WHO WON:
The Blue and Gray Metropolitans
WHAT HAPPENED, THE RETURN OF THE ONE CALLED JACOB DEGROM:
Over the course of the last two weeks, baseball was likely the last thing on Jacob deGrom’s mind. After stepping away for 12 days due to his son’s health complications, the righty rejoined the team to start the finale of a bountiful, yet long, road trip for the Mets. If I had to summarize his start, I think the most accurate description might be that it was good, but definitely not his best. Through four innings, deGrom worked well and economically— he never saw a runner go past first base, while also throwing only 45 pitches. In fact, if it wasn’t for a pesky pair of Braves infielders, Adonis Garcia and Daniel Castro (who has played well against the Mets this series), Atlanta wouldn’t have scratched across a base runner through the first four innings. Overall, the duo was responsible for five of the eight hits given up by deGrom. Then came the fifth inning, where the home nine would come away with one run on three singles—the only true trouble that deGrom found himself in all game. In the end, every hit that he surrendered was a single, as he also struck out three and walked none. Not to mention that deGrom filled the strike zone all afternoon—throwing 59 strikes out of his 82 pitches—causing the Braves offense to put the ball in play. It wasn’t an awesome start, there were times when his offspeed stuff didn’t look quite as sharp as it normally does, but overall it was a good sign for a pitcher looking to get his season fully off of the ground.
If you’re looking for another positive for the recently-returned starter, look no further than the velocity department. In his first start, deGrom sat around 92 mph on average with his fastball, which translates to around a 3 mph drop from 2015. On his curveball and slider, the drops in velo were much closer to 4 mph, which rightly raised some eyebrows. Then came yesterday, and the righty seemed to be throwing the ball much harder. According to Brooks Baseball, deGrom sat averaged 93.5 mph on both of his fastballs, 88.1 mph on his slider, 81 mph on his curveball, and 85.2 on his changeup—all notable improvements from his first start of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s more than reasonable to blame the initial drop in velocity on his strained lat, so seeing the uptick Sunday is nothing but a good sign.
WHAT HAPPENED, BATS BEAT BLAIR:
Over the course of this road trip, the Mets have been doing a wonderful job of attacking teams early. This game was no different, as Curtis Granderson would lead it off with a single—his fourth straight game with a leadoff hit. That looks even better when followed with a single from Asdrubal Cabrera, and turns into an early run when both of those are combined with a sac fly down the left field line by Michael Conforto. Much of the success early on came from the top of the lineup working from ahead in the count, and playing off of whatever possible anxiousness Aaron Blair had in his first Major League inning.
Oh yeah, and the top of the lineup is what, offensively, propelled the Mets to a 3-2 win yesterday afternoon. In the 6th, Granderson would again reach base—this time via a walk following a Jacob deGrom ground out—and would again be followed by a Cabrera single that moved him from first to third. Conforto would then drive Grandy in with the only extra base hit of the afternoon by either side, a ground rule double into right center. That would chase Blair from his first career start in exchange for not-rookie Alexi Ogando, who would then surrender a sac fly to center field—giving Blair a parting gift of another earned run. From there the offense turns pedestrian, as from that point on all that the Mets were able to muster off of the Braves bullpen were two walks (one of which was intentional) and one hit (a Wilmer Flores infield single) over the final 3.1 innings. Ignoring how the game ended, if the Mets can keep hitting like they did at the top of the lineup, you can expect the runs to keep coming. Getting Granderson on base does wonders for that, and it’s a good sign for the offense that we’re now starting to see him heat up—as he has recorded a hit in 10 of his last 11 games and reached base in 12 straight games.
WHAT HAPPENED, CLOSING TIME:
It’s not fun unless it’s interesting, and Jeurys Familia made sure to hold true to that saying. Taking a two run lead into the 9th, Familia gave up a leadoff single to Kelly Johnson before breaking two bats en route to recording two outs. Seemingly ageless wonder Jeff Francoeur would single in a run and cut the Mets lead to one, which that would be promptly followed by a Nick Markakis single that would move Drew Stubbs—Francoeur’s pinch runner and resident tying-run—into scoring position. Tense moments were had, nails were bitten, reminders of how early on in the season we are were given. Nevertheless, Familia would prove that, on his 15th pitch of the inning, there was no need to fear as he would induce a Daniel Castro groundball to Neil Walker at second to end the game.
WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:
With a Brave sweep, the Mets ended up going 7-2 on their nine games away from home—putting them three games over the .500 mark. It wasn’t just singularly pitching or offense that played well, but both working perfectly in tandem. Jacob deGrom looked good in his first outing since a combination of strained lat and time away for personal family issues. Curtis Granderson is playing well as the table-setter, and Michael Conforto still hits baseballs hard. All-in-all a good win for the Mets, and an impressive first road trip for a solid team.
In terms of Yoenis Cespedes, here is the latest on his condition as he remained out of the lineup for the second straight game.
(Also, I want it noted that out of the 3 games I have recapped thus far, I have yet to see a home run hit on either side. There were two games in this road stretch where the Mets did not hit a homerun—I covered them both. I mean seriously, there were 19 hits yesterday and only one was for extra bases. What I’m saying is, expect no homers on Wednesday.)
WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:
The Mets now open up a nine game home stand by facing the Cincinnati Reds, and will hand the ball to Noah Syndergaard to face off against Rasiel Iglesias. In case you are unaware, or maybe you just forgot, Thor is good at throwing spherical objects at high speeds. You should watch him, it is fun to watch.
Photo credit: Dale Zanine – USA Today Sports