Sean Manaea put together his second gem in a row for the Mets on Monday, helping lead them to a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Is Manaea the new ace of the Mets?
Host Ryan Finkelstein breaks down what has made Manaea so good lately and if he was the best signing the Mets made this offseason.
Also, a preview of the Mets vs. Rockies series and a recap of Pete Alonso's comments on his struggles.
JOIN THE LOCKED ON METS INSIDER COMMUNITY: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonmets
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
SupplyHouse
SupplyHouse.com is the reliable way to get parts fast. Shop for your next plumbing, h-vac, or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast.
Booking.com
The right stay can make you a fan of any US city - even your rival’s. Book today on Booking.com on the site or in the Booking.com app! Booking.com, Booking dot YEAH!
PrizePicks
Go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONMLB and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100!
eBay Motors
From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.
FanDuel
FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Is Sean and I a suddenly the New York Mets ace? I'll talk about that more on today's show. You are locked on Mets. You're daily New York Mets podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all you amazing Mets fans. You're listening to Lockdown Mets. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown Mets your first listen every day, Lockdown Mets. It's free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. On the show today in the first segment, we've got to talk about Sean and I, who all of a sudden is pitching like an ace and carried the Mets to a shutout victory on Monday. I'll bring it down the game. And what Minaya has done lately in that first segment. Second segment, we're going to talk about all of the 2024 one-year additions the Mets made through frequency and which of those guys, Minaya being included, would you most want back next year? So I'll go through those names, talk about their potential role with the Mets long term. Then in the final segment, I want to discuss Peter Lanzo's comments that stirred some people up today, as well as preview what lies ahead as the Mets now take on the Colorado Rockies altitude and chorus field. Before we get to any of it though, I'm your host, Ryan Ficklestein. If you want to find any of my work, follow me on X at Finklestein Ryan. You can also find some of my writing at JustBaseable.com where I work as the managing editor. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel, make every moment more. This summer, FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right, there's something for everyone every day all summer long, but the FanDuel.com to get started. On yesterday's show, I said that the New York Mets needed Sean and I to be the stopper for them on Monday to end what had been a little bit of a skid as they lost the final two games of their series against the Angels. Well, Manaya was even better than that. I mean, when I said go out and be a stopper, I meant, all right, deliver a strong quality start. I wasn't expected seven innings pitch, 10 strikeouts, nowhere in runs, no walks issued. After this start, Sean and I had joined a couple exclusive lists of Mets history. Sean and I joined Tom Siever and Dwight Gooden. You should have to say that first part of the sentence twice 'cause it's any time you say those words together, it's pretty special. Sean and I joined only Tom Siever and Dwight Gooden were pitchers in Mets history who have gone seven plus innings and 10 plus strikeouts with no runs allowed in consecutive starts. Pretty unbelievable to go seven innings, double digit strike up performances and back-to-back starts, something that even Jacob DeGrom never did because DeGrom typically would give up that one run and he'd lose the game one nothing. Sean and I also joined a list of left-handed stars in Mets history to go back-to-back with double-digit performances, only Sid Fernandez and Jerry Kuzman had ever done it. So it's really insane what Manaya has done over his last two starts and really what he's been building to throughout this season. Okay, you look at the early part of the year. Sean Manaya had not gone seven innings until the calendar turned to July. So the entire first three months of the season there, April, May, June never gets through seven. Okay, well, in his first eight starts, he at least got through six, three times. So first eight starts, three of them where he goes six innings. There's a seven-start span after that where he didn't even make it through six innings and then even starts. And then the calendar turns to July. Over his last seven starts, he has pitched seven innings four times. That shows you a newfound confidence, a command of the strike zone. He's really feeling it and during that span, he has a 2.270 ERA. Among qualified stars of the National League this year, Sean Manaya is eight in ERA at 3.30. Now you look at what happened in this game and he gives up six hits, one of them was a double early, the rest of them were base hits and it never felt like a run was going to come across. Those few times where a runner got on second base, he locked in like, yeah, he's going to strike out the guys when he needs to, he is going to get out of these jams. And every single time he made the big pitches and his swagger is undeniable right now. He's just feeling it. Over his last two starts, he has really tightened up his arsenal. This is a guy that could throw as many as six pitches at times. But his last two addings where he's been this lights out, it's been sinker, fast ball sweeper, that's it. Predominantly throwing his sinker to get ahead and counts. Then it's the fastball up in the zone to blow guys away of his 10 strikeouts today. I think it was six, he has six for fast balls up in the zone, actually five where up in the zone one was a fastball right down the middle of Paul Goldschmidt that he just looked at. But there was a lot of swinging strikeouts up in the zone with that fastball, which makes sense because you have a guy that's six foot five with a seven foot three extension. Okay, and the way he throws with that arm slot, getting plenty of ride on that fastball up in the zone, it's a really tough pitch to hit, especially when he gets it up to 95, 96 miles per hour. Good luck, good luck. And so that's what we're seeing a lot of that, the fastball up in the zone or the sweepers that are buried and guys are swinging through, you got three strikeouts on those, one on a backdoor sweeper. And that's sort of the pitch mix. It's sinker to get ahead and counts. He could throw that sweeper back door where he just can steal a strike or he can bury it, get swing to the miss. And then it's the fastball up in the zone. And it's really effective arsenal when he's on attack mode the way we have seen. So all of a sudden, Shama and I, looks like the ace of the New York Mets. And it's a pretty special run he's been on, 21 strikeouts, 14 squirrels innings at the last two starts. Don't expect that to hold up throughout the rest of the season. Don't say, hey, we'll pencil Manai in for seven innings, 10 punch outs and nowhere runs. But can this guy continue to eat up innings for the Mets and be their best pitcher down the stretch? I wouldn't be surprised the way he's throwing the baseball. Because all year Louis Severina has sort of been the guy that we've described as the Mets ace, or at least who I've described as the Mets ace. And he's had a lot of really strong starts and he has been the workhorse on this staff. But Severina has never had the swing and miss stuff that Manai has this year. So Severina's been getting it done by keeping the ball in the ground, doing a really good job, keeping that pitch count down in its work form. But Shaw and Manai is the type of guy now that I can actually picture in a playoff game, carving up a lineup, racking up a bunch of strikeouts. So it's been a really impressive run for him. And he's the reason the Mets win this game. Now granted, the lineup did have a much better day. They score one in the second inning on a wild pitch, had a big fifth inning where they scored four runs. Jeff McNeil started off the rally with the base hit. Francisco Alvarez followed suit with the base hit of his own. Harrison Bader had a great game, had an RBI double. Then Francisco Endord drew a walk to load the bases and then Tyron Taylor cleared him with a double of his own. And that's how the Mets got a four run rally to make it a five-nothing game. Top of the sixth inning, Jeff McNeil, hit his fifth home run since the All-Star break, matching his entire total from the first half of the season. So he's been on a different planet, continues to be the hottest hitter in the Mets lineup. And Ryan Stanik pitched a good inning in the eighth. And when Diaz went and thrown in a while, pitches in a sixth-nothing game in the ninth, gets the job done to finish it. And the Mets are able to win this game and win the season series against the Cardinals. Which is important because the Cardinals are right in this wildcard race. If you look at the season series totals here, the Mets are up on the season series or have won the season series against the Cardinals and the Pirates, they swept the Padres earlier this season. So if they just win one game and their four game set coming up later this month, they'll have the season series there. And then they split their four game series with the Diamondbacks earlier this year. So if they win that series against Arizona, they'd have the season series there. The Braves, they've played 10 games, they split those, they're five and five. So that one series they have in September will decide the season series between those two teams. Again, these season series will be very important in a wildcard race. And you can see multiple teams finished with the same record by season Zen. So really big game that the Mets were able to get a victory on today against the Cardinals to make sure that they had that season series. And also Harrison Bader in his return to St. Louis. First time I guess he's been back there since the trade-in, what was that, 21? He goes, it was a 22, regardless. He goes two for four and played some great defense in center field. With Bader playing as well as he has, Sean Manai and Luis Severino. What I wanted to talk about on today's show what we're gonna get into in the next segment here is which of those guys, as well as JD Martinez, would you most want back next season? The guys that signed one year deals. We'll go through it in just a minute. First though, a word from our sponsors. Today's episode's brought to you by Supply House. Get supplies from the site that's made for skilledtradessupplyhouse.com. Supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to wear a plumbing HVAC and electrical products online with their easy to use website, which is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Get expert support and industrial leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time. Pros in the skilled trades can get a competitive edge by joining Supply House's Free Trade Master program. Where every trade master gets access to a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order. Join the thousands of trade pros already benefiting from their free membership at supplyhouse.com/t-m and order plumbing HVAC and electrical supplies from anywhere with just a few clicks at supplyhouse.com. - You know we love talking stats here at lockdown Rockies. Here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cashback you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cashback match. That means with Discover you can turn $150 cashback to $300. That's right, you can put it towards some memorabilia you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a premium sports network. You earn and discover doubles. See terms at discover.com/creditcard. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - If you're an everyday listener to the show make sure you become a locked on Met Insider. This is our texting service where you'd updates from me anytime news breaks from the Met. You can also ask me questions anytime and you get the line of graphic sent to your phone each day so you're noticing the starting lineup with that ever having to go on social media. You want to be locked on Met Insider? Find the link in the episode description. Go to subtext.com/lockedonmetz. That's how I was watching the game today and seeing Harrison Bader do his thing and Sean and I are putting together a fantastic pitching performance. I couldn't help but think about next year. Are these guys gonna be back? And if you can only pick one of the 2024 editions who would you most want back? David Stern said a great job and free to see this past year. Now you can talk about the bullpen editions and between Jake Deakman, Adam Montevino, Centaro Fujinami, those didn't necessarily pad out the best but if you look at the significant investments, the guys that are making eight figures. When you're talking about Bader, getting a $10 million deal, wasn't maybe about a 10 and a half. Regardless, Sean and I had two years, 28 million but the second year's a player option, we'll talk about that in a second. Severino, I think it was one year 14 million, J.D. Martinez, it's like nine and a half with a bunch of deferred money. Those guys all came in on similar terms, right? One year, prove it deals for guys that didn't have the biggest market, go play for a Mets team that hopes to be in the race and can compete and if not, well, they'll send you off to a contender at the deadline. Well, the Mets are the contender. These guys are a big part of this team that's looking to make a playoff run. Which one of them would you most want back? And Sean and I after this performance today, sort of shoots up all of our lists, right? That's the guy on the surface that you say, man, having him back wouldn't be the worst thing, especially if he just opted into that contract, but there's pretty much no chance of that happening. But now he's making 14 and a half million this year, next year he has a player option for 13 and a half. And he can just walk away, hit the free agent market, heading into his age 33 season. How much money would Sean and I make? Last year, Sonny Gray was heading into his age 34 season this year. He got three years, $75 million. Now, I don't know if 25 million a year on average is out there for Manaya on a three-year deal, but could he get 75 million over four years? I think that's a possibility. And I think he can get at least 20 over three years or potentially two years or one year, he'd probably get even more than that. I mean, this guy's pitched at a really high level and this is his chance coming off a potential career year, assuming he throws the ball while down the stretch, to really cash in one last time and potentially get, like I said, a four-year deal. If I was as Asian, I'd be looking at four years 80 and see if you can get that number. So you can bring Manaya back, but it's not gonna be cheap at the same time. When I look at this free agent class, Sean and I and Luis Severino are very attractive free agents. You got the top of the market, Corbin Burns. Now, some people have pointed out that there was the contentious arbitration hearing between Burns and David Sterns that really irritated Corbin Burns. Does that hold still some impact here? Is Burns not even gonna talk to David Sterns? I don't know. I think those things can be washed away. Scott Boris is gonna handle his negotiations and I think he'd want Steve Cohen's money. So there's still that world where the Met sign Corbin Burns and obviously that's best case scenario. He's gonna be the best pitcher on the board. You have Blake Snell, who was training towards opting out himself of his contract because he's been on fire lately. I think I'm Max Free. That's the top of the market. Now, Free comes with injury questions. Snell, it hasn't seemed like the Mets have shown any interest when he was available at the trade deadline just a couple of weeks ago. And even before that, when he was a free agent, Mets never really seemed to show interest. So I doubt they're gonna go into there. So my guess would be Burns would probably be the one top of the market ace that they would pursue. Now, in the middle of the market, you got Jack Flaherty, you got Luis Severino, you got Sean Maniah, all guys pitching great on sort of prove it one year deals. Maniah obviously had that second year potential, but all of them basically one year deals. Expectation was go out, perform well, hit the market again. Nathan Evaldi probably in a similar class, he can hit free agency and I expect he will. Then you have Scherzer, Verlander, huge injury age question marks, but I'd imagine book those guys still wanna pitch. I don't know if the Mets would circle the wagon on either of them. And then Walker Bueller, who's this massive odd car. There's other names, of course, like Jose Quintana is gonna be a free agent as well. And there are others, but if you're looking for an impact starter and the Mets might only need to add one with the influx of talent they have on the way in their farm system with Brandon Sproke, Christian Scott, both potentially being rotation arms next year. David Peterson looking like he's probably solidified a spot in the rotation moving forward. Jose Budo has some potential to do the same, hopefully Kodai Senga's healthy. I mean, that's five names right there, not even getting into the further down depth arms with Fitz McGill, like Vassel, others. But the point is, the Mets might only have to add one starting pitcher once they get to free agency. And it could be either of these guys that they signed this year. I wouldn't see anything wrong with signing Sean Manaya to a three year deal. Depending on the dollar amount, I think I'd be all in on that. In Severino, I've talked about that possibility throughout this year as well. Another guy that I could see the Mets bringing back. I don't think they can go wrong with either. I'd be curious how the markets didn't materialize. The way that Manaya has pitched, if he could hold this up down the stretch, he might price himself out of the Mets range. Honestly, they might just decide, man, he's gonna get too much money. We're gonna stick with our young guys and maybe look at trying to find some more value on the market, who knows? If they were able to find these two guys this year, maybe they can do the same thing next season. Depends on where you're trying to allocate your resources. If you're in the game for a Juan Soto, you might have less money spent on the starting pitching market. A Severino is gonna be 31 next year compared to Manaya's gonna be 33. So Sevi might have a better chance at getting the contract that's beyond three years. Who knows? He's had less strikeouts, but has pitched more innings, higher ERA. He's had more blow up start. So there's been a lot of times where Severino has been the more consistent arm. Lately though, Manaya is the hotter pitcher. The other guys to talk about Harrison Bader, J.D. Martinez, and I'll throw Jose Glaziz in there. Do any of those guys make sense to bring back next season? Bader is interesting because you have a lot of outfield prospects that could enter the friend next season. You got Drew Gilbert. We'll see how he plays down the stretch. Jet Williams hasn't been able to play all year, but he could be a really quick riser next season, could play some center field for you. A recent Hella Kunya could be a center fielder if you want him to be. You have Ronnie Maristo, who wouldn't necessarily be a center fielder, but could be a second baseman, pushing Jeff McNeil back into the outfield. There's options. So I don't know if the Mets need to bring Bader back when you'll still have Nemo, Marte, Tyrone, Taylor. But here's some Bader's been a really nice fit for the Mets. And so again, it's one of these things. Do you pay the guy off for the good year? He's gonna get a multi-year deal with his injury history, maybe not. And there's J.D. Martinez, where if you let Pete Alonso walk, J.D. Martinez coming back, might make some sense. He has shown some sides of regression this year. With that said, he's driven in 52 runs in 82 games, which is pretty damn good. Bottom line through all of this, David Stern's in the Mets front office did a really nice job finding value in this past reagent class, particularly with Manayans Severino. If you think about what production the Mets got last year from Scherzer and Verlander for $86 million. And granted, they traded them, but in the first half. And then you compare that to the production they've gotten this year from Sean Manaya and Luis Severino for $28.5 million on the books this season. It's pretty spectacular what those guys have done. Without them, the Mets would be dead in the water right now. And because of them, they are right in the thick of this mix and those guys are going to get playoff starts. Whether you get Kodai singer back or not, I can promise you Luis Severino and Sean Manaya are going to be starting a couple of those games in a wild car round that the Mets are able to get there. Ideally, Senga is starting the third game. If not, I don't know who does. But to think about what we thought of those signs when they first happened to where they're at now, it's pretty impressive. And if you had to ask my opinion on which of these guys I'd like to see come back. Prisoner of the moment, I'm taking Sean Manaya. But by the end of the season, I might talk myself into Severino again 'cause that would have been my answer prior to today. So the Mets are not going to play the Rockies. And I want to preview that series also. Peter Lonzo went a little viral today on social media. Mets fans not happy with what he said. I'm going to break that down as well in the next segment. First though, other word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandool. I love sports, I love them so much. I never want them to stop but the playoffs wind it down in the NBA and the NHL. There's just fewer games and the sports aren't sports and like I want them to, but Fandool lets me keep the sports going whenever I want 'cause all I have to do is open up the app and dream up bets anytime I'm in the mood. And this summer, Fandool's hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right, there's something for everyone every day all summer long. You might look tomorrow and got a lefty on the mound playing it out the two. Maybe Marfiento's is going to hit a home run. You could always bet that prop if you want to make it the same game parlay, combine it with the Mets to win, maybe for the game over to hit for the combined runs for both teams or just the over for the Mets in that given game. Again, Fandool's hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. Something for everyone every day all summer long. So head over to fandool.com/lockdown and start making the most out of your summer. Fandool, official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. Delicious, meat's nutritious and the snack that packs a real protein punch, wonderful pistachios. This is Ryan Ficklestein, the host of Lockdown Mets. And I love the No Shell's wonderful pistachios so I can eat them straight out of the bag whenever I need a boost. And my favorite flavor is their sea salt and vinegar. But if you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every nut, they also have great flavors like sweet chili and salt and pepper. Grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snacking game today. Visit wonderfulpostachios.com to learn more. (upbeat music) Stay up to date with all the latest in the world of sports by checking out Lockdown Sports today, streaming 24/7 on YouTube. And before we talk about this Mets Rocky series, let's discuss the comments from Peter Lanzo today. Carlos Mendoza slid Peter Lanzo down to the fifth spot in the lineup. I saw something on Twitter today that it was like 600 plus games that's Lanzo had batted below fourth in the Mets lineup. Not something you see very often. Of course reports are gonna ask about it. When I talked to Mendoza, he gave you the manager speak. Ah, it's about the matchup today, which was against what Andre Palante, yeah, sure. I'm sure it was about that matchup. And just you had to get Tyrone Taylor in the two hole. He had to, to push Nimble to third and JD Martinez to four. Had nothing to do with Peter Lanzo and his struggles with runners in scoring position, nothing at all. So he says that, Alonzo kind of looked pissed when he was talking to the media about it. And he said the right things at points throughout the couple of minutes that we got some of the words from Pete talked about doing whatever the team wants. It just wants to win. So excited about the opportunity to play down the stretch here, competitive games, all the right things. But then there was a question where somebody asked about his numbers and they aren't what they, what aren't quite what they usually are. And Pete said, "I'm on pace for close to 40 homers "and I was an all star this year "and amongst other things "and that is what everybody freaked out about." And honestly, when you watch the video and hear the tone, the way he's defined about it, it's not a great look for Pete. I've seen both sides of the fence. I've seen the Peter lines of supporters who are becoming fewer and further between who defended Pete. He said, "Look, that's what he should say." He said, "I can't get down on myself about my numbers." And he talked about how he's looking to capitalize on those opportunities to compete in important games down the stretch. I think for the most part, he said the right thing, but that first part of it, that I'm on pace for close to 40 homers. Someone did the pace, I'd have to check if it's right, but I think they said he's on pace for 34 homers. And then I was an all-star this year. Like, that's not the thing to say. And it is tone deaf because it's ignoring why you were an all-star. And I don't wanna go back down this sort again, but he brought the conversation back. He didn't deserve to be an all-star. So I would not use that as your argument for why you're having a great season. 'Cause it was your popularity and wanting to have you in the homerun derby that had Major League Baseball put you in over a more deserving first baseman Christian Walker and over a more deserving Mets like Francisco Endor and Brandon Denver. So that statement, I understand why it created a firestorm. And watching him talk, it's starting to feel like penalons are just getting tired. Tired of being in New York potentially. I don't know, he's gonna see what's pushed back on that say, "I love being in New York. "I wanna be here for the rest of my career." And if he signs the contract and the Mets come to terms and they want him, well, that might happen. But I think all of it is weighing on him. The fact that there is still that uncertainty, that the numbers haven't been there. He can say that they are, but he looks at his stats. He knows the deal. And here's the thing, on yesterday's show, I talked a lot about penalons. So I very well could see Pete going on a tear. He's playing in Colorado the next three days. What if he hits three home runs? What if he has a multi-home run game in game one and hits a home run in game three of the series? And then he home runs four more times the rest of this month or even better five more times. And all of a sudden he's got a nine home run month and then he hits 10 out in September. Like he can get to 40. And I would not be surprised at all if he does. And if he does that, and they're in the most important games of the season, made people a back off. I did have not to put you on blast, but there was a lot of comments inside her that was texting me back and forth today. I think we've had this conversation a couple of times. Talking about penalonzo and his splits. And his, you know, the fan, the insider, his perception is that penalonzo is a terrible September player and that he has been bad in the clutch his entire career. Not necessarily the case. If you look at 2022 and 2023, penalonzo had his best batting average when they were runners in scoring position and in high leverage situations. So it's not like he has never been a good run producer. The guy's been elite at that. And this has just been a really bad season with runners in scoring position. This year with runners in scoring position, he's hitting 198. So it hasn't been a good year by any stretch in the imagination for penalonzo. With that said, the notion that this guy can't do it when you've seen other career numbers, like I said, you go back to 2022, high leverage situations, penalonzo, he hits, let me pull it up real quick. 339, 419 on base, 627 slug, 177 WRC plus, WRC plus. It's not the main decision on a league average of 100. So he was 77% better than your league average hitter that year and was deemed as high leverage situations. With runners in scoring position, he hit 30424 on base, 675 slug, 185 WRC plus. Yeah, no problem there. And again, last year, the numbers weren't that gaudy but still very similar. You look at his career, the notion that penalonzo, down the stretch when the games matter, he gets small, right? I think that's something that fans have been throwing out there lately. In his career, penalonzo's highest OPS by month, it is September and October at 895, June at 904. Those are his two best months throughout his career. His slug in September and October highest at 564, granted some of those numbers inflated because the 2020 season was only August and September, but still, he has played just a little bit more games in September than he has in other months. August, because he's playing right now, the most games he's ever played in a month, 143, September, 138. But he's played 132 July games, 130 May games. So the numbers aren't that far off and he has hit significantly more home runs in September than any other month, 45. The most he's hit in another month, besides that, is 36 in April. So this is a guy that, in the past, has actually closed season strongs, despite the narrative that's out there. So I am not gonna rule penalonzo out to get hot down the stretch. And I don't love what he said today, because like I already mentioned, the tone wasn't great and it was kind of tone deaf, but prideful guy, I don't think fans should be completely out on this guy. I think we gotta be somewhere in the middle. You can't be just blindly defending him, but you also shouldn't just be like this guy's terrible, because he hasn't had terrible numbers this season. It's just not what you expected in a contract to you. All right, quick series preview here. We'll be talking about the series, of course, for the next couple of shows as well. We'll be previewing each day. But to look at the pitching match-ups, you got Luis Severino versus Kyle Freeland, game one Freeland, has been unbelievable in course this year. You always look at those core splits. He's got an 823 ERA on the road, 188 at home. I'm pretty impressed if he's a left-handed pitcher. So we probably see Jose Glacias in second base. If he had toes back in third, I'd imagine maybe Jeff McNeil still gets a start in right field, or it's gonna be the Taylor and Bader lineup in the outfield, but the way McNeil's been swinging it, I keep him in the lineup, put him in right and have either Bader or Taylor play center, I don't really care, which one, both of them have those reverse splits issues against left-handed pitching. Wednesday's gonna be Ryan Feltoner versus Paul Blackburn. Feltoner didn't make it out of the fourth when he faced the Mets prior to the all-star break. So that's just an interesting thing to note. His ERA this year at home is 614 on the road 419. So he has been better on the road, like most pitchers you would expect to be when they play in Colorado. Thursday, David Peterson versus Austin Gomber, battle of a couple of lefties. Peterson, Colorado native, and he will be making his first start in Colorado. That was pointed out to me on the new Rocky's Insider podcast, part of our just baseball network. And I was a guest on that show. So if you want another Rocky's Met series preview, find the Rocky's Insider podcast and we talk a lot about this series and mostly Met. So yeah, if you're looking for an extra show today, check that one out. Gomber has been better at home this year than on the road. Another weird one, three ERA at course, 537 on the road. And again, he's also left-handed. So imagine the right-handed lab's gonna be in there. Pete Alonzo will see exactly what the mess decided to do with that lineup. What I believe is gonna happen here is when you get to a right-handed starting pitcher and Jesse Winker is gonna be in the lineup, I'd imagine Winker is gonna bat where Taylor did in that two hole. I think that's what the plan would be with Alonzo now batting behind JD Martinez. Fifth, I think you could also make the case that Jeff McNeil should bat second 'cause he's the hottest hitter in this lineup. And I think they like lengthening lineup with Jeff. But right now, the way he's swaying it, go and endure McNeil and then Nemo might be your best course of action, especially because Francisco Endora seems to find himself on second base in the first inning a lot, whether that's hitting a lead-off double or getting a base hitter or a walk and steal in second. And Jeff McNeil is the perfect guy right now to try to get a knock and drive him home. So we'll see how the Mets continue to tinker with this lineup, but they should be able to put up a lot of runs and cores. And they got to because you've got to take advantage of these series against bad teams. Hopefully the Mets can do that here in Denver, at least take two games and move on to their next series and was it Seattle to close off what has been already crazy road trip for the Mets. And it ain't stopping anytime soon. I'll be covering all of it here in the Flock Dog Mets. So make sure you follow rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. You're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and try to get to 10,000 subs by the end of the season. So I appreciate all of you who continue to subscribe. You can follow me on X at Finkelstein Ryan or at locked on Mets for the show. If you want to be locked on Mets insider, find the link in the episode description or go to subtext.com/lockedonmet. Thank you for making "Locked on Mets" your first listen to your first watch every day. Now for your second watch, head over YouTube and check out the first ever 24/7 streaming channel that covers absolutely everything in the world of sports with our local experts from each team and our legal experts from each league. Talking about lockdown sports today, which is streaming 24/7 on YouTube and on Amazon Fire TV. - A Prime members, you can listen to this "Locked on" podcast ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. (upbeat music)
