The Mets defeated the Phillies by the score of 6-3 at Citi Field on Memorial Day. Here are my takeaways from Monday’s win…
It’s better than losing.
After a really awful and embarrassing weekend in Pittsburgh, it was nice to see the Mets come out and actually swing the bats with some level of competence today. Bartolo Colon wasn’t at his best today, but he was good enough and his team picked him up with three home runs.
It was just a feel good game for the Mets, something they really needed after that mess over the weekend. They hit the ball, played well in the field and slugged their way to a quality win.
Yes, its the Phillies, but that’s not particularly relevant considering they’ve played better than the Mets recently. So, take it as it comes…
Bartolo Colon was good enough.
Colon really only had one bad inning when he allowed two runs to come across with two outs in the third inning. Other than that he pitched well enough to win, although he remains far from the pitcher he was through the first six weeks of the season. He issued two walks and allowed eight baserunners – one of those walks came to the pitcher in the third inning which resulted in one of those runs coming across.
He’s getting there, though and it was nice to see him bounce back this afternoon.
Kudos to Wilmer Flores.
He’s felt so much heat with his poor play at shortstop this season. But, his play at shortstop has improved greatly over the last couple of weeks, and he’s doing what they expect him to at the plate. He had the big blow today with his three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the Mets up for good.
Despite the scrutiny, pressure, run-costing mistakes, he has dug himself out of the hole and gotten it done for the Mets. He’s pacing for 28 home runs this year – it’s hard to ask for more than that and just pedestrian play at shortstop.
Jekyl and Hyde.
The Mets improved to 18-6 at home. Yet, they’re 7-15 on the road. They look completely different here than they do away from Citi Field. Their pitching is much better, they hit and score more runs, and there’s just more energy in their games at home. Sure, perhaps they haven’t played great teams at home, but they haven’t played great teams on the road either.
Terry Collins and the coaching staff need to figure out how to get some of the success here to translate on the road. After all, they do play 81 games away from Flushing – it would be nice if they were a little more competitive in grey.
Other notes from Monday:
Colon is the third pitcher in baseball this season to reach seven wins (Michael Wacha and Felix Hernandez also have seven wins).
Flores has four home runs and 11 RBI in May. He leads all big league shortstops with seven home runs – five of his seven home runs have come at Citi Field.
Flores, Michael Cuddyer and Lucas Duda all homered on Monday – the Mets have hit 14 home runs in their last 11 games.
Daniel Murphy went 2-for-4 with an RBI (24) – he is now 9-for-his-last-17 at the plate.
The Mets struck out eight more times this afternoon – they’ve struck out 63 times in their last six games.
Jeurys Familia notched his 14th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
Anthony Recker stole his second career base in the sixth inning. It’s the team’s 16th stolen base in 2015.
The Mets are no 24-30 all-time on Memorial Day.
To see Flores break the tie in Monday’s game with his three-run home run, watch this:
Just Mets 