Mets Series in Review: vs. Nationals

Last Series

Dates: 4/30-5/3

Results: L 3/4

 L 8-2, W 4-0, L 1-0, L 1-0

Current Record: 16-10, 3.5 Games ahead of Miami and Atlanta

     (4 in front of Washington)

MVMet: Har-vey’s bet-ter! What a great start to the season for the Mets Ace, who has been amazin’ so far. The Mets have won all 5 of his starts so far, and he’s been one of the best pitchers in the majors.

LVMet: Wilmer FloreSS has struggled so much lately that he got two mental rest days before an off day Monday. The Mets need someone to step up and start carrying the offense, something Wilmer is capable of doing, but he has yet to show at the major league level.

Statistics

Mets Player	Performance
Curtis Granderson	3-12, 2B (5), RBI (6), BB, 4 SO
Juan Lagares	7-15, R, BB, 3 SO, OF Assist
Lucas Duda	4-15, R, 2B (8), BB, 3 SO
Michael Cuddyer	2-14, 2 R, HR (3), RBI (12), 2 BB, 4 SO
Daniel Murphy	3-16, 2B (7), 3 RBI (17), 2 SO
Kevin Plawecki	3-11, R, RBI (4), 3 SO
Wilmer Flores	1-8, R, 5 SO, 2 E
Dilson Herrera	1-10, HBP, 4 SO
Eric Campbell	0-5, 2 SO
Kirk Nieuwenhuis	0-2, SO
John Mayberry	0-4, BB, SO
Ruben Tejada	1-6, 3 SO
Anthony Recker	0-2, BB, SO
Totals	25-120, 6 R, 6 2B, HR, 6 RBI, 7 BB, 39 SO
Jacob deGrom (L, 2-3, 3.34 ERA)	5.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 4 SO, 93 Pitches (60 Strikes), 6 GO: 3 FO (0-2, SO)
Matt Harvey (W, 5-0, 2.41 ERA)	7 IP, 5 H, BB, 3 SO, 93 Pitches (61 Strikes), 10 GO: 1 FO (0-1, SAC)
Jon Niese (L, 2-2, 2.40 ERA)	7 IP, 9 H, R, BB, 5 SO, 107 Pitches (73 Strikes), 13 GO: 1 FO (0-2, 2 SO)
Dillon Gee (L, 0-2, 3.86 ERA)	5 IP, 6 H, R, 5 BB, 5 SO, 94 Pitches (54 Strikes), 6 GO: 3 FO (1-2)
Erik Goeddel (0.00 ERA)	2 IP, 3 H, BB, 2 SO, 1 FO, 2 IR – 0 S
Sean Gilmartin (3.00 ERA)	0.2 IP, BB, 2 GO, 3 IR – 0 S
Buddy Carlyle (6.43 ERA)	1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 SO, 1 GO: 1 FO
Jack Leathersich (0.00 ERA)	0.2 IP, H, SO, 1 GO, 3 IR – 3 S
Alex Torres (H, 4, 2.79 ERA)	2.1 IP, H, 3 SO, 2 GO: 1 FO, 3 IR – 0 S
Jeurys Familis (S, 10, 1.35 ERA)	2.2 IP, 3 SO, 3 GO: 2 FO, 1 IR – 0 S
Carlos Torres (3.60 ERA)	2 IP, 2 SO, 3 GO

Bullpen

            2.31 ERA, 11.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 13 SO, 12 GO: 5 FO, 12 IR – 3 S

            Well, it wasn’t the pitching that didn’t show up this series. The Mets should get consistent starting pitch from their starters all season, but the pen has been very reliable so far this year too.

Looking Ahead

            The Mets have an unusual schedule this week, facing the Orioles twice, with a day off before and after the series. They’ll start a 7-game road trip through Philly and Chicago (Cubs) starting Friday.

vs. Orioles (12-11)

Tuesday at 7:10 PM

Bud Norris (1-2, 12.18 ERA, 5.79 FIP, 13.8 K%: 10.3 BB%, 1.59 HR/9)

@ Bartolo Colon (4-1, 3.31 ERA, 3.29 FIP, 19.4 K%: 0.8 BB%, 1.10 HR/9)

Wednesday at 7:10 PM

Ubaldo Jimenez (2-1, 1.59 ERA, 3.54 FIP, 26.2 K%: 9.5 BB%)

@ Jacob deGrom (2-3, 3.34 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 18.3 K%: 5.6 BB%, 1.21 HR/9)

Mets in the Leaderboards

2B: Lucas Duda, t-10^th (8)

BB%: Curtis Granderson, 5^th (16.5%)

BABIP: Juan Lagares, 10^th (.407)

IP: Matt Harvey, t-15^th (33.2)

W: Matt Harvey, 1^st (5); Bartolo Colon, t-2^nd (4)

Saves: Jeurys Familia, t-1^st (10)

ERA: Jon Niese, 19^th (2.40 ERA)

K%: Matt Harvey, 14^th (25.8%)

BB%: Bartolo Colon, 1^st (0.8 BB%); Matt Harvey, 6^th (3.0%)

FIP-: Matt Harvey, 18^th (74)

LOB%: Jon Niese, 17^th (82.2%)

GB%: Jon Niese, 2^nd (64.1%); Dillon Gee, 7^th (59.2%)

Soft Contact%: Matt Harvey, 15^th (23.1%); Dillon Gee, 16^th (23.0%)

Astro Reaction

            The Mets ended up losing 3 of 4 in this series, and it was against a Nationals team that has tormented them for the past few seasons, but the sky is not falling on the season. Yes, the Mets are 3-7 over their last 10, but they’ve gone 0-3 in one run games during that span, and have been missing David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud.

Give Dilson Herrera more than 3 games against some tough pitch to judge whether or not he’s ready, and consider that those Nationals pitchers made more than just Dilson look bad. Obviously Wilmer has struggled in the field this year, but he has provided slightly better than league average SS production offensively, and would be about average at 2B, with plenty of room to improve. Should Dilson continue to struggle, which I’m not concerned about yet, the Mets should send him down for Matt Reynolds to play SS with Wilmer at 2B. Reynolds would be an upgrade at SS defensively, and could provide at least a 90 wRC+ for the Mets right now (what Flores is providing), but doesn’t have the same potential impact to the lineup as Wilmer. Still, I don’t know how much longer the Mets can keep Reynolds down in AAA with him playing like this: his defense has looked very solid this year, he’s been a hits/doubles machine, and he’s stolen 6 bases without being caught yet. And Flores could still get plenty of starts if Reynolds took over the everyday SS duties, as he could start at least a game a week at 1B/2B/3B/SS to keep everyone rested without hurting the lineup. I get the Mets not calling up Reynolds right now though, because then they’d be relying on 3 rookies with 0 major league experience every night that Reynolds, Dilson, and Plawecki play.

Also, it’s probably a null move, but backup catcher Johnny Monell has been one of the hottest hitters in the PCL this year, and Anthony Recker has barely played, so why not switch them for a few weeks? Maybe the Mets catch some magic from Monell, but if not, at least Recker gets some regular play.

Star forming region S106 http://t.co/IEOBW6n9Tb #nebula pic.twitter.com/GrTRZWzyDy

— Observing Space (@ObservingSpace) May 3, 2015