10/28/15

Mack – My First World Series Edition – Post Game 1



Good Morning.


FYI… Phillies OF Domonic Brown elects free agency following his outright off 40-man roster. Hit .233/.285/.349 (75 OPS+) in 716 PA in 2014-15.


Saw this on Twitter –

          Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake.
Please let Dark Knight dominate.


(Written on Monday)

My initial thoughts on this series before it starts… the Royals has an all-righty rotation and their main guys in the pen are righties…. The secret of this games may not be the Mets young pitchers, but the Mets lefty hitters… Curtis GrandersonDaniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, and Michael Conforto. If the Mets win, the offense will most probably come from these four guys.


(Written on Tuesday)

You have to feel sorry for Matt Reynolds.

Here he gets called up to The Bigs, but never gets in a game and is then taken off the World Series roster. Bummer.

My understanding is he can be reinstated but only if someone is removed from the roster due to an injury. I assume KJ and Uribe are the backups right now for Wilmer Flores.

But, if Flores had to be pulled during Game 1 and KJ replaced him at short, they lose the DH and have to bat the pitcher for the rest of the game.

Fair? Go ask Utley.


Going into game one, the Mets have hit a franchise high 14 home runs for the playoffs. The previous high was 12 in 1969.


Matt Harvey has thrown 2,434 pitches 95 MPH+ since 2013. 10th most in MLB. He didn't throw a pitch in 2014.


The inside the park home run should have had an error called on Yoenes Cespedes, if for no other reason than the fact that the ball was totally catchable. It also seemed that Michael Conforto got a little too close to the play and Cespedes might have been distracted. You can watch the replay one or a thousand times and it’s still a bad play by a very good center fielder.

(BTW… Tom Seaver dished up a home run to the first batter in Game 1 of the 1969 World Series, a game lost by the Mets)


The delaying of the game due to the fact that power was lost to the broadcast truck in Kansas City made absolutely no sense. All it did was set up the possibility of one of the starters tightening up and dishing up some inferior pitching. It also seems that the most important thing here was not the playing of the game. Wouldn’t want any of those World Series commercials missed.


It’s amazing how much good baseball was played in this game once you get past that first inside the park snafu. Both teams have had outstanding defensive plays which, I guess, teams that make it to the World Series are supposed to have.



In retrospect, we’ll never know the effect all those throw over to first bases plus the delay of game cost Harvey control of the sixth inning. I never understood why the four pitches thrown on an intentional walk are counted in a pitch count, while a throw to first base to hold a runner, that is considerably at a higher speed, isn’t.


It was a good game with a bad ending. I look for a different result tonight with Game 2 and returning to Queens with a split, something we should be very happy with against this great team.










5 comments:

Ernest Dove said...

I definitely won't assume that Cueto will be as aweful as he's kinda been in the playoffs, but also still believe the Mets can win tonight.
If they can win tonight they then get 3 non DH games in a row where they can bat Thor and Matz while Royals put their pitchers in that 9 hole.
Syndergaard can dominate and Matz (on obviously lower levels) has shown he's not afraid to pitch in big time playoff championship type situations.

Mack Ade said...

no one seems to be around anymore to discuss things

Tom Brennan said...

It is puzzling, Mack.

Harvey is throwing 5 MPH slower than. His first outing this spring.

Cespedes should have called Conforto off. The Centerfielders on this team usually take all they can catch. I am sure that was on Conforto's mind.

Matt Reynolds will get a share. For that at least he s/b happy.

Let's hope the well rested, fireballing Jake shows up tonight. We need a split

Tom Brennan said...

It is puzzling, Mack.

Harvey is throwing 5 MPH slower than. His first outing this spring.

Cespedes should have called Conforto off. The Centerfielders on this team usually take all they can catch. I am sure that was on Conforto's mind.

Matt Reynolds will get a share. For that at least he s/b happy.

Let's hope the well rested, fireballing Jake shows up tonight. We need a split

Stubby said...

Cespedes never saw the ball. Pretty clear from the replay. He wasn't going to call off Conforto when he didn't even know where it was. But he's also not going to stop until Conforto calls for it. Conforto should have called HIM off, but was giving way to the veteran centerfielder. With Cespedes not calling Conforto off, Conforto should have called for it, but didn't. Rookie mistake.

As for Harvey's velocity, ALL of our starters are being pushed beyond anything they've ever done before. And they're showing it. I've seen it through pretty much every game except the first two against the Dodgers when the blood was pumping them up. Considering that, I'm surprised and pleased they've done as well as they have. It bodes well for the future. Perhaps not as well for the present. I have faith in both Harvey and deGrom without their best stuff. They're that good already (and I thought the Dark Knight was terrific last night, in spite of how the game ended). Thor and Matz haven't quite reached that level yet, but are fully capable. Unfortunately, the Royals are kind of like sharks smelling blood in the water. They'll take advantage of any weakness. If our starters are at 98-99%, that's an opening they can and will take advantage of.

I think we win tonight. Another long, hard fight, probably, but I think we win tonight. I'm more worried about Thor against Ventura.