3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Swept Aside By Padres

Some of the New York Mets’ fatal flaws were exposed once again in San Diego.

Following a 3-0 start on the West Coast road trip, the Mets were brought back to reality by the Padres after being swept. Not a whole lot went right. There was a pretty significant injury scare, too.

All in all, this team still has plenty of concerns to iron out. And the offense remains the biggest concern as we prepare to enter August and the dog days of summer.

To that end, let’s proceed with another edition of 3 Up, 3 Down…

(Note – This will be a trade-free zone. We’ll have a Trade Deadline focused 3 Up, 3 Down for you on Friday).

3 UP

THANK THE BASEBALL GODS

Anyone with even the slightest connection to the Mets was left praying to the Baseball Gods on Tuesday. Juan Soto left the game in the fourth inning after taking a hard foul ball off his left foot. You couldn’t blame the collective Mets universe for automatically assuming the worst. Thankfully, initial X-rays came back negative. Soto wasn’t in the lineup on Wednesday, but felt better, which is a good sign. Therefore, there is a strong chance that Soto could be good to go on Friday. All in all, the Mets had one hell of a lucky break.

IGNORE THE NOISE

Talk about a weird week for Mark Vientos. Already enduring a tough season, the slugger saw his name come up in trade rumors earlier this week. While we can’t know for sure if Vientos will still be a Met by the close of play on Thursday, the player himself certainly didn’t let the noise impact his game. Vientos continued his recent resurgence in style by hitting a grand slam in the series opener in San Diego. He then followed that up with a multi-hit night on Tuesday, before extending his hit streak to nine games in the finale on Wednesday. This hasn’t been an easy year for Vientos, and this week presented yet more challenges. However, he took it all in stride and showed signs that he’s ready to contribute at a high clip the rest of the way.

TRENDING UPWARDS

If the Mets are going to be successful this year, they will need their current group of starters to really step up and deliver. Therefore, Sean Manaea‘s latest outing on Tuesday would have offered plenty of encouragement. The lefty allowed just one run on three hits while striking out four in five innings of work. He has yet to allow more than one earned run in a game since coming off the IL. More importantly, Manaea reached a season-high 86 pitches and is clearly starting to settle into a groove. And the quicker he can ramp up fully and be the big-inning arm this team needs, the better.

3 DOWN

TRENDING DOWNWARDS

July has not been kind to Clay Holmes. The starter has struggled this month, and it appears he is running out of gas, having already set a career-high in innings pitched in a single season. Holmes’ downwards trajectory continued on Wednesday as he allowed four runs – two earned – on eight hits and two walks in just 3 2/3 innings. Consequently, the righty is now pitching to a 4.90 ERA in the month of July – he hasn’t completed six innings in any of those outings. At some point soon, the Mets may need to make a decision on Holmes’ status as a starter for the rest of this season.

SINKING OFFENSE

Okay, now is the time to start really worrying about this offense. The lineup has been maddeningly inconsistent all year, and it has also struggled against good pitching. That isn’t a good sign for October. Well, against good pitching in San Diego, the offense simply didn’t show outside of the six runs scored in the series opener. In the final two games of the series, this lineup scored just one run. They were shut out on Wednesday after managing just three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. Furthermore, the team went a combined 0-for-8 with RISP in those two games, leaving a total of 11 runners stranded on base. With Juan Soto out of the lineup in the finale, the lineup had nothing. Meanwhile, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso have struggled. And, on Wednesday, Alonso, Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, and Mark Vientos went a combined 2-for-15. The stars need to be better. The top of the lineup needs to be consistent. And this lineup, as currently constituted, just needs to be better. Period.

MELTING DOWN

The Trade Deadline has arrived at the perfect time for the Mets. The bullpen has been running out of gas for a while now, and that was on full display against the Padres. Huascar Brazobán made a mental mistake to allow a run in the fifth inning of Monday’s game. Gregory Soto also had a lapse, which cost a run and the game. Then, on Tuesday, Chris Devenski and the now-departed José Buttó combined to allow six runs to undo all of the good work by the offense. The reinforcements brought in by the front office on Wednesday could not have come at a better time.

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