Metstradamus - The Set Up

 

By metstradamus | April 27, 2021 10:51 pm

Garrett Richards had the Mets on a string all night. Is that really saying much these days? Probably not. But Richards held a clinic on how to beat the Mets, and it’s pretty simple:

First time through the order, you set them up with fastballs. For the first three innings, Richards threw 22 four seamers and nine sliders/curves. Skewed a bit as five of those fastballs went to David Peterson, but still almost a 2-1 ratio of fastballs to off speed pitches which took you through the entire lineup plus an extra at-bat to Francisco Lindor. One of those fastballs was smacked towards the Soft Drink Sections to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Then in the 4th, after the Red Sox tied it on a Bobby Dalbec home run that got way too much of the middle of the plate, the “fun” began. Dom Smith strikes out on a slider. Pete Alonso gets three sliders and then strikes out on a curve, so now he’s all aflutter. Michael Conforto got a couple of curveballs before he lucked out on a check swing double down the line in left, and J.D. Davis took a first pitch fastball to left for a base hit which sent Conforto to third. (J.D. Martinez was playing way too far in against Davis, but was probably sent in a bit to compensate for the fact that he’s a designated hitter disguised as a DH, and that kept Conforto from scoring. I’m still not sure if it was shrewd or lucky, but it was a low-key important point in the game.) But McNeil struck out swinging at a fastball after looking at two curve balls for ball one and strike two.

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