WHO WON:
The Mets, again!
WHAT HAPPENED, SOME STARTERS HAVE EMERGED:
Just like we all thought coming into this season, the Mets have had a string of good starting pitching performances. Only it’s weird, right? Zack Wheeler has been one of the few reliable starters since the beginning of May. Robert Gsellman has been much better of late. Steven Matz was good in his first start of the year. Matt Harvey was…well, he didn’t allow any runs his last time out, so that’s good. You can add another to this list, as Seth Lugo pitched very well against the Atlanta Braves in his first start of the year. Lugo went seven strong innings as he surrendered one run on six hits, two walks, and six strikeouts.
He looked a little shaky early on, but settled into a groove after the second inning. Though he did load the bases in the fifth inning with just one out, he was able to induce a double play to work out of the jam and hold the Mets’ one-run lead. The replay review overturned the initial safe call, which certainly helped Lugo out.
As the Mets are getting healthy again, they are now in an interesting position. This was a team poised to contend pre-plague of injuries on the back of this good, young rotation. Lugo being a part of it helps immensely, as there is still some time before Noah Syndergaard returns. Will it be enough? Who knows. Will he keep it up? Who knows. Will the return of these solid starters help out a bullpen that seems to have been overused in *checks calendar* mid-June? Definitely. Out of all the positives that come from the Mets getting Matz and Lugo back, this is the most prevalent. Getting pitchers who can produce well and work deep into games will help the bullpen going forward, and likely mean we don’t have to see Rafael Montero again this season.
WHAT HAPPENED, LET’S TALK FOR A SECOND:
There was no shortage of offense for the Mets on Sunday. That is for certain. They hit the ball well to all fields, and even drew some walks. They only scored two runs, but it felt like they were threatening to score almost every inning. That is good, and fit the weekend theme of having successful trips to the plate. That isn’t what this section is here to talk about.
What this section is dedicated to is the final two at-bats the Mets had on the day. Let’s run through it again. With runners on first and second, Terry Collins went to the bench to pinch hit for reliever Jerry Blevins. That’s the normal part. It’s a big situation, and, with a one-run lead, the Mets could use some insurance. In this crucial, pinch-hit spot, you want to send up the very best hitter you can. With YOENIS CESPEDES on the bench, Terry elected to send Curtis Granderson up to the plate to face the right-handed Arodys Vizcaino.
Let’s go over that again. Collins sent Granderson (.682 OPS coming into the game) to the plate instead of Cespedes (.647 SLG coming into the game). Now, I know what you’re thinking. Granderson is a lefty, and Cespedes is a righty. Clearly Granderson should’ve gone to the plate against a right-handed pitcher. At the risk of sounding condescending, no. Granderson and Cespedes have had virtually the same output against right-handed pitchers over the course of their careers. Pinch-hitting Granderson over Cespedes just for the sake of Grandy being a lefty seems…well, it seems ill-advised. The Terry Collins Way. Maybe I’m overreacting, though. It was Cespedes’ day off, he has said he isn’t yet 100 percent, maybe they just wanted to give him a full day off. And Granderson even got a hit! So that really shows what I know.
So what did Michael Conforto do with the bases loaded? Well, he retreated back to the dugout as Yoenis Cespedes ventured out to face left-hander Ian Krol. Only this would imply that Conforto has been bad, or is not good, against left-handed pitching this season. For a hitter with a .233/.378/.533 slash in 37 attempts, I wouldn’t call that particularly bad. Granted that the sample size is low, but this move strikes me as incredibly curious.
It gets written off as a manager’s move because of theoretical splits, but at the end of the day what Collins did was peculiar. There was no guarantee that Cespedes would even see the plate, that Granderson would even get on base. Instead of using his best hitter AND keeping his second-best hitter in the lineup, Collins opted to replace No. 2 for No. 1. Again, that move struck me as odd, but worked out in the end. I don’t know, baseball is stupid. The Mets won, so I guess that’s all that matters.
WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:
The Mets kept the mojo going, as they won their third straight game and took three of four from the Atlanta Braves. They are now just five games under .500, and the healthier they get, the better the chance they might actually claw their way back into this thing.
WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:
The Mets look to stay hot against the Chicago Cubs as they start a seven-game homestand. Jacob deGrom gets the ball to start against John Lackey, and the Mets will be looking for deGrom to right his woes of late.
Photo credit: Dale Zanine – USA Today Sports