213 Miles From Shea

The Mets have gone from free-falling to sputtering over the weekend as the split a series with the Washington Nationals. During the series the Mets saw some brilliant pitching and hitting. They also saw the bats disappear and the pitching fall apart. Sometimes you need a challenge to get things going and the Mets will get that this week as the Rays (31-11) come to Queens.

The Mets turn to their ace Justin Verlander this evening to put the team back on track. In two starts this season he has allowed three runs from seven hits and three walks over 12 innings, leading to a small-sample size 2.25 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 0.833 WHIP and a 190 ERA+. In his last start he held the Reds to one run over seven innings. It was only the second time this season that a Mets starting pitcher went seven innings. The Rays have the following career numbers against him:

• Yandy Díaz 2-4, 2B, BB
• Christian Bethancourt 1-3, HR, K
• Brandon Lowe 0-3, K

The Mets bats will look to find positive consistency against Jalen Beeks who is making his fourth start of the season in his 16th game. Overall this year he has pitched 20 innings with a 5.40 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 1.250 WHIP and a 77 ERA+. He has been much more effective as a starter, totaling seven innings in three games and allowing only one earned run. His other 11 runs have come in his 13 innings in relief. He has mostly been in relief in the month of May and has been solid allowing one run over 6 2/3 innings from four hits and two walks while striking out eight. The most pitches he has thrown in an outing this year is 41 and he has tossed 28 and 31 pitches in his last two starts. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 2-3, 2 BB, K
• Tommy Pham 2-3, HR, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-2, 2B, BB, K
• Eduardo Escobar 0-2
• Michael Pérez 0-1

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The Rays offense is on another level. The Rays lead the league in Runs (260), hits (395) and homers (81). The Mets pitching is the Mets pitching. We’ve experienced it for the past month and it hasn’t been that much fun. The Mets need Verlander to set the tone for the pitchers this series. The Mets bats are going to need to do their part as well.
2. First inning woes for the Mets. This tweet from Mike Mayer says it best. The Mets have been outscored 37-9 to in the first inning. It’s demoralizing. The Mets offense is immediately playing catch-up. The starting pitcher’s chance of a quality start is already in jeopardy. The bullpen starts to worry about how much work they will have to put in.
3. Starling Marte is coming around now! In his last seven games Marte has gone 10-for-28 at the plate (.357), raising his batting average from .213 to .243. We just haven’t seen Marte work a walk or get an extra base hit in that stretch.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have a chance to win a series this afternoon when they take on the Nationals for game four! After dropping the suspended game in the afternoon yesterday (despite collecting a plethora of hits) the Mets finally had an easy win in the night cap. Max Scherzer looked more like himself, the Mets got a multi-hit game from both Starling Marte and Mark Canha, the bullpen looked great.

Now the Mets try to do it one more time! Let’s go!

This could be David Peterson’s last turn in the rotation as Carlos Carrasco nears his return. Peterson has had a rough 2023 with a 7.68 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 1.676 WHIP and a 54 ERA+ over 34 innings. He currently leads the league in earned runs at 29 and has given up eight homers (HR/9 rate of 2.1). He made a spot start for Scherzer his last time out and promptly gave up four runs but settled down a bit and was able to go 3 1/3 innings. He also struggled against the Nationals last season, allowing seven runs from 14 hits and five walks over 11 innings. The Nationals have the following career numbers against Peterson:

• Luis Garía 1-7, 3 K
• Keibert Ruiz 1-5, BB
• Lane Thomas, 0-4, BB, K
• Joey Meneses 1-2, BB
• CJ Abrams 0-2, K
• Carter Kieboom 0-2, K
• Alex Call 1-1

The Mets bats look to keep their momentum going against Patrick Corbin. Corbin has pitched 44 1/3 innings over eight starts with a 4.87 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 1.421 WHIP and an 84 ERA+ this season. Corbin is in the midst of one his better stretches right now, allowing 11 runs, 10 earned over 24 1/3 innings in his last four starts (3.70 ERA). The Mets hit Corbin well last season collecting 30 hits and 10 walks in his five starts against the Mets. The Mets turned that into 14 runs (5.11 ERA). The Mets have the following career numbers against Corbin:

• Pete Alonso 13-37, 2 2B, 5 HR, 9 BB, 11 K (1.289 OPS)
• Starling Marte 11-39, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB, 10 K
• Jeff McNeil 9-29, 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
• Brandon Nimmo 7-29, 2 BB, 11 K
• Francisco Lindor 7-29, 2B 8 K
• Eduardo Escobar 5-19, 2B, 2 HR, 2 K
• Mark Canha 5-15, HR, BB, K
• Tommy Pham 6-12, 2B, 4 BB, K
• Luis Guillorme 1-5
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mets regulars starting to heat up. Starling Marte and Mark Canha have been mired in what feels like a season long slump. Marte went 2-for-4 at the plate yesterday and scored twice. Canha went 3-for-4 yesterday with two doubles and a run. Both batters drove in two runs. Marte is now 8-for-24 in his last six games. All eight hits have been singles, but this is a positive sign! If both players start to turn it on, the Mets will be in a much better place.
2. The Bullpen is tired. Even though the bullpen got Saturday night off, the bullpen put in extra work yesterday as they pitched a combined 11 innings. Nogosek and Muckenhirn each tossed at least 40 pitches. Brooks Raley returned from the injured list and tossed 33. Brigham tossed 28. Robertson hasn’t pitched since Friday night but he tossed 40 pitches in that game. The good news is Adam Ottavino and Drew Smith are rested and good to go tonight. The Mets bullpen desperately needs David Peterson to go deep into the game tonight.
3. New York Mets still collecting walks! It’s been a while since we checked in the Mets walk totals. The Mets have collected 151 walks on the season, good for sixth in the majors and just one behind the Braves and three behind the Pirates. The Mets are 20th in the majors in hits at 324. This has lead the Mets to be 27th in the majors on average runners left on base per game (7.24) just in front of their opponents today (7.30). Hopefully with the bats heating up the walks can start to turn into runs.

Let’s Go Mets!

MLB and the Washington Nationals sure made a mess of a lot of family’s Mother’s Day plans this afternoon. The Mets and Nationals were in a four hour rain delay yesterday, with the tarp being off of the field for at least two hours of the delay. After four hours of waiting, the field was determined to be unplayable and the game had to be suspended.

The situation was already handled poorly to this point, but the Nationals decided to make it worse by moving the Mother’s Day game today back three hours, to hold the suspended game first. On top of that, fans who waited through the suspended game, as of 8:30 this morning, are not getting a voucher for another game, rather they need to go to the 12:35 PM game today. Just a mess.

Of course, all of this was predicted. The rain showed up around when it was supposed to and cleared out yesterday around when it was supposed to. If the start of the game was just delayed until 7 PM none of this would have happened. Now the Mets and Nationals find themselves in a situation where they burned two starters yesterday and need to find starting solutions today. Further for the Nationals, whomever they put out first is going to enter a game with runners on 3rd and 2nd with one out in the inning.

The Mets are down 1-0, they have two runners on and only one out in the top of the third. Brandon Nimmo is at the plate. He has a chance to tie the game or give the Mets the lead. Lets play ball (again!)

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brett Baty Bounce Back: Brett Baty immediately made his bat known in the Mets lineup. He’s cooled off a bit over the last four games going 0-for-11 at the plate with two walks and two runs scored. He’s only struck out once though in this stretch, it’s not like he’s lost out there. The last time he faced Trevor Williams he went 3-for-3 with a homer.
2. Michael Pérez gets a start. Pérez got a start yesterday and already made the most of hit, getting a hit in his first trip to the plate. He’s currently standing on second! With Nido down, and Sanchez making a lot of noise in the minors Pérez needed that hit.
3. Brandon Nimmo broke his strikeout streak! Going into last night’s game, Brandon Nimmo had at least one strikeout in each of his last 12 games making for 16 strikeouts total. He went 2-for-4 at the plate last night with a walk and has now gone 6-for-12 in his last three games. He has a ridiculous .571 OBP in that stretch.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Nationals play the game they were supposed to play at around 1:35 today at 4:35 as Max Scherzer returns to the rotation and takes on Jake Irvin.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who is a Mother-figure in someone’s life! Hope you feel celebrated and appreciated today! For the Mets players, I hope the Nationals poor handling of yesterday’s rainout doesn’t interrupt your Mother’s Day plans too badly!

Max Scherzer’s last start was scratched due to neck spasms. His injury kept the Mets rotation for this weekend a mystery as the Mets needed to figure out how slot him back into the rotation. This season Max has made five starts (22 2/3 innings) with a 5.56 ERA, 6.29 FIP, 1.412 WHIP and a 76 ERA+. His last start was his first since his suspension and he allowed six runs from eight hits, including two homers, over 3 1/3 innings. Last season Scherzer faced the Nationals three times totaling 17 2/3 innings and had a 3.06 ERA (0.906 WHIP). The Mets would be ecstatic if that is the Max Scherzer that shows up today! The Nationals have the following career numbers against him:

• Corey Dickerson 5-18, HR, 4 K
• Dominic Smith 0-16, 2 BB, 7 K
• Keibert Ruiz 1-7, K
• Jeimer Candelario 1-5, 2 K
• Luis Garía 3-5, HR, K
• CJ Abrams 1-2
• Joe Meneses 0-2, K
• Lane Thomas 0-1, BB, K

The Mets bats draw rookie Jake Irvin today who has allowed only one earned run from six hits and seven walks in his first 10 2/3 major league innings. Before getting called up, Irvin was having a rough go of it in Rochester where over 22 1/3 innings he allowed 14 runs from 23 hits and 11 walks (5.64 ERA) but he also struck out 20 batters. The Mets are going to need to practice patience with Irvin this afternoon, working walks and raising his pitch count. More recently we’ve seen the Mets play a bit more impatient and aggressive in the second game of a doubleheader.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. How hard do the Nationals hit Scherzer? One of the most alarming things for Scherzer this season has been how hard he’s been hit. He’s in the 18th percentile for average exit velocity, 37th for hard hit percentage, 13th for expected slugging, and 7th for barrel. We’ll probably know within the first two innings today if Scherzer has been able to make adjustments.
2. One more Scherzer note. Max Scherzer dominated his starts last season – except when he had to play his hold club in D.C. He opened the season against them last year and allowed three runs over six innings. Later he he allowed three runs, two earned over 6 2/3 innings. We would take both of those starts in a heartbeat today, but last year they weren’t very Scherzer like.
3. More Francisco Álvarez. With Michael Pérez catching the first game today, we’ll get to see more of the Mets top prospect tonight (hopefully – I’m writing this at 8:30 AM so who knows). Álvarez has impressed so much already with bat and glove, and we are starting to see it appear on websites like Baseball Savant. Álvarez is already in the 92nd percentile for maximum exit velocity and he’s in the 90th percentile for pitch framing.

Let’s Go Mets!

Just like that the New York Mets have won two of their last three games.

The Mets left seven runners on base over the first three innings last night and the game started to feel like more of the same. The Mets were getting hits, working walks and not doing anything with it. They were hitting the ball hard straight into outs. The Nationals were getting soft hits and timely hits and built up a 2-0 lead that felt like a 20-0 lead. Then Francisco Lindor came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a double. The Mets bullpen took it from there and we were all finally able to put it in the books.

Now the Mets look to do that again for the second day in a row for the first time in 73 years (or three weeks).

Joey Lucchesi makes his fifth start of the season tonight. Over 20 1/3 innings he has a 4.43 ERA, 5.21 FIP, 1.230 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. Since his amazing 2023 debut, he has allowed 10 runs from 14 hits and five walks over 13 1/3 innings (6.75 ERA). He’s already faced Washington this season allowing three runs from five hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings. These numbers are a bit skewed thought. Lucchesi was pulled in the 6th inning with two runners on and both of those runners scored, taking him from one run to three on the day. The Nationals have the following numbers against Joey:

• Alex Call 2-2, HR, BB
• Jeimer Candelario 0-3, K
• Corey Dickerson 0-3
• Joey Meneses 1-3
• Keibert Ruiz 1-3
• Lane Thomas 1-2, BB, K
• CJ Abrams 0-2
• Michael Chavis 0-2
• Carter Kieboom 1-2

The Mets bats will get to face an old friend in Trevor Williams this afternoon. Across seven starts (36 innings) Williams has a 4.25 ERA, 4.85 FIP, 1.33 WHIP and a 97 ERA+. Williams is coming off of a rough start where he allowed five runs from seven hits and a two walks over 4 1/3 innings. Williams was also the opposing pitcher last time Lucchesi started against the Nationals. Williams in that game allowed four runs over five innings from nine hits and two walks. The Mets have the following career numbers against Williams:

• Tommy Pham 3-16, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
• Jeff McNeil 3-10, 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 2-11, 2B, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 2-10, 2B, HR, BB, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-7, 3 K
• Eduardo Escobar 2-6, 2B
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-3, BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 0-2, BB
• Luis Guillorme 0-3
• Mark Canha 1-2, K
• Brett Baty 3-3, HR
• Francisco Álvarez 1-2, BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brett Baty Bounce Back: Brett Baty immediately made his bat known in the Mets lineup. He’s cooled off a bit over the last four games going 0-for-11 at the plate with two walks and two runs scored. He’s only struck out once though in this stretch, it’s not like he’s lost out there. The last time he faced Trevor Williams he went 3-for-3 with a homer.
2. Who’s closing the door today? The Mets put Ottavino in for the 7th inning last night and asked Robertson to get six outs. Robertson looked great in the 8th but a bit tired in the 9th and eventually Drew Smith had to come get the last out. In the last three days Robertson has thrown 53 pitches, including 40 last night. Ottavino has thrown in three of the last four games, but has only thrown 27 pitches (he’s gone 12, 13 and then 14 pitches which is kind-of neat to look at). Drew Smith the most fresh, only throwing once in the last three games, with that game being only four pitches last night.
3. Brandon Nimmo broke his strikeout streak! Going into last night’s game, Brandon Nimmo had at least one strikeout in each of his last 12 games making for 16 strikeouts total. He went 2-for-4 at the plate last night with a walk and has now gone 6-for-12 in his last three games. He has a ridiculous .571 OBP in that stretch.

Let’s Go Mets!

The vibes on the Mets were starting to turn around. The Mets got a dominating performance from Justin Verlander on Wednesday, two good innings from the bullpen and just enough offense to secure a win and set up a rubber game yesterday against the Reds.

Then yesterday happened. Kodai Senga allowed four runs in the first inning (he was great after that!) and the Mets offense just completely disappeared. The vibes were back to bad. Now the Mets open up a weekend series against the Nationals. The Mets have a chance to return to .500 or better for the season depending on how this weekend goes. The Nationals have a chance to leapfrog the Mets in the standings.

Tylor Megill looks to get the Mets back on track tonight in his eighth start of the season. Over 35 1/3 innings this year he has a 4.33 ERA, 5.40 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and a 97 ERA+. He has allowed at least three runs in each of his last four starts, leading to a 6.05 ERA over his last 19 1/3 innings. For the most part, it looks like a jump in both hits and walks have hurt him. On the positive side, he hasn’t allowed any homers in the month of May yet. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

• Lane Thomas 1-8, HR, 5 K
• Luis Garía 1-5, 2B, K
• Carter Kieboom 1-5, 3 K
• Victor Robles 0-2, K
• Keibert Ruiz 2-3, 2B
• Riley Adams 0-2
• Joey Meneses 0-1

MacKenzie Gore has pitched 37 innings over seven starts with a 3.65 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 1.432 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. Four of his seven starts this season have been quality starts including his last start where he allowed two runs from eight hits and a walk over six innings. His best start by far this season was against the Mets. He held the Mets to one run from four hits and two walks over six innings and struck out 10 Mets. The Mets have the following career numbers against Gore:

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

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Please score a run. Ideally the Mets will score more than one run tonight. However, just score one run has become a hurdle for the Mets who after Thursday’s game have been shutout seven times this season already. They were shutout only eight total times last season.
2. Brandon Nimmo’s two contradicting streaks. After going ice cold during the start of the Mets free fall, Brandon Nimmo is hitting more like his normal self. In his last eight games he is 10-for-30 with three walks, hitting .333/.429/.500. On the other hand, he now has 12 straight games with at least one strikeout (total 16 strikeouts). We wrote about this before Thursday’s game also. He’s 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and a walk against Gore, so both of these streaks may continue another day.
3. The Mets #1 prospect is playing like the #1 prospect. Francisco Álvarez has had a pretty great last eight games. He’s 8-for-25 with five extra base hits (three doubles and two homers) leading to a .320/.393/.680 line. He’s also had three multi-hit games in that stretch compared to only one in the 13 games before this streak.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to win a series for the first time in a few years weeks this afternoon as they take on the Reds in a rubber game at the Great American Ballpark.

Justin Verlander gave the Mets what they so desperately needed last night – seven innings from a starting pitcher. After a rough first inning, Verlander was in control for the rest of the night. Showalter was able to hand the game off to Ottavino and then Roberts. The whole game was just cleansing. Now Kodai Senga, who leads the Mets with two quality starts, looks to duplicate Verlander’s work.

In six starts and 32 innings this season, Kodai Senga has a 3.38 ERA, 5.15 FIP, 1.469 WHIP and a 125 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed only two runs over 11 innings. He’s scattered seven hits in that stretch but has also walked eight batters (but has 11 strikeouts). So far this season the walks and homers have hurt Senga. He has 22 walks on the season (6.2 BB/9) and has allowed five homers (1.4 HR/9). That’s a bad combination for keeping runs off the board. However his pitches keep hitters guess so often, he’s going to collect a lot of walks while he racks up the K’s (10.1 K/9).

The Reds are going with a bullpen game of sorts today with Derek Law as the opener and Ben Lively getting a bulk of the work after. Law has pitched 18 innings over 17 games this season with a 3.00 ERA, 5.31 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and a 163 ERA+. He allowed three runs over two outings at the end of April and hasn’t allowed any runs in his four games since pitching five innings of one hit baseball (four walks though). His last outing was the first game of this series where he allowed a hit, a walk and nothing else against the Mets. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Tommy Pham 2-4, K
• Starling Marte 1-3, 2 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2, BB, K
• Mark Canha 1-2, HR
• Eduardo Escobar 2-2
• Francisco Álvarez 0-1
• Francisco Lindor 0-1

The Mets should also see Ben Lively pitch in the majors for the first time since 2019 today. Lively was drafted by the Reds in 2013 and was traded to the Phillies before the 215 season for Marlon Byrd. In 2017 he started 15 games for the Phillies with a 4.26 ERA over 88 2/3 innings. Lively went to Korea in 2020 and returned to the Reds organization in 2022. So far in the minors this year he has pitched 27 innings over five games with a 2.33 ERA and 1.074 WHIP. He has thrown six innings in a game twice in the minors this season and in his most recent start he tossed 92 pitches. A few Mets have seen him over the years:

• Brandon Nimmo 0-7, BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 1-3
• Francisco Lindor 0-1, BB
• Mark Canha 0-0, HBP

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Let the league know Pete is back. Alonso hit a homer again last night, retaking the major league lead with 13 on the season. In his last four games he is 3-for-12 with two homers and six walks, leading to a .250/.500/.750 batting line. Alonso has also only scored twice (literally from his two homers) meaning every time he has walked, the Mets have just left him out on the base paths.
2. Daniel Vogelbach got an opposite field hit last night. Vogelbach collected two hits last night and now has four hits in his last five games. He’s also collected three walks in that stretch (.412 OBP). First, it was nice to see Vogelbach hit a ball yesterday to part of the field he rarely does. Vogey has gotten criticism this year and I’m not sure if he’s the right person right now for the DH spot, but he’s starting to show some early signs that he’s turning things around.
3. Brandon Nimmo looks to build off of a busy night. Between May 5th and 6th Brandon Nimmo had back to back games where he had two hits in each game. After going hitless in his next two games he had a busy night last night, collecting three hits. This is already his 6th game this season with at least three hits! On one negative note, Nimmo has struck out now 11 consecutive games (15 times total in that stretch). In the 25 games before this stretch he struck out only 14 times total.

Let’s Go Mets!

The 2023 Mets are going to live and die by their starting pitching. Max Scherzer was a late scratch to last night’s start and David Peterson got a surprise return to the rotation. He couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity and the Mets ended up playing another game from behind.

At one point last night the Mets were down 7-1 and they were able to fight back to make it 7-6, the second game in a row where they scored six runs. Between Peterson’s start and some questionable calls (including one that got Showalter ejected) the Mets couldn’t come out on top. Last night was the first time in a while though that the Mets showed fight. They have now lost 12 of their last 15 and are free falling. Can they stop the fall tonight?

Justin Verlander looks to get the Mets back on track. In his Mets debut last week he pitched five innings allowing two runs from five hits and a walk while striking out five. The Mets as a team have had only five quality starts from starting pitchers this year. A Verlander quality start will go a long way for the Mets ball club this evening. The Reds have the following career numbers against Justin:

• Joey Votto 3-5, 3 2B, BB, 2 K
• Curt Casali 0-5, 3 K
• Wil Myers 1-4
• Nick Senzel 0-3, 2 K

The Mets bats will get a look at the flame-thrower of the Reds staff: Hunter Greene. Over seven starts and 33 2/3 innings this season, Greene has a 3.74 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 1.426 WHIP and a 131 ERA+. The big difference between this year and last year is his HR/9 rate. He’s dropped it from 1.7 to 0.8. Now that being said, he’s coming off of his worst start of the season where he allowed five runs from seven hits and a walk including two homers against the White Sox. Greene faced the Mets once last season and allowed six runs from seven hits and a walk. The key to beating Greene in that game? The Mets hit two homers. Anyway the Mets have the following career numbers against Greene:

• Pete Alonso 0-2, BB
• Mark Canha 1-2, 2B
• Eduardo Escobar 0-3, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-2, HR, K
• Starling Marte 0-3, K
• Jeff McNeil 2-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 2-3, HR
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2, BB, K
• Tomás Nido 1-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Álvarez! The Mets top catching prospect had a huge night last night, hitting solo homers twice! He’s now hitting .241/.281/.444 on the season and in his last six games he’s hitting .333/.400/.778. The Mets need every spark they can get right now!
2. Work Walks. Hunter Greene has allowed three walks in a game three times this season. Teams have been able to push Greene out of those starts after 3 1/3 innings, 4 2/3 innings and 5 innings. Plus, in this ballpark, runners on the base paths can easily be brought in with a homer.
3. Can the Mets get Marte Going? Marte was a hero of last year’s club hitting .292/.347/.468 with a 132 OPS+. This year has been the exact opposite. Over 31 games this season he is hitting .223/.298/.286 with a 65 OPS+. In the month of May he is 6-for-27 and is hitting .222/.250/.472. Last night he was able to get on base twice with two singles. Is this the start of something?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are heading to Ohio looking to get a fresh start. Last week was fairly terrible for the Amazin’s. Last week the Mets split a doubleheader with the Braves, then got swept by the Tigers and finally lost a series with the Rockies. Just an awful week.

Winning games makes all of the frustration from the last couple of weeks melt away and that’s what the Mets will try to do today as they take on the Reds!

Max Scherzer needs a good start in the worst way. Last Wednesday he made his return from a foreign substance suspension that was delayed a bit from rainy weather in Queens and later in Detroit. In his first five games he has a 5.56 ERA, 6.35 FIP, 1.412 WHIP and a 77 ERA+ over 22 2/3 innings. He’s now in the 19th percentile for exit velocity, 38th for hard hit percentage and 8th for barrel percentage. In other words, if it feels like teams are hitting Scherzer hard this year – they are. Scherzer shutout the Reds over six innings in his one start against them last season. The Reds have the following numbers against Max:

• Wil Myers 7-25, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, BB, 14 K
• Joey Votto 5-20, 2 2B, 5 BB, 7 K
• Jonathan India 1-8, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Nick Senzel 0-6, 4 K
• Tyler Stephenson 0-3, 2 K

The Mets bats look to find some consistency as they take on Luke Weaver. In three starts this season, Weaver has a 7.88 ERA, 6.35 FIP, 1.688 WHIP and a 64 ERA+ over 16 innings. He’s allowed at least four runs in each start this season. His last start was the shortest of the season, 4 1/3 innings, where he allowed four runs from nine hits and two walks. On the positive side, it was the first start this season where he didn’t allow any homers (the Pirates and Rangers hit a total of five against Luke in his first two games). The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Starling Marte 5-12, 2B, BB, K
• Tommy Pham 2-6, 2B, 2 K
• Mark Canha 0-2, K
• Tomás Nido 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Steve Gelbs on the call! Steve Gelbs is going to do the play-by-play call this series for SNY! Gary Cohen is getting the series off so Gelbs will get the opportunity to call a regular season game for the first time in his career. Over under 1.5 conversations this week about Skyline Chili?
2. Quality Starts Please. The Mets starting pitching has been the major weak point for the club over the first 35 games this season. The Mets constantly find themselves playing from behind and with starting pitchers making early exits. In the first 35 games this year the Mets as a staff have tossed only five quality starts (Senga has two, Lucchesi, Megill and Scherzer each has one). This puts extra pressure on everyone and eventually things start to break. We saw that on Sunday as the Mets bullpen, working overdrive so far, pretty much fell apart against the Rockies.
3. Jeff McHits Is Back! Jeff McNeil had a terrific day at the plate on Sunday going 3-for-5 with a run scored. He broke an 0-for-10 slump. from his previous four games. Hopefully McNeil can build off Sunday’s game tonight in Cincinnati!

Let’s Go Mets!

The good news: the Mets scored double the amount of runs yesterday than Friday night. The bad news: that means they scored two runs and lost 5-2 against the Rockies.

Now the Mets have a rubber game Sunday matchup with the Rockies. If the Mets win, they’ll win their first series since they took two of three from the Dodgers in LA in April. If the Mets lose, they’ll fall below .500 for the first time since the Brewers swept them the second series of the year.

Joey Lucchesi looks to get the Mets back on track this afternoon. Over three games and 16 1/3 innings, Lucchesi has a 3.86 ERA, 4.89 FIP, 1.102 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. His season stats are still being buoyed by his first start of the season where he shutout the Giants over seven innings of work. Since then he has allowed seven runs from 10 hits and two walks over 9 1/3 innings. In his first start against the Giants he struck out nine batters. Since then he has stuck out only four batters. The Rockies have the following career numbers against him:

• Charlie Blackmon 6-20, BB, 3 K
• Elias Díaz 0-9, 2 K
• Ryan McMahon 2-8, BB, 3 K
• Mike Moustakas 1-4, 2 BB, K
• Kris Bryant 2-4, 2B, BB, 2 K
• C.J. Cron 2-4, 2B, 2K
• Jurickson Profar 0-4
• Randal Grichuk 0-2, BB, K

The Mets bats will try to break out of their rut against Ryan Feltner. Over six starts (30 1/3 innings), Feltner has a 4.45 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 1.451 WHIP and a 115 ERA+. In his first three starts of the season he allowed 13 runs from 15 hits and 11 walks over 13 1/3 innings (8.78 ERA). Since then he has allowed only three runs, two earned, from 14 hits and four walks while striking out 15 in 17 innings (1.06 ERA). He made one start against the Mets last year where the Mets scored three times off six hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 0-2, BB
• Starling Marte 0-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-2, BB
• Pete Alonso 2-2, HR
• Brett Baty 0-2, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-2
• Tomás Nido 1-2
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Work the counts! When the Mets were playing well in April, they were near the top of the league in walks. They are still ranked 6th in the league with 126 walks. However if you only look at the last seven days, the Mets are 20th in the league, working only 17 walks (minimum 11 by the Reds/Nationals, maximum 31 by the Dodgers). There is a direct connection between the Mets walking less, and the quick at bats we’ve seen recently.
2. Mets Control Issues. Sticking with the walks theme, the Mets are third in baseball with 128 walks issued trailing the Oakland Athletics (179) and the Chicago White Sox (147). While ranked only 14th in this category over the last week, the Mets offense is hitting well enough to cover for Mets pitcher control issues.
3. A Brandon Nimmo Update: A few days ago we wrote about how Nimmo had gone cold at the plate. Earlier this weekend we talked about how Nimmo was finally starting to show signs of heating up. He’s now had back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time since his amazing West Coast road trip. In the last four games he is 6-for-15 with two doubles and a homer slashing .400/.438/.733. Now he just needs someone else to heat up with him.

Let’s Go Mets!