Get out the brooms! The Mets emphatically storm past .500 with their first series sweep of 2024, over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field. Up next for the 10-8 Mets are the Los Angeles Dodgers in LA as they start a 6-game West Coast swing against LA and the San Francisco Giants.
The Mets are putting the 0-5 start way in the rearview mirror. Since that start, they have won 10 of their last 13 games, including 4 straight series. The Mets put away the sweep on Wednesday with a 9-1 win. The sweep over Pittsburgh, by a combined score of 18-5, is nothing to sneeze at. From a strength of schedule standpoint, the Pirates have been good to start the year. After losing these 3 in a row to the Amazin’s, they are still 11-8 on the season.
On the injury front it seems like the hamstring injury that Brett Baty suffered in Game 2 of the series, that he sat out Game 3 to rest, will not result in him being out of the lineup longer term. However, it bares watching to see if there will be any lingering impact to the young 3B that is starting to come into his own this season.
There are a few items of note to encourage Mets fans moving forward:
Comeback Kids: The Mets never quit, and that makes the team one that is very easy to cheer for. So far in this young season, they have 7 come from behind wins. While the preference would be wire to wire victories, the guts shown by the team every day is admirable. For example, despite sweeping the Pirates, the Mets trailed in each of the games against Pittsburgh and had to come back to sweep the series.
The Carlos Mendoza (“Mendy”) Effect: While it’s still extremely early in the season (only 11% of games have been played), the feel around this team is just different. While players have changed, I’d argue the core remains mostly unchanged, and the swap out of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander for the likes of Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser and Luis Severino should have negatively affected the team, along with the injury to Kodai Senga, but we haven’t felt that yet. Kudos to pitching coach Jeremy Hefner for keeping the starters and bullpen on point, but the effect Mendy has had on this team is rather evident. He kept a much looser clubhouse in Spring Training compared to Buck Showalter last year. This bears watching through the season but it seemed obvious that Showalter and the Front Office were not aligned on the approach to analytics, where Mendy seems more amenable to it, especially given his experiences with the analytics-heavy Yankees. He’s always looking to give the credit to his players, too.
Room for Continued Improvement: Despite someone new stepping up in every game, some of the stars on this ballclub have still not hit their stride. If I would have told you that after 18 games, Francisco Lindor was batting .151 with a .478 OPS, Brandon Nimmo was leading off with an average of .217 and OPS of .718 and Jeff McNeil was contributing an average of .218 and OPS of .655, any Mets fan would have signed up for a 10-8 record over that span. Oh yeah, and the ace of the Staff and All-Star DH that was signed toward the end of Spring Training have not appeared in any games yet. David Stearns recently said he expects ace Kodai Senga to be ready to return around the time he’s eligible to come off the IL, which is May 27th. DH J.D. Martinez has returned to taking swings this week, and Stearns believes (hopes) that he should be ready soon after the Mets finish up the West Coast trip. That targets his return around April 26th when the Mets return home to face the Cardinals.
Pittsburgh Pirates Series – Key Takeaways
The Mets depart Citi Field to head west feeling really good about themselves. As mentioned above, while the team has won 10 of the last 13 games, it is not yet firing on all cylinders. That is encouraging moving forward.
Before getting in to my Key Takeaways, I’ve always been a huge fan of Mets history. So, a few hat tips to the history that was celebrated during this series.
First, on Monday, Jackie Robinson’s family was in attendance to celebrate Jackie Robinson day. This included Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s 101 year-old widow. It was a commemoration of Jackie Robinson making his MLB debut on that date in 1947. Jackie’s grandson, Burso Robinson, threw out the first pitch to Butch Huskey, the last Met to wear #42.
Then, on Wednesday, Jack Fisher threw out the first pitch. He was the starting pitcher for the Mets on that day 60 years earlier, at the first game ever played at Shea Stadium. The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Mets on that day, but 60 years later the Mets emerged victorious at Citi Field.
Here are 3 Key Takeaways from the Pirates series:
Spread the Wealth: The players on this team seem to rotate who gets to play hero in each game, are happy to share the spotlight, and they win in so many different ways. Again, it’s becoming easier and easier to cheer for this team (a term they embody in every sense of the word). Everyone contributes in any way they can for the good of the team, and most importantly to win. In Game 1 of the series, a 6-3 Mets victory, the Pirates jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 6th. The Mets answered in the bottom of the frame to tie it with a bases loaded walk to Francisco Alvarez. Francisco Lindor scoring on a Little League-looking throwing error by Pittsburgh’s Connor Joe, and an RBI double by DJ Stewart. In the bottom of the 8th, Harrison Bader drove home 2 with an RBI double and scored on a fielder’s choice. In Game 2, a 3-1 Mets victory, Joey Wendle contributed with a game-tying double, Pete Alonso scored on a balk and Jeff McNeil had an RBI double for the final score. Game 3’s 9-1 victory spotted Pittsburgh an early run, but Starling Marte hit a 2-run home run and it was off to the races.
Harrison Feeling at Home: Quickly becoming a fan favorite, Harrison Bader is contributing in the field and at the plate. His prowess in manning Center Field is not a surprise as he came in as a Gold Glover. His abilities in the field were enough to move Brandon Nimmo from Center to Left Field this season, which he did with no complaints (another case in point for the all-in team concept). He made a highlight reel sliding catch in the 2nd inning of Game 2 of the series. Bader is now hitting his stride at the plate too, coming up with clutch hits. In Game 1 of the series, he delivered an RBI double to left field in the bottom of the 8th to break a 3-3 tie. In the 6th inning of Game 3 of the series, a 9-1 Mets victory, Bader hit his first homer as a Met, a 2-run shot to left field. Most importantly, Bader loves being a Met, which the Flushing Faithful appreciate from the native New Yorker.
The Bullpen Means Business: The starting pitchers deserve accolades for strong performances throughout the series, so hat tips to Adrian Houser for gutting his way through 95 pitches over 5.1 innings in Game 1; to Jose Quintana for 5 innings of 1 run ball on 4 hits in Game 2, and Luis Severino for 6 strong innings of 1 run (0 earned) and 5 hits. However, how about that bullpen?! Let’s start with Reed Garrett, who wasn’t even on the Opening Day roster. He came into Game 2 of this series and pitched 2 dominant innings. Despite 1 walk and 1 hit, all 6 outs in the 2 innings came via strikeouts. No surprise, Edwin Díaz was strong in picking up the save in Game 1 with his light show-coordinated entrance to Narco. Other strong performances were put in by Drew Smith (save in Game 2’s 3-1 win), Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, Jorge Lopez, Jake Diekman, and Grant Hartwig. Overall the bullpen gave up 1 Earned Run over 10.2 innings pitched in the series.
Who’s Next: Los Angeles Dodgers
Up next are the NL West-leading 12-9 Los Angeles Dodgers, also flying in from the East Coast after a 3-game set against the Washington Nationals where the Nats took 2 of 3. Despite being shut out 2-0 in the last game in Washington, the Dodgers have an extremely strong lineup. They also have quality pitching to boot. Here are a few players to watch:
Yoshinobu Yamamoto: After an extremely high profile free agency tour in the offseason as he came to the US from Japan, Yamamoto selected the Dodgers. No one will ever know for sure if Yamamoto was serious about coming to the East Coast, but he certainly brought both the Mets and Yankees along for the ride. It was reported that the Mets matched the 12-year, $325 million deal that Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers. It was also reported that both owner Steve Cohen and President David Stearns flew to Japan to meet with Yamamoto and convince him that the Mets were the team to sign with. The player felt differently. In the drama category (this is LA/Hollywood), Yamamoto is slated to make the start in Game 1 of the series on Friday night.
Mookie Betts: After going 0-4 in the series finale vs. the Nationals his average dropped…. to .369 with his OPS at 1.137. Betts entered play on Wednesday leading the NL in batting average. He also has 6 HR’s and 18 RBI’s on the young season. Betts is a superstar and has been the table setter for the Dodgers. As evidenced in the 2-0 loss to the Nats, as Betts goes, you can be fairly certain that’s how the Dodgers go. Against the Mets expected Game 1 starter, Sean Manaea, Betts has a career .345 average with 3 HR’s and 8 RBI’s across 29 at-bats. He has not faced Game 2 starter Jose Butto and has 6 plate appearances against Game 3 starter Adrian Houser with 2 walks and a hit, good for a .250 average. On the fielding side, the six-timer Gold Glove outfielder was slated to move to 2B this season for the Dodgers but is now their SS. He currently has a fielding percentage of .976, which is nothing to be embarrassed about (for reference, the Mets Gold Glove shortstop, Francisco Lindor, has a FP of .983 so far this season). In the words of Larry David, Betts is pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.
Shohei Ohtani: The Dodgers other big offseason addition was Ohtani, coming over from the LA Angels. Due to major elbow surgery after a UCL injury, Ohtani is not pitching this season but is batting and doing it very well. With Betts batting .369, from the DH spot in the lineup Ohtani is right behind him at a .360 average and an OPS of 1.040 after going 3-4 in the series finale against Washington. He also has 4 HR’s and 10 RBI’s. With Betts and Ohtani as the 1-2 at the top of the Dodgers lineup, it will be interesting to see how the Mets manage through that in tough spots. Also, as a reminder, Ohtani has been able to accomplish this despite the off-the-field distractions of the gambling controversy with his interpreter.
The 2024 Mets come in to the series against the Dodgers riding their first 3-game winning streak, and the winners of four straight series and 10 of their last 13 games. This 3-game set against the Dodgers will be a good measuring stick as the Mets will look to continue their winning ways across the country from the friendly confines of Citi Field. As always, Let’s Go Mets!
by: Jason Krom
Stats by espn.com
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