3 Mets conclusions after splitting 4 games against the Padres

3) The Mets pitching can be just good or just bad enough to win or lose games

Friday’s loss was moot for the pitching staff because the offense no-showed. A day prior, we saw the bullpen sail smoothly through 3 innings after Luis Severino grinded through the first five pitching just well enough to earn a victory. He walked 4 and struck out 5 in this outing.

David Peterson, yet again, won on Saturday with a long yet non-dominant outing. Jose Quintana could have easily done the same on Sunday if the bullpen held things together. Peterson went into the 8th and Quintana went into the 7th with a combined 2 strikeouts—both from Peterson. Hey, if it works, it works.

The bullpen remains the heartache of this team. Brazoban’s shakiness that led to a demotion a day later was expected and didn’t end up hurting them. On Sunday, it was the home runs off of Jose Butto and then Edwin Diaz that attempted to spoil our weekends. Those two have been the most trusted members of the relief corps. Just bad enough to lose the Mets a game this time around, they had the exact opposite kind of day than Quintana did when he was barely good enough to deserve a win.

Pitching may ultimately be what helps or hurts the Mets most. Overachieving will steal wins we didn’t know they had in them. Performing to the mean will have them taking losses. Consider the rare blips by Butto and Diaz on Sunday as the law of averages getting put to work.