Good
morning.
Here’s an
article on a group of guys that I was so wrong about, The 7 Line Army
-
The largest — and maybe the
loudest — fan community in baseball started with a frustrated T-shirt.
Near the end of the 2009 Major
League Baseball season, Darren Meenan — who was
bouncing around from job to job — created a T-shirt to wear to a New York Mets
game as a way to communicate with other die-hard fans who had
"survived" the Mets' disappointing string of seasons.
"I was at almost every game,
and I decided to make myself a T-shirt that said 'I Survived' to show that I
was still there to be a fan of the Mets, even when they were losing," said
Meenan, who created the T-shirt in his parents' basement. "The fan base in
2010 got the word out, so I decided to do it as a business. I created a website
and got started on social media."
Mack – I no longer
remember the details, but I tangled online with the creator of this phenomena when
he first created his first t-shirt and wanted some support from Mack’s Mets
with it. My meds were way off back then and, coupled with my thin skin, I made
a lot of enemies in the Mets blog community. Stupid me.
Rob Neyer
had something to say about the Royals Hypocrisy -
The Royals don’t have any high
ground here, moral or ethical. You know, because there was that time last
spring when Kansas City relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera threw
a fastball behind Brett Lawrie. One hundred miles an hour, that one:
Now, this came toward the end of
a series against the A’s that had already featured some foolishness, including
Kansas City starting pitcher Yordano Ventura getting
tossed out (and later fined, but not suspended) for plunking Lawrie.
Chippiness has been sort of a
running theme with the Royals, these last couple of seasons. I think they lead
the great leagues in fines and suspensions.
Mack – Forget the
first pitch thrown by Noah Syndergaard.
He got his message across and the Royals had nine innings to make their point
last night.
I don’t expect any
retaliation here. It wasn’t that kind of a pitch in the first place and league
officials will jump all over anything that empties the two benches.
A
good story on Philly.com
about the young, Mets pitchers –
Let's begin
with the dread. The Mets' starting pitching - Jacob
deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler (who
missed the entire 2015 season after tearing a ligament in his elbow) - is young
and terrific and cheap. None of them is going anywhere for a while, and that
rotation has enough power, depth, and promise to dominate the Phillies and the
rest of the league just as it did the Dodgers and Cubs in this year's
postseason. With pitching like that, the Mets through free agency and trades
can plug whatever holes might open in their lineup each year and still have
enough offense to contend
Mack – I love
the use of the word ‘dread’. LOL
Due
to a recurring family illness, I was unable to watch or write about Game 4 of
the World Series.
15 comments:
I still consider myself a proud member of the 7 line army even though the only road game I traveled to was about 30ish mile drive from my home ;)
Anyway im willing to accept that the Royals have worked hard to fully take advantage of and exploit the Mets in every way.
They swing early and often to avoid long counts and let dominant pitchers paint corners.
They absolutely go first to third 100% of the time when a ball is hit to Granderson.
They go IMMEDIATELY to their bullpen the second they feel their pitcher might not have it anymore regardless if its the 6th 5th or even 4th inning.
And they brought their closer in to START the 8th inning to ensure best chance of victory.
Part of me wonders if Familia, if didn't pitch that 9th with 6 run lead in game 3, would have started the 8th last night.
Ernest, Familia pitched the 9th with that 6 run lead in game 3 because Terry went too much by the Book. Very shortsighted.
I agree, it cost him last night, as he could have felt free to use Familia for 2 innings had he not pitched in game 3 and thus had 2 straight nights off. He should have left the very sharp Addison Reed in to start the 8th. Not Clippard. Scary, shaky Clippard.
This team has great pitching for 2016. But will they offensively try to get by in 2016 on the cheap? Bet they will try to do just that..
I was SURE Duda was going to pop one into the Pepsi Porch for a storybook climax... oh well, in another universe it happened that way.
These Royals are just good. They are not sissies, they just seize on any & every motivation scrap they can find. That's winning baseball. And most impressively, they foul off any pitch they can't hit, and put in play every pitch they can. THAT's winning baseball (and is what will beat Clipard, every time).
OK. Three must win games with Harvey DeGrom & Syndergaard -- it could be worse (Glavine, Trachsel & Perez).
Saw the replay this morning of the high (low) lites on MiLB...
Steven Matz and Michael Conforto gave you a peak at the future of this team.
Regarding the outcome, I continue to stress the importance of dominant defense 'down the middle of the field' (catcher, pitcher, second base, shortstop, centerfield.
If you continue to kick the ball around in CF... if your throws continue to pull Duda off the bag... and if balls continue to go through your legs... you not only don't deserve to win The World Series, you don't even deserve to be in it.
The 2015 Mets are like the 2014 Kansas City Royals. They're just not there yet.
I agree with all of the above. The Royals have just been plain better than the Mets, more aggressive, a very impressive, complete team.
We have known for a long time that the Mets shaky defence, especially up the middle, would cost them, and it has. It adds to the arguments everyone was making to bring on Herrera next year - until Murph went on his tear.
I feel Terry Collins is a very good clubhouse manager, but the ONE weakness he has is managing the bullpen. He doesn't make judgements on the night, and just always manages by the book, I think motivated by a lack of confidence. Bullpen decisions are always difficult, and are always easy to second guess but you just knew Clippard would open the door to the Royals.
Still, at the end of the day, it was a collection of small errors that led to this loss, again, errors by Cespedes, poor hitting, Matz not making it to the 6th, poor bullpen management, Clippard's woes.
We're still in it. Harvey deGrom and Syndergaard for the trophy.
We still need our bats to wake up. We will not win on 4, 5 or 6 hits per game.
Alex
I just showed my 10-year old daughter an youtube clip of the 1986 Mets Game 6. She said "those 86 Mets looked ruder than these Mets. They're too soft now."
We know what happens to nice guys.
I hear ya, but we've been begging for the bats to stay alive for a while now. Every night it seems only 2 guys show up
Clippard should not be allowed to pitch in a Mets uniform again. Reed in the 8th. Before that piece together Niese, Colon, Robles, and Gilmartin for the other outs.
I had seen enough of Clippard by the end of September but that (thankfully meaningless) HR he gave up to Rizzo was the final straw. No confidence in Goggles whatsoever
If only we could hit...
Alex -
I watched the replay of the game.
Why was Colon pulled? He did nothing wrong. Bring him back for the 7th inning.
Mack, bring Colon back in the 7th, or if not, Reed in the 8th too. He looked great in the 7th. Who in their right mind would risk it all on Clippard the way he has pitched the past several weeks? Collins just managed mechanically, and the machine misfired as a result.
I will start by saying the Royals are a solid team, well-rounded, and have a solid offensive approach. Back to back finals is clearly a sign of a quality ballclub. That said, last night's game was simply atrocious from the Met point of view. The Royals were far from perfect - batter's interference, the RF not knowing how many outs there were, and Murphy's 9th inning "hit" was just a lousy play by Moustakas, regardless of what the clueless MLB scorers see (like that fantasy in the ballpark HR in game 1 that was really a 4 base error). This Royals team has been quite beatable, I actually expected tougher given their determination to get back and win after last year's loss. But, the little things matter, most if not all stated above - Coolins needless usage of Familia on Friday, not sending Colon out for the 7th after his masterful pitching in the 6th, and not removing Clippard after the first walk in the 8th. But, Clippard's pitching was just plain bad, foul balls or not, and he has not been good for quite some time. Murphy's error was killer, as it would have been 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, and the Moustakas ground ball hit to give KC a 4-3 lead would have been an easy out with the infield back. Not making excuses for Familia, but he got 3 ground balls in 4 batters, including a DP to end the inning that Murphy darn near screwed up again. At 3-1 down, the task is daunting but not impossible. It requires dominant starting pitching through the 7th inning, and no additional outs to KC. Oh, and a few hits from the 2-6 batters.
It's rare that EVERYONE agrees on a Mets blog. But it seems that EVERYONE agrees that Clippard had lost our confidence a long time ago, and when we saw Reed come on in the 7th instead of Colon, we all got a sinking feeling about the 8th inning with Clippard.
I still feel lucky there's another Mets WS game tonight. Fact is, if we can get a few hits together the next few nights, our "Big Three" can pitch us to the championship. 8 innings please!
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