Towards the end of the week I started thinking about Sunday and what a great day it was going to be:

I had to be out early in the morning for a half marathon which I was feeling good about.

I planned on coming back and having a (free! thanks to my loyalty points) Jersey Mike’s sub for lunch.

That would bring us to the Mets at 1:40pm, and that would be followed by the Rangers opening up their second-round series at 4pm.

And I was also looking forward to this write-up, because the last two have felt more like rush jobs, either written late at night after I drove home from a Mets game or squeezed in before I left New York.

So this is an opportunity to sink our teeth into some of the stuff we’ve missed.

Pretty good day, right?

And a disappointing weekend by the Mets didn’t put a damper on it.

Nope. Not even a sweep.

I’ve gotten better about that. I won’t let the Mets ruin my day…most of the time.

Even when Edwin Diaz blows a save down to the last strike.

Sure, Diaz has looked less-than-automatic. And the series-winning streak seems like a long-ago memory as the Mets have dipped below .500.

But that’s not their biggest problem.

I don’t usually like pointing out a problem without offering a solution, but I feel like it’s time to address something that I have been hesitant to admit:

The Mets have a Pete Alonso problem.

It has been a rough week for Alonso - he’s had countless opportunities at the plate with men in scoring position and has not been coming through.

It goes beyond the week - he’s something like 2-for-his-last-30-plus at-bats.

And it’s not like it’s destroyed the Mets - they’ve hung in, hovering around .500, mostly without him producing a ton.

But the team is better when Alonso is better.

Hence, the problem: The analytics types point out that guys like Pete Alonso don’t age well. He doesn’t have the skill set that allows him to succeed as time goes by. Power fades. If he’s giving away at-bats when he’s not hitting home runs…well that’s not a formula that keeps you in the league for long.

I’m not suggesting that Pete Alonso’s 2024 season is a lost cause. Or that his career is in danger of ending immediately.

It’s almost exciting to think about the tear he’ll go on any day now. (I keep expecting it to start every at-bat.)

But it offers a little window into why he doesn’t have a long-term deal just yet…and why the Mets may be hesitant to lock up a guy who is such a fan favorite.

So that’s one of the problems the Mets face.

The other problem is Alonso coming to the plate with runners in scoring position so many times and doing nothing.

The latter is an issue that is likely to solve itself this season. (But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a day off or being moved in the lineup for a couple of games.)

The former? I suspect we’ll be remembering stretches like these some time this off-season during free agency.

As for this series and beyond:

One thing I didn’t mention earlier in the week was how weird it was that Edwin Diaz lost Monday’s game. The Mets got 8 innings from Jose Quintana on Sunday (Diaz pitched the 9th) and then Luis Severino pitched into the 8th on Monday…and Diaz was the one who looked the most tired in his second appearance. The length from the starters to get to Diaz is what you want…so it’s rare he was the one that let them down.
It was a pretty solid week for starters for the most part - even Adrian Houser was mostly good on Thursday - he just gave up a Christopher Morel homer that accounted for 3 runs. (Morel was the one who got Diaz too.) Houser will be moving to the bullpen now…but it was a lot of ground balls and light hits, which is probably good news the way he pitches. More on the bullpen move in a moment. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Quintana followed up his great 8 innings with another clunker in Friday’s game. And Severino had an extra day of rest (more on that in a moment) but didn’t have his best game on Sunday. 8 innings might be one inning too many.
Here’s the ‘more on this’ - the Mets called up Christian Scott and he started Saturday…and he was awesome. In the middle of a shaky first inning he really looked like he calmed down as he faced Randy Arozarena, and then he pitched 6 and two-thirds great innings. (Full disclosure: I went to bed before the Mets gave up the 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th Saturday night [half marathon in the morning, remember].)
I did see Reed Garrett pitch the final third of the 7th inning…but woke up to see his ‘appearing only in games the Mets win’ streak ended.
One more note on the starters: I like that Quintana pitched so well when the Mets needed him to be a stopper on Sunday…but not if it costs him his next start. That’s why a guy who throws like Christian Scott is so important - he’s out there throwing hard and going deep no matter what - he could be a real ace-and-stopper type.
Francisco Lindor isn’t all the way back from his struggles, but unlike Alonso he is showing more flashes, including a first inning 2-run home run on Sunday. I will say this about Alonso - he hasn’t let it affect his defense, which is nice to see.
A crazy streak came to an end on Friday: The Rockies had trailed in every game they played until Friday night. The streak almost ended earlier last week when they took a 5-0 lead only to see - I think it was Miami - tie it in the 9th…and then the Rockies lost in extra innings. Wild.
And lastly - in case you enjoyed the running updates from the ol’ Sunday Paper - I ran my second-best half marathon Sunday morning. (My 4th half marathon. My best was my first - I think I can approach that again with some good training, but it would take some work and the right course.) Long story short: I was supposed to run the Providence Half Marathon Sunday, it got canceled because of some traffic issues Providence has been having, and it turns out this smaller half marathon is run the same day and it was really well done. The weather was perfect and I ran a good race. It was so good I wasn’t too unhappy when the Mets got swept.

The Weekend Against The Rays: 0-3

Overall Record: 16-18

Standings: 4th place, 7 games back of Atlanta. (Atlanta and Washington are in progress, and the Phillies play later tonight.) Quick National League East roundup: The Nationals have made up the ground behind the Mets…but Atlanta has not had a great west coast trip, and the Phillies just lost Trea Turner so unless Washington plays out of its mind it wasn’t the worst week for the Mets to not play their best ball. (Oh, and the Marlins are terrible and although I expected they might deal someone like Luis Arraez at some point…I did not think it would be May 3rd.)

Up Next: The Mets finish up their road trip in St. Louis. The Cardinals are coming off losing tow of three to the lowly White Sox, and they have their own offensive troubles…but when it comes to the Cardinals those troubles don’t often carry over into series with the Mets.

Let’s Go Mets! (please)