Put it in the books! The Mets took down the Padres, who were an absolute roadblock last year, to say the least. The series was a bit of a roller coaster, but ended out strong. In Game 1, all 3 phases were real good, and the Mets shutout the Padres. Game 2 went back and fourth, ultimately ending in a Mets loss. In my opinion, I believe Buck made some questionable bullpen decisions in Game 2 that really didn’t help the Mets, but hind sight is 20/20. Game 3 is where Buck redeemed himself deploying Robertson prior to the 9th inning, using him to attack the more aggressive part of the lineup, followed by Ottavino closing it out, getting the save, and securing another series victory for Los Mets.

Tonight, we begin a West Coast road trip starting out in Oakland. Kodai Senga takes the mound in Game 1, followed by Carlos Carrasco on Saturday afternoon, and Max Scherzer on Sunday afternoon to close out the series. The Athletics really don’t have too much talent on their roster, and their record reflects that, (3-10 with a team ERA of 7.65). Although they aren’t good, it’s imperative that the Mets jump all over them, and win these games convincingly. They have a long 2 weeks ahead of them, if you can start the trip 3-0, you can give yourself some leeway later. Both Senga and Max have shown strong starts and some consistency when it comes to strikeouts. This series is important for 2 players on this roster specifically: Carlos Carrasco and Eduardo Escobar.

Carlos Carrasco: The ice is getting thinner by the day for “Cookie”. Currently, we have more questions than we do answers in regards to Carrasco. He’s gotten absolutely shelled so far in his 2 starts, pitching to a 11.42 ERA, with more strikeouts than walks. Given his age and injury history, I would be lying to you if I told you I didn’t think there was an issue. Statistically he’s bad, from a velocity stand point, things looks even worse. Carlos is hovering around the 91 mph range on his fastball, down a few ticks from last year. Between that, and his location issues he’s certainly on the hot-seat for getting replaced out of this rotation once Justin Verlander comes back from the IL. It also doesn’t help him that both Tylor MeGill and David Peterson have shown us a lot of promise and look to be slowly cementing themselves into this rotation for the 2023 season…and beyond. Ultimately, the ball is quite literally in Carrasco’s court. If he can turn it around on this road trip, he makes a case for the Mets to move to a 6 man rotation, giving the older guys up top an extra day of rest in between starts. However if Carrasco continues to shit the bed every 5th day, he’s gone, at least to the bullpen.

Eduardo Escobar: It pains me to type this. This was a guy that literally carried this franchise through the month of September last year, and single handedly prevented a massive meltdown. Don’t forget about the time 4th outfielder Travis Jankowski spoke about helping the team in any way possible, getting quoted saying “I Know nobody is gonna buy my jersey” (I paraphrased there), followed by delivery boxes showing up in the Mets locker room the following day, courtesy of Escobar, a box of shirts with Jankowski’s name on them, to which the players wore during warm ups that day. Eduardo is a guy the whole club house top to bottom seems to adore, so saying he kind of sucks, really fuckin hurts me. But at the end of the day, the Mets are in the business of winning games, not giving hugs. It really doesn’t help him that his 23 year old replacement is ripping the cover off the ball down in AAA. New York Mets beat reporter Anthony DiComo was on SNY earlier today, saying that we are potentially days away from a Brett Baty call up, and that he would potentially meet with the team in the midst of the West Coast road trip. Am I excited to see the 2019 first round pick come up and play? Of course I am, but I’m not in the world of rooting against a current guy on the roster, especially one so beloved by the team. I want Escobar to rake and play great defense. But I’m also not stupid. I see the trajectory of his season, his at bats have been sad to watch. The bat speed is dramatically slower than where it was even last year, and the power just isn’t there. In the end, I believe by next weekend the very latest, we will see Baty get called up, and when that happens, I hope the kid never looks back. Let’s get this series “W”, and LFGM!