The Mets defeated the Padres by the score of 4-0 on Tuesday night at Citi Field. Here are my takeaways from the win…
A very happy #ThorsDay.
The star that is Noah Syndergaard is starting to shine brighter and brighter these days, as he continues to show the baseball world he is emerging as not only one of the league’s best rookies, but potentially among the league’s best, period.
He was dazzling yet again against the Padres on Monday, zipping 97-99 mph fastballs by the San Diego hitters with pinpoint control on both sides of the plate. He would then drop his devastating curve ball in on the edges, keeping all of the Padres hitters off-balanced and felt out stunned at times.
He retired the first 18 batters of the game before Will Venable singled to lead off the seventh, but the fact he lost his perfect game and no-hitter at that point doesn’t diminish from his magnificence on Monday night. He has been so impressive lately, showing a tremendous amount of poise and maturity with the signature command with all of his pitches he was known for in the minor leagues. It has clicked for him in his last five starts, and all the league can do right now is hope they get the big Texan on an off-night.
This was his best start of the year, but that seems to be said with regularity these days. The Mets have a very special pitcher here.
Quality defense.
The Mets have gotten used to these low scoring affairs, but the difference lately in these games is the club has gotten good defense behind this magnificent starting pitching. They’ve aligned their defense better now that Wilmer Flores was taken out of the shortstop position, and they’re suddenly getting to more balls on the ground, and turning more double plays than they were before the a Mets made this change. They benefitted from this change today to help bail Syndergaard out of a couple of jams in the seventh and eighth innings with a big double play in the seventh in particular. It’s questionable if the Mets might have had that success in a different alignment,
Until the Mets get another bat, if it happens at all, the a Mets have to maximize their ability to prevent as many runs as they can, which means they have to feature the best possible defensive alignment on a nightly basis. Now that Juan Uribe is aboard, the Mets can do an even better job in this department.
Is the monster out of the cage?
That’s a phrase which is is a tribute to former a Met John Stearns in his reference to Mike Piazza, but things may finally be starting to happen for Lucas Duda. He hit a 450 foot bomb in the first for a two-run home run. He hit two homers on Saturday to give him three in his last three games, and his swings appear to be a little shorter than they’ve been during the last two months. It’s a small sample, but a promising sample. The Mets sure hope it’s a sign he has broken out. – they need this. Badly.
Other notes from Tuesday:
Syndergaard has a 1.29 ERA in his last six starts.
Curtis Granderson singled and hit a two-run home run – he is hitting .290 with seven home runs in his last 31 games.
The Mets notched their ninth shutout of the season on Tuesday.
The Mets improved to 42-4 when leading after six innings, 44-4 when leading after seven innings, 45-1 when leading after eight innings, and 37-5 when scoring four or more runs.
Just Mets 