SAN FRANCISCO — The West Coast trips have historically been tough for the Mets, but they handled the one they’re about to end with relative ease. Despite setbacks like more pitching injuries, a suspension for Max Scherzer and the question of what to do with Eduardo Escobar at third base, the Mets will finish with a winning record after 10 games against the Oakland A’s, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants.
We learned a lot about the Mets and the three teams they faced. The A’s are in a bad spot, with the owner seemingly trying to play out the plot of “Major League” in real life, but a sweep in Oakland last weekend gave the Mets some momentum against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who provided a tough, early-season test. The only game the Mets lost in Los Angeles was a game in which a future Hall of Fame pitcher, left-hander Clayton Kershaw, authored a masterpiece characteristic of his entire career.
The Giants lost out on Aaron Judge, Brandon Nimmo and Carlos Correa over the winter. Watching them over the last month, it’s clear they could have used one of those bats. Their -15 run differential is evidence of that.
Regardless of the competition the Mets faced, a 10-game, 12-day trip in another time zone is difficult for any team. The biggest takeaway from California?
You can never have enough pitching.
This old adage is proving to be even more true by the day. The Mets lost Carlos Carrasco to an elbow injury after his start in Oakland. They have to find someone to take Scherzer’s start on Tuesday at home. Justin Verlander is still rehabbing in Florida and Jose Quintana isn’t even close to being ready for action.
The Mets attempted to give their pitchers an extra day of rest but left-hander David Peterson and right-hander Tylor Megill ended up making starts on short rest. Peterson was lit up in his start in San Francisco, but he didn’t think it had anything to do with pitching on short rest. He pointed to issues with his slider.
“The slider has been something that I’m struggling with,” Peterson said after the Mets lost Saturday at Oracle Park. “It’s usually my go-to pitch.”
The Mets are confident he will turn it around based on his track record.
“He’s had some good moments, he’s had some good sequences and good innings,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He hasn’t been quite as consistent yet but there are better days ahead for him because he’s shown us what he’s capable of doing and he’ll get an extra day the next time out.”
The Mets needed a couple guys to go long out of the bullpen and Jimmy Yacabonis and Edwin Uceta did so effectively. But the Mets can’t blow up their bullpen Tuesday with that game being the first of 13 straight.
This is why the Mets are stretching out Denyi Reyes in Triple-A. They’ve burned through the depth and they need more.
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