I’ve been in Chicago for a couple days and a couple interesting nights and soon I’ll be back into my familiar grind. I suspect it will take about 24 hours to get over the time change; but I should be OK. How long before the Mets' bats remember where they’re at?
The West Coast trip was good, but ended on the downside and that has continued after the cross-country trip back to Queens. They had 24 hours to get acclimated before losing two to Washington, teasing Nats' fans with dreams that they’ll finally benefit from trading Max Scherzer & Trea Turner instead of paying them after 2019.
And all of this before a four-game set against the Braves? I think I need to talk to someone about this and that’s the truth.
April 21 - Mets 7, Giants 0
Joey Lucchesi: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO
It's tough to start your day at 7 am, work an 8-hour shift, enjoy a nice dinner and still have a couple hours before the game starts. It’s probably a little tougher to fly across the country to make your first MLB start since 2021.
Lucchesi had 18 wins and over 290 innings over two seasons for San Diego back in 2018 & 2019. But much has happened to all since then. Recovery from Tommy John surgery delayed Lucchesi’s debut until the need was too great to wait and here he is, facing a Murderer’s Row of ex-Mets with Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf and J.D. Davis.
‘Churve’ is the signature pitch of this lefty with a herky-jerky motion. A changeup with movement is an apt description, but Flores is hitting over .400 against lefties for a reason and laced a double to the left-center field gap. Ruf worked out a walk, setting up Davis to roll into a 4-6-3 double play.
After getting a lead, starting the 2nd inning with a 4-pitch walk was discouraging. But it was encouraging to watch him pitch out of it, getting a strikeout on a churve to end the inning. Another 4-6-3 double play ended another threat quietly in the fourth and Lucchesi followed with a quick 1-2-3 inning.
SNY’s Gary Cohen eagerly reminded fans that it had been 672 days since Lucchesi last started a game, but he started a third double play getting Flores to ground into a 5-4-3, then another grounder to Baty to end the inning. And with no one getting warm, it became clear that Lucchesi would become the first Mets starter to pitch in the 7th inning. Not that he would become the first Met to throw seven shutout innings.
Lucchesi spotted his fastball and cutter on either side of the plate, working the top of the zone, then fooling batters as his churve drops from the sky on an angle. This outing was a blessing dropped from the sky for a beleaguered bullpen or just another on a road trip of potential forgotten stars at the end of a long season.
April 22 - Giants 7, Mets 4
David Peterson: 5 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
It’s as if Peterson lives for trouble, getting behind early in counts with wild fastballs and offspeed pitches well below the zone. Walking Wilmer Flores to load the bases resulted in a 4-0 deficit thanks to Brandon Crawford’s three-run homer into McCovey Cove. Getting out of the first was important, but the rest of this start became solely focused on how many innings can he finish?
Getting beat by Heliot Ramos with a double against the wall on another bad breaking pitch wasn’t a good way to start the second. A stolen base challenge moved the runners up and Darin Ruf did what he couldn’t do in a Mets uniform - hit left-handed pitching.
His dribbler through the hole on the right side scored the first run in the 2nd inning. Estrada stole second, then attempted to score on a grounder to Pete Alonso. The second challenge of the inning led to Peterson taking warmups to stay loose and more disappointment for Mets’ fans as the call was upheld. Peterson kept the damage to a minimum, which still meant a 6-1 deficit.
Peterson’s fastball high and inside to Joey Bart was the most interesting thing about the bottom of the third. That and he ended the inning quickly, making him available for the fourth. And suddenly, it’s as if he’s settled down with an easy strikeout of Lamonte Wade. But Estrada would get on by hitting a ground ball to Brett Baty, who’s first movement was back as he didn’t put his body in front of the ball that bounced off his glove arm into left field for a two-base error. But Peterson struck out Ruf and Conforto with offspeed stuff to leave the runner at second.
Peterson tried to beat Flores with an inside fastball and lost, resulting in his 3rd home run. But it’s clear that Buck said go finish the inning because David Viara sent Nimmo into the padded wall in straight away center. Crawford struck out on the slider and then got Joey Bart on back to back called strikes to get through five rough innings. Peterson’s troubles seem to be self-inflicted with an avoidance of the strike zone early, but for the sake of the team, this was a serviceable outing.
April 23 - Mets , Giants 0
Tylor Megill: 4 IN, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
It really felt like a getaway day, the last day of a 10-day road trip on the West Coast that traveled up and down the state of California. Megill tried to get started with a fastball, but was greeted with a line drive that leaves any ballpark with a lower right field fence. At Oracle Park with a brick wall blocking McCovey Cove, it was a loud single. The Giants loaded the bases with a lineup full of lefties and a grounder to Baty got a double play; but Joc Pedersen returned from the IL to single to right center and not allow MeGill to escape unscathed, ending on a groundout and down 1-0.
It became 2-0 when Estrade started the 2nd with a shot to left off the changeup, his 5th allowed in his 5 starts. It’s frustration like that tempered with the two strikeouts to get out of the inning. It’s not good giving up a run an inning; so it’s a mix of sympathetic optimism that would settle for five, six innings going into an off day as the goal, regardless of runs allowed.
Megill started down that path with a quiet third, then was given the lead and a different mission. After putting the team down two, to get a chance to throw a shutdown inning is a chance at redemption. Instead, he allowed consecutive hits and faced runners at the corners when Jeremy Hefner came out to talk with the game tied at 3-3.
He followed with exactly what you’d want - a ground ball to second base for an inning ending double play. But Francisco Lindor is not a robot, not a video game creation. He is human and couldn’t cleaned complete the transfer. The run scored, putting the Giants back up 4-3. A line out later and Megill’s day was done; another so-so start plagued with a lack of command.
April 25 - Nationals 5, Mets 0
Jose Butto: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 1 SO
Edwin Uceta was a savior three days ago; coming from an overnight signing to pitching three innings last Saturday to save Buck Showalter and the Mets bullpen. His reward? A 15-day trip to the IL to make room on the shortened 24-man roster for the return of Butto, who was sent back to Syracuse after his last start.
He started with a quick 1-2-3 inning; then got rudely greeted by catcher Keibert Ruiz with a solo shot to start the scoring. The Nationals got another run thanks to piling together singles, the last one with two outs over the outstretched glove of Jeff McNeil for a 2-0 lead.
Butto didn’t have nearly the same control with his stuff this time out, missing wildly with all his pitches. Of his first 50 pitches thrown, half were balls and he had four walks before finishing the fourth inning. Francisco Lindor’s first error of the season allowed runners at first and second.
Brett Baty booted a hard grounder an inning earlier and in the fourth; he couldn’t handle a hard hit grounder, but was able to get up and throw out the speedy Victor Robles. It put two in scoring position with two outs with Jimmy Yacabonis ready in the pen. Butto walked his fifth batter of the game to load the bases, but got a groundout to end the frame and keep the deficit the same.
Josiah Grey kept it that way, using similar tactics that Butto should mimic. Both have a 95 MPH fastball with late life and a nasty changeup; but the Nationals starter was able to throw all pitches for strikes and keep the Mets off balance. Butto was off balance, never getting into a grove. His sixth walk put a runner on for Dominic Smith, who singled to right field and ended the night for Butto.
Not a good start is an understatement, but how much can be forgiven since it is another emergency appearance with a cross country plane trip thrown in? Yacabonis entered and fell into the same issue - failing to throw an offspeed pitch for a strike, but got a strikeout to end Butto’s evening with just two earned runs.
April 26 - Nationals 4, Mets 1
Kodai Senga: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 7 SO
Let’s blame returning from the West Coast as the excuse for every starter finding ways to walk people on four pitches. Senga started the game with six straight balls before leaving the runner stranded. Another walk to start the inning is another bad trend during this trip through the rotation because Senga isn’t throwing his forkball and other offspeed pitches for strikes.
“I just didn’t have good control early in the game,” Senga said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara via The Athletic. “I was able to handle the ball a little bit better toward the end, but I need to be able to do that right from the get-go.”
Nationals batters have done a good job this series laying off those pitches. Dom Smith doubled, then the Nats used a bunt to get a run home when the Mets couldn’t field the ball. The ball slapped past a drawn in Escobar allowed another run to score. This was only the 2nd inning and Senga didn’t look as if he’d get out of this frame. But with runners at 1st and 2nd, he got Victor Robles looking at a slider and Call on a Ghost before walking Garcia and receiving a visit from Hefner and the translator; then a strikeout to end the inning.
Trouble started early again, but he finally got he double play to tamper down the threat. A strikeout later and it was essentially a 1-2-3 inning. A much needed one for a starting staff that hasn’t been the backbone. Therefore it’s sturdiest pitcher to date was expected to provide innings. So starting another inning with a walk wasn’t helpful.
A seeing-eye single put runners on 1st and 2nd for three out of four innings. But again Senga was able to keep the frame scoreless. An error by Escobar was quickly erased with another double play and Senga coasted into the sixth. But five innings were all Showalter asked for tonight. That was probably all Senga could have given and that’s the truth.
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