Mets Week in Review: Surging Mets End Week in First Place

The Mets have won five games in a row, they’re in first place in the NL East and things are all sunshine and rainbows in Flushing, Queens.

All those things may be true Monday, but the latter certainly wasn’t over the last seven days.

The week started with the team firing hitting coach Chili Davis, then there was the mid-game incident in the tunnel between middle infielders Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor Friday night, which definitely involved passionate words and may have escalated to something more. Both those events pale in comparison to Sunday afternoon when Jacob deGrom was pulled from his start in the sixth inning with “right side soreness.”

But as the week flips, the Mets are hitting better — enough to win, at least – McNeil and Lindor look like besties again, and an MRI revealed no structural damage to the best pitcher in the game.

So, maybe not all sunshine and rainbows. But hey, at least it’s not raining.

Weekly Record: 5-2

2021 Record: 16-13 (1st place, NL East)

162 Game Pace: 89-73

What Went Right: The bullpen

Raise your hand if you had the Mets with arguably the best bullpen in the majors six weeks into the season. Is your hand up? You’re a liar. But somehow that’s where we’re at right now. Since April 22, the Mets lead the majors in bullpen ERA at 1.71, the Marlins are in a distant second at 2.36. They lead the league in fWAR per innings pitched and HR/9 with 0.38.

The weekend sweep of the Diamondbacks had relievers’ fingerprints all over it. Starter David Peterson was pulled in the second inning on Friday, and six relievers combined to allow just one run over the next 8.1 innings. Saturday was a bullpen game, with Tommy Hunter going two perfect innings and Jeurys Familia, Aaron Loup, and Trevor May combining to allow just one run in 3.2 innings of work.

After deGrom’s early exit Sunday, it was Miguel Castro, Jacob Barnes, and Edwin Diaz that locked down the final four innings, with Barnes allowing the only run. Diaz converted his fifth save in as many opportunities of the year. He recorded the final five outs in the game for the first time as a Met and only the second time in his career. For all his faults, manager Luis Rojas is pushing the right buttons with the ‘pen, a job certainly made easier by the fact that it’s gotten contributions from top to bottom.

What Went Wrong: Power Outage

It feels wrong to criticize a team that’s performing as well as the Mets are right now, but if there’s one glaring issue offensively right now, it’s the lack of the long ball. The Mets are 22nd in the majors with just 22 homers on the year. Pete Alonso leads the way with five and McNeil is next with three. No one else on the team has more than two.

As a whole, the at-bats are markedly better now than they were to start the year, and warmer weather should also help, but it’s been surprising guys like Michael Conforto and Lindor have just two each on the year. If the team keeps winning, it doesn’t really matter how the runs are scored, but it is worth monitoring whether or not new hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum has an impact on those numbers. The Mets are 14-2 in games they’ve scored at least four runs, and the long ball certainly helps with reaching that threshold.

Stock Up: Francisco Lindor

It wasn’t so long ago that Lindor was the victim of boos from the Citi Field faithful as well as criticism from fans and media alike (myself included). But the $341 million man is starting to look much more like just that. His defense has never been in question, but he’s beginning to look much more like the two-way player he has been his whole career.

After his spat with McNeil on Friday, Lindor hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the seventh inning. On Saturday night, he drove in a run and scored an electric one of his own when he stole second and came all the way around to score when the throw rolled into shallow left field.

Over the past week, Lindor has six walks to just four strikeouts, an indication that he’s seeing the ball better. After the Cardinals series, I said we could one day be laughing at his 0-for-26 slump, and that day looks a lot closer than it did just a few days ago.

Stock Down: James McCann

When the Mets signed McCann to a four-year, $40 million deal early in the offseason, it was thought he would shore up the position both from an offensive and defensive standpoint. His arm – dubbed the McCannon by Justin Verlander – has been as advertised and the success of the pitching staff would suggest he’s calling a good game for their skillsets, but the bat has simply not been there. McCann is hitting just .210 on the year with an OPS down at .520. His lone extra-base hit, a home run, came back on April 14.

Things are at the point where fans were wondering why backup Tomas Nido isn’t seeing more action after McCann struck out three times Sunday, including once with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning.

Injury Report

Since tearing his hamstring in spring training, all reports indicated Carlos Carrasco was on track to return to the team as early as this past week. Instead, the Mets surprisingly moved the veteran righty to the 60-Day IL, postponing his debut to at least May 30. The good news is Carrasco apparently didn’t suffer any setback, and the Mets just want to be overly-cautious with is return. However, with deGrom’s status up in the air and the inconsistencies out of the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation, his return would give the Mets a major boost.

DeGrom was perfect through four innings on Sunday, but looked uncomfortable working through trouble in the fifth before eventually being pulled after taking his warm-up pitches in the sixth. The clean MRI is good news, and the team said his discomfort is in his back and unrelated to the lat soreness that kept him out of his scheduled start on Tuesday. As of Monday afternoon, New York did place its ace on the 10-day injured list.

J.D. Davis and Brandon Nimmo both also hit the IL with hand injuries this past week, though neither seems major and reserves Kevin Pillar and Jonathan Villar have performed admirably in their absence.

On a positive note, a strength could be getting stronger in the near future. Reliever Drew Smith was recalled Sunday after shoulder soreness delayed his start to the year. Smith looked impressive during the spring, and could be another weapon at Rojas’ disposal while he navigates his starting pitching predicament.

Meanwhile, Seth Lugo, one of the team’s best relievers, also seems primed for a return in the next couple of weeks. After surgery to remove a bone spur has kept him sidelined, Lugo could begin a rehab assignment as soon as next week.

Week Ahead

After an off-day Monday, the Mets welcome interleague foe Baltimore to Citi Field for a two-game set on Tuesday. The series starts against the Orioles’ under-the-radar ace John Means, who is coming off a no-hitter against the Mariners last week. Marcus Stroman is scheduled to oppose him; I’d take the under in that one.

Wednesday will surely be an interesting day, as Matt Harvey takes the Citi Field mound for the first time as an opposing pitcher. Harvey has enjoyed a career resurgence through the early going with Baltimore, pitching to a 3.60 ERA over seven starts. His time with the Mets was enigmatic for sure, but fans shouldn’t forget the impact Harvey had on this team, often a lone bright spot during some of the team’s darkest days over the past decade.

After an another off-day Thursday, the Mets will face another AL East opponent when they travel to Tampa Bay to take on last season’s World Series runner-up in the Rays.

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