Let’s go sweeping!
The Mets will look for the sweep this afternoon against the Padres after Saturday’s 5-1 win. The Mets have now won four consecutive games and have gone 10-4 since calling a team meeting. The Padres enter play with a 0.5 game lead for the second wild card spot. Thanks to the Mets winning and the Padres losing (among others), the wild card race has collapsed in the National League with the Mets 2 games behind the third sport, and 2.5 games behind the Padres spot. Overall seven teams are within two games. Are the Mets rewriting their seller status for the deadline?
The Mets turn to Tylor Megill to complete the sweep against the Padres this afternoon. Over five starts, 25 2/3 innings, Megill has a 3.51 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 1.286 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. He’s coming off of a shorter outing where he allowed three runs from five hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings. He still recorded eight strikeouts though! He held the Padres to two runs over five innings last year, scattering three hits and three walks. The Padres have the following career numbers against him:
- Luis Arráez 4-6, 2B
- Jake Cronenworth 0-2
- Manny Machado 0-2, BB, K
- David Peralta 0-6, 2 K
- Jurickson Profar 1-3, K
- Donovan Solano 0-2, K
The Padres got Dylan Cease from the White Sox right at the start of the season, and it was a major sign that the Padres were not throwing in the towel on the season. Over 14 starts (83 innings) this season Cease has a 3.36 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 1.000 WHIP and a 116 ERA+. He’s coming off of a strong start against Oakland where he held the Athletics to only one run from eight hits in six innings of work. Before that start he had a stretch of five starts with a 5.86 ERA, 4.23 FIP where opponents hit .279/.314/.487 against him. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Pete Alonso 0-3, 2 K
- Harrison Bader 0-1, BB
- José Iglesias 1-2, K
- Francisco Lindor 2-7, 2 HR, K
- Starling Marte 0-2, BB, K
- J.D. Martinez 3-7, BB, 2 K
- Jeff McNeil 1-3
- DJ Stewart 0-3, K
- Tyrone Taylor 0-3, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- We are just living J.D.’s world. Martinez went 3-for-3 Saturday with two home runs, 3 RBI’s and two walks yesterday. Since May 30th, J.D. has gone 17-for-54 hitting five home runs and slashing .315/.422/.685. He now has 26 RBI’s on the season, 5th on team, despite only playing 43 games. This is the whole reason why the Mets brought Martinez to the team!
- Nimmo is continuing to bounce back. Nimmo went 2-for-5 at the plate on Saturday with a double and two RBI’s. He has been the team leader for a while in RBI’s but his slump over the last couple of weeks allowed Pete and Lindor to catch up. Nimmo is now back on top and has gone 4-for-8 in the last two games. Don’t let Nimmo get hot!
- Adrian Houser? Adrian Houser was last used on June 8th in the Mets 7-2 loss against Philly in London. In his last three outings he has allowed no runs, scatting four hits and three walks over seven innings of work. This feels like a logical day to use Houser if Megill has a short day. At some point Houser is going to have too much rest.
Let’s Go Mets!
