Good morning.
I wanted to jot some of my thoughts down in hopes of opening
up a post in which all of you can join me with some dialogue about last night’s
loss to the Nats.
Many fans on Twitter are calling for the firing of our new
manager (sic) because they claim that he removed Jacob deGrom
too early.
I disagree.
I follow two Mets pitchers… deGrom and Noah Syndergaard… like they are my sons and I’m always
looking for reason that either of these guys aren’t considered one of the tops
in the game they play.
In the case of deGrom, no one seems more unreachable… for the
first six innings.
Sometimes he can stretch that to seven but by then his other
problem kicks in… pitch count. deGrom has consistently got in trouble on pitch
count in the early innings
Last night was a little different. He kept his pitch count
down and managed to get through seven innings with only an early home run to
that ban-beast that plays right for Washington.
We were up by five runs with two innings to go and had the
league’s best relief staff ready to go.
THAT would have been my odds-on move. Take deGrom out in the
80-90 pitch range and ‘play it safe’.
Instead, he was left in to create his own damage on base before
members of the pen were asked to clean up the mess he left.
One other thought.
It’s one game.
There should be no panic here and the team just needs to
shrug this off as a game they lost and one that wasn’t won by Washington. We
handed it to them on a silver platter and, the way they have been playing, they
gladly took it.
Just my thoughts…
Yours?
11 comments:
Mack, I wonder if Jake needs to become two pitchers: the guy who blows people away for 6 or 7 innings, then pitches to contact with more sliders and change ups later.
I did not see the 8th inning, but followed it on Gameday - what did him in, it seems, was roughly 10 pitch at bats to both Michael Taylor and Trea Turner in the 8th - most likely lots of foul backs. Throw more down-breaking sliders and change ups, maybe you get a ground ball to short or 3rd, keep your pitch count down and get thru 8 innings. And win.
Somehow Seaver used to throw 15-20 complete games almost every year. We need 8 innings from Jake more often. You go to a bullpen by committee, bringing in 4-5 guys because you did not go deep, and someone may have a bad night. last night, it was more than just one.
I just speculate - maybe I am way off base. But Syndergaard needed 29 pitches on Sunday in the first inning and, despite being terrific, went only 5.1 innings. Max Scherzer throws complete games, by contrast.
I added an article for 1:00 based on my own take on a downward "turning point of the game," focusing on one particular offender.
Over the weekend I had to watch the 51s live blow a 7-0 lead and wind up losing 11-7. I know this pain all too well.
Tom -
Sadly you are right about Thor.
He's not Max.
That was a great game to watch last nite until the 8th inning. This loss I believe goes on the manager, MC has done a great job thus far this year as almost all of his calls have gone our way. He can not continue to treat every game like he is managing in the World Series, with a 6-1 lead in the 8th I don't understand the lefty/righty use of relievers for 1 or 2 batters at a time. We ended up using 6 pitchers last nite when Degrom gave us 7+ great innings, would have been nice to give the bullpen some rest and only use 2 pitchers, leaving a rested bullpen for tonight when wheeler is back on the mound. LGM!
Dean, I agree. I also have an article on the pen at 1:00 PM today - let me know what you think.
Sometimes, your bullpen is going to give up runs. They cant not. So if they are, and the game is going to go to crap, better it all happens in one game. I was watching the 8th inning, Degrom, looked fine, but it did look like he did that fourth time through the batting order thing where you have to change your approach bc the opponents will have you measured thing. It didnt work. I was surprised that callaway left him in after the first runner and then surprised hetook him out after the second. For me its eaither yours to win or yours to lose once you get the second runner on. The Manager is kind of over managing at the moment, which is ok. it happens. i have more faith in his bullpen management then i ever did in Collins. Tough loss, but they are going to happen.
Right now i think the bigger problems are, that Reyes isnt producing (nor is he really position flexible), the catcher position hasnt hit at all (or played good defense) and 1st base is not a position of strength at all.
I am ready for evans and dom to come up, but Im not sure how you get rid of reyes (think of Amed's development) and AGon just yet.
Robb -
deGrom's velocity was down in the 7th... it should have been a factor after he past 80 pitchers...
He would be a 30+ win pitcher in a 7-inning league.
As for the pen, let's give some credit to the Nats bats...
This wasn't the Marlins.
It really sucked, but like you said Mack, it's only one game. If I allow my neurotic self to dwell on the game, it is a bit scary that it was against the Nats and will that give them the boost they need after a slow start?
Will that loss deflate the Mets' balloon, so to speak?
Every team will have a game or two like this over the course of a season....it is how they react to the loss that is meaningful. Hopefully, they come out and win the next two and the series.
As most Mets fans realize, the NY Mets have had a glorious two and a half week start to this new 2018 season. Everything has gone well and there was clutch batting and great pitching. We all agree. However, this is a game played by humans (still) and nothing this glorious can last forever. There will be days like this Dorothy, in other words. It's serendipity.
Every sports analyst, many of which never even played this game nor could have, will be trying to figure out what the heck just happened to the Mets and theorize why these two losses, oh my. Again, losses are part of this game, always were, so get used to it. They happen. Suck it up and come out of it much stronger.
No, it's not having your starter go longer in innings, especially when it's 32 degrees out. It's not horrible offense, because the Mets had one more hit then the Nationals last night at eleven. True, the timely hitting was not there, but in losses this is usually the case.
It could be the pitchers miss Travis and Kevin, very true, they were used to them. But Kevin should be back soon, although Travis is out for another season long duration, but he always seems to be. The Mets do have Johnny Monell again at Vegas, he's respectable.
I do have to admit, that I do not understand Tomas Nido's batting yet. I have tried to study it. My main objective was to try to understand why the slight power shortage for such a huge and obviously strong catcher. Is it the finger motion up until the pitch comes in, or the crouched stance? Not sure. But Tomas Nido could be great. Just needs tweaking. It will happen.
Okay, so what else might help?
I love the call-up of Gerson Bautista. He pitched magnificently last night. He was understandably a little nervous at first, but you could literally see him pull it altogether by the third batter he faced. What a tremendous help to the later inning bullpen Gerson will make. Super glad he is here now, kudos on the move!
Stay the course may be sound advice here now. The only slight thing I maybe can see is maybe trying to find a lefty setup man more. Then this 2018 Mets team would have three later inning dynamos in Familia, Bautista and this new lefty acquisition. (Three) It's half of six. We do have too many outfielders here now, and a pitcher or two to spare. Hmm then...Maybe.
Anything else I see?
Nothing major really. Perhaps if a Zach Borenstein type player stays super hot down at Vegas, and is smacking the round-trippers? Maybe then. It seems that new HR batters are never a bad thing for a team and may provide that much needed spark off the bench at times.
With the above mentioned three excellent later inning relievers, this should take considerable pressure off the bullpen. Jeurys won't have to be used every single game anymore. And the relievers jobs leading up to the closer will also be made somewhat easier as well, because there will be three instead of one, and more innings can be eaten by the later inning relievers than before.
Who's hot down on the farm?
Drew Smith, PJ Conlon, and Tim Peterson.
BTW: I looked up Brewers' catcher Jett Bandy today, his career stats. Bad suggestion I made on him, stats not so good. Oh boy. Never mind.
On Tomas Nido...
If you have a second, go watch youtube batting videos on Tomas. First, a 2011 Under Armour video, he's in a red team shirt. Then watch a more recent Mets one. Look at the substantial difference in his stance and approach.
I have found through experience that anytime a batter isn't quite clicking on all their 6 cylinders, it is almost always that somewhere along the way they have complicated their own batting mechanics and it just needs to be simplified back to where it once worked the best.
Maybe it's just simplification that is needed? I hope so. I just have this feeling that Tomas Nido can be great.
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