The Mets, winners of 3 straight, are fun to watch again

The Mets win their fourth consecutive series after a 3-1 victory over the Pirates. Plus, how this team has suddenly become a lot of fun again.

Rich MacLeod

Apr 17, 2024

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets rallied late once again to win their third straight game, defeating the Pirates by a 3-1 score (box)
New York has now won four consecutive series after dropping their first two of the year
LHP José Quintana was solid once again, allowing just one run with four strikeouts over five innings pitched
RHP Reed Garrett pitched two scoreless innings in relief, allowing two baserunners and recording all six of his outs via the strikeout
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the 7th, the Mets rallied for three runs thanks to an RBI double from Joey Wendle, a run-scoring balk and an RBI single by Jeff McNeil
1B Pete Alonso went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in the victory
RHP Drew Smith converted his first save of the season and has allowed just one run over eight appearances
Win the win, the Mets are now over .500 for the first time since June 3, 2023 – 320 days ago
DH J.D. Martínez is unlikely to join the Mets until after they return from their next road trip on April 26th, according to David Stearns

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Injury Updates 🏥

3B Brett Baty exited Tuesday night’s game with left hamstring tightness – he will not undergo imaging and is day-to-day
RHP Sean Reid-Foley (right shoulder impingement) is scheduled to make back-to-back rehab outings in Double-A and if all goes well could join the club for the start of their road trip this weekend

Who’s Hot 🔥

RHP Reed Garrett has thrown four consecutive scoreless outings to start the season and leads all major league relievers with 17 strikeouts
1B Pete Alonso is hitting .444/.548/1.000 with four home runs, two doubles, seven RBI, nine runs scored an a 1.548 OPS over his last seven games

Down on the Farm 🌾

RHP Christian Scott (No. 5 prospect, Triple-A): 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (win)
1B Mark Vientos (Triple-A): 3-for-5, 3B, 4 RBI, 2 runs scored
RHP Blade Tidwell (No. 10 prospect, Double-A): 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K (win)
RHP Brandon Sproat (No. 13 prospect, Single-A): 4 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (9-8) vs. Pirates (11-7)

Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY

Starters: RHP Luis Severino (1-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. LHP Bailey Falter (1-0, 4.20 ERA)

When: 1:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

The Mets are fun to watch again, if you can believe it ✍️

When the Mets started out their season with an 0-5 record, it’s safe to say that the vibes around these parts were in the shitter.

Pardon my French if you’re reading this with your Wednesday morning coffee, but we like to keep it real here. The club didn’t have particularly high expectations entering the season, with even the most optimistic of supporters hoping for a mid-80 win kind of year from the Metropolitans. And the team’s play over those first five games appeared to echo every single negative thought and concern that people had over the offseason: starting pitchers that were inconsistent and couldn’t even complete five innings, an underperforming offense and an unreliable bullpen that lacks swing-and-miss arms.

Just three percent into the 162-game marathon, it felt as if things were going to get late early for this team. The vibes were bad, the boo birds were out, and the dissonance was loud. But then, with the club three outs away from their first 0-6 start since the 1963 season, everything changed.

The fortunes and overall energy surrounding this team seemingly pivoted the moment Pete Alonso drove a ball low and out of the zone out of the ballpark to tie their sixth game of the season in the 9th inning. The club walked the game off for their first victory later in that same inning.

Ultimately, it took the Mets less than two weeks to undo that 0-5 start as they are now over .500 for the first time since June 3rd of last season. New York is now 9-3 over their last 12 games and has won all four series they’ve played over that time span – all against teams with over .500 records.

Dare I say that the New York Mets are actually fun to watch again?

The last time I said that, of course, the club immediately gave up 10 unanswered runs against the Royals in their loss on Saturday. But hey, things are never going to be perfect for this version of the club. It’s still an imperfect roster with flaws and I do expect this to be an up-and-down kind of a season with plenty of unexpected twists and turns.

Still, though, this kind of play has been a truly welcome sight. After 2022 ended in such abject disappointment, I’ve struggled to feel too particularly excited about baseball in a way that had never happened previously in my Mets fandom. I’ve written about it ad nauseam at this point but last year’s team, even when they started 14-7, never passed the vibe check for me and before you knew it the 2023 season spiraled out of control.

When the first five games of this season felt like a continuation of that woebegone 2023 campaign, that bad energy and lack of enthusiasm began to carry over. That negativity has all since been washed away with this exciting and unexpected turn of events.

Who knows what this season is ultimately going to bring or how far this team really can go, but right now it feels like at a minimum it’s going to be an entertaining ride. It’s also worth noting that even with the Mets playing as well as they have been over the last two weeks, they have yet to see a hot streak from Francisco Lindor and J.D. Martínez hasn’t even made his debut yet. If those two things can come to fruition soon, things could dial themselves up even more

Here’s to a fun summer.

Around the League 🚩

The Orioles got home runs from youngsters Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg as the team defeated the Twins, 11-3
Blue Jays LHP Yusei Kikuchi struck out nine batters over six innings in the club’s 5-4 win over the Yankees
Phillies LHP Ranger Suárez pitched a complete game shutout to knock-off the Rockies, 5-0
Former Mets SS Amed Rosario capped off an extra inning comeback for the Rays with a walk-off infield single over the Angels in 13 innings