The Put it in the Books Show Season 8 Episode 2: ERA Kings and Ice Cold Bats

After a 3-3 road trip through the land of transplanted teams and lakes with too many names, The Put it in the Books Show is back with its second episode of Season 8! Farace, Rodriguez, and Keith are on deck, while Producer Joe takes the night off—probably still recovering from his scouting trip to find the best hot dog stand at Target Field.The Mets head back to Citi Field with an 11-7 record, a team ERA of 2.38 (best in baseball), and an offense that continues to hit like it’s allergic to the month of April. They’re batting .219 as a team (21st in MLB), which somehow looks worse when you realize half of the team’s errors belong to Francisco Lindor, who apparently wanted to make sure fans stayed warm by keeping the gloves moving. But are Mets fans overreacting to the defensive struggles of an elite shortstop, or should we expect cleaner play from a guy getting paid like a defensive anchor?In center field, Jose Siri is hurt—again. So who should get the majority of the playing time? The crew debates whether the next man up is the answer or just a placeholder until someone actually hits .250.And in what can only be described as the most Mets thing ever, Francisco Alvarez homered in a rehab game, then got hit on the exact same hand he broke. Luckily, he’s going to be okay—but is the universe just messing with us at this point?Plus: do injuries sometimes fast track the future? With younger players being thrown into the fire earlier than expected, are we getting a sneak preview of what the next generation of Mets might look like? And should we be concerned that said sneak preview includes a .219 team average?We’ll also preview the upcoming seven-game homestand against the Cardinals and Phillies, which means we’re about to find out whether the Mets are contenders, pretenders, or just really good at ruining Philly fans’ weeks.Join us for all that, plus dry humor, overreactions, and Rodriguez trying to claim he predicted this pitching dominance all along. It’s Season 8, Episode 2. Let’s put it in the books!