Noah Syndergaard‘s Thursday gem capped off a great week for Mets starting pitchers. His rare complete game shutout was the exclamation point on a turn through the rotation that also included a 7-inning scoreless start from Jacob deGrom, an effective start by Jason Vargas, a gutsy performance where Zack Wheeler hung in there after one rough inning, and a well pitched game by Steven Matz. This was easily the most effective and productive turn through the Mets rotation this season and hopefully a sign of more to come.
Unfortunately, just as the starting pitchers remembered how good they are, the bats went quiet and the bullpen started struggling. The lineup has too much depth this season, especially once Jed Lowrie is activated, to go through the types of dry spells we’ve seen in recent seasons so not much concern there. The same cannot be said for the bullpen however. With Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson on the injured list, Luis Avilan a disappointment, and even Edwin Diaz struggling of late, it’s going to be critical over the next few weeks for the rotation to sustain this run of success.
The Mets haven’t really fired on all cylinders yet, but thankfully neither has the rest of the division. The weather is warming up and the May schedule is a little more forgiving with upcoming series against the Marlins, Padres and Tigers. This team will go as far as its vaunted rotation will carry it and this week has been very encouraging on that front. Let’s go Mets!
It’s 34.1 IP and 7 ER for a 1.83 ERA for the SP. But the bullpen as a whole hasn’t been bad in this stretch, either. They’ve combined for 11.2 IP and 4 ER for a 3.09 ERA. It’s just high-profile runs allowed by the closer that makes it look worse than it is.
Did they actually click or did they helped out by facing one of the bottom 3 offenses in the game?
I think we’ll see the rotation improve because except for the Brewers coming up they’ll get about 20 straight games of lower ranked offenses.
6 against the Marlins (bottom 3)
3 vs the Tigers+Padres (bottom 5)
7 vs the Nats (middle of the pack)
Ya know what’s worse than “Name”? Well, it’s “Name” when he’s right, which is nearly always.
I know some people might find him abrasive, but I think he’s a gem; and quite humorous, even if unintentionally so.
Maybe, with We are Familia on the shelf, it’s Kimbrel time!