Jusn Lagares

Granderson Leads the Way

Curtis Granderson was all the offensive support Bartolo Colon would need. 

Colon pitched seven innings allowing eight hits, one earned, and no walks with two strikeouts. He also helped himself by picking off Scooter Gennett in the third. 

Colon got into some trouble in the seventh. Old friend Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a two out double to right just missing a homerun. Then Neil Walker took a sharply hit groundball off the chest. Nieuwenhuis was hustling all the way, and he would score right before Kevin Plawecki could apply the tag. It narrowed the score to 2-1. The Mets would get out of the inning when Plawecki’s one hop throw just beat Hernan Perez. It was a great tag by Asdrubal Cabrera off a tough throw to handle. 

The offense was essentially Granderson just like it was most of last year. He had the keynote address and a double in the third setting up the second run of the game. He scored the second run of the game off a Yoenis Cespedes RBI single. On the night, Granderson was 2-3 with two runs, a double, a homerun, and an RBI. Granderson’s double was particularly impressive because it went opposite field. 

The Mets blew it open in the eighth. The Mets loaded the bases with no outs, and Plawecki got a two RBI single through the drawn-in infield. The Mets could’ve had more, but Wilmer Flores pulled a TOOBLAN. With the play right in front of him, he kept going.  The ball was cut-off, and Wilmer was out on the basepaths. 

Lost in the TOOBLAN is how well Flores is hitting of late. He was 3-4, and he is hitting .476 over the last seven games. Another piece of good news was seeing Juan Lagares enter the game for defense. It was even better seeing him stretch a single into a double in his lone at bat. However, his sliding into second headfirst with a torn ligament in his thumb was cringeworthy. 

It was also cringeworthy seeing Matt Reynolds pinch hitting for Walker. It’s not a good sign especially after Walker took that hot shot off the chest. The good news there was Reynolds had another good pinch hit. He had an RBI pinch hit single scoring Lagares to make it 5-2. 

Even more cringeworthy was Terry Collins  decision to bring Addison Reed into the game after he pitched two innings yesterday. He would allow Gennett to hit an RBI double making it a 4-2 game. It would break his 15.1 inning scoreless streak. Jeurys Familia would close it out with a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts. He’s now a perfect 20/20 in save chances this year. Dating back to last year, he has 36 consecutive saves. 

Overall, it is nice to get some games in against bad teams to allow the Mets to get back on track. The Mets are now 4-0 against the Brewers, and they have now won two in a row. 

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Yotober Dominance

Mets fans had every reason to be pumped before the game. The fans came and they brought it tonight:

From the first pitch to the last pitch, the crowd was amazing. I loved the Mets pausing introductions when Utley was introduced to prolong the booing. This is what happens when the Mets haven’t been in the playoffs for nine years. It’s what happens when Chase Utley injures Ruben Tejada on a dirty slide. It’s what happens when Matt Harvey finally gets to start in October. 

After a smooth first, Harvey got into some trouble in the second. There were three soft singles, and Terry Collins brought in the corners with bases loaded and no out. Why?  No one knows. In any event, Yasmani Grandal hit an RBI single to right. If the infielders were properly positioned, it would’ve been a 3-6-3 double play. Because they weren’t, it was a single. 

The bases would clear on the single after a Curtis Granderson throwing error. It was 3-0 with a runner on second. Harvey struggled from that point forward, but he kept the Dodgers at bay. His final line was five innings, seven hits, three runs, two earned, two walks, and seven strikeouts. He kept the Mets in the game, and he gave them a chance to win. 

The Mets seized that opportunity. Everyone reached base at least once. Travis d’Arnaud got the Mets on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the second. The Mets loaded the bases and Curtis Granderson came up to the plate. He hit a double off the wall clearing the bases giving the Mets a 4-3 lead. 

d’Arnaud would expand the lead with a third inning two run homer. The Mets would put the game away with a six run fourth capped by a massive three run Yoenis Cespedes homerun:

It’s officially Yotober. 

In total, the Mets put 14 runs on the board. They were lead by three big bats:

  1. Granderson 2-5 with two doubles and five RBIs;
  2. Cespedes 3-5 with three runs, one homerun, and three RBIs; and
  3. d’Arnaud 3-4 with three runs, one homerun, and three RBIs. 

The Mets also got big contributions from Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares. Flores played well at short, and I’m not grading on a curve. Lagares went 1-3 with three runs, one double, and a walk. Neither player was thought to get any start in this series, and yet, due to extenuating circumstances, they came in and played extremely well. 

Essentially, none of the Dodgers played well. Trash talking lefty starter Brett Anderson only pitched three innings allowing seven hits and six earned. The Dodgers bullpen went five innings allowing six hits, seven earned, and, five walks. On top of that the Dodgers and/or Chase Utley were gutless in not putting him in the game. They couldn’t find a spot for him in a 13-7 loss. Pathetic. 
The Mets rallied around Ruben Tejada. The only downside was having to use Jeurys Familia after Erik Goeddel allowed three runs and couldn’t record one out. 

The Mets are a win away from the NLCS. They’re one win away from exacting revenge on the Dodgers for what Utley did to Tejada. I can’t wait to be there tomorrow. Lets Go Mets!

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