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4/14/21

Mets News and Breakfast Links 4/14/2021

 



Good Morning.  Happy Birthday Mark Bomback and Kyle Farnsworth.  Mets take two from Philly and move into 1st Place by percentage points.  

Section Links: Mets Links, MLB Links, and This Day in Mets History.

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Game 1 Mets 4 Phillies 2 (Box Score). Brandon Nimmo CF 0 for 2, 1 run scored, 2 walks, 2 Ks; Francisco Lindor SS 0 for 3, walk, run scored; Dominic Smith LF 1 for 4, HR, run scored, 2 RBIs, 1K;  Pete Alonso 1B 1 for 4, RBI, 2 Ks; Jeff McNeil 2B 1 for 4, run scored; Michael Conforto RF 0 for 2, HBP, walk; James McCann C 1 for 4; Luis Guillorme 3B 1 for 1, 2 walks; Taijuan Walker P 4.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 run – earned, 3 walks, 8 Ks; Miguel Castro 1.2 innings, 2 hits, 1 run – earned, 1 walk, 3 Ks; Edwin Diaz, no runs, no hits, 1 K; Trevor May (W, 1-1) 1 inning – 1 unearned run, 1 hit, 1 walk, 2 Ks. 








Game 2 Mets 4 Phillies 0 (Box Score). Brandon Nimmo CF 3 for 4, 3 RBIs, 1K; Francisco Lindor SS 1 for 3, walk; Dominic Smith LF 0 for 4, 2Ks;  Pete Alonso 1B 1 for 3; Jeff McNeil 2B 1 for 3, run scored; Kevin Pillar CF 1 for 3, run scored, 1K; Jonathan Villar 3B 1 for 3, 1 RBI, run scored, 1K; Tomás Nido C 1 for 2, triple, run scored, 1K; Marcus Stroman 6 innings, 4 hits, no runs, 3Ks; Jeurys Familia 1 inning, 2 hits, no runs.









NY Post:

Today's Game:

Phillies (6-3) @ Mets (2-3), 7:10 pm

NYM: David Peterson (#23, 25, LHP, 0-1, 13.50)
PHI: Zack Wheeler (#45, 31, RHP, 1-1, 2.31)

SportSpyder Mets Links: 

MLB and SportSpyder NL East and MLB Links:

Some of yesterday's MLB Game Highlights:







Here is yesterday's MLB Scoreboard.

MLB.com:

MLB Trade Rumors:

NY Post:


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Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com: 

Born on this date:

Died on this date:

Transactions:
New York Mets sold Duke Snider to the San Francisco Giants on April 14, 1964.

New York Mets released Grant Roberts on April 14, 2005.

National Pastime.com:

1976

On the north side of Chicago, Dave Kingman launches a homer down the left field line that hits a house 530 feet from home plate. The Cubs, as well as the home, survive the right-fielder's blast, defeating the Mets in the Wrigley Field contest, 6-5.

2001

The Reds beat Al Leiter and the Mets, 1-0, to set the modern National League mark for not being shut out by an opponent, scoring in their 175th consecutive game. Ironically, the record-breaking contest comes against the last team and pitcher to blank the franchise, a 5-0 defeat at Cinergy Field in a playoff game to determine the NL Wild Card.

 

2006

At the Mets Team Store beginning today through the April 17 tax deadline, fans can have their taxes done for free by Gilman Ciocia. The Shea TAX-TEAM will also prepare an automatic extension for those who are not ready to file.

 Baseball Reference:

1968: At the Astrodome, New York Mets pitcher Nolan Ryan earns the first of his 324 major league victories. The 21-year-old right-hander hurls six and two-thirds innings of three-hit, shutout baseball to lead the Mets over the Houston Astros, 4 - 0. Danny Frisella takes the save in 2 1/3 innings of relief. Tommie Agee goes 2 for 3 with two runs and Art Shamsky 2 for 3 with two RBI. Larry Dierker is the losing pitcher.

1976 - In the 6th inning of today's 6 - 5 loss to Chicago, the Mets' Dave Kingman hits what will become widely regarded as the longest home run ever hit in Wrigley Field, estimated at 600 feet in many of the next day's press accounts, with the putative "paper of record" going as high as 630. Some cold water is applied to these claims by longtime Cubs' broadcaster Jack Brickhouse, speaking in 1982 with Paul Susman of Baseball Digest: "Brickhouse revealed that the ball was greatly helped by a strong wind of about 35 miles per hour. Brickhouse estimated Kingman's blast in reality went about 500 feet." To be fair to Kingman, the Cubs' own scoresheet for this game estimates "530 to 550 feet," which in conjunction with researcher Bill Jenkinson's assertion of 530 feet as the distance between home plate and the point of obstruction, would suggest a typo or simple misreading as the culprit in the inflated Times estimate.

1999: John Franco strikes out the side in the 9th inning of the New York Mets' 4 - 1 win over the Florida Marlins, becoming the second relief pitcher in major league history to reach 400 career saves.

2011: The Rockies complete a four-game sweep of the Mets by taking both ends of a doubleheader at Citi Field, 5 - 4 and 9 - 4. Troy Tulowitzki leads Colorado's offense by homering in all four games and going 10 for 16 with 8 RBI in the series.

Centerfield Maz:

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19 comments:

  1. Tom BrennanApril 14, 2021 at 7:09 AM

    I saw (maybe on your post one day, John) a video of Wilson Ramos working out this off season - he was in incredible shape. He looked fat and out of shape last year - a Buffalo bred for slaughter. Six homers so far sure surprises me - but I wanted him (if he was willing) to be signed as McCann's back up. He signed for $2 million, right?

    The Braves surrendered 14 runs - which shows they are not invincible.

    Ohtani is really fast, too - can do it all.

    The Jake curse seems to continue - he is scheduled to start at 11:30 tomorrow, and it is supposed to rain heavily. Baseball should be more creative these days - if you see the weather like that, why not move up the game into a doubleheader today?

    Villar made a shaky throw yesterday, but he clearly can hit.

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  2. John From AlbanyApril 14, 2021 at 7:33 AM

    Ramos has hit more HRs than the entire Mets team. He may also have more at-bats than the entire Mets team...not really. Just seems that way.

    Would rather have Nido as a backup than Ramos. Need defense at Catcher.

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  3. AnonymousApril 14, 2021 at 7:52 AM

    I love 7-inning games. I would be happy if MLB switched to all 7-inning games, it would transform everything about modern baseball for the better.

    It cuts out all the garbage relievers, returns focus to the game's starters (and stars).

    Teams could go back to the 10-man staff, eliminating 60-90 of the worst pitchers in MLB -- and it would deepen the offensive side. We'd see the return of, say, the lefty pinch-hitting specialist (think: Staub, Heep, Franco, Kranepool), the elite speedster, the platoon.

    Complete games would become a thing again.

    Gary is moronic and so dumb about this. He sees a 7-inning game as an opportunity to pull the starter sooner -- and still ask for 9 outs from the pen. He wants teams to PH for pitchers in the 4th inning! But it's the exact reverse. It's an opportunity for starters to go 6-7 innings regularly, where pens would only need 3 outs.

    And, obviously, the games don't take forever, while placing new emphasis and importance on every AB, every inning.

    It's better baseball and more in line with the game as it was played in the 60s, 70s.

    Jimmy

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  4. Tom BrennanApril 14, 2021 at 8:20 AM

    Jimmy, great points. Jake would like it...how many games has he left with a lead that the pen coughed up? He'd get a decision almost every time in 7 inning games.

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  5. Tom BrennanApril 14, 2021 at 8:24 AM

    John, defense is nice, but a back up catcher who can hit? Who, if the starter gets hurt, can come in and hit like a starter? I'll take that any day over a guy who bores a hole in the batting line up. This team shows us over and over again - if you lard a few non-hitters into a line up, runs become scarce very quickly. My brother agrees with me - nothing more boring or drearier than a club that can't hit and score.

    Perhaps Nido hits in 2021, he did hit a triple. But if he is going to hit .200, give me Ramos as a back up any time. I am still not convinced Nido stays above the Mendoza line.

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  6. TexasGusCCApril 14, 2021 at 8:56 AM

    Great work John.

    I disagree with Jimmy on the seven innings...

    I had a major issue - really major - with the Mets not playing for one run in the last of the seventh inning last night after the two guys got on to lead off the frame. Was I alone?

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  7. John From AlbanyApril 14, 2021 at 9:20 AM

    Not alone Gus. I would have bunted there. I was getting ready to re-run my "The Answer is Edgardo Alfonzo" post one more time.

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  8. TexasGusCCApril 14, 2021 at 9:33 AM

    Well, Lagares hurt his calf and is on the IL. We’re not even into mid-April and Lagares is already in mid-season form.

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  9. TexasGusCCApril 14, 2021 at 9:34 AM

    Thanks for the feedback John.

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  10. Tom BrennanApril 14, 2021 at 9:47 AM

    Lagares - not running into a wall or tearing a ligament in his thumb is major progress.

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  11. John From AlbanyApril 14, 2021 at 10:07 AM

    FYI, Delwyn Young who was the hitting coach for Fonzie on the 2019 Brooklyn Cyclones Championship team and preached putting the ball in play with men in scoring position and shortening the swing with two strikes, has been hired as the manager of the State College team. This is the College Wood Bat MLB draft league that replaced the NY Penn league.

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  12. Remember1969April 14, 2021 at 10:09 AM

    Gus, consider me a member of your group . . the runner on first didn't matter. The guy on second needed to be at least on third after Nimmo's at-bat.


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  13. TexasGusCCApril 14, 2021 at 11:30 AM

    69, if you’re waiting for a hit, why not get that guy to third base with Lindor and Smith coming up? Then, you still have two chances to get a hit or maybe score with a squeeze, a grounder, a fly ball, a wild pitch, a passed ball, an error, a balk, and how many other ways there are in addition to that hit you’re looking for?

    Why the fk didn’t they just hire Girardi? Then, they didn’t even interview Showalter? Rojas went from last coach on the staff to manager?

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  14. Tom BrennanApril 14, 2021 at 11:51 AM

    Gus, the list of bad managerial moves seems to grow daily. We are only 7 games in.

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  15. UnknownApril 14, 2021 at 1:38 PM

    Happy birthday Boom Boom! Mark Bomback had a good year pitching for the 1978(?) Mets. Was never able to repeat it.

    Bob W

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  16. AnonymousApril 14, 2021 at 1:54 PM

    While some of you are calling Rojas "stupid" for not bunting, you might want to consider consulting a "run expectancy matrix."

    In 2020, calculating every situation throughout the season, for example, with a runner on first base with 0 outs a team will score 0.94 runs on average. With a runner on first base with 1 out, that number goes down to 0.56. Or, imagine you bunted him over to second base, according to the data, the team scores an average of 0.72 runs in that situation.

    Of course, it's situational and complicated. There are times when playing for one run is all you need.

    Anyway, in 2020 (there are minor variations each season), runners at 1st and 2nd with 0 outs results in 1.55 runs on average.

    If you successfully bunt him over -- and we'd have to consider the real possibility of an unsuccessful bunt attempt, a DP, a whiff, and so on -- with runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out results in 1.42 runs on average.

    In addition, if you succeed with that bunt, you effectively take the bat out of Lindor's hands and give it to a slower hitter more prone to a DP or a K.

    I don't think it was "stupid" at all. I am sure that it was a reasonable, defensible position to take. The guy on 2B was already in scoring position, let's give Nimmo, Lindor, and Smith a crack at bringing him home.

    Jimmy

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  17. Remember1969April 14, 2021 at 3:25 PM

    What are the run results of runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out? I am not going to use the word stupid, I am just going to call it bad baseball. If you need one to win and you have players on first and second with nobody out, it is inexcusable to not move the lead guy to third. In the old days, two bunts wins the game. Or a fly ball to right field, or even a grounder to the right side.

    They had two of the teams better baserunners on base - Villar on second, Pillar on first.

    Brandon Nimmo should know how to put a bunt down and scurry to first base. One thing that the lack of bunts in the current game also does is lessens the amount of time the defense works on those plays. They still have to make a play that is not normal to get the out at first.

    My last point is that you are technically correct that a runner on second is in scoring position. A runner on second with less than two outs cannot score on a fly ball to the outfield, or a wild pitch (usually), or even a slow roller or chopper in the infield; a runner on third has those possibilities.

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  18. AnonymousApril 15, 2021 at 7:52 AM

    Remember,

    It wasn't "bad baseball." You might not agree, but there was thought and data and instinct in Rojas's decision.

    First, I won't answer your "run expectancy" question; if you are intellectually curious, there's a ton of info available. Personally, I've managed more than 500 baseball games -- men's hardball, travel, Little League, all levels -- and the matrix offers good guidelines. But it fails to offer the particulars.

    In this case -- the decision you think of as so obvious -- would have started by taking the bat out of the hands of your hottest hitter, Nimmo, and then taking it out of the hands of your best player (who you just signed for $341 million).

    Wow, genius, bro.

    So now you've got the bases loaded and one out and it is all up to Dom Smith. If, that is, Nimmo's bunt was a perfect success (not guaranteed in today's game). Now there's a force at home, a slow runner at the plate, and so on. I still love our chances here. But I liked them better with runners at 1 and 2 with nobody out, Nimmo, Lindor, Smith coming to the plate.

    Again: The context I walked into was Rojas being called "stupid" by the bunt-crazy crowd for what I consider to be a reasonable, fair decision. He's not stupid. Taking the bat out of the hands of Nimmo & Lindor would not only have been highly dubious, it might not have been popular in the clubhouse, either. These are real people and a show of confidence is meaningful beyond the specifics of any situation.

    NOTE: One of the things I hate about this site is all the unnecessary clutter. Centerfield Maz has been blogging forever; if I want to read his stuff -- and I almost never do -- then I go there. I'm not a big nostalgia guy, personally. If it's a big hit with Mack's readers, fine. But is it? To get back to this specific conversation I had to scroll endlessly through a bunch of stuff I've already seen (and most I don't care about -- link after link after link -- just to find this thread again). When I click on the "comment" in the right sidebar, it brings me directly to the conversation but it is shaded and "closed" for further comment. I think it hurts reader input, buries conversations and enjoyable dialogue. Because we might disagree here, but it's fun.

    Jimmy


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  19. John From AlbanyApril 15, 2021 at 8:12 AM

    Great points as always Jimmy. As far as the clutter, these posts are always a work in progress. I have been thinking about breaking this into three separate posts and have been trying it out with the separate "Around the Majors" and "Games Played" posts that run over night. My next step could be to limit some of the quantity here.

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