Coming out of the All-Star Break, the New York Mets and Washington Nationals had big series in front of them. The Mets were taking on the St. Louis Cardinals, the best team in baseball, and the Nationals were up against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the first place team in the N.L. West.
The Nationals started the break off right with a win, even though it took two days to complete. Friday night's game was suspended due to rain, but Washington found a way to win on Saturday thanks to Matt den Dekker and his two-run homer. Unfortunately for the Nationals, that would be the only win of the weekend.
In the second game on Saturday, the Nationals were set to face Clayton Kershaw. Washington struggled mildly, as they struck out 14 times against the Dodgers ace, and lost to L.A. 4-2. It certainly didn't get any easier as Zack Greinke was set to take the mound on Sunday. Greinke continued his dominant pitching striking out 11 Nationals, and extended his scoreless innings streak to 43.2 innings.
The Nationals were certainly glad to see Kershaw and Greinke come and go, but the pitching matchups don’t get any easier. Washington will have to face New York’s young trio of power arms Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard over the next three days, and their lineup hasn’t exactly been great with those 25 strikeouts in the last two games.
Once the Mets leave town, Washington will then travel to Pittsburgh where they will face another tough team with another tough staff. The probable pitchers for that series are Francisco Liriano, Jeff Locke, A.J. Burnett, and Gerrit Cole. Locke has had a rough go of late; but Liriano, Burnett, and Cole, all have ERAs under 3.00 and are having good seasons up to this point. Not to mention that the Pittsburgh Pirates are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now.
The last and final tough pitching matchup will come in their first game against the Miami Marlins when they face Jose Fernandez, who has been great since his return from Tommy John surgery. The Nationals will of course be focused on the first matchup tonight against Harvey, but this is going to be a very tough eight-game stretch coming up.
As for the Mets, they thought the break would help their lineup refocus and get some much needed rest, but it didn't. Noah Syndergaard was on the mound Friday night and threw yet another gem. Unfortunately for him, he got minimum run support as the only run he did receive was on the fifth pitch of the game as Curtis Granderson took Lance Lynn deep. The Mets did put up a fight in the ninth inning, scoring one run, but couldn’t complete the comeback as they lost Friday's game by a score of 3-2 and dropped a game to Washington in the process.
New York was hoping to bounce back on Saturday with Bartolo Colon on the mound, but the Cardinals pounced on him early and scored four first inning runs. The Mets could never recover and eventually got blown out 12-2.
Then there was yesterday's long, un-exciteful, and painful game that the Mets put their fans through for almost six hours. Keeping the summary short, the Mets pulled out a huge victory in 18 innings, winning 3-1. However, to put how bad their performance was into perspective, New York went 1-for-25 with runners in scoring position. Yes, that wasn't a misprint, they went an abysmal 1-for-25 with runners in scoring position.
Despite that awful performance, the Mets still find themselves only two games behind the Nationals in the standings. Which brings us to tonight, where the Mets and Nationals will square up in D.C. for a three-game set.
Lucky enough for the Mets, they will not have to face Max Scherzer in these three games, but that doesn't change the fact that Washington has had New York’s number over the last few years. Since 2012, the Nationals have dominated the Mets by a record of 45-18, and subconsciously know that they will beat New York most of the time. However, this is a different Mets team who have a good young pitching staff, and they will have their three power arms starting in this series.
The unfortunate thing for those power arms -- Harvey, deGrom, and Syndergaard -- is that they will have to be nearly perfect in order to win these games. Not only will they have to shut down a solid Nationals lineup led by Bryce Harper, but they will have to hope to get some run support from their offense. It’s not news that the Mets have a weak lineup, but they are anemic to say the least. The Mets haven’t hit that bad since the break, as they have recorded 35 hits in the last three games, but they have only scored five runs and continuously struggle to drive runners in as they showed against the Cardinals.
If the Mets want to be taken seriously they will have to turn their hitting around, and it starts tonight. The Nationals are by far the favorites to win the N.L. East, but the Mets could make some noise by winning this series. Taking two of three would put the Mets one game back, but if they could somehow sweep Washington they would take over the lead in the division.
Looking forward, the Mets and Nationals will meet again right after the trade deadline passes on July 31st, but plenty can change by then. For the Mets, the next seven games against Washington and Los Angeles will really prove whether or not they are contenders this season, and if they need to go out and get some help for the stretch run.
As for the Nationals, they are also in a proving spot, but they will be getting some much needed help back as Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman are set to come back in the next week or so. They will also get Stephen Strasburg, Denard Span, and Jayson Werth back within the next month, so all Washington really has to do is tread water and before they get fully healthy again.
Even though it is July 20th, this a big series coming up for both teams, and they both know that they can’t be swept by the other. A sweep by Washington would hurt the Mets much more than the other way around, but if the Mets were to sweep, it would be a huge wake up call to Washington. This N.L. East race is starting to heat up and these next two weeks will say a lot about both of these teams.
Pitching Matchups:
Game 1: Matt Harvey (8-6, 3.07 ERA) vs. Gio Gonzalez (6-4, 3.99 ERA)
Game 2: Jacob deGrom (9-6, 2.14 ERA) vs. Joe Ross (2-1, 2.66 ERA)
Game 3: Noah Syndergaard (4-5, 3.05 ERA) vs. Jordan Zimmerman (8-5, 3.27 ERA)