Just Mets

The Mets won their second consecutive series and third of the season with their four-game sweep of the Marlins at Citi Field on Sunday.

With Sunday’s win, the Mets extended their home win streak to nine games in a row, dating back to September 27, 2014. It matches their longest winning streak since they moved into Citi Field Field (April 22-May 8, and May 22-June 8, 2010).

Their current eight-game winning streak is the longest current streak in the game.

Here’s a look at the series statistically…

• The Mets got two home runs and eight RBI from the shortstop position – Wilmer Flores drove in five runs with two separate homers, and Ruben Tejada hit a bases clearing double as part of a seven run inning on Sunday.
• Curtis Granderson reached base three times but went only 1-for-14.
• Travis d’Arnaud went 3-for-11 with a homer and two RBI in this series before breaking his hand on Sunday.
• Lucas Duda went 5-for-15 with an RBI and four runs scored.
• Juan Lagares went 6-for-15 with a double, three runs scored and three RBI – he now has a seven game hitting streak.
• Michael Cuddyer went 6-for-12 with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBI – he now has a seven game hitting streak and has reached base in ten straight.
• The Mets outscored the Marlins 23-16 during this series.
• The Mets hit .279 (34-for-122) during the series with eight doubles and three home runs.
• The Mets went 13-for-34 with runners in scoring position against the Marlins this weekend.
• The four-game sweep improved the Mets to 10-3 for the year. That’s tied for the best start after 13 games in team history. The 1986 and 2006 teams both were 10-3 after 13 games.
• The Mets rotation posted a 3.17 ERA and averaged just over 6 1/3 IP per start.
• The Mets bullpen had a 5.23 ERA during the four games against the Marlins.
• Despite breaking his forearm, Jerry Blevins retired all seven batters he faced out of the bullpen.
• The Mets came from behind in three of the four games against the Marlins and now have a league-leading six come from behind wins in 2015.

The offense came alive.

The Mets offense carried the Mets for the most part in this series. They scored 23 runs in the four games, six or more in three of them and no less than four. They did a fantastic job in situational hitting, worked deep counts and found themselves in advantageous spots on numerous occasions and took advantage more often than not. The fourth inning on Thursday was a prime example of that as they battled Tom Koehler until knocking him out by attacking the strikes they could hit, and spitting on those they couldn’t. They got big hits and took their walks when they had to.

All-in-all, its hard to find any blemishes with the bats.

The starting pitching was good enough.

The Mets got two good starts out of Jacob deGrom and Bartolo Colon, and uneven starts from Dillon Gee and Matt Harvey this weekend. In the end, Gee and Harvey were good enough to keep the Mets in these games, but had their fair share of struggles during their outings. Harvey’s problems could be attributed to his illness, as he said he just ran out of gas in the seventh inning on Sunday, and Gee really only made a couple of mistakes in his start on Thursday night.

They’re not going to be perfect every time out and, in the case of Harvey, there are sometimes other issues in play preventing them from performing at peak levels. It happens, but fortunately the offense was able to carry them through their outings.

The bullpen sprung a leak on Saturday and Sunday.

The bullpen made it way too interesting in the second half of this series, thanks in part to a fatigued Carlos Torres on Saturday, and just ineffectiveness from Buddy Carlyle on Sunday. Torres and Carlyle have been so good for the Mets that it’s safe to attribute these bad outings to anomalies. But with Blevins out, and Vic Black and Bobby Parnell apparently not close to returning, there are going to be higher expectations and greater dependencies on these crooked outings not taking place.

Character wins.

The Mets were dealt a serious blow on Sunday when they lost Blevins and d’Arnaud to major injuries. Yet, they still were able to manage these distractions and deliver a win, albeit by the skin on their teeth. But their three come from behind wins showed a lot of character and fight, as they did a lot of the little things right, and didn’t give up despite facing quite a bit of adversity in this series. It was a lot of fun to watch despite the difficult circumstances they encountered on Sunday.