Mets Turning It Around?
date
Apr 18, 2024
Files & media
slug
Mets-Turning-It-Around
status
Published
tags
Baseball
Mets
summary
The Mets have hit a pivotal point in the season; you’re above .500 but now what?
type
Post
Swept by Milwaukee in a four game series at home to begin the season, drop two of three against Detroit, the Mets record 1-6 after series one and two of the season.
Many were eager to cast the Mets into the abyss. The lineup was benign, showing no fight and the starting pitching couldn’t last five innings.
Today, I can say one of those statements is false, the bats have woken up.
Not to ellude that the pitching hasn’t been good, it’s just a different formula than what we as fans have seen from the Mets in years past.
While we appear to have a veteran rotation capable of going deep into games, it just has’t worked out like that. The bullpen on the other hand, has been nothing short of spectacular and is the reason why the team has been able to put together several come from behind wins in the past week.
Drew Smith, Reed Garrett, Jorge Lopez, Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman and Brooks Raley have all posted very solid numbers in relief and it appears Carlos Mendoza has a firm handle on when and who to call on in almost every situation.
Reed Garrett in particular has been the stalwart of the much needed middle relief role as the starting pitching is lacking in stamina and length. In 8.2 scoreless IP, Garrett has struck out seventeen batters while only allowing four hits. Not to mention Edwin Diaz has proven to be as dominant as he was in 2022 coming off his Patellar injury suffered last summer.
The Mets are top five in bullpen era at the moment and it is going to be a trend that must continue if the starting pitching cannot extend their outings past the fifth inning.
Having consistency from relievers ensures the Mets lineup can breathe a little easier when trailing in a game knowing how daunting their bullpen has been, and the offense has capitalized on that.
Francisco Lindor is beginning to come around after a slow start, Alonso has been what we expected but the impetus of the Mets success at the plate has been timely hitting from everyone in the lineup and outstanding base running putting the team in great positions to manufacture runs.
Since the Mets 1-6 start, they have won seven of their last nine games, six of those victories coming after the opponent scored the first run.
At 10-8, the prospect of a quality season looks more promising knowing we will have several impact players like JD Martinez and Kodai Senga joining the team in the near future.
The benign quality of the Mets batting order that I spoke of earlier, is hopefully a thing of the past as each player becomes more comfortable with their role on the team.