☀️ Good Morning:
For the first time in over two years, the Mets hold a playoff spot and the Braves don’t.
I hesitate to even write that fact because it feels a bit loser-ish.
Are we really celebrating a hiccup in the standings?
Let’s agree that we aren’t. That we are simply chronicling a unique point in time and the Baseball Karma Gods can direct their attention back to the White Sox or some other sad-sack franchise. Nothing to see or jinx here.
As Atlanta played like the ‘69 Colts and lost 16–7 on Thursday, the Mets used two home runs from Pete Alonso to take the series from Colorado. They conclude their longest road trip of the season in Seattle this weekend.
🎧 We dropped our latest episode of the Mets Fix Podcast this morning. Blake & Peter discuss the Mets rigorous road trip and the state of the NL Playoff race before looking ahead to some important roster decisions that they'll have to make very soon.
☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!
🐉 Pete’s Dragon
Pete Alonso plays an important role as a star athlete in New York. He hits home runs, stretching our imaginations of what’s possible, while constantly being attacked for not being good enough.
We need a player like that on our favorite team, especially in baseball where even the best players fail the majority of the time. Fandom is equally about complaining as it is celebrating accomplishments.
How much is Alonso worth as a free agent? What will Scott Boras convince some team to pay him? It will only get worse for the star first baseman if he signs a contract this offseason that somehow pays him more than Freddie Freeman.
Therein lies the problem. Believing in Peter Alonso’s star power while recognizing his limitations isn’t a contradiction, it’s reality. We have been trained to believe power hitters are a different kind of species, the superheroes of the sport. Which is why Alonso’s stature is so hard to calibrate. Yes, he’s a power hitter. No, he’s not a great baseball player.
On Thursday afternoon, Alonso showed fans what great could look like.
After hitting a ball 471 feet to give his team an early 4–0 lead:
He hit another one 454 feet to expand on that lead.
📏 That’s 925 feet of homers! While he might not reach 40 dingers for the first time since 2021, he is hitting 28% above league average and showing hints of finding a rhythm that could help catapult the Mets into the playoffs.
Alonso has six home runs over his last 15 games, with a 1.033 OPS. He has eight hits in his last 25 at bats, along with five walks. Most impressive, he has a hard-hit rate of 50% (!) since the beginning of July.
“He’s been hot-cold at times, but I've been saying it for a long time: he can carry a team for quite a bit, too,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Alonso, via SNY. “We saw it today with two balls that he hit pretty far and that’s who he is. I think a lot of people have seen it before.”
Heroes are made in pennant races and during the playoffs. Alonso has a chance to change his 2024 narrative over the next few months.
📚 RELATED READING: What kind of season is Pete Alonso having? by Will Sammon, The Athletic ($)
🎧 Mets Fix Podcast
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🍎 UNSUNG STARTER: Mets fans know David Peterson. He has shown flashes of being a capable starter, but always seems to lose his way. After pitching to a 3.83 ERA during the Mets’ successful 2022 season, his ERA ballooned to 5.03 last year due to poor command and a 21.1% HR/FB rate.
He has become reliable again this season, tossing five innings of one-run ball near his hometown on Thursday, his second start on this road trip in which he has held his opponent in check. He is now 3–1 with a 3.11 ERA over his last seven starts.
🚜 DOWN ON THE FARM: Top prospect Brandon Sproat had a rough introduction to Triple-A competition on Thursday. The young right-hander who has been rising up the prospect rankings charts gave up six earned runs on seven hits, two homers, in 4.2 innings of work.
🫴 GREAT CATCH: Starting in left field, Tyrone Taylor had himself a day, collecting two hits and making a nice running catch in the fourth inning. Taylor got the call in left, pushing Jeff McNeil to right, given the expanded space to cover at Coors.
🏁 REHAB START: Playing his second rehab game, Starling Marte golfed a ball for a towering home run.
🗓️ UP NEXT: The Mets close out their first west-coast swing of the month with a weekend series in Seattle. After splitting the first six games of the trip, this series will decide if it’s a winning trip or not.
Jose Quintana (6–7, 3.95) will face-off against right-hander Bryce Miller (8–7, 3.62) in the series opener. Keep in mind that Sunday’s finale will be on ESPN.
Reed Garrett will meet the team in Seattle today. However, he might not be activated from the IL until Saturday or Sunday.
🕷️ Find headlines for all of your favorite teams at SportSpyder, the number one source for sports news links.
◾️ The White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol and named former All-Star Grady Sizemore as his interim replacement.
◾️ Justin Verlander is set for a rehab start in Triple-A on Saturday. He has been sidelined with neck stiffness since the beginning of June.
◾️ Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe left Thursday’s game after fouling a ball off his left foot. X-rays came back negative.
🔗 From laughingstock to contender: Four key changes that turned the Mets’ season around, via ESPN ($): “It had been a month of misery for the Mets -- one highlighted by late-inning blown leads and extra-inning losses, injury setbacks, outbursts and ejections, a players-only team meeting and finally, a roster shake-up. The season was spiraling out of control as only the Mets know how to spiral. Their playoff odds, according to FanGraphs, had fallen below 8% and the trade rumors -- mostly about Pete Alonso -- were starting to heat up, even with the trade deadline nearly two months away. Then, the Mets flipped a switch. Since that June 2 loss to the Diamondbacks, they've gone 36-19, the best record in the majors over that span.”
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Pete needs to show up vs SD and Arizona at the end of the month. Hitting a couple dingers at Coors doesn’t move the needle for me.
Not able to get behind ESPN's pay wall, curious what were the "4 keys" to the Mets turnaround. Anybody know, or care to guess?
Vientos > Baty
Alvarez Return
Martinez Signing
Ingelesias Call Up
Lindor/Nimmo Get Hot
Butto > Houser
What do you think? The key that I can't neatly sum up as a bulleted point is a GM who is willing to quickly and decisively transact. The one ring that rules them all. A constant process of add & discard, tweak & purge. When a starter falters, Houser & Megill, he doesn't sit on his hands. Dumping a lazy, fat, underperforming, indifferent slub like Narvaez was a huge move in the clubhouse. Giving Baty time but not enough to destroy the season was a difficult balancing act. And that was a huge day, that 24 hours of Lopez and the player moves and the team meeting. Sending Baty down, probably number one in my book. It gave a clear path to Vientos and called up Inglesias. Those two guys.