Finally, the battle for first place is here, except the Mets somehow find themselves in third place, half a game behind the supposedly rebuilding Phillies. And the Mets are actually closer to the fourth-place Marlins (one game behind) than the first-place Nationals. But at a game and a half out, even after the lost weekend in Denver, the Mets can still finish the series in first place with a sweep (and a Phillies loss).
I’m pleased to report that Squawker Lisa and I will be at Tuesday’s opener, which features the marquee matchup of Noah Syndergaard vs. Max Scherzer and the return to Citi Field of Daniel Murphy. I look forward to cheering Murphy when he comes to the plate, then rooting for Thor to get him out. It’s the biggest game of the year so far, and though there will be many more big games (and hoped-for meaningful games in October), it’s a good opportunity to remind the Nationals who the defending NL champions are.
As Lisa likes to remind me, Murphy is currently hitting an even .400. But I don’t regret the Mets not bringing him back to play second. (It might have been nice if they had been able to bring him back to play third, but David Wright isn’t going anywhere and he does have his OPS up to .786. He may only be hitting .229, but thanks to 25 walks in 3o games his OBP is .373).
First of all, Neil Walker has gotten off to a pretty good start of his own, with twice as many homers (10-5) and almost as many RBI (23-20). Walker is hitting .266. And Murphy remains a risk in the field.
But you can’t criticize the Mets for not re-signing Murphy when nobody else was in hot pursuit, leaving Murphy to settle for a relatively small free-agent deal – three years at $37.5 million. Starlin Castro has gotten off to a decent start with the Yankees, but he’s getting about $40M for four years. The Yankees might have been better off with Murphy, especially with that short right field porch in Yankee Stadium. And then the Yankees could have kept Adam Warren, who was a decent starter for them in 2015 and has a 1.84 ERA and 1.09 WHIP this season as a reliever with the Cubs. Lisa, do you think the Yankees could use Warren these days with their shambles of a rotation?
Earlier, I noted that the Phillies were somehow in second place. But the Phillies have a run differential of -30, meaning their expected record would be several games under .500 instead of their current 22-16. The Yankees, for example, have a run differential of -22, in line with their record of 16-20. The Mets’ run differential is +34, in line with their record of 21-16. (Then there are the Cubs, who have a run differential of +109 to go along with their 27-9 record.)
So the Phillies figure to remember that they are in rebuilding mode before too long so the Mets and Nationals can get down to the business of fighting for the division. As for the Cubs, they may actually be a superteam, but they looked pretty strong last October and we know how that turned out.
And now, on to the first big series of the season!
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