The Metropolitan: The Mets are good!

A weekend of great starting pitching, solid bullpen & key defensive plays

Good Morning,

After taking 2 of 3 in Colorado, the Mets are 7-4 and stand in first place in the NL East. And they didn’t just win this weekend due to luck or a nice call from the ump — they won in various ways, from clutch defensive plays and strong starting pitching, to some timely hitting (although the bats have not fully awakened yet) and a solid back of the bullpen.

By now, you probably know which games they won, so let’s break down the key moments and dive deeper into how it all happened.

🎥 Sum up the weekend in 5 GIFs...

❶ In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Jacob deGrom struck out 14 batters, while getting one shy of tying Tom Seaver’s major league record of 10 Ks in a row (set in 1970), as the Mets beat the Rockies 4-3 in the opening game. With Edwin Díaz closing out deGrom’s start by striking out the side in the 7th (remember it was a 7-inning game), the Mets surpassed the Red Sox’ 2016 performance for the most outs recorded via strikeout in the modern era (17 of 21, 81%).

❷ For a while, the opening game of the twin bill looked like another contest in which the bats would fail deGrom once he gave up 3 (unearned) runs in 6 innings of work, but after consecutive hits by James McCann, pinch-hitter Jonathan Villar, and Brandon Nimmo in the top of the 7th, it was Francisco Lindor’s clutch hit that proved to be the game-winner.

❸ After Joey Lucchesi was pulled following 3 innings of up-and-down work in the night-cap of Saturday’s doubleheader, manager Luis Rojas went to the back of his bullpen in using Robert Gsellman and Jacob Barnes. A game within reach was blown open when Josh Fuentes hit a 3-run homer off Barnes in the bottom of the 5th to give the Rockies a 7-2 lead they would maintain for the win.

❹ Marcus Stroman won his third consecutive start yesterday, lowering his ERA to a microscopic 0.73 on the season, after allowing only 1 run on three hits spread out over 8 innings on Sunday — in Colorado, no less. He also helped his cause with this miraculous play: 

❺ When is the last time you saw this as a Mets fan? The Mets closed out their 2-1 victory on Sunday with catcher James McCann gunning down Trevor Story trying to steal second. Story had reached base off Edwin Díaz on a two-out hit, but was quickly erased by the walk-off throw. This was the first Mets win to end on a caught stealing since 2009, per Sarah Langs (a bit more on this later) And Lindor was excited:

⚾️ CLOSE GAMES: After taking two one-run games from the Rockies this weekend, the Mets climbed to 4-0 in such games this season.

🔂 STREAK: With a hit in the 8th inning on Sunday, Brandon Nimmo extended his on-base streak to 24 games dating back to last season. 

⏫ LOOKING UP: Michael Conforto is starting to find his swing, going 4-10 with a double this weekend, and finally getting a hit off a fastball, after putting only 2 in play over the previous 53 offerings.

🚪 CLOSING THE DOOR: After a quiet first few weeks of the season, closer Edwin Diaz came up huge this weekend, with two one-run saves… in Colorado, no less.

🏆 ERA LEADERS: With deGrom at #1 and Stroman at #5, the Mets now have two of the top 5 leaders in ERA in all of baseball. Old friend Steven Matz is #9.

💵 GIVING BACK: Dominic Smith and Taijuan Walker were among a group of MLB players who donated their salary from Jackie Robinson Day to The Players Alliance, to create a world of equal opportunity.

😏  SOUND SMART: As noted above, the last time the Mets won on a caught stealing was 12 years ago to the day (April 18, 2009) against the Brewers, when they pulled off a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. The batter who stuck out: J.J. Hardy. The runner caught stealing: Ryan Braun. And the catcher who threw him out? The legendary Omir Santos.

⏭ NEXT UP: The Mets have the day off today, as they head to Chicago for a three-game set with the Cubs starting on Tuesday. In keeping with the bizarre weather patterns that have seen the Mets rack up numerous postponements in the early going, the forecast for Tuesday in Chicago looks like this (that’s right, snow)…

☂️ POSTPONEMENT MANIA: While the Mets find themselves in first place and generally playing very well, the frequent postponements could pose a challenge that was on display on Saturday. As a result of games being canceled, the team will have to play an unusual number of doubleheaders. Which means that we may see lineups in nightcaps — like in Game 2 on Saturday in Colorado — where key players like Dominic Smith and James McCann ride the bench, and relievers like Robert Gsellman and Jacob Barnes pitch important innings.

• In Saturday’s nightcap, the Mets were listless and never really in the game, after mounting an emotional come-from-behind victory in the opener. With an abundance of doubleheaders, you have to hope the team can maintain its energy level for both games, and that its stars get a chance to make their presence felt in both the opener and nightcap.

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Mets starting to look dominant

The Mets didn’t sign Trevor Bauer this offseason. They lost Carlos Carrasco to a hamstring injury and Seth Lugo to elbow surgery. Noah Syndergaard is still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. We learned Jake Odorizzi was almost signed, until he wasn’t. The Mets traded away Steven Matz — who is 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA in Toronto — and yet somehow, perhaps less surprisingly than it should be, their starting rotation has the second lowest ERA in baseball.

If you put aside two rough first innings — David Peterson’s 4-run 1st in Philadelphia and Joey Lucchesi’s 3-run 1st in Colorado — the Mets’ starters have collectively allowed only 9 earned runs in 61.2 innings of work; that is a 1.31 ERA. Their dominance was on display this past weekend.

Pitching a mile high above sea level, Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman took distinct paths in reaching the same result: both tying the Rockies’ lineup in knots. For deGrom, it was the power of the strikeout; for Stroman, the art of soft contact.

Their two outings showcased the depth and diversity of the starting rotation.

Of course, deGrom was deGrom. As a baseball fan, you never want to grow accustomed to witnessing dominance, but the two-time Cy Young winner is so consistently good, it’s never surprising when he does something amazing. That said, after he came out in the 1st inning without his best fastball, it was a bit eye-opening to see him strike out nine consecutive hitters. While he ultimately gave up three (unearned) runs, one way of limiting the damage in the thin air is to keep the ball from ever entering the field of play, which the Mets’ did at record pace on Saturday.

With Marcus Stroman, it was a bit of a different story, as he has seemed to figure out Coors Field. Armed with a deep arsenal, the right-hander has the advantage to pick and choose which of his offerings work best based on game conditions. And instead of relying on strikeouts (even though he had 5 on Sunday), he racks up his outs by inducing ground balls and harmless contact.

Yesterday, he relied heavily on his cutter to shut down the Rockies’ offense through 8 innings and only 90 pitches. Dating back to his last start in Colorado in September of 2019, he pieced together a 15-inning scoreless streak, which is the third longest by a visiting pitcher in Coors Field history. He used his cutter a career-high 44.4% of the time in that start two years ago, as sinkers are known to lose arm-side movement at Coors, which is probably why he went back to his cutter in high frequency on Sunday, along with his new split-change.

If the Mets keep pitching like this, with deGrom looking his Cy Young self, while the likes of Stroman, Peterson, and Taijuan Walker develop into their best selves, those offseason projections that had the Mets winning the division may just start to look pretty accurate.

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⚾️ Braves superstar Ronald Acuna, Jr., was removed from last night's game due to pain in his lower abdominal muscles, and was ultimately diagnosed with an abdominal strain. No word yet on how long he'll be sidelined.

⚾️ Nats starter Stephen Strasburg was placed on the injured list yesterday because of right shoulder inflammation. In his last start, he gave up eight earned runs in four innings.

⚾️ All COVID-19 tests for the Minnesota Twins came back negative last night, meaning they need one more day of negative tests before they can resume their playing schedule.

⚾️ Padres pitcher Blake Snell complained last night that opposing Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer dug up the mound so much, it “looked like something just crashed on top of” it.

⚾️ Over the weekend, former Met and current Yankee Jay Bruce announced his retirement from baseball.

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🔗 Behind Marcus Stroman's heroics, NY Mets beat Rockies, 2-1, by Justin Toscano, Bergen Record. "He’s just relentless around the zone, around the edges," Michael Conforto said. "Everything is moving a different direction. He’s really aware of hitters and their speeds, their timings, which way they’re leaning. He’s a smart pitcher."Coors Field is a pitcher's worst nightmare because of the elevation. One example Stroman used: He doesn't throw many sliders there because, unless that pitch is perfect, it hangs in the strike zone.” 

🎧) LISTEN: Catch lefty reliever Jerry Blevins on the latest edition of the “Shea Anything” podcast, with Doug Williams and Andy Martino. In a fascinating behind-the-scenes conversation, Blevins talks about watching deGrom pitch, why Luis Guillorme reminds Jerry of himself, and his plans for 2021 and beyond.

🔗 A different way to evaluate Mets’ big roster decisions, by Joel Sherman, NY Post. “The Mets traded [Steven] Matz to the Blue Jays in late January for three pitchers to help with organizational depth and to redirect his $5.2 million for 2021 elsewhere. The Blue Jays felt that getting the Long Island native out of Queens would be a mental benefit for the lefty. Through three starts, Matz appears reborn, sporting a 1.47 ERA and .148 batting average against.”

And… we leave you with this video of deGrom’s final few K’s of the night on Saturday, en route to tying his personal record of 14 in a game:

Rob Friedman @PitchingNinja

Jacob deGrom, Strikeouts #12, 13 and 14....all by Wicked Changeups. He's really unfair. de🐐

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