeff McNeil1-8, 2B, K
• Tommy Pham 2-9, HR, 2 K
• Luis Guillorme 2-7, K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-6
• Mark Canha 1-3, 2B, BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Musgrove’s ear. This is mostly a joke but the last time the Mets faced Musgrove in the Wild Card series, his ear looked pretty shiny. So shiny that Buck Showalter had the umpires check his ear for an illegal substance. Both teams today are playing a game with huge implications, emotions will be high. There’s a good chance that this whole moment may be referred to on the field tonight.
2. Do the Mets act like tonight is a playoff game? Today is must win game for the Mets. A loss can crush all the positive momentum they built up in the last week. Further, they are about to go several days without playing. Do they play tonight like it’s a playoff game? Do they make tons of quick changes when things go awry?
3. How does Francisco Álvarez close out his monster first half? Over seven games this month Álvarez has hit five homers. he’s gone 11-for-26 at the plate, with seven runs scored. He’s hitting .423/.464/1.000. He’s shown us that he’s the real deal and one of the most exciting parts of this Mets team!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to do a few different things tonight:

1. Win their seventh game in a row.
2. Match their win total for the entire month of June.
3. Win their third consecutive series of the season.

The Mets and Padres played a back and forth game last night. The game was tied 3-3 entering extra innings when the Mets led by Francisco Lindor took a critical four run lead. The Mets would give back two runs in the bottom half of the frame, but were able to stop a full comeback. There are only two more games left before the All-Star break, can the Mets keep this pivotal streak going?

Every David Peterson start is an audition. José Quintana is nearing his return. Joey Lucchesi could make his major league return (he also had a rough night in the minors last night allowing six runs over four innings). The Mets could go to a six-man rotation. The Mets could trade a starter, which would make David Peterson a regular in the rotation. There are a lot of different possibilities for the Mets after the All-Star break, David Peterson’s performance factors into a whole bunch of them.

Over 10 games and 49 innings this season, Peterson has a 6.61 ERA, 4.60 FIP, 1.673 WHIP and a 63 ERA+. Since returning to the rotation Peterson has pitched 10 innings, allowing one rune on eight hits and six walks. He has dropped his ERA from 8.08 to 6.61. He faced the Padres earlier this season and it was one of his better starts, holding the Padres to two runs (six hits, two walks) over 5 2/3 innings. The Padres have the following career numbers against Peterson:

• Juan Soto 1-8, 2B, 4 BB, 4 K
• Xander Bogerts 0-8, BB
• Ha-Seong Kim 1-3, K
• Jake Cronenworth 1-2, BB
• Manny Machado 1-3, 2B
• Brandon Dixon 1-2, K
• Trent Grisham 0-2
• Gary Sánchez 0-1, BB

Blake Snell has made 17 starts for the Padres and pitched 92 innings so far this season. He has a 3.03 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 1.261 WHIP and a 135 ERA+. He’s coming off of a great start where he silenced the Angels for five innings, allowing seven hits but no runs. Since May 25th Snell has allowed only four earned runs over 47 innings (0.77 ERA, 2.08 FIP). He had a season ERA of 5.40 before this streak. Against the Mets earlier this season he allowed four runs, three earned, over five innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Snell:

• Francisco Lindor 4-28, 2B, HR, 7 K
• Starling Marte 5-17, 2B, HR, BB, 5 K
• Mark Canha 4-13, 2B, 4 BB, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 5-12, 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB, K
• Brandon Nimmo 5-12, 2 2B, BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 2-6, 2 BB, K
• Tommy Pham 1-4, 2 BB
• Omar Narváez 0-1, 3 BB
• DJ Stewart 0-3, 2 K
• Luis Guillorme 0-1, BB

Three Things to Watch For:

1. Francisco Lindor is doing everything he possibly can to carry the Mets. Lindor is the heart and soul of this team and has put up video game numbers recently. He went 3-for-5 last night hitting his 19th homer of the season, second in two days and third in the month of July. In his last two games he’s gone 8-for-10 with two triples, two homers and five runs scored. After being snubbed for the All-Star game a second time, he made comments after the game asking why Brandon Nimmo wasn’t an All-Star, rather than complaining about his own situation.
2. Francisco Álvarez is lighting up box scores. Álvarez has had three consecutive multi-hit games. Last night he went 4-for-5 at the plate! Overall in his last four games he has gone 9-for-16 with three homers (.563/.588/1.125). Last night’s game pushed his season OPS over .800 for the first time since June 17th. His breakout right now is the x-factor for the Mets.
3. Daniel Vogelbach has quietly had two nice days at the plate. On June 27th Vogelbach went 2-for-4 with a homer. Then over his next five games he went 0-for-10, drawing one walk. In his last two games he has gone 5-for-9 with a double and a walk. Obviously we want more power from our designated hitter, but its nice to see him get on base so much over the last couple of days.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have won five games in a row as they roll into San Diego for a pivotal series before All-Star break. The Mets were 10 games below .500 and 10 games back in the Wild Card race when this streak started. They are now five games below .500 and only 6.5 games back. They still have a lot of ground to cover but they are finally playing like the team we expected them to play like. After two back and forth affairs with the first-place Diamondbacks, last night the Mets fired on all cylinders and won 9-0, hitting three homers and getting an amazing start from Carlos Carrasco.

They’ll look to keep the vibes going tonight against the San Diego Padres who are in a similar position. The Padres also had huge expectations this season and are currently sitting in fourth place, 6.5 games out of the Wild Card. They’ve won four of their last five games and are looking to save their season also. Only one team will be able to this weekend!

Justin Verlander takes the mound tonight after breaking a season curse his last time out. Verlander has oscillated between good starts and terrible starts. With the exception of his first two starts, this pattern has held true the whole season. He’s now tossed two good/great games in a row, allowing one unearned run over 12 innings from 10 hits and three walks. This season he now has a 3.66 ERA, 3.99 FIP, 1.188 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. The Padres have the following career numbers against him:

• Rougned Odor 7-41, 2 HR, 2 BB, 12 K
• Manny Machado 7-30, 2B, 3B, HR, 2 BB, 9 K
• Xander Bogaerts 4-17, 2 2B, BB, 4 K
• Gary Sánchez 1-17, 4 K
• Preston Tucker 1-10, 3 K
• Juan Soto 0-3

The Mets bats will try to keep the bats hot tonight against Yu Darvish. Darvish has pitched 80 innings over 14 starts with a 4.84 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 1.225 WHIP and an 85 ERA+. He started June off strong with seven shutout innings. Then over his next three starts he allowed 14 runs in 16 1/3 innings from 20 hits and seven walks. Then Yu Darvish got sick. Tonight will be his first start since missing time due to illness. He lost seven pounds. Hopefully he’s feeling like himself again and is 100%.

Darvish faced the Mets back on April 10th and the Mets scored five runs from six hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 5-18, 2B, 2 BB, 7 K
• Starling Marte 7-17, 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-14, 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 2-13, HR, 4 K
• Omar Narváez 1-8, BB, 6 K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-9, 2 K
• Luis Guillorme 2-9, 2B, 3 K
• Mark Canha 2-7, 2B, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 3-5, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Gary Sánchez faces off against his old team. Sánchez was released by the Francisco Giants on May 2nd and signed with the New York Mets a week later. He had a great stint with Syracuse but didn’t do much in New York going 1-for-6 at the plate. The Mets then DFA’d him, had a whole problem with Nido on the roster. Just a lot happened. Sánchez would get claimed by the Padres and go 12-for-47 in his first 13 games hitting six homers. He’s cooled off a bit in his 20 games since then, going 8-for-57 (.140/.258/.193).
2. Mets went homer happy in Arizona. The Mets hit seven homers in their three games in Arizona. Francisco Álvarez has homered in three straight games. In the first game of the series he hit the go-ahead homer, and in the second game he hit the tying homer. He’s now at 16 on the season, two behind Lindor who also homered last night. Pete hit his 26th homer as he tries to get hot before going to the Homerun Derby. Can the Mets keep this pace up tonight?
3. Francisco Lindor. Lindor went 5-for-5 at the plate last night including two triples and a homer. He had 12 total bases! The Mets play so much better when Lindor is hot. This is the make or break series for the Mets this season and the Mets are going to need Lindor to carry this team.

Let’s Go Mets!