Hey, ladies and dudes, let's do a Bob Murphy Happy Recap here.
Baseball is such a funny game. Sometimes, it's like basketball, where the game is decided right at the end.
The fabulous Edwin Diaz comes in to try to garner a 5-4 game save, only to lose the save on an infield squib, a stolen base, an advancing grounder, and a yo Paulie Goldschmidt slow ground ball hit/error on Escobar. 4th RBI of the day for big Paulie.
Now 5-5, bags full, over 30 pitches in, Edwin sucks it up and records his second K to escape the inning with just one run allowed.
9 times out of 10, that outing is a save. But...those are the twists and turns of baseball. Dinks can equal line drives in baseball.
It would have been so darned good to get out easy with a win, since the supremely valuable Max Scherzer reportedly will miss the next 6-8 weeks with a pulled oblique. (OH, BLEAK!)
Bottom 9th magic? Nope. Not this time.
Nimmo ropes one to 2nd, one out. Mark Canha grounded to deep 3rd but to the wrong 3B, Arenado, and then Lindor (coming up with two hits, two walks) fanned on a pitch a foot outside. On a previous pitch to Lindor, the announcers commented on him taking his HR cut again - which most times, just creates a big breeze and nothing more.
On to extras:
Automatic man on second, Alonso helped mess up a play at first, diving in front of McNeil and probably helping to mess up McNeil's throw, runner on, then Colin Holderman is up against the legend, Albert Pujols. First and 3rd, none out.
DP grounder scores the run, then a quick grounder and Holderman is out of the inning. Man, oh man, do I hate that man on 2nd rule in the 10th inning. Mets trail, 6-5.
But, the Mets had their own man on 2nd, and Alonso scorched a 2 run blast into the second or third deck. Concrete no doubt was damaged when it landed.
Hypersonic. 447 feet. If no stands were in the way, 547 feet.
7-6 WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!!
Major league leading 36th RBI in game 40 for the Pounder, a pace that could bring him to a new team RBI record if maintained. I questioned his MVP creds after a bad strikeout Sunday, but he proved me wrong today, big time. M-V-Pete.
Colin Holderman's Wonderful Life continues, picking up the win, his first, and getting HOF Pujols to hit into a DP, to boot.
26-14, and heading to a Colorado winter series.
Before I go on, Jeff McNeil picks up 3 RBIs and made 2 nifty outfield plays that the man who wants to play everyday, but didn't today (Dom Smith) would not have made. And, note to Dom: Pete is the first baseman. Come ready to play and help "Make the Magic." Please don't make it that Pete is the Incredible Hulk and you are the Incredible Sulk.
Minors:
More Than OK Connor Grey had his second straight scoreless outing, spanning 12 innings, and Syracuse won in extras, 1-0 in the first game. if he keeps it up, he could get a call to Citi this year, perhaps sooner than later. We could be singing, "nothing but Grey skies." No oblique issues for young Mr. Grey.
Then Syracuse scored just one more in game 2, to lose 4-1.
They fanned 15 times - but that took 15 innings, so not so bad.
Batting averages of the nine hitters on that 2nd game team?
.200, .198, .210, .227, .190, .173, .152, .134, .143.
38 games into the season, those are the hitters' averages?
Defies belief, don't it?
In Binghamton (11-24), the good news is they didn't lose by two touchdowns. Just 13-1. A guy named Gaddis (not to be confused with a Mets minors catcher with the same last name) threw 6 no-hit innings and fanned 10 against the B Boys, who ended up with 1 run, 2 hits, and 3 errors. Losing for that team is as easy as 1-2-3. Prolific in one respect - in striking out 15 times.
Brooklyn? Closer score (3-1 loss), but no hitting either there. Joe Suozzi, the son of NY gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi homered for the Cyclones, but is hitting .132. Which, in the Mets minors, makes him one of a multitude hitting below .200. Team? Four hits, fanned 12 times.
St Lucie' though? They always hit...so I LOVE ST LUCIE.
7 runs, 10 hits, 4 homers, they just HIT, which is why they are a rip-roaring 26-10. Well, they also pitch swell, too. Somehow, though, they fanned 15 times as well, as 4 of their hitters fanned 3 times apiece.
So those 4 teams combined to fan 57 times tonight. Swish!
One guy I love to mention once in a while is Brooklyn's Matt O'Neill, who always has fanned a lot, but nevertheless gets on base a lot somehow. Up 60 times in 2022, has fanned 20 times, but gotten on base 24 of the other 40 times that he didn't fan.
That K rate is a career improvement. In his career so far, he's had 283 official at bats, with a very high 124 Ks, yet a dandy career .408 on base %, better than Brandon Nimmo, due to 80 walks! Matt, you keep getting on base above 40% and the rest will take care of itself.
BEFORE I GO AWAY TO CHILL:
Cold weather is expected in Denver for the Mets weekend series. Yesterday, though, it hit 90 degrees there, and it is expected to be back up to 83 by next Thursday. Just their luck.
This apparently is the frosty forecast:
Snow develops in the mountains first before moving south and east through the day on Friday.
In Denver and for areas below 6,000 feet in elevation (most of the Denver metro area), rain will change to snow sometime on Friday afternoon. Depending on the exact timing of this system, a slushy 2-5 inches of snow could fall in Denver overnight Friday into Saturday morning.
However, any snow that does fall would only stick to colder surfaces (car tops, grass), and roads will remain wet.
Happy Friday.
35 comments:
My thoughts...
- There is a chance we will be snowed out in Colorado today and Saturday. Low there is forecast for 27 and snowy.
- Buster Olney wrote a piece that said the Mets might be interested in adding either RF Justin Heyward or 2B/3B Mike Moustakas once the trade season begins. Normally, I would recommend against spending this kind of money for an aging bat, but that hasn't stopped this owner yet.
- In my opinion, I think it is time to start weeding out the bad guppies by beginning to move up the majority of top talent from St. Lucie to Brooklyn. The rotation alone could easily promote Calvin Zeigler and Mike Vasil.
- Going into this game, the Mets have only lost two games in a row ONCE
- My guess is that the Max oblique issue will be around for awhile. Add to this Jake and the loss of McGill for awhile, this might be a good time to look for a quick fix for that disgruntled first baseman we have.
- Do not look ahead at the upcoming schedule. Big test coming up.
- Kudos go out today to Chris Bassett who had a good start. Not a great one but good. Also, Lindor for stringing together 8 straight on-base at bats. Not bad for someone in a slump. And Drew Smith who returned to throwing runless 8th innings.
And, of course, there was Pete who seems be putting this this team on his back.
Look. We probably won a game we should have lost but who cares.
Win the series
Shit happened to Diaz. No biggie.
As for the weather, maybe there is a ray of sunshine here. Could get one two days off to decide what the rotation will look like going forward.
People calling for Szapucki but I expect next 5 games, regardless what day they are.played on, to be Walker Cookie, Williams Peterson and Bassett
Szapucki has not helped himself by throwing just 21 innings so far this AAA season. But he seems to be throwing well. It will be the brain trust's call as to whether he is ready. His last two starts have involved 67 and 70 pitches. Kind of low. My guess is if he did start for the Mets, you might get 4 innings out of him.
Essentially replacing Max Scherzer with Tom Szapucki is a bit of a drop off, one might say.
This is the second time that I am aware of that Pete has led off an inning with a 2-run HR. Gotta love the new rules, gotta love Pete. So happy that McNeil is back to his old self - hitting the ball everywhere, playing well on defense wherever he is needed. And the dynamic between he and Lindor seems to have shifted for the better.
And by the way, Diaz is still OK. Don't worry about the blown save. Had trouble controlling the 101mph fastball when he got excited, but he settled down and closed out the inning.
There were several people on this site that said Holderman should make the team out of spring training. Don't you love being right?
Holderman is the Golden Man right now. Living the dream.
Stunningly bad...Cyclones have hit 7 HRs in 33 games. In their league, Greensboro has hit 52, more than 7 times as many! How the heck do the Mets draft/sign?
Brooklyn .215, Binghamton .222, Syracuse .209 (and likely under .200 if you exclude the exploits of hit machine Wyatt Young). Truly bleak.
Baty - people ask how soon will he be ready. I ask, why has he fanned 46 times in 34 games? When does that get corrected? Will it get corrected? Should he be traded?
It is really weird how they have handled him in the past 3 years. At this rate, he will stretched out when he turns 35.
The Mets might want to consider drafting 3b 1b of Jacob Berry
Mack, it is still early, but I have removed the rose colored fan glasses. I am disappointed and puzzled by Mark Vientos' slow start, but he did start slow last year, also. He did have a .580 slug % last year, and a still not bad .440 this year in AAA.
Baty? I am CONCERNED about his high K rate.
He struck out a lot in the Arizona Fall League and also this season in AA. Between the two levels, 77 Ks in 246 PAs in his last 59 games. That is just high.
His average is OK, his on base % is good, but his slugging % in that period is just .365. So it is not a case of a big slugger fanning a lot. That's Nolan Gorman. I am not sure other teams will look at Baty and think, "I gotta have this guy." So far, feels like a Nieuwhenhuis to me.
209 Ks in 757 minor league plate appearances. Kirk fanned "just" 715 times 2,951 PAs in 711 minor league games, by comparison. Far better.
Prove us wrong, Brett. Less Ks, more power.
To be fair to both, Vientos and Baty are both 22 1/2 years old.
Glad to see Pete atone for Sunday with the game-winning blast.
Edouardo Escobar is starting to make me want J.D. Davis as a defensive replacement. This is NOT a good thing.
Eduardo looked like a soccer player on that 9th inning flub.
He has caught a lot less flak for his weak start than the dyed-hair Lindor has so far, and sometimes it pays to be low-key and not the lightning rod.
Vientos hates cold weather.
He would win the MVP if he played for Miami
I'm starting to think we have a third base problem
The Mets will take Hayward if the Cubs throw in PCA. Otherwise, screw them!
Mack, Law has Berry going first overall. I want Berry and a pitcher. Not feeling this roll the dice thing on the the outfielders.
Two Petes are clearly better than one - unless one is Pete Harnisch.
Bring back the Crow!
I get it with Vientos - I hate cold weather too. When it was cold out in early spring ball, my hands were like ice.
Have to have a pitcher.
Regarding Berry,.one caution is he is more of a first baseman than third
The Crow has left the nest.
Crow is crushing A ball. The Mets made a big mistake last year trading him.
Steve Cohen let Francisco Lindor be the GM last year and this the results. All the promises Alderson and Cohen made at the presser of the team purchase, were broken as soon as permissible.
Three comments:
(1) Now 40 games in - a quarter of the way. I have often said that if you break the season down into (16) 10-game blocks, win 6 of those 10 every time, you win 97 games and guarantee post season. Hard to do, but in the 4 10-game blocks so far in '22, the Mets are 7-3, 7-3, 6-4, and 6-4. That gets it done.
(2) To continue, the offense of the last two days has to show up far more than the offense of the first two games of the Cardinals series. Without three top starters, they need to start scoring a minimum of 6 runs a game.
(3) As Mack noted above, the Mets have lost two games in a row exactly once in their first 40 games, and that was in games 4 and 5, no two game losing streaks in the last 35. That also gets it done. It is good to have the mindset that 'tomorrow is another day, go get them then'. They seem to be of the that mindset.
Good points
June is beast so if we can play .500 ball or close to it we should be fine BUT the return of Max and Jake of course looms large and whoever has to fill Max's spot looms the largest.
And Marte
Wonder how well Vientos is handling third.
Ray, 7 errors at 3b in 25 games for Vientos.
Two big reasons the Mets only lost 2 in a row once?
Scherzer and Megill.
Every time I have seen him, he has played well in the field. Great range, good accurate throws. Have not seen the E’s to understand the situation.
I have been told he has improved greatly.
Don't leave Bassett out of that..he has kept them in every game he has pitched
If Vientos hits, he will pressure Escobar. Vientos has a challenge - hitting surrounded by miserable hitting teammates
Gus, well put. Lindor had oversized influence in getting Baez here, and as a consequence, Crow out.
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