Jared Diamond | Wall Street Journal- The New York Mets—wait, check that: the National League-champion New York Mets—sent a resounding message this week: They belong here in this moment, competing on baseball’s grandest stage, a place reserved for the sport’s elite. The Mets didn’t just defeat the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS. No, they bludgeoned them, sweeping them four games to none. Now the Mets will head home and await their next opponent, with the Kansas City Royals clinging to a 3-2 lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series. The winner of that matchup will host Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night.
Tim Rohan | New York Times- As the Mets clinched their first pennant since 2000 [but] their 8-3 victory over the Cubs came with sobering news. Yoenis Cespedes, their star slugger, exited the game in the second inning with a sore left shoulder. The severity of the injury and how it occurred were not immediately clear, but after the game, Manager Terry Collins indicated it was not serious.“They didn’t think there was any damage,” Collins said. “They thought an injection would calm it down in a day, so he’ll be ready. We’re going to work out on Friday, and I’m sure he’ll be ready for that.”
Kevin Draper | Deadspin- Kyle Schwarber wasn’t the reason the Cubs lost Game 4. They lost Game 4 because Lucas Duda and Daniel Murphy went supernova. They lost Game 4 because they loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning and could only push across a solitary run. But with those formalities out of the way ... boy was Schwarber a disaster tonight. I realize he’s in the lineup for his bat, but did he somehow miss every single Little League practice on reading fly balls? Is he more used to the physics of beach balls? Does he not believe that discretion is the better part of valor?
Kevin Kernan | New York Post- Noah knows. Rookie right-hander Noah Syndergaard is a big man with big confidence and he believes the Mets’ sweep of the Cubs in the NLCS is not the end of this Amazin’ ride. Not even close. “I’m 100 percent confident,’’ Syndergaard told The Post. “We have the pitching, the hitting and the defense. We have it all. We came into this season a little bit of an underdog, we washed away all those doubts that people had about us. And it was unbelievable challenge as a team but we came together and that made all the difference."
(Chris Soto: Sorry folks....early morning meeting with the boss's boss so commentary will come a little later. Feel free to start the conversation without me though!)
Kevin Kernan | New York Post- Noah knows. Rookie right-hander Noah Syndergaard is a big man with big confidence and he believes the Mets’ sweep of the Cubs in the NLCS is not the end of this Amazin’ ride. Not even close. “I’m 100 percent confident,’’ Syndergaard told The Post. “We have the pitching, the hitting and the defense. We have it all. We came into this season a little bit of an underdog, we washed away all those doubts that people had about us. And it was unbelievable challenge as a team but we came together and that made all the difference."
(Chris Soto: Sorry folks....early morning meeting with the boss's boss so commentary will come a little later. Feel free to start the conversation without me though!)
Let's Go Mets!!!! 4 more to go...Woo Hoo
ReplyDeleteOh my!
ReplyDeleteThere's that cliche about not trying to HR's and, with contact, they will come. I marvel at Murphy because of how he fulfills that adage. Flicking the ball to left and two bombs without muscling up. Just incredible to watch.
Now Duda prepping for one of his 6-7 game tares, and although not highlighted, Wilmer's securing that pop-up in the Cub bull pen was as crucial (and athletic) as any event of the evening IMO.
Gotta wait until Tuesday? Geez.
WOW Happy times
ReplyDeleteThat Flores play was amazing!!!
Good pitching shuts down, good hitting, all the time
Are the Mets on the way to a SF type dynasty?
3 championships in 5 years!!
Or is this going to be even better??
I cant wait to find out
Happy Days
LETS GO METS
I will have my full thoughts on this series in my Friday Morning Report.
ReplyDeleteMy current trip to Florida to help my mother-in-law rehabbing from a heart attack will prevent my trip to NYC next week for the first game in Queens.
I congratulate the New York Mets on their great season.
And with that the mets will now be well rested.....can set up their four horseman rotation however they want, and prepare familia to pitch every single stinkin game needed for 3-4-5-6 outs.
ReplyDeleteand a congrats to all the Mack's Mets writers that hung in here and wrote about the team they loved... I love all of you
ReplyDeleteWow...Amazing enough that the Mets are the National League Champs.
ReplyDeleteAdding to that the pitching performances and Murphy's domination over any and all opposing pitchers...
Additonally, there was Duda showing life and multi-hitting his way to 5 rbi's last night....
Now.... there are also compliments towards Flores and an athletic, good defensive play he made as a shortstop????
Wow!!!
Just.... Wow!!
The Ball Found the Cubs "Ungloves" and found Mets Gloves. The Corner OF'ers for the Cubs are hard to hide...even behind big bats.
ReplyDeleteMets?.... riding luck and an ability to minimize their own weaknesses. Murph's brain and bat have been fully engaged, and Flores has played with enough skill, luck, and help to avoid big misses.
Of course..anough hitting and WOW Pitching...Let's Go Mets!!!!
Honestly...Murphy and Flores are playing the way they always have.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a matter of Murphy now "using his brain" on the base paths.
He always has used his brain...
He has just always used it in an aggressive "pedal to the metal" mind set.
Example... aggressive attitude led to the famous taking of 3rd base during the Duda shift walk.
His aggressive mind set also allowed him to advance as far as he did the other day when Schwarber had the ball hit off the thumb of his glove.
Schwarber could have easily caught that ball with just a little twist of fate.
If Schwarber did make that catch..... there would have been no way Murphy would have made it back to 1st base.
Murphy doing the same exact thing he is praised for, would have resulted in criticism of being a "bone-headed" base runner.
Be careful not to judge only from results....
The mind-set of the player overall and in the situation is more important.
Regarding Flores, whenever he makes plays at shortstop it is always characterized as luck by his detractors and he is called a "terrible" shortstop. From what I have seen though, "terrible" shortstops do not make as many "nice" plays that I have witnessed this year from him. Be clear here.....I am NOT saying he is a top rated Shortstop defensively. I am just saying that he is not as "terrible" as his is so often characterized as.
Bob -
ReplyDeleteI was one of the guys that consistently said that Flores will never make it as a major league shortstop.
I think I will still always hold my breath when the ball is hit to him, but I guess I was wrong
Mack.
ReplyDeleteIts ok to always want the best.
To always want the best defender or hitter.
The past few years has been full of negatives for the Mets.
Flores came up during this time period where everything that could go wrong, would go wrong in the worst possible way.
Flores was tagged as being a better hitter than fielder. Ok, so that was and probably still is true.
All of the negativity that surrounded the organization easily leads to looking at the fielding negative and focusing on it. Obsessing over it because it too could be another instance of something wrong going bad in the worst way possible.
It hasn't.
Sure he isn't close to the best fielding shortstop.
He does ok though.
And when the team offense is not limited to scoring at most 1 or 2 runs in a game, there is less pressure that leads to the worst things occuring and those worst things playing out to their worst possible outcome as game winning runs.
Times have changed though..
There is no need to fear the worst all the time.
Great day to be a Mets fan. Now I need to figure out how to watch the series without listening to Joe Buck. It was painful enough to listen to Ernie and Cal and how obvious they were in their support for the Cubs to win. (I understand, everyone wants to call a historic moment)
ReplyDeleteDerek, TV volume off, radio on! Best of both.
ReplyDeleteMack, sorry to hear you will miss Series. We love you too, bud.