Today is the last day of the season, well at least for the Mets. With the Mets being 28 games out of first, the only thing left to do is to play this game, hope no one else gets hurt, and not drag things out more than they need.
If there are extras, let’s not hope either manager waits until the 14th inning to put Oliver Perez into the game.
More than any of that, you want to see a great game. You want to have your decision to watch that game and frankly your fandom rewarded. You want David Cone‘s start to end the 1991 season.
The 1991 Mets were officially the end of the line for the best run in Mets history. There would be no finish of second place or better. Instead, the Mets were in fifth place, and they fired their manager Bud Harrelson.
None of that mattered when Cone started the finale of the regular season in Philadelphia.
Cone came out, and he struck out the side in the first. He did it again in the second. He was well on his way to tying Tom Seaver‘s then National League mark of 19 strikeouts in a game.
For those roughly two and a half hours, the Mets weren’t a bad team having their worst season in about a decade. No, they were the best team in baseball, and the baseball world tuned in to see if Cone would achieve baseball immortality.
And that’s why we watch.
You never know what’s going to happen. The 1991 season was a disaster, and Cone had himself a down year. You couldn’t tell that day.
That start there was why you watch. Sure, with Noah Syndergaard pitching 1-2 innings, you’re likely not going to see anyone have a 19 strikeout performance. But that’s just one possibility.
Really, the possibilities are endless. Those endless possibilities are why we watch now. We watch because we’re Mets fans. We watch as baseball fans.
Today, there will be baseball games. As long as there are games being played, there is ever the chance something special will happen.
So, yes, tune in and see the Mets final game. Tune in to see if you can see something you’ve never seen happen in a game. Really, you tune in because you’re a Mets fan.
Hopefully, you’ll be rewarded somehow today with a great performance by the Mets.
You just knew the Mets and Phillies would have an extra inning game in the final series of the season. This is the epitome of a meaningless series, so you knew at least one of these games would get dragged out. That was tonight’s game.
Due to Jacob deGrom‘s gastroenteritis, Seth Lugo was pressed into duty a game earlier than anticipated.
In what was his last appearance of the season, Lugo lasted four innings allowing two runs on six hits. While he left the game on the short side, the Mets rallied to take the lead after he departed.
The big hit was a Brandon Nimmo two run triple in the fifth giving the Mets a 3-2 lead:
We take the lead! @You_Found_Nimmo with his first career triple.
3-2 #Mets pic.twitter.com/oqXfiI59wR
— New York Mets (@Mets) October 1, 2017
The ball Nimmo hit normally would’ve gone out. That goes double when you consider it is Citizens Bank Park. It would be one of two caught in the wind for Nimmo. The Mets certainly could’ve used those runs too even with Asdrubal Cabrera hitting an RBI double in the top of the seventh giving the Mets a 4-2 lead.
The Mets needed the extra run because in his second inning of work, Paul Sewald imploded issuing three consecutive one out walks to load the bases.
After an Aaron Altherr sacrifice fly and a Rhys Hoskins RBI single, that game was tied, and it would be tied into extras.
Phillies reliever Adam Morgan would play the role of Oliver Perez in this game allowing a three run homer to Cabrera.
Jeurys Familia came on and earned the save preserving the Mets 7-4 win. The win gave the Mets their 70th of the season. The Mets have not had a season under 70 wins since 2003.
Game Notes: On the day before the Mets were supposed to have a bullpen game with Noah Syndergaard scheduled to pitch an inning tomorrow, the Mets used eight relievers.
The one thing we never got to see with Generation K was Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher, and Paul Wilson in the same rotation. In fact, we have never seen them all in the same pitching staff. That never happened because of all the injuries they suffered. Then we saw Isringhausen and Wilson traded in successive years to help the Mets chances of winning a World Series instead of them pitching the Mets to the World Series.
Whatever you want to call the group of Mets young starters (most seemed to like the Five Aces), they never appeared in the same rotation. The closest we got was seeing Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Steven Matz in the same rotation in 2015. Coincidentally, that was also the year the Mets went to the World Series on the strength of their pitching.
The reason Zack Wheeler was not a part of that group that went to the postseason was because he suffered an injury in Spring Training. In fact, Wheeler would be gone for two years rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. For a moment, it seemed as fait accompli the group would never pitch in the same rotation because Wheeler was almost traded to the Brewers with Wilmer Flores for Carlos Gomez. In fact, if not for Gomez’s hip, the dream would have died there.
Still to this day, we have never seen the five in the same rotation. However, we have seen them all pitch in the same season in the rotation. It may not seem like much, but it’s something. It’s also a step closer to seeing them all in the same rotation. It may finally happen next year.
Matz should be ready for Opening Day after the surgery to repair his ulnar nerve. This was the same surgery deGrom had last season, and he was able to last the entire season injury free. Both Harvey and Syndergaard were able to return and pitch before the season was over. Like in 2015 and 2016, the only question is Wheeler.
In the end, the Mets are a step closer to having all five of their proverbial aces in the rotation. At a minimum, they are a step closer to seeing them all on the same pitching staff. If it does happen, one of the open wounds Mets fans have suffered will close a bit. Howeve,r that wound will not fully heal until we see this group pitch the Mets to a World Series title.
Matt Harvey put it best tonight in his post-game presser when he said:
Matt Harvey: "The positive is that this nightmare of a season is over for me."
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) September 30, 2017
It really has been a nightmare season where you didn’t know what was going to happen next for Harvey. Just when you thought nothing worse could happen, Harvey balked:
Matt Harvey, 2017 pic.twitter.com/81YeBdSgjW
— Meditations in Panic City (@MedInPanicCity) September 30, 2017
That third inning balk would force in the Phillies fourth run of the game giving them a 4-1 lead.
Harvey would last one more inning. His final line was 4.0 IP, seven hits, four runs, four earned, three walks, and three strikeouts.
We can talk about a number of improvements Harvey made, but he struggled again. At the end of the day, he finished the season with a 6.70 ERA, which is the highest ERA ever for a Mets pitcher with at least 15 starts.
Harvey would also suffer his seventh loss of the season because the Mets offense could only muster two runs off a pair of solo shots. The first was a Jose Reyes first inning home run. The next was a Dominic Smith fifth inning homer.
The Smith homer brought the Mets within two. After Hansel Robles struggled in his second inning of work, the score was 6-2, and the game was well out of reach.
Watching this game, there seemed to be a malaise over this team. That should come as no surprise in the aftermath of the article wherein unnamed players are front office people trashed Terry Collins.
In the end, it took David Wright, someone who has not played a game all year to say what needed to be said:
David Wright: "For a player to not put his name on the quote and to bash Terry, who has a lot of success. …that is cowardly and lazy."
— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) September 29, 2017
Game Notes: Jacob deGrom will not make his last start as he is suffering from gastroenteritis.
Is anyone surprised the Mets decided to smear Terry Collins before parting ways with him this offseason? Well, you shouldn’t be because it follows a pattern from this organization since the Wilpons have taken control of the team. While full ownership did not fully transfer until 2002, the Wilpons had gradually gained control throughout the years and were really front in center with an already hands-off Doubleday suffering health issues.
Coming off the heels of the 2000 World Series, Alex Rodriguez made it well known he wanted to play for the Mets, the team he’s always loved. Instead of the team letting themselves get outbid, they declared him to be a 24 and one player.
Instead of thanking managers like Bobby Valentine and Art Howe for their service, they talked about how their teams quit on them, which is as damning a statement you can make against a manager. Things went further for Howe calling him soft, weak, boring, and out of touch.
As poorly as Howe was treated on the way out, it pales in comparison to how Willie Randolph was treated. This went beyond the accusations he was out of touch and couldn’t get through to his players. No, they had to fly him out to California and fire him at 3:00 A.M. after a win! They then replaced him with Jerry Manuel, who was the person bad mouthing Randolph behind his back with, you guessed it, Jeff Wilpon.
It wasn’t just managers that received this treatment. Remember what happened with Yoenis Cespedes in the 2015 offseason? When the team made it clear they had wanted to pass on re-signing him? First, he was a round peg in a square hole that couldn’t handle center. It wasn’t just that, we heard whispers about whether a team could trust Cespedes on a long-term deal.
Now, the Mets have turned their attention to Collins. Reading Marc Carig’s Newsday article on the subject, the team couldn’t help but tear him down before parting ways with him this offseason. Reading the column, you can see the Mets have gotten much better at this detailing all of his faults:
- Constant tactical blunders;
- Resisted input;
- Poor relationship with players;
- Shielded by Fred Wilpon from firing;
- Front office had no confidence in him;
- Abused relief pitchers;
- No interest in playing young guys;
- Played players like Jeurys Familia into injuries;
- Inmates ran the asylum; and
- Team was miserable.
Any Mets fans who has paid attention to the team could tell you any of the above was true. We saw Collins staple Michael Conforto to the bench for under-performing veterans. He pressured Steven Matz to pitch through the pain. There was the drama surrounding Asdrubal Cabrera‘s position switch. There have been a wake of injured relievers during his career. All of the above has proven to be true.
Through all of it, the Mets kept Collins. They dismissed these concerns and even put forth the illusion he was great handling the clubhouse. However, now that Collins is on his way out, those positive narratives are gone; replaced by the truth or something close to it.
The sad part is this is completely unnecessary. Collins dutifully serves this organization since 2010 and managed them since 2011. He led the team to consecutive postseasons and delivered a pennant. Despite all of this, we all knew this was the end, and really, there was no one asking for him to return to the Mets. Most agreed it was time for the Mets to select a new manager, a new direction.
For some reason, the Mets couldn’t leave well enough alone. They had to tear the guy down on his way out. Sadly, this is not a new low for the organization because you can’t get any lower than how they treated Randolph. Rather, the team has become better and more efficient at doing it.
With the way Collins has been treated it makes you question what type of manager would be willing to accept a job from the Mets considering how they are treated and smeared on their way out the door.
With the Minnesota Twins clinching on Wednesday, the field for the 2017 Postseason has been set. As you’ll notice, there are some repeat teams that do not include the Mets. Can you name all of the teams that have made multiple postseasons since the inception of the second Wild Card? Good luck!
After last night’s Mets game, I flipped to MLB Network to watch some West Coast baseball. As it was the most important baseball game being played at the moment, the end of the Angels-White Sox game was being aired. MLB Network did a tremendous job of a split screen between the game and the Twins clubhouse. As Nick Delmonico hit a walk off home run, the Twins clubhouse erupted:
#WereGonna Postseason! pic.twitter.com/gddtiMthqb
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 28, 2017
It was not too long ago we saw the Mets clubhouse that exuberant. It’s always exciting to see, and there are more than one or two humorous moments. Who can forget Jay Bruce wandering around the Mets clubhouse last year after the team clinched a Wild Card spot:
But it’s not just the funny moments like this. It’s the moments of pure joy you see from the players. Typically, you see them with the older players who either thought they were never going to get to this point, or they were never going to get there again. For the Twins that was Joe Mauer.
The player who grew up a Twins fan became a great Twin. More than that, Mauer was on a Hall of Fame path. The 2009 AL MVP had made six All Star teams, won five Silver Sluggers, and three Gold Gloves.
Even with the Twins having budgetary issues, they were able to find money to sign the fan favorite to a contract extension. Not too long after that, the injuries started piling up. Specifically with Mauer, it was concussions. The concussions forced him out behind the plate. More than that, it led to questions over whether he could be the same player. Moreover, many said Mauer’s contract and status with the team was holding them back.
With the Twins turnaround, the first person on that team you felt happy for was Mauer. He certainly looked thrilled during the interview. For a moment, I was happy for him.
I then began to become a bit melancholy. Seeing Mauer’s joy reminded me of David Wright during the 2015 postseason run. At the time, whether we wanted to admit it or not, it looked like the it was going to be his last chance to win with the Mets. With the way things have progressed, that increasingly becomes the case.
It is a shame because for a while Wright and Mauer had parallel careers. Wright was playing for the team he rooted for as a child. He was the MVP caliber player that chose to stay with the franchise who drafted him rather than testing the free agent waters and cashing in. That contract is similarly seen as an albatross. And yet, he’s still a beloved player.
We’ll never know if Wright will get another opportunity much in the way Mauer got his. Hopefully, Mauer will not only have a long run this offseason, but he will get another chance in the future years. Hopefully, his loyalty to the Twins is rewarded with a World Series. We should all hope that for Mauer.
We also hope that for Wright, but unfortunately, it seems less likely he will get the chance Mauer seems to have in front of him.
In what is likely Terry Collins last game as the Mets manager at Citi Field, he went out the way he would’ve wanted to go out. No, not batting Jose Reyes lead-off while sitting Dominic Smith and Michael Conforto against the left-handed Braves starter Sean Newcomb. Although, we can be sure he was happy to do that. No, Collins went out a winner.
The main reason the Mets won this game was Robert Gsellman.
Gsellman would allow just one run over six innings while allowing six hits. That sole run came off an Ozzie Albies two out RBI single in the third. That wouldn’t be the Braves last threat.
In the fifth, the Braves loaded the bases with two outs with Mets killer Freddie Freeman striding to the plate. Gsellman would get out of the jam striking out Freeman: one of his four on the night.
Gsellman would depart in the sixth due to the bat of Travis d’Arnaud. d’Arnaud would have all three Mets RBI on the night.
In the fourth, he tied the game off a Dansby Swanson error scoring Juan Lagares. d’Arnaud was back abusing Swanson again in the fifth.
Gsellman led off the fifth with a walk, and Reyes followed with a single. After a Lagares strikeout, an Asdrubal Cabrera groundout moved Gsellman and Reyes to second and third for d’Arnaud, who delivered a two RBI single under the diving Swanson for a 3-1 lead.
The game would stay tight until the seventh when the Mets would blow the doors open with the help of a Freeman error.
First baseman Kevin Plawecki got the rally started with a two out walk against Jim Johnson. The inning would continue after Freeman couldn’t come up with a Brandon Nimmo tough grounder.
That error proved costly as Smith would snap out of a 3-35 streak with a three run homer into the Coke Den.
.@TheRealSmith22's 3-run homer highlights the 4 run 7th. ?
7-1 #Mets pic.twitter.com/3n1ZobUdma
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 28, 2017
Surprisingly, the rally would continue. Matt Reynolds singled, and Nori Aoki walked chasing Johnson. The Braves substituted Ian Krol for Johnson. In what may prove to be Reyes’ last at-bat at Citi Field in a Mets uniform, he doubled home Reynolds and Aoki giving the Mets a 7-1 lead.
Jamie Callahan, Chasen Bradford, and Paul Sewald combined to pitch the final three scoreless innings preserving the 7-1 win.
This game closed a chapter in the legacy of Collins and perhaps Reyes. It’s very likely neither one of them will be Mets next year. For Collins part, he deserved to go out this way.
Through it all, he gave his all to the Mets and treated Mets fans better than any other Mets manager. Whoever takes over for him will have big shoes to fill on that front.
Game Notes: Today was the 28th Anniversary of Keith Hernandez‘s and Gary Carter‘s last home game as a Met.
When Sandy Alderson took over as General Manager of the New York Mets, he would hire Terry Collins as manager. Seven years later, Collins remains as the Mets manager.
It’s been quite the ride for Collins and the Mets. Whenever he officially leaves, he leaves as the longest tenured Mets manager. It should come as little surprise that he’d have the most wins and losses in Mets history.
During his tenure, he joined Davey Johnson and Bobby Valentine as the only Mets managers to go to two different postseasons. Like Valentine, he would go to consecutive postseasons.
Clearly, the highlight of his tenure was leading the Mets to the 2015 World Series.
It was a challenging season where he had to handle a number of injuries and a roster with many AAAA players. Collins kept things together long enough for those players to get healthy, and for Sandy to go get reinforcements.
While there were many heroes during that 2015 season, Collins role keeping things together should never be overlooked. He was a big part of that team, and he deserved to enjoy that ride. Enjoy it, he did:
Amazing video of Terry Collins spraying the Mets fans at Wrigley with champagne! @SNYtv pic.twitter.com/W9FYWGbPjR
— Matt Dunn (@MattDunnSNY) October 22, 2015
He celebrated each step of the way to the World Series with the fans. That’s one area where Collins truly excelled. He was good to the fans.
He would take his time to write a letter to a grieving widow to offer his condolences. He stopped practice, gathered his team, and organized a photo with a boy who recently underwent heart transplant surgery. Certainly, Collins has shown himself to be a good person who loves the fans.
Love or hate him, each Mets fan owes him a debt of gratitude. They owe him for the recent good times and for how he’s treated them.
With this rumored to be his last homestand of his Mets managerial career, now would have been a good time. There could have been “TER-RY!” or “THANK YOU COLLINS!” chants throughout Citi Field. As fans, that’s how you express gratitude.
Except we’re not entirely sure he’s gone. He’s already saying he wants to remain in baseball not just next year, but the subsequent year. With these overtures, and with us knowing how the Wilpons once interceded when Alderson previously wanted to fire Collins, it’s not completely clear he’s definitively gone.
That’s true even with the Mets leaking a number of names which they will consider to replace Collins.
As is the nature with fans, they don’t want to do a send-off unless there is a reason to do it. We still don’t know if he’s definitively gone. Accordingly, the fans have been subdued when cheering anyone or anything at the park.
Overall, Collins has done all the Mets have asked him to do. With that being the case, the team had an obligation to be upfront and inform him of their decision. In turn, this would let him know the fans appreciated him.
Except the Mets won’t do that leaving the 68 year old manager to wait a decade or so to get those cheers he should have been receiving this homestand. For some odd reason, they have either not made up their minds, or they don’t want Collins to receive the attention he’s due.
With Collins future in limbo, the fans who do attend tonight’s game should let him know how much we all appreciate him. Serenade him much in the same way Wilmer Flores was by the fans after the trade fell through. Regardless of what you ghithhg of him as a manager, let him know that through it all, we appreciated him.
Almost five years ago to the day, R.A. Dickey took the mound for the Mets, and he earned his 20th win of the season all but locking up his highly improbable Cy Young Award.
While Dickey hasn’t been anywhere near that good since the 2012 season, he looked like that pitcher once again tonight. He controlled his knuckleball extremely well not walking anyone. He kept the Mets honest by throwing his fastball just enough.
Through six, the Mets accumulated just two hits – a second inning double by Brandon Nimmo and a third inning Travis Taijeron single. They didn’t amount to anything.
Really, the Mets didn’t seem like they were going to touch Dickey until Kevin Plawecki hit what seemed to be the first mistake Dickey made all night for a two run homer. The homer pulled the Mets to within 3-2 making the game a bit more perilous for Dickey than originally anticipated when the inning began.
It would be a two out Amed Rosario triple that finally chased Dickey from the game. With Dickey having been a beloved Met during his tenure, he received a well earned ovation as he entered the dugout.
Great job out there tonight @RADickey43! ?? pic.twitter.com/wIjAEJL8yU
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 27, 2017
Dan Winkler struck out Taijeron to end the jam preserving the 3-2 lead.
The Braves were up 3-2 because they got to Rafael Montero early.
A pair of first inning doubles from Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis gave the Braves a 1-0 lead.
In the second, Montero got himself out trouble by issuing a lead-off walk to Dansby Swanson. He scored on a Jace Peterson double, and Peterson scored on an Ozzie Albies RBI single. It was be enough to ensure Montero would finish the year with an ERA over 5.00.
On the season, Montero finished 5-11 with a 5.26 ERA. Keep in mind, this is what was deemed to be a resurgent year for Montero where the Mets think he could realistically be a contributor next year.
While the three runs were enough to ding Montero, it would not prove enough to give Dickey a win partially because Sam Freeman was snake bit.
The first issue was his issuing a one out walk to Nori Aoki. Johan Camargo would then throw the ball away on a Jose Reyes grounder setting up second and third with one out.
Asdrubal Cabrera then ripped a line drive that should have give the Mets the lead. It would only be a game tying sacrifice fly because Inciarte did it against the Mets again:
After a scoreless ninth from Jeurys Familia, the Mets would have a chance to walk it off. It was going to be difficult against A.J. Minter who has had a terrific rookie season.
The Mets would give the rookie his first loss of his career.
The game winning rally started with a Plawecki single, and Juan Lagares pinch ran for him. Terry Collins then uncharacteristically allowed Dominic Smith to face a left-handed pitcher. The decision was all the more surprising when you consider the Mets had a bench full of right-handed batters.
Smith rewarded Collins’ faith when he drew the first walk Minter has issued in his brief career. Not just a walk to a left-handed batter. First walk.
After Rosario failed to lay down the sacrifice bunt, Taijeron delivered with a single to left giving him the first walk-off hit of his Major League career.
Five years later, Dickey was great, and the Mets won the game. If this was really the end of his career, it was a fitting end for a pitcher that really helped turn the Mets around.
Game Notes: AJ Ramos has been unavailable with a bicep issue, and he may be done for the season.