☀️ GOOD MORNING:
It’s that time of year when everything seems to happen at once — moments both meaningful and mundane colliding in a blur. Graduations, weddings, anniversaries, playoff games, and, yes, baseball. I remember my high school prom partly by the fact the Mets lost to the Yankees in one of the early Subway Series matchups. We might remember 2025 by the way the Mets and Knicks have moved in lockstep together, managing to frustrate and thrill us on the very same nights.
After losing heartbreakers on Friday, they were both winners on Sunday. I wrote in-between those games how it was important for the Mets to win the war after losing a 13-inning battle. And that they did. As meaningless as these games might appear relative to playoff basketball, the Mets are playing a stretch on their schedule where divisions are won.
By taking the series this weekend, the Amazins have a chance to pick up some real steam, playing the next six games at home against two franchises that have set historical marks for futility over the past calendar year. We saw Philadelphia sprint to the top of the division against the likes of Pittsburgh, Colorado and the Athletics. The schedule now flips: while Philly welcomes Atlanta and Milwaukee to the city of brotherly love, the Mets will take their cracks at the White Sox and Rockies.
SOUND FAMILIAR? 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, three double plays on Saturday, two more on Sunday, the big dogs at the top of the order going 6-for-36 (.167) with 11 strikeouts over the weekend. No, that’s not the Mets’ offense; that’s the Dodger offense. After surviving a forced bullpen game on Friday, David Peterson, Kodai Senga and a few key relief appearances kept Los Angeles in check. Mets fans have been frustrated by the offense; even the World Series champs can look feeble at times.
As a pile on, old friend Michael Conforto is 0-for-29 with runners in scoring position since April 1. He is hitting .163 on the season, with two homers and six RBIs playing basically everyday. Raise your hand if you thought he would surely find his swing under the sunshine in Souther California, or in this series against the Mets 🙋.
☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!
⌚️ TIMELY DEFENSE
We talk a lot about timely hitting, especially with this Mets team struggling to send baserunners across the plate, but how about timely defense?
⏎ TURNING POINT: Sunday’s game turned on a Tyrone Taylor play that at first looked like it might drop into no-man’s land and score two Dodger runs, but turned into a catch and throw-’em-out double-play (the original safe call at home overturned by replay).
Kodai Senga struggles in the first inning, and it looked like he might spot the Dodgers an early 3–0 lead after serving up a lead-off blast to Shohei Ohtani, but was rescued by Taylor’s play, keeping the deficit at 1–0.
The Mets’ defense wasn’t perfect — Mark Vientos made a costly error to put Senga in a tough spot in the first, but it was better than the Dodgers’, who made three errors and ruined a strong performance by their starting pitcher. Besides Taylor’s play, Brett Baty made an impressive flip to Francisco Lindor to turn a double play in the sixth, and Juan Soto made a nice running catch in the seventh.
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