Who Didn’t Love Happy Jose?
Happy, and Funny, Can Be Two Different Things
BASEBALL CAN SURE BE FUNNY SOMETIMES
Jeff McNeil had a .314 slug % heading into the ASB. Miserable. .216/.276/.316. 24 RBIs in 88 games.
NIDO NUMBERS.
Since then, in 25 post-ASB games, his slug % is more than double than pre-ASB. .318/.360/.670. RUTHIAN NUMBERS. He had 4 HRs thru June. Now, he has 12.
A huge 2 run HR last night to turn an early 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead and allowed everyone to exhale.
Brandon Nimmo? 16 HRs at the ASB. .248. 63 RBIs. Nice.
But after the ASB, through 3 innings last night, he had 0 HRs and 4 RBIs, while hitting about .135. NIDO NUMBERS.
Then he clocked an upper deck HR in the 4th and added another hit.
That allowed everyone to exhale.
Note: Part of it may be the unforgiving home park, where Jeff and Brandon have hit just 9 of their 29 homers, with the other 20 being on the road.
Sean Manaea listened to the critique of starters walking too many guys and averaging 5.1 innings this year.
It was a very valid critique. The Mets (excluding the AA CWS) are worst with 470 walks, 189 more than the Seattle Mariners’ 281 walks allowed. 67% more Mets pitchers’ walks than the Mariners.
So, Manaea walked just one in 7 innings, 106 pitches, a marvelous result.
And FINALLY beat up a bad team, this time the Marlins.
40 games to go.
Go 40-0 and win 103 games. Not asking for much here.
Pete Alonso had a wicked line out - and 3 Ks. Tough season. He is still 11th in the majors in HRs.
Mike Francesca one-liner of the year?
“You have heard me say on numerous occasions, and it’s continued through the ownership change, that the Mets could screw up a one-car funeral.”
MINORS
Another “1968 Mets” lack of offense day.
Just 13 runs in the 6 games. Dreary. Not funny.
Blade Tidwell pitched very well. But lost again. Fell to 0-6, 5.55 in AAA.
Despite an OK 4.79 ERA after being promoted to AA…
Nolan McLean is 0-8 in AA. Ridiculous.
His last outing, 5.1 IP of 2 hit, shutout ball….Enough for a win? Nope.
“Gentlemen, this right here is a baseball bat.
Used for producing base hits and RBIs.
You ought to try it.”
These upper echelon failures are hurting this team. Failures like Alex Ramirez, Kevin Parada, Brett Baty (so far), and the loss of the expected numbers from Alvarez, Alonso and Mauricio have given this organization a black veil of offense that should not have been there had this team developed players correctly.
ReplyDeleteContinuing, this is from the NYPost this morning when discussing Vientos’ defensive shortcomings and discussing an alternative:
ReplyDelete“ But Baty’s woes at the plate have surfaced in the minors, where he has a .574 OPS and 23 strikeouts in his previous 80 plate appearances.
And his slump goes back farther than that, with a .668 OPS in 36 games since June 29.”
Baty has had ample time to show he is ready. He hasn't. Trade bait is his future.
ReplyDeleteBaty has 15 homers in 54 games. Works out to 45 in a full season. The kid will be OK.
ReplyDeleteI have a pet peeve: There is an article in The Athletic today telling us how much breaking stuff the Mets have faced this year and their struggles against it. From the article:
ReplyDelete“ Martinez is one of a handful of regulars in the Mets’ lineup whose production against breaking balls has dipped in 2024. He has slugged just .273 against them after slugging .590 against them last year. Pete Alonso has seen a similar drop in slugging against breaking balls: .289 in 2024, .491 in 2023. Ditto for Brandon Nimmo: .320 in 2024, .543 in 2023.”
“ Since the All-Star break, no team has seen more breaking balls than the Mets. Opposing pitchers have thrown the Mets breaking balls 37.1 percent of the time in the second half, which is the most in baseball over that span. The Pittsburgh Pirates have seen the second-most (35.1 percent), but still far less frequently than the Mets. In the first half, pitchers threw breaking balls to the Mets 32.5 percent of the time.
The uptick in breaking balls represents an adjustment from the league against the Mets. In June, when the club performed at its best, the Mets crushed fastballs — they had the fourth-best batting run value against them. During June, the Mets saw fastballs 56.6 percent of the time. Since the All-Star break, only the Philadelphia Phillies (50.2 percent) have seen fewer fastballs than the Mets (51.9 percent).
The Mets have been mediocre against breaking balls; since the second half, they rank 17th in batting run value against them and haven’t fared particularly well against curveballs, sliders or sweepers.
The Mets’ offense had scuffled in August up until the past three games; they’ve scored at least six runs in each. They entered Friday’s game with a .707 OPS in August, better than only 10 other teams. While the pitching staff’s issues — particularly with walks — haven’t helped matters for New York, the club’s strength is its lineup. And the group’s struggles had reflected the Mets’ 5-8 record in August heading into Friday night.”
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What the heck took so long for the Mets to wake up to this? Don’t they have someone assigned to tracking this? Are they always f’ing asleep?
They may be too far from the plate. Swinging at a lot of curves dead on the corner and just outside…and missing an awful lot
DeleteWith all the focus on analytics, it should not take an article to identify the precedence of breaking balls. Learn it and hit it, Mets.
ReplyDeleteAchilles heel.
DeleteRay, he could retire. Remember Cuddyer? Tore it up with Rockies in 2014, sold hard in 2015, and he skipped the last year of his contract and retired. Hs #s so far removed nd me of Cuddyer
ReplyDeleteThe Syracuse Mets were 60-35 on July 21. Then Gilbert returned. Syracuse has gone 4-17 since Gilbert returned. No doubt they are all giving it their all.
ReplyDelete