213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to extend their winning streak to three games tonight as they take on the Rockies for game two. Last night the Mets got another great start from Max Scherzer. The Mets bats came alive thanks to a homer from Francisco Lindor and a two-triple, three-walk day from Brandon Nimmo. Let’s keep it going tonight!

Justin Verlander is coming off of the best start by a Mets pitcher this season. Last Sunday he held the Guardians to only one run over eight innings, scattering three hits, while striking out five batters. Overall this season Verlander has pitched 25 innings with a 3.60 ERA, 4.48 FIP, 0.920 WHIP and a 156 ERA+. Six of the ten runs he’s allowed this season all came in the same start. The Rockies have the following career numbers against him:

• Mike Moustakas 12-71, HR, BB, 16 K
• C.J. Cron 5-29, 2B, HR, 8 K
• Jurickson Profar 1-16, 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
• Charlie Blackmon 3-12, HR, BB, 4 K
• Randal Grichuk 0-6, 2 K
• Ryan McMahon 0-2, 2 K

Chase Anderson will be making his third start for the Rockies tonight. The veteran righty made his debut with Arizona, spent four years with Milwaukee and since then has bounced around between Toronto, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and now Colorado. He started this season with the Reds, in May his contract was purchased by the Rays and then nine days later the Rockies selected him off waivers. His first start with the Rockies was brilliant – he allowed one hit and a walk over five innings. His last time out he allowed only two runs over 5 2/3 innings despite the Marlins racking up eight hits against him. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Starling Marte 16-37, 3 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 K (1.218 OPS)
• Tommy Pham 4-15, 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 6 K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-12, 2 2B, HR, 3 BB, 6 K
• Pete Alonso 2-10, 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
• Francisco Lindor 0-9, 2 BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 2-9, 2B, 2 BB, K
• Eduardo Escobar 2-8, 3 K
• Mark Canha 2-4, 2 2B, BB, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Aces High: Having Scherzer and Verlander on top of the rotation as a one-two punch was the whole hope for 2023. We got a glimpse of it last week as Scherzer and Verlander combined for a great day of doubleheader baseball. Last night Scherzer did his part. Can Verlander make one-two punch a thing tonight?
2. What’s going on with the veteran DH bats? Last night Buck put Vogelbach and Pham in the lineup and they combined for an 0-for-8 day at the plate. Vogelbach is now 3-for-29 in his last 11 games. Pham is now 4-for-31 over his last 13 games. Can it please be Vientos time now?
3. Creeping back to the top of hit by pitches. After the Mets sent Locastro down, the team stopped their epic pace of being hit by pitches. The Mets have been hit a few times in the last couple of days and are now tied for second in majors with the Mariners at 31. The Rays increased their lead in this dangerous category to 34 last night.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets head into Colorado tonight after salvaging their last game of the series against the Cubs. The bats last night showed everything that had been missing for the first two games. They strung hits together, there was a Pete Alonso homer, there were 10 runs on the board, fun times were had. Now the Mets look to use this as momentum and maybe get another winning streak going.

Max Scherzer heads back to the mound tonight. Over 33 2/3 innings he has a 4.01 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.188 WHIP and a 105 ERA+. He is coming off of a great start against Cleveland where he held the Guardians to three hits and no runs over six innings (his second quality start of the season). In Scherzer’s last two starts now he has allowed only one run over 11 innings. Max faced the Rockies last season in Queens and held them to one run over seven innings while striking out 11 batters. The Rockies have the following career numbers against him:

• Mike Moustakas 6-40, 2B, HR, BB, 13 K
• Charlie Blackmon 5-18, 2 HR, BB, 5 K
• Kris Bryant 2-16, 3B, 2 BB, 10 K
• Randal Grichuk 2-14, 6 K
• Jurickson Profar 2-11, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
• C.J. Cron 4-14, 5 K
• Ryan McMahon 1-9, BB, 7 K
• Elias Díaz 0-4, 2 K

The Mets bats will get a look at Connor Seabold tonight. Over 11 games and four starts, Seabold has pitched 31 2/3 innings with a 5.97 ERA, 5.58 FIP, 1.642 WHIP and an 85 ERA+. As a starter only he has pitched 18 innings with a 6.50 ERA and 1.722 WHIP. Most of the damage to his season stats were done in his last two starts where he allowed 11 runs, 9 earned, over eight innings against the Reds and the Rangers. No one on the Mets has faced him in a major league game yet.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pete Alonso keeps hitting bombs. After going silent for a couple of nights, Pete Alonso hit his 19th homer of the season, four ahead of Max Muncy and Jorge Soler who are tied for second. Alonso now has 45 RBI’s on the season which is good for third in the majors (leading the national league) and is slugging .559 (7th in the majors). Can he get to 20 homers before the month is over?
2. Can the Mets keep the hit parade going? The Mets came out swinging last night and recorded 15 hits on their way to scoring 10-runs. The Mets offense has gone through a walk phase and a power phase so far this season but not a “everyone gets a hit phase” yet. Every starter last night recorded at least one hit with Álvarez, Nimmo, Alonso and Marte each recording two. Jeff McNeil went 3-for-4 on the night and scored three times.
3. The Mets are stealing bases again. At the start of the season the Mets were stealing bases at a good clip, but so was the entire league. When the Mets entered their month long slump, they essentially stopped stealing. On the season they have 35 stolen bases, tied for 14th with the Braves. Last night they stole three bases. Marte stole his 14th base (he has a huge percentage of the team’s total stolen bases), McNeil got his third stolen base of the season and Alonso stole his first.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to avoid the sweep tonight as they take on the Cubs for the last game of the series. The Mets offense failed to get off the ground last night for the second game in a row. Despite a two run homer from Álvarez, the Mets couldn’t get anything else going last night and lost a winnable game 4-2.

Can the Mets escape Chicago with a win?

Carlos Carrasco makes his second start since returning from the injured list. Over four games (18 2/3 innings) Carrasco has a 8.68 ERA, 6.97 FIP, 1.554 WHIP and a 49 ERA+. His last start was not good – he allowed five runs from five hits and two walks while struck out three over five innings of work. He is now in the 4th percentile for expected ERA, 18th for expected batting average, 7th for expected slugging and 8th for barrel percentage. The Cubs have the following career numbers against him:

• Dansby Swanson 1-10, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Tucker Barnhart 2-8, K
• Ian Happ 2-8, 2B, 3 K
• Trey Mancini 2-6, K
• Cody Bellinger 1-3, 2B, K
• Seiya Suzuki 1-3, 2 K
• Yan Gomes 1-2
• Christopher Morel 0-1, BB
• Patrick Wisdom 0-1, BB

Kyle Hendricks returns to the mound for the Cubs for the first time since early July of last year. He has been recovering from a capsular tear. Before his injury last year he made 16 starts (84 1/3 innings) with a 4.80 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 1.292 WHIP and an 85 ERA+. In five rehab starts with Iowa this season he has a 5.75 ERA and 1.328 WHIP. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Starling Marte 6-26, 2 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
• Tommy Pham 7-22, 2 HR, BB, 5 K
• Eduardo Escobar 5-14, 2 2B, 3B, 2 BB, 3 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 5-11, 2B, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 0-4, BB, K
• Francisco Lindor 0-6, 2 K
• Mark Canha 0-2, BB
• Jeff McNeil 1-3, HR, K
• Gary Sánchez 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Veteran DH Slumps. Vogelbach has gone 2-for-18 in his last eight games. While has worked four walks, a .273 OBP and .111 SLG is not what you want from your DH. Tommy Pham is 4-for-27 in his last 12 games. He’s also worked four walks to a .250 OBP and a .185 SLG. When Baty and Álvarez first came up, it took Buck about a week or so to turn them into regular starters. At some point Ventos needs to get the lion’s share of the starts at DH, especially if these are the numbers Vogelbach and Pham are producing.
2. Álvarez is destroying the ball right now. On May 9th Álvarez hit two homers. Since then (11 games) he has gone 11-for-37 with two doubles and five homers slashing .297/.381/.757. At some point he will get out of the nine hole in the lineup.
3. At some point the back end of the bullpen will need to pitch. After being overworked last week, Robertson and Ottavino have been off since Sunday. They are getting near the point that they will have to pitch even if the game doesn’t dictate their usage.

Let’s Go Mets!

Tonight the Mets look to start a new winning streak. The Cubs beat the Mets 7-2 in a game the Mets fell behind early and could not claw their way back into. Kodai Senga was pushed back from yesterday’s start to continue to give him an extra day of rest between starts (because his next start would have been on regular rest). Tylor Megill was not his best and allowed six runs, four earned, in 3 2/3 innings. The bullpen, which has been overtaxed recently, kept the Mets in the game but this is not how the Mets wanted to start this road trip.

Tonight the Mets look to put last night behind them as they take on an old friend, Marcus Stroman.

Kodai Senga has pitched 43 innings (eight starts) this season with a 3.77 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 1.442 WHIP and a 112 ERA+. Senga is coming off by far his best game of the season where he allowed one run in six innings while striking out 12 Rays. He has now tossed three quality starts on the season, including two of his last three games. Senga’s 12 K’s in his last start has brought him to 55 on the season, good for a 11.5 K/9. He also limited his walks last time to only three (26 on the season), which raised his K/BB ratio to 2.12.

Marcus Stroman has made ten starts pitching 56 innings this season with a 3.05 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 1.143 WHIP and a 143 ERA+. This is a slightly better line than his last season with the Mets where he had a 3.02 ERA. 3.49 FIP, 1.145 WHIP and 133 ERA+ over 33 starts (one of the Mets more reliable pitchers that season). Stroman has allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his ten starts this year including three times that he has shutout opponents. In the other two starts he allowed 11 of the 19 total runs he’s given up this season. He faced the Mets once last year allowing one run from one hit in 4 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 6-21, 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
• Eduardo Escobar 4-17, 2 2B, BB, 2 K
• Tommy Pham 5-8, 2B, 3 BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 1-6
• Brandon Nimmo 1-2, 3 BB
• Mark Canha 1-3
• Pete Alonso 1-2, 2B
• Jeff McNeil 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brandon Nimmo hot streak loading? While most of the Mets offense was asleep last night, Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-4 at the plate with a a double and a run scored. It was his fifth game in a row that he recorded a hit. There have been six times this season when Nimmo has followed up a multi-hit game with another multi-hit game!
2. The back of the bullpen is rested and ready to go. While the Mets bullpen needed to put a lot of work in last night, that work was contained to Leone and Nogosek (and a sprinkling of Brigham). Robertson, Ottavino and Raley have each had two full days of rest. Smith has had four full days of rest.
3. Pete Alonso doing Pete Alonso things. Pete Alonso was the Mets offense last night driving in both runs. He hit his major league leading 18th homer of the season, which now gives him a three homer lead over Max Muncy who is in second.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are riding high right now with five consecutive wins. The Mets have been “never say die” during the stretch, coming back from behind in almost all of their wins and winning each game by only one run. Now the Mets will look to extend their winning streak to six games as they take on the Cubs in Chicago.

Kodai Senga has pitched 43 innings (eight starts) this season with a 3.77 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 1.442 WHIP and a 112 ERA+. Senga is coming off by far his best game of the season where he allowed one run in six innings while striking out 12 Rays. He has now tossed three quality starts on the season, including two of his last three games. Senga’s 12 K’s in his last start has brought him to 55 on the season, good for a 11.5 K/9. He also limited his walks last time to only three (26 on the season), which raised his K/BB ratio to 2.12.

The Mets bats will look to keep their momentum going against Drew Smyly. Smyly is off to a tremendous start posting a 2.86 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 0.934 WHIP (league leading) and a 153 ERA+ over 50 1/3 innings this year. In two starts against the Mets last year he allowed four runs, only two earned over 9 1/3 innings scattering nine hits while striking out nine. The Mets have the following career numbers against Smyly:

• Eduardo Escobar 8-14, 2B, 4 HR, 2 BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 5-15, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Starling Marte 4-15, 2 2B, 3 K
• Mark Canha 1-12, BB, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 3-11, 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-10, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 2-8
• Jeff McNeil 0-5, 2 BB, K
• Tommy Pham 1-5, HR
• Mark Vientos 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mets are feasting on quality starts now. The Mets were last in the majors in quality starts going into this win streak. They’ve now had four quality starts in their last five games including Justin Verlander’s eight inning performance on Sunday night. We saw this past week how tired and overworked the Mets bullpen has been. Eventually the pen was going to hit some trouble due to the sheer volume of work they’ve needed to do. The Mets look to keep the quality starts trend going tonight and keep the bullpen rested. Also, the Mets are 10-0 when they get a quality start.
2. Mets power numbers are climbing. The Mets are tied for 14th now with 54 homers and 18th in slugging with .391 on the season. In the last week though the Mets are tied for first place in homers (13, with the Rays) and are in 5th in slugging at .468. This is not surprising as the home run has been the Mets calling card during this current win streak.
3. Francisco Lindor has another multi-hit game. Francisco Lindor had another multi-hit game in the night cap on Sunday. In his last eight games he has gone 11-for-35 with three doubles and a homer (.314/.333/.486). This was his fourth multi-hit game during this eight game stretch.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to win their fifth game in a row and sweep a series with the Guardians tonight! Earlier this afternoon the Mets recorded their fourth win in a row on the back of Scherzer’s excellent start and a go-ahead two-run homer from Starling Marte in the bottom of the 8th. It was the third time in the last four games where the Mets had a late homer in the game be the difference maker. The Mets are reveling in their new found “never-say-die” mentality!

Justin Verlander makes his fourth start of the year tonight. Over 17 innings he has allowed nine runs from 15 hits and five walks while striking out 15 batters (4.76 ERA, 5.48 FIP, 1.176 WHIP, 89 ERA+). He was great in his first two starts of the year, allowing three runs over 12 innings but hit a wall his last time out against the Rays. In that start he allowed six runs from eight hits, including two homers, over five innings of work. Overall on the season he has allowed four homers, which is slightly concerning. In one game against the Guardians last year he held them to no runs over six innings, scattering two hits and a walk. The Guardians have the following numbers against him:

• José Ramírez 11-33, 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 BB, 4 K
• Mike Zunino 0-14, BB, 10 K
• Josh Bell 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, K
• Cam Gallagher 0-3, K
• Amed Rosario 0-3, K
• Andrés Giménez 0-2
• Josh Naylor 1-2

The Mets bats will get a look at the two-time all-star Shane Bieber tonight. In nine games (56 1/3 innings) this season he has a 3.20 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 1.225 WHIP and a 132 ERA+. After a terrific start to May where he allowed two runs from 12 hits and two walks over 14 innings, he got roughed up in his last outing allowing six runs, five earned, over 4 2/3 innings from 12 hits. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Tommy Pham 3-16, 2 2B, BB, 5 K
• Gary Sánchez 2-6, 2B, 2 BB
• Eduardo Escobar 5-6, 4 2B, HR
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-4, BB
• Pete Alonso 0-3, K
• Mark Canha 1-3, K
• Starling Marte 2-2, HR

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Doubleheaders this season. This is the Mets fourth doubleheader this season, their second set at home. All of their doubleheaders have happened this month. They have split a doubleheader with the Braves and Nationals, and got swept by the Tigers. Today was the first time this month that the Mets won the first game of the doubleheader. Now they have a chance to actually sweep!
2. Quality Starts are in again! Wednesday night Kodai Senga pitched six innings, allowing one run and striking out 12. On Thursday Megill gave the Mets six innings of two run ball. Today Max Scherzer shutout the Guardians over six innings scattering three hits. The Mets have been struggling to put together quality starts but now have three in a week. With the state of the bullpen, the Mets could really use another quality start from Justin Verlander tonight.
3. It’s Francisco Álvarez time! Álvarez has had two straight games with a homer. More importantly he has recorded five RBI over his last two game. He only had six on the season going into Thursday’s game. He is quickly becoming the Mets x-factor along with Baty and hopefully Vientos.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to extend their winning streak to four games and get above .500 this afternoon when they take on the Guardians for the first game of a doubleheader. Yesterday’s afternoon game was washed out, which was probably a good thing for the Mets as their bullpen had been overtaxed the last three games. Now we have a doubleheader probable lineup for the ages as Max Scherzer pitches in the afternoon followed by Justin Verlander tonight.

Friday night was another incredibly exciting win for the Mets who were down 3-0 early. Pete Alonso tied the game with a grand slam in the 7th inning. The baby Mets (specifically Álvarez and Baty) had homers as well and eventually the Mets won the game with a walk-off single from Francisco Lindor. The vibes are good!

Max Scherzer has pitched 27 2/3 innings over six games with a 4.88 ERA, 5.65 FIP, 1.301 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. He is coming off of one his better starts this season where he held the Nationals to one run from two hits and two walks while striking out six over five innings. How’s now hit a season high of six strikeouts in three different starts – those have also been his best starts (this is excluding the start against the Dodgers, but he was heading toward at least six K’s before he was ejected). The Guardians have the following career numbers against Max:

• Amed Rosario 5-17, 2B, HR, 8 K
• Josh Bell 5-12, 3 2B, HR, 3 BB, 2 K
• José Ramírez 1-6, 2B, 2 K
• Andrés Giménez 1-4, 3B, 2 K
• Cam Gallagher 1-3, K
• Josh Naylor 1-3
• Mike Zunino 0-3, K

The Mets bats will get a look at rookie Tanner Bibee. In his first four major league starts he has has tossed 22 1/3 innings with a 3.22 ERA, 2.71 FIP, 1.030 WHIP and a 133 ERA+. Bibee had a rough start against the Tigers back on May 8th where he allowed four runs from seven hits and four walks over 3 2/3 innings. He bounced back in a big way against the Angels his time out, holding them to only one run from two hits over 7 2/3 innings while striking out 7 batters.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The Mets are showing power again! Álvarez hit his fifth homer of the year and Baty hit his fourth in the Mets last game. It was also the third time in four games that the Mets hit three homers in the same game – before this streak they were struggling to hit one homer in a game. This now gives the Mets 51 homers on the season, good for 14th in the league (they were sitting at 20th at the start of the week). In the last seven calendar days the Mets have hit 10 homers (all in the last four games), which puts them 6th in the league.
2. The Baby Mets. Álvarez, Baty and Vientos have been crucial for the Mets during this current winning streak. Pete Alonso leads the team with 17 homers. Francisco has 6. After that Álvarez is third on the team with five homers and Baty is tied for fourth with four homers. Vientos hit that critical homer in his first game with the Mets. When the kids are playing they are pushing the team forward.
3. Bullpen Check: The Mets bullpen probably did not complain that yesterday’s game was cancelled. Five pitchers were used in Friday’s game including Dominic Leone (25 pitches), Drew Smith (19 pitches), Stephen Nogosek (18 pitches), Adam Ottavino (16 pitches) and David Robertson (9 pitches). Nogosek, Ottavino and Robertson have each tossed at least 37 pitches in their last three games. They could use a break!

Let’s Go Mets!

For the first time in a month the Mets won a series! And it was against one of the best teams in baseball! Now the Mets look to take that same momentum into their weekend series against the Cleveland Guardians who are in the midst of a similar free fall like the Mets.

The Mets have made a few roster moves today to get ready for tonight’s game to activate tonight’s starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco and to add Gary Sánchez to the active roster. The vibes have been good the last two days with the Mets, lets go for three straight!

Carlos Carrasco will face his former club tonight in what should be a high energy night for him. Carrasco had a rough start to the season for the Mets allowing 13 runs from 14 hits and eight walks over 13 2/3 innings. His velocity was down and he just didn’t look right. After a stint on the injured list he’s had two good starts in Binghamton allowing one run on five hits over seven innings while only walking two batters. The Mets weakness this year has been starting pitching, and if Carlos can give the Mets five good innings tonight, it will be a huge boon. The Guardians have the following career numbers against Carrasco:

• Josh Bell 6-14, 2 2B, BB, 3 K
• Mike Zunino 1-6, 2 K
• Cam Gallagher 1-3

The Mets bats will get a look at Cal Quantrill tonight! Over his eight starts (45 1/3 innings) this season he has a 3.97 ERA, 4.84 FIP, 1.346 WHIP and 107 ERA+. Cal had a strong start to May allowing two runs in 14 1/3 innings. He bounced back down to Earth in his last start allowing three runs from six hits and three walks over six innings his last time out. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Eduardo Escobar 2-7, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 1-6, BB, K
• Mark Canha 0-4, BB
• Tommy Pham 2-6, HR, 2 K
• Pete Alonso 1-3
• Jeff McNeil 1-2, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 0-1, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Old Friends! The Mets and Guardians made a franchise changing trade for both teams. The Mets got Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. Lindor is a leader on the Mets for the foreseeable future and immediately became one of the best shortstops the Mets have ever signed. Amed Rosario enjoyed immediate success in Cleveland and became a 6.0 WAR player in the last three seasons. Andrés Giménez blossomed in Cleveland putting together an All-Star season last season (7.4 WAR) and signed a massive extension recently. The trade was a rare massive win for both sides.
2. Pete Alonso Still On Top! Pete Alonso homered in every game during the Rays series, bringing his season total to 16. He continues to hold the lead for homers in the majors and he leads the national league in RBIs (4th overall). Further, Pete is in the 99th percentile for xSLG and 97th in xwOBA. He’s the furnace of this club right now!
3. The Bullpen did in fact bounce back. Yesterday we talked about how we were looking for the bullpen to bounce back after an uncharacteristically bad performance on Wednesday. Raley, Brigham and Robertson all pitched scoreless innings yesterday, scattering two hits and three strikeouts.

Let’s Go Mets!

What a game last night! The New York Mets showed the same fight we saw in 2022 and came back to the beat the Rays in their most memorable win of the season. The Mets offense was non-existent throughout Kodai Senga’s history making start. The Rays were able to double their lead to 2-0 after a solo shot in the top of the seventh. Things were looking grim.

Then the Mets came back three different times, two to tie the game and one to win the game. Mark Vientos tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run shot. Francisco Álvarez hit a three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Pete Alonso hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the tenth.

Now the Mets look to build on top of this energy to win a series against one of the best teams in baseball.

Tylor Megill has pitched 40 1/3 innings over eight starts with a 4.01 ERA, 5.24 FIP, 1.512 WHIP and a 104 ERA+. Things have been rough for Megill over his his last four starts where he has allowed 13 runs over 19 1/13 innings. The good news though is he hasn’t allowed any homers in his last two starts. There is no one on the Rays roster who has seen Megill in a major league game.

The Mets bats will get a look at rookie Taj Bradley today. Over three starts (15 1/3 innings) Bradley has a 3.52 ERA, 2.59 FIP, 0.913 WHIP and a 118 ERA+. Bradley made his first start on April 12th and allowed three runs over five innings to the Red Sox. He then shutout the Rays over 5 1/3 before allowing three runs over five innings to the Astros. The top Rays prospect recorded 23 strikeouts in that stretch. The Rays claim that he was sent down after the Astros start to get him used to a five-man rotation. Whatever the reason was he has been a bit off since returning to the minors, allowing 16 runs over nine innings. With the Rays injuries in their rotation, he’s probably back for good now (but it’s also the Rays so who knows).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Which Mets Show Up Today? Until the fall of 2022, the New York Mets were known as the team you could never count out. They constantly could claw and blast their way back into games. We hadn’t seen that fight since late summer of last year, but it came back last night. Does that momentum carry over into today’s game? Could the Mets do the impossible and even score first inning runs?
2. The Mets hit homers now. After going homer-less for what felt like 37 consecutive games, the Mets have hit six homers in their last two games including two homers from Pete Alonso who is leading the league now with 15 on the season. We already know the Mets can draw walks (7th in the majors with 157) and get hit by a lot of pitches (3rd in the majors with 26). Hopefully the Mets can ride this power hot steak with their ability to get on base to rack up some runs.
3. Bullpen bounce back time. The Mets bullpen, especially the back end of the bullpen, has been the Mets strength this season. The bullpen has also had to put in a ton of extra work this season since the Mets have only had seven quality starts. Last night was an uncharacteristically bad night for the pen as they allowed six runs from four different pitchers, including two of the Mets best pitchers this season. Just like how the Mets bullpen has bailed the Mets out this year the Mets bats were able to bail the bullpen out. We are looking for the bullpen to shake last night off.

Let’s Go Mets!

Last night was a mix of some old and some new for the New York Mets. The Mets got a rough start from a pitcher who was supposed to be a source of strength for the Mets (Justin Verlander), adding to the narrative that the starting pitching is the breaking point for this team. On the new side, the Mets bats actually hit homeruns. At one point the Rays were up 6-0 and thanks to homers from Brett Baty, Pete Alonso and Eduardo Escobar the Mets were able to make the final score 8-5.

Can the offense come through again tonight? Can the Mets set up a rubber game for tomorrow?

Kodai Senga makes his eighth start of the season tonight. Over his first 37 innings, he has a 4.14 ERA, 4.95 FIP, 1.514 WHIP and a 101 ERA+. After back to back starts where Senga allowed only two runs over 11 innings while striking out 11 batters, he took a step back in his last start. Against the Reds last week he allowed five runs from eight eight hits and a walk over five innings, while striking out seven batters.

Josh Fleming will make his second start of the season tonight. Over eight total games and 31 2/3 innings, he has a 4.26 ERA, 4.79 FIP, 1.421 WHIP and a 96 ERA+. Fleming has started since his first game of the season where he allowed five runs over three innings from 10 hits and a walk. Since then he has always pitched in relief with a minimum of three innings and a maximum of six innings. Fleming has already reached the 80 pitch plateau this season as well. His last time out was a solid bounce back. On May 7th he allowed six runs over five innings and then five days later he allowed only one run over four innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 0-3
• Starling Marte 1-3
• Jeff McNeil 3-3
• Francisco Lindor 0-2
• Brandon Nimmo 0-1

I’ve been writing game previews and game threads for a long time. This is the first time the Mets have had at least five players face an opponent and only have singles, no walks and no strikeouts.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Quality Starts: The Mets are 30th in the league in quality starts. That pretty much explains the entire Mets season. Kodai Senga, who already has two quality starts this season is looking to give the Mets only their 7th quality start of the season. That would tie the Mets with the Royals. The next closest NL East team is the Marlins with 10 quality starts.
2. Alonso has a share of the homer lead again! Alonso tied Max Muncy for the season lead in homers at 14. To put this in perspective, the Mets as a ball club only have 44 homers. His homer created a moment of hope that maybe the Mets could mount a comeback. The Mets, who are overwhelmingly outscored in the first inning, could use an Alonso homer early tonight.
3. Keep the Rays in the ballpark! Paredes hit two homers last night for a total of five runs. Siri hit a massive solo shot after Bretty Baty’s bomb. The Rays lead the league with homers and it’s how they get on the scoreboard in a hurry. Kodai Senga has allowed six homers this year at a rate of 1.5 HR/9, but he has allowed only one homer in his last three games. Keep the Rays in the park tonight and the Mets will have a chance.

Let’s Go Mets!