Travis d’Arnaud
On a team that traditionally kills the Mets, Christian Yelich is the ultimate Mets killer.
It started in the second inning when he robbed Jacob deGrom:
At the time, the Mets had Jose Urena on the ropes with two outs and the bases loaded. Between last night and tonight, the Mets have loaded the bases four times, and Kelly Johnson is the only one who has gotten a base hit.
In the following half inning, Yelich struck again hitting an RBI single off deGrom scoring Ichiro Suzuki giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead.
In this series, the Mets responded each time the Marlins took a lead, but not tonight. It would be the Marlins who struck next, and once again Yelich would be in the mix.
In the top of the fifth, Yelich got the rally started with a two out single. He would come around to score on a Jeff Francouer double. Francouer would score off a Xavier Scruggs double.
That would be it for deGrom. His final line was five innings, six hits, three runs, three earned, four walks, and six strikeouts. Considering he has struggled recently and the Mets skipping a start, it was hard to tell if he was rusty or if he’s just lost right now. Whatever it is, the Mets need him, and he hasn’t been able to help.
In the sixth, the Mets would narrow the gap with a Jay Bruce solo home to to make it 3-1.
Yelich would once again be a factor. So would Terry Collins.
Despite a well rested bullpen and newly acquired Fernando Salas available, Collins would push Josh Smoker to pitch a second inning. Smoker didn’t record an out in the seventh, and he gave up an opposite field home run to Yelich giving the Marlins a 6-1 lead. It was Yelich’s third opposite field home runs in as many days.
Credit should be given to Keith Hernandez here. During the Yelich at bat, he noted how well Yelich goes the other way, and he noted Smoker should pitch Yelich inside. Smoker didn’t.
Salas would then make his Mets debut pitching a scoreless inning.
The Mets would build a rally in the eighth. Curtis Granderson and Johnson would lead off the inning with opposite field singles off Nick Wittgren. Bruce followed suit hitting an opposite field RBI single.
Don Mattingly would bring in Kyle Barraclough. Wilmer Flores battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk loading the bases bringing up Michael Conforto. Barraclough threw him nothing but breaking pitches, and Conforto hit into the 1-2-3 double play. Despite going 2-4 with a double reaching on an error and making a nice play in the field, knowing Collins, Conforto won’t play in another game this year.
Yoenis Cespedes, who didn’t start the game due to the slick field conditions, would pinch hit for James Loney. He struck out to end the inning and the rally. Again, the Mets couldn’t score a run with the bases loaded.
To the Mets credit, they didn’t go down without a fight. Travis d’Arnaud led off the inning an infield single thanks in part to a lacksadasical Dee Gordon. Asdrubal Cabrera, who also sat due to field conditions, hit his first career pinch hit home run making it 6-4. The Mets would get no closer.
Fittingly, the last three batters would all fly out to left with Yelich getting all three put outs. On the night, Yelich was 3-4 with two runs, four RBI, one walk, a homer, and a sparkling defensive play in center. He was the lone Marlin who came to beat the Mets this series, and he finally accomplished his goal tonight.
With the loss, the Mets missed an opportunity to gain some ground on the idle Cardinals, and yes, for the delusional fan, the idle Nationals.
Game Notes: For some reason or other, Rene Rivera played first tonight even with Ty Kelly getting recalled with the expanded rosters.
The Mets are in a bad situation right now with their infield depth during a pivotal series against the Miami Marlins. Asdrubal Cabrera has re aggravated the same knee injury that previously landed him on the disabled list after a collision with Phillies first baseman Tommy Joseph. Neil Walker has been in and out of the lineup with a back issue. With the Mets having sent down T.J. Rivera to make room for Rafael Montero to make last night’s start, it means the Mets have no infield depth. They are literally one injury away from figuring out if Rene Rivera or Travis d’Arnaud is capable of playing third base.
With that, the Mets are desperate for someone middle infield help until the rosters can expand on Thursday, and on the 40 man roster, the Mets have enigmatic options.
First is everyone’s least favorite Met Eric Campbell. Campbell is once again dominating AAA hitting .297/.396/.428 with 13 doubles, four triples, five homers, and 40 RBI. Yes, four triples. This follows a stint where he didn’t hit in the majors going .159/.270/.222. The only thing Campbell has going for him is his ability to play multiple positions and his ability to pinch hit.
The next option is Ty Kelly. Like Campbell, Kelly is versatile and has been dominating in AAA. Unlike Campbell, he is a switch hitter who has had some recent success in the majors. Keep in mind before he had back-to-back two hit games before being demoted again, he was hitting .186/.280/.256. It’s something to keep in mind as he hasn’t been raking in AAA like he was when he was first called up. Since being sent back down to AAA, Kelly is hitting .259/.323/.296.
Finally, there is Matt Reynolds. Between him, Campbell, and Kelly, he is the only one that can play SS. However, he is in the same boat as Campbell and Kelly in that you cannot trust him to hit at the major league level. In his 37 games with the Mets, he hit .211/.231/.382. After the AAA All Star Break, Reynolds has been hitting .250/.321/.292 with only four doubles in 96 at bats.
With these three not hitting or having established they are not capable of hitting at the major league level, the Mets need to turn in another direction for help. With that in mind, the Mets best option is their 2012 first round draft pick Gavin Cecchini.
While playing shortstop this season, Cecchini has been hitting .329/.391/.454 with 27 doubles, two triples, seven homers, and 53 RBI. Over the past month, Cecchini is hitting .368/.390/.500 with nine doubles, two homers, and 12 RBI. While many have knocked his defense as he has a woeful .928 fielding percentage, it is notable that Cecchini has gone his last 12 games without an error. Overall, Cecchini is playing the best out of these four players making him the Mets best infield option.
There is just one problem. Cecchini isn’t on the 40 man roster. The Mets would have to make a move to put him on; a move the Mets are going to have to make in the offseason anyway to protect Cecchini from the Rule 5 Draft. Looking at the above options, there is no reason to keep Campbell or Kelly on the 40 man roster. If the Mets are really interested in putting the best team on the field, and giving themselves the best chance to win, they will go with Cecchini.
But no. Instead, the Mets are going to go with Logan Verrett because the Mets need another pitcher to address their infield situation. Hopefully, d’Arnaud can play third base.
Through the first six innings, Robert Gsellman did his job even though he needed a lot of help with the Phillies getting two runners thrown out at home.
In the third, the speedy Freddy Galvis tried to sneak home from third when Cesar Hernandez grounded out to Gsellman. An alert James Loney nailed Galvis at the plate. Again, it seems like everyone wants to pull this play off against the Mets since Eric Hosmer surprised everyone, including Lucas Duda, in the World Series.
In the fourth, Aaron Altherr wasn’t exactly busting it from first on a Jimmy Paredes RBI double. The Jay Bruce to Kelly Johnson relay nailed Atherr at the plate. Instead of it being 2-1 Phillies. The game would be tied at one.
Still, it was 1-1 heading into the seventh inning. With Gsellman due to leadoff the next inning, Terry Collins left him in the game. Collins might’ve left him in because Gsellman pitched reasonably well, and he had a reasonable low pitch count. He could’ve left him in because the Mets already lost Asdrubal Cabrera earlier in the game with a knee injury after a collision with Phillies first baseman Tommy Joseph (initially, it appeared to be a wrist injury). He might’ve left him in because he wanted to give a still hobbled Yoenis Cespedes and a presumably tired new father, Neil Walker, a full day off. Whatever the case, Collins decision was defendable if not risky. It was a fateful decision.
The Phillies led off the seventh with three straight singles. The rally started when Joseph singled past Loney, who has shown himself to have little range and not quick to the ball. The three singles loaded the bases bringing up new Phillie A.J. Ellis. As usual, Ellis is struggling at the plate this season, but the catcher has a penchant for big hits. With that in mind, Collins went to Hansel Robles to get out of the bases loaded no out jam. To build off the meme, Hansel is so cold right now.
Ellis hit a two RBI double that one hopped the wall giving the Phillies a 3-1 lead. After an intentional walk to re-load the bases, Robles got ahead of Peter Bourjos 0-2. He would then hit the lite hitting Bourjos on the wrist making it a 4-1 game. Jerry Blevins came on and allowed a sacrifice fly making the score 5-1.
Jim Henderson relieved Blevins, and he got the last out of the inning. Henderson just pitched the eighth even though he pitched yesterday and he’s coming back from ANOTHER shoulder injury.
Gsellman took the loss after he gave the Mets a much better start than they probably anticipated. His final line was six innings, seven hits, four runs, four earned, one walk, and five strikeouts. Keep in mind, he allowed three hits without recording an out in the seventh, and Robles allowed all of his runners to score. Arguably, Gsellman deserved a much better fate.
However, the Mets, as a team, did not deserve a better fate.
The only major threat they built was in the first inning when they loaded the bases with one out. They would only get one run on a Curtis Granderson sacrifice fly scoring Wilmer Flores, who came on for the injured Cabrera. The Mets then did little against Vince Velasquez and then for the following four innings against a pretty weak Phillies bullpen.
In the bottom of the sixth, before the ill fated seventh inning, Travis d’Arnaud battled back from an 0-2 count only to ground out thereby stranding Alejandro De Aza at third. Once again, hitting with runners in scoring position was the difference between winning and losing.
The Mets lost a game that was in front of them to win. If they want to get that second Wild Card, they are not only going to need to win games like these, but they are also going to have to sweep series against bad teams like the Phillies. If not, they’re not going to make up the necessary ground they need to make.
Game Notes: Bruce again did nothing much at the plate going 1-4 with a strikeout.
Pennant Race: The Marlins lost to the Padres 3-1. The Nationals lost to the Rockies 5-3. The Pirates beat the Brewers 3-1. The Cardinals lost to the Athletics 7-4.
Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera let everyone know right off the bat the Mets were not going to take a second division club lightly by hitting back-to-back homers to start the bottom of the first.
"Watching these guys take off, I'm ready to dye my hair blonde." – Ron Darling. https://t.co/7sWZupyJDP #Metshttps://t.co/vw2V7WN511
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 27, 2016
They also brought their gloves. After Cabrera made a nice play in the fourth, Reyes followed up with a better one:
At the time, it preserved a Bartolo Colon no-hitter. Colon would lose it in the fifth on an Odubel Herrera hustle double. Herrera scored after the Mets gamble of intentionally walking Peter Bourjos, who is hitting .179 in the second half, to get to the pitcher Adam Morgan. Morgan hit an RBI single to close the gap to 2-1. That’s as close as the Phillies would get.
In the bottom of the fifth, Wilmer Flores made it 6-1 with a grand slam off Morgan:
Wilmer. Flores. CRUSHED! https://t.co/HgRyjgt2in #Mets #LGMhttps://t.co/xEUwvKJkQ3
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 27, 2016
Once again both Flores and this iteration of the Mets lineup just crushes lefties.
In the sixth, the Mets would put the game out of reach off Phillies reliever Frank Herrmann. Travis d’Arnaud hit an RBI double, and he would come around to score on Cabrera’s second home run of the game. It was the first time he homered from both sides of the plate. It gave the Mets a 9-1 lead effectively ending the game.
The Phillies would touch up Colon a bit in the eighth to close the gap to 9-4, but in reality it was just putting lipstick on a pig. Colon was terrific in every way tonight starting with a quick defensive reaction in the first:
Bartolo doing him. #Mets #LGM pic.twitter.com/WmgahMWWGv
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 26, 2016
He didn’t just help himself in the field, he helped himself at the plate going 2-3 with two runs and a double . . . yes, a double.
His final line was seven innings, six hits, four runs, four earned, two walks, and six strikeouts.
On what was a terrific day for the Mets, Cabrera put the capper on the night with a terrific defensive play in the eighth. Reyes tried to bare-hand a ball at third, and he missed it. Cabrera backed him up, and dive to tag out Aaron Altherr.
After a second lackluster appearance by Sean Gilmartin and his bleeding thumb, Terry Collins wasted no time in bringing in Jeurys Familia even though it wasn’t a save situation. Familia got out of the first and second no out jam to preserve the Mets 9-4 win.
Game Notes: Neil Walker was activated from the paternity list, and he went 1-3 with a run and a walk. T.J. Rivera was sent back down. Jay Bruce returned to the lineup as well, and he went 0-4 with the golden sombrero. Curtis Granderson sat against the left-handed again.
Pennant Race: The Nationals beat the Rockies 8-5. The Marlins are losing to the Padres 6-3 in the ninth. The Pirates are leading the Brewers 5-4 in the sixth. The Cardinals lead the Athletics 3-1 in the seventh.
There is no sugar coating it. Travis d’Arnaud has had a bad year. Blame his shoulder. Blame the hex the Mets have seemingly been under this year. Blame whatever you want. The simple fact remains d’Arnaud has had a horrible year. You can even say he has regressed offensively.
However, behind the plate, he is the same guy he has always been. He is still a terrific pitch framer that helps his staff by helping ensure that strikes are called strikes and by occasionally getting a ball called a strike. He allows very few passed balls. When there is a play at the plate, d’Arnaud is not only adept at fielding a throw, but he does a great job blocking the plate within the terms of the new rules. As seen last night, he goes a great job in making sure he gets the tag on the runner before they have a chance to touch the plate.
He is slightly below average in throwing out base stealers when there is a pitcher on the mound that bothers holding on runners. When the pitcher doesn’t hold runners on, like most catcher’s he virtually has no chance to throw out the base runner. Generally speaking, he seems to call a good game, and there have never been any public complaints from any of his pitchers about his abilities behind the plate.
The reason is on the average d’Arnaud is a good defensive catcher. While it was anticipated that d’Arnaud’s value would be in his bat, the truth is, as a major leaguer so far, his real value is as a receiver.
With all that said, it seems d’Arnaud has been the scapegoat for this entire 2016 season. With the Mets struggling offensively, the team sought to upgrade the position by aggressively pursuing Jonathan Lucroy. Apparently, James Loney and his 86 OPS+ wasn’t hurting the team. When someone steals a base, it is on him. Nevermind the fact that Rene Rivera also has a supbar caught stealing percentage (28.6%) or that Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz don’t bother holding on base runners. On a team where no one is hitting well, he is the guy slated to hit eighth. Seemingly, d’Arnaud has been blamed for everything. It is a shock no one has pinned Yoenis Cespedes injuring his quad on d’Arnaud.
Even with that in mind Nelon Figueroa took blaming d’Arnaud to a new level. After the game, Figureoa pinned part of the blame for Jacob deGrom’s poor outing on d’Arnaud. Figueroa took issue with d’Arnaud not going out to the mound to calm down deGrom (frankly, a lost art in the game that few catchers do), and with his pitch selection saying d’Arnaud failed to call inside pitchers. Only that’s not what happened.
According to deGrom, it was on him saying, “It’s hard to get results when you throw everything right down the middle. That’s what it is. I’m missing down the middle and these are big-league hitters and that’s what they do.” (New York Post).
There is no amount of pitch calling, pitch framing, or pep talks that can cure a starting pitcher who has just been completely missing his spots for two days now. There are very fair and valid criticisms of d’Arnaud. As noted, he doesn’t throw base runners out. Furthermore, he is having a terrible offensive season. That’s all on him. However, things are going overboard with people now blaming him for other player’s poor performance.
You can point to whatever you want, but the simple fact is the Mets lost this game because Jacob deGrom didn’t have it for the second straight game. That much was made apparent when Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the first with a home run.
He would only last 4.2 innings allowing a whopping 12 hits with two walks while only striking out three. The scary part is it could have been a lot worse than the five runs he allowed.
In the second deGrom caught a wandering Yadier Molina off second after a leadoff double. The Cardinals still rallied that inning, but they wouldn’t score. Randal Grichuk tried to score on a Greg Garcia single, but he would be gunned down by Curtis Granderson to end the inning. The play was really made by Travis d’Arnaud, who made a terrific tag.
https://twitter.com/statcast/status/768659716088016897
That would keep the game at 1-1. The Mets sole run of the game was scored off an Asdrubal Cabrera double scoring Alejandro De Aza. It scored De Aza because he was pinch running for Jay Bruce, who injured himself on a leadoff double. The Mets are calling it a cramp. Given their ability to diagnose injuries, I’m sure it’ll be much worse:
In the fourth, the Cardinals expanded their lead to 3-1 on a Grichuk solo shot. They continued to rally, and they had first and second with one out. Carpenter then ripped a line drive right at James Loney, who then beat pitcher Carlos Martinez back to the bag for the inning ending double play.
In the fifth, deGrom allowed another home run. This one was a two run shot to Stephen Piscotty. After that deGrom would allow a hit and a walk all but forcing Collins to pull him after 95 pitches and the Mets down 5-1. Erik Goeddel came on and got the Mets out if the jam without allowing any further damage that inning.
It’s understandable why Terry Collins would try to push deGrom. He’s the ace, and he’s the guy who can get people out when he seemingly has nothing. On top of that, the Mets bullpen went 8.2 innings yesterday and needed a break. It should be noted the Mets were in that predicament because they started Jon Niese with full knowledge he had a bum knee, which could mean he would need to be pulled early.
What is strange is Collins pushed Goeddel, who put in a yeoman’s effort. Goeddel has a history of arm injuries, and he’s not a long reliever. Meanwhile, Hansel Robles was well rested and has had experience and success going multiple innings.
Collins wouldn’t go to Robles until the seventh until Goeddel hit a walk after 1.2 solid innings of work. He did allow a run on a Jhonny Peralta RBI triple that Granderson had some trouble with in right.
For what it’s worth, Robles wasn’t sharp like most of this over worked Collins’ bullpen has. Robles’ final line was 1.2 innings, five hits hits, one run, one earned, no walks, and one strikeout. He did allow an inherited runner to score tagging Goeddel with a second earned run allowed.
Through all of this the Mets could not solve Martinez who was great all night. His final line was eight innings, four hits, one run, one earned, three walks, and five strikeouts.
Overall, this story was about deGrom. Over his last two starts, he has allowed 25 hits to the 52 batters he’s faced while allowing four homers. It marked the first time a Mets pitcher has allowed 12 or more hits in consecutive games. This was deGrom’s third straight bad start against a Wild Card contender.
As it stands, the Mets lost 8-1, and it wasn’t really that close. The Mets are back at .500 . . . again. They are back to 4.5 games behind the Cardinals for the second Wild Card.
The loss makes tomorrow’s game all the more important. No matter what happens tomorrow, the Mets need to get deGrom to get back to his dominant self.
Game Notes: Neil Walker missed his second straight game as he is with his wife and newborn daughter. Yoenis Cespedes looked hobbled again out there in left. He went 0-4 with a strikeout.
Pennant Race: The Pirates lost to the Astros 5-4. The Nationals lost to the Orioles 10-8. The Marlins beat the Royals 3-0. Jose Fernandez appeared to leave that game with an injury. The Marlins are calling it a cramp.
For some reason or other, the Mets went with an injured and bad Jon Niese over a healthy and ready Robert Gsellman. One thing was for certain, no matter who started, the Mets needed an early lead and hold on.
The Mets just did that. Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera led off the game with back-to-back singles, and then they pulled off a double steal. Cleanup hitter Wilmer Flores then hit a three run homer to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
Niese would give it right back even with Ron Darling saying, “Don’t shoot the messenger, but Niese is 55-3 with a three run lead.”
Niese allowed three of the first batters to reach base narrowing the lead to 3-1. Then his knee became too much for him. Terry Collins then went to Gsellman with one out and runners on first and second. Gsellman was greeted by a Yadier Molina game tying RBI double.
Gsellman would escape the first without allowing another run. Gsellman would be in trouble most of the night, but he would bend but not break. He was really helped by some terrific Mets defense.
Asdrubal is a vacuum. #LGM #Mets 6-3 | End 4 pic.twitter.com/ttHR8efTAK
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 24, 2016
Even with the struggles, Gsellman would earn his first win in his first ever game. His final line was 3.2 innings, two hits, no runs, none earned, three walks, and two strikeouts.
Gsellman was in line for the win as the Mets offense responded immediately to losing the lead. Travis d’Arnaud would hit a one out single and move to second on a Gsellman sacrifice bunt. Reyes then singled him home as it seems every time d’Arnaud finda his way into scoring position, Reyes singles him home. Cabrera then doubled home Reyes to make it a 5-3 game.
Justin Ruggiano effectively closed the book on Cardinals Jaime Garcia with a monster home run:
Garcia only lasted four innings himself in taking the loss allowing seven hits, six runs, six earned, and one walk with six strikeouts.
Things calmed down once it became a battle of the bullpens. Alexander Reyes flashed his dominant stuff shutting the Mets down over 2.1 innings.
Josh Smoker pitched two tension filled innings, but he only allowed one run on a monster Randal Grichuk solo homer in the sixth. There wouldn’t be another as Yoenis Cespedes robbed Stephen Piscotty of a homer:
It was an even bigger play when you consider Cespedes seemingly tweaked his quad chasing down a liner in the first.
In the seventh, Jerry Blevins and his tight firearm left a runner on with one out. Jim Henderson would then make his first appearance since coming off the DL. He got the Mets out of the inning, and he punctuated it by striking out Jedd Gyorko looking to end the inning.
Like every other Mets pitcher, Addison Reed pitched into trouble, but he got out of it unscathed. Jeurys Familia was the only one of the Mets seven pitchers to have a 1-2-3 inning in recording his 42nd save.
At least for one night, the Mets and Cardinals switched places. The Cardinals were 2-10 with RISP leaving 11 men on base. The Mets were 5-10 with RISP including a James Loney ninth inning RBI single to make it 7-4.
The Mets have finally won three in a row since the All Star Break. The Mets are now 3.5 games back of the Cardinals in the race for the second Wild Card.
Game Notes: Neil Walker missed the game as he is on paternity leave. His wife gave birth to a baby girl, Nora Vail Walker. T.J. Rivera is taking his spot until he returns. Curtis Granderson didn’t start with the lefty starter. Jay Bruce would go 0-5 with two strikeouts. He is now two for his last 22.
Pennant Race: The Marlins lost to the Royals 1-0. The Nationals lost to the Orioles 8-1. The Pirates beat the Astros 7-1.
On August 22, 1973, the Mets won their second game in a row to raise the Mets record to 57-67 leaving them 6.0 games out in the National League East behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals.
From that point forward, the Mets would be the hottest team in baseball going 25-12 carrying them to an unlikely division championship. The Mets rode the hot streak to beat the Big Red Machine 3-2 in a best of five NLCS, and they came within a win of disrupting the Oakland A’s dynasty.
The popular story was the Mets were spurred by Tug McGraw screaming “Ya Gotta Believe!” after a M.Donald Grant “pep talk” in July. However, the truth is that team just got healthy at the right time, and when the team was at 100%, they were among the best teams in baseball.
During that year, the team was hampered by injuries. Jerry Grote, John Milner, Bud Harrelson, and Cleon Jones all missed significant time. Rusty Staub player through injuries all year. On top of that phenom Jon Matlack was having a down year a year removed from winning the Rookie of the Year Award. He was joined by Jerry Koosman in having a surprising down year. Willie Mays looked to be every bit of his 42 years of age. Young fill-ins like Don Hahn just were not producing. The Mets were forced to do anything they could do to improve the team like releasing dead weight like Jim Fregosi. About all that went right that season for the Mets was Tom Seaver; that and the fact that no one ran away with the division allowing the Mets to enter the postseason with an 82-79 record.
Isn’t that what this Mets season has been. With Matt Harvey, David Wright, Lucas Duda, Adrubal Cabrera, and Yoenis Cespedes, we have seen this Mets team be hampered time and again by injuries. We have seen countless Mets play through injuries like Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz with their bone spurs. We’ve seen replacements like Eric Campbell, Ty Kelly, and Matt Reynolds not play up to snuff. Players like Travis d’Arnaud and Michael Conforto had surprising down years. About the only thing that has gone right for the Mets this year is the fact that Jacob deGrom has continued to pitch like an ace, and the fact that no one has ran away with the second Wild Card spot.
Maybe, just maybe, this is 1973 all over again. That 1973 team was much further back in both the standings and more teams to leapfrog in the standings. All they needed to do was to get healthy and to get hot. Right now, with Cespedes back and hitting home runs for the Mets again, this team is healthy, and they are on the verge of getting hot. If that happens, the Mets can very well take that second Wild Card spot and get into the postseason.
As we saw in 1973 as well as last year, with great Mets pitching, the Mets can beat anyone in the postseason. They can shock the world. Anything is possible so long as they get hot and get into the postseason.