Good morning.
Las Vegas –
Chris Flexen
–
Monday: 7-IP, 2-H, 0-R, 5-K, 2-BB,
3.40, WIN (3-3)
This is about as good as a PCL outing could go. He needed
this one desperately after having such a miserable outing the last time out
(2-IP, 8-H, 2-ER). A 3.40-ERA is a very respectable one in this league. Good
job.
Chris was recalled to Queens on Saturday. Good luck the
second time around!
Corey Oswalt -
Oswalt was returned to Vegas after
sitting on the bench this time. during his entire visit to Queens
Friday: 4-IP, 4-H, 5-ER, 3-K, 5-BB,
90-P, 51-ST, 7.48
Simply put, Oswalt isn’t the same pitcher he was last season
in the Eastern League. His slow pitch approach to this game may just not make
it in the atmosphere of the PCL. Add to that his recent travel schedule and his
entire game is a mess.
P.J. Conlon –
Thursday: 5,2-IP, 6-H, 3-ER, 3-K, 1-BB, 99-P, 61-ST, WIN
An outstanding outing
coming off a draining trip back and forth to the parent club. Northern Ireland
(my home!) should be proud.
Binghamton -
Nabil Crismatt –
Thursday: 6-IP,
3-H, 1-ER, 7-K, 3-BB, 97-P, 59-ST, 2.80, WIN
Just an outstanding week for most of the Mets ++ starters.
Crismatt was on cruise control for most of the game and he’d still be in the
game if his pitch count didn’t hit the high nineties. I like this guy a lot.
St. Lucie:
Justin Dunn –
Tuesday: 4-IP,
2-H, 1-ER, 4-K, 0-BB, 55-P, 38-ST, 2.15
The Mets might have pulled Dunn early this game due to the
fact that he just came off a DL stint that I had no idea he was on (thanks
team!), but he still pitched an excellent four innings, with no walks and only
one mistake (home run). Dunn should walk away from this one thinking he
produced a ++ outing.
Harol Gonzalez –
Sunday: Harol’s outing was rained
out.
Columbia:
Anthony Kay –
Saturday: 5-IP, 7-H, 0-ER, 5-K, 2-BB,
85-P, 56-ST, LOSS (1-2)
This outing wasn’t as good as it looks on paper. Kay gave up
three earned runs in the 4th inning where he was beat up pretty
badly. He still doesn’t have full control of his game. Oh well… on to the next
one.
David Peterson –
Monday: 7-IP,
2-H, 1-ER, 4-K, 3-BB, 2.05, LOSS (1-1)
Boy, nobody deserves to lose a game thrown as well as this
one was. Yes, there is still a little wildness here, but Peterson is looking
more like the future ace we all hope he will be, every time he goes to the
bump.
Sunday: 7-IP, 5-H, 1-ER, 7-K, 0-BB, 1.91, LOSS (1-2)
Boy,
these were two tough loses. Sort of like being Thor or Jake waiting for the
parent team to support them. We are developing an ace here folks.
Current rankings…
Outstanding outings…
Conlon, Crismatt, Flexen, Dunn,
Peterson
Work Needed… Oswalt, Kay
7 comments:
I am happy with Kay, as he is starting right out above rookie ball, which in itself is a good sign. I heard he is hitting 96, and I fully expect that once the rustoleum works, he will start kicking butt and taking names.
Peterson - sure looking good. The GREAT word may get used soon.
I used to cook with Crisco, now I cook with Crismatt, baby. Best product when cooking with high heat.
GOOD LUCK, CHRIS FLEXEN - HOPEFULLY, LAST YEAR'S TRIAL BY FIRE PAYS REAL DIVIDENDS FOR HIM AND THE METS IN 2018.
I like Conlon, too - and I believe my grandparents also are out of Northern Ireland.
Oswalt faces the Vegas Challenge - the good news if you can pitch well there, the Majors is easy.
It would be nice to develop some pitching depth........after Jake and Thor, I am not overly impressed with any of the remaining
rotation options for this year (or next year).
Hopefully, Szapucki and Humphreys come roaring back next year from their Tommy John Surgeries in mid season 2017. Then we'd have good minors depth.
I also am quite optimistic about Tony Dibrell, who currently continues to fan lots of guys and seems to be progressing on tightening his control. 80 Ks in his 59 career innings so far, with 52 in 39 innings so far this year.
Erica Lay's blog on Jake and Noah...
Good and to the point. The Jake and Noah trade ramblings made me sort of nauseated as well. They had to come out of some sort of NY Yankee think tank. Had to of. No other plausible explanation.
Tanaka isn't the same guy he was a few years ago. And CC is how old now too? The Yankees only possible weak suit is starting pitching, and it really isn't that weak at all. Red Sox and Houston are the only two teams that can hang with the Yankees. Give the Athletics a couple of more years to develop.
Fundamentals
I was talking to an old Met fan buddy of mine and we both made a similar observation about the overall MLB game today. We agreed that fundamentals are not being taught and then driven into players down in the minors the way that they once were (say twenty years ago) and it is showing.
What I mean is starting pitchers who don't have three or four pitches in their respective arsenals, and then get pounded by an opposing team who knows what is coming down the pike. Batters who cannot ever lay off the low dirt level pitch, three inches off the plate and sinking. These players often are well known throughout the league to strikeout on this same type pitch, but they cannot help themselves from swinging at it each and every game. This is universal in MLB today, and every team has at least one player like this too. Players who take too many chances on the base paths when their team is down late in the game by a run or two, as a result costing their team a win. Base runners who never pick up their third base coach's sign to stop or keep running. Same resulting lost game here. And pitchers who literally cannot hold a base runner to that base before delivering their pitch.
Fundamental stuff.
But I will say this too on the flip side of the same coin, overall players today are much bigger and stronger, they are maybe more savvy as well, making the game that much more fun to watch. So all told, it's give and take really, fifty-fifty.
But the proper execution of fundamental baseball skills really do need to be impressed more on the up and coming younger players of this game in order for the game to stay strong as time goes on.
And what Mr. Mack is up with all the cracked bats this season. Someone is going to get seriously speared or hurt out there. Maybe it's time for new bat supplier? What ever happened to the Louisville Slugger?
Mike Freire:
No starting rotation on any baseball team ever breaks Spring Training Camp a lock or a given for success. Well, maybe the Drysdale/Koufax ones, now that I think about it some. But they had starters with them in their rotation not a 100% given too.
The success ratio of the starting rotation is I think something that is changed, managed, and developed as the season goes on. It locks in at some point during the season. The greatest thing to happen to your favorite team as a fan is this amazing sense of automatic heading into any game they play, and it does not matter who they are even playing, it's an automatic confidence feeling deep down inside. An AH! type of thing.
What NY Mets team comes to mind here most to you as being automatic each game out? To me, it has to be only the 1986 NY Mets Championship one.
Personally, I had never experienced this type of sensation before, so the 1986 Mets season was a whole new experience for me. But every single game was the same feeling, we'll win, no question or doubt. I didn't even know who the Mets were playing that night, it simply did not matter at all. We'll win, no problem. It was glorious.
It is this very specific feeling of untethered invincibility (or rather the desire for such) that keeps older fans alive just for one more season and the chance to feel this again. It's the thirst and hunger to feel "this alive" just one more time, that is so unbelievably motivational.
Although buxom women are pretty good too!
Having said the above...
In relation to the 2018 NYM rotation, I really do think that this team and its management are very close. They have Noah and Jake, and they are now reassessing the other three with purpose to maybe have a lefty starter between Noah and Jake, of worth and value. excellent.
Steven Matz and one more maybe The "Ninja Mutant Turtle" makes sense after last night's outstanding outing. Jason had it going on. He had the game tempo, location, and a mission statement. He threw deliberately and a minimal of pitches, not wasting hardly a one. This was everything and all that he needed last night.
Jason Vargas does not hit 98 mph on anyone's radar gun, because he doesn't have to when he is on and so crazy economical with his pitches. So there are the four starters. Mix in Wheeler as the five man. Then, I personally would go to a six starter format soon, because we cannot afford to lose Jake or Noah. My emphasis with the starting pitching right now would be finding that perfect sixth starter, could be a righty or a lefty, from within the organization or outside it.
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