☀️ GOOD MORNING:
Emotionally, the Braves might as well be tied or ahead of the Mets in the standings. Because watching the past three games, they were better in every facet, from the starting pitchers to the bullpen to the lineup to the defense.
The House of Horrors is still a House of Horrors.
If the season started today, as the Mets’ reveal their weaknesses and the Braves get healthy, a case could be made for Atlanta to be the favorites to win the division. In fact, FanGraphs projects them to win the most games in the NL East the rest of the way.
But the season didn’t start today. The previous 72 games before this series happened still count. So while it’s incredibly frustrating to be swept in Atlanta, and there are legitimate concerns going forward, we are still a long way away from the Braves being the team most likely to challenge Carlos Mendoza’s group in the standings. I mean, how many times have the Mets left Atlanta with a 10-game lead? Fans would have given their left arm to be in this position in any other season.
If you’re going to own an opponent in the NL East this year, it’s better for it to be the Phillies. While each win counts the same in the standings, we know it counts double when you beat the team in direct competition with you.
The Amazins must leave Atlanta in the rear-view mirror to focus on a critical three-game set in Philadelphia this weekend. A series win, and this recent losing streak will feel like a bump in the road. A series loss, or dare I say, another sweep, will leave the fanbase in justifiable panic. Good teams don’t lose nine in a row. They rarely lose eight of nine (although, I should note Atlanta has lost seven games in a row twice this season).
A 5.5-game first-place lead has disappeared. It was never going to be easy. It doesn’t get any easier with Blade Tidwell being asked to help stop the bleeding as an opener against Zack Wheeler on Friday.
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🚶 TOO MANY WALKS: Clay Holmes isn’t the most likely starter to pitch deep in games, but when you walk six batters, it’s hard to pitch past the fifth inning no matter whom you are. Holmes was giving his team what they needed, holding Atlanta to one run into the fifth, but the walks caught up to him. “The stuff felt pretty good tonight, I think it was just a matter of executing some of the secondary [pitches] in the zone,” Holmes said. “Not enough strikes with those and I just got in a lot of deep counts.”
🤕 ANOTHER INJURY: The Mets placed Max Kranick on the injured list with a right elbow strain. The upstart long reliever flew back to New York for an MRI on Thursday, while expressing optimism that this is a minor injury (fateful initial assessment).
This injury comes at the absolute worst time as the team tries to piece together a starting group that currently includes several arms that aren’t likely to pitch deep into games. Kranick has pitched more than one inning in 15 of his 24 appearances, second most on the team behind José Buttó.
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