The Mets are free falling right now. They have now lost five games in a row and are a season worst nine games below .500. The games they have lost in the past week are all games they could have easily won, with the last three losses involving blown leads late in games. This has to be causing increased pressure on the bullpen, which in turn is making results worst right now.
It’s a mess, and the only cure for it is to win ball games. Hopefully Sean Manaea facing his old club this afternoon can put the Mets back in the right direction.
Over nine starts (46 1/3 innings) this season, Manaea has a 3.11 ERA, 3.41 FIP, 1.295 WHIP and a 123 ERA+. Since his terrible start against Kansas City on April 13th, Manaea has made six starts with a 2.56 ERA, 3.41 FIP while opponents are hitting .224/.305/.310 against him. He has gotten results on the field this year despite some of the under-the-hood stats suggesting otherwise (4.25 xERA, .254 xBA). The Giants have the following career numbers against him:
- Patrick Bailey 1-1, BB
- Curt Casali 0-6, BB, 2 K
- Matt Chapman 1-2
- Thairo Estrada 2-12, K
- Wilmer Flores 8-23, 2 2B, BB, 4 K
- Heliot Ramos 0-2, BB
- Jorge Soler 2-7, HR< BB, K
- Mike Yastrzemski 2-8, 3B, BB, 3 K
The Mets bats will face Logan Webb who has already made 11 starts this season. Over 65 1/3 innings, Webb has a 3.03 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 1.332 WHIP and a 128 ERA+. Over his last two starts he has allowed two runs over 12 innings while striking out 11. This is a massive improvement over the three starts before that where he allowed 12 runs, 10 earned over 14 2/3 innings. He last faced the Mets in April 2023 where he held the Mets to two runs from five hits and a walk over seven innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Pete Alonso 2-14, HR, BB, 5 K
- Harrison Bader 2-5, 2 BB
- Brett Baty 0-5, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 2-11, 2B, 4 K
- Starling Marte 7-15, 2B, K
- J.D. Martinez 1-7, BB, 4 K
- Jeff McNeil 3-12, 2B, BB, K
- Omar Narváez 1-8, 2 K
- Tomás Nido 1-6
- Brandon Nimmo 1-14, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
- DJ Stewart 0-3
- Tyrone Taylor 0-4, BB, 2 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Sean Manaea revenge game? The San Francisco Giants jerked Manaea around last year between the bullpen and the rotation. Players are sometimes more amped up when they face their last team. We’ll know fairly earlier on if Manaea is having a revenge game type outing from the radar gun. His sinker which he throws about 40% of the time sits around 92/93 and has maxed out this season at 96. His 4-seam fastball which he throws about 15% of the time sits around 92 as well and has gone as high as 97 this year. Look to see if his pitches are averaging slightly higher than normal.
- A normal day for the bullpen. The bullpen has not been the only culprit over the last several games for the Mets. Once a strength, now a problem, the Mets have lost three games in a row that they had the lead late. Further, the last two games we’ve seen massive explosions, like Reed Garrett allowing five runs in the 8th inning Friday night or yesterday where the Mets allowed five in the 10th and didn’t even give the offense a chance. Let’s have a normal day today, please!
- Mets have flashed a lot of power. The Mets have hit 12 homeruns as a team over their last five games. They’ve also lost all five of those games. It’s pretty crazy. The offense is coming together but they are still struggling to hit with runners in scoring position. Friday’s game ended with the bases loaded. Saturday the Mets had a runner on third with one out in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t bring them in (and then the bullpen exploded).
Let’s Go Mets!
