Well, in a season where the Mets are desperately looking to find rock bottom, they made a step closer to it getting their doors blown off by the Marlins in an 8-2 loss.
Corey Oswalt made his first professional start a day earlier than expected because Jacob deGrom had a family emergency.
Considering deGrom missed time two years ago with his son Jaxon having a medical emergency, we can all only hope his family is alright.
Still, this put Oswalt in a very tough spot as he had approximately three hours to prepare for his first MLB start.
Things went well for Oswalt through two innings. Then Lewis Brinson hit the first pitch of the third out of the park to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead.
The wheels quickly came off from there with the Marlins scoring six runs on five hits off Oswalt. Oswalt would then get lifted with one out left in the inning.
This put the Marlins well on their way to an 8-2 victory. With the win, the Marlins, who actively made moves to win as few games as possible, now have one more win than the Mets this season.
If you’re looking for a bright side, somehow Amed Rosario drew three walks. Also, Tyler Bashlor threw 2.2 innings allowing one run on three hits.
Of course, there’s a question why a Double-A closer was throwing 36 pitches in almost three innings.
But that’s the Mets for you. Even when things are bad, you can always find how things are worse.
Game Notes: Jose Bautistahas started eight straight games, and Dominic Smith has not started since Tuesday.
Now that Sandy Alderson is no longer the General Manager of the Mets, it is time to wish him luck in his fight against cancer and to take stock of his tenure with the Mets. To that end, can you name the best player he acquired at each position during his tenure? Good luck!
Noah Syndergaard Kevin Plawecki James Loney Neil Walker Todd Frazier Juan Uribe Asdrubal Cabrera Andres Torres Curtis Granderson
With the news Sandy Alderson is stepping aside from his GM duties to focus on his health, instead of doing the typical roundtable answering a different issue of the day, the Mets Bloggers instead took time to offer our best wishes to Sandy Alderson:
Greg Prince (Faith and Fear in Flushing)
Sandy Alderson should only feel as good as all of us did when the team he built clinched a spot in the World Series.
Michael Baron(nym.news)
I know it has been a bad run on the field for Sandy the last couple of years. And as he said today, the job is merit based, and he knows how poorly he’s ultimately performed. But when it comes to health, and serious health problems which Sandy clearly has, all of that gets pushed aside and you simply hope Sandy and folks all around the world who are just like him – who are good, honest people – don’t have to suffer and get well.
Personally, I wish nothing but the best for Sandy. He has been nothing but nice, respectful, and honest to me when we have talked, and he has taught me a ton about the business of baseball over the years. He’s the kind of person that, when you talk to him, or listen to him, you learn something new, and I think all of us could use more people like that in our lives.
Mathew Brownstein (MMO)
With the news from yesterday’s press conference that Mets’ general manager Sandy Alderson would be taking an immediate leave of absence due to a recurrence of cancer, only one thought came to my mind: thoughts and well wishes for a speedy recovery. That should be the consensus message for the 70-year-old former Marine, who is the second-longest tenured Mets’ GM in franchise history. Baseball takes a leaping step back for any health related matters, and any debate or discussions on the quality of Alderson’s job since the offseason of 2010 takes a back seat for the moment. There’s a time and a place to have a conversation about his tenure in New York, though, the well-respected Alderson only warrants thoughts and prayers during a time that he and his family need it the most. Alderson has always come off as a man with great composure, integrity, and professionalism, and rightly deserves the same treatment back at a time when he faces an uphill climb back to good health. Get well, Sandy.
Roger Cormier (Good Fundies)
In a time when there are more children masquerading as adults than ever, Sandy to me has always been an adult. His biggest weakness is knowing this about himself, but considering the level of difficulty he’s dealt with in his time with the Mets, he pretty much earned the occasional smugness. Wishing him well might be a relatively empty and futile gesture, but it’s the best I can do with my limited resources. It’s something I would imagine Sandy can appreciate.
Mark Healey (Gotham Baseball)
I have always had mixed feelings about Sandy Alderson the Mets GM, but Sandy Alderson the man is a far more important consideration. Cancer hits home for all of us, and at this time, I will pray for Sandy’s healing and full recovery for him and his family.
Ed Marcus
In my time as a blogger I have had the fortune of speaking with Sandy on a few occasions. He has been nothing short of the consulate gentleman regarding us bloggers. He never spoke down to us & never ignored our questions – no matter of negative, misinformed or downright stupid they may have been. I thank Sandy for everything, and I wish him a fast & full recovery from the scourge of cancer
Tim Ryder (MMO & FOB)
Sandy, We, the fans, may not have always agreed with your moves or decisions at the helm of our beloved Metsies, but this isn’t about baseball. This is about life. This is about putting aside opinions (which we notoriously have a ton of), or differences thereof, and supporting one of our own. That’s what this fan base is all about. Loyalty and respect. You’ve always been upfront with us, through the good times and the bad ones. Thank you for all that you’ve done for the organization that we love so much. We are behind you one-hundred percent as you continue your battle and hope to see you back at Citi Field in the very near future. All the best, sir.
Dilip Srindhar (MMO & MMN)
For the longest time, I was a casual baseball observer who looked at batting average, RBI, and Fielding percentage. Then the 2015 Mets happened. I then started paying more attention to the advanced stats and learned all about them and have continued to learn about them. Sandy famously brought the Mets into the sabermetrics (sorta) age. Sandy definitely influenced my interest in statistics and it is an area of interest for me in school now. Towards the end of his tenure, I disagreed with several of his moves but I also think the fans will look back fondly at his tenure. Not just at 2015 and 2016 but they should have a nice group of prospects that will be up in a few years. I guess the best thing I can say is, thanks for giving your all out there, Sandy. Best of luck with your battle.
Mets Daddy
Like you, my father is a Vietnam veteran. My father is the reason why I am a Mets fan to this day, and it was because of that 2015 team you built that my father, brother, and I got to fulfill a lifelong dream and go to a Mets home World Series game. Put another way, what you have done for the Mets mattered to people, and we are forever in your debt for what you have done for this team and its fans.
In return, the best I can do is offer my prayers to you and your family. God bless you.
In the comments section below, I encourage everyone else to share their well wishes and good thoughts to Sandy Alderson.
Through the mess that has been the Mets of late, the one thing that has been consistently going well has been the starting pitching. Ok, Brandon Nimmo too, but the starting pitching has been quite good.
That is what has made this run so frustrating. The starting pitching has kept them in games and games close only for the team to invent ways to lose games.
Tonight was another outstanding start from the Mets rotation. This time it came from Zack Wheeler, who has recently been good except for that one inning or batter.
Tonight, there was no except. Wheeler was just dominant.
Through seven scoreless innings, Wheeler allowed just five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. It was about as good a performance as you have seen from him.
Better yet for him, he actually got some run support.
In the third, Amed Rosario, who was finally playing again after Jose Reyes got the playing time he demanded, started a rally by getting hit by an Ivan Nova pitch.
After being sacrificed to second by Wheeler, it seemed like he’d be stranded there. However, Jose Bautista would deliver a two out opposite field RBI double, and then he’d score on an Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single.
The Mets 2-0 lead would expand to 3-0 on a Wilmer Flores solo homer in the sixth.
Bring up the ?! pic.twitter.com/CJdFWT9jWN
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 28, 2018
The question with this bullpen was whether a 3-0 lead would be enough. Initially, the answer seemed to be no.
Robert Gsellman came in and he was hit hard with the only out he recorded was a sacrifice fly from Austin Meadows. When Josh Bell followed the sacrifice fly with a hard hit single, Mickey Callaway didn’t mess around.
Callaway pulled a struggling reliever for a hot one in Tim Peterson. Callaway’s faith in him was vindicated as Peterson got the next two outs to get the Mets out of the inning preserving the 3-1 lead.
Despite pitching 1.2 innings last night, Jeurys Familia came on in the ninth for the save.
Before he got an out, the Pirates had the bases loaded with no outs and a run scored.
For some reason, through most of this, the Mets had no one up in the bullpen after an inning where Gsellman got the quick hook.
After Familia gave up a four pitch walk, Callaway went well to Anthony Swarzak, who either doesn’t need much time to warm up or came in way too soon.
Well, it was the later as on Swarzak’s first pitch, David Freese hit a two RBI single to give the Pirates a 4-3 lead. Again, there were no outs in the inning.
All said and done, it was Pirates 5 – Mets 3. Another game and series lost by a Mets who is funding ways to lose games.
Game Notes: Cabrera is hitting again going 3-4 with a double, RBI, and a run. Corey Oswalt was held back from his Triple-A starts so he can make a start this weekend for the injured Jason Vargas. Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto swapped defensive positions with Nimmo manning center and Conforto on left.
When it comes to Jeff Wilpon, you keep wondering how one person could be just so despicable. Over the past few years, he fired an unwed pregnant woman leading the team to have to settle a lawsuit.
In 2015, when former co-owner Nelson Doubleday died, the Mets held a moment of silence, but they refused a uniform patch or even a black armband for the man who rescued the Mets in 1980.
As reported by the New York Time this past December, Jeff Wilpon holds a grudge against Ed Kranepool stemming from an incident from about five years ago when Kranepool said rather than buying shares available for sale, he wanted to buy the team from the Wilpons because he could run the team better.
In response to this, with Kranepool suffering through real health issues causing him to sell off some of his personal memorabilia, Kranepool said, “Not that I need them to do anything for me, but Fred or somebody could have called to say, ‘How you feeling?’”
In and of themselves, each of them are despicable acts, but in true Jeff Wilpon fashion, he seemed to raise the bar yesterday.
In what was a surprise press conference, where Sandy Alderson was announcing he was stepping aside so he could continue his battle with cancer, Jeff Wilpon led things off by saying this:
This is a results business and we’re well below our expectations, from ownership on down. Talk to the baseball department, the scouting department, the development department, the coaches, the players. Nobody expected to be in this position.
You have a range of emotion just like our fans that include incredibly frustrated, disappointed, angry about our season at this point, certainly. We’re in a results business and at this point, we’re well below our expectations.
From there, he went into saying how Sandy Alderson was basically stepping aside, and how there was going to be the triumvirate of J.P. Riccardi, Omar Minaya, and John Ricco, who would bring the decisions to Jeff much in the same way they were handled by Alderson.
Put another way, before giving Alderson the floor, Wilpon trashed the job Alderson did this year, essentially said he could do Alderson’s job better, and then he sat there stone faced, disinterested, and playing with the paper in his hands as Alderson, a man fighting for his life, fought through tears to get through everything.
Mets GM Sandy Alderson announces that he will take a leave of absence as he battles cancer. pic.twitter.com/jAXPkRUTzJ
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 26, 2018
Jeff Wilpon just sat there as Alderson took responsibility for this season and in his saying his performance does not merit him returning to the Mets after he hopefully wins this battle with cancer. Mets fans can all agree Alderson made some mistakes over the years, but you’d be hard pressed to find a single one who believes everything was completely his fault.
To that end, this smelled more like a “dignified” firing with cancer as an excuse that allowing a good man to focus all of his energies fighting cancer and then being given an opportunity resume his duties as the Mets General Manager. Certainly, Jeff Wilpon had plenty of opportunities to say Sandy was welcome to return to the Mets, but he always made sure to steer clear of that.
Perhaps most disgusting of all was there was not one thank you uttered from the lips of Jeff Wilpon. Not one.
This is a man whose hiring probably helped the Wilpons retain control of the team post-Madoff. This was a man who did the rebuild which led to the Mets making it all the way to the 2015 World Series. He is just one of two Mets General Managers to make consecutive postseasons.
Last year, after the season fell apart, he focused on saving the Wilpons money than maximizing the return for each and every single of those the players traded.
Mostly, this was a good man who fought for his country, and who did all he could do for the Mets. In all the years after 1986, Sandy Alderson was quite possibly the closest to winning that third World Series.
When he leaves, he leaves behind players like Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, and Amed Rosario. He also leaves behind a farm system with Andres Gimenez, Mark Vientos, David Peterson, Justin Dunn, Peter Alonso, and so much more. Long story short, he did an admirable job in difficult circumstances.
At the very least, even as Jeff Wilpon was trashing him and allowing Alderson to take the heat all upon himself, you would think at some point Wilpon would offer a simple, “Thank you.”
Thank you for serving the Mets for the past eight years. Thank you for 2015. Thank you for allowing us to retain control of the team.
That “Thank you” never did come, and we shouldn’t be surprised if it never comes. After all, Jeff Wilpon has shown himself to be a despicable person who can’t help one gravely ill person in Kranpeool, who fires pregnant women and jokes about it, and lastly, allows Alderson to take the heat for all that has gone wrong.
The point cannot be driven home enough. Jeff Wilpon is a petty and despicable man, and what he did to Alderson yesterday was inexcusable.
For about the millionth time, shame on him.
Coming off the news their general manager, the man who brought all of them to the Mets, was once again fighting cancer, and he was going to take a leave of absence, which was phrased more like a termination, the Mets seemed game to win one for Sandy Alderson.
In the first, surprise leadoff hitter Jose Bautista led off with a single off Pirates starter Chad Kuhl. After two quick outs, he found himself on third after an Asdrubal Cabrera walk and a Kuhl wild pitch. Both runners would score on a Wilmer Flores seeing eye single through the left side of the infield.
From there, the Pirates would make three errors, Pirates pitching would throw three more wild pitches, and Kuhl would leave early due to injury. They would not be able to take advantage of any of it, which put Steven Matz in a precarious situation.
To start the game, Matz was terrific, and he would not yield a hit until David Freese hit a leadoff single against him to start the inning. That leadoff single would create some trouble for Matz.
Elias Diaz would double putting runners at second and third. Both runs would score on successive RBI singles from Jose Osuna and Gregory Polanco.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets would have an opportunity to reclaim the lead for Matz. After Kevin Plawecki was hit by a pitch, the Mets would have runners at first and second with two outs. Jose Reyes would fly out to left to end the inning. On the play, Pirates outfielder Austin Meadows almost overran the ball, but he recovered in time to make the inning ending catch.
That all loomed large as it allowed Mickey Callaway to give Matz the seventh. With two outs in the inning, a terrific outing was spoiled as Polanco hit what looked to be the game winning homer.
Fortunately for Matz, the Mets would bail him out as Michael Conforto delivered hit own two out home run in the bottom of the inning to tie the score anew.
With Matz off the hook, Callaway initially went to Anthony Swarzak to keep the score tied in what would become a truly bizarre top of the eighth.
With Josh Harrison following a Meadows one out walk, Callaway took no chances, and he brought in Jeurys Familia. Familia used his fabled sinker to induce what should have been an inning ending double play. That never materialized as Reyes took his sweet time not only getting to the ball, but also flipping it to Cabrera.
With Harrison making a good hard-nosed slide, Cabrera had little choice but to record the out and jump to avoid the slide. That offended Familia who got into words with Harrison leading to the benches clearing. Things died down when Cabrera hugged Harrison, which was something the booth did not take kindly.
Familia still got out of the jam, and he pitched a scoreless ninth. Tim Peterson, who has been very good in limited duty, followed with a scoreless tenth.
In the tenth, Conforto got things started with a leadoff walk against LHP Steven Brault. Things got more interesting when Todd Frazier followed the walk with a single. After Cabrera popped up not one but two bunt attempts, with the second one being caught, Flores would get his third walk-off hit of the season with a single down the third base line.
On a day of tears, it is quite fitting that Flores would be the guy to get the game winning hit.
Game Notes: Before the game, Luis Guillorme was sent down and Gerson Bautista was called up in his place. Flores now has nine walk-off RBI which ties David Wright‘s club record.
The Mets Fan
I’m Jack Ramsey, a 15 year old writer for MMN from Central Florida.
How You Became a Mets Fan
I became a Mets fan just through generations. My grandfather was a Dodgers fan until they moved, and he picked up the Mets in 1962.
Favorite Mets Player
My favorite Mets player is Yoenis Cespedes.
Favorite Moment in Mets History
My favorite Mets moment in history is the sweep of the Nationals in D.C. in late September.
Message to Mets Fans
Be patient. It’ll come. Just have faith. Players will get healthy, and the lower level of the farm is stacked with arms and just added another good bat through the draft. The systems better than were told by the national media, and it’ll only get better
If you had the pleasure of watching Luis Guillorme play middle infield in the minor leagues, you had the privilege of watching a virtuoso at work. He had the ability to make the impossible seem plausible, the difficult seem easy, and perhaps just as impressive to make the routine look routine.
Defensively, he could be the best player in the entire Mets organization this side of Juan Lagares. Offensively, well, he had work to do.
While he had work to do, he continued to make strides. Over the past three years in the minors, he increased both his walk rate and his wRC+. He worked both on bunting and hitting the ball with more exit velocity and a better launch angle. Really, he was working to do anything he could do to make himself a Major League hitter.
When he was called up to the Majors on May 11th, he may have been making progress, but he was not ready to make the leap to the majors. However, with his being on the 40 man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft and the team facing a number of injuries, he was needed in the majors.
It’s been a struggle for Guillorme since getting called-up. Not only was he asked to play third, a position he had not previously played as a professional, but he struggled at the plate. With those struggles, he has become buried on the bench being nothing more than a pinch hitter.
During this stretch, a stretch which may potentially stunt his development, Guillorme said nothing. No complaints. No excuses. Nothing.
That was the case yesterday when he made a couple of errors and another misplay. Instead of whining about rust, lack of playing time, and not being in the best position to succeed by his manager Mickey Callaway, Guillorme owned up to his mistakes and made no excuses.
Seeing how hard he works as a player, and seeing his making no excuses, why is he used as a pinata for those people who want to call upon Jose Reyes to play more for some reason or other.
Guillorme is not someone to develop in the way u mean. Reyes numbers are skewed by fact that Callaway has not put him in the best position to succeed. They are both low ceiling. This is a silly argument and I'm incapable of convincing someone so I prob shouldn't have started it https://t.co/YFtnl6JIG2
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) June 24, 2018
That’s just one example of the unfair treatment Guillorme has received from those in the media who would rather have a wife beating bad baseball player get more playing time. The narrative on Reyes has gotten to the point where they suggest he has not been put in a position to succeed, which is completely absurd because Reyes was getting the playing time befitting a utility player, which is what he signed on to be.
As an extension, the people holding the water for Reyes and the Wilpons decide that since they can’t defend Reyes based upon his play on the field, they would rather trash a player like Guillorme.
It’s nonsense, and it has to stop.
Day-in and day-out, Guillorme is there waiting for his chance. He’s working on his game. He’s not speaking to Matt Ehalt of nj.com and saying things like, “I believe in what I can do. But it’s hard for me if there isn’t opportunity out there.”
Nope, Guillorme keeps to himself and works hard. His reward? People going out of their way to trash him for making the simple mistake of getting called up before he was ready, arguably still out-performing Reyes, and being the being labeled as the guy who is preventing Reyes from getting in the lineup.
Guillorme deserves better than this garbage treatment.
For quite a while, Mets fans have bemoaned the ridiculous lineup with Eric Campbell and John Mayberry, Jr. hitting in the middle of the lineup. As bad as that lineup was, tonight’s ridiculous lineup might have taken the cake.
Despite Luis Guillorme arguably being the best defensive shortstop in the entire Mets organization, he started the game at third with Jose Reyes, a player who has been a bad everything for a few years now playing the most important position on the infield.
Dominic Smith started the game in left field because for some reason the Mets wanted to get another look at Kevin Plawecki at first base. This meant the far superior pitch framer in Plawecki was at first base while Devin Mesoraco caught.
Taking it slightly a step further, because of the injuries to pitchers, Seth Lugo, a man who looks like Andrew Miller in the Mets bullpen, was pressed into another start.
Really, looking at this lineup, you have to wonder if the person making that lineup wanted to get fired. Considering Mickey Callaway essentially let it be known he didn’t want to play Reyes, he may not be the person filling out the lineup card.
Whatever the situation, it was a sick joke, and it was a joke that had no one laughing, especially not Lugo.
The good news for Lugo was he would allow just one earned run in his five innings pitched. The bad news is when he left the game in the fifth, the Mets trailed 3-0. The reason for that is the defense behind him was terrible.
What was a surprise was both of the errors leading to the unearned runs came from Guillorme.
Guillorme couldn’t field a ball off the bat of Starling Marte. Marte was probably safe anyway, but it was ruled an error. The first batter of the game reached, would promptly steal a base, and he would eventually score on a Josh Harrison sacrifice fly.
It was Harrison who reached on a two out throwing error by Guillorme in the third. He’d score on an Elias Diaz single. It should be noted that was a ball Rosario probably fields.
Really, the only earned run against Lugo was a second inning Gregory Polanco second inning solo shot.
After Lugo labored through five, partially due to his defense abandoning him, it was time for Tyler Bashlor to make his Major League debut. He was rudely welcomed to the big leagues by a Josh Bell excuse me opposite field line drive two run homer.
Other than that, Bashlor looked pretty good in his two innings, and it made you question why the Mets have been subjecting their fans to the Chris Becks and the Jacob Rhames of the world.
While none of this was a surprise, okay, the Guillorme defensive struggles was a bit of a surprise, the Mets fighting back in this game was a bit of a surprise.
After Jameson Taillon dominated the Mets for six innings, the team would finally get to him in the seventh.
A pair of doubles by Reyes and Plawecki scored the first run. After Tyler Glasnow entered the game, Guillorme walked, and Wilmer Flores hit a pinch hit three run homer to pull the Mets within 5-4.
That prompted Clint Hurdle to bring in Steven Brault. He walked Michael Conforto putting the tying run on base with no outs. The rally would die there as Jose Bautista struck out, and Asdrubal Cabrera hit into an inning ending double play.
In the eighth, the Mets put two on with one out. That rally fizzled as Plawecki struck out, and Guillorme grounded out.
That was pretty much it for the Mets. In his second inning of work, Robert Gsellman couldn’t get through the ninth unscathed. This time a tough play for Guillorme was scored a hit. Gsellman would do well to limit the Pirates to one run when they had the bases loaded with one out, but really, who cares at this point?
The Mets aren’t doing nearly enough to win games, and now, they are putting out embarrassing lineups.
Game Notes: To make room for Bashlor on the roster, Chris Flexen was sent down to Triple-A.
My grandfather always said if you have nothing nice to say about someone, you should keep it to yourself. Granted my grandfather was hardly unique in that advice, but it does seem to be a good adage for life. Unfortunately, when you want to talk about the Mets, this necessitate you remain almost completely silent.
Right now, about the only good thing to talk about when it comes to the Mets is Brandon Nimmo. To that end, the Mets Blogger Roundtable undertook telling everyone what our favorite things about him are:
Roger Cormier (Good Fundies)
I like how he has broken the brains of “traditional” baseball fans and sportswriters who erected statues in their minds of players who hustled and practiced the religion of stoicism. Now they see a dude who runs out everything and smiles all the time and have to readjust their perspectives because he isn’t going away anytime soon. There are a million different interpretations of how to play The Right Way.
Metstradamus (Metstradamus Blog)
He’s not Andres Torres.
Greg Prince (Faith and Fear in Flushing)
My favorite thing about Brandon Nimmo is his interviews. I don’t think I’ve seen a Mets position player who’s so comfortable and cognizant of what it’s all about while he answers questions. He elaborates, he distributes credit, he’s personable, he’s funny — he gets it. This isn’t dutiful or smooth. This is a genuinely fun kid who understands what it means to be going well.
I don’t know what the internal dynamics are, but he comes off as a natural team leader, as if being drafted first wasn’t so random. Of course it helps that he’s playing like a first among equals. Gives reporters a reason to want to talk to him.
And though I think about most of the Mets most of the time, I take particular joy when a Met explodes into the general baseball consciousness. We don’t have it happen too often. I love that we are, at least in the immediate present, living in the Age of Brandon Nimmo.
Breanna Susa (MMO, That Mets Chick)
His hustle/love for the game.
Mets Daddy
The thing I love best about Nimmo is day-in and day-out, no matter what the odds, he comes to beat you. With the Mets down 10 runs with two outs in the ninth and nobody on, he’s working the count, nudging his elbow out there, and busting it out of the box all for the sake of getting on and helping the Mets win.
This and his positive attitude rub people the wrong way for some reason. It’s just bizarre as he is a guy who seemingly gives his all on every play, plays the game the “right way,” and he gets the most out of his ability.
These are the guys we are supposed to cheer, and in his brief Mets tenure, it has been a pleasure to root for him.
For those of you who were looking for this on Thursday, including the people who graciously take their time out to contribute for the site, I do apologize for not running this on time. There was a family emergency. Thankfully, everything right now seems to be alright.