Yes, readers, this article is one in which a flipped coin
landed on its edge for I am about to extoll some virtues of this modest three
game winning streak which seems totally surreal considering what preceded
it.
/https://public-media.smithsonianmag.com/filer/Dan-Lewis-Spin-It-631.jpg)
Brandon Nimmo has become a one-man wrecking crew of late and
there’s not much more to be said at this point other than occasionally even
Sandy Alderson gets one right. His 4-6,
2-HR night with 4 RBIs has his season average up to .287 and he’s in the top 5
in the league in both OBP and SLG.
Amed Rosario is also showing signs of life. If this was earlier in the season and he
stepped to the plate with the bases loaded I might have gone to the fridge for
a beverage because you just knew either a strikeout or weak ground ball was
about to result. Last night I said
aloud, “I’ll bet he does something here” and sure enough he unloaded to drive
in a couple of runs as part of a 3-hit game. Over the period from June 13th
through 18th Rosario is in the midst of a modest five game hitting
streak during which he’s delivered a .300 average.
Michael Conforto teed off on a lefty last night, driving the
ball and collecting three hits. Like his
teammate Rosario, Conforto is in the midst of a June 13th to 18th
stretch which has him batting .304.
While the Nimmo explosion was unexpected and the Rosario development
anticipated, the Conforto resurgence was expected and feels long overdue.
While many people think Jacob deGrom has to be the happiest
pitcher in a Mets uniform, I would volunteer that an even bigger smile
yesterday probably belonged to Paul Sewald.
The embattled reliever has been flat out awful lately, so getting to pitch
the final frame of a game with a 10-run lead was a no-pressure situation. He did allow a walk but got out of it and
delivered a scoreless 9th. Considering
that for the month of June he was sporting a 9.95 ERA coming into the game,
that had to feel like the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders.
Tuesday night is the true test for this team with the club’s
most suspect starting pitcher, Jason Vargas, heading to the hill to see if the
streak can extend to four games. When
you look at the probable pitchers and see that the Rockies starter German
Marquez has a 5.13 ERA and is coming off a game in which he gave up six runs
you would figure the Mets must be salivating…until, of course, you realize that
Vargas himself is sporting a 7.39 ERA. Unfortunately it showed and he gave up 7 runs in just a short stint of just over 2 innings. It's going to be far worse. I'm wondering if the Mets are now thanking themselves they have an out of his contract for 2019.
Of course, through it all the Jose brothers are wrestling
for the futility trophy. Jose Reyes is
hitting a mere .163 and Jose Bautista a mere .183. Unfortunately with the latest blip in Jay
Bruce’s health, Bautista has gotten his umpteenth lease on life. However, the other infielders appear to be
healthy so you have to wonder why Jose Reyes still manages to suit up every
day.
Vargas was vulgar, performance-wise.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Rockies went back-to-back-to-back off Vargas, David Wright popped 2 Advil. He felt Jason's "back" pain.
AJ Ramos has season ending surgery - "achy, breaky" Mets syndrome.
Dom Smith had a good game last night - 0-4 with 2 Ks (.174) but no dumb hot dog plays. I hate hot dogs, unless they have sauerkraut.
Tim Peterson threw 2 perfect innings and fanned 3.
ReplyDeleteVargas 2.1 innings, 9 hits, 7 runs, no Ks.
So, when do they send Peterson back down?
Reese -
ReplyDeleteIs Vargas the definition of insanity?
I know we aren't overflowing with healthy productive starters, but wouldn't Oswalt even be better than this.
There ought to performance clauses in some of these contracts, but, of course, than pitchers like Vargas would never sign the damn thing.
I wish this team would just win 10 in a row or lose 10 in a row. Either way would deternine the direction of this team in 2018.
A 5-5 record would just be a slow cancer.
Mack my vote would be 1-4 every 5 games ... this way degrom has change to win
ReplyDeleteOh, I was SEETHING when I saw how bad Beck and Robles were and how good Peterson was. It's like they always ask themselves, "What's the dumbest, most useless move we can make?" and then go do it. Farming out Peterson and his 2.08 ERA to make room for Beck has to go down as a candidate for worst of the year, but we do have the Ty Kelly promotion, the Buddy Baumann promotion, the contract to Jose Bautista, the lingering love affair with Jose Reyes, the contract to Jason Vargas and many others. Yet Sandy still has a job.
ReplyDeleteVargas looks done......he is getting hit so hard, the catcher doesn't even need his gear, since none of his pitches make it past the batter.
ReplyDeleteThis team is the result of consistent, horrible decision making (along with injury issues and crappy luck).
SOMEONE should be held accountable, right?
Let's see, Sandy can't fire Jeffie, so maybe...
ReplyDeleteTom:
ReplyDeleteJason Vargas had one half of a good season (2017) in his career and evidently Dave Eiland was impressed enough to bring Jason over here.
God willing, I hope Chris Flexen can make us forget Jason Vargas just as Dominic Smith has made us forget Adrian Gonzales.
But then again here, if these two (Gonzales and Vargas) had worked out and the Mets had traded them both at this year's trade deadline, we'd all be praising this team's General Manager's brilliance. My point is merely that player personnel can be a crapshot sometimes.
Not everything always works out as planned either, there is no magic formula for player personnel just a lot of luck and praying.
But I am thrilled with the addition of Dominic Smith. Now we have Conforto, Nimmo, Rosario, and Smith all in the next generation core. Soon too maybe Peter Alonso and Jeff McNeil in the field to make six young players in this next core. Six is very good. And who knows, maybe even Chris Flexen in the rotation too to take Harvey's vacated spot! Woo Woo! Awesome!
Now, if we can only get Todd and Yoenis healthy again! I think Jay Bruce is probably done for the year the way things looked with him. Hopefully not, but not sure yet.
Mack:
ReplyDeleteSee my point on Jose Reyes in last night's game. he can still be a huge spark for this team and he just needs to play more games. He will also help motivate Rosario too I think. Jose Reyes is not done here on these Mets. We need him.
Todd Frazier is hurting. I can see it. Something physical is not right with him. He doesn't smack the ball that hard anymore. He used to. I might bring up David Thompson soon to platoon on third with Todd, or maybe David Wright. Or get Dominic Smith and Jose Bautista to platoon with Todd until Todd is clearly 100% again. He hurts the team as is playing less than 100%.
Wilmer Flores is proving that he can be consistent over a longer playing duration of games. This is such a good thing. "The Wilmer" has landed! All praise to the Queen of Queens, Joan Payson.