Here are five things to watch as the Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks play a three-game series at Chase Field starting on Tuesday night…
1. Can the Mets build off their series win?
The month of June was a nightmare for the Mets, as they did not record a single series win.
They were only able to pull out a split in the two-game Subway Series against the Yankees at Citi Field, and even then they were lucky to be able to steal a walk-off win.
Thankfully, they’ve been able to get off to a better start in July.
The Mets secured their first series win in about a month this weekend, taking two out of three from the red hot San Francisco Giants. If not for some late inning heroics from the talented Giants catcher Patrick Baileythey would’ve secured the sweep.
They are now 2-0 in the month of July and are looking to build on that this week heading into the All-Star break.
After a day off on Monday, the Mets kick things off with a tough road series against the first place Diamondbacks, who are currently 15 games over the .500 mark.
2. It all starts at the top
After a bit of a rough patch at the plate, Brandon Nimmo is back to being a catalyst atop the Mets’ lineup.
The center fielder has returned to his on-base machine form and is absolutely on fire right now. He has hits in nine of his last eleven games, posting a .308 average, .372 OBP, and 1.104 OPS over that span.
Nimmo’s also been on a bit of a power surge of late, going deep five times over his last ten games. He launched the hardest-hit ball of his career this weekend against the Giants and recorded his first multi-homer game since 2021 earlier in the week against the Brewers.
Although he ultimately ended up being snubbed, Nimmo was making a very strong case to potentially land a spot as a reserve on the National League All-Star team.
The 30-year-old is now hitting .279 with a .372 OBP, .830 OPS, 13 doubles, four triples, 12 homers, and 40 RBI through 81 games this season.
Nimmo will look to keep things rolling in Arizona.
3. Tommy in the two spot?
With Starling Marte struggling, Tommy Pham was bumped up to the second spot in the order in Sunday night’s series finale against the Giants, and the move immediately paid dividends for Buck Showalter.
Pham reached base four times, three of which were hits, including an RBI double which scored Nimmo and helped extend the Mets’ early lead.
This continues a stretch of tremendous play for Pham, who is coming off his most productive month of the season. Across 24 games in June, he hit .349 and posted a 1.027 OPS.
Over his last 15 games, Pham is hitting a stellar .393 with a .452 OBP, 1.095 OPS, three homers, eight RBI, and three stolen bases.
With him hot at the plate, moving Pham up in the order behind the on-base machine in Nimmo certainly makes a ton of sense. We’ll see if Showalter decides to keep him there in this series.
4. Will Scherzer keep rolling?
It’s been a bit of an up-and-down start to the season for Max Scherzer but he’s finally started to find his groove.
The right-hander is coming off another strong start, tossing six innings and allowing just two runs on seven hits while striking out nine in a no-decision against the Brewers.
He’s posted three consecutive quality starts with a 2.25 ERA and 25 strikeouts over that span. Scherzer now has a 3.87 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 85 strikeouts through 14 starts this season.
In his career against the Diamondbacks, Scherzer’s a perfect 8-0 with a 2.38 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 102 strikeouts. He’ll look to keep rolling in the second game of this series on Wednesday at 9:40 pm on SNY.
5. No Carroll for the D-Backs?
Arizona star outfielder Corbin Carroll‘s status for the series is still unknown.
The 22-year-old has missed each of the last three games due to right shoulder soreness.
He was able to take batting practice on Saturday, and manager Torey Lovullo said he was encouraged with his progress, but he remained sidelined Sunday afternoon. It remains to be seen if he’ll be back for this series.
If Carroll is indeed out that would be a big break for the Mets.
Carroll’s been emerging as one of the games biggest and brightest young stars during his first full season in Arizona. He was recently named a starter for the NL All-Star team.
Through 79 games, he leads all NL rookies in hits (83), home runs (17), OPS (.925) and slugging percentage (.559). Carroll also has 20 doubles, 44 RBI, three triples, a .366 OBP, and 24 stolen bases.
We’ll see if he’s able to make it back out for this three-game set.