Matt Harvey’s performance is perplexing

After what he deemed a successful bullpen session before his start on Friday night, Matt Harvey told manager Terry Collins that he was “back.” After his start on Friday, that was clearly not the case. The final line doesn't look too awful, but it was certainly less than Harvey-like and not what we've come to [...]

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Gut Reaction: Mets 6, Braves 3 (4/22/16)

The Mets overcame two lengthy delays to defeat the hated Braves, 6-3, Friday night in Atlanta. Curtis Granderson provided the power, with a grand slam homer in the second and a solo shot in the fourth. After opening the year with a 1-24 stretch, Granderson now has an .803 OPS. Matt Harvey pitched just long [...]

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Slow starts from Harvey, d’Arnaud, Granderson, and Flores are troubling

A number of writers, including this one, pegged Matt Harvey to be a Cy Young candidate this season. He's a year removed from Tommy John surgery, looked excellent at the end of last season and through most of the playoffs, and seemed to rediscover the earlier life on his fastball and bite on his slider. [...]

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Are the Mets too reliant on home runs?

We all love a good recovery story, don’t we? A week ago, the Mets were a pitiable giant lumbering about the 2016 season, large but powerless. They lost two-of-three to both the Phillies and Marlins, neither of whom would be considered challengers for the NL East crown. The Mets weren’t hitting, getting mowed down by [...]

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Gut Reaction: Phillies 5, Mets 4 (11 INN) 4/20/16

The Mets had a lead late but could not hold it and complete the sweep, as the Phillies rallied for a 5-4 win in extra innings Wednesday night in a game that passed the four-hour mark. The bottom of the 11th will never make the "How to play better baseball" video. A wild pitch but [...]

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Tim Teufel should not be the Mets’ third base coach

Let’s put this right at the top. The Mets will not be making a change in the third base coaching box this year. It is not in their nature. Any team that would allow Curtis Granderson to play regularly against left handed pitching despite his career numbers (.224 BA and .296 OBP vs. lefties) and [...]

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Gut reaction: Mets 11, Phillies 1 (4/19/16)

Behind terrific pitching and a barrage of long balls, the Mets clobbered the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Logan Verrett pitched six beautiful, scoreless innings, artfully mixing sliders and changeups to keep hitters off balance and off base. Had the game not been a blowout, Verrett easily could have gone another inning, if not two. [...]

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The Vincent Velasquez-Logan Verrett matchup

One of the feel-good stories of the early 2016 season has been the performance of Phillies starting pitcher Vincent Velasquez, who has come on to pitch two great games here in the early going for a Philadelphia team that is a few years away from competing for the playoffs. After two starts, Velasquez' line reads: [...]

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