It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. After finishing off the Washington Nationals in a sweep on Thursday, the New York Mets are now sitting in a playoff spot. Can they get even further and catch the Atlanta Braves? I'll talk about that more on today's show. Hello to all you amazing Mets fans, you're listening to locked on. That's part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Thank you for making locked on Mets, your first listen every day. Lacked on Mets is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. On the show today, a shut out to discuss the first of the season, David Peterson pitched a gem. I'll talk about that game in the first segment. Then in the second segment, I want to talk about the fact that the Mets are in playoff position. Could they now set their sights all the way towards the top of the wildcard race at the Atlanta Braves? We'll go through that a little bit. And in the final segment, I'll preview lies out of here, Mets vs. Rockies over the weekend. Before we get to any of that though, I'm your host Ryan Fickelstein. If you want to find any of my work, follow me on X at Fickelstein. Ryan can also find some of my writing at JustBaseable.com where I work as the managing editor. This episode of locked on Mets is brought to you by Booking.com, Booking.ia. The Red State can make you a fan of any city, even your rivals. Check out Booking.com for your stay today. All in six weeks, the New York Mets have gone from 11 games under 500 all the way up to two games over and sitting in a playoff spot. You're all waking up this morning, maybe listening to the show here. Obviously you're listening if you're hearing these words. Well guess what? The Mets are in a playoff spot. They are tied with the Padres for the third wildcard spot right behind the Cardinals and not that far behind the Braves. We'll be talking about that a little bit more in the next segment. A great victory on Thursday in the first shutout of this season for the New York Mets, which says a lot about their pitching this year, both their starters and their relievers really. Because I don't know how many times the starters have handed off a shutout to their bullpen, particularly deep in a game. And of course, even when they have the bullpen has found a way every time to at least give up a run, even in those lopsided games where you're just trying to get to the finish line, they always find a way to give up something today. They did not. They made it through 27 outs without allowing a run and it all started with David Peterson who was exceptional. I tweeted it after he was pulled from the game. For those of you who are joining me on David Peterson Island, welcome. I have been here. I never fully stole my stock on him. There was sometimes where I wavered certainly. I'm sure you can go back through the lockdown Mets archives and find me talking down on David Peterson. Every single time where I was mentioning the struggles, I would first say I believed in him. I thought he was going to be great last year. I believed he would be a number three starter for the Mets. I thought he could be that good coming off of a really solid 2022 season where the data really showed us that David Peterson had great stuff. The slider in particular was nasty in 2022. But the hip injury, which we learned about later, maybe plugged him all season. Never quite was comfortable. He did pitch a little bit better done the stretch last year. But now we're seeing the version of David Peterson that we've seen glimpses of from his rookie year in 2020 to what we saw in 2022. And now it's even a better version of that as he continues to mature. He's 28 years old. And remember, this is the first round pick. So when you see David Peterson finding success in the big leagues that a pitcher like Tyler McGill has not, it shouldn't come completely out of left field. It was the confidence to go to any pitch in the zone and to really attack when he was behind on some hitters and get back into some counts. He walked his fair share of batters in this game. But overall, he never felt like he had lost any grip of the game. It always felt like he had a chance to pitch himself out of some tough spots. And every single time he was able to, first inning works around a single in a walk, second inning gives up a lead off double, then a base hit puts runners at the corners with nobody out and he settles in and he strikes out the next three batters. The first two on backdoor curveballs, I think the first one was a three, two count. And he just threw a great curveball in the zone that got a swing and miss. Then the next batter, Jacob Young, another curveball that was just outside and a backdoor curveball just off the plate got the swing and miss. And then CJ Abrams come up and he, I think it was a full count. But bottom line was David Peterson wasn't afraid of CJ Abrams in that spot. And he went to a fastball through it right by him. Abrams was probably expecting a slider or a curveball, something else. And instead he gets a fastball and he can't even get the bat off his shoulder. So great pitching by Peterson to get through that second inning. And from that point on, it just felt like he was going to find his way through every single jam that he came across. Third inning, he cruised through it. He didn't walk the lead off man, but then got to strike him out, throw him out, double play on James Wood. These two runs continues to be unbelievable behind the dish, controlling the running game. I think that was a seven of 10 that he's starting out so far. So he's been exceptional with that and he got a granddad to get out of that inning. Had a perfect fourth inning, only needed 10 pitches to get through that. So you also have seen this from Peterson as well where he might have a high pitch count through the first couple innings as he tries to settle himself in. But then he starts to lock in and can really lower that pitch count. That's what a good starter can do. And he worked pretty deep into this game, got through six. The fifth inning, he did get help Harrison Bader made an exceptional catch, just perfectly executed, leaping into the wall. So that was really big for him. He then later worked around some more traffic. He hit CJ Abrams. He gave up a hit to Lane Thomas, but got out of that jam. And then he got some runs finally. He was holding it down through the first five, bottom of the fifth, the Mets put up a crooked number against Mackenzie Gore and that nationals bullpen, Luis Turan started off at a lead off double. Harrison Bader popped out and then Tyrone Taylor struck out his at bats against Gore, the left hander, were just brutal, brutal. We got to talk about that at some point this weekend, probably what the Mets doing this outfield because it's becoming somewhat of a problem. And I'll tell you what, at this stage right now, what I would do if I was Carl Mendoza when there's a lefty on the mound. I would have Jose Iglesias the second and Jeff McNeil in right field. You might call me crazy on that. But Jeff McNeil, while his season has not been good, he at least had good at bats in the game today. And there are times where he'll snap back into old Jeff McNeil form for a little bit. And what we saw today against Gore, Jeff McNeil was the one guy that was working really deep at bats, really deep counts, and driving up that pitch count for Gore, making them work in that instance in the fifth, he extends the inning by drawing a walk and he fell behind 0-2 and battled his way to a full count before eventually walking. That brought up Francisco Lindor, Mackenzie Gore wanted no part of Lindor, really was pitching around him. Lindor, aggressive on a 3-0 pitch, tried to swing at it, wasn't able to connect, but then was patient again after that, didn't chase a 3-1 pitch out of his own. And all that led to Brandon Nimmo coming up with the bases loaded. And Nimmo would not be deterred, he has been ridiculously good lately, that's what I talked about yesterday, showed the fact that him and Francisco Lindor have just been carrying this team. And Nimmo did it again, he went to left center, opposite field, drove a double into the gap, and that cleared the bases, gave them a nice 3-0 lead, then JD Martinez, Pinalonzo, each of them singled to bring in two more runs, and all of a sudden you look up 5-0 for Peterson as he goes back out there for the sixth inning, and that's a really important inning for Peterson to get. And the Mets had the bullpen working, there was any signs of trouble, and he might have got pulled from the game, he did walk about it, but he worked around that, got three ground balls, got out of the sixth, and I love the sigh of relief as he walked off, and dude that he had completed it, he had gotten the quality start, he went six innings, 102 pitches, four hits, three walks, five strikeouts, but no run runs. Very great start, lowered his ERA on the season to 3.09, he is 4-0, and even better than that, the Mets have won seven of the eight games that David Peterson has started, four of those have been quality starts from Peterson, so he just continues to really be a good part of this rotation that's gotten so much better. All three lefties are rolling right now, you're going to see two of them this weekend with Sean Manai and Jose Quintana, but this is a rotation that I'm starting to really believe in, especially when you think about the prospect of Kodai Senga entering the fold in a couple of weeks. You can have a six-man rotation that's dynamite, and if those guys are all getting extra rest, you can pitch them a little bit deeper into games. David Peterson is the guy, I almost feel like he's had more 100 pitch outings than any other Mets started this year. I might be crazy for that, I'd have to look at the numbers, but I just feel like this is like the third time he's gotten past 100. I think you'll see that though in a six-man rotation where these guys might get pushed a little bit further, get them through six, you have a shorter bullpen that can hopefully get the last nine outs, and that's what happened today. The most surprising part of this game, I wasn't surprised to see David Peterson put together a great start. I wasn't surprised to see the New York Mets lineup put up seven runs, but the bullpen not allowing anything, Phil Mayton looked awesome. I mean, that's how you make introduction to a new fan base, particularly one as neurotic as Mets fans, you go out there for your first outing, you throw 10 pitches, nine of them being strikes, and you get two strikeouts to get through the inning. I mean, he was damn near immaculate, huh? He was unbelievable. We saw a little bit of the arsenal, particularly his curveball as a strikeout pitch. Man, a really tight curveball that he was able to just throw in the zone and get some ugly swings on to pick up those first two strikeouts, and then he got CG Abrams to pop up. All of a sudden, the Mets have a seventh inning guy. It's Phil Mayton, have Daniel Nunez for the eighth, Diaz for the ninth. The bullpen starting to come together. I'll talk about Reed Garrett a little bit more in the next segment here, but really solid inning for Mayton. The eighth inning was one where it got a little bit dicey. Danny Young came on. He hit Lane Thomas first kay faces, gives up a base hit, and then he finally gets a ground out, picks up a strikeout, but then walks about her to load the bases, and that's when Nunez came in because bases loaded at that point, a five to nothing game. You couldn't run the risk of Danny Young walking in or run, and then you go to Nunez and maybe he gets up a big hit. So Nunez had to come in there and bail Danny Young out. It's funny. I didn't end up sending this one out, but I was just thinking as Danny Young allowed the first two base runners, I almost at the tweet out, "The Danny Young Island is feeling pretty lonely." And I imagine that I might be the only one still there. I believe that Danny Young could be a really nice left-handed reliever for the Mets for the next couple of years, to potentially if he can really latch on, but there's every chance that he has one or two more cameos and we never see the guy again. I think he has a really good slider when he's locating, when he's on, but yeah, it's frustrating lately. He has just been allowing way too many base runners. Luckily Nunez bailed him out, then the Mets tacked on a couple of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, four singles in that frame to score a couple, and at a amount of Eno came in. And if not for those runs, Daniel Nunez would have stayed on to pitch the ninth, and I'm glad they were able to get those runs because you don't need Nunez in a five-nothing game. I get Mendoza being apprehensive in this bullpen. They've given him nothing to have complete confidence in these guys to say, "Oh yeah, out of Eno could pitch in a five-nothing game." You really are at a point with the way he's throwing the ball where you don't trust him there. Even in a seven-nothing game, he tests your trust. He ends up getting three strikeouts and he does not allow a run, but he loaded the bases. Again, luckily, he pitches his way through it, and surprisingly enough, the New York Mets end up having their first shot out of this season, which is ridiculous in a lot of ways. It's an anomaly. Last year, the Mets were not good. I'd have to check, but I'm sure their record was probably worse. At this stage, you're close to what it is right now when you got to the middle of July, but they had five shutouts by this point in the season last year. It is a testament for sure to how bad this bullpen has been compared to last year, even though it was bad. They had David Robertson closing out games. Adam Montevino had stretches where he was better. Brooks Rayleigh was great last year. This bullpen has been a lot more hot and cold, but finally they got a shutout, and maybe who knows? This could be the start of a string of shutouts, or not necessarily at a row, but maybe all of a sudden, now that you got the first one, maybe by the end of July, they have three or four. It just starts to happen a little bit more. It was one where it looked dicey in both of those final two innings, but they did it, so we'll see if they can keep things up. More importantly though, where does this put them in the standings and should the Mets had their eyes set on the Braves? I want to talk about that a little bit in the next segment. First though, a word from our sponsors. This episode of Lockdown Mets is brought to you by booking.com, booking.yea. With summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games, it's time to explore those US cities. You always secretly wanted to learn more about, yes, we're talking about your rival cities with hotels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, resorts, and so much more on booking.com. You might just find your perfect stay even in your baseball rival city. You got a series over the weekend at City Field, but after they all start to break the Mets, they're going to play in Miami, so if you want to go on a little summer vacation in South Florida, make sure you head over to booking.com. The right state can make you a fan of any US city, even your rivals, book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app. Today's episode is also brought to you by eBay Motors. 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If you want to stay up to date with all the latest in the world of sports, make sure you check out Lacton Sports today streaming 24/7 on YouTube. If you're watching on YouTube, do me a favor, hit that subscribe button, a set of goal to get to 9,000 subs by the All-Star Break. We are 25 subscribers away, so I appreciate all of you who continue to hit that red button and subscribe. Alright, so let's talk about where the Mets are right now. They were 22 and 33, and that was about six weeks ago. Since then, they've gone 25 and 12 over their last 37 games to move all the way up to 47 and 45, that is a 676 winning percentage across that span. You take that and extrapolate it over 162 games. Do you know the pace the New York Mets are playing at right now? They're playing at a 109 win pace over a 6-week span. It's remarkable stuff, and even when they've had the little tiny valleys, they've picked themselves right back up. They go on a road trip where they win four of the eight games against some bad teams, or I don't know bad, because the pirates, I feel like, are really coming along, and the Nationals aren't a horrible team, though the Mets have really handled them this year outside of those two games they lost last week, but they go through that rough stretch. They come home. What do they do? They sweep the Washington Nationals, get right back on track, and now they have a chance against the Colorado Rockies to extend this winning streak potentially into the All-Star Break, and all of a sudden, you're feeling unbelievable. You come out of the break. You play the Marlins. I have to just acknowledge that it's not outside the realm of possibility that the New York Mets could catch the Braves this year. I'm just saying, they're four and a half games back right now. The Braves are not the Braves of last year. Their lineup has started swinging a little bit better, but I would right now, just strictly offense and defense, the starting nine, I would take the New York Mets over the Braves, and I biased absolutely, but also the Braves don't have a kunya. Matt Olson has been hot and cold all year. Austin Riley has started to come around a little bit. They're missing Michael Harris still. Jared Kellenich, of course, has started to really hit for them, but they're an interesting team. They have great pitching. I mean, they're rotations better than the Mets by a landslide and they're bullpen as well. So that's where, of course, you still can look at the Braves and say, yeah, they're going to get hot in the second half and they're going to cruise to the first wildcard spot. But I have said this before and I'll say it again, I think the Mets are closer to the Braves right now than the Braves are to the Phillies. Now, in the playoffs, you just throw it all out. It doesn't matter because the Atlanta Braves in a playoff series with Chris Sale, Max Freed, Ronaldo Lopez, the way those three guys have pitched this year, they might be the most dangerous team. If on the right day, you get Kodai Senga pitching the way he can. And if you have Luis Severino, and I don't know who the third guy would be at this point. If it's Christian Scott, if he's able to go that long, if it's David Peterson, Cantana, Manai, whoever it is, the Mets can win any series. It just, it's anybody's game in October. And so ultimately, it's not going to matter where these teams are slitted in there once you get into that wildcard round, but you do get the luxury of hosting a playoff series if you are that one seed, or the one seed of the wildcard team. So there's something to play for here, absolutely. And this is a Mets team that I think is getting stronger. You're going to add Kodai Senga into the fold in a couple of weeks here. And guess what? He's going to be ready for potentially. I've had it on the calendar circle here July 27th, Saturday against the Atlanta Braves. And that's the series that had me wanting to talk about this on the show today because you look at the road ahead. These two teams are nine games away from playing each other and the Mets are four and a half games back. You look at the schedule that each of them has, the Braves are going to play the Padres and the Cardinals for the next two series, which is great for the Mets because the three teams that are ahead of them in the wildcard race, a lot of head to head games coming up here. So there is a chance if the Mets take care of business against the Rockies and then the Marlins where they could keep creeping up the standings against those three teams. So that's a good thing that they have going for them in this upcoming stretch. Beyond that, they're going to play two games against the Yankees in the Bronx. The Yankees are not playing good baseball right now. Two weeks from now could be a completely different story. That's a team that desperately needs the all-star break to just recoup. The point stands though, if you look at where the Mets are, where the Braves are, the schedule that the Braves have where they play the Padres, the Cardinals, and then after they have the Reds is their final series before they play the Mets, is there a role the Mets can get two more games up on the Braves or not up, but can they gain two games on the Braves before that series in City Field? I think so. And then it's a four game set. So if the Mets got to two and a half games back and then they went a four game series, they could be heading into the deadline basically or the last series before the deadline where there would be a half game back of the Braves, crazier things have happened and not to get way too far ahead of myself, which I probably already am. But you look at August, the Mets do have another lighter month when it comes to the teams that are playing. They have a series against the Angels, one against the Rockies, one against the A's, one against the Marlins, and one that will carry over into August against the White Sox, or excuse me, into September, and that's against the White Sox. So there are some very winnable series in there. They also play the Orioles and the Mariners, just some tougher teams as well. But the New York Mets could absolutely get right up next to the Braves by the end of this month, and they could pass them in August. Now, with all that said, September, things get a lot tougher for the Mets, and there's going to be a stretch that will make or break their season at the absolute end of this year. And there's no way that they can pad their record enough that this stretch isn't going to matter. They could absolutely cripple them. They're going to have seven of their last 16 games against the Phillies, three against the Braves, three against the Brewers, and then there is a series in there against the Nationals. So 13 of their last 16 against the Phillies Braves and Brewers and seven of those against the Phillies. So that's going to be where this season, ultimately, I believe, is either going to turn into a playoff berth or a disappointing finish for the Mets. It's going to come down to the very better end. But right now, with what they have in front of them, the Mets should absolutely have the Braves in their crosshairs and say, "We're going to go, and we're going to catch you." Because they've had just this Gulf of teams in front of them that they had to climb through. They had to get back to 500, and now they finally are two games over. And if you, again, handle business against the Rockies, there is a world here where the Mets are entering the All-Star, break five games over, and you keep things up, you can really create that separation where at least you're going to be in the mix all the way through. But, again, I look at the Braves, and this would be a year where the Mets could really shock them, get very close. If I had to put my money on it, I'd still take the Braves, honestly, my own actual cash on it, not my heart's opinion, not my biased opinion, my actual thought process. If I put myself in a vacuum, I remove all the other biases and all the fandom away from it, I still think the Braves are going to be the first wildcard team, because they have the ability to be ignitable, especially with that rotation in the bullpen, and they're starting to swing it a little bit better. Yeah, they can come around and they can be really dangerous, but the Mets have been dangerous for six weeks now, and there's no reason that they should slow down. And they win it a 676 clip for the rest of this season. I don't know, but guess what? If they have six more weeks of this leading up to that stretch of the season where everything is going to be on the line over the last two and a half weeks, I think they're going to be in a good enough position, whereas long as they don't just completely collapse, they should be able to make sure that they end up in the playoffs. And who knows? Maybe even host a playoff round. We will see what it all ends up looking like as we get there. But for right now, you got to be excited about your New York comments. They have pulled themselves out of a big hole, and they are now looking like a real contender ahead of this deadline where we're not going to be talking too much about selling. It's going to be all buying topics over the next couple of weeks here. But first things first, there's a series against the Rockies that it's got. So I will preview what lies ahead this weekend in just a minute, first though, a word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Tax Network USA. Here with lockdown match, we pride ourselves on getting you the latest news for your team, whether it's the off-season, the draft, spring training, or the playoffs, it's year round. You know what else is year round? Collection season. Just because tax season is over doesn't mean the IRS will stop coming after you for on file taxes. The IRS can garnish your wages, love your bank accounts, can even seize your property. Don't let the IRS target you, let the licensed professionals and tax experts at Tax Network USA go to bat for you. If there were 14 years of experience in an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau, Tax Network USA has saved their clients over $1 billion in tax debt. Whether your taxes have complicated matters that require tax planning or finally hit that parlay this season, and need help correctly filing, call 1-800-549-1000 or visit tnusa.com/locked-on. It's also brought to you by Stitch Fix. With Stitch Fix, you get a stylist that understands your style, size, and budget and they do all the shopping for you, it's the easiest way to update your wardrobe this season. Personally, I hate going to the actual store, going in the fitting room, it feels dirty sometimes, doesn't it? Maybe that's just me, trying on clothes that other people have tried on, no, I like Stitch Fix because they personalize the whole experience. So you log in, you give them your style, your size, your budget preferences, they'll start to show you some things from their collection, you put a thumbs up if you like it, thumbs down if you don't, that'll curate a style for you, and then they're going to send you a box of five just for me pieces, plus alpha recommendations, pro styling advice, and there's no subscription required. You keep it works for you, you send back the rest, Stitch Fix makes it all so easy where you just get stuff sent right to your house, you try it on at the comfort of your own home, and you get to keep what you like and everything else, send it back, no problem and it's always free. Style that makes you feel as good as you look, get started today at stitchfix.com/mlb and get $20 off your first fix, that's stitchfix.com/mlb or $20 off, stitchfix.com/mlb must redeem within seven days of sign up. If you're an everyday listener to the show, make sure you become a locked on-met insider. Here's why. You're going to get inside access to the show, so today I have been doing some trade deadline prep and I decided to send over some mock trades to the locked on-met insiders to give them a sense of where my head was at on some relievers the meds could target and what the package would be to get those relievers. We're going to talk about this on a show next week. The all starboard gives us plenty of time to talk deadline, so stay tuned for that, but if you were an insider, you might get that information a week sooner than everybody else. If you want to be locked on-met insider, make sure you find the link in the app's description or you can go to subtext.com/lockedonmetz. Before we talk about Mets vs. Rockies over the weekend, great news on Reed Garrett. He does not have any structural damage to the ligaments in his elbow. The Mets dodged a huge bullet. There was some inflammation of a nerve in his elbow, so he's going to need to rest for a little bit. The timeline is two to four weeks. I would not expect Reed Garrett to throw another pitch in July, but at some point after the all-star break, I would maybe guess middle of August. I would assume it might be the longer end of that two to four week timetable, but Reed Garrett should be able to come back and be an impact arm again for the stretch run. Who knows? Maybe getting this time off, getting this rest, you might get a much better version of Garrett when he returns, and he might not return in the same high leverage role. He might be back in a role similar to what we saw earlier this season where he can come in and be the bridge from the starters to the high leverage guys. Pitching multiple innings, getting more rest in between potentially. I think this is going to end up being not a good thing. You don't want to say an injury is a good thing, but in the long run, I think this might end up working to Garrett's benefit here because he was just getting super taxed, and I think that's ultimately all this was, just a guy that has been throwing too much. So now he gets to hit the pause button, hopefully the Mets can, you know, weather the storm without him. Like having Phil Mayton in his place is a huge benefit. I almost think Phil Mayton is a little bit better than the version of Garrett we've been seeing. Mayton is not a gas reliever who is going through the marathon of a season for the first time. He's experienced. He's a veteran. He just worked on something with his mechanics with the race that has allowed him to have a lot of success recently after the Mets are going to be the beneficiaries to tough work. These injuries, right, close enough, they're going to benefit. How about that from the work that he did in Tampa? And I think they're going to have a very solid seventh inning guy. I made the comp today on Twitter of Addison Reed, not that they are similar in their delivery or the pitches that they throw, but just the fact that they feel like a nice warm blanket, don't they? And they just feel like that stability, right? You hand the ball to them in the seventh, they're going to go in and get you three outs in. Who knows? Mayton's just in the beginning of a could be a longer tenure with the Mets since there is a club option for next season. All right. Let's now preview what we got this weekend. Mets versus Rockies, Rockies are not a good team. Mets got to take this series. If not sweet bit, you want to win as many of these games as you can when you play a team like this, particularly when you don't have that wild card element of playing at course fields because we know anything could happen at course. This is taking a line that's not great, putting them in a much more picture from the ballpark and then going up against a team that has the worst ERA in baseball, particularly their bullpen, a 591 ERA on this season for the Rockies bullpen. They got a rookie making a second career start in game one. Shawman Ivers Tanner Gordon, his first timeout, he did go six and a third. So that's impressive, but he allowed five runs. So we'll see what Gordon has in store for the Mets. Those unheard of pitchers make me a little nervous, but with this Mets lineup clicking the way it has right handed pitcher as well, the Mets are better against right easily. I think this should be a good matchup for the Mets and Shawman has been pitching great lately. So this is his last start heading into the break and guys really do want to have a great final note before they hit that all-star break. So hopefully if Maniah gives the Mets some length, they have a fairly restable pen Edwin Diaz should absolutely be good to go. I think Jose Budo might be able to turn around and pitch again in Adrian Houser for sure. Not to mention Jake Deakman. Not quite sure how much Phil Mayton works on back-to-back. It'd be great to have him again only through ten pitches, but the Mets should be in pretty good shape for game one. Game two, Ryan Feltener versus Christian Scott. Feltener is a better pitcher than his ERA was to just a 529 ERA in the year, 611 at home 429, excuse me, 424 on the road. Feltener is a guy that I think can surprise you because again he has some pretty good stuff. But again, the ERA does not lie, the Mets still should be able to score runs against him. And Christian Scott gets an opportunity to again start on regular rest, but this time on a much lower pitch count than his prior one, 77 pitches. That was obviously the note that everyone was talking about the fact that he got pulled with that number and he could have made that extra or gotten that extra out, stayed in the game. Well, now we'll see if he has a little bit more breathing room in this start. I think the fact that the Mets can rest him more than a week after this can be as many as eight days potentially before Christian Scott makes another start, if not even more than that. So maybe he has a full 95 pitches, but we'll see. This would be a great opportunity for him to finally get his first big league victory. Final game, tougher matchup, Cal Quantrell going up against Jose Quintana. Quantrell's got a 413 ERA on the season, but he's given up five runs in two of his last three starts, has not been pitching as well lately. So you might be getting him at the right time or he could turn things around against the Mets here. Jose Quintana has been unbelievable as of late, so let's see if he can keep it up. The Mets again are going up against a team here that they should absolutely beat. If they handle business completely, they might just be five games up when we get to the all-star breaker. Five games over 500, I should say. So we'll see how they do against the Rockies. I will be here for you all weekend, doing weekend shows as I am one to do, and tomorrow show's going to be a fun one. I want to talk about the three prospects that the Mets have lost so far this season that could have helped the Big League club, we're talking about Drew Gilbert, Ronnie Mauricio and Jet Williams. I want to go through where each of them is at because Drew Gilbert at least is getting back on the field when we could see them again and what their impact could have been had they not gotten hurt. So that should be a fun show on Saturday. Make sure that you are subscribed on YouTube so you don't miss it. Again, we are trying to get to 9,000 subs by the all-star break, 25 away, so I appreciate all of you continue to subscribe. If you're listening on the audio side, follow rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to follow me on social media, you can do so at Finkelstein Ryan, follow the show at lockdown. Matt, thank you for making lockdown, Matt, your first listen or your first watch every day. Now for your second listener, your second watch, head over to YouTube and check out lockdown sports today, which is streaming 24/7, lockdown sports today has our local experts from each team and our legal experts from each league covering all the latest in the world of sports. If I like on sports, they are streaming 24/7 not only on YouTube, but also on Amazon Fire TV. A Prime Member, you can listen to this lock-down podcast ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. 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