Mets had an up and down week, ending on a high note Sunday afternoon with a comeback victory over the Chicago Cubs.
What stood out:
- Mets starters posted four quality starts this week. Marcum, Hefner, Harvey and Niese all had go...
Mets had an up and down week, ending on a high note Sunday afternoon with a comeback victory over the Chicago Cubs.
What stood out:
- Mets starters posted four quality starts this week. Marcum, Hefner, Harvey and Niese all had good starts this week. Quality starts are admittedly a low standard for pitching performance, however, it was a good sign seeing the Mets put multiple quality starts together. Through Sunday the team is in the bottom ten of MLB with 19 quality starts, eight of which are Matt Harvey’s.
Trend to follow:
- Daniel Murphy’s hitting. Entering the series versus the Cardinals, Murphy was 5/32 (.156 AVG) in May. Over the past week Murphy was 15/28 (.536 AVG). He also had a 1.41 OPS with two homeruns and a stolen base.
What I liked:
- Wright’s all around play. Aside from Murphy, Wright is the only hitter keeping the Mets offense running, while also playing consistent defense and providing the intangibles of a captain. Wright is top three in every major hitting category for the Mets (R, H, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, BB, SB, AVG, SLG OPS and oWAR).
- Bobby Parnell’s early season dominance. Parnell doesn’t hit triple digits with his fastball anymore, but equipped with a nasty knuckle-curve he’s having the best season of his career. This week he finally got a few saves chances converting all three he was given, while only giving up one base runner in the process.
- Matt Harvey and the SI cover. I’m running out of ways to praise Harvey, so Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated did it this week.
- Juan Lagares on Sunday afternoon. Lagares hasn’t done much at the plate since being called up, however, against the Cubs he hit a double and the game-tying home run leading the Mets to a comeback victory.
- Noah Syndergaard’s performance and future outlook. He has pitched a 2.62 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and a K/BB of 48/13 over 44 and a two-thirds innings. Already 54th on Baseball America’s top prospect list, Syndergaard seems to be a rising star at only 20 years of age.
What I didn’t like:
- Ruben Tejada’s hitting. He’s 3-24 over the past week, almost Ike Davisesque. Tejada has been popping everything up, even his two hits Sunday afternoon were pop-fly singles.
- Ike Davis’ defense is starting to resemble his offense, and we all know how that looks.
- Scott Rice’s overuse. He is leading MLB in appearances and is going to fall back down to earth soon if the Mets don’t start spelling his usage.
- Rick Ankiel, why? Why was it necessary to sign an outfielder whom the lowly Astros cut? He had a good first week, and will probably play well this upcoming week, however, after that he will return to the career .240 hitter he is and waste a spot in the lineup that could go to young players with better potential.
- Robert Carson has given up at least run in six of his eight appearances. I don’t know what the Mets expected from Carson who had a career 4.22 ERA and 1.506 WHIP in the minors.
- Lack of options at Triple-A Las Vegas to supplement the bullpen. The top young pitchers at Triple-A have had terrible seasons including Josh Edgin, Greg Peavey, Darin Gorski. It will be interesting to follow the pitchers at Double-A Binghamton who are having better seasons to see if they will be promoted ahead of those at Triple-A, including Huchingson, Leathersich, Walters or Mazzoni.
What to look for in the week ahead:
- I think Ike Davis just struck out again… Now will he be sent down?
- Mets are facing the toughest week of the year thus far. It will be telling how the Mets fair against the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves, two of the best teams in the league.
- Will any of the Mets hitters decide to show up and help Wright and Murph?
- Can Niese follow up his strong outing on Thursday with another good performance?
As Always Let’s Go Mets!