S3 E20: Special Guest - Pat Ragazzo (SI's Mets Insider), Offense, Wild Card Race, Mets-A's Series

season 3 episode 20 it's the cup of Mets podcast I'm Ian bosniac and we'll be joined momentarily by Matthew Dan santis tonight's an exciting one we got Pat regazo of Sports Illustrated joining us he covers both the New York Mets and Yankees but obviously we'll be talking about the New York Mets we'll discuss the Mariners series and their upcoming home stand as well as where they sit in the Wild Card Standings but before we welcome him on before we get going remember to give us a follow on Instagram YouTube and X where you're at C of Mets subscribe to the podcast whether it be on Spotify apple or wherever you get your favorite podcasts visit cup mets.com for all the latest merch and last but not least download that SeatGeek app punch and C cup a Mets at first purchase to get $20 off and with that let's do it alrighty so we are joined by Sports Illustrated Pat Razo uh covers both the Mets and the Yankees but obviously we'll stick to the Mets here first and foremost welcome to the cup Mets podcast thanks for joining us thanks so much for having me guys it's a pleasure to be here of course of course and I just listen I before we get into the Crux of what's going on in in land I just want to ask you you know you're a young dude and you're skyrocketing through the uh you know the Mets beat pillar and whatnot and you know asking for a friend here okay for someone who maybe might hate their day job okay how did you go about getting into what you're doing right now I know that you know you popped out of college you did this that and the th but like what how did you get to where you're at right now I mean it's been a stunning rise so really it's not there's no clearcut answer but at the the same time it's a lot of it has to do with networking and being super persistent and putting out content regularly so speaking of hating day jobs I I feel you there because I worked in a full-time nine-o-five sales job for the first two years or so out of college and I was actually blogging part-time for metsmerized online which is pretty popular Mets blog um on the internet and um yeah I just kept building up that portfolio and expanding my network and couple years later the Met site for Sports Illustrated was vacant they they had nobody running it and it was not operational and after contributing part-time for a couple years to the New York Giant site at Sports Illustrated and the New York Yankee site as well as vlogging for metsmerized I pitched launching relaunching their site for the Mets and wind up getting it about a little over three years ago so I joined um day-to-day coverage of the Mets and running that site in June of 2021 that's incredible and then were you doing I might be wrong here were you doing the Frank the Tank podcast also I still am actually uh so right now I went from doing Frank's podcast once a week for almost five years so we started in I believe April of 2019 and then back in this past January I transitioned kind of to a role as his Mets Insider where I appear every couple weeks so Frank obviously is known in the Mets fandom sphere whether it's for good or for bad but he's he's been rocking with the Mets for a long time and he's actually seen them win a World Series which most Mets fans haven't our age so uh so yeah I still do work with Frank and uh and he's he's a character to say the least as everyone knows I can only imagine man I can only imagine I've never met the guy but I feel like you can just feel his energy from like different states different you know continents over like well I was well I was at I love I was at I was at uh I was down in opening day last year in Miami 2023 and you know the Mets won opening day and then it was game two and the bullpen blew it the Mets lost by one and I was sitting behind home plate and I looked up and he was just ranting into the phone I think clemer was holding the the phone but he was just going at it and when I went to ask him to take a photo he was just you know he had the thing in his mouth and he was like all right I'll take a photo I'll stop ranting for right now and I'll take a photo you know but good guy good guy but um you know gotta love his passion um I expect that he probably wasn't feeling great this past weekend not not a lovely Series in Seattle went from Sleepless in Seattle to kind of hitless in Seattle they were outscored 22 to1 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position left the world on base what do you what do you kind of see overall in the entirety of the series Seattle's known for having a tough pitching staff and at the same time their offense isn't really known for being very prolific but they scored runs against the Mets pitching staff and the Mets lineup couldn't make up for it and it seems like everybody's kind of collectively slumping at the same time Brandon Nemo's in a funk pet o hasn't had his normal career year that we've been used to seeing since he came into the league in 2019 jie Martinez is going through it at the plate right now and really the only consistent hitter who's been producing as of late is Francisco Lindor who's been doing it since May since he got moved to the leadoff spot so a little concerning the Mets finished four- six on a very tough road trip 10 games three different time zones had to go to St Louis for a day which wasn't really working in their favor they did win that game game and then probably as a result lost the first game in Colorado and then picked up the next two but they they were dominated in Seattle over the weekend and now they come home and you'd think that it would be an easy home stand at least for the first two Series where they're facing the Oakland Athletics and the Miami Marlins but the Athletics have played pretty good baseball since the All-Star break and the Marlins always give the Mets fits as we saw in the first series after the All-Star break so and then they have the Orioles and it's it's not going to be easy and the Mets need to have a good home stand here because then they're going back to the West Coast again in the end of the month to face the red hot San Diego Padre's and the red hot Arizona zond back so they're competing with two wild card spots for so um a little concern after the weekend and just overall finishing four- six on the home stand um the Mets are still right only half game back of the Braves so the third wild card spot but it's not really going to get too much easier here yeah for sure and like just quick what do you like what are your thoughts thoughts about like what's been going on with srino you know giving up a lot of runs at a pretty high inning total right now especially in the past years with the Yankees since 2018 I don't think that was I think that was his last full you know full season being healthy what do you what do you make about you know him and his performance has slowly declined after the All-Star break I think well it's a good question because Luis srino hasn't thrown a lot of innings given how much he's dealt with the injury bug over the last several years with the Yankees he went from being their Ace to being always injured and it kind of could have worked in his favor in in the first half of the Season given he he's had a fresh arm but it looks like he's hit a little bit of a wall here and he he did give up the four runs last night Lindor rarely misses a play in the field made an error and then it wound up leading to four runs but last couple outings haven't looked great for Savino but at the same time the offense is really what I've been focusing on that they they haven't been hitting with Mars and scoring position since mid July and they really haven't scored enough runs per game with the exception of of a couple game stretch where they scored a total of I believe 44 runs that they just the offense hasn't been consistent enough which is what led to their turnaround in miday that the offense got collectively hot together now everyone's kind of collectively slumping yeah and there and it's happening at probably the worst time possible uh as you you said before you see these Padres they're beating everybody they're coming back on on seven eight nothing games and they're winning um and you know like you said the Miami Miami Marlins aren't going to do us any favors they do they play us hard so realistically I think the the the next few games is going to really Define their season if they can go out there and take care of business first you know the not so good teams they should have went out there and was at least able to take care of business in you know Los Angeles verus the Angels stuff like that but uh they they have to take advantage of these six games I what what would you say the Mets should should be leaving that two serieses with I think personally five in one yeah five in one's going to be tough in the very least four- two they can't they can't really afford to go 500 against the A's and and the Marlins in these next two series given the tough matchups they have upcoming after these two teams at the same time they can't Overlook these two teams and and they're no slouches even though despite the records but yeah they they they need to at least break four- two 5- one would be ideal and I'd say that they'd be in a pretty good spot having to face balls more at home absolutely and Matt good question uh uh regarding sebie I mean I I definitely think that the Innings total is kind of creeping up on him maybe showing a you know I mean again last night his fastball looked great I mean he was pump at 9798 but he wasn't able to consistently throw that breaking pitch so definitely something to keep an on hopefully he can re gain that uh composure on the mound cuz the Mets definitely need him down this stretch um you mentioned the offense Francisco Lindor yes they've been up and down all year but Lindor has kind of been that Cog since being moved to the leadoff spot for me right now when I look at the lineup I think myself and we're missing Rob Rob's the other Cog in the cup of Mets Trio here but um we brought up last week kind of who is that player in the in the lineup That kind of needs the we all kind of need to see get going I think Matt wanted to see Francisco Alvarez show a little bit more dis at the plate and uh produce a little bit more like you should I think I mentioned I don't know who the hell I mentioned it was either you mentioned Nemo yeah yeah I I I mentioned Nemo I mean I think he's Batten a buck 20 over his last seven games or last 15 games or something along those lines who do you think the lynchpin is in this lineup right now for those who you mentioned that are struggling that can kind of help propel them in the direction that they want to go offensively speaking Nemo and JD Martinez are two big factors in this lineup and on this off offense and we saw it since it's really been a tale of two seasons since they turned things around in late May and and had a red hot June and good first half of July it was nmo Lindor JD Martinez really were were clicking on all cylinders and they do need Alvarez as as much of impact as he is behind the plate with the way he commands the pitching staff his Bat is very vital on in this lineup and and he's he's really been in a cold stretch and he's he's taken the next step this year but at the same time his his power numbers are down which is a little bit of a surprise after he hit 25 home runs as a rookie last year so all those guys who you mentioned are super important to the Mets kind of riding the ship here getting back on track and and making a serious push for a wild card spot because they have a legitimate chance but at the same time they aren't going to get there if if their biggest hitters are all slumping at the same time and and uh you know can't help them get there down the stretch here sure and then you know somebody else Pete Alonzo in the middle of the order he man he went on record the other day saying that he's on Pace to hit 40 home runs and you know that wasn't perceived the greatest but uh we all kind of knew what he was kind of getting at um what do you make of his season in its entirety obviously he was looking to go out there and put up an Aaron judge type season entering a contract year hasn't done that so far I think his values plummeted a little bit do you think that gives the Mets a better opportunity to resign him at the value maybe that they see him at when they were you know discussing in extensions or do you think that you know this is going to be it for Pete in the orange and blue it's tough to say because Pete's made it clear that he wants to stay the Mets have indicated that they would like to keep him long term but at the same time last year when Billy Epler was at the helm as the general manager he offered Pete a 158 million dollar extension around the All-Star Game in 2023 and Pete said no now P's represented by Scott Boris who always of course encourages his clients to go to free agency test the waters and is going to be looking for the highest bid but at the same time yeah I mean the Mets it was a different regime but at the same time the Mets might not be offering him what they what was on the table last year and and maybe it could work to their favor but at the same time it could also indicate a breakup because Pete's going to go out there and look for what he values values himself at what his representation values him at versus what the Mets value him at and he's a franchise Cornerstone could wind up being the best offensive player in Mets history but I mean he's just he hasn't had a really good year and I feel like maybe the pressure of the contract situation might be weighing him down but it's just been odd that he hasn't hit well with r scoring position for the first time in his entire career and his power num are down his Ops is down so just overall kind of a bizarre year for him and um we'll see whether it affects free agency or not definitely yeah the runner runners in scoring position was is absolutely abysmal yeah yeah but a big one for me what I'm thinking about this line who has been so huge in this line of what is Mark fantos what do you think about his ankle injury is this going to be something that's going to loom over him it's a little early to say I mean the off day kind of hopefully will work in the Met's favor that's that's what they're banking on they didn't seem too overly concerned conc erned about it when Mendoza spoke about it after La the game last night when they got swept but Vientos has been one of the most important hitters in the Mets lineup since he took over the third base job in May and yeah they they are GNA have to hope that he's okay and that it's just really nothing more than soreness and not not a sprain or anything more serious than that um because he's he's put up a pretty more than a pretty good year first actual chance at at getting extended time in the big leagues and regular bats in the big leagues so yeah I I think the Mets are kind of just crossing their fingers here there's there's really probably no reason to be super concerned at the moment but at the same time you don't know how it's going to play out how it's going to respond how it responded on this off day and and then we'll see if uh he's able to get back in the lineup last night but he's been in a bit of a slump lately as well yeah but I'm listen I'm praying for that ankle um Switching gears quickly from the offense to the bullpen and then we have a quick little one minute segment that we like to to do with our guest and then we'll let you go and enjoy your Monday night the bullpen okay we saw the first domino fall the other day okay there were three relievers coming back Reed Garrett Sean Reed Foley and Danielle Nunes Nunes Reed Foley give and take we're not really I mean I'm you probably have more insight than I do right of who's going to probably come back first but we saw Alex Young get optioned for the return of re Garrett what's going to occur with Shawn Reed Foley and Danielle Nunes obviously a lot of people are throwing Adam adin's name on The Chopping Block they also have Danny Young that has an option but he would be he's the only left-hander in the bullpen now they have a re Garrett he has one more option left but I don't know if you want to do that like what what are they going to do to fit all these pieces in the puzzle I don't think Reed Garrett's spot on the roster is in Jeopardy right now I mean they just got him back and he struck out three batters the other night in his first appearance back from the iil and I think with Garrett it was more of of overuse he had 42 Innings by July 9th and that's when he went down with the elbow inflammation and missed about a month which is probably more than they expected him to be out for but now he's back and he did look good in his first appearance back and Adam adino is is a job that might be in Jeopardy here because you already saw the Mets were willing to part ways with Jake deckman who was a major disappointment and ovino did put in seven straight scoreless appearances but at the same time he's had a really rough year and Reed Foley was good in in his 20 or so Innings before he landed on the injured list in June and deil Nunes has been the Met's most consistent reliever since he really became a Mainstay in in late May so Mets are gonna have some tough upcoming decisions to make I think Danny Young is is probably the easy move that they'd have to make considering he does have an option and he's one of the low lower leverage guys in the bullpen but yeah avino's job is one that might be in danger with both of those guys on the way back it's crazy it's crazy because you know the other thing too is we haven't seen past regimes operate like the ones you know currently you know instituted you know they sign Joey Wendell they sign a they bring in an Adrien Hower they sign a jake demman they're all gone you know so if you don't produce you're gone so I guess that's uh I guess that's not the worst method in the world and I I think that we can all agree that sha Reed Foley Daniel Nunes for this stretch the Mets absolutely need them back in the bullpen um last thing okay what we like to do is we like to do a rapid fire one minute gut check okay so just for one minute I have my phone here I'm going to time it okay we're just going to kind of fire out questions to you okay you can answer them as little or as many words as you want but one minute all right so uh I'll go first my first question is uh Rumble boxing or Title Boxing Club I haven't tried Title Boxing Club I do love Rumble I did it today at noon and it's it's just it's such a great workout between w on one side bag on the other and uh it's a great stress reliever and uh it it really does the trick if you if you're very routine based like me and and like a good sweat and regular workout routine each day each week it's it's it's honestly it's great I can't say enough good things about Rumble yeah you're an influencer dude try to be try to be whatever that means next do you think will actually will the Mets be big big uh are they going to targ SoDo I don't see why they wouldn't I don't I don't see why they wouldn't go after a generational Talent who's only 25 years old and he's been one of the best hitters in baseball since he came into the league in 2018 and could really uplift this lineup and be a piece who he could build around for the future for 10 plus years he's going to be costly but at the same time the Mets have a lot of money coming off the books they're going to be able to spend money again starting this winter and I I don't see how they couldn't at least be one of major players in on stto I don't see stto leaving the Yankees I think he just looks like a natural Yankee and they don't want to let him out the door but at the same time Steve Cohen has a checkbook to be able to challenge the cross toown Rivals a little bit for Soo Services exactly and last but not least listen we're not going to put you you know we're not going to put it out there that Pat Razo says this or that gut check right now August 12th do the Mets make the playoffs I think they do I think that things look down right now of course getting swept by the Mariners Mariners are a good team and it was a very tough road trip but I I think that the Mets will be able to kind of stabilize in in the coming weeks and in the next month plus down the stretch and they just they do look like they're good enough to make the postseason and this just isn't the Braves year barring any hot streaks obviously now that I say this maybe it could be a jinx but knock on wood the Braves don't have Ronald aunia Jr they don't have Spencer Strider they don't have ozie Al right now it's it's just not it doesn't look like it's the Braves year and it's impressive enough that they're in a playoff spot right now but at the same time the Mets I believe will be able to Prevail and and kind of pull out uh at least sneak into a playoff spot given the way that they played the last couple months I know it's a rough stretch right now but I think that um they'll be able to write the ship a bit music to my ears Pat music to my ears and just one quick last one who do you think is GNA win the AL East Orioles or Yanks it's tough to say I mean the Orioles had a real opport Unity to run away with it with how poorly the Yankees played for a month plus yeah now they've kind of gotten back on track we'll see how the Orioles perform against the Mets at City Field on this upcoming home stand but at the same time I don't know I think it's going to be super close and and they're going head to head to wrap up the regular season so um right now I'd say the Yankees just because the way that they're playing but things change there's there's so much this season's such a every season's such a roller coaster so we'll we'll see how things Shape Up um as we get closer to the end I've never wanted to help out the Yankees more during those uh during those three games um Pat thank you very much for those who are not following Pat Razo be sure to follow him on X and on Instagram he is at the Razo report Pat thank you again for joining us we look forward to speaking with you soon take care man sounds good thanks so so much for having me guys it was a pleasure thanks Pat thanks for coming in a big thank you to Pat Razo of Sports Illustrated for joining us tonight be sure to follow him on both X and Instagram it is the Razer report he's got all the insight as you could tell so definitely give him a follow if you're not following him already just in the brief moments that we have left here episode 20 just want to touch upon a little bit of what we spoke with Pat about we're in the thick of the Wild Card race the dog days of summer August 12th thankfully the Mets have off but it was a long road trip okay multiple stops two West Coast trips with the way that San Diego and Arizona are currently cruising do we think that the Mets are let's be blunt do we think that the Mets are set up for a postseason run at this point in time you're seeing what's going on with srino the only one that's really throwing the ball consistently really really well right now I'd say is Shawn mani and David Peterson those two are the guys that are kind of consistently giving you you know but do you think the Mets did enough to Bonafide them elves in this wild card race I I I don't think so and I mean San Diego was going out there and they were buying any player they wanted because AJ preller if he doesn't win this year he's probably getting fired so uh but he I just like I think that their those two ball clubs are set up better for a postseason run than we are I just and you know I wasn't I wasn't a big fan of trading away big Prospect at the deadline um it's already unfortunate to see Tyler Stewart killing it for the Nationals so it stings a little bit I know what I what I find is crazy is that yeah it's only been a week since we've last spoken but the Phillies also have been kind of struggling and we've seen the likes of the Dodgers struggle as well so the Diamondbacks and the padr especially the Padre's as you said they emptied their farm system for essentially their current bullpen teams like those they're actually creeping up on the division heads in the Dodgers so there was a brief moment in time there where the Mets were seven back of the Phillies and we were kind of saying to ourselves you know the the Mets could maybe make a run at the Phillies Bryce Harper wasn't hitting they had a couple injuries pitching staff wasn't doing as well Zach wheeler was getting hit hard a little bit again things can still turn you never really know but right now I I I think that the reason why I'm saying that is I like the additions we've spoken about them in the past and we spoke to Pat about it but just seeing what the Padre's did they have a deep lineup they have a good rotation and then you add that Bullpen Arizona they add that bat and Josh Bell they add that Bullpen arm and AJ Puck and they're going on the same run that's like it's almost like right now we're fighting with the Braves and then you have the Cardinals and the Giants who are also breathing down our necks in a way yeah the no the the Giants are getting hot at the right time I mean I wouldn't sleep on them and they actually have the seven and three seven and three over their last 10 yeah and they have the tie breaker over us I believe so uh I it realistically they did not do good enough on this road trip it's it's like no they had they could have taken advantage and won games you know what I mean but they didn't and it's like what it's crazy and then you got the Diamond Backs have like Kelly that just came back so that's big for their rotation yep it's even if they could have just gone five and five on the damn trip taken one more in Los Angeles taking one more in Los Angeles or maybe not come out flat in the first game in Colorado you know what I mean and it's funny too because we recorded hours after the Mets shut the Cardinals out in their little one game stint last Monday and we were saying to ourselves okay they rebounded nicely after losing two of three to a team that they should have taken the series and then they go out out and they lose the first game to Colorado and then obviously getting swept this past weekend in Seattle and that brings up another question where again we spoke about the Pat the Mets were outscored 22 to1 in a three-game set 0 for 16 with Runners and scoring position you look at the pitching staff the pitching staff of Seattle is incredible and we've known it for a while even the guys that we didn't see tremendous right but you look at teams that generally go deep in the postseason and you brought up before Diamondbacks bring back a Marl k he was intrical to their run last year and the Mets don't have this pitching they don't have this starting pitching sure they may have the depth but they don't have that overpowering pitching and I'm trying to like Matt if the Mets made the Wild Card what who would be your three-headed monster who would start game one two three you know what I mean honestly like based on how they how they've been playing lately maybe manah has one but you never know he he' they'd probably end up doing sevy manah Peterson I don't know how they would go about it but then what we spoke to Pat about before was we don't know where Luis srino is going to be at that point because we see those Innings creeping up right now and it really may be affecting him he's been getting roughed up over his last several starts I know and it's it's kind of sad to see because he was doing so great and we could have gotten a fortune for him at the deadline but you know and you hit the nail on the head with the Innings stuff because he with the Yankees I don't think he's had he had a full season for like since 2018 five years since 2018 but you like I the I see people on Mets Twitter saying like 100 million over five years for sevie next off season I was like his arm ain't lasting another five no that's why I always said I always said look at what the Phillies gave Taiwan Walker something along those lines make it anywhere between 14 and 17 million annually a three to fiveyear deal that's what I would sign saino up for considering he knows how to pitch in New York he looks healthy I think at the end of the day the best thing about it even though he has given up four four and six runs respectively in each of his last three starts and has a 619 RA in his last seven starts I think it's important that we recognize the fact that knock on wood he's going out there every fifth day and making his starts we mentioned the fact that he hasn't pitched in a full season since 2018 he's thrown 133 and 23s of an inning this year the last time he threw over a 100 innings was 2022 and the last time that he threw above 102 innings was 2018 so you're bound to see it happen I just I almost want to and the funny thing is because he's he's still getting he's still getting swinging misses and last night for instance he was coming out the ball was firing out of his hand he was throwing 979a consistently and he still struck out eight batters so he's still getting those swing and misses but he's getting hit hard and I'm almost wondering if maybe the metch should have a plan in place for when sevie starts moving forward to know that you have a guy like Jose budo that can come out of the bullpen and give you three solid when you see over the course of the first three Innings let's say that sevie doesn't have it so you can move him conserve those Innings yeah but then also put in somebody that's going to be able to give you a better shot to win because right now se's not really doing that for you yeah and I mean but I don't know if I'm touching buo he's looked great well no but he would be he would almost be he would be like a piggyback starter like a like a starter SE to the starter right but then Bud's going the three or four Innings again he's also shown now to throw High leverage one inning situations and whatnot so I gu maybe that's what you're referring to when you say you don't want to touch him yeah but I don't know man I just you you just look at some of these teams that are currently in the Wild Card hunt or even in the playoff hunt in general we just got shut out by Logan Gilbert Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo but those are generally the types of three-man rotations that you're going to see in the playoffs right so even the Mets lineup that we all deem is pretty deep even though they've had their woes and their struggles as of recent I mean listen man you look at La yes we've taken them in a series but they're going to throw glass now Gavin Stone and maybe Clayton kers you if he if he's healthy right FL or or yeah Jack flarity right if you go up against I mean even the the Phillies Nola we like it's just the the Mets offense is going to have to carry them the entire way if they're going to make a run and I think that's what's the scariest thing about it yeah no you're right it is because and you know we're not seeing much from these guys like we're not I'm not seeing like good at bats at all fundamentals just don't look there no no and unfortunately it came out on a road trip that we really should have taken more advantage of really probably should have flipped that record from 4- six to 6 and4 they definitely should have came up a little bit ahead I will give them that they did have a difficult traveling schedule it really was ridiculous what they did with that said at the end of the day the Mets have to come in and play so we can only hope that they continue in the right direction stay afloat stay above the cards and the Giants and just stay there in the middle of the pack with the Diamondbacks Padre and Braves and hopefully fight that out and at least get in the get in the rumble because that's the most important thing at the end of the dayre aren't aren't losing any games so it's not it's not this isn't going to be easy honestly no it's not and and that's why you even look at the Padre's they I mean everybody everybody has a better rotation than we do that's Point Blank and that's 100% I mean look at look at what we did this off season it was only guys on one twoyear Deals they didn't decide to you know throw the house at somebody which I'm sure they offered y Yamamoto right I the same amount as the Dodgers right I think I think that it's funny because over the last couple weeks when the Mets have been getting really hot and their playoff chances have become more likely yeah right we've been looking at it as and I guess this is how baseball is and this is how Sports is and every couple weeks you're going to have different issues but we've been talking so you know we we've been putting an emphasis on the fact that the bullpen has been blowing game after game after game and the starters have been giving them quality starts maybe nothing crazy but quality starts and the offense has been the one that's been doing the heavy lifting and now we talk here today on August 12th and I feel a little bit different knowing that srino is having trouble making it past the fifth inning sha Mani has been great but a guy like David Peterson is still chucking a ton of pitches right in his five or six Innings that he goes so it's just I think when you're looking at the rotation it's not really something that's going to scare postseason teams yeah and as we're seeing right now as an example that we've mentioned a million times tonight with seino some of these guys arms are tiring out and it's going to again put more emphasis on the bullpen moving forward so yeah seriously and I mean I'm not really too sure what their plan is with guys like uh Dom and Mike fail but you know it might be time to see one of them you know right again you have to hope that they've conserved their Innings correctly and appropriately in the miners for them to be able to come up and make an impact I know that they've been doing that with Brandon Sprout I know he didn't look great in his start the other night but I know that they have had a very close eye on his Innings so that he doesn't go past a certain point and some people have speculated maybe that's to enforce the big league club at some point this year whatever the case may be is I I think that the Mets have come so far this year that they can't just let it slip away now and especially given their I'm not even just talking about the sub coming home stand because at the end of the month the Mets have a difficult road trip and seeing the Padre's and the Diamondbacks that's going to Define their season and they have a couple difficult foes in September as well but for the most part they have a pretty winnable schedule right so but we just you know we say that but then they can't even take care of the angels and the Rockies so I don't even know what's winnable anymore with this team like would do we think that they're going to go and sweep the Marlins I I doubt it when do we sweep the Marlins and the Marlins just played San Diego tough yeah yeah they took one they took one from a blazing hot San Diego team I know listen right so I was just going to say like what are your expectations and we'll talk again before the conclusion of the next home stand but the Mets play have a the Mets have a niname home stand beginning tomorrow night at City Field they'll have three against Oakland who 50 and 69 okay better record than both the Marlins and the Rockies mind you then they have three against Miami and then they welcome in the Baltimore Orioles for three so obviously the emphasis is to jump on both Oakland and Miami and take as many of those games as possible but what are your expectations personally as we head into this next home stand so it's this is going to be a critical part because I believe the games after that is going to be versus San Diego and uh the Diamondbacks at West yep so we gota we have to win these games because if we can win those games we we're setting ourselves up nicely and if we can't beat these shitty teams we might as well be a shitty team like what business do we have in the playoffs if we can't even take care of that business we're going to get killed in a three- game sweep or in a three- game series versus like say the Phillies or a top NL team you know right and not a knock against the Angels because then the angels went ahead and they actually played the Yankees pretty hard as well granted the Yankees have gone through a really hard stretch but there are multiple people who tweeted this out and I was one of them as well if the Mets can't beat the Angels do they belong in the playoffs and again you look at the Braves who the Mets are competing for that third spot with and they look like too and they're losing to crap teams as well they blew a crazy lead yesterday so it's all about just taking advantage of the teams that you're supposed to take advantage of and the rest will fall into place and if you don't those losses are going to creep up on you exactly like it I feel like we were like 10 games over 500 or something and now we're 61 and 57 exactly creeping closer and closer yep that's what happens when you don't win series and that's why it's important that the Mets do well against Oakland and do well against Miami so considering that Matt we're going to talk again before they welcome in the Orioles give me your prediction right now for both the three game set against Oakland three game set against Miami what's the Mets record I think they're going to sweep one of them I think they'll I think the bats will come alive they'll sweep one of them I'm going to say they sweep Oakland and then they take two out of three from Miami so what would that be five and one five and one I I think that would that is doable it should be you know it should be again listen if they come out if they come out and they're able to have a five in one home five in one start to their home stand they would be 66 and 58 which I think any of us would sign up for yeah 100% then you're eight games over 500 I'm gonna say at this point in time for me I want five- one five and one or 6-0 I think is absolutely necessary and I can't believe I'm even saying that because baseball the worst team can beat the best team on any singular day okay but right now where the Mets are in the season the calendar in the standings the Mets need to win every game they can against the teams that they're supposed to beat so they if they only take two or three I'm going to be very disappointed exactly and that's why I'm saying bare minimum bare minimum they have to get back up to six games over 500 and they have to win both series that's bare minimum so then they would be 65 and 59 that's bare minimum and then we'll talk again next week about Baltimore more but it's not going to be easy especially again as youve said the Mets have had trouble against sub 500 teams they always have and they always will that's just the New York Mets and we've known it forever yeah and you know Miami always plays this hard so there's no free win for the Mets you know absolutely not you don't you don't think that they want to shove it in our face and make sure that we don't see the postseason of course they do yeah they would love that you know so it's again can't emphasize it enough I don't mean to repeat myself a million times but it's about beating up on the teams that you are supposed to beat up on and speaking of those three games that are upcoming as we wrap up episode 20 here of season 3 the Mets begin a three- game homeand tomorrow night at City Field against the Oakland Athletics Paul Blackburn will face his former group the Athletics have not announced a starter as of now so it's to be determined but they do have starters for the preceding two games so on Wednesday and Thursday uh it'll be David Peterson for the Mets taking on Mitch Spence never trust somebody that has two first names uh as their first and last name and then on Thursday it'll be Jose canana taking on Joey Estus who I have not looked into this but Joey Estus is not related to Shan Estus correct I don't know I I don't want to say no and then when I was writing when I was writing when I was like looking up who the probables were I was kind of wondering is he related to Sean EST I'm going to look into it afterwards definitely but then three against Miami obviously we don't have probables yet but we can you know obviously say that we're going to see seina we're going to see manah and most likely we'll see Paul Blackburn again and then as we mentioned six times already we'll chat again before the Mets welcome in the Orioles Maddie any final words before we wrap up a very fun episode 20 no I just want to uh say thank you to Pat it was great having him on here and uh listening to his Insight uh highly respect to work think he's great at what he does and uh like what we spoke about the Mets just need to take care of business hopefully the next time we speak they did that uh because if like we said if they take two or three from these two teams I think we're done I really think we're done if if they can't if they can't go five in one I think that it's going to be a very fast downhill from there especially if when we're heading back out west in a couple weeks to take on San Diego who is every single game and coming back from eight nothing deficits and stuff like that and then we have to go to the go visit the dnxs who have a incredible fan base and very passionate uh Team so you know they they have to and I we you know we'll talk we'll cross that bridge when we get there but like I said we got to win these games absolutely could have said it better myself they just have to come out firing they have to come out firing the bats have to come alive the starters have to give six solid Innings don't put too much pressure on the bullpen I won't go as far as saying Matt that if the Mets only win two or three the season's over and I think that's the worst part about it is that even if they only take two or three games they'll still be right there in the Wild Card hunt and will'll still be on the edge and I think that's what make the expanded postseason fun but also for Met fans it makes us more sick because we're living and dying by every game 162 and then you put us in a pennet race where four five six games over can get you into the playoffs and we're just hovering around there we can we can't really see our way out of that but yeah as and as you mentioned before again can't Echo it enough and thank Pat Razo again for coming on and joining us as you said excellent to listen to his insight and what he thought about the Mariners series and a quick reminder just give us a follow on Instagram YouTube and xwe are at cup of Mets subscribe to the podcast whether it be on Spotify apple or wherever you get your favorite podcasts visit cup of mets.com for all the latest merch and last but not least download that seek app if you haven't already punching code cup ofets at first purchase to get $20 off and for Matt the santis and again Pat Razo again go follow him regazo report on X andig I'm in bosniac thank you very much for joining us episode 20 in the books good night everybody have a good night everyone