Simply put, it was that kind of night for the Mets:
For a long time, it appeared that Colin Rea was going to pitch the first no-hitter in Padres history. He was mostly shutting down the Mets. The only Met who really hit him well was Curtis Granderson, who was robbed not once (as you can see above), but twice. However, with two outs in the seventh, Yoenis Cespedes singled putting an end to the no-hit bid.
In the ninth, Granderson lead off the ninth with a homerun to dead center. Jay wasn’t getting to that one. The homer knocked Rea out of the game. Up until that point, Rea had only allowed two hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
Rea was relieved by Brad Hand. He would allow a two run homer to Cespedes. What was a 5-0 cruise control win turned into a 5-3 lead necessitating the Padres closer, Fernando Rodney enter the game. Rodney would shut the door on the Mets rally and earn the save.
Rea was the real star of the game going 9+ innings allowing three hits, one earned, and one walk with five strikeouts.
Rea’s battery mate, Mets killer Derek Norris, helped Rea get the victory. Despite coming into the game with a .138 average, he teed off against the Mets’ pitching. He would go 3-3 with a walk, double, homerun, two runs scored and an RBI. He was hitting like there was a one hour rain delay and Terry Collins left Jeurys Familia out there.
In truth, the Padres all teed off on the Mets pitching. They would score five runs on 11 hits. Six of those eleven hits would go for extra bases. The two homers were hit by Norris and Wil Myers.
Most of the damage was done against Jacob deGrom, who was once again in the 93 MPH range with his fastball. He pitched five innings allowing eight hits, three earned, and one walk with only two strikeouts. He wasn’t missing bats, and he was getting hit hard. Logan Verrett came in and helped the bullpen a bit by throwing two innings of relief. While Verrett was luckier than deGrom, he got hit hard as well. His final line was two innings, three hits, two runs (one earned), no walks, and three strikeouts.
Most will point to the long flight as the reason for the Mets loss. Maybe. It’s also possible they ran into a pitcher that had everything working. It’s just time to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow night’s game, or tonight’s game for those Mets fans on the East coast.
Game Notes: While the Padres are the only MLB team without a no-hitter, the Mets are still the franchise with the most games played before pitching their first no-hitter.
So far this year the Mets are hitting homeruns in bunches. They have currently hit more homeruns per game than any other team in baseball. At some point, the Mets single season homerun totals at different positions may be broken. Do you know which Mets players hold the single season homerun totals at each position? Good luck.
It’s that time of the season most Mets fans dread. It’s that time for the extended west coast trip. The games start at 10:00, and you are either dozing off at the end of the game, or you’re exhausted the next morning.
We didn’t feel that way the Mets last road trip. Coincidentally, the first (and only) game of that road trip was also started by Jacob deGrom. Some of you refer to it as Game 5 of the NLDS. Others refer to it as “The Murphy Game.” Each and every Mets fan was treated to an absolutely gut wrenching instant classic game. The Mets won that game and the NLDS. Not one Mets fan fell asleep during that game. The adrenaline of that win carried Mets fans through the next day. Actually, the adrenaline from that game carried the Mets and Mets fans through the NLCS and into the World Series.
So tonight, hang in there if you can. You never know what amazing things you’re going to see night in and night out with the Mets dangerous lineup and rotation. Last time, it was the NLDS. Who knows what’ll be tonight
Is there any more likeable player on the New York Mets than Curtis Granderson?
On the field, he has switched positions from CF to RF because it benefitted his team. He works hard to improve each and every day. Last season, he was the Mets MVP and their best player on the World Series. This year, despite a slow start, he’s been a spark plug again at the top of the lineup. Furthermore, he’s taken to “filming” Lucas Duda after each and every homerun with the team’s iPad:
Note, it’s for show. It’s part of Granderson’s We Follow Lucas Duda Instagram account.
Overall, Granderson’s on field exploits are enough to make him likeable. However, where he reall separates himself is off the field. He donates his time and money to help his hometown of Chicago to not only have a suitable baseball stadium, but also to have the supplies necessary to learn in school. Just the other day, we saw him and Eric Campbell take their time to read to school children at PS 92:
Here are Curtis Granderson and Eric Campbell reading "Green Eggs and Ham" to children today at PS 92 in Corona. pic.twitter.com/RNPYqdJO08
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) May 3, 2016
Sometimes sports can take a dark turn. We hear about more and more players getting busted for PED use. We hear about players getting arrested for domestic violence. We all too often get stuck focusing on those negatives. It’s easy to get stuck on these stories. They’re important. They need to be discussed.
However, people like Granderson also need to be discussed. He’s a terrific player and person. We should all be thankful he came to the Mets. We should all celebrate what he does on and off the field. He’s a role model for not just major league players, but everyone.
It’s time to focus more on Granderson as an example of what’s right not just in baseball, but also the world.
Is this situation from 2015 or 2016? Travis d’Arnaud suffers an injury that is going to keep him on the DL for an extended period of time. The Mets then turn to Kevin Plawecki, who just doesn’t hit.
It’s like Groundhog Day except no one is laughing.
When d’Arnaud is on the field, he’s a terrific catcher. He’s good defensively, and he’s a good hitter. However, he has trouble staying on the field. Call it bad luck or him being injury prone, but the fact remains, he had trouble staying on the field. Now, he has a shoulder injury, and there’s no telling when he can return to the Mets.
In his place is Plawecki, who is squandering his chance to become the Mets starting catcher again. Last year, he hit a woeful .219/.280/.296 in 73 games. There were reasons from that stemming from his being rushed to the majors and his dizziness. However, last year, he got major league experience and time to work with a terrific hitting coach in Kevin Long. He had offseason sinus surgery to alleviate his dizziness issues. Despite all of that, we’re seeing more of the same from Plawecki.
Plawecki has hit .167/.348/.167 since d’Arnaud’s injury. Yes, it’s a very small 18 at bat sample size, but he hasn’t shown any improvement since last year. He still can’t hit the breaking ball. He’s still a pull hitter who doesn’t hit the ball hard. In short, Plawecki is still overmatched by major league pitching.
If this continues, the Mets are going to have a hole at catcher they are going to have to address.
Until such time, the Mets are going to have to continue to try to develop Plawecki at the major league level. Ironically, Terry Collins previously said the Mets can’t develop players at the major league level because the Mets are a win-now team. It was his justification for not wanting to play Michael Conforto against lefties. Now, the Mets have no choice.
They have no choice because Rene Rivera can’t hit (despite his HR yesterday), and Johnny Monell is Johnny Monell. Furthermore, the trade market is yet to develop. The likely target would be Jonathan Lucroy, who is a good offensive and defensive catcher on the last year of his deal. However, with the Carlos Gomez debacle of yesteryear, it’s hard to imagine the Mets and Brewers pulling the trigger on a trade again this year.
Whatever the answer may be the Mets are going to have to find it fast. Sooner or later, d’Arnaud is going to have to stay in the field, and Plawecki is going to have to hit major league pitching. They are the weak link in what is a win-now team. This team can win the World Series. Hopefully, the catchers won’t stand in the way of that.
Editor’s Note: this article was also published on metsmerizedonline.com
Terry Collins must be relieved that for the second straight day, a Braves pitcher got the better of a Mets starter. Last night, it was Matt Wisler only allowing one hit in eight innings against a struggling Matt Harvey. Today, it was Jhoulys Chacin getting the better of Steven Matz.
With two outs in the third, Chacin singled off of Matz. It would put the game in a completely different perspective.
Instead of Collins agonizing again whether or not to leave Matz in during a no-hitter, he could manage it like any other game. Strange enough, Collins said before the game if he was presented with another Johan Santana situation, especially with a young pitcher, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull him. Collins did pull Matz after he threw his 106th pitch. At that point, Matz had thrown 7.2 innings, and he just allowed his second hit. Matz was just terrific. In addition to the two hits, he allowed no runs, no walks, and he struck out eight.
Matz has completely recovered from his awful first start. Matz is now 4-1. He’s lowered his ERA from 37.80 to 2.89. Matz is showing why many had him as an early favorite for the Rookie of the Year Award.
While Matz dominated the Braves from the mound, the Mets batters dominated at the plate:
.@Mets mash. https://t.co/9gTjUFgsgY pic.twitter.com/EBW2FcabrO
— MLB (@MLB) May 4, 2016
By the way, who had Rene Rivera as the first Mets catcher to homer this year in their office pool?
The other homers came from Asdrubal Cabrera and Lucas Duda, who hit two. Overall, the Mets completely dominated the Braves like we should all reasonably expect. The final score of 8-0 was deceptive. It made the game appear closer than it was.
Game Notes: This was the Mets third shut out of the year. The Mets have now won six consecutive series. This is the first time they’ve done that since 2006.
Today is Star Wars Day (May the Fourth – get it?). In celebration of the day, here are the Mets alter egos from Episode VII: The Force Awakens:
Yoenis Cespedes – Poe Dameron
- Both Poe and Cespedes were renown for their incredible air power (Cespedes- HR, Poe – pilot). Both were thought to be gone only to return to the joy of everyone. We now know victory is certain.
Matt Harvey – Kylo Ren
- Both were once the most powerful apprentices only to have a younger one with long hair and more powers usurp them. Despite their most recent losses, they will be heard from again.
Noah Syndergaard – Rey
- Both were lost in the desert (Thor – Vegas, Rey – Jakku). Neither knew when they were going to be able to find their next lunch. Both are extremely powerful and are only now starting to realize it.
Michael Conforto – Finn
- Neither were supposed to be here. Neither were supposed to show any signs of greatness. Instead, they broke the mold and carved out a new path for themselves.
Curtis Granderson – Han Solo
- They’ve been around a long time, but they are still as cool as ever. It may be surprising, but they are in the thick of things like they always were. The only problem is there are some young upstarts (Granderson – Conforto, Han – Kylo Ren), who may push them aside. However, before that time comes, they will be heard from again.
Bartolo Colon – Chewbacca
- All these years later, they may be a step slow, but they still are large and in charge. One moment you’re questioning what something so old can do to you. The next, you’re getting your arm or bat taken from you.
Captain David Wright – General Leia Organa
- Years ago, they thought they had accomplished it all as the young, brash good looking people they were. Unfortunately, they didn’t. There’s still more work to be done. The difference is now they have to be the leaders and show a new generation how it’s done.
Logan Verrett – BB8
- Both are taking over for someone else’s role (Verrett – Sean Gilmartin, BB8 – R2D2), and they are performing admirably.
Zack Wheeler – R2D2
- Both are sitting around, shut down, but both still have a very important role to play.
Jacob deGrom – C3PO
- Both have problems with their arms (deGrom – decreased velocity, C3PO – it’s red) and no one knows how it happened. No worries. They’re back and better than ever.
Dan Warthen – Maz Kanata
- Both seem to have the secrets needed to unlock people’s secret powers and lead them on the path to greatness. Plus they kinda look alike.
Terry Collins – Admiral Ackbar
- Both seem like this has all passed them by, but they have returned. They came back and led their people to great victories (Collins – NL, Ackbar – blowing up the Starkiller Base). Now if only Collins had screamed, “It’s a trap!” in Game 5 of the World Series . . . .
Lucas Duda – Captain Phasma
- Their roles are relatively overlooked. Both are large and intimidating presences that can destroy you in the blink of an eye.
Juan Lagares – Snap Wexley
- Both have been here since the new generation’s fight began, but they’ve been pushed aside by Poe/Cespedes who gets all the focus and glory.
Mike Piazza – Luke Skywalker
- The time has come where their greatness has now become the stuff of legends. They are now at the shrines where it all began (Piazza – Cooperstown, Luke – first Jedi temple)
Note, there are no Mets compared to Supreme Leader Snoke or General Hux as they just seem pure evil with no chance for hope. With that said, I think there’s enough room here for one more:
Chase Utley – General Hux
- Their sole intent is to destroy everything for their victory regardless of the consequences. Actually, that’s not true. The more amoral pain and violence inflicted the better. The good news is that no matter what they do, they will ultimately fail.
So who broke Matt Harvey, and what in the world is Dan Warthen doing to fix it? Seriously, Harvey has talked about struggling with his mechanics since the beginning of the year. Nothing has been fixed.
Tonight, Harvey had diminished velocity. His location was off. The immoral Braves offense was making solid contact against him. The Braves came into tonight’s game averaging 3.2 runs per game, and they’ve only hit five homeruns all season. Sure enough, Harvey allowed eight hits, three earned, and two walks with four strikeouts over 5.2 innings. He allowed the immortal Mallex Smith to hit a homerun.
Before the night started, Terry Collins did point out that Harvey was sick. Side note, if he was sick and clearly didn’t have it, why did he go out for the sixth? Anyway, if Harvey’s sick, he does deserve some benefit of the doubt. However, two things should be noted before giving him the benefit of the doubt: (1) the Harvey of old would’ve toyed with no-hitting this team; and (2) this start was not unlike most of Harvey’s other starts. Harvey came into the game with a 4.76 ERA, and he left the game with a 4.76 ERA. Once again, Harvey had a rough sixth.
https://twitter.com/bbtn/status/727670040573706241
As bad a night as Harvey had, Kevin Plawecki had just as bad, if not an even worse night, than Harvey. The third run of the game scored on a Harvey wild pitch. In reality, Plawecki didn’t get down on a pitch in the dirt and let the ball go through the wickets. While stolen bases are also a function of the pitcher’s ability to hold on runners, Plawecki did allow three stolen bases. To be fair, two of them were on a double steal he can no chance.
If that wasn’t bad, Plawecki was terrible at the plate as well. He was 0-2 at the plate. In the fifth, when Asdrubal Cabrera got the Mets first hit off of Matt Wisler, he hit into an inning ending double play. Overall, when the highlight of your day is getting hit by a pitch, you know you had a terrible day.
Speaking of the Mets offense, there were a lot of hard hit balls. Unfortunately, most of them were hit right at someone. Still, the Mets were one-hit, and they struck out four times. Not a good night.
Not a good night for Collins either. He left Harvey in too long. He also failed to make an important challenge. In the fateful sixth, A.J, Pierzynski challenged Yoenis Cespedes‘ arm. Pierzynski was ruled safe on a bang-bang play. There was no challenge.
He was out. pic.twitter.com/8CqQyj1KdA
— metsfan, fully vaxxed and masked (@metsfan) May 4, 2016
Pierzynski would then score on the aforementioned Harvey wild pitch.
Overall, tonight reminded me of that scene in Pleasantville when the basketball team finally lost a game. Everyone stood around saying, “Can’t win them all,” when someone noted that they really had won them all. I really thought the Mets could realistically go 19-0 against this Braves team. They won’t.
Hopefully, the Mets put this ugly game behind them as they march to 18-1 starting tomorrow.
Game Notes: Harvey may or may not have been using chewing tobacco. This would be a good test of the NYC smokeless tobacco ban.
So far this year, MLB has suspended two likeable players for PEDs.
The first was Chris Colabello. He tested positive for Turinabol (clinically referred to as dehydrochlormethyltestosterone). He claimed he didn’t know how it happened:
Colabello said he only took supplements given to him and approved by the Blue Jays strength and conditioning staff. Reading this, you have to feel bad for the guy. He did the right thing, and yet, he still was suspended.
However, as reported by Arden Zwelling of SportsNet, it’s not realistic to believe Colabello didn’t know what he was taking. Turinabol was taken off the market in 1990 and is only available on the black market.
This past week it was announced Dee Gordon was suspended for using two anabolic steroids, testosterone and clostebol. Like Colabello, he tested positive despite being careful:
Unlike Colabello, Gordon dropped his appeal. Apparently, he felt there was no point pursuing it considering the suspensions are upheld the vast majority of the times. Like Colabello and many before him, Gordon is making the claim that he was taking the tainted supplement.
According to Will Carroll of Fan Duel, Gordon’s claims are false. The drugs Gordon tested positive for are typically used in combination with other steroids like HGH. Now, we don’t know if he was using HGH or something else, but we do know he tested positive for something used with other steroids. As such, it’s hard to believe he only took these two steroids accidentally and wasn’t using anything else.
Colabello and Gordon seemed to be victims at the outset, but in reality, they’re not. They’re doing the same thing each and every player has done since the inception of PED testing and penalties. They are doing the game a disservice. They are doing a disservice to the fans. They are doing a disservice to their teammates and their fellow players as a whole.
Sooner or later, there will truly be a false positive, if it hasn’t already happened. The aggrieved player will preach his innocence. No one will believe him due to the Colabellos and Gordons of the world.
On April 26th, Amed Rosario gave everyone a glimpse as to why he’s a great player who will play and thrive in the majors one day.
Rosario was the driving force in the St. Louis Mets’ 10-5 win over the Charlotte Stone Crabs. In the game, he went 3-5 with a run, triple, homer, and four RBI. He was just a singe short of the cycle. It was a big games in what has been a terrific season this has been for Rosario. He’s hitting .322/.351/.563. In just 21 games, he’s tied his career high in homers. He’s one triple short of tying his career high in that catergory.
So far this year, Rosario is the Florida State League’s leader in triples, hits, and total bases. He’s second in the league in RBI and slugging. These numbers are impressive for any prospect. They’re more impressive when you consider he’s 20 years old, which makes him about three years younger than the average age of the players in the league. It’s even more impressive when you consider there were questions about his bat when Rosario signed as a 17 year old out of the Dominican Republic.
When Rosario was signed, his defense was seen as a given, if not elite. However, teams were splits as to whether Rosario would ever hit. So far in his minor league career, he has quieted these concerns. This year he’s starting to show he could be a good hitter in the big leagues.
Despite how far he’s come offensively, and his terrific day at the plate, Rosario wasn’t patting himself on the back:
We won but im having a hard time letting go of my E6. It didnt cost us the game but I've made errors this year that I would make in my sleep
— Amed Rosario (@Amed_Rosario) April 27, 2016
No, Rosario is focusing on how he can improve his game. He’s thinking about what he needs to do to become a better player. It’s not only an example of why he’s become a much better hitter, it’s also an example why he will continue to become a much better player. It’s part of his #DontBeSurprisedBeReady mantra.
Rosario expects a lot out of himself. He’s his own biggest critic. This is why he’s going to be a terrific major league player one day.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsminors.net