Just Mets

The Mets dropped the opener of their three-game series with the Marlins by the score of 4-3 tonight at Citi Field. Here are my takeaways from the loss…

Just one mistake…

Matt Harvey was actually really good tonight despite the line, but he paid for one big mistake tonight.

It came in the fourth inning after Dee Gordon rolled a bunt single to become the first Marlin to reach. Then, he walked Martin Prado and then he hung a slider to Justin Bour, who hit it a mile.

The pitch selection wasn’t good by Kevin Plawecki. He called for a first-pitch slider outside, and by default backup sliders hang by nature. Harvey agreed to throw it, and he hung it up on a tee and completely missed the location. But, if Harvey executes it out there, at worst it’s a ball or it’s fouled off, and it’s a different game.

I’ll get into this more tomorrow, but he was really just a two-pitch pitcher tonight. Not a lot of curves, and I can’t remember if he even threw a change-up. He was a two-pitch pitcher tonight, and while his fastball was electrifying, his slider was not. The amazing part is, he only got burned once – that’s how good he is.

Bats went dead.

The offense didn’t exactly pick up their ace tonight. They hit two more home runs – one from Lucas Duda and the other from Curtis Granderson – but really didn’t do anything else against Dan Haren tonight, who is standing out on a disappointing Marlin team this season.

What the Mets showed tonight was reminiscent of what they showed in Pittsburgh last weekend: quick at-bats, chasing out of the zone, and very insignificant contact. They did scratch out a run in the ninth inning and left the tying run aboard, but it was a mostly flat night for the offense.

Other notes from Friday:

It’s the first time in Harvey’s career he’s given up four or more runs in consecutive starts.

The home run to Bour was the second three-run home run Harvey has ever allowed.

It was the ninth double-digit strikeout game for Harvey in his career.

The Mets have now hit 20 home runs in their last 15 games – Lucas Duda now has six home runs in his last seven games.

Juan Lagares went 0-for-2 with a walk – he is now 11-for-72 since he collided with Michael Cuddyer in the outfield on May 5.

Cuddyer doubled in a 1-for-4 night at the plate – he now has a five-game hitting streak and is hitting .333 over his last 13 games.