Mets v. Yankees Series | Chris Soto: It sucks to lose the series to the Yankees....it really does but lets take a step back and recognize that the club is STILL 14-5 so far this season and carries a 6 Game Lead over the Miami Marlins and a 7 Game Lead over the Washington Nationals. In addition, it's not like the Yankees beat us.....the Mets beat themselves mostly. As good as Jacob deGrom is...he just didn't have a feel of the ball on Friday and that's ok! It happens, you can't be great 33 times a season. Even Clayton Kershaw had a 10 ER game last season and he won a Cy Young award. As for last night, it was all about errors, errors, errors. Knowing how bad the middle IF defense is; it's gonna happen. The positive things we need to take from this is that Plawecki looked good, Grandy and Murph's bats are starting to come around, Duda is still mashing against lefties, and Robles/Goeddel had strong performances out of the bullpen. Let's move on to the more important games and take these next 3 against the Marlins.
(Chris Soto: Don't read too much into this start, this is just a Mets strategy play to give the remaining starters and extra day of rest early in the season. The Mets are in the middle of a stretch where they play 13 games in 13 days before their next off day. It's actually a pretty smart strategy as it keeps Montero in a SP roles an gives him continued tastes at the MLB level while resting Harvey and deGrom AND bringing in a fresh bullpen are too. The club is likely to demote a RP (Goeddel?) for Montero's start, re-demote him, and then bring up a fresh arm (Leathersich?) the next day.
Steve Popper | North Jersey News- David Wright flew Sunday morning to Port St. Lucie, Fla., where he will resume baseball activities today. Wright is eligible to return from the disabled list Thursday, but the Mets don’t expect him to be with the team that quickly. "He’s going to start doing baseball activities," manager Terry Collins said. "Start catching ground balls. He’s going to start doing some jogging, running around the field a little bit. I think if he’s here by Saturday that would be really good." GM Sandy Alderson was asked if Saturday was realistic, but he said, "I’m not making predictions," and noted that the team would have a better idea after Wright gets on the field and begins the work.
(Chris Soto: This is a very good sign. For once I am glad that Wright is taking the slow approach to get healthy. The team has been solid without him, but with him the club would be even better. Campbell has filled in extremely well but he's going to get overexposed as pitchers adjust to his play. With off days before and after the 2 game series against Baltimore on May 5th and 6th, I think it's very reasonable to expect Wright back for that series.)
ZiPS Playoff Odds and Mean Standings, 4/24 pic.twitter.com/dHcc9SDLns
— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) April 24, 2015
(Chris Soto: With the strong start, the ZiPS projection system now has the Mets and Nationals on pretty much equal footing. The Mets are entering another stretch where 10 of the next 12 games are against Division opponents. Boy if the Mets can take 7 or more of these games, they are going to have a SERIOUS leg up on the rest of the division for the rest of the season.)
Zips...Schmips.... Good Pitching+very good fortune versus BAD teams is not the foundation to a forecast.
ReplyDeleteThe dose of reality is good for this team--- they played some bad baseball and showed some of their weaknesses as well.
Best News---they're solid and they are very likeable/enjoyable to watch
Bad game, and I missed most of it...did A Rod hit a ball off the top of the fence and go over? If so, there is always some weird crap when they play in the Bronx. 4 errors is weird enough.
ReplyDeleteLet's sweep the Marlenes.
You missed Murphy "not sliding his way into an out"....and Murphy getting in the way of Wilmer Flores on an easy Botched DP ball.
ReplyDeleteThe new Fantasy Stat in Development---BBP---Bad Baseball Play... Nickname it "A Danny"... when you do something incredibly dumb that generally wouldn't show up in Sabar Stats.
You get a "Half Danny" when you do somethink that COULD hurt the team. You get a "Full Danny" when it results in an added out offensively or defensively.
Eraff, my brother has a visceral hatred of Murphy for 1) bad baserunning 2) terrible fielding 3) lack of clutch hitting. Can't say he's too far off there. The Days of Dilson are getting closer, I presume.
ReplyDeleteMurphy has been unbelievably brutally bad in almost every way so far this season. How long do you let it go for? Seeing Dilson hitting .371 in the minors doesn't help. I was expecting Murph to be a big part of the success of this year but wow...
ReplyDeleteMets deserved to lose that game last night.
I've always been a Murph fan...but I recognize the limits.
ReplyDeleteHe's a great hitter... in the "Layup Line". Don;t get me wrong...he's a decent stick....but he has nothing other than contact. Situation be damned...he's the same hitter on every swing.,..no walks...no appraoch.
The Glove....the Brain...the Baserunning---take the Stolen Bases and stick'em.... he's a Bad BAseball Player....and I like him...but he's a lousy player. You cannot WIN with him in the mid infield
What are we talking about here....the team is 14-5!
ReplyDeleteMurphy and Flores' poor defensive has reasonably cost us 2 losses so far this season. Flores bat has won us 3 games so far and Murphy's has won 1 game by himself....and Murphy is only just finally starting to warm up.
Look.....it happens....this is what we are gonna get from these two. I would rather have all the bad defense happen in one game and then both of them go on a streak of 10 games of good defensive play where the team wins 6 or 7 of the games.
If this is what we get from Murph and Flores then idk how you can't be excited about it.
I will earn some respect for Terry Collins if he benches Eric Campbell for his obvious mental gaffe that resulted in an easy out during yesterday's game. Physical errors happen. Mental errors mean your head is not in the game (forgetting how many outs there are). Although Muno has looked pretty bad in his limited chances, let him have a start at 3B today.
ReplyDeleteChris, the problem is that Murph has been bad in more than just yesterdays game. Yesterday he just cost us the game but he has been making mistakes or not hitting(or both) in almost every game. I think it becomes too easy to gloss over mistakes just because the team is playing well.
ReplyDeleteWe knew going into this season that the combination of Murphy and Flores in the field were going to keep the instant relay guys pretty busy.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I wouldn't change anything on this team, though I will suggest a few 'tweaks' on Friday.
To all -
ReplyDeleteThis was a very hard game to watch and there were a number of things that reminded me that every days isn't every given day.
This team is human also and, hopefully, let's give them the benefit of doubt that last night's game will be the exception.
However...
We must realize that a good handful of the 14 wins fell on our side with good luck...
We got the good start we all wanted.
Take it for what it is and move on to winning the Marlins series.
It will be interesting to see how this year's team reacts to last night's game.
ReplyDeleteWill it be different than how they responded to similar poor games in the past couple of years?
Mack.. I don't believe it's hasty or whiplash to point out weaknesses. Me "providing the Mets with benefit of doubt"--- gosh!!!
ReplyDeleteLast week you debated someone about the efficacy of placing a billboard criticizing the owners... am I supposed to worry that Daniel Murphy is going to read my critique and find it harsh?--- ONLY Noah Syndergaard is reading this stuff!!!
This is a discussion of the team, and I'm a major fan through thick and thin...I'm just swapping viewpoints--- I don't need to do anything but cheer for 'em, even when I criticize them....but that doesn't require pom-poms
eraff -
ReplyDeletebut isn't it so #Twitter like to criticize a team/player after one loss and the team still has the best record in baseball?
I would hope you would consider taking the same effort and supporting Murphy through this rough spell. He is the one 'bat' that can be the difference this season.
I have been "tempering" the enthusiasm all along and in prep for the season---my concerns with Murphy's game have been consisitent...Constant.
ReplyDeleteI like Murph... good hard nosed guy who is a nice useful player---he is NOT a starting mid infioelder on a 1st division club. He ignores too much of the game----forget what doesn't come easily
Eraff, my brother and you share the exact same take on Murphy. Only Murphy can prove folks like you and him wrong. Hopefully he will... A great time for him to get0 blistering hot for us.
ReplyDeleteThomas-- Your brother has a "Vsiceral Hatred" of Murphy---that's NOT the Exact take that I have!!!
ReplyDeleteI Like Murphy!!!--- I deal with "The ISNESS"!!! He IS what he IS!!!
He would frustrate me if I expected him to be something else---he's not gonna "prove me wrong". He is a fully developed ballplayer with small degrees of variation.
He's a solid major league hitter with lower level accomplishments in every other area. He needs a lot more MANAGING than he's getting... he needs a boot in the Ass (privately)--- a nighgt on the bench if that doesn't "take".
Eraff, very true in that I should have specified that my brother exactly agreed just with your take about him not being a starting middle IF on a first division club.
ReplyDeleteI've heard him say that many a time.
After that, you two do diverge. He is more negative. My apologies.
My view is much closer to your overall view of the Murph than to my brother's.
That said, with the 23/91 that you're projecting..... ;)
ReplyDeleteWho do we bitch about next so that they play well? Complain about Colon, he has been our best pitcher, complain about Gee and he turns in two spectacular starts, complain about Murph and he single handedly wins the next game, which helps make us for single handedly losing the last one.
ReplyDeleteDallas
ReplyDeleteI don't complain about guys in slumps. That happens to just about everyone. You knew Murphy was gonna hit.
I don't complain about a guy booting a ball. It happens. I do complain when someone is getting paid MLB money and doesn't feel like running to 1st and giving the other team an extra out. If your hitting .400 and that continues you need to be sent packing. It's a bad example for the younger players. Seeing 40 year olds going all out to first when they hit a routine grounder to 2nd base is priceless. Seeing a 28 year old 2nd basement watching the opponent run to 1st when he has half that distance to run is worthless.
Herrera would have contributed to both games.