Just Mets

The Mets defeated the Miami Marlins on Sunday by the score of 7-6, sweeping their four-game series from Miami and winning for the eighth game in a row. Here are my takeaways from Sunday…

A bittersweet win.

Yes, the Mets won, and they looked awesome in doing so, but it didn’t come without consequences. The Mets lost LHP Jerry Blevins to a fractured forearm after taking a comebacker in relief of Matt Harvey in the seventh inning. He was the Mets best left-handed reliever, and now he’s down at least 4-6 weeks, if not longer.

They also lost Travis d’Arnaud to a hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning after another splendid day at the plate after being hit by a pitch from AJ Ramos. His hand is broken, and so he’s out too.

A good win, and a great sweep. But it was a really, really bad day at the same time for the Mets. They lost two key guys to injury in one inning. Just a tough pill to swallow.

#HarveyDay was fair.

Harvey got off to a sluggish start, allowing a run in the second inning on some well struck singles in the second inning. His pitches were up in the zone but he did a good job throwing strikes and getting strikeouts when they counted. He settled in nicely from the third through the fifth innings, retiring nine in a row at one point.

Things began to unravel for him starting in the sixth inning. He allowed an RBI single to Giancarlo Stanton, but in the seventh he allowed two runs after the first three Marlins reached base. He kind of hit a wall there in the seventh and he exited after throwing 84 pitches, 63 strikes.

The fact he didn’t walk anyone helped big time, especially as the Marlins started to figure him out in the sixth and seventh innings. But, I’m sure Harvey won’t be happy with his performance, despite earning his third win of the season.

An offensive explosion for one inning, but nothing more.

The Mets sent 12 men to the plate in the fourth inning, seven of which scored. D’arnaud singled twice, drove in and scored a run, they got RBI hits from Daniel Murphy, and Juan Lagares, but the big blow came from Ruben Tejada who cleared the bases with a well struck double to the left-center field gap.

They had outstanding plate appearances through the entire frame and put together a very exciting inning. They needed it in the end, because the momentum turned to Miami’s favor late in the game. The Marlins proceeded to attack Matt harvey starting in the sixth inning and clawed all the way back to within one run against him and the Mets bullpen.

Fortunately, the Mets still found a way, which is what good teams do. Now, they have to regroup and find a way to piece their bullpen back together. Quickly.

The Mets bullpen sprung a leak.

It hasn’t been a good couple of days for the Mets bullpen, despite the team wins. Alex Torres allowed an inherited runner to score in the seventh on a wild pitch, and Buddy Carlyle had a rough go of it in his one inning of work. It’s going to happen, and it’s better that it happens when the team is winning and they have a big lead. But, now that Blevins is gone, they’re going to have to pick up the pieces and button up some of these troubles in a hurry.

Other notes from Sunday:

With Tejada’s three-run double, the Mets drove in eight runs from their shortstops this weekend.

d’Arnaud now has nine RBI in his 11 games played this season.

Juan Lagares went 2-for-3 with an RBI – he now has a seven-game hitting streak and is 10-for-25 during that stretch.

Curtis Granderson reached base two more times, drawing his league leading 12th walk of the year.