Just Mets

Here are some of my takeaways from the Mets 13-4 win over the Nationals on Saturday…

David Wright looked like David Wright.

Wright smoked a three-run home run as part of a four-run third inning for New York, hitting it well over the center field fence.

This home run for Wright is part of a very encouraging pattern for him, as he’s shown consistency going up the middle and the other way all through camp. It’s a sure sign his shoulder woes are a thing of the past as he looks to rebound after a disappointing 2014 season.

Scott Rice passed a test against lefties.

It wasn’t perfect, as he allowed a leadoff single to Tony Gwynn Jr. in the sixth inning. But he worked around that single and induced an inning ending double play to left Kila Ka’aihue to get out of trouble.

From what I’ve seen so far with Rice, he’s struggled with location up in the zone. He’s not going to dominate, so if he’s going to be effective in this role, it will be important he gets the ball down and in to lefties more consistently.

John Mayberry Jr. continues to rake this spring.

It was only one at-bat, but Mayberry continued an impressive spring with a long two-run home run in the seventh inning. He absolutely crushed a high fastball off of LHP Rich Hill in the seventh, and then singled in Kevin Plawecki in the eighth to raise his average to .500 on the spring.

Mayberry has historically fared very well against left-handed pitching, today being no exception to that rule. He’s going to get a lot of looks against lefties in a part-time role this season, so it was good to see him capitalize on such a spot during today’s exhibition.

Other notes from Saturday:

Juan Lagares continued his strong spring with a double and a triple. He is now hitting .429 in seven games this spring.

Dillon Gee pitched himself into a jam, and then out of it, but was betrayed by his middle infield defense on a ground ball up the middle which resulted in two runs against his ledger.

Lucas Duda went 1-for-4 in his spring debut, striking out against LHP Rich Hill in the seventh inning.

Michael Cuddyer hit his second homer of the spring, a solo shot in the sixth inning.

Kevin Plawecki drove in three runs on a bases loaded double to right field in the eighth inning. Plawecki is now 3-for-12 with four RBI this spring.

The Mets have scored 37 runs over their last three spring games.