On draft day, the Mets took the opening game of their four game series against the Brewers in Milwaukee.
- Bartolo Colon continues to be an ageless wonder who gets it done with smoke, mirrors, and maybe a little black magic. He went seven innings while allowing eight hits but just one earned run. Of course, he also induced five double plays and picked a runner off to help himself limit the damage.
- Curtis Granderson, with a batting average dangerously close to the Mendoza line, led the game off with a home run. He had a solid night, going 2-4 with a run scored and a double in addition to the homer. Hopefully this was the start of him breaking out of his now typical early-season funk.
- Wilmer Flores had himself a game as well, going 3-4 with a double of his own. In June, he’s gone 10-21 with an OPS north of .900. Perhaps it’s just a hot streak, but maybe he’s coming around a bit with more consistent playing time.
- Another Met with a big night that needed it? None other than the beleaguered Kevin Plawecki. He of the sub-.600 OPS went 1-3 with a walk and a huge, 2-RBI single in the eighth to extend the Mets’ lead. He also threw a runner out trying to steal second. How about that?
- All told, it was a great night for an offense that really needed a good one. The team pounded out 13 hits, five of them for extra bases.
The Replace-Mets produced three runs which was the margin of victory. If just one of them could produce each day and the regulars do as expected then the Mets have a good chance to win. I heard on the radio (Howie Rose) that the Mets are 97 and 18 when they score 4 runs or more. They are way below .500 when they score only 3 runs. Four runs is the tipping point. (Could someone verify this).
Flores is on a hot streak. Does he feel Johnson and Loney stealing his playing time? It is nice to see Wilmer step it up and I hope he keeps it up.
Familia, once again, had a clean ninth.
Looks like the average runs scored per game across the league is just about 4.37 per game. The Mets are currently 28th in the league at 3.73. They’re also allowing the second-fewest runs in baseball at 3.10. Only the Cubs have allowed less at a ridiculous 2.55. So it does stand to reason that 4 runs per on the offensive side would be the sweet spot for this team if they can get there.
And looks like I actually undersold Flores. In June his OPS is 1.131. Super small sample, but good to see him making some progress.
If you want to get excited about Flores, here’s where you go: prior to this season Wilmer walked in slightly less than 4% of his plate appearances; this year in 90 PA he has walked 9 times, a 10% rate of course.
It’s a small sample, even though it represents nearly 10% of his total major league record. But if Flores can hold onto most of that, it could change his entire batting line, since in that case he’ll be swinging at better pitches, and no doubt doing more with them.