With our beloved Captain on the verge of returning and playing games again, he will have an opportunity to capture one of the few records he doesn’t have – games played. Can you name the players who have played the most games in Mets history? Good luck!
Ed Kranepool David Wright Jose Reyes Bud Harrelson Jerry Grote Cleon Jones Howard Johnson Mookie Wilson Darryl Strawberry Edgardo Alfonzo Lee Mazzilli Mike Piazza Rusty Staub Rey Ordonez Daniel Murphy Wayne Garrett Keith Hernandez Carlos Beltran Todd Hundley John Stearns Kevin McReynolds Wally Backman Lucas Duda John Milner Ron Swoboda
The Mets had one of those odd not quite a doubleheader type of days with the Mets and Cubs needing to complete yesterday’s suspended game. The Mets would pick up where they left off by shouting themselves in the foot.
The 10th inning ended on a strike ’em out – throw ’em out double play. Jay Bruce struck out, and Michael Conforto was caught stealing.
In the 11th, Wilmer Flores lined into a double play.
As bad as that was Paul Sewald imploded in the 11th. He first walked Javier Baez and then threw away a sacrifice bunt attempt. That left no choice but to walk Kyle Schwarber to load the bases.
After he struck out Albert Almora, Jr., Mickey Callaway went to Daniel Zamora to get Ben Zobrist. He didn’t, and the Cubs won the suspended game 2-1.
After two close and heart wrenching losses in a row, the Mets set out to ensure there would be no room for late game heroics. They immediately put up a four spot courtesy of a Todd Frazier grand slam:
? Chicago, Chicago, that TODDlin' town.
Chicago, Chicago, Frazier will show you around. ? pic.twitter.com/Qhy19b8E56— New York Mets (@Mets) August 29, 2018
Of course, the Mets gave this type of run support to Jason Vargas and not Jacob deGrom.
What was interesting was Vargas actually let those four runs hold up even if he was a little shaky.
He escaped a first inning jam with runners at the corners by striking out David Bote. He allowed just run in the second after Willson Contreras led off with a double.
From there, Vargas really settled in, and he was surprisingly keeping the Cubs at bay. Vargas’ final line would be 5.1 innings, four hits, run, one earned, two walks, and six strikeouts.
With his four straight good start in a row, he’s lowered his ERA from 8.75 to 6.56. Perhaps more impressive than that was his retiring a batter the third time through the lineup for the first time all season.
Vargas got the win because not only did the bullpen make those runs hold up, but the Mets offense exploded in the seventh. Amazingly, it was all with two outs.
Wilmer Flores hit a single, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on an Amed Rosario bloop single.
Rosario scored after a Jeff McNeil walk and Austin Jackson RBI single. Both McNeil and Jackson scored on a Just Release Him Already RBI triple.
The Mets plated two more runs in the ninth on a rally started when Tomas Nido reached on a fielding error by Cubs reliever James Norwood. The rally culminated with Frazier and Brandon Nimmo hitting RBI singles to make it 10-1 Mets.
In the bottom of the ninth, 26th man Jacob Rhame who was called up for the ninth time this season allowed two runs before finally closing the door on the Mets 10-3 victory.
Overall, the Mets played 11 innings, scored 10 runs, and went 1-1. It’s been one of those seasons.
Game Notes: With the loss, Sewald is now 0-11 in his career with one save.
While it may sound strange now, back in 2004, the Mets actually traded away Jose Bautista to try to make the postseason. As absurd as that may sound, the Mets obtained him for just Justin Huber, and he was then flipped for Kris Benson.
As odd as the circumstances surrounding his arrival and departure for the Mets might’ve been in 2004, his story nearly 14 years later might top it.
After a storied Blue Jays career, the best Bautista could muster last offseason was a minor league deal from the Braves to return to third base. After 12 Major League games with the Braves, he hit .143/.250/.343, and he would be released.
On May 22nd, Bautista was sitting on his couch in Tampa when the Mets came calling.
A team once so blessed with outfield depth was in desperate need for an outfielder, and Bautista was the best of the lot. On that day, Bautista went from his couch to being instead in the starting lineup.
Bautista was signed as the Mets were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. The team who was once 12-2 was 24-19 and trailed Bautista’s former team by 3.5 games.
Well, since Bautista was signed, everything fell apart to the point the Mets were sellers at the trade deadline. While there were many people to be blamed, Bautista wasn’t one of them. In fact, the Mets did catch lightning in a bottle with Bautista.
In that horrid June when the Mets went 5-21, Bautista was great. In 25 games that month, Bautista hit .250/.434/.536 with seven doubles, three homers, and 11 RBI.
Bautista was everything the Mets hoped he would be. He not only played a very solid outfield, but he would also handle first, second, and third. Seemingly each and every day, Bautista found a way to contribute. That included him hitting his first career walk off homer:
It was a signature moment for a 15 year veteran who had a number of them in his illustrious career.
Fourteen years after having pass on by, the Mets got a chance to see Bautista put on their uniform. Bautista was willing to contribute to the Mets in any way they asked, and contribute he did.
He’s now joining Asdrubal Cabrera in Philadelphia in the hopes of another magical postseason run with more epic bat flips. Despite his destination, it will be fun to see him get that chance.
Best of luck to him.
We got a sense early tonight just how much Jacob deGrom wants this Cy Young Award with him ramping it up to 100 MPH to strike out Javier Baez to end the first.
"We ever seen a 100 from DeGrom before?” ? (via @Mets)pic.twitter.com/esuLc7G2CW
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) August 29, 2018
Thus began another magical night of watching deGrom pitch.
The Cubs were doing all they could do to get to deGrom. In fact, they found a way to get their leadoff hitter on in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. deGrom responded nearly each time with a combination of guile and defense.
What’s interesting about that was deGrom slipped attempting to fielding a Baez infield single. He was initially limping, but he shook it off much like he shook off base runners all night long.
The real threat against deGrom came in the seventh, and the Cubs finally broke through with deGrom and the Mets getting some tough luck.
After a Kyle Schwarber leadoff single, Albert Almora, Jr. laid down a bunt. deGrom pounced on it and got Schwarber at second. Ben Zobrist, who entered the game 1-for-10 against deGrom, hit a ball that went under Jay Bruce‘s glove to set up runners at the corners.
David Bote hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring home the Cubs first run of the game.
To be fair, while Bruce’s inability to make a play at first helped lead to a run, the Mets did some make some nice plays in the field behind deGrom, especially Brandon Nimmo and Austin Jackson.
Still, when you play players out of position and when you give deGrom little to no margin of error, these types of plays get magnified.
After the Bote sacrifice fly, the inning was not over. After Bote was Mets killer Daniel Murphy came to the plate. In a tough seven pitch at-bat, deGrom finally won the battle and struck out Murphy to escape the jam.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp7iilF8i8E
After the string of leadoff hitters reaching and with that high stress inning, you’d understand Mickey Callaway pinch hitting for deGrom with two outs in the top of the eighth. He didn’t.
For what it’s worth, deGrom was the only Met to get an RBI as the team continued to shoot itself in the foot trying to score runs for deGrom.
In the first, the Mets couldn’t bring Amed Rosario home after he hit a leadoff double off Cole Hamels.
In the third, the Mets tried to make something happen with Rosario and Jeff McNeil trying to execute a double steal. While it was initially ruled Rosario evaded Bote’s tag, he was ruled out on review. The inning sputtered from there.
Both rallies were killed with a Michael Conforto strikeout. For his part, Conforto had a very tough night at the plate going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. In total, he’d leave eight runners on base.
In the fifth, deGrom singles to short and Rosario bunted his way on. McNeil then couldn’t deliver the two out hit.
Finally, the Mets broke through in the sixth. As alluded to earlier, deGrom delivered the big hit with a two out RBI infield hit.
In the seventh, the Mets had a golden opportunity to push across an insurance run.
McNeil hit a ball which looked out. Unfortunately, it got caught in the wind and stayed in the park. Counting on nothing, McNeil busted it out of the box with a leadoff triple.
Jackson then lined out to Baez, and Conforto lined out to Rizzo. Todd Frazier was intentionally walked and stole second, but it was for naught as Bruce struck out to end the rally.
In the eighth, the Cubs once again tried to crack deGrom.
Rizzo singled, and Heyward walked to start the inning. Then like he had all night, deGrom struck out Baez. He then grabbed a comebacker from Victor Carantini to start the inning ending 1-6-3 double play.
All told, deGrom’s final line was 8.0 innings, eight hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and 10 strikeouts. All that was good for was a no decision.
He now has 19 quality starts which ties him with Tom Seaver for most by a Met in one season. He also has 24 straight starts allow me three or fewer runs which ties him with Dwight Gooden.
Despite him reaching Seaver and Gooden heights, deGrom walked away with a no decision.
With the rain delay which came in the top of the tenth, the game was a microcosm of deGrom’s season.
Game Notes: Before the game, Jose Bautista was traded to the Phillies for a player to be named later or cash.
Despite the Phillies claiming Jose Bautista off waivers, the Mets risked getting a deal getting nixed due to injury by putting him in the lineup. The reason for the decision was Bautista’s numbers against Jon Lester.
Essentially, the Mets risked a possible piece for the future to win a meaningless August game.
Perhaps inspired the Mets got off and running. Amed Rosario hit a single on the first pitch of the game, stole second, and scored on an Austin Jackson RBI single.
In what would become a theme for the night, Noah Syndergaard immediately away the lead starting with a Daniel Murphy leadoff double.
Murphy did not seem as if he was initially going to second, but with Michael Conforto not fielding it cleanly with the backhand, Murphy took the extra base. He’d score on an Anthony Rizzo RBI double.
To his credit, Syndergaard got out of that jam partially because he picked Javier Baez off first, and the rundown was executed well enough to prevent Murphy from scoring from third. That was a moot point after the Rizzo double.
The Mets reclaimed the lead in the second with Conforto hitting an absolute monster home run:
Just your typical *squints, double-checks notes* 472-FOOT CRUSH JOB from @mconforto8.
That's not a typo. ?? pic.twitter.com/w94CsZ1zpj
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 28, 2018
The second inning rally began anew with Kevin Plawecki drawing a two out four pitch walk. Surprisingly, Lester then walked Syndergaard leading to Rosario hitting an RBI single to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.
It was a very uneven game for Plawecki. Behind the plate, he struggled, but at the plate, he excelled.
In the third, Syndergaard seemed close to working his way around a Javier Baez leadoff double. With runners at the corners and two outs, Syndergaard threw a pitch in the dirt.
Rather than getting down to block the call, Plawecki tried to backhand it leading to a wild pitch and a run scoring. Subsequently that at-bat, Syndergaard threw one in the dirt, and Plawecki didn’t get down quick enough. Fortunately, Jason Heyward didn’t move up because he lost track of the ball.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t matter.
After a Willson Contreras infield single, Mickey Callaway ordered an intentional walk to load the bases. With two outs and Lester up, a career .092 hitter at the plate, it should have been inning over.
Instead, Syndergaard threw a fat pitch, and Lester hit a two RBI single giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead.
In total, Syndergaard pitched six uninspiring innings allowing four earned on nine hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Maybe it’s all the missed time, but Thor is not Thor right now.
When he departed, he was in line for the loss. That was until Plawecki got the run back he allowed with a game tying homer in the seventh:
Outta here. Tied up. ? pic.twitter.com/ltVD463vJt
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 28, 2018
With the much improved Mets bullpen, it seemed like the Mets were going to actually have a chance to pull this one out. Unfortunately, Jerry Blevins would have his first poor outing on over a month.
Rizzo led off the top of the seventh with a ground rule double which bounced off the tape:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/1034272590053945344?s=21
Ben Zobrist, who has really become a Mets killer, gave the Cubs the lead with an RBI double. Heyward singled putting runners at the corners with no outs leading to Callaway bringing in Drew Smith.
Smith was able to navigate his way out of that jam by yielding just an RBI groundout to Contreras.
Daniel Zamora pitched the eighth, and he blew through the first two hitters he faced. Then his seemingly unhittable slider was hit by Rizzo for a home run giving the Cubs a 7-4 lead heading into the ninth.
Despite going 0-for-3 after being put in the lineup for his great numbers against Lester, Bautista would draw a leadoff walk off Pedro Strop.
Predictably, Jose Reyes didn’t come through instead hitting into a fielder’s choice.
That didn’t stop the Mets from loading the bases with one out. With the bases loaded, the Cubs went to Jesse Chavez for the save.
He dominated Rosario getting him to strike out. Chavez would then strike out Jackson on a couple of dubious strike calls, especially strike three, to end the game.
At the end of the day, Syndergaard looked less god than human, and Bautista went hitless in a game he played due to his bat.
Game Notes: Rosario was picked off by Lester for venturing way off first. Jeff McNeil‘s 11 game hitting streak ended with him popping out in a pinch hitting appearance.
The Mets Fan
I’m Steph, aka whutyearisit on the Twitter. I’m a senior in college and an aspiring sports journalist, but my account is reserved for very strong Mets opinions only.
How You Became a Mets Fan
I grew up a mets fan from my dad, uncle and brother. I really didn’t get into the Mets like i am now until 2012, right around Nohan time.
Favorite Mets Player
Mike Piazza was my first favorite player, but Jacob deGrom has stolen my heart, and I love him dearly.
Favorite Moment in Mets History
I was at Game 3 of the World Series and Game 1 of the NLCS. I have been to many a game in my time, but i think my fave all-time game was Asdrubal Cabrera Bobblehead Day on July 1, 2017. I was on rain delay theater that day.
Message to Mets Fans
Don’t take out frustrations on bad players or players out or position or a first-year manager or even the GM. All of these problems spread across multiple GMs/managers. The Wilpons are the problem and nothing will be solved until they’re gone.
The Nationals scoreless streak had reached 32 innings, and with the way Steven Matz was pitching, it seemed like that streak may reach all the way to 36 innings with the Mets completing a sweep where they allowed no runs.
For a second in the sixth inning, Trea Turner looked to snap that streak with a lead off home run, but the umpires on the field ruled it was a double. It was a call upheld on replay:
https://twitter.com/MLBReplays/status/1033804376765341696
While it didn’t go out, it was just a matter of time before the Nationals scored. Anthony Rendon singled Turner to third, and Turner would score on a Juan Soto ground out. Matz would get out of the inning without allowing another run, but the damage was done.
Matz was destined to lose this game as the Mets mustered only three hits in the entire game against Jefry Rodriguez and the Nationals bullpen. Jeff McNeil was one of the three Mets who got a hit, and he would leave the game in the seventh with a strained quad.
Entering the eighth, Paul Sewald took the mound to try to keep the game to one run hoping beyond hope the Mets could run into one and tie the score. Instead, Sewald imploded.
Sewald loaded the bases and walked in a run. Then Bryce Harper entered the game as a pinch hitter, and he unloaded the bases with a three RBI double. On that play, Jose Reyes took the relay throw and spiked the throw home. With Tomas Nido unable to field the throw, Soto would score easily.
Tyler Bashlor would come on for Sewald, and he really wasn’t any better allowing homers to both Wilmer Difo and Eaton.
All told, it was an eight run inning with five runs charged to Sewald and three charged to Bashlor.
In the ninth, Corey Oswalt, a starting pitcher, was asked to come in and pitch an inning. On the bright side, he accomplished that task by recording three outs in the top of the ninth. On the downside, he pitched terribly.
The Nationals were were clearly not running up the score going station-to-station instead of taking the extra base. This led to them loading the bases. Difo first singled home a run, and Spencer Kieboom walked to force home a run. Mark Reynolds would then unload the bases with a grand slam.
That would make the score 15-0. To put in perspective how poorly this Mets season has gone, this wasn’t even the Mets worst loss to the Nationals. On July 31st, the Mets would lose 25-4 against the Nationals, which was the worst loss in franchise history. So to that extent, today’s game wasn’t so bad.
Game Notes: Jay Bruce played all nine innings at first base.
The Mets are so far under .500 that they can’t even get in the mix for what is a wide open National League Wild Card. They’re not even following the Nationals lead who traded off Daniel Murphy and Matt Adams at the same time the Mets are playing Jose Bautista and Austin Jackson everyday. Given the record and the poor direction of this organization, it becomes increasingly difficult to find reasons to watch.
With that in mind, here are reasons to watch the Mets other than you love the Mets or you hate yourself:
- Will Jacob deGrom finish the season strong enough to the point where he overcomes everything to become the Cy Young winner with the fewest wins from a starting pitcher?
- How will the Mets handle first base with Jay Bruce, Wilmer Flores, and Dominic Smith? Will the team actually call up Peter Alonso?
- Is Zack Wheeler for real, or is the guy we have known him to be during his Mets career ever going to show up again?
- Can Kevin Plawecki be an everyday catcher? With the Devin Mesoraco neck injury we should finally find out.
- Which one of the young relievers are for real? So far, the answer appears to be Drew Smith and Daniel Zamora, but maybe just maybe Tyler Bashlor can enter the mix as well.
- How much progress can Amed Rosario make on both sides of the ball?
- Will Michael Conforto continue this second half surge, or will he regress as his shoulder presumably tires?
- Is Jeff McNeil really the next Daniel Murphy?
More than any of this, we wait for baited breath to see if David Wright will actually take the field for the Mets again. If he does, that will be the greatest reason of all to watch the Mets again this year.
Seeing how the Nationals have performed recently, including how they performed yesterday against Jason Vargas, it’s difficult to get excited about any pitcher dominating them.
That said, Zack Wheeler has been great recently and today was another one of his terrific outings.
Wheeler pitched seven scoreless allowing six hits and three walks while striking out four.
This was the eighth time over his last 12 starts where he has gone at least seven innings. It is also the sixth straight start he’s allowed two runs or fewer.
For a while, it looked like Wheeler would walk away with the no decision as Tanner Roark was matching zeros with him over the first five innings.
Up until that point, the Mets just had three hits and no one reached third.
Finally, with one out in the sixth, Amed Rosario would hit a solo homer to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
El Niño looking more like El Hombre right now. ? pic.twitter.com/BXeRgB2wlt
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 25, 2018
The Mets would tack on runs in the ensuing two innings.
In the seventh, Todd Frazier would continue his hot hitting with a homer of his own.
In the eighth, Rosario beat out a potential double play ball extending the inning. He would then score as both Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto would hit singles off Nationals left-handed reliever Matt Grace.
That 3-0 lead was more than enough for Wheeler and what has been a terrific Mets bullpen this month.
Daniel Zamora retired Bryce Harper to lead off the eighth. Drew Smith then pitched an inning before handing the ball to Jerry Blevins who recorded the seventh save of his career.
Just like that, it appears the Mets are trending in an upward trajectory while the Nationals are struggling to find themselves. Hopefully, that will last longer than just the final two months of this season.
Game Notes: This is the first time the Mets recorded consecutive shutouts since 2015. Conforto started the game in center for the first time since June 26th.
For the second straight year, Seth Lugo has the best Player’s Weekend jersey with “Quaterrican.” Seeing that jersey as well as some others we will see over the course of this weekend coupled with the color players from Mets past, it does not you wonder which jerseys Mets players from years past would have selected. On that front, the Mets bloggers offer some of the jerseys we would have like to have seen.
Michael Baron (nym.news)
Tom Seaver. “THE FRANCHISE.”
Second place is Gary Carter. “KID.”
Mark Healey (Gotham Baseball)
Metstradamus (Metstradamus Blog)
Franklin Gutierrez, who was a Met for ten minutes, was nicknamed “Death to Flying Things”. I’m sorry but the only two things that could top that would have been Richie Hebner using a middle finger emoji, or anything Willie Montanez would have come up with.
Also, did you know that George Foster‘s nickname was “Yahtzee”? I would buy that.
Greg Prince (Faith and Fear in Flushing)
I like seeing the nicknames we don’t learn about as matter of course, the ones that are personal or known more in the clubhouse than in the public. So ideally, Tom Seaver would have been SPANKY, Willie Mays BUCK and Howard Johnson SHEIKH.
Also, though it would have been hard to resist CHOO-CHOO for Clarence Coleman, I’d like to believe the catcher of few words from the 1962 Mets would have gone with BUB. And given that it was 1962, I could only hope everything was properly spelled.
James Schapiro (Shea Bridge Report)
Mets Daddy
Looking back, a Darryl Strawberry “Straw” jersey would have been hilarious for the noted coke problems of that team. It would have been funny to see Paul Lo Duca wear a “Captain Red Ass” jersey. Funny, but not likely to happen.
Ultimately, the jersey I would have liked to have seen could have been done this year. After all, what would have been better than seeing Jacob deGrom opting to chose “Sidd Finch” for his jersey?
The answer to the rhetorical question is reading the blogs from the writers who are so generous in contributing their time. Certainly,t hey all have stories to tell about these and many more players. In fact, they may have some nicknames all of their own, but to find that out, you will have to visit those sites.