J.D. Davis and Pete Alonso homered and Edwin Diaz closed the door with a five-out save, leading the Mets to a 4-1 victory over the Angels Sunday night and another series win.
The Angels took a 1-0 lead but that was all they would get, as Taijuan Walker used the shadows to come up with 10 Ks in 6 IP en route to his fourth win of the season.
The Mets tied the score in the third inning on an RBI double by Starling Marte. They took the lead in the fourth on Davis’ homer, his second of the year. The Mets added a scratch run in the seventh on an infield RBI single by Alonso. And Alonso delivered an insurance run in the ninth with his 18th HR of the season. It was a 412-foot blast, one the broadcast said would be out in all 30 parks in the majors.
Meanwhile, Diaz came on in relief of Seth Lugo in the eighth inning, with one out and a runner on first. He struck out two batters around a walk, with one of his strikeout victims being Mike Trout. Diaz proceeded to strike out all three batters he faced in the ninth to earn his 12th save of the season and he lowered his ERA to 2.13 for the season.
The win gave the Mets a split of their 10-game West Coast trip. This is the hardest stretch of the year for the Mets and if they can keep from being buried in this rough stretch – which continues thru the rest of June – it will be a good thing. After a day off Monday, the Mets welcome the 34-28 Brewers to Citi Field for a three-game series.
The difference between the two teams today were two misplays by the Angels. First, Wade misreads a fly ball by Marte into a double, then bobbles it a bit allowing Nimmo to score from first. Later in the game, Alonso hit a grounder against the shift that Matt Duffy did a great job getting to and throwing home as Marte brazenly tried to score from second on. The throw was wide but it plenty of time but Kurt Suzuki butchered the play good by not catching an easy hop and allowing Marte to safely score.
Lugo looked so good in the seventh inning, then after an easy out just fell apart in the eighth with overthrowing and the ball flying high and wide. I don’t understand how he just loses it so stunningly quickly. On the year, Lugo has his worst numbers with the bases empty and his best with men in scoring position. So, why does it appear he is struggling?
Gut Reaction: Alonso is the Mets MVP. He leads the NL in home runs and RBIs. He has a 161 OPS+ , .281 BA. He could have a 48 / 151 season if he continues this pace. This this game had 2 RBI’S and a HR.
JD is still hitting and increased playing time has suited him well.
In the last three innings Showalter only relied on 2 pitchers. No one else, like other times. Diaz recorded 5 outs. All them strikeouts.
A good road trip. They have the best record in the NL. Start the homestand with 2-1 against the Brewers. Life is good. Let’s go Mets.
The 25 game month of June is the apparent hardest stretch of games this season. It has correlated with easy stretches for both Braves and Phillies. We’ve seen the lead shrink as the NL East is looking stronger, even Miami, who are 7-3 in their last 10. Its shocking that the Braves have own 11 straight and the Phillies are 9-1 in their last 10. All 3 teams are doing what they need to by beating the teams they have to, and growing in confidence, particularly the Braves.
I maintained at the end of May that a 13-12 record would be a success for the month. That has not changed, as they stand at 6-5. Im not sure the pressure backs off much except that 9 of the next 14 have home cooking and that the travel isnt the absolute worst.
If we went back and checked the archives of when the Mets played well against the poor teams, it would show you dismissing that on the grounds that they didn’t beat any good clubs. But now that the Braves and Phillies did that – they’re gaining confidence.
Im not saying that makes them better, Im saying that the confidence is growing. The two can be right at the same time.
The point I was attempting to make was not about the strengths of this year’s Mets-Braves-Phillies but rather the inconsistency about when the Mets beat up the bad teams it means they beat up bad teams but when other teams do it, suddenly it has more significance than the Mets doing the same thing.
Im not saying its more significant. Im saying their confidence has increased as it would. Nothing more.
They beat up bad teams. Good teams have to do that. If the Braves split against those bad teams, there would be plenty of reason for concern, but they won. The Mets are beating bad teams too, which they have to. Rattle off 11 Ws in a row, half the number of games back, and how could you feel anything but confident?
After a shaky first inning, Taijuan Walker found his groove and threw very well. When he is right, Walker gets ahead of hitters and then expands the zone, the textbook on pitching.
ESPN was harping, as they tend to do with most subjects, on his low strikeout rate. To cover their tracks after Walker kept mowing down hitters, they cited the shadows. The shadow may have been tough on the hitters, but this was a disservice to Walker, who was at the top of his game.
This was an extremely important game for this part of the season. The Mets managed to pass the test and now get to regroup at home against a struggling but solid Brewers team… I’m looking for a pitching rotation resurgence from Bassitt with strong games from Megill and Carrasco this week.
Without it being Wednesday I’m placing this here.
https://sny.tv/articles/mets-francisco-alvarez-catching-2022
If the Mets are weighing this option they have a unique opportunity at hand. They could have Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer have their rehabs cycle through Binghamton and allow the team’s Aces to audition Alvarez to see where he is in terms of being ready to call games.
I think the Mets cannot afford to have a daily lineup slot going to Nido/Mazeika or even McCann when he gets back. For what it’s worth, Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez and Ronny Mauricio are likely ready to leave AA behind.
Oh, and I was very happy to see the Mets win the Angels series and pull off a .500 trip against three very good clubs.
Please don’t do this.
Go back to Wednesday and put it in the Open Thread where it belongs. Next time it will be deleted.
David, as I wrote a few weeks back, with McCann catching the team ERA is 2.57. With the other catchers it is over 4. It is very hard for me to believe that the Mets veteran staff and veteran manager will roll the dice on an unproven prospect in the middle of a pennant race. Maybe if he was tearing up AAA the team can let him backup, but he isn’t and they won’t. And they shouldn’t. He doesn’t even know these pitchers! I think we need to let all things happen in time rather than urging them too quickly. Look at Joey Bart… he was ready and now is back in the minors. Let’s see if Francisco is even ready to go out of spring training next year.
Interesting tidbit from last night. After giving up 4 hits in the 1st inning, Walker changed his glove position to avoid tipping pitches. lights out after that. he always seems to step up with a strong start when needed.
Alonso don’t stop. I hope he beats out Goldy and starts the all star game. I also hope he defends his derby belt and goes for the three-pete.
I had higher hopes for the trip – and after the first Padres game, really felt 7-3 was on the line, but then Alonso and Marte got hurt, and the team looked real jet lagged all around. Huge series win against the Angels to go 5-5 on the trip. Struggling Brewers coming to town. Hopefully the Nats can put up a fight the next couple of days. Expecting Miami to take the series from Philadelphia.
We still have the best record in the NL and 2nd best in MLB, nothing to sneeze at this late in the season.
or as Steve Gelbs points out: “The Mets just wrapped up a stretch of 22 games in 23 days. 16 of those games were played in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. Overall, they went 14-8 during that stretch.”
13-12 in June would be minimally acceptable for a team expecting to win a tough division.
Currently 6-5 with 14 games remaining (with reasonable expectation):
3 vs. MIL at home… 2-1
4 vs. MIA at home… 2-2
3 @ HOU … 1-2
3 @ MIA… 1-2
2 vs. HOU at home… 2-1
Projected total of 14 unplayed games… 8-6
……………………. total for June 14-11
The way I see it, there is about an equal chance that the Mets go 9-5 than 7-7, and an equal chance, to a lesser degree (on a bell curve), they go 10-4 than 6-8…
Wobbit, the math is wrong. You show 15 games and an 8-8 outcome. The Astros in NY is only two games and you have 2-1 record in those games. Also, in Houston they are only playing two games, not three. [I’m trying to figure out how to get to one of them. Work and obligations are not cooperating.]
I feel the Mets, to be what we think they are, have to take three of four against Miami. Miami has good pitching, but not much hitting. Garrett Cooper and Brian Anderson represent their firepower.
So, in the 14 games they have left, I’m saying a 5-2 homestand and 9-5 overall, putting June at 15-10.