Mets come all the way back, lose anyways in a typical Coors Field affair

New York overcomes a 6-0 deficit, only to lose anyways. Plus, the Mets should stop batting Francisco Álvarez ninth.

Rich MacLeod

May 28, 2023

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets overcame a 6-0 deficit but lost to the Rockies anyways, falling by a score of 10-7 (box)
RHP Justin Verlander followed up his best start of the year with one of his worst, allowing six earned runs and striking out just two over five innings
1B Pete Alonso smashed his league-leading 20th home run of the season in the loss
C Francisco Álvarez crushed a three-run home run (7) in the 6th inning to knot the score at 6-6
RHP Jeff Brigham came in after the Mets had scored seven unanswered runs to take the lead and promptly blew the game in the 7th inning
RHP Drew Smith was unable to stop the bleeding, allowing a pair of insurance runs to score in the bottom of the 8th to put the game out of reach

Who’s Hot 🔥

C Francisco Álvarez is now batting .328/.406/.721 with six doubles, six home runs, 14 RBI, 10 runs scored and a 1.127 OPS in the month of May
1B Pete Alonso leads the majors in home runs with 20, four ahead of the next-closest batter, and has now hit seven home runs over his last 11 games

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (27-26) vs. Rockies (23-30)

Where: Coors Field - Denver, CO

Starters: RHP Tylor Megill (5-3, 4.32 ERA) vs LHP Austin Gomber (4-4, 6.48 ERA)

When: 3:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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Please stop hitting Francisco Álvarez 9th… ✍🏼

Dear New York Mets, I’ll keep this short and sweet: Stop batting Francisco Álvarez ninth.

Easing your young prospects in by batting them lower in the order to keep the pressure off is all well and good but we should be well past that at this point when it comes to Álvarez. This kid has proven over and over again over the last month that he has not only adjusted to major league pitching but is a star player budding in front of our eyes.

In fact you could make the argument that at 21-years-old, Francisco Álvarez is already one of the Mets best hitters. Why should he have to continue to bat in the absolute last spot in the order just because of some outdated antiquated unwritten rule that the rookie has to bat last? Is it because the manager refuses to adapt? I have a hard time believing that the front office — who some believe truly make the team’s starting lineups — would have a single analytic back up that decision.

After a rocky start to his big league career, the Mets star backstop has absolutely flourished in May, hitting an absurd .328/.406/.721 with six doubles, six home runs, 14 RBI and 10 runs scored in 20 games. Álvarez is also sporting a 1.127 OPS this month which ranks number one on the team – nearly 300 points higher than Pete Alonso and over 400 points higher than Francisco Lindor in that time span.

The young stud has been so absurdly productive at the plate that he now has an .878 OPS on the season, which ranks as the 4th highest mark for any catcher in the major leagues with at least 100 plate appearances. Álvarez is also the only rookie among the top-10 ranked catchers in OPS.

Let’s also not forget to mention how many clutch hits the youngster has come through with over the last two weeks alone, coming through with game-tying knock after game-tying knock, including some massive three-run home runs.

Enough is enough already – the Mets are not often getting much out of their lineup outside of Alonso anyways, so let’s stop beating around the bush and wasting Álvarez’s at-bats at the very bottom of the lineup while having players like Mark Canha and Daniel Vogelbach bat ahead of him for the sole reason that they are older. Being older should only give you so much of an edge in respect, because in this case it certainly doesn’t make either of those guys better than the 21-year-old catcher.

So let’s do this thing already. Stop hitting Francisco Álvarez ninth, signed Mets fans everywhere.

Around the League 🚩

Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler registered his best start of the season, striking out 12 batters in the team’s 2-1 win over the Braves
Yankees CF Isiah Kiner-Falefa recorded a walk-off hit in the 10th inning to knock-off the Padres 3-2
Rays RHP Tyler Glasnow made his season debut on Saturday, striking out eight in the club’s 6-5 loss to the Dodgers
The Orioles optioned top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez down to Triple-A after allowing nine earned runs in his most recent start on Friday