☀️ Good Morning:
It wasn’t pretty. In fact, yesterday was a microcosm of how this season has gone — mishaps overshadowed by exciting plays, leading to thrilling finishes, all as news breaks in the background about top prospects and lingering injuries.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one to think this way. Since Joel Sherman does such an amazing job summing up the point, I will let his words do the talking:
The Mets’ matinee Thursday served as a primer on their topsy-turvy, are they good/are they bad season to date.
They didn’t play very well in any phase. There were five more steals against (so that is 41 out of 42 successes on the year) and Jeff McNeil tripped over second base trying to cover on one. Joey Wendle, starting at shortstop for Francisco Lindor, had another poor judgment play on defense. McNeil and Starling Marte did not catch a pop-up between them. DJ Stewart was doubled off first not sliding back into the bag. Pete Alonso dropped a pop-up and went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts to drop to 1-for-his-last-26. Reed Garrett botched a grounder. Adrian Houser again could not find the strike zone consistently.
Yet, they did enough to win 7-6 over the Cubs in 11 innings.
Your 2024 New York Mets!
On a day we learned Christian Scott will be joining the rotation, Brooks Raley could miss the rest of the season and the Knicks advanced to the second round of the playoffs, Francisco Lindor shook off the flu to help his team overcome an early deficit and send the Citi Field faithful home happy after a walk-off win.
☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!
🍽️ Clean your plate
If you didn’t know the rules about blocking runners at the plate, you sure do now. Only one sleep from a controversial ending on a blocking play led to a Cubs win, the Mets made two plays at the plate to secure a victory on Thursday.
1️⃣ With the go-ahead runner at third in the 10th, Marte caught a fly ball on the run and fired a seed to Narváez, who made an excellent catch along the foul line and applied the tag to help Edwin Díaz escape trouble and keep the game tied at five.
2️⃣ Down a run with two outs in the 11th, Marte then turned a ground ball that snuck through the right side into another bullet to home plate where Narváez once again positioned himself perfectly to nab the runner, preventing an important insurance run from scoring.
These heroic efforts by Starling Marte and Omar Narváez gave the Mets a chance to win a game they once trailed 4–0.
The two outfield assists in extra innings apparently a thing for Mets players:
🎧 Mets Fix Podcast
In our latest episode, Blake, Peter and JB discuss an exciting day for the Mets with news breaking of Christian Scott's imminent call-up as the team on the field orchestrated a walk-off win. They break down the struggling offense, offer thoughts on Mark Vientos' spot on the roster, as well as Joey Wendle's, and end in a debate about Jeff McNeil.
Make sure you’re subscribed to the Mets Fix Podcast on your favorite platform (Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud).
🥴 Sick of losing
Francisco Lindor left Wednesday night’s game in the third inning after he felt like he was going to “either throw up at shortstop or do No.2 at shortstop.”
Somehow finding strength for a day game less than 24 hours later, he delivered a two-RBI, pinch-hit double in the sixth to cut a 5–2 deficit to one run. He then ended the day with another two-run double to give the Mets a thrilling 7–6, come-from-behind victory.
Coming around: With those two doubles, Lindor continues to show life from the left side of the plate where he has a .999 OPS over his last 12 games after an anemic .386 OPS over the previous 18 contests.
Dramatic kings: The Amazins are tied with Baltimore and Atlanta for the most walk-off wins this season with three. Their ninth comeback wins are tied with Minnesota for the fourth-most in baseball. It was their second comeback win of four or more runs, tied for the most in the majors.
🔼 Scott gets the call
Once the Mets lost out on the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes (which perhaps should have been the Shōta Imanaga sweepstakes instead), it was obvious the top of the rotation was going to look different than it has in recent years, and frankly, in recent memory for Mets fans.
Searching for depth: There would be no Jacob deGrom. There would be no Matt Harvey. There would be no Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer. Instead, there would be Kodai Senga and depth. If there was one area new president David Stearns could improve over last season, it was the depth of the rotation — make sure the team didn’t find itself in a position where they were giving away games every fifth day.
Making it work: One month into the schedule, Stearns has mostly succeeded in turning a patchwork rotation into a stable unit, both from his offseason signings and a willingness to call up young arms early in the season.
His high-risk/high-reward deals for Luis Severino and Sean Manaea have exceeded expectations, while Jose Quintana has been Jose Quintana.
Turning to Jose Buttó has allowed him to take advantage of an early opportunity; and now they hope the same is true with Christian Scott.
Crumbling Houser: Mets starters would rank much higher than 16th in ERA if Adrian Houser wasn’t part of the mix. He’s the only starter who hasn’t provided a quality start, serving up the exact opposite, having allowed at least four earned runs in four of his six outings. And things aren’t getting better. When manager Carlos Mendoza was asked if he’s seen any improvement in Houser’s sinker, he bluntly replied:
“Not really. I think he is struggling to find the command. It’s a fight. He’s going through it right now and it’s one of those where he’s going to continue to fight and work with (Hefner) and our job is to get him back.”
🔷 Enter Christian Scott
The rising star in the Mets’ farm system will make his major-league debut this weekend. While he is no ace (yet), he gives Mets fans a starter they can look forward to on the schedule.
Why Saturday? Scott last pitched for Syracuse on April 28, so pitching him on Saturday keeps him on a five-day cadence. The Mets don’t have an off day until next Thursday, so Scott gives the rotation a much-needed refresher. They can push everyone else back a day to give them extra rest, giving Houser at least one more turn in a six-man configuration. Mendoza was non-committal on whether they would stick with a six-man rotation for multiple turns.
Why not just cut Houser? You can never have enough pitching, my friends. As bad as Houser as looked, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner at least has a lead on what might be troubling him mechanically. Houser has five years of experience so he would need to consent to being sent to the minors. He offers value out of the bullpen as a sixth starter, piggy-back option or middle-innings eater, especially for a rotation that has failed to go deep in games this year.
🫣 Seriously Hurt
We couldn’t just have a day full of good news, could we?!
The Mets are worried Brooks Raley could be lost for the season, per Joel Sherman.
Raley originally went on the IL with elbow inflammation and all indications pointed toward him returning when he is eligible next week.
Manager Carlos Mendoza put the brakes on that yesterday, telling reporters Raley is not healing “as quickly as we thought it was going to be”
Sherman’s report indicates Raley has “at least a fraying of a ligament in the elbow.”
According to Sherman, Raley is weighing his options to try to avoid season-ending surgery, exploring a minor procedure that might “alleviate the problem” and allow him to pitch again this year.
I suppose we will wait for the bad news to drop.
🗓️ UP NEXT: The Mets head down to Tampa for a weekend series with the Rays. Jose Quintana (1–2, 3.48) will pitch the opener against right-hander Aaron Civale (2–2, 5.06). Without an off day, the Mets will have to be creative in navigating their bullpen that has five relievers who would be pitching for the third time in four days.
◾️ The Knicks advanced to the second round. What else do you need to know?!
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I completely missed the fact that Raley might miss the season. That's quite unfortunate.
According to the time stamp to the email mine was in my inbox by 6:44am MDT. However, because of ANNOYING & ongoing internet issues I haven't been able to reply until just now. Only one thing to say now: #LGM