Mets snap Royals win streak, and thoughts on a beautiful night for Francisco Lindor
It is foolish to get too worried over Francisco Lindor's start to the season
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets opened up their homestand by beating the Royals 6-1 thanks to some clutch hitting and solid pitching (box)
RHP Luis Severino recovered after giving up an early home run, allowing just one earned run on one hit with four walks and four strikeouts in five innings of work
Brandon Nimmo stayed hot with an RBI double in the first inning - his eighth RBI in his last four games
The offense strung together four consecutive hits with two outs in the fourth, with Jeff McNeil - 3-for-4 - and DJ Stewart both hitting RBI singles to give the Mets the lead
Brett Baty stayed red-hot with a fifth inning double that scored two. He finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs
Pete Alonso clubbed his fourth home run of the season with a solo shot in the eighth inning
The Mets have now recorded double digits in hits in their last four games, and 30 hits in their last two games combined
The bullpen continued to get the job done, coming in and throwing four scoreless innings for the Mets
RHP José Buttó will get the start in the series finale against the Royals on Sunday
New York has now won six of its last eight, are 2-2 against the AL Central, 6-3 when hitting at least one home run, 3-3 when scoring five or more runs, 4-1 when allowing three or fewer runs, and a perfect 5-0 when leading after eight innings
Roster Moves 🗞️
The Mets acquired veteran catcher Joe Hudson from the Cubs, assigned to Double-A Binghamton
Injury Updates 🏥
DH J.D. Martinez could have “some movements” on Saturday, per manager Carlos Mendoza
Who’s Hot 🔥
Brett Baty: 12-for-31, 4 RBI during current seven-game hitting streak
Jeff McNeil has eight hits and 4 RBIs during his current five-game hitting streak
Brandon Nimmo is now 8-for-18 with 8 RBIs and two walks in his last four games
Pete Alonso: 6-for-12, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 4 Runs in his last three games
Reed Garrett has allowed just three hits over 6.2 innings pitched this year
Mets Stats 🧮
OFFENSE
Team average: .246 (14th in MLB)
.327 team OBP (12th in MLB)
Team OPS: .704 (15th in MLB)
100 team wRC+ (17th in MLB)
111 hits (14th in MLB)
14 HR (16th in MLB)
PITCHING
3.28 team ERA (6th in MLB)
3.36 starters ERA (7th in MLB)
64.1 total innings from the starting pitching (23rd in MLB)
3.26 bullpen ERA (9th in MLB)
53.2 total innings from the bullpen (23rd in MLB)
54 BB (25th in MLB)
125 K (7th in MLB)
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF Luisangel Acuña (Triple-A) went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs
LHP Joey Lucchesi (Triple-A) 6 IP 2 ER 5 H 2 BB 4 K 1 HR
OF Fabian Machado (Single-A) went 2-for-4 with 1 RBI and 1 BB
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (6-7) vs. Royals (9-5)
Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY
Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (1-0, 0.82 ERA) vs. RHP Alec Marsh (1-0, 3.09)
When: 1:40 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Why now isn’t the time to sound the alarm bells over Francisco Lindor… ✍️
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
For all the perks of being a star player in the biggest sports market on the planet, there are also a number of downsides. Namely, if you don’t perform to the back of your baseball card, then you are going to hear about it.
Especially in New York City.
Francisco Lindor knows that all too well.
There is no escaping the unrelenting, toxic cacophony of noise when you are stuck in suckville and happen to be playing for a New York franchise.
Lindor found that out to his cost during his bust of a first season in Queens in 2021.
If you opened any New York paper back then, or tuned in to any one of the daily sports talk shows, then you would be aware of just how much criticism was thrown the shortstop’s way. Some of it was warranted then, especially the rightful hammering Lindor took for that whole stupid thumbs-down fiasco with then teammate Javier Báez.
Of course, Lindor has come a hell of a long way since those dark days, and he’s now adored by Mets fans and loved and respected by everybody within the clubhouse and the entire organization.
Mr. Smile has morphed into a bona fide leader for this team, and he has also become the very beating heart of this franchise in a lot of ways.
However, the opening two weeks of the 2024 season has made it feel as though we’ve taken an unwelcome trip back in time.
Thanks to an awful start at the plate - there’s no point pulling any punches at this point - Lindor is again being attacked and his game being pulled to pieces from every possible angle. He has been booed by a small chunk of the Mets fanbase. His character and ability has been brought into question by certain on-air personalities over at WFAN. And, worst of all, his wife, Katia, has had to deal with some deplorable and hateful bullcrap on social media.
There is just no excuse for that garbage. There should be no place for it, either.
And, for the record, given the way Lindor has carried himself on and off the field for the Mets over the past few years, the brakes need to be pumped when it comes to some of the one-sided, personal rhetoric that has been spewed on WFAN over the past week or so. Also, I’ve never been a fan of booing your own team, especially when the season is not even a month old.
To that end, the current narrative engulfing Lindor seems rather stupid when you take a step back and look at his history. Below are the batting averages for Lindor in March / April in each of the last three full seasons:
March / April 2021: .182
March / April 2022: .282
March / April 2023: .218
Now, here comes the kicker.
Lindor finished the 2021 season hitting .230/.322/.412/.734 with 20 home runs and 63 RBIs. He came ninth in National League MVP voting in 2022. And, after a particularly slow start in 2023, Lindor rebounded emphatically by finishing ninth in MVP voting once again, in addition to joining the 30-30 club and winning the Silver Slugger at shortstop.
Oh, he was also the ninth-most valuable player in all of MLB last year, as measured by fWAR.
Furthermore, Lindor is one of the best defensive shortstops in the game having ranked in the 90th percentile or better in OAA (Outs Above Average) in his first three seasons as a Met. He’s also incredibly durable having played in 161 games in 2022, 160 games last year and he’s yet to miss a game this season.
So, when removing all the noise and all the garbage, and when looking at things from a balanced point of view, we really shouldn’t be losing our minds over the fact that Lindor hasn’t been hitting for two weeks or so in April.
Granted, this has been an especially bad stretch given that Lindor entered Friday’s series opener against the Royals hitting an alarming .098/.203/.176/.380. He went a combined 2-for-14 without an extra-base hit in three games against the Braves. Such were the severity of his struggles, owner Steve Cohen publicly endorsed a movement to give Lindor a standing ovation back in Queens on Friday, just as Phillies fans did for Trea Turner last year when the shortstop was mired in his own slump. It is worth noting that Lindor did receive a ton of support from the Citi Field crowd during his first at-bat of the homestand. And that was really nice to see.
It seemed to help, too, with Lindor going 1-for-3 with one walk and a run scored in the series opener against the Royals.
All things considered, I think it is tonka trucks to get too worried about Lindor’s slumping start to the year. Yeah, it hasn’t been great but we’re in April. The season is a gruelling marathon. It isn’t a sprint. There’s still a hell of a lot of baseball to be played and I’d wager a lot of money that, by the time we get to October, Lindor’s numbers will be similar to his 2023 totals. If not better.
Plus, as I mentioned at the top, heavy is the head that wears the crown, and never is that more true than in New York. When a New York team struggles, it is always the biggest star that cops it the most. Therefore, it is feasible to suggest that Lindor’s own struggles have been blown way out of proportion because of the fact the Mets began the year 0-5. If this team came out of the gates on fire and started 5-0, then I don’t think the noise would have been nearly as loud as it has been.
It is a real shame that some have lost sight of just how valuable Lindor is to this team and to this franchise. Despite his considerable struggles at the plate to begin the year, he has still been sharp defensively and the shortstop made a real nice leaping play to retire the Royals in the first inning. You can also never undersell just how big a leader Lindor is. He has never shied away from taking accountability, he took an active role in mentoring both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos throughout spring training, and he can visibly be seen cheering for his teammates in the dugout and shouting encouragement. Lindor is the ultimate teammate, and he hasn’t allowed his own struggles to change how he carries himself around others.
Every single Mets fan needs to throw their full support behind Lindor and show him the love and appreciation he deserves. And, if history has told us anything, it is only a matter of time until the four-time All-Star figures things out and starts producing offensively at a high level again. Just as he has done in each of the past three seasons in a Mets uniform.
In short, don’t overreact to things in April. No matter how bad they may seem.
Around the League 🚩
INF Elly De La Cruz hit a home run and went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs as the Reds beat the White Sox, 11-1
LHP Max Fried allowed just one earned run on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts as the Braves beat the Marlins, 8-1
The Pirates improved to 10-4 after beating the Phillies 5-2, with C Henry Davis going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk
3B Ryan McMahon went 4-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored as the Rockies beat the Blue Jays, 12-4 in a wild one
SS Willy Adames hit a home run and went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs as the Brewers beat the Orioles, 11-1 at Camden Yards