Who Can Hit the Unhittable Tong? Nobody.
TONG IS FRANKLY BEYOND TERRIFIC
He does it yet again.
Yesterday, 11 Ks, no hits in 5 innings. 2.02 ERA, 83 Ks in 49 IP. FREAK!
In his last 40 innings, once the temperatures actually climbed above freezing, 72 Ks, (16.2 Ks per 9), and a mere 5 earned runs. In his last several starts, spanning 36 innings, just 12 hits allowed!
He has 3 AA starts since his AA debut last August which, in those 3, he has thrown 16 innings, allowed no hits, and fanned 33. WHAT?!
Seemingly MLB ready but for now still toiling (crushing) in AA.
(“PSST! PSST! Hey, buddy….Jonah Tong is ready to join the Mets right now, but please, I want to keep this under wraps…so don’t tell anyone, let’s just keep it between us, OK?”)
DODGERS/METS SERIES
Dodgers pitchers at home, coming into the series, were 21-9, 4.29. And 23rd in team ERA with a heavily injured staff. On the other hand, the Dodgers had scored 83 more runs in 59 games than the Mets.
Very good, tight first game win in extras. Blackburn was dandy.
Very good, tight 2nd game loss in extras, with the game lost when Nimmo misplayed a deep Freeman fly into a game winning double. Muncy’s second HR, in the 9th, on a Brazoban 97 MPH FB slightly above the strike zone…tip of cap to Muncy….he climbed up and blasted it. Mauricio 0-4. Rough first for Megill against lethal LAD, but great for the next 5 innings.
Game 3, Canning fired 6 scoreless. Don’t take him out of the rotation, you trigger finger fellas. It was 3-0 heading into the 7th. Then Pete cracked his 2nd HR, a tape measure 3 runner, to give him 5 RBIs (53 on the year) and a 6-0 lead.
Pete….and re-Pete. 6-1 win.
Dodgers looking mortal. Mauricio 0-4. Including at least one line out.
Game 4? Later today. After that…
COLORADO, ROUND TWO, COMING RIGHT UP
After having swept the Rockies at Citi Field last weekend, the Mets starting on Friday have a 3 game weekend series with the Rockies, who play much better, relatively speaking, at home. Thru Sunday, they were 3-28 on the road, but a relatively sizzling 6-22 at home. An incomprehensible 9-50.
The Rockies in their first 28 home games had a 5.93 ERA, and 6.4 runs per game allowed. Hopefully, Mets hitters tee off in the most hitter-friendly park against statistically struggling pitchers.
How bad have the Rockies been? For every run scored this year through Sunday, they have allowed two (184 scored vs. 369 surrendered).
But…they are now the HOTTEST TEAM IN BASEBALL, winners of 3 straight this week to jump to 12-50.
Baseball is so unpredictable. 9 wins in 59 games, then 3 straight Ws. SMH.
STANDINGS AND SMILES
Mets are 1.5 games ahead of Philly, ELEVEN GAMES AHEAD OF ATLANTA. And Philly has only scored 26 runs more than it has surrendered, which may indicate they’ve played a little better than their norm.
JOSMIR REYES
A new household name for rabid Mets fans.
18 years old, this DSL Mets catcher is seemingly incredibly incredible!
Through Tuesday, in his short career, he went 6 for 8 and 4 walks, with no strikeouts, and amongst his 6 hits were a double and triple.
On base 10 out of 12 times??
Heck of a career debut, I’d say.
Mike Piazza probably would say, “hey, even I didn’t start out like that!”
ARMCHAIR EXPERTS ARE WE
We all chat a lot about Drew Gilbert. Is he coming around? Yada Yada.
And not much chat about Gilberto Celestino. Why?
Gilbert (through Tuesday) was hitting .210, while Gilberto was hitting 303, and he hit .238 in 311 at bats at age 23 in the majors.
Gilbert, in roughly 500 PAs above A ball rehab in 2024 and 2025 is hitting .210. Rust?
Will Gilbert be better than Gilberto? I dunno. If you think so….
Are you really sure? Or just going along with the herd’s group think?
BINGHAMTON SNEAKILY IS 34-17 THRU TUESDAY
And that ain’t bad. Then Tong pushed them to 35-17.
Great pitching, improved hitting.
Team’s hottest hitter? The oft-discounted Nick Morabito.
Hitting about .320 over the past 6 weeks.
He can hit, and he can fly. 100 of 123 career steals. 78 steals in 167 games in 2024/25. Just turned 22. A top 10 prospect talent.
MLB disagrees, and has Morabito listed too low, listing him as just the Mets’ #17 prospect.
Last October, I rightly ranked him #8. I was right.
He’s real good. No “yeah, buts”.
A few weeks ago, as Kevin Parada slid to 10-81 (.122), I suggested a double downgrade to St Lucie. But Parada has turned it around, and is quickly up to .187. May the rapid climb continue.
Binghamton has 3 base stealers in the league's top 5. Morabito # 1 (19), and Alex Ramirez # 2 (18), although Alex has surrendered his power game, with just 1 HR, 7 doubles. (Alex stole 2 more on Wednesday and leads the Eastern League with 20, surging to .242. Maybe he is snapping out of it).
Binghamton leads the Eastern League with 75 steals.
League-worst Erie, by comparison? 14 steals.
BROOKLYN (37-15) IS SIMPLY LETHAL
Lock up the fine china!
Brooklyn is experiencing High Richter earthquakes at home plate!
How so?
12 runs on 15 hits on Tuesday. And 307 runs in 52 games (6 per game).
In a pitchers’ park, mind you.
I took a look at the Cyclones line up in the Tuesday box score.
Every one of them is a dangerous offensive player.
That is such a sea change from past years. Those hitters must be FEARED by opposing pitchers.
And their own pitchers are 3rd in ERA and 2nd in strikeouts. WOW.
(Of course, then Wednesday night comes and Brooklyn gets shut out on one hit, with the opposing starter throwing 9 innings and just 85 pitches. LOL…this game of baseball is unpredictable.)
9 comments:
So far the Mets staff has limited the Dodgers to a reasonable run total. That bodes well for our pitching. Now let's score more runs.
Paul, the hitting has been almost entirely Lindor, Pete, and Soto, with recent revival from Nimmo. Mediocre, or worse, beyond that. Will it pick up?I have hopes for Marte, Taylor is doing enough to supplement his superb defense. McNeil needs to rev up, as most certainly does Alvarez. And Mauricio is a wild card. Baty has slipped back in his last 10 contests. Thank heavens for our stars.
I like Josmil’s 83% on base %. Call him up.
Guys, right now the hitting behind the top 3 is not good. Someone from the trio of Baty/Vientos/Mauricio must step up and become a solid everyday player.
If McNeil is not hitting .280+ he really is of no use to use. I can deal with Taylor and the catcher in the 8/9 spot for defense, but the killer right now is Nimmo, He has to step it up. I forgot Marte, .233 doesn't cut it.
Unfortunately, I don't think the minors will help us this season.
I had such high hopes for Gilbert, now not so much.
Been offline at Doc - sorry
I'm going to spend more time on this on a future OBSERVATIONS piece, but... iMO,,,
Tong and McLain have the potential to someday become Koufax and Drysdale
Seaver and Koosman would be great as models to duplicate.
Koufax and Drysdale? LMAO Your a member of the what have you done for me lately club.
Anonymous shrugs off Tong’s brilliance. He has a contrary spirit. Comes out thru prayer and fasting.
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