Despite Kodai Senga’s dominance, the Mets – like the Phillies – have timely questions to answer

NEW YORK — Like meet And Phillies squared for the first time this season, each dance club will swear their best baseball team is right in front of them. Or so they hope.

Recent history has shown that an average team can blow up at the right time and go deep after the season. But that’s really not a plan, and a given club’s patience on such a course is unpredictable. The Phillies and Mets are built to be consistent, but they’re nothing more than two months old. In fact, both teams broke a five-game winning streak in May, only to be followed by a losing streak and a frustrating return to the .500 ball.

A little urgency from one of NL East’s two partners certainly won’t hurt.

Kodai Senga, the Mets’ five-year, $75 million out-of-season deal from Japan, is showing he can meet the moment — when he’s pitching at home. His 1.20 ERA at Citi Field is the third lowest in the MLB among starters with at least 20 home plays. If he can also bring that performance to the streets, the Mets may have just found another trump card.

Thanks to Senga, New York took a positive step on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Philadelphia, marked by nine right-handers scattered across seven innings of one-touch no-goal. Senga fanned eight of the nine different big brothers he had faced at least once, while Bryce Harper Curiosity never got off the bench. (The rookie now has 70 goals in his first 10 appearances, trailing only Dwight Gooden (84) and Nolan Ryan (74) in franchise history.)

The fact that the Mets were able to win after Senga’s deep start is really not a surprise. New York is leading 14-0 this season when the starter goes at least six innings and 5-0 when he goes at least seven innings.

However, those signs conceal a fundamental problem manifested by Edwin Diazinjury (which can last a whole season). When the guys started going deep, the Mets’ barn was still equipped to handle the last two or three innings. But any more responsibility falls on the quitter, and the situation gets tough.

Buck Showalter often muses about how well he played last year, when he was able to give the ball to Díaz in the ninth inning, sometimes even in the eighth, and was perfectly comfortable in the lane. edge, knowing that victory in New York was only minutes away. The Mets’ grizzly manager says he now understands how the Yankees have felt all these years as Mariano Rivera locks up time and time again saving them.

But that comfort, complete confidence in the Mets barn, has vanished this season when Showalter was forced to take more than two doses of his trusty painkillers, Adam Ottavino And David Robertson. The bullpen’s ERA 4.29 is 20th in the league because people like it Jeff Brigham, Dominic Leone, Stephen Nogosek And Tommy Hunter are being used in high leverage locations. No offense to those arms, but they shouldn’t have been placed in those pressure-filled positions in the first place.

“Anytime we can get the beginners to go deeper, we’re in a good position,” said Brandon Nimmowho robbed? Nick Castellanos of a home run in the fourth inning. “That’s how our team was formed. Obviously when you give the ball to fewer people, there’s less chance of someone getting knocked out that night. When Kodai can do what he did, there’s less chance of someone getting knocked out that night. Tonight, I like our chance to win.”

Mets general manager Billy Eppler can’t really wait until the August 1 trade deadline to secure another relief arm and perhaps another starting pitcher if the club are ever to come together. win and catch up Braves can’t seem to catch up (32-23). Atlanta, a thorn in the side for the New York side, also recently admitted that they expect better of themselves, and that comes from a team that has been in first place for all but one day of the season.

The Phillies (25-29), at least, have reason to delay any panic due to a slow start to last season that ended with their first World Series appearance in 13 years. The Mets (28-27) can also choose not to worry because they can point to what the Phillies did last year – and brave before, and citizen before that – as inspiration for their average season start.

But when they stepped out of the baseball team’s Memorial Day checkpoint, both had flaws worth keeping an eye on.

A large part of the Mets’ demoralizing play can be directed towards their starting pitch, a veteran unit led by Scherzer max And Justin Verlander was not able to participate deeply in the games.

The Mets starters entered Tuesday with a 5.13 ERA, otherwise good for 25th in the MLB. Scherzer is showing flashes of classic Scherzer, while Verlander, AL’s reigning Cy Young winner at 40, still seems to be figuring things out with his new team in Flushing. The absence did not help. Jose Quintana is said to be New York’s No. 3 starter, but won’t make his debut in 2023 until July after undergoing surgery in March.

“The important innings after we score, can we put a zero on it? After [the starter] Showalter said. “That’s where all the momentum or morale can change in a match if you can’t do those two things. When you take a starter out of the game, the first one comes in later. that’s usually one of the keys to the game.”

Francisco Lindor beat alone at home to give the Mets an early lead against the Phillies

The Phillies have seen encouraging signs from their relief crew, but they still flew to New York this week uncomfortably in fourth place in the difficult NL East, thanks in part to underperforming attack fruit.

shortcut Trea Turner, the flashy pickup truck of their season, was struggling and then some people started their Philly careers. After a strong offensive performance for Team USA in this year World Classic Baseball, Turner’s bat almost disappeared from the lineup. The 29-year-old Silver Slugger had 78 wRC+ and 83 OPS+ over the course of a third of the season. Phillies manager Rob Thomson continued to leave Turner at a two-hole, hoping that Turner would one day find success but ended up providing a constant reminder of his difficulties. that. (He drew 0-3 against the Mets in Tuesday’s series opener.)

If the Phillies are hoping to turn the page after their most recent loss and begin to reset the magic by the end of the 2022 season, Citi Field is not where they choose to do it. The Mets have been under the Phillies’ skin since last season, when Philly won 5-14 with a run difference of minus 37 against the Amazins and 82-61 with a run difference of 99 plus all the other teams. .

These types of NL East battles are why the Braves are unhappy with the division’s lead so far. Even an Atlanta organization that won the World Series in 2021 knows that the margins are slim, as long as the Mets and Phillies are relatively out of breath.

All of which begs the question: Is it just June, or is it already June? The long baseball season can come late quickly.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. Previously, she covered the Mets for three and a half seasons as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. She never misses a single Rafael Nadal match, no matter what country or time zone he competes in. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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