Final Score: Mets 5, Reds 2

It didn’t look good at the start tonight when Matt Harvey gave up a leadoff home run to Zack Cozart. Then Ivan De Jesus Jr. hit a comebacker single off of Harvey’s butt and that seemed to get him into gear. When Joey Votto struck out, De Jesus took off on the play and advanced to second base when Lucas Duda flubbed the rundown. But it didn’t end up mattering because Harvey struck out the next two batters. The Mets got that run back and more in the 2nd inning thanks to the stanky Reds. Alejandro De Aza led off with a single. Then with two outs Lucas Duda hit a fairly routine fly ball to left field and the Reds dropped it. That scored De Aza and Neil Walker followed that with a single to make it 2-1.

Harvey almost got Murph’d by Walker in the 3rd. With a man on and one out, he muffed a routine grounder to second base. Then Joey Votto followed that with a bloop single to load the bases. But with the bases loaded and two outs, Walker redeemed himself. He was perfectly positioned and snagged a liner up the middle by Devin Mesoraco to retire the side. If that wasn’t enough, the next inning Neil Walkyear tied the Mets club record for most home runs in April with his 9th. A solo shot that made it 3-1.

Harvey gave up another run in the 5th to make it 3-2, but he limited the damage by getting a key double play to end the inning. In the 6th inning, after leaving six men on base over the course of the game, Michael Conforto lined an opposite field two out double that scored 2 more runs and that gave us the final score of 5-2.

The pen continued to dominate and shut down the Reds over the final three innings. The Mets were even able to give Jeurys Familia the night off. Considering he’s on pace for like 100 appearances, it was much needed.

Knight Terrors Subsiding: Matt Harvey took a step forward today with a quality start. He took that liner off of his ass, and from then on he seemed to stay fairly focused. The Mets played crappy defense behind him tonight. But his stuff was crisp, and he finally put up some strikeouts albeit against this crummy Reds lineup. This start is something to build on.

B-Squad Triumphs: The Mets starting lineup today was the unquestioned B-squad. Juan Lagares and Alejandro De Aza starting in the outfield and Kevin Plawecki behind the plate. And you know what? We easily slapped around the garbage Reds. Depth!!! Not just depth. Quality depth. It’s fun to watch our A lineup, and it’s not a major letdown to see our supporting cast. That’s how it should feel when you watch a playoff caliber roster.

The Quest for 74: After today’s game, Neil Walker is on pace for 73 home runs. As improbable as it is, Barry Bonds congratulating Neil Walker on his 74th home run in Miami on September 28th is a quality daydream.

Thor in Times Square: Today Noah Syndergaard hit up Times Square (i.e. New York’s anus) dressed as Thor. I’m surprised he voluntarily rubbed elbows (his priceless pitching elbow no less) with the other costumed riff raff. He’s truly a man of the hoi polloi because I wouldn’t let those degenerates anywhere near my body and mine’s worthless.

Panic City: The Mets have won 6 in a row and 11 of 13. They are now a game behind the Nationals who just lost a series to Philly. Here’s a live look at Panic City:

Tomorrow: Well we officially beat the hell out of the Phillies, Braves, and Reds. The Mets have the day off tomorrow, but the run of games against NL trash teams comes to a screeching halt this weekend as the Giants come to town. Let’s hope these Mets are up to the challenge.

Final Score: Mets 4, Reds 3

On a night where the Mets got the leadoff man on base in 5 of the first 6 innings but couldn’t find a way to score a run, Yoenis Cespedes reminded us that he’s the spark plug that keeps this offense rolling. After missing three straight games with his balky knee, Yo pinch hit in the bottom of the 7th inning and on the first pitch from starter Brian Finnegan he launched a three-run game-tying laser that just snuck out of the stadium. It would have been off the Great Wall of Flushing at Old Citi Field. But at new Citi it was a goner and it made the game 3-3.

The Reds young lefty Finnegan was really great all game. Until that 7th inning he had only given up a hit and a couple walks. The Mets were 1 for 15 with runners on base in this game. So Finnegan really kept getting himself out of any trouble until the 7th. And as I said in the series preview, the Reds have the worst bullpen ERA in the league. So they left Finnegan in the game because their bullpen is awful. In fact, once Finnegan got pulled and they went to the pen, Curtis Granderson (who’s heating up) hit an opposite field triple. He then scored when David Wright hit a two out single. That made it 4-3 and Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia did the rest for us.

Bartolo Colon tallied his 3000th inning pitched last night. He was mediocre though. He didn’t go 6 innings, and he gave up 8 hits over 5 innings. He was getting smacked around every inning, so I was on board with Terry getting him out of the game when he did. He gave up a two-run homer to Ivan De Jesus Jr. but he was one bad pitch away from doing it again.

Sly Dog Award: The Sly Dog Award goes to Terry Collins for faking out Reds manager Bryan Price. When Brian Finnegan ran into trouble in the 7th inning and Price went to talk to him, Terry sent Duda to the on deck circle. Maybe Price thought Cespedes was unavailable. Maybe Price liked the Duda/Finnegan lefty on lefty matchup. Maybe he just knows his bullpen sucks. Either way Terry’s fakeout worked, and the tired Finnegan stayed in the game to get rocked by Cespedes. Terry you old sandbagging son of a gun.

Wilmer’s Struggling: Wilmer Flores is batting .083. He’s 2 for 24. He made an error at first base last night. We expect nothing in the field from Wilmer, but whether he’s starting or on the bench he must hit. It’s only been a month. It’s only been 24 at-bats. But it won’t be long before people are calling for Matt Reynolds (.288 average in Vegas) to get a chance.

Sample Size Police: So the Mets score all their runs on the home run. I don’t have the exact percentage breakdown, but if we aren’t top 3 in the league in percentage of runs scored via the home run I’d be shocked. Is it too early to conclude that our inability to make simple contact with runners on base or in scoring position is some type of flaw in our offensive design? Will the sample size police arrest me? Home runs are great, but other than Yo’s bomb, we once again struggled to score runs last night despite getting the leadoff men on base a bunch.

With or Without Yo: God the lineup is so different with Cespedes in it. He is electric. It is known. He also bailed postgame without giving any interviews which is super ballin. He just limped to his sports car and sped off. I really hope his injury is healed because the last thing we need is to bring him back too soon and do the setback dance.

Today: Matt Harvey gets another chance to give us a quality start and keep the brooms swinging. We have 5 straight wins and have won 10 of 12. We are creeping up behind the Nats. It’s also April, but winning any time of year is sweet.

Final Score: Mets 5, Reds 3

There’s no doubt that Neil Walkyear had the game winning dinger, but Michael Conforto continues to be the star of the Mets show. He was on base all four times tonight with a home run, single, double and walk. His solo shot in the bottom of the 1st inning got our dinger parade going. Lucas Duda had a two run blast in the bottom of the 3rd. Guess who was on base? Conforto.

Noah Syndergaard was dominant through 6 innings. As he approached 100 pitches, the Reds started to get to him. Terry kept him in too long and yanked him with two outs in the 7th after he gave up his second run which made it 3-2. Antonio Bastardo came in and promptly walked a man and then gave up an RBI single to Joey Votto which tied the game at 3. But Logan Verrett got a big strikeout to end the inning.

Neil Walker immediately helped us retake the lead with a two run home run in the bottom of the 7th. Conforto was on base for this bomb as well. Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia then proceeded to dominate out of the pen to close it out and give us the 5-3 win.

Luck O’ The Maverick: Back to Conforto. This guy is an absolute immediate impact star. It’s unbelievable, and we are so lucky Sandy and Co. drafted him. I can’t help but let the thought creep into my head that the Wilpons will ultimately use Conforto as the rationale for letting Cespedes walk if he opts out of his deal at the end of the season. But I must push that glass half empty crap aside and focus on the now.

Mr. Glass Leaves Game: Speaking of glass, Travis d’Arnaud left the game with shoulder soreness. They said it was from all the throwing he had to do as a result of the Reds running on him non-stop. I think the Reds stole on him 5 times. God he’s so fragile. First Cespedes and now d’Arnaud with the day to day crap. I wonder if we will DL someone because we can’t play with one catcher. It’s really poor timing for Mr. Glass to strike again.

Bastard of Citi: Bad performance tonight from the natural born reliever Antonio Bastardo. He was wild and walked the first batter he faced. Occasional wildness was the knock on Bastardo. He’s also struck out a bunch of people on the season and been solid for the most part. You got to take the good with the bad.

Bullpen’s Lil Secret: Logan Verrett has been cranking out stellar spot starts and nice relief appearances. He’s been a real secret weapon for us. It’ll be interesting to see if he continues to have success or if the league adjusts and exploits any weakness they can find.

Tomorrow: Bartolo Colon goes up against a young lefty Brandon Finnegan. Let’s hope the wind remains favorable and the long balls keep flying. I’ve never seen anything like this. Strikeouts AND home runs? I’m just grabbing the popcorn and savoring all this power baseball.

Mr. Red versus Mr. Met, the epic battle of estranged baseball headed mascot cousins. Mr. Red was born a sleeve patch in 1955, and Mr. Met was born a scorecard illustration in 1963. Mr. Met appeared as a live action mascot in the 60s and Mr. Red appeared in the 70s. Mr. Met has been happily married to Mrs. Met since the 1960s. According to the Reds website, Mr. Red’s wife “Rosie Red” cheered the Reds to the 1939 National League pennant and then to the 1940 World Series championship. In other words, she’s even older than Mr. Red. I guess it took the wisdom of an older woman to see through Mr. Red’s ridiculous mustachioed outer shell and find the kind-hearted soul within. That being said, in the photo above Mr. Red is holding a gun and his eyes give the impression he’s on PCP or something. So he may have undocumented character flaws.

I would also like to note for the record that Mr. Met mysteriously disappeared from 1979-1994. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Wilpons bought their first stake in the Mets in 1980. The entire thing reeks of foul play, but the Wilpons refuse to comment on anything related to the Mets so it’s doubtful we’ll ever uncover the truth.

Pitching Matchups:

Game 1: Noah Syndergaard vs. Raisel Iglesias

Iglesias is a young pitcher with an odd delivery. The only person on our team that has faced him is Neil Walker. He’s been very effective so far this season going 1-1 in 4 starts with a 3.09 ERA.

Perfect Game Watch: Noah Syndergaard has been dubbed a video game create a player by David Wright. The Reds have a competent enough offense (they’ve scored more runs than the Mets), but at this point you never know how dominant Thor will be on any given night. Plus he beat the Reds twice last season.

Game 2: Bartolo Colon vs. Brandon Finnegan

Finnegan is another young starter. The Reds got him in the Johnny Cueto deal with Kansas City. He’s a lefthander so we may see Wilmer Flores at second base or first base in this game. Although with Walker’s success batting right-handed lately, maybe Terry will ignore career splits. Yoenis Cespedes, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Alejandro De Aza all faced him at some point when he was with KC. He has a 3.74 ERA in 4 starts this season.

Bartolo didn’t face the Reds last season, but he’s starting on my fantasy team this week so he better fire off a quality start. Other than Thor, Bartolo has been the Mets most consistent starter in 2016.

Game 3: Matt Harvey vs. Jon Moscot

Moscot (not to be confused with Mascot) is another young starter that we’ve never faced. If Matt Harvey is ever going to get his groove back, a home start against the Reds should help do the trick. He had two quality starts against the Reds last season. If a dose of the Reds doesn’t help lower Harvey’s ERA, he should consider Pilates as I’ve heard they’ve done wonders for Jake Arrieta during his inexplicable late career resurgence.

Thing To Look For:

Citi Field Power Outage: The Mets had an absolute power surge on this past road trip. Bombs all day every day. Back to back jacks, grand slams, fan interference reversed home runs and everything else under the sun. We are fifth in the league right now with 25 long balls. But now we head home where we haven’t had nearly as much success with the home run. We need to score somehow. If we aren’t going to score with the long ball then we better start bunching some hits together.

Red Pen: Scoring against the Reds shouldn’t be too much of a problem considering they are 28th in ERA overall at 5.58. The Reds have the second most innings pitched out of the pen so far in 2016 and their bullpen ERA is the worst at 6.26. Their pitching staff overall has been miserable. That being said, let’s get to their overworked pen.

Water In The Knee: Yoenis Cespedes said his banged up leg is feeling better. But the Mets doctors are going to take a look at his knee and conduct tests anyway. Once Ray Ramirez lays a finger on that knee it will most certainly swell up like a cantaloupe. Pray for Cespedes.

Murphometrics: So I think all Mets fans have been praising the middle infield defense of Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera this season. We are all amazed at how easily they make the routine plays and how effectively they turn double plays. When ground balls come their way, they hardly ever go under the glove or off their foot as we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. Anyway, look at what Mark Simon from ESPN tweeted over the weekend.

Wow! Walker and Cabrera still give us below average defense relative to the rest of the league. Honestly that tells you all you need to know about how bad Daniel Murphy and Wilmer Flores were in the field. Mets fans are rejoicing like a starving population being fed for the first time in months. And the truth is we have been defensively starved in the middle infield for years. Even if it’s not top quality defense, Mets fans were so famished for competency up the middle that we are shouting our praises from the rooftops despite being handed the equivalent of moldy bread. But moldy bread sure as hell beats the sawdust that Murph represented.

Phillips, Murphy; Tomato, Tomahto: Speaking of Murphy, wouldn’t it have been nice if Brandon Phillips waived his no trade clause and joined the Nationals so we wouldn’t have to hear the daily Neil Walker/Daniel Murphy comparisons? But Phillips refused to uproot his family for what could be the final years of his playing career. That’s just great. That being said, Phillips is killing it so far this season batting .297. So maybe it’s one of those pick your poison scenarios.

Lefty Sluggers: Joey Votto is off to a terrible start batting around .200. Jay Bruce is supposedly going on paternity leave and will miss some of these games. Hooray! Quite frankly I’m surprised he’s still on the team. How the rebuilding Reds haven’t dealt him yet is beyond me. I would say it’s a lock that he won’t be on the team when we face the Reds again in September.