I will say the defense has been shockingly good.

ml1 said:

But it's not the Mets fault that the Braves and Phils are still under.500. 

Or is it?

Why The Mets Might Actually Be Good

And why they might not.

I feel bad for Juan Lagares.  He just isn't much of a hitter, but he's getting roasted in LA for it while trying to fill in for Mike Trout.  No one can do that.  

He's not the same fielder he used to be either. I thought he was going to be a solid centerfielder for the Mets for a while. The Angels could have gone for Maybin. 

jfinnegan said:

He's not the same fielder he used to be either. I thought he was going to be a solid centerfielder for the Mets for a while. The Angels could have gone for Maybin. 

 the Mets deserve credit for signing a couple of professional CFs in Almora and Pillar as backups.  They needed someone for late-inning defense, and now it's turned out that they've needed a bunch of CFs just to fill the position.

and fwiw, I looked up the game logs for Baltimore's starter tonight, the left-handed Brian Zimmermann.  It seems like he and Peterson are the same guy.  Sharp-eyed observers should try to suss out whether or not it really is the same guy changing uniforms between innings.

Who would've imagined the starting pitcher with the greatest ERA improvement in the league from last year to this year would be a guy who had a 2.38 last year. #deGrominator

Gotta think that Pete is chapped that he is DHing with McCann at first.

I think I was right when I said Peterson wasn't ML ready last week.  

I root to be wrong about negative stuff. Gsellman seems to be struggling as well.

I'd like to be wrong, but when there is a problem it needs to be fixed.  Either start Lugo or make a trade.

jimmurphy said:

Gotta think that Pete is chapped that he is DHing with McCann at first.

 couldn't DH McCann. You'd lose the DH if Nido got hurt and McCann had to go behind the plate. 

FilmCarp said:

I'd like to be wrong, but when there is a problem it needs to be fixed.  Either start Lugo or make a trade.

 with Carrasco coming back at some point I wouldn't mess with Lugo or give up anything in a trade. Maybe it's Szapucki's shot at coming to the show. 

When is Carrasco coming back? I feel like almost every player whatever timetable they give you have to add at least a month to it. I would try Szapucki. They have a couple of guys in the minors, Eickhoff and Godley, that were decent two or three years ago. 

jfinnegan said:

When is Carrasco coming back? I feel like almost every player whatever timetable they give you have to add at least a month to it. I would try Szapucki. They have a couple of guys in the minors, Eickhoff and Godley, that were decent two or three years ago. 

 there is still no timetable although he is throwing in the bullpen.  Looks like maybe early to mid-July.  The thing about trades is that with so many teams still thinking they might be in the race at some point, there's no rush for the selling teams.  It's not likely we'll see a decent starting pitcher traded anywhere until after the All-Star break. 

Lugo wants to start, he did reasonably well at it before, and the bullpen did okay without him when he was injured.  I'd give it a shot.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=lugose01&year=Career&t=p#sprel_extra" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">

jimmurphy said:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=lugose01&year=Career&t=p#sprel_extra" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">

Pitching Role

I	Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	SO/W	Gold means awarded title at end of year." scope="col">BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+
	as Starter	38	837	762	103	207	36	5	30	7	3	53	174	3.28	.272	.320	.450	.771	343	14	6	7	9	6	6	.312	128
	as Reliever	131	755	686	60	137	24	2	15	7	5	47	214	4.55	.200	.257	.306	.563	210	10	9	5	8	7	5	.262	68

Data courtesy Baseball-Reference.com.

 well there is THAT. 

I feel sad for Matt Harvey. I wish he could have pitched 8 innings tonight and the Mets beat him 1-0. But alas. 

ml1 said:

I feel sad for Matt Harvey. I wish he could have pitched 8 innings tonight and the Mets beat him 1-0. But alas. 

 Tonight was pretty cringeworthy. I couldn't stand him when he was here, but this is humiliating.

McKinney is doing a pretty nice Conforto impression.

jimmurphy said:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=lugose01&year=Career&t=p#sprel_extra

Pitching Role

I	Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	SO/W	Gold means awarded title at end of year." scope="col">BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+
	as Starter	38	837	762	103	207	36	5	30	7	3	53	174	3.28	.272	.320	.450	.771	343	14	6	7	9	6	6	.312	128
	as Reliever	131	755	686	60	137	24	2	15	7	5	47	214	4.55	.200	.257	.306	.563	210	10	9	5	8	7	5	.262	68

Data courtesy Baseball-Reference.com.

 Now compare him to Peterson this year, which is what matters.  Do you think he could make it through two innings?  That would be an improvement.

Gotta get a couple more runs this inning, Familia is warming up.

They listened to me!

FilmCarp said:

 Now compare him to Peterson this year, which is what matters.  Do you think he could make it through two innings?  That would be an improvement.

 the dude also is pitching with a partially torn UCL. Need to keep that in mind regarding workload. 

FilmCarp said:

 Now compare him to Peterson this year, which is what matters.  Do you think he could make it through two innings?  That would be an improvement.

I anticipated that, and it’s fair. Would absolutely be fine with using Lugo and Gsellman as a tandem.

So tough with only 3 real starters available.

Pete getting a little “out there” with his accusations about the ball and free agency. 

So certain of his position, which surely can only be an opinion.

jimmurphy said:

Pete getting a little “out there” with his accusations about the ball and free agency. 

So certain of his position, which surely can only be an opinion.

 Florida Man... His theory doesn't really work considering there are a lot guys on pace to hit 50 HRs. 

Had and expressed the same feeling about Harvey. He was never the most huggable Met but he's had a hard road, physically, and was hoping he'd have a respectable outing and lose.

With few exceptions, I tend to cringe when the "enemy" gets humiliated in a game.  

ml1 said:

FilmCarp said:

True, but I am still a little hesitant to call them any sort of juggernaut.  They seldom win big, and really good teams play 500 against other good teams while clobbering bad teams.  Don't get me  wrong.  I'd love to look back at this post in August and call myself an idiot.  But right now I think  the subs are the guys impressing us, because usually we expect nothing from them.

 the Mets are not by any stretch an elite MLB team right now.  They're only in first place because the other teams in the division are struggling.  But they are banking wins right now with a lineup that's not much better than AAA.  They could just have easily found themselves in the same position as the Nats at this point in the season.  It may turn out that the postponements will be a good thing in that the regulars should be back when those games are made up.

If the subs can just play .500 ball for the next 3-4 weeks, the team will likely still be right in the thick of the division race.  As Mets fans we get used to a constant state of pessimism, so I hate to say it, but I'm starting to like this team's chances the rest of the way.  We know we've got the best pitcher in baseball, and two very good starters behind him.  The bullpen has been good, the fielding and baserunning are light years better than last year.  So reasons to at least be cautiously optimistic.

The Mets are fortunate to be in the worst division in major league baseball. I'm happy they're in first place, but I have zero expectations of this team accomplishing anything beyond the regular season.