Ex-Met Zack Wheeler Not “Ace” Enough To Win Sunday Night
The Mets entered Sunday with wins in 62 of their last 96 games, a scintillating pace.
Naturally, SD and Atlanta won. Nothing frankly has come easy to the Mets since 1969. Chicago White Sox led late, but fell to 36-120, and Miami is about to record its 100th loss of the season when it loses one of its next 6 games. But the D Backs blew a big lead to lose - yay!
Make it 63 of 97 for the Metsies, as they formed a village to collaborate on a tight 2-1 win. A gutsy 3 out of 4 wins vs. the Phillies in playoff-caliber circumstances.
Man, oh man.
Megill had 4 strong innings (5 earned runs in 25.1 IP (1.79 ERA) over last 5 critical starts), and Edwin had a 2 inning save, fanning the final batter on pure, unadulterated, sugary heat with runners on 2nd and 3rd.
Thankfully, Monday is off, and the Mets are in a great place to make the Wild Card. Hot dang.
Gotta do it the hard way, of course, with the next 3 games in Tomahawk-ville against a totally desperate opponent. After the 3 with the Mets, the Braves face a decent KC team, which is 8 over .500, but HAS LOST THEIR LAST 7 GAMES. WAKE UP, KC!!
Arizona has 3 against SFG, then 3 vs. SDP, while San Diego has a 3 game wild card lead, but having exhausted their supply of games vs. the High A White Sox, they have 6 games left, split between LAD and Arizona, coming up. Hairy last week, to the max.
The Mets needed to be beat the strong ex-Met Zack Wheeler, They did.
It has been some surge. Remember that the Mets lost 3 brutal games in Seattle in early August to fall to 2 games over .500. Then lost 2 of 3 to San Diego and fell to 68-63 after an August 25 loss 3-2, as the pen coughed up 3 runs in the 8th and 9th innings.
Since then? 19-6, despite losing McNeil and Lindor, and having JD Martinez hitting .096 in his last 15 games. GOOD GOSH!
(If the Mets took their Wild Card W-L record to the AL, they'd be leading by 5 games. Location, location, location).
2024 METS MINOR LEAGUE SEASONS HAVE ALL WRAPPED UP
Syracuse went out a 5-4 winner, with a walk off ground out by Luke Ritter, driving in his league-leading 93rd run. Syracuse had 5 runs on 5 hits, 6 walks and 6 Ks, 3 of whose being Jett Williams' whiffs.
Mike Vasil ended a difficult season, allowing 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs in 4 innings.
Wilkin Ramos moved to 4-2 in AAA, however, with 1.2 scoreless in relief with 3 Ks. The 23 year old was 6-3, 3.00 in AA and AAA, and could well be a Mets pen piece at some point during 2025.
JT Schwartz hit his 9th HR spanning the entire season, a 3 run shot, and averaged a HR every 52 plate appearances. If he can transpose those power #s in 2025 to average a HR every 25 PAs instead, he will up his prospect status.
Wyatt Young had 2 hits and an RBI and hit a fine .287 with a .387 OBP between AA and AAA. He had 2 hit games in 4 of his last 7 game starts.
Unfortunately, he has less speed and power than Luisangel Acuna, so he missed a call up, which instead went to LAA. Maybe next year for Young..
Fujinami, an enigma wrapped in a mystery, threw a perfect inning and fanned 2, ending up with a AAA ERA of 6.68. Too unpredictable. Many terrific outings, many horrific outings.
OH, MY ACHING TRICEPS
Joe DeMayo Sunday update (my comments in parens):
"Kodai Senga experienced a bout of right triceps tightness during his Minor League rehab start Saturday for Syracuse. Although Senga doesn't consider the issue serious, Carlos Mendoza said it will end his regular season."
(Simply put: Senga failed to reach 6 regular season innings.)
(And there was absolutely nothing regular about his season.)
"Senga could still contribute if the Mets reach the postseason, but that will depend upon his recovery."
(Doesn't it always depend on that?)
(Would a package of Depends help?)
(Which postseason, 2024 or 2025?)
(They just don't build them like they used to, huh?)
5 comments:
If we can beat Wheeler anything is possible. Two of three does it.
Hear, hear.
Pitching matters. Gutsy outing by Megill and the pen yesterday kept the Phils off the board. A measly 2 runs off Wheeler isn't exactly a
beating, but ya just gotta score one more than the opponent.
Megill has been great lately.
I still worry about Megill and Peterson. Both are great when they are up, but struggle to turn it around when they are down. We can't have downward spirals in the last six days of the race - especially in Atlanta. We must stomp on their confidence while our foot can reach.
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