Ever since the Mets parted ways with Justin Turner and Daniel Murphy, it is as if the Mets former second baseman have made it a point to show the Mets why they were wrong to get rid of them. Not only are both drastically improved players, but they also make it a point to beat up on the Mets.
Since joining the Dodgers in 2014, Turner is a .309/.381/.509 hitter who hit 27 homers and 90 RBI last season accumulating a 16.9 WAR. His 147 wRC+ is the best in baseball in that time frame among Major League third baseman. In his 21 regular season games against the Mets, Turner is hitting .290/.380/.551 with six doubles, four homers, and 12 RBI.
As we remember from the 2015 NLDS, he was the Dodgers offense hitting .526/.550/.842 with six doubles, and four RBI. Fortunately for the Mets, they had Murphy, who had one the best postseason runs in Major League history. Unfortunately, the Mets have parted ways with Murphy as well.
Since leaving the Mets, Murphy has become an MVP candidate. In one plus seasons, Murphy has hit .342/.390/.585 with 72 doubles, seven triples, 39 homers, and 159 RBI with an 8.4 WAR. He leads all major league second baseman in batting average, OBP, OPS, doubles, and wRC+. Simply put, he’s the best hitting second baseman in the majors.
He’s put that on display in his games against the Mets. In 30 games against the Mets, Murphy is hitting .388/.438/.698 with 10 doubles, a triple, eight homers, and 29 RBI.
Each and every time Turner and Murphy batter the Mets, the debate is sparked over why the Mets let both players walk in the first place.
The defenders of Sandy Alderson fall back on the position that no one could have reasonably foresaw the production from either one of these players. In his four years with the Mets, Turner was a .265/.326/.370 hitter who was nothing more than a utility player. Murphy was a much better hitter than Turner with the Mets hitting .288/.331/.424. There were spurts with Murphy where he was a 2014 All Star and his 2015 postseason run, but you’d be hard pressed to argue he’d be a better hitter than Jose Altuve and Robinson Cano.
So yes, you could point to those stats and say no one could have foreseen Turner and Murphy becoming the best hitters at their position since leaving the Mets. However, why is this is a defense of Sandy Alderson?
Isn’t Alderson tasked with identifying talented players and predicting who will improve and who will regress? Shouldn’t it be part of his job to put coaches in place that best helps cultivate the talent on his roster? More importantly, how could it be a General Manager whiffs on evaluating two players who were under his control? Put another way, how is it that Sandy Alderson didn’t know what he had in Turner and Murphy?
For all the good Sandy has done, especially getting Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud for R.A. Dickey, he has failed here.
We can make all the excuses we want for him, but it doesn’t change the fact he let two extremely talented players, who were with his team, slip out from under their fingers. Even if you argue the other General Managers didn’t see this coming, those other General Managers did not have Turner and Murphy on their roster.
Worse yet, the Mets need help now at second and third base right now. More than that, they need an answer for those positions going forward. It’s time to stop giving Sandy a pass for his failure to see what Turner and Murphy would become. After all, that is literally what his job is as a General Manager.
After the 2015 pennant, Sandy Alderson wanted no part of NLCS MVP Daniel Murphy. He offered the perfunctory qualifying offer, and when Murphy rejected it like all those before him, Sandy refused to negotiate with Murphy. Eventually, this led to Murphy signing with the Nationals.
Since that time, the Nationals have a .598 winning percentage, which is a 97 win pace. Conversely, the Mets have s .510 winning streak, which is an 83 win pace. Considering where the Mets are right now, they’d kill for an 83 win pace.
We can point to a number of reasons why this has happened. Injuries. Regressions. Bad managing. All could apply. Perhaps the biggest reason is Murphy changed teams.
Entering today’s game, Murphy is hitting .388/.438/.698 with 10 doubles, a triple, eight homers, and 29 RBI. The Nationals are 21-10 against the Mets since Murpjy joined their ranks.
Today, there were a number of reasons why the Mets lost:
- Seth Lugo falling apart in the fifth;
- Injuries forcing Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson out of the lineup; or
- Terrible defense highlighted by Jay Bruce overrunning a ground ball or Rene Rivera letting a pitch go through the wickets.
Pick a reason. Any will suffice. When doing that, don’t ignore the Murphy effect.
Today, it was more of the same. He was 4-5 with a double and five TBJ raising his batting average to a league leading .341.
The Nationals shut down the Mets. Their repaid is a 11-4 even with the Nationals starting Joe Ross and his 5.12 ERA.
Watching this game, it’s apparent the Nationals are just that much better than the Mets. A large part of that was Murphy . . . AGAIN. He will continue to be so for as long as he’s a National.
Game Notes: With the injuries, T.J. Rivera started the game in left field. He would subsequently be removed from the game due to cramps.
The problem with pitchers’ duels in the modern game is that eventually end due to pitch count and managerial decision. We’ll never again see Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn dueling for 16 innings. Instead, we eventually get a battle of the bullpens.
That battle makes both Mets fans and Nationals fans uneasy because both teams have terrible bullpens.
Steven Matz and Stephen Strasburg were both terrific matching zeros through seven innings. Matz allowed for hits while walking two while striking out four. Strasburg gave up two hits while walking three and striking out six.
The relievers that followed were nowhere near as good. Accordingly, Dusty Baker and Terry Collins were mixing and matching and failing.
The Mets got the first crack at the bullpen in the eighth, and they are going to want this inning back.
After a lead-off single off Nationals reliever Matt Grace, Matz stayed in the game for the sole purpose of bunting Brandon Nimmo to second. Jose Reyes, who was batting lead-off for some inexplicable reason, singled to left. Despite Nimmo initially stumbling and Brian Goodwin charging in hard on the ball, Glenn Shetlock sent Nimmo anyway:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/882037467959963649
Nimmo was out by a pretty good margin. Maybe a better slide, and Nimmo is safe. Possibly, Asdrubal Cabrera being in position to direct Nimmo could’ve made a difference. A different replay official, and the call reasonably could’ve been overturned. Instead, the call stood.
The send was bad on so many levels. Most importantly, there was only one out, and the middle of the lineup was coming up against a terrible Nationals bullpen.
Cabrera would walk, and the Mets would send Yoenis Cespedes to the plate. He would come up short in a big spot. It wouldn’t be the last time.
The Nationals wouldn’t waste their chance.
With the pitcher’s spot due up and the top of the Nationals line-up due up, Collins went to Jerry Blevins, and he kept him in with all the right-handed hitters the Nationals brought to the plate. It was a bad strategy:
Not sure, but maybe Terry shouldn't have used Blevins against all those RHB pic.twitter.com/KOKziiQr1j
— Mets Daddy (@MetsDaddy2013) July 4, 2017
Ryan Raburn hit a pinch hit single, and Michael Taylor followed with a two run homer giving the Nationals a 2-0 lead.
But the game wasn’t over because the Nationals bullpen is terrible too.
Sammy Solis allowed a one out single to T.J. Rivera, and he got a gift strike call on Lucas Duda:
Baker brought in Matt Albers, and Collins countered by pinch hitting Curtis Granderson for Travis d’Arnaud. The Nationals were one strike away from winning, and Granderson tied the game:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/882044191727124480
This is when critical decisions are made. Addison Reed was warming up, but with the game tied, Collins wasn’t going to bring in his closer on the road unless it was a save situation. This was the Buck Showalter–Zach Britton decision all over again, and Collins showed he learned nothing.
He initially stuck with Paul Sewald, who bailed the Mets out if the eighth.
Sewald walked Matt Wieters to start the inning, but he struck Wilmer Difo out, who was trying to get the bunt down. At that point, the Mets had a sinker baller on the mound and needed a double play to get out of the inning.
Collins would’ve stick with Sewald, nor would he go to Reed in the spot. Instead, he went to Josh Edgin when Stephen Drew was announced as a pinch hitter. Edgin walked Drew pushing the winning run into scoring position. Adam Lind flied out setting up first and second with two outs, and Ryan Raburn coming to the plate.
Still, Collins would not go to Reed. No, he went to Fernando Salas and his 6.31 ERA. Raburn hit a ball to left field that dropped in front of a sliding Yoenis Cespedes. To add insult to injury, Cespedes pulled up lame on the play, and he won’t be playing tomorrow.
Bad managing and a bad bullpen led to a loss. It’s been all too redundant this year.
Game Notes: Daniel Murphy grounded out in a pinch hitting appearance in the eighth marking the first time in 30 games against the Mets he did not reach base.
During the June 24th game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Hudson Valley Renegades, I was on the field as my father and son threw out the first pitch. During that time, I had the opportunity to meet Cyclones left-handed pitcher Kurt Horne.
The British Columbia native was the Mets 2014 31st round draft pick. The tall left-hander eschewed an opportunity to pitch in college. Instead, at the age of 17, Horne decided to not only sign with the Mets, but to move to the complete opposite end of the continent to fulfill his dream of becoming a Major League Baseball player. Horne agreed to do an interview with me to discuss his path to the Mets organization and his development in the minor leagues.
The natural question to start for someone from Canada is why baseball and not hockey?
Ha ha! Of course, I grew up in a baseball family, I followed after my brother, doing everything he did.I also used to play in the backyard with my grandpa hitting Wiffle balls everyday after school when I was younger, so baseballs in my blood.
So at 6’5″ you were the little brother?
Well, my brother is 6 years older then me, so it took a while to catch up.
I take it your brother was a good baseball player in his own right.
The reclamation of Rafael Montero has taken an interesting turn. Montero was just a losing pitcher in a game, and he wasn’t the reason why the Mets lost the game. Instead of him letting the team down, the team let him down.
It all happened in the seventh inning. After two singles and a Maikel Franco double, the Phillies were up 2-0 with no outs in the inning. Ty Kelly sacrificed him over, and that’s where things went awry.
The Mets brought the infield in, and Andrew Knapp hit a sharp groundball to the right side. Asdrubal Cabrera couldn’t get to it. He got a glove on it, but he couldn’t field it as it trickled into right field giving the Phillies a 3-0 lead.
The opposing pitcher Nick Pivetta sacrificed Knapp into scoring position. Knapp would score because his counter-part, Rene Rivera completely botched a play.
Montero threw a pitch in the dirt. Rather than getting down and trying to block it, he committed the faux pas of just trying to backhand it. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Rivera lost complete sight of it thereby allowing Knapp to score from second giving the Phillies a 4-0 lead.
While it was only the second inning, the lead was daunting. Over seven innings, Pivetta and his 5.40 ERA kept the Mets to one hit – a T.J. Rivera fifth inning solo home run.
Even when the Mets drew a walk, they’d hit into a double play. In a sign of what type of game this was, Lucas Duda hit into a bizarre double play. He hit a shallow fly ball to center, and Aaron Altherr just juggled it. He eventually grabbed it before he was able to double off a confused Bruce.
Things fell apart in the top of the eighth as Rivera’s poor play reared its ugly head again.
With two on and no out, pinch hitter Brock Stassi singled to center, and Franco raced home. Brandon Nimmo made a good strong one hop throw home that had Franco by a good margin. Rivera missed the ball, which not only allowed the run to score, but also allowed the runners to move up a base.
With Daniel Nava‘s subsequent two RBI single off Chasen Bradford pushed the Phillies lead to 7-1. While the Mets made some noise in the bottom of the ninth, they would’ve score a run.
It didn’t matter. The game fell apart. The one piece of good news was it wasn’t his fault. He pitched well and settled down. Overall, his final line was 6.1 innings, eight hits, four runs, one run, one earned, two walks, and six strikeouts.
If this is now what qualifies as a poor start from him, there is reason to believe in Montero.
Whether you believe in this team or not, is up for debate. We’ll know more as the Mets take on the Nationals for a three game set.
Game Notes: Curtis Granderson missed the game with a hip issue that prevented him from being able to swing the bat.
This is a game the Mets don’t win this year. They blew the lead twice. They fell behind after a bullpen meltdown. The rain coming was almost an allegory for their season being washed out. Lost in all of that, this team still has some fight it them.
The Mets 1-0 lead on a Jose Reyes double went away with the help of a pair of fourth inning errors.
The Phillies loaded the bases on a T.J. Rivera and a pair of walks issued by Zack Wheeler. Ty Kelly grounded to Lucas Duda on easy should’ve been an inning ending double play. Instead, Wheeler missed the return throw from Reyes allowing two runs to score.
After a Cameron Rupp single, Wheeler was done for the day. In his first start since his brief stint on the Disabled List, Wheeler reminded you of how frustrating he can be. He was unable to put batters away. He walked batters at inopportune times. He didn’t last long in the game.
Erik Goeddel came on and bailed him out. He also gave the Mets the chance to win.
The Mets picked themselves off the mat in the bottom of the inning starting with an Asdrubal Cabrera leadoff double off Phillies starter Jeremy Hellickson. He’d then score on a Jay Bruce RBI ground out. Duda then untied it:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/881269647936548864
Goeddel couldn’t hold that lead. He’d issue a two out walk to Aaron Altherr, and before you could blink Altherr was on third base as Travis d’Arnaud threw it away on Altherr’s stolen base attempt. The whole course of events might have been rendered moot as Tommy Joseph doubled him home.
This put the game in Fernando Salas‘ hands. Outside the first couple of weeks when Terry Collins went to him again and again, Salas has been terrible. For proof of that, look no further than his 5.88 ERA or his 1.693 WHIP.
Two singles and a Joseph homer later, and the Mets were down 6-3. With the rains coming, it was possible that could’ve been enough to win the game. In fact, a lengthy enough delay after the seventh, and that game is over. With that, the Mets season might’ve been washed away as well.
Then T.J. would jolt everyone alive with a home run to lead off the inning. The home run sparked the Mets offense. d’Arnaud would hit a one out double off Pat Neshek, and he would score on a Wilmer Flores RBI single.
Then, with two outs, against the team that led to the home run which inspired the day’s bobble head, Cabrera struck again:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/881289763411689474
7-6
That doesn’t mean it was smooth sailing. There would be a rain delay and a couple of false starts by the Phillies.
With a 57 minute rain delay with two outs in the eighth, Paul Sewald had to come out of the game putting Addison Reed in a position where he had to get a four out save.
To lead off the ninth, Altherr hit one to deep center just missing a home run. Reed buckled down, and he made sure to strand Altherr at second to pick up his seventh straight save attempt and his third in as many days.
With the win, the rejuvenated Mets are now just 8.5 games behind the suddenly reeling Nationals. The Mets have a chance to make things interesting.
Game Notes: Michael Conforto went to the Disabled List with a bone bruise in his left hand. Wheeler was activated off the Disabled List to make the start.
After the Month of April, many Mets fans were calling for the team to either bench or release Curtis Granderson. The calls were somewhat justified. Granderson was hitting .128/.174/.221. Michael Conforto was emerging, and Jay Bruce was becoming Kevin Long’s latest success story. To a certain degree, it was difficult to believe a 36 year old playing out of position in center field would turn things around.
While many dismissed it out of hand, there was hope for Granderson. In his career, he has always started slow. By far, April is the worst month of his career. Once May 1st rolls around, so does Granderson. This year would be no exception.
In May, Granderson hit .273/.363/.511. As it only raised his batting line to .201/.273/.368, few would take notice. Instead, many were still saying he should not be an every day player on this Mets team. They said that despite Granderson following his 13 year career trajectory. No credit was given to the incredible month or the great September he had last year to help carry the Mets to the postseason. To those doubters, Granderson would take off in June . . . just like he always does.
In the Month of June, Granderson was THE BEST hitter in the National League with a 203 wRC+. It should come has no surprise that his .739 slugging percentage is the second best over that time frame and his .448 OBP was third best. Overall, he would hit .319/.448/.739 with four doubles, a triple, eight homers, and 14 RBI. Granderson would see his WAR rise from -0.8 in April to 1.2 for the season.
These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Granderson. In Granderson, the Mets have a leader in the clubhouse that rises to the challenge and will do whatever the team needs him to do to win.
For most of the 2015 season, Granderson was the only credible bat in the lineup. He did his job helping keep things afloat until the team could get healthy and make some trades to help them win the National League East. Once the team made the World Series, Granderson came up huge hitting three home runs in that series. All three of those home runs gave the Mets a lead.
Last year, Granderson was at his best when the Mets needed him the most. As the Mets fought for one of the two Wild Card spots, Granderson hit .302/.414/.615 over the final month of the season. He also selflessly moved from right field, where he was a finalist for the 2015 Gold Glove, to center field to accommodate new Met Jay Bruce.
Now, with the Mets season hanging in the balance, teetering towards irrelevancy, Granderson has done all he could do to keep the Mets alive. It should come as no surprise because this is typically the time of the year where Granderson is at his best. It should come as no surprise as Granderson is typically there when the Mets need him most.
Tonight, we were once again reminded why no-hitters are extraordinarily difficult, and next to impossible if you pitch for the Mets. It’s next to impossible as Johan Santana slayed a number of demons one rainy night at Citi Field.
Jacob deGrom had no-hit stuff tonight. It was one of those nights where the Phillies just couldn’t touch him. With some help from his catcher, Travis d’Arnaud, he was getting the corner. He was getting his fastball up to 98 MPH. All the stars seemed aligned except one thing – his pitch count.
On his 80th pitch, with two outs in the fifth inning, the Phillies finally got their hit. Andrew Knapp hit a lazy fly ball that should’ve ended the inning. Stat Cast literally put the play at a 99% catch probability. The problem with Stat Cast is it didn’t account for Curtis Granderson losing it in the lights.
As the ball fell behind him, the crowd groaned, and Knapp had his triple. It wasn’t much of a surprise Granderson lost the ball in the lights. In the previous at-bat, he had temporarily lost a line drive off the bat of Nick Williams only to recover at the last minute.
To a certain degree, Ty Kelly following with a well hit single was a bit of a relief. Whereas the Knapp hit was cheap, this wasn’t. Another consideration was with deGrom already over 80 pitches, he wasn’t going the distance.
On the other hand, the score was 2-1, and deGrom lost the no-hitter in the most excruciating way possible. It should come as no surprise he was miffed:
Curtis is wondering what happened to his water pic.twitter.com/9W571valoH
— Meditations in Panic City (@MedInPanicCity) July 1, 2017
Despite his anger, deGrom would continue dominating the Phillies. His final line was seven innings, three hits, one run, one “earned,” one walk, and 12 strikeouts. It was just the latest in what has been a stretch of dominating starts for deGrom:
Jacob deGrom over his last four starts –
32 IP, 15 H, 3 ER, 31 K, 0.84 ERA
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 1, 2017
Lost in the Granderson botched play was his providing some offense to give deGrom the lead.
T.J. Rivera led off the second inning with a double, and it appeared as if he might be stranded there with the pitcher’s spot coming up with two outs. deGrom would work out a walk against Ben Lively bringing up Granderson.
Granderson hit a slow roller up the middle. Freddy Galvis got to the ball, but with Granderson’s speed, it was an infield RBI single giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.
Speaking of triples that should have been outs, Jose Reyes hit a ball to the wall in center. More times than not, Odubel Herrera makes that play. Tonight, he couldn’t hang onto it. This set up a d’Arnaud RBI single.
d’Arnaud is getting hit. Over his last three games, including tonight, he is 4-10 with a double, homer, and three RBI. If he continues hitting like this, he’ll quiet the talk of the Mets needing to upgrade at catcher. In fact, he may even get his manager to play him everyday.
This game was ultimately closer that it probably should have been. A first inning rally was ended with a Wilmer Flores GIDP. Part of the reason the Mets only came out of the second with a run was a d’Arnaud GIDP.
The Mets had little room for error, but their bullpen made it work.
Jerry Blevins allowed a one out double to Cameron Perkins. He kept things at bay with a Daniel Nava ground out. Terry Collins brought on Paul Sewald, who got Galvis to fly out to end the inning.
Addison Reed pitched a perfect ninth to give the Mets a good win. Mets are really trending in the right direction with good pitching and timely hitting. They’ce now won six of seven, and the Nationals may be facing another injury.
Game Notes: Lucas Duda missed another game with the flu, and Michael Conforto sat because he still cannot swing a bat. No, he still hasn’t been put on the DL.