After sweeping the Rockies in this week’s four-game series the Mets are 63-52 on the season and have increased their NL East lead to 4.5 games. With the sweep, the team is now 11-2 since the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes.
After the Mets called up Michael Conforto, and pulled off trades for Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson and Cespedes there was much talk about the lengthened lineup leading the way in a playoff push. While the offensive additions have certainly gone a long way toward changing the team’s culture, its been dominating pitching performances that have continued to carry the Mets.
In the past series, Mets starters combined for 29 innings pitched, 5 earned runs (1.55 ERA), and a 24/6 K/BB ratio. Each starter went no-less than 7 innings, to put that into perspective, no Rockies pitcher has had an outing that long since June 30. The Mets rotation is something special, and some of the leagues best hitters are starting to recognize that. After Wednesday’s 3-0 win Carlos Gonzalez referred to Jacob deGrom as ” the best pitcher in the game, hands down,” high praise from one of the league’s top sluggers. After finishing the series sweep on Thursday, another top player, Nolan Arenado said “the Mets have four number one’s…we saw all four of them.” Both Gonzalez and Arenado have been powerhouses in the NL this season, but Mets pitchers were able to hold the Rockies 3-4 punch to a .138 avg (4-29) over the past four games. We were always aware of what deGrom, Harvey, and Syndergaard brought to the table, but the recent success of Jon Niese has perhaps been the most important to the team. Since June 1st the veteran lefty has pitched to a 2.76 ERA, his success has made the injuries to Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz sustainable.
The thought of having four aces on one staff is quite exciting, but when you consider that the team could have two more on the way (including Matz by September hopefully), it becomes that much more impressive.
Since June 13th, these “four aces” have made 40 starts, 34 of which have been of the quality variety,This has amounted to a 1.99 ERA and a 238/62 K/BB ratio over that span. If the starters can keep up this high level of performance, paired with the retooled offense, the Amazins will be in good shape for the upcoming NL East dogfight down the stretch.
