A lot of the attention paid tonight was towards the returns of Tylor Megill and Pete Alonso. This is not to be understated when it comes to the long term success of the Mets. They’re getting a lot of guys back soon and the Mets will need every single one of them. MeGill only went 3 and 1/3, giving up five hits including a two run HR to Brandon Marsh in the second, but struck out four and only walked one. It was a fine first step for Megill. As for Alonso, he was 1-for-5 with a bloop hit. But Alonso coming back sooner than everyone expected (and playing the field at that), is a great sign. With Starling Marte coming back tomorrow, Max Scherzer throwing off a mound, Jacob deGrom throwing off flat ground, Trevor May throwing for the first time in a while, and the expected return of James McCann, this team will soon be whole. It’s scary to think about how they’ve performed as a team when they weren’t whole.
But Friday’s 7-3 win over the Angels was powered by the top of the lineup. Mark Canha drove in three, including a key two run double in the second inning when the Mets had started the inning with two runners, only to have J.D. Davis strike out and Luis Guillorme line out to second. But a Tomas Nido RBI single put the Mets on the board, and after a walk to Nimmo, Canha lined a two run double to right to make it 3-0. It was a key hit as Marsh’s home run off Megill cut it to 3-2, and without Canha’s hit the momentum might have gone straight to L.A.’s driveway instead of just kinda making a detour for a drive by wave. Brandon Nimmo would later put the Mets up 4-2 with a homer in the 4th, and would have his own two run double in the 6th to effectively put the game away as he also drove in three runs. The Mets would weave in and out of trouble the rest of the way, but Nimmo and Canha’s production put them comfortably ahead.
Let’s look at this another way: Mets fans of a certain age (let’s say … 51) remember when the top of the lineup in 1986 was Lenny Dykstra and Wally Backman. Dykstra had an on base percentage of .377 and Backman had an OBP of .376 which set up the big bats of Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, and Darryl Strawberry. Dykstra and Backman were famous/infamous for being pests at the top of the order. So knowing that, let’s put what Nimmo and Canha are doing in perspective: Nimmo, who we all know as a high on-base guy, has an OBP of .373 which makes him an optimal leadoff hitter. Canha, whose OBP has been historically high but fell off a bit last year (and would have fallen off more had he not been hit with a million pitches), now has an OBP of 368. These guys aren’t too far off from the salad days of the “Wild Boys” from 1986.
And Canha hasn’t even been the regular two hitter. That would be Marte, who should be back tomorrow and will most likely resume his role as the number two hitter because of his speed and power. But Marte’s OBP is only .316, which gives me a little food for thought, although Marte’s on base percentage in recent seasons has been very good. Far be it from me to question anything Buck Showalter does. If Marte goes right back into the two hole tomorrow, I’m good with it beause the Mets are 39-21 and I’m sure as hell not going to scream about the minutiae. (I’m just happy that the Mets are in Anaheim and there’s no chance whatsoever that their manager is going to get fired at 3:16 in the morning.) However, it’s at least nice to have the option of moving Canha up to the two hole with his ability to get on base and his ability to work an at-bat with the specific goal of making good contact. It sure as heck worked tonight.
Today’s Hate List
1. Brandon Marsh
2. Jared Walsh
3. Anthony Rendon
4. Ondrej Palat
5. Jimmy Fallon
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