Yoenis Cespedes haunted the Mets and they got better. Robinson Cano provided an adductor tension and the Mets got better. Amed Rosario developed an upset stomach and the Mets got better.
What did not kill her made her longer.
The Mets outclassed the Nationals 8-2 in a matinee Thursday. They did this behind a pitcher in David Peterson, who was not even considered one of the six starters for five spots in spring training 1.0. Behind a defensive-first backup catcher in Tomas Nido, who hit two homers and rode in six runs. Behind a team-leading fourth homer from Dom Smith, the biggest beneficiary of Cespedes’ disappearance. And behind the continued hefty excellence of Andres Gimenez and Luis Guillorme in filling for Rosario and Cano.
Recent Mets seasons have been underwhelmed for many reasons. Near the top was that they were subdued. Their subs were subpar. The back of her bull was bashed and Bashlor.
By one-third of this season, the Mets are just 9-11, but it would be so much less if their B-squad did not get As. Depth, of all things, is the reason why they still have a shot in the NL East. The two-time division champion Braves are down Ronald Acuna Jr. and much of their rotation. The Phillies’ bullpen is a round shooting team. The Nationals (6-9) look like the club that struggled for the first third of the season last year, but rode in 162 games to win a championship. The Marlins had to re-brake their roster with the ongoing season due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
And unlike the Mets and Braves, the Nationals, Phillies and especially the Marlins have come up with troubled schemes to compensate for lost games for virus-related reasons that will expose what they have in reserve.
It’s counterintuitive to think that depth in the season will exceed so much in a season 100-plus games shorter than normal. But the virus, uneven preparation and general weirdness force every club to reach deep – in its resolution and its roster. And so far, the Mets have been receiving positive results, having exaggerated their club identity too reliably on their rotation to one that finds strength in the length of their bullpen and lineup alternatives.
That rotation is no longer a concern is because Peterson acts like Andy Pettitte in 1995-96, delivering advanced poise and great pitches. Zack Wheeler left for free agency, Noah Syndergaard was lost after Tommy John’s surgery, Marcus Stroman fired him, Michael Wacha has a bum shoulder and Steven Matz is devolving. Peterson has therefore moved from the choir to center stage, from incessant to irreplaceable.
He opened Thursday with two walks around the two-base Nido error around the bases without unloading and picking up Juan Soto, which pretty much defines going from bad to worse. Except Peterson whiffed the best young hitter in the game on three pitches, escaping with one unearned run yielded on the way to otherwise excluding the Nats on one hit by five innings.
Luis Rojas removed the lefty after five innings and 74 pitches because he felt searess in the back of his shoulder that both manager and starter insisted was normal and not worried. Let’s see him make his next start before further downplaying.
That Peterson did not give up any more runs in the first was because Jeff McNeil made a fearless and fantastic running catch to rob Asdrubal Cabrera of a double with two runs. This was 2020 and the Mets, and he slammed into the Northwell Health ad on the wall of the center-left field and crawled. McNeil had to decline, but the Mets said that X-rays and an MRI only revealed a knee fracture and that he was dead.
That defensive-first Billy Hamilton replaced him with well-known exceptional gloves, but also excellent at-bats, accentuating how much the Mets get off the bench.
And the four innings that Peterson left on the pen were delivered by Jared Hughes and Brad Brach, who have deepened the pen since returning from the COVID-19 Replacement Injured List, and Edwin Diaz, who in August has six scoreless outings and has now faced strikes from 17 of 36 fighters.
“We have some depth to what accident happened there,” Rojas said.
Rojas will now probably have to navigate a few days to not have McNeil. He is expected to get Rosario and Cano back and will have to decide what to do with Gimenez and Guillorme, who have invested energy, offense and – in particular – defense. But this is what managers want – the tough questions due to having too many quality players.
It’s better than looking at your couch and seeing Keon Broxton and the fading remnants of Jose Reyes.
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