It’s the time of year when good teams are acquiring talent and bad teams get to euphemize meaningless games by trying to play spoiler. The Rockies still hold the second wild card, so the Mets can at least pretend that these games matter to both participants.
Oh also, Amed Rosario is here.
WHEN AND WHERE
Game 1: Tuesday @ 8:40 p.m. (TV: SNY; RADIO: 710 WOR, ESPN Deportes)
Game 2: Wednesday @ 8:40 p.m. (TV: SNY; RADIO: 710 WOR, ESPN Deportes)
Game 3: Thursday @ 3:10 p.m. (TV: SNY; RADIO: 710 WOR, ESPN Deportes)
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Tuesday: LHP Steven Matz (2-4, 5.51 ERA, 6.02 DRA, -0.2 WARP) vs. RHP Jeff Hoffman (6-3, 5.58 ERA, 5.93 DRA, -0.3 WARP)
Wednesday: RHP Rafael Montero (1-7, 5.56 ERA, 6.18 DRA, -0.5 WARP) v. RHP Antonio Senzatela (10-4, 4.84 ERA, 5.91 DRA, -0.4 WARP)
Thursday: RHP Jacob deGrom (12-4, 3.29 ERA, 2.99 DRA, 3.9 WARP) v. RHP German Marquez (9-4, 4.08 ERA, 5.18 DRA, 0.4 WARP)
WHO’S HOT?
Michael Conforto, obv. His .309/.373/.691 line over the last 30 days (stats through Saturday) looks a whole lot like the .305/.428/.638 full-season triple-slash produced by his more-heralded outfield rival in the Bronx, one Aaron Judge.
Jose Reyes, too. Perhaps his .302/.330/.558 performance over the last month, supported by a fantastic 9.9% strikeout percentage (league average is 19.9%), will convince another team that Reyes can help down the stretch run. Please and thank you.
For the Rockies, to call Gerardo Parra “hot” would be an understatement. Since being activated from the disabled list on July 7, Parra’s produced at the rate of .480/.464/.720. When a player hits close to .500 for two weeks, it’s easy to overlook a 3% walk rate and a batting average 16 points higher than his OBP.
WHO’S NOT?
Ooh, let’s play that time-honored baseball analyst game, Name the Unlabeled Players!
| Player | G | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | BB% | K% | wRC+ |
| A | 75 | 338 | .260 | .365 | .436 | 14.2 | 26.9 | 125 |
| B | 85 | 340 | .228 | .303 | .341 | 9.7 | 21.5 | 51 |
Player A is David Wright’s combined 2015 and 2016 seasons. Player B is 2017 Carlos Gonzalez. The good news for Cargo is that he’s not suffering from spinal stenosis. The bad news is that he’s three years younger than Wright and might need to accept a non-roster invitation if he wants to appear in spring training next season.
Rafael Montero has appeared in five games over the last 30 days, four of them starts. He’s allowing 1.46 home runs per nine innings on his way to an 0-3 record and a 5.47 ERA over that span. Come to think of it, a 5.47 ERA is better than Montero’s 5.56 ERA on the year. Maybe he should have been in the “Who’s Hot” section?
Curtis Granderson’s last 56 plate appearances: .163/.357/.302. Great guy, probably not going to fetch much in trade at the deadline.
WHEN WE LAST MET
Three straight lopsided results at Citi Field.
On July 14, the first game after the All-Star break, Jacob deGrom pitched so well — 8 4 2 1 1 11 0 — that the Mets wished they saved some of their 14 runs scored for another day. That was merely the sixth consecutive Met win in deGrom appearances. His streak reached eight before the Mariners beat him on Saturday night.
The next day, Seth Lugo twirled a quality start. (That was a spin rate joke.) The Mets won 9-3. The team got a scare when Yoenis Cespedes aggravated a lower-body injury on a sliding catch attempt and had to be removed in the sixth inning. But Yo missed merely one game and has mashed since then.
The Rockies turned the tables on July 16, chasing Steven Matz after one inning and seven earned runs on their way to a 13-4 blowout. The Sunday Mets‘ record after that game stood at 5-10. Then the Mets lost on July 23rd to the Athletics, and also against the Mariners yesterday. At least the Mets won’t be playing the Rockies on a Sunday.
IT’S LITERALLY A 10-DAY DL
With fate apparently having allotted more pitching injuries to the Mets than pitchers to get hurt, Baseball God saw fit to curse T.J. Rivera with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. The one that typically leads to Tommy John surgery. Rivera was placed on the 10-day DL on July 28. We’ll be lucky to see him on the field next season, let alone the rest of 2017.
Robert Gsellman has been on the 10-day DL with a hamstring strain since June. While his recovery has progressed to “rehab stint” status, that’s not going so well. Gsellman appeared started Thursday’s game for the Double-A Binghamton … sigh … Rumble Ponies. He lasted just two-thirds of an inning, striking out one but allowing three hits and a walk before he was pulled. Gsellman has far more of a chance than Rivera to return to the Mets this season. There’s certainly no need to rush him back.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
“I think that we want to see some of our players perform over the next couple of months, which would include Rosario and eventually (first-base prospect) Dominic Smith for a meaningful period of time, to gauge their potential impact, both of them, on 2018,” Sandy Alderson told reporters after announcing that Amed Rosario will be called up for Tuesday night’s game. “That might also be true for some pitchers that might come up later. Certainly something we are looking at preferably with (Rafael) Montero and (Chris) Flexen, who is going to get another start or two … I think we want to see what we can. So going into next season and going into the offseason, we’ll have a better sense of what we need.”
Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray, USA Today Sports