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8/18/18

Reese Kaplan -- 51s Fall to El Paso, 8-2



The Las Vegas 51s can’t seem to catch a break whenever they visit El Paso.  Drew Gagnon had been having a great year but started off in the first unable to find the plate with a GPS.  After getting the leadoff batter to ground out 6-3 he gave up a single to Chihuahuas 3rd baseman Luis Urias.  Then the roof nearly caved in. 

From that point Gagnon was all over the place, not missing badly, but not getting any benefit of doubt either.  He issued back-to-back walks to hot hitting catcher Francisco Mejia and then to 1st baseman Ty France.  Former Cardinal Allen Craig hit a sac fly to RF and plated the runner to give the Chihuahuas their first run, but after falling behind again, he got Shane Peterson out on a grounder to Pete Alonso at 1st.

The 51s started on the 2nd in nice fashion with a single by Dom Smith, but after Bryce Brentz went down swinging and Patrick Kivlehan watched strike three Luis Guillorme lined a single to right center and Jose Lobaton drew a walk to load the bases.  Unfortunately that brought Gagnon to the plate and he fanned looking, whining to the umpire about not getting those pitches himself.

In the bottom of the 2nd the Chihuahuas mounted an attach with a home run by shortstop Javy Guerra, a single to the pitcher Logan Allen and then a home run to right by diminutive 2nd baseman Carlos Asuaje.  The 4-0 lead looked like it was going to stand up as the 51s were not doing much at all.

However, that changed in the 4th when Bryce Brentz and Patrick Kivlehan hit back-to-back homers to close the gap to 4-2.  The 51s managed to advance a runner to 2nd but he died out there as the inning came to a close.

The Chihuahuas didn’t take the comeback lying down.  They put another run on the board in the bottom of the 4th with a single to right by Urias.  Gagnon stopped the bleeding but the gap rose to 5-2.

Unfortunately he was followed by Logan “Rip” Taylor who was roughed up immediately but light hitting Chihuahua players to up the difference in the score to 7-2.  His strikeout of Luis Urias was nice to see but the damage had already been done.

Having seen enough of Taylor already, the Mets sent up banished lefty swinging Kevin Kaczmarski to pinch hit for him.   With Dom Smith, Bryce Brentz and Zach Borenstein playing the outfield nearly every day, Kacz has become a .338 hitting afterthought.  He didn’t help his cause by looking at strike three.

At this point in the game people were losing interest but regained it a bit when the Chihuahuas mascot and lovely dancers did some spirited choreography to AC DC’s “Thunderstruck”. 

Next lefty Ian Krol entered the game to absorb the beating.  He was betrayed by suddenly hands-of-stone Luis Guillorme at 2B and then Zach Borenstein had a brain fart and didn’t charge the ball which allowed the hitter, Urias, to take 2nd which was generously scored as a double.  Pete Alonso went back to the RF foul area to flag down a pop-up and looked graceful doing it (despite his reputation).  Krol did himself no favors by walking Allen Craig to put two men on.  Fortunately he fanned Shane Peterson on a foul tip to get out of the inning unscathed.

The 51s tried to mount a rally when Zach Borenstein reached on an error when Ty France at 1B let a ball go under his glove.  That was followed by a walk to Pete Alonso, bringing up Dom Smith with 1 out.  He flew out to shallow left and put it in the hands on Bryce Brentz who’d homered earlier.  On a pitch in the dirt Borenstein crossed to third but inexplicably Alonso stayed at 1st.  Unfortunately Brentz gave it a long ride to the deepest part of the ballpark and it was caught on the warning track. 

Krol started off the 7th giving up a double to Dusty Coleman and it just got worse from there.  He looked like he was throwing strikes but not showing much movement on the pitches and the Chihuahuas just teed off on them.  He escaped with just one run scoring but looked very hittable.

Chris Beck came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th in what should be the final inning of the game.  So far I’m tempted to pen a variation of the old Jimmy Breslin book.  It would be called, Can’t Anyone Here Pitch This Game?  Mets fans are well aware of what Chris Beck can (or can’t) do.  Apparently his level of expertise stops at AAA.  He fanned the first batter on 3 pitches.  He went 3-2 before getting Allen Craig on a called third strike.  Alonso then did an unassisted out fielding the ball and taking it to the bag himself.  Again Alonso looked a bit better than advertised as a fielder.

Early in the game there was a bit of a scare when Ty Kelly, Zach Borenstein and Pete Alonso had a three-way collision on a shallow fly ball.  Kelly got the worst of it, but shook it off and stayed in the game.  Mets fans everywhere held their collective breath until they found out that Alonso was not the one who was injured. 

In the 9th inning the 51s sent Borenstein, Alonso and Smith to the plate but came away with nothing to show for it.  Final score, Chihuahuas win by a score of 8-2.   


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After the game I hung around trying to get some one-on-one time with the players but it was not a night conducive to conversation.  

I did manage to corner Luis Guillorme for a quick hello.  We spoke about his surprising defensive struggles since he returned and he was writing it off to rust having sat on the bench most of his time in New York.  He did joke about one ball he surprisingly parked in the upper deck during the game but it was unfortunately a foul ball.  He also extended a hello to our own Mack.

I also had a quick exchange with Ty Kelly who was hobbling a bit after the game and we joked about the frequent flyer miles he's racking up on his trips back and forth to New York.  

Once again I encountered Gerson Bautista out in the hallway with some of the other Latin ballplayers but my fledgling Spanish was not sufficient to conduct an interview.  

After realizing I was not going to get any extended time with anyone I left and rode up in the elevator with some of the players and coaches but they were actively engaged in sort of a "can you top this" series of stories, so I didn't want to interrupt.  Hoepfully I'll have better luck tomorrow.

6 comments:

  1. Can't win em all...but a nice recap and you got a few nice tidbits in there with the players.

    Any sign of, or word on, Cecchini?

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  2. Kenny Rogers just told Syndergaard, "you GOTTA know when to hold 'em"

    McNeil with 2 hits and 2 runs continues 2 impress

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  3. Great all around effort last night. Nice win!

    Jeff McNeil has silenced the "boo-bird no-snap media critics" in practically no time at all. Outstanding player, like I have said from day one.

    There is no real sense in comparing Jeff to any other Mets players in the past or MLB player now. He is his own cat. Just enjoy watching this guy play may be sound advice, because we do not get to see young players like him every day.

    Amed and Jeff make for quite the middle infield and I am delighted both are here at the same one time as now. They can hit, they can run like deer, they can cover the whole middle infield like a Zamboni.

    Daniel Zamora is mesmerizing too. He befuddles and beleaguers opposing team's batters. He is something to watch pitch. Congratulations to Daniel on his excellent arrival. We need more good lefties and now we have one more.

    Think about it a moment. Amed, Brandon, Michael, and Jeff, all relatively new Mets to here, and all playing at a high level at the same one time. Pinch me. I couldn't be happier. The Young Guns have arrived!

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  4. One Last Ridiculous Commentary: The Dominic Smith Collision with Amed Roasario

    Two words seem appropriate, "enough now." It wasn't Johnny Callison and Tony Taylor worthy! Trust me.

    In his Monday post game televised interview, Dominic Smith I thought was very straight forward about running into Amed Rosario. He said, "I didn't have time to look down and scout where Amed was on the field. I had to keep my eyes on the baseball. I called for it, but I may have yelled for it too late."

    Firstly, Dominic Smith is a rookie first baseman. The Mets have been trying to make Wilmer Flores a starter here for how many years? Wilmer is a second baseman really. Dominic a first baseman really. Left field is totally new to Dominic and first base is still new to Wilmer. Both are on a learning curve of their own, and both are subject to make errors in judgement as they learn. End of story.

    I like Mickey Callaway a lot as the Mets manager and have said so here more than once. But my bigger concern with this 2018 NY Mets team, than kids learning new positions, has been with its bullpen. How many games have the Mets lost solely because the bullpen could not hold the lead? Twenty games sounds about reasonable to me. The Mets are fifteen games out of first place right now.

    It's not just the quality of some Mets relievers that tends to frustrate most Mets fans. It is the order in which they are often brought into the ball games that hurts their chances of winning some too.

    This team still has no definite closer either. It flirts with one reliever one day, then someone else the next. No one has stepped up really to grab it and prove that they are this guy.

    Down on the Farm

    Kivlehan iss raking, another HR last night. Krol looking somewhat interesting in lefty relief role. Roseboom may be about ready to bloom, another lefty reliever. And Christian Colon looking major league ready to my eyes. Tomas Nido with his fifth HR.

    Why are the lefty relievers so very important to this team?

    A. Because almost all the really good Mets starters are right handed. And also, the Mets have a couple duplicate types of right handed relievers.

    "There is still hope in Mudsville. Casey coming up."

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  5. On tonight's game.

    I hope that Jacob deGrom just goes out there and has some dang fun tonight. Takes it all in, relaxes, looks around and smiles. I hope that he sees all those people in the stands, press box, and in the broadcast booth, because none of them can do what he is doing this season. Not a one. Maybe Mike Francessa in his sleep and he likes tacos I hear. The rest of us cannot even dream that we can pitch like Jacob, for crying out loud already.

    I also hope that Jacob eats a big bowl of enchiladas and tacos right before the game starts, and then farts his way thru to victory the "flamethrower" that he is. And after eating that bowl of enchiladas and tacos, chases it down with a pitcher of fine south of the border jalapeno tea!

    Now that's what you'd call "Jalapeno Heaven!"

    This is baseball, it's supposed to be all about having fun. Make it so because these days they never come around twice.

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