Mad Max's birthday bash turns into a Marte Party as Mets sweep the Yanks
The Mets sweep the Subway Series at Citi Field thanks to a walk-off knock by Starling Marte. Plus, how birthday boy Max Scherzer neutralized the best hitter in baseball.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets swept the first leg of the Subway Series, defeating the Yankees 3-2 on a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th (box)
RHP Jacob deGrom is expected to make his return to the Mets rotation next week in Washington, according to Buck Showalter
RF Starling Marte delivered his first walk-off hit as a member of the Mets and the 11th of his career, the most of any major league player since 2014 (Sarah Langs)
RHP Max Scherzer powered through seven scoreless frames, allowing just five hits and two walks with six strikeouts on his 38th birthday
Scherzer joins RHP Ron Darling as the only pitchers in franchise history to have a scoreless start of at least seven innings on their birthday
1B Pete Alonso clubbed his 26th home run of the season and extended his major league lead to 82 RBI
After LHP David Peterson blew the save in the 8th inning, RHP Seth Lugo stabilized the game for the Mets, allowing just one base runner while striking out three over 1.2 innings
With the victory on Wednesday night, the Mets now have nine of the 14 all-time walk-off wins in Subway Series history
New York extended their lead in the NL East to three games thanks to their win and a Braves loss
Who’s Hot 🔥
Daniel Vogelbach has reached base safely in five of his eight plate appearances since being acquired by the club
Starling Marte is now hitting .382/.432/.559 with three home runs, three doubles, seven RBI, four stolen bases and a .991 OPS in the month of July
Since coming off the IL at the start of the month, Max Scherzer has a 1.39 ERA, 1.79 FIP, 45 strikeouts, four walks and is holding opposing hitters to a .197/.242/.316 slash line
Injury Updates 🏥
James McCann (strained oblique) will begin a rehab assignment today
Playoff Odds Tracker 🎲
The Mets lead the Braves by 3 games in the National League East with 64 games to go. They are on-pace for 100 wins which would be their highest mark since 1988 (100)
Playoff odds (FanGraphs):
Make the playoffs: 99.9 percent ⬆️
Win the National League East: 70.1 percent ⬆️
Clinch first round bye: 67.7 percent ⬆️
Win the World Series: 14 percent ↔️
Trade Rumors 🕵️♀️
The trade deadline is August 2 at 6:00 PM EST. Here is the latest on where the Mets stand in the marketplace:
The Mets “love” Cubs RHP David Robertson (Fansided)
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets get the day off before taking on the Marlins in Miami tomorrow night at loanDepot Park.
Max Scherzer didn’t let Aaron Judge spoil the party 📝
You know, there really is something to be said for the fact that Max Scherzer didn’t have his best stuff on a night where he pitched seven shutout innings against the New York Yankees.
But it’s true, and that’s what makes him great.
This was not the A+ crisp arsenal we’re used to seeing from Scherzer, who was pitching in the Subway Series for the first time on his 38th birthday, but pitchers like him are as great as they are because even on the nights where they don’t have the stuff they’re accustomed to, they manage to find a way anyways. It’s the reasons that starts like Jacob deGrom in Game 5 of the 2015 NLDS are so revered, and it’s part of the reason why Scherzer is on the fast-track to Cooperstown himself.
While he struggled a bit with his command within the zone and didn’t have his normal propensity for swings-and-misses, Scherzer was also able to clamp down and dial it up whenever he had to. The biggest two examples we saw of this were against Aaron Judge, the frontrunner for American League MVP.
Two separate times, Scherzer had to face Judge with two runners on base and two outs, clinging to a narrow lead. And both times, he attacked him the exact same way and on his own terms. That’s the thing about Scherzer: He owns the situation, he sets the tone and he refuses to let any hitter — even the MVP frontrunner — dictate how an at-bat is going to go.
Mad Max clearly had no plans on Judge ruining his birthday party, and refused to give into him at the plate. He attacked Judge with a steady diet of sliders — the pitch he generated the most swings-and-misses on all night — low and away. His plan was simple: paint the lower-half of the strike zone, or miss right below it. And boy did he ever execute that plan with aplomb. Scherzer was adamant that Judge was not going to beat him on this night, and that’s how things ultimately played out.
In both of these situations, Scherzer generated a monumental strikeout to the most dangerous hitter on the planet in 2022 and escaped unscathed. As a whole, the Mets pitching staff did quite well against Judge after his first-inning home run on Tuesday night, forcing him into a 1-for-8 stretch with no extra-base hits and four strikeouts, but no one held him down quite like Scherzer.
That man is just different.
Down on the Farm 🌾
Mark Vientos (3B, No. 5 Prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI
Brett Baty (3B, No. 2 Prospect, Double-A): 2-for-3, BB
Raúl Beracierta (LF, Low-A): 3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI
JT Schwartz (1B, No. 19 Prospect, Single-A): 2-for-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI
Box Scores: Triple-A | Double-A | Single-A | Low-A
Around the League 🚩
The Braves lost just their second series of July thanks to a 7-2 victory by the Phillies
After their loss to the Mets, the Yankees officially acquired OF Andrew Benintendi from the Royals in exchange for three minor leaguers
The Dodgers blasted Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin, who allowed six earned runs and was knocked out in the first inning in a 7-1 loss
The Giants have now lost seven consecutive games after falling to the Dbacks by a score of 5-3
Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols came up a triple shy of the cycle in the club’s 6-1 win in Toronto