213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to take the series against the Marlins this afternoon in Queens. Friday night was a good reset for the team with good hitting and good pitching. The Mets had a monster fourth inning where they scored six runs, Sean Manaea pitched seven innings and Buttó pitched two clean innings of relief.

More importantly for the Mets, all of the teams they are chasing for the wild card lost, so the Mets are only one game out of the last wild card spot.

The Mets are hoping they can get Luis Severino back on the right track this afternoon. Over 23 games, 133 2/3 innings, Severino has a 4.17 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.264 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. In his last three starts he has allowed 15 runs, 14 earned, over 13 innings from 20 hits and four walks. He’s also allowed five home runs in his last three starts (compared to just 12 in his 20 starts before that). Luis Severino has been effective against the Marlins this season, holding them to only six runs over 18 2/3 innings (three starts). The Marlins have the following career numbers against him:

• Vidal Brujan 0-4, BB
• Jake Burger 4-10, 2 HR, BB, K
• Xavier Edwards 0-2, K
• Nick Fortes 0-5, K
• Derek Hill 0-1, BB, K
• Otto Lopez 2-8, 2B, BB, K
• Emmanuel Rivera 0-3, 2 K
• Jesús Sánchez 2-8, 2B, BB, 3 K

The Mets bats look to keep form this afternoon against Max Meyer. Over seven starts he has pitched 36 1/3 innings with a 5.20 ERA, 4.94 FIP, 1.266 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. The Marlins strangely demoted Meyer, who was coming off of Tommy John, after three effective starts in April. Since being recalled at the end of July he has had a 7.91 ERA, 5.97 FIP over four starts. No one on the Mets has seen Meyer in an official game before.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo has been in a slump since the All Star break, hitting .140/.269/.174 with only three extra-base hits going into Friday night’s game. At the start of August it looked like he was starting to break out of his slump and then he went 0-for-13 with three walks in his last four games before Friday night. Friday night though he went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer (which gave him almost as many RBI’s as his previous 23 games combined where he had four). Get hot Nimmo! We need you.
2. Jeff McNeil continues to stay hot. Jeff went 2-for-4 with a double and a homer Friday night. In his last 28 games he has seven home runs and is hitting .316/.362/.663. Only July 12th McNeil was hitting .215/.274/.308. In the last five weeks he has raised that to .240/.296/.396.
3. Jake Burger. In Friday’s Game Chat we discussed how Burger was on another planet right now in terms of power. The good news for the Mets is they held him to only one hit Friday night. The bad news that hit was a home run. In his last eight games he has gone 14-for-32 with seven homeruns (.438/.514/1.125).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to rebound against the Marlins after being swept by the Mariners and losing a series to the Athletics at home. Over the last two games the Mets bats have come back. Yesterday the pitching let the Mets down as the Athletics beat the Mets 7-6. The Braves also lost, so the Mets are still only three games out.

Sean Manaea has a 3.44 ERA, 3.80 FIP, 1.228 WHIP and a 115 ERA+ over 123 innings. He had a disappointing start his last time out allowing three runs from four hits and five walks over three innings, in a game the Mets eventually lost 4-0. Before that, he allowed no runs over 14 innings while striking out 21 batters.

Manaea’s first start against the Marlins back in April was solid where he allowed two runs over five innings. In July he allowed five runs over five innings from eight hits. The Marlins have the following career numbers:

• Vidal Brujan 0-2, K
• Jake Burger 2-5, 2B, HR
• Xavier Edwards 1-2
• Otto Lopez 2-5, 2B
• Cristian Pache 1-2, 2B
• Emmanuel Rivera 2-4, HR, 2 BB, K
• Jesús Sánchez 1-3

Roddery Muñoz has pitched 74 2/3 innings with a 5.67 ERA, 6.74 FIP, 1.433 WHIP and a 79 ERA+. In August he has allowed nine runs, seven earned, over 8 2/3 innings from 13 hits and three walks (7.27 ERA, 6.41 FIP). Since July 11th he’s had a 5.93 ERA, 5.68 FIP with opponents hitting .261/.331/.496 against him. His only good start since July 11th was against the Mets where held the Mets to one run over five innings. This season he has only allowed one run over 11 innings against the Mets, who have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 1-4, 2B, 2 K
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2
• Harrison Bader 1-2, K
• José Iglesias 0-2, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-4, BB
• J.D. Martinez 0-5, K
• Jeff McNeil 0-4, K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-4, BB, 2 K
• Luis Torrens 0-2
• Mark Vientos 0-3, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. OPS of the Mets Lineup. The Mets offense for the most part over the last two weeks has stunk. The last two games though the offense has been fine. On Thursday the Mets had four players in their starting lineup that finished the game with an OPS above .800. Lindor finished exactly at .800, Mark Vientos .890, Iglesias .860 and Pete Alonso .802.
2. Mark Vientos. Speaking of Mark Vientos, what will he do today after yesterday’s game? Vientos went 2-for-5 with two homers, reaching 19 on the year. Over his last six games five of his six hits have been for extra bases (two doubles, three homers, .273/.360/.773).
3. Jake Burger. The Marlins held on to Jake Burger through the deadline and contenders who need a bat might be kicking themselves now. Since August 7th he has gone 13-for-28 with six homers (.464/.546/1.143). Burger is just on another planet right now. Will the Mets give him the Aaron Judge treatment this weekend?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets go for the series win this afternoon against the Athletics! Wednesday night the Mets snapped their losing streak with a commanding 9-1 win. Key for the Mets was a six-run inning, where the Mets kept the line moving, something missing for a couple of weeks now.

All of the teams the Mets are chasing also won Wednesday night so the Mets enter play today still two games back of Braves and six games behind the Diamondbacks and Padres.

Jose Quintana has tossed 125 innings over 23 starts with a 4.10 ERA, 4.87 FIP, 1.248 WHIP and a 96 ERA+. Quintana is coming off of a rough start where he allowed five runs over 6 2/3 innings from four hits and two walks. In August he’s allowed eight runs over 11 2/3 innings (6.17 ERA, 4.29 FIP). Only two batters in the Athletics lineup have seen Quintana before (Miguel Andujar 1-for-2, 2B and Daz Cameron 1-for-3, K).

The Mets bats will get a look at rookie Mitch Spence this afternoon. He’s split time between the bullpen and the rotation this season, totaling 106 innings with a 4.33 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.311 WHIP and a 93 ERA+. As a starter has 80 2/3 innings with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.376 WHIP. Hitters slash .272/.323/.456 against Spence as a starter vs .231/.293/.363 as a reliever.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Austin Adams, Act 3? On Tuesday night Austin Adams stopped the comeback the Mets were mounting and came off the field doing the OMG chant among just a large amount of chirping. Wednesday night Francisco Lindor hit a home run and made the OMG hand movement towards the Athletics bullpen (with eye contact). Will the Athletics have Adams pitch in relief today? Will the the Mets and Austin Adams continue to go back-and-forth?
2. Pete Alonso is back! Over the Mets losing streak Pete Alonso is 1-for-16 with a walk. The last time the Mets won, before the losing streak started, Alonso went 3-for-3 at the plate with two home runs. Wednesday night Alonso went 4-for-4 with a double and a homer. The Mets need Pete Alonso to get on a hot streak!
3. Francisco Lindor is the MVP. Francisco Lindor has four games in a row now collecting two hits. He has three games in a row with an extra-base hits. Since August 7th, Lindor has gone 13-for-31 with three doubles and a homer, slashing .419/.438/.613 OPS. He currently has a 127 OPS+, which is his best as a Met and a season OPS above .800. His home run last night was his 100th as a Met. If we view the MVP as “this team would have no chance without this player”, then Lindor is far and away the MVP.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to snap their four game losing streak tonight against the Athletics. The Athletics jumped all over Paul Blackburn and the Mets early in the series opener on Tuesday night. It was another frustrating night that saw the Mets sink another game back in the playoffs. They are now 2.0 games behind the Braves for the last wild card spot. The Giants and the Cardinals are now 1.5 games behind the Mets.

David Peterson looks to get the Mets back on track tonight. Over 64 2/3 innings in 12 starts Peterson has a 3.34 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.423 WHIP and a 118 ERA+. In the month of August he has allowed three runs from nine hits and four walks over 11 innings with a 2.45 ERA, 2.63 FIP. The Athletics hitting, especially post All-Star break, has been pretty good (we saw this Tuesday night). Peterson will have to keep the ball in the park in order to be successful. He has a 0.8 HR/9 this season which is better than his career mark of 1.1. The only two members of the Athletics roster who have faced Peterson are Miguel Andujar (0-for-2) and JJ Bleday (0-for-1).

Joey Estes has pitched 82 1/3 innings this season with a 4.70 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 1.202 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. Since July 14th he has had a 2.84 ERA, 4.80 FIP over 25 1/3 innings. In August he’s allowed four runs from eight hits and two walks over 11 innings. Joey has essentially been all over the place this season. His best start of the season was a complete game shutout and his next time out he allowed eight runs over 1 2/3 innings. No one on the Mets roster has faced Estes in a major league game.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Austin Adams. Austin Adams was signed to a non-roster invitation spring training deal with the Mets this season. During spring training the Mets traded him to the Athletics for cash during the roster crunch in the bullpen. Tuesday night Adams came into the game when the momentum was starting to shift from the Athletics to the Mets. He had a good inning, no hits, no runs, no walks, two strikeouts. He then did the OMG dance and seemed to be chirping coming off of the mound. This is the thing for the Mets bats to rally around tonight.
2. Joey Estes home run problems. Joey Estes weakness this season has been homeruns, giving up 11 this season which is good for a 1.2 HR/9. The Mets bats are fairly cold, but have shown an ability to sock the ball throughout the season.
3. Runners in scoring position. The good news is the Mets on Tuesday night got four hits with runners in scoring position, which is more than they had last weekend. The bad news is they went 4-for-17 and left 11 runners on base. So there are signs the offense is coming back, but the results aren’t there yet. Lindor has been on fire with his third straight game collecting two hits and second consecutive game with a double (15-for-43 over his 10 games hitting .349/.391/.419).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to snap their three game losing streak as they welcome the Oakland Athletics to Citi Field tonight. The Mets are coming off of an intense road trip that had them in Anaheim, St. Louis, Denver and Seattle with no days off. They got a much needed physical and mental break on Monday and now head into this series fresh.

The Mets are one full game behind the Braves for the last wild card spot. The Diamondbacks and Padres are each five games ahead of the Mets. This is a huge two weeks for the Mets with a homestand followed by a west coast trip to San Diego and Arizona.

Paul Blackburn has been solid for the Mets. Over his first two starts he has allowed three runs, two earned, over 12 innings scattering 11 hits while striking out 12 (small sample size 1.50 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 1.250 WHIP and a 271 ERA+). Overall this season he has a 3.86 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 1.175 WHIP and a 105 ERA+. Blackburn made his major league debut with the Athletics and has only played with the Athletics until he was traded to the Mets, so this will be his first time facing his original team. The only member of the Athletics roster to face him in a major league game is Abraham Toro (3-for-7, 3B, K).

Joe Boyle will be getting the start for the Athletics this evening. Over seven starts he has tossed 27 2/3 innings with a 7.16 ERA, 5.09 FIP, 1.735 WHIP and a 57 ERA+. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 5th, when he allowed four runs on a hit and three walks in one inning. In Las Vegas this season he has a 5.63 ERA over 38 1/3 innings (12 games, 11 starts).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Runners In Scoring Position. The Mets hitting with RISP is the key metric to see if the Mets are breaking out of their collective funk. On Sunday night they collectively went 0-for-8 with RISP, which was an improvement from Saturday where they didn’t even get a runner in scoring position. All it takes is one good rally and albatross will evaporate. 
2. Francisco Lindor. Lindor is carrying the club right now. He had his second consecutive two-hit game on Sunday, hitting his 29th double of the season. Since August 3rd he has gone 13-for-39 at the plate with two doubles slashing .333/.366/.385. He’s only scored four times, which is indicative of everything else going on with the club right now. 
3. Pete Alonso. The start of the Mets road trip looked pretty good for Alonso who went 8-for-25 with three homers and five walks (.320/.452/.680). The only alarm bell was 11 strikeouts. Alonso had a series to forget in Seattle going 0-for-11 with a walk and six strikeouts. Let’s hope vintage Pete comes back at home!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to avoid being swept to day in Seattle. The Mariners have shutout the Mets in back-to-back games this weekend. The Braves finally won broke their losing streak, meaning the Mets lost control of the third wild card spot. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks and the Padres won yesterday as they move farther and farther ahead.

Winning fixes everything. The Mets will try to do just that today.

Luis Severino has a 4.06 ERA, 4.38 FIP, 1.251 WHIP and a 97 ERA+ over 128 2/3 innings. He’s in the midst of bad two game stretch, allowing 11 runs, 10 earned, over eight innings. The Mets really need Severino to bounce back and get the Mets back on track this evening in Seattle. The Mariners have the following career numbers against him:

• Randy Arozarena 0-3, 2 K
• Mitch Garver 0-3, BB, K
• Mitch Haniger 1-6, K
• Jorge Polanco 2-7, BB, K
• Justin Turner 1-4, 3 K

The Mets bats will look to break out of their funk against another good Seattle Mariners starting pitcher, this time it’s Luis Castillo. Over 142 1/3 innings, Castillo has a 3.48 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 1.166 WHIP and a 109 ERA+. He’s been the definition of average his last time two starts, allowing exactly three runs (all earned) over six innings in both games. Castillo started against the Mets in Citi Field last September and allowed five runs from eight hits and two walks over five innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Castillo:

• Pete Alonso 1-9, 2 K
• Harrison Bader 6-20, 2 2B, 4 BB, 9 K
• Ben Gamel 2-15, 2 2B, 4 BB, 9 K
• Francisco Lindor 3-9, 2 2B, K
• J.D. Martinez 0-2, BB, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 4-9, 2B, HR
• Brandon Nimmo 1-6, 2B, 3 BB, K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-2, K
• Luis Torrens 1-3
• Mark Vientos 2-3, HR

Three Things To Watch For:

1. In search of hits. The Mets had only four hits on Saturday night, all singles. The Mets didn’t have an at bat with runners in scoring position. Just overall not a good feeling for the Mets and a low point of the road trip. The Mets have just tonight to left on this grueling road trip. Can the Mets muster up the energy tonight?
2. Don’t blame Lindor though. Lindor had two of the Mets four hits last night. On this road trip Lindor has gone 12-for-40 with a double and two walks hitting .300/.333/.325. He’s only scored five times though which speaks to everyone hitting behind him.
3. Jose Buttó. We’ll probably see Buttó tonight with the Mets bullpen needing to put in extra work on Saturday after Manaea pitched only three innings. On this road trip Buttó has pitched four innings over two games striking out six batters, allowing one hit and no runs. Since joining the bullpen at the start of July, Buttó has pitched in ten games, 20 2/3 innings, with a 0.87 ERA (2.98 FIP) while striking out 24 batters.

Let’s Go Mets!

The strength of the Seattle Mariners is their starting pitching and the Mets will go from one good starter in Bryce Miller to Logan Gilbert tonight in Seattle. The Mets couldn’t get anything going against Miller and the Mariners bullpen Friday night and lost the game 6-0. The Braves lost their sixth game in a row, so the Mets still have a half game lead for the last wild card spot, but both of the teams they are chasing for higher seeds won. Both the Mariners and the Mets need this series – can the Mets force the rubber game tomorrow?

Sean Manaea has made 22 starts tossing 120 innings for the Mets this season with a 3.30 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.183 WHIP and a 119 ERA+. He’s coming off of a tremendous start against the Cardinals where he held the Cardinals scoreless over seven innings while striking out 10 batters. In his last two starts he hasn’t allowed a run over 14 innings scattering eight hits while striking out 21. The Mariners have the following career numbers against Manaea:

• Randy Arozarena 2-6, BB, K
• Mitch Garver 1-5, 2B, 2 K
• Mitch Haniger 10-28, 3 2B, BB, 3 K
• Dylan Moore 3-10, 2B, 4 K
• Jorge Polanco 0-6, BB
• Cal Raleigh 0-2, K
• Luke Raley 1-1
• Victor Robles 0-3
• Josh Rojas 1-9, 2B, 3 K
• Justin Turner 5-13, 2B, HR, 3 K

Logan Gilbert has tossed 147 2/3 innings over 23 games this season with a 3.05 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 0.887 WHIP and a 124 ERA+. He’s coming off of a strong start his last time out against the Phillies where he held them to one run over six innings. In his two starts before that though he allowed 12 runs, eight earned, over 9 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Logan:

• Pete Alonso 1-3, 2B, K
• Francisco Alvarez 1-3, K
• José Iglesias 3-6, HR
• Francisco Lindor 0-3
• J.D. Martinez 1-5, BB, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-3
• Brandon Nimmo 1-3, HR, K
• Jesse Winker 1-5, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Runners in scoring position, again. The Mets lack of offense Friday night was due to runners in scoring position, again. The Mets went 0-8 with RISP and wasted doubles from Vientos, Nimmo, and J.D. Martinez. The Mets need to take advantage of situations where they get runners on.
2. Holding runners on base. Earlier this season it felt like teams were running wild on the Mets. Friday night that feeling came back with the Mariners stealing four bases off the Mets.
3. Can the Mets win in Seattle? Jerry Blevins was the winning pitcher for the Mets the last time they won a game in Seattle on 7/28/17. Mike Mayer shared the Mets lineup for that game Friday.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets head to Seattle fresh off of a series win in Colorado. Winning three of their last four games, the Mets pushed their way back into a wild card spot Thursday, knocking out the Braves who got routed by the Brewers. Overall, there are seven teams separated by seven games in the wild card race. Every game is critical.

Things are a bit different on the American League wild card race where the teams that hold the spots are at least 12 games above .500. The Mariners are four games above .500 and four games out of the last wild card spot. If the Mariners are going to break into the race they need to beat the Mets. So we have a series where both teams need to win!

Jose Quintana has pitched 118 1/3 innings with a 3.95 ERA, 4.91 FIP, 1.268 WHIP and a 100 ERA+. Quintana didn’t look as sharp in his last start, allowing three runs from three hits and four walks over five innings, in a game the Mets eventually lost 3-2 because the offense couldn’t get anything going. Before this start, Quintana allowed two runs over 11 innings while striking out 11 batters. The Mariners have the following numbers against Quintana:

• Randy Arozarena 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, K
• Luis Castillo 4-11, 2 K
• Mitch Garver 0-1, BB, K
• Mitch Haniger 1-3, HR
• Dylan Moore 0-2, K
• Jorge Polanco 5-12, HR, BB, K
• Cal Raleigh 0-1
• Victor Robles 1-6, 2 K
• Josh Rojas 0-1, BB
• Justin Turner 6-20, 2B, 5 BB, 3 K

Bryce Miller has tossed 126 2/3 innings over 22 starts with a 3.62 ERA, 3.79 FIP, 1.050 WHIP and a 104 ERA+. Miller oscillates between being dominant and human on the mound. In his two starts around the All-Star break he allowed no runs over 13 innings, scattering eight hits and no walks. In his two starts since then he’s allowed seven runs from 13 hits and a walk over 10 2/3 innings. This is a microcosm of his whole season. The only hitters in the Mets lineup that seen Miller before are Harrison Bader (2-for-4) and J.D. Martinez (0-for-2, K).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Jesse Winker. The Mets got Jesse Winker to help the team against right-handed pitching. Before Wednesday’s game he had gone 3-for-15 over his first six Mets games hitting .200/.250/.200, which is not great. On Wednesday though Winker went 3-for-5 recording his first RBI as a Met. He’s still looking for his first extra-base hit as a Met. Was Wednesday the start of something for Winker?
2. Francisco Alvarez. From July 2nd to August 2nd Alvarez recorded only 13 hits, slashing .186/.250/.257. In his last four games Alvarez has gone 6-for-13 slashing .462/.462/.615. He has two multi-hit games in his last three games. The strikeouts are still high over this stretch (five over his last four games), but it looks like things are starting to click again for Alvarez.
3. Victor Robles. When the Nationals released Robles earlier this season, he was hitting .120/.281/.120 (22 OPS+) over 14 games. He then signed with the Mariners and has become a completely different hitter, going .320/.383/.474 (151 OPS+) over 39 games. The closest OPS+ he’s ever had in his career was in 2018 when he was only 21-years old (127 OPS+). This tear has pushed his season OPS+ to 123, and marks only the third time in his career where his OPS+ is above 100. This is all to say, he’s not the Victor Robles we remember.

Let’s Go Mets!

Francisco Lindor broke through for the Mets in the top of the ninth Wednesday night, and the Mets took the second game of the series. The Padres and Diamondbacks continued their hot streaks, both winning their fourth game in a row, holding onto to the top two wild card spots. The Braves fall continued though last night, and now the Mets are only a half game out of the playoffs. Every game is critical right now!

David Peterson has pitched 59 2/3 innings over 11 starts with a 3.47 ERA, 4.56 FIP, 1.425 WHIP and a 113 ERA+. Peterson is coming off of a good start against the Angels where he held them to only two runs over six innings. He walked only one batter, which is the big story. In his previous three starts he walked 10 batters, minimum three per game. The Rockies have the following career numbers against Peterson:

• Charlie Blackmon 1-3
• Kris Bryant 1-4, K
• Elias Díaz 1-3 HR, BB
• Ryan McMahon 2-4, HR, BB
• Brendan Rodgers 0-3, 2 K
• Jacob Stallings 1-2, BB, K

Austin Gomber is looking to give the Rockies a long outing after their bullpen had to go eight innings Wednesday night. Over 116 innings (21 starts), Gomber has a 4.66 ERA, 4.91 FIP, 1.293 WHIP and a 97 ERA+. Gomber is coming off of a long start against the Padres where he allowed only two runs over seven innings. Before that start Gomber had a 7.15 ERA (5.13 FIP) over 50 1/3 innings (10 starts). The Mets have the following career numbers against Gomber:

• Pete Alonso 2-8, 2B
• Francisco Alvarez 2-4, HR, BB, K
• Harrison Bader 1-5, HR
• Ben Gamel 0-4, BB
• José Iglesias 0-2
• Francisco Lindor 4-14, 2B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-3, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 5-9, K
• Tyrone Taylor 1-1, HR
• Luis Torrens 1-1, BB
• Mark Vientos 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Rockies Bullpen. The Rockies have a weak bullpen – except when it comes to the Mets. The Mets finally were able to breakthrough the bullpen Wednesday night in the ninth inning. Before that they kept getting shutting down the Mets before they could get anything meaningful going. But the bullpen had to do a lot of work. Noah Davis went four innings and then five other pitchers had to get in the game. Four players pitched on back-to-back days. Peter Lambert and Anthony Molina are the only pitchers who haven’t pitched in the last three calendar days.
2. Brandon Nimmo. Is he coming out of his slump or he’s slipping back into it? Before Wednesday’s game we made the argument that he was starting to come out of his slump. On Tuesday he went 2-for-4 with a double. It was the second time in four games he had an extra-base hit. It was the second time in five games he had multiple hits. The last time he had an extra-base hit before that was July 11th. July 6th and 8th was the last time he had multiple-hit games in a close span. Wednesday night Nimmo went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. It was his third hit-less game in his four, and he has five strikeouts in that same stretch.
3. Keep it on the ground. David Peterson has a 55% ground ball percentage this season. Every season he has pitched, his ground ball percentage has increased (44.2, 47.3, 49.1, 53.9, 55). That’s in the 93rd percentile for the majors!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to get back in the win column tonight after they dropped the series opener to the Rockies Tuesday night, the third Mets loss in four games. The Mets struggled with runners in scoring position last night and had enough weird/unusual things happen just made whole night feel like “not their night”. Luckily for the Mets, the Braves lost yesterday, so the Mets are still only 1.5 games out of the last wild card spot.

Paul Blackburn looks to build off of his impressive Mets debut where he held the Angels to one run over six innings (six hits, one walk, six strikeouts). Across 57 innings this season he has a 4.11 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 1.175 WHIP and a 99 ERA+. He pitched in Colorado last season allowing only two runs, scattering nine hits over six innings while striking out seven batters. The Rockies have the following career numbers against Blackburn:

• Elias Díaz 1-3, 2B, K
• Ryan McMahon 1-3, 2B
• Jacob Stallings 0-1, K
• Michael Toglia 1-2
• Ezequiel Tovar 0-3, 2 K

Ryan Feltner has tossed 121 1/3 innings this season with a 4.97 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 1.409 WHIP and a 91 ERA+. He faced the Mets right before the All Star break and allowed four runs, three earned over 3 2/3 innings, walking five batters. Since then he has allowed seven runs, six earned over 19 innings spread across three starts. Home runs have been an issue giving up five of them over his last three starts. He also has a wide margin between his ERA and FIP during that stretch (2.84 vs 6.12). The Mets have the following numbers against Feltner:

• Pete Alonso 3-5, HR, BB
• Francisco Alvarez 1-1, 2B, BB
• Ben Gamel 1-3, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 0-4, 5 BB, K
• J.D. Martinez 0-4, 3 K
• Jeff McNeil 3-6, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 1-4, 3 BB, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-2, K
• Luis Torrens 0-2
• Mark Vientos 0-2, K
• Jesse Winker 1-2, BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Weird things happen in Colorado. This isn’t about the hole in the net last night, or the water logged field. Colorado is a big ballpark. We saw Severino last night get stung by two-run homer where the runner got on base thanks to a long, long hit and the homer would have been a flyout in normal altitude conditions. Weird things can happen in Colorado. Without any data to back it up, it feels the Mets have just been unlucky over the last few days (hard hit balls hit directly to fielders). Eventually that luck has to change right? Why not in Colorado?
2. RISP. Runners in scoring position continues to be a problem for the Mets until it’s not. Over their last six games they have gone 12-for-52 (.231). Monday afternoon Tyrone Taylor got a big hit clearing the bases with a double. It would do wonders for everyone’s confidence and the narrative starting to build around the team to do better with RISP tonight.
3. Is Nimmo coming out of his slump? Brandon Nimmo had a double on July 11th. He then didn’t have another extra-base hit until August 3rd. Tuesday night he went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. It was his second double in four games and his second multi-hit game this month.

Let’s Go Mets!