Yesterday may have been the most frustrating Mets loss of the season. They opened the game with a 5-1 lead, looking like they were going to roll through the Yankees. Then Max Scherzer lost control of the game, the Mets made several defensive miscues and they suffered a series of aggravating umpire decisions. Despite all of that, the Mets had a chance to win the game in the 8th inning with the bases loaded and couldn’t bring anyone home. Then in a head-scratching situation, Buck Showalter didn’t use either of his power bats on the bench in the ninth inning when down by one run.
As a result the Mets are now five games below .500 and they are without a key reliever, Drew Smith, for the next ten games. There was a glimmer of hope at the start of the game yesterday that the Mets were emerging out of their free fall, but it’s clear the Mets are still plummeting.
Justin Verlander, the Mets big off-season acquisition, has a chance to stop the Mets free fall tonight. Over seven starts and 39 innings, Verlander has a 4.85 ERA, 4.92 FIP, 1.333 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. He is in a pattern right now where every other start is either terrible or amazing. On May 16th he allowed six runs over five innings, then he tossed a one-run, eight inning gem. Then on May 27th he allowed six runs over five innings, then he allowed one run over six. His last time out he allowed five runs, four earned, over just three innings against Atlanta. Does the pendulum swing back tonight? The Yankees have the following career numbers against him:
- Josh Donaldson 7-21, 2 2B, 3 BB, 3 K
- DJ LeMahieu 6-18, 2B, HR, 2 K
- Gleyber Torres 2-15, 5 K
- Willie Calhoun 5-11, HR, 2 BB, 2 K
- Giancalro Stanton 2-11, 2 HR, BB, 6 K
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa 2-9, HR, 2 K
- Jake Bauers 1-7, BB, 3 K
- Anthony Rizzo 0-2, BB
The Mets bats will close out the two game series against the Yankees ace, Gerrit Cole. Cole has made 14 starts and tossed 85 2/3 innings this year with a 2.84 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 1.144 WHIP and a 147 ERA+. Cole ended May with two rough starts in a row where he allowed a combined 11 runs, 10 earned, over 11 innings. Since then he has pitched 12 innings allowing only three runs from 11 hit sand three walks while striking out 11. The Mets have the following career numbers against Cole:
- Tommy Pham 10-27, 2 2B, 2 HR, 10 K
- Mark Canha 2-13, 2B, BB, 5 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-11, 2 BB, 2 K
- Daniel Vogelbach 0-13, BB, 7 K
- Omar Narváez 1-13, 8 K
- Starling Marte 1-6
- Brandon Nimmo 1-3, K
- Luis Guillorme 1-2, K
- Jeff McNeil 2-2
Three Things To Watch For:
- Does Cole keep the ball in the park? Cole ended the month of April with a 1.11 ERA. His May ERA was 5.18. The difference was homers. He didn’t allow a single homer in the month of April. He allowed eight in May, and they all came in pairs. In June so far he has allowed one. Cole has had only one good-ish start when he’s allowed two homers in the same game, which makes sense.
- Mark Canha’s resurgence continues. Mark was on base twice last night and in his last four games he’s gone 5-for-14 with three doubles, slashing .357/.438/.571. Since May 31st he’s hitting .313/.405/.594. More importantly, he’s driven in 10 runs since May 31st, which is about half of his RBI total for the season.
- The Mets are down a bullpen pitcher. The Mets had a bullpen shakeup over the weekend and a seven inning performance from Kodai Senga on Saturday. That, coupled with the off-day on Monday meant that the Mets bullpen was fairly well rested. That ended up being very important as the Mets needed to use five bullpen arms last night and lost an additional arm with the Smith ejection. Adam Ottavino and Brooks Raley are completely rested and ready to go today if Verlander can go seven innings. If not, Robertson can go again. If Verlander cannot go deep, the Mets are going need to burn through most of the pen again, but they do have another off-day tomorrow for extra rest.
Let’s Go Mets!
