As Francisco Lindor goes, so does the Mets offense...
The Mets got another big night from Francisco Lindor's white hot bat. They also got a big bop from Mark Vientos. But they have a new injury concern with their catcher.
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets defeated the Mariners 7-3 in the Little League Classic in Williamsport, PA on Sunday night (box)
Clay Holmes started for the Mets and gave the club five solid innings, allowing only one run thanks to a botched non-catch from Francisco Lindor in the fourth inning
The Mets got RBI hits from Francisco Álvarez (double) and Brett Baty (single) along with a sac fly from Mark Vientos in the second - Vientos also delivered a big three-run home run as part of a four-run fifth inning
Álvarez, Jeff McNeil, and Francisco Lindor had multi-hit nights
The Mets are now 4-11 in August, 11-16 since the All-Star Game, 20-17-3 in series, 7-9 in rubber games, 42-12 when scoring five or more runs and 21-21 vs the AL
Juan Soto drew three walks and stole a base on Sunday - he reached the 20 home run/20 stolen base (20/20) plateau for the first time in his career
Injury Updates 🏥
Francisco Álvarez (thumb contusion) will get an MRI today after injuring his thumb sliding head-first into second base on Sunday night
RHP Tylor Megill (right elbow strain) struck out nine over 3.1 IP for Double-A Binghamton on Sunday
Playoff Race 🏁
The Phillies and the Reds both won their games on Sunday, so the Mets did not gain any ground in the NL East or the NL Wild Card race:
Per FanGraphs, the 2025 Mets now have an 85.9% chance to make the playoffs.
Who’s Hot? 🥵
Francisco Lindor now has a six-game hitting streak, during which he is hitting .560/.607/1.040 with three doubles, three home runs and seven RBI with 14 hits and seven runs scored
In 10 games in August, Brett Baty is hitting .345/.406/.552 with two home runs and five RBI with 10 hits and seven runs scored
In 21 games since returning from the minor leagues, Francisco Álvarez is hitting .323/.408/.645 with six doubles, a triple, four home runs and 13 RBI with 20 hits and 14 runs scored
Play of the Game 🌟
In the fifth inning on Sunday night, Mark Vientos hit an opposite-field, three-run home run to put this game to bed and help deliver a much-needed series win for the Mets against the Mariners.
Vientos put together a two-hit, four RBI night in a rare start at third base.
Down on the Farm 🌾
INF William Lugo (Double-A): 1-for-4 2B, 2 RBI
INF Trace Willhoite (High-A): 3-for-5, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI
RHP Will Watson (High-A): 4 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 6 K
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
The Mets are off today - they open a three-game series with the Nationals on Tuesday night in Washington.
Thoughts on Francisco Lindor’s resurgence, Mark Vientos’ big night, and a big injury concern for Alvy… ✍️
Now that’s more like it. Good things happen when you pitch well, am I right?
The last two days have brought some semblance of normalcy back to the Mets with some strong starting pitching and good enough relief work, which truly propelled the Mets to a badly needed series win against the red-hot Mariners this weekend.
Sure, they did hit and they have been hitting during this horrible malaise they’ve been in this month. It’s now August 18, and the Mets have only won four games this month and that can be directly attributed to their poor pitching top to bottom. Even with the last two good games, the Mets have a 5.24 ERA in 15 games in August.
There’s plenty of blame to pin on pretty much every starter and every reliever - nobody has pitched particularly well and it all starts with what’s happening on the mound regardless of how good or bad the offense is going.
Oh, and while the offense has certainly been maddening at times this month, they’re collectively hitting .265/.333/.462 as a team during the same 15-game stretch. So nope, not really the offense right now.
The resurgence from the offense can be directly attributed to Francisco Lindor’s personal resurgence. Right now, nobody can get him out - that toe must be feeling a lot better. Albeit in a very small sample, he is playing at an MVP-caliber level over the last week and has helped pace the offense, create opportunities behind him, and quite frankly, he looks like himself out there (minus that curiously bad play he made on that soft pop fly in the fourth inning on Sunday that cost the Mets a run).
They may tell you differently, but I see far better bat speed from Lindor over the last week than I saw in the previous two months. Yes, he is seeing the ball. And sure, maybe there is some good luck sprinkled around his outcomes too. But that bat speed is clearly preventing him from missing any strikes right now.
Will it continue? We all know slumps are inevitable but as he put it the other day, hopefully the next slump is short-lived. The Mets can’t do a thing offensively without him, or even the threat that he might cause some damage and over the two months, he was more or less an automatic out which in turn caused the entire offense to suffer.
Put another way - Lindor broke his toe on June 5 in Los Angeles (he also broke a finger in LA a couple of years ago - maybe they should keep him out of LA LA Land). In the 55 games before this most recent hitting streak, the Mets went 24-31 and he hit .202/.263/.350 with 12 doubles, seven home runs and 28 RBI. It takes two months for broken bones to heal, and he played through that entire injury with no excuse for his poor play, but you know it had to be impacting him, whether it was pain, a different pre-game prep, added treatment before or after the game, or both.
But again, never any excuses for it or his slump.
And if his output is any indication in recent days, I’d say that toe is healed. Now, let’s see if he can keep this going. Again, the Mets need him, or else…
Then of course there is Mark Vientos who paced the offense all by himself on Tuesday with his trademark power to the opposite field. You know he is seeing the ball well when he is using the center and right parts of the field. 18 of his 27 home runs last year were in those directions and it’s a big part of what gave him such prominence heading into 2025. But we sort of saw what made him successful last year and why he has struggled this year all in one game last night. Yes, he hit the big homer which mostly put this game to bed for the Mets on Sunday but in his last at-bat, he pulled off a pitch and rolled over one to the left side, a pitch he should’ve and can drive the other way (and did when he hit the three-run homer).
It seems so simple, right? But that’s the mental game every player has to win. Vientos is now only getting at-bats here and there and when that happens to a player, he or she feels as though they must come up aces every time. It isn’t true, because everyone knows nobody can do that even if their process is totally correct every single time. But that’s not what a player like Vientos in a situation where he is once again fighting for his own relevance is thinking in that spot.
Even so, what the Mets need from him right now isn’t even what he produced last year. They just need him to be present in the lineup, be better situationally and really just make some contact because when he does, there’s damage coming from his bat, evident by the fact he is in the 80th percentile in hard-hit rate this season. After all, it was Bryce Harper(among others) who injected confidence into Vientos when he reminded him to basically just relax and make contact since he has so much natural power.
The problem is, he is hitting less than .200 against sliders and sweepers, and 60 points lower against fastballs this season than he did last season. His bat speed is also quite a bit slower this year. In turn, contactability is his challenge right now, but for a night anyway, his bat found the ball, and he made a difference for the club.
As for Francisco Alvarez, his thumbs appear to be sticks of dynamite. He slid headfirst into second base last night and jammed his thumb, and he is now headed to New York for an MRI to see what damage he caused. Hopefully, it’s nothing major, but that stinks at the minimum of an IL stint. It’s also not great timing because he has injected life into the bottom of the Mets order and has killed it since returning from the minor leagues.
That always seems to happen, doesn’t it? Just when a player figures it out, he gets hurt.
Again, let’s hope this is just a little sprain and he can be back out there soon.
As for the Little League Classic, I watched as both the Mets and Mariners got off their planes, met with the kids and the families, and rode the bus to the ballpark to watch them play early in the day. I saw them on the berm sliding down the hill with them and living it up like they were all 12 years old again.
It’s one of the few moments you’re ever going to see players genuinely express themselves on camera. And did you see Juan Soto in the batters box doing the Soto Shuffle just to get that joyful reaction from the kids?
That’s what it’s all about, and he knows that. So, kudos to Soto for recognizing his audience.
This is arguably one of the best events MLB holds during the season because it’s something that matters so much to the kids, and it’s something the players deeply cherish and look forward to when the opportunity arises to participate. For a day anyway, it allows the players to take their game faces off and just enjoy the game in its purest form, reminding all of them where they once were and came from even if it’s only for a few hours…
Around the League 🚩
The Dodgers belted three home runs to help them complete a sweep of the Padres with a 5-4 win in LA
The Yankees got a big day from Paul Goldschmidt who notched three hits in their 8-4 win over the Cardinals to complete a three-game sweep
The Reds walked-off the Brewers with a 3-2 win to end Milwaukee’s 14-game winning streak
Dansby Swanson drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth as the Cubs edged the Pirates 4-3 for their 70th win of the year
As in the book about the Little Engine, I can, I can! Good day off, and keep rolling into September and beyond!
Ball players need to stop sliding head first into bases. Unless one is gonna do the swim maneuver, it seems dangerous to subject hands to damage. Don't the Mets work on this fundamental?