Mike Freire - Fleeting Thoughts

Good Morning, Mets' fans!

I am comfortably seated at my desk on Monday morning as I write this article. Sort of like the Mets are comfortably seated in second place at the moment, just behind the division leading Phillies.  

Our favorite ball club has gotten off to a respectable 6-3 start to the year, which is an average of two wins out of three games played across the first three series of 2019.

***EDIT - well, the first Twins game after this article certainly dampened some of my enthusiasm, for sure.  Still, 6-4 isn't the end of the world (yet).

Not a horrible place to be and pretty much what was expected once Spring Training ended. I hate to sound petty or otherwise ungrateful, but the way that they have arrived at the listed record leaves a little bit to desired, doesn't it?  

Six of the first nine games were against the preseason favorite for the division title (Washington) and six of the first nine games were on the road, so winning six of them should be celebrated! BUT, it feels like it should should have been more like 7-2, or even 8-1, and it also feels like they let the Nationals "off the hook" a little bit.

I know, calm down and enjoy the good start.  There are 153 games left to play and a lot more to be learned about the 2019 Mets as the season unfolds.

EDIT #2 - I would be lying if I said I wasn't too concerned about the 1-3 start to the year at HOME.  They need to figure out the issues with Citi-Field, it would seem.

With that said, here are my "thoughts" for the week:

1.  Different fans will define "a big game" in different ways, but Sunday's match up with the Nationals was as big of a game as the Mets have played in a while.  Sunday usually means a well attended "day game" and you had the Nationals in town, with their ace "Mad Max" on the hill.  IF you win this game, you win a second consecutive game against Scherzer, not to mention you post an early season 4-2 record against the team that everyone listed as the best in the division. 

PC - Ed Delany

Alas, it was not meant to be for a variety of reasons that led to a 12-9 defeat, the biggest of which was Zack Wheeler's horrific start.

I tend to get on his case more then the other Mets' pitchers because he should be better than he is based on his talent, but his injury history and maddening inconsistency prevents that from taking place (short of a hot finish to the 2018 season when the games didn't matter that much).  

Sunday's start was more of the same as it took the wind out of the team's sails and showed that Zack cannot be relied upon in a "big moment", at least in my humble opinion.

4.2 Innings Pitched - 4 Hits - 7 WALKS - 7 Earned Runs and 103 Pitches Thrown

13.49 ERA and 2.36 WHIP

That, my friends, is the definition of "making a mess in the bed" (I left out the term that i wanted to use, but you get the point). Look, I am sure Zack is nice guy, but he is who he is at this point and I think he should be allowed to move on as a free agent in the off season.

2. On a better note, the offense has been pretty consistent and a source of optimism late in games.  Through the first ten games, the team has scored 61 runs and that includes being shut out last Thursday night!  

So far, the Mets have five regular players with an OPS of at least .850 and three of them with an OPS over 1.000, which is outstanding.  This list does not include the "slower" starts to the year for several players (Cano, Rosario and Nimmo) who are likely to bounce back in the coming weeks.  Plus the bench will get stronger when players like Lowrie, Frazier and D'Arnaud return from the injured list. 

If you break things down further, the Mets are averaging 6.00 runs per game, which should be more then sufficient for a team that boasts such a potent pitching staff, right?

3. Well.....on that topic, the aforementioned pitching staff has been a bit rough around the edges outside of reigning Cy Young Award winner Jacob DeGrom (mostly) and perhaps new "closer" Edwin Diaz. 

EDIT #3 - well, I suppose Jake was due for a "clunker" after such a great run.  It stinks that it was at home and that it was in such spectacular fashion.  I am starting to wonder if Jake NEEDS a specific catcher during his starts?  He seemed to do pretty well with Ramos behind the plate during Opening Day, but what do I know.

When you take a deeper look at the pitching statistics, it is actually pretty amazing that the team has a 6-4 record (hopefully 7-4 by the time you read this).

As a team, the Mets have allowed a total of 59 runs in ten games, which is an average of 5.90 runs surrendered per contest (not so good).  

Furthermore, the team has a 5.14 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP, which is a bit troubling.  That does not even touch on how shaky most of the bullpen has been, especially in middle relief.  

Let's hope that it is just a small sample size and the pitching staff regresses to the mean (i.e. gets a whole lot better).  Or, we could just sign Dallas Keuchel and/or Craig Kimbrel already!

4. After a quick break on Monday, the Mets host the Twins (5-3) for a pair of games before embarking on a ten game road trip that includes four in Atlanta (5-4), three in Philadelphia (6-2) and three in St Louis (4-5).

EDIT #4 - the first Twins contest wasn't much of one, so let's hope the Mets rebound in the second game so they can embark on the listed road trip in a better mental state. 

Once that stretch is over, the Mets will have played sixteen of their first twenty-one games on the road.  Things are about to get interesting and I think the true abilities of the team will be much clearer once they return home on April 22nd.

On the 22nd, the Mets will open a ten game home stand with three additional games against Philadelphia (6-2), three games against Milwaukee (8-2) and four games against Cincinnati (1-8), which will pretty much close out the month of April.  Would the rest of you be happy with a 21-10 record at that point?  I know that I would.

Stay safe, Mets' fans.