April 5, 2017

Matt Kemp: Newest Mets Killer

Baseball and fandom is a funny thing sometimes. It gives you chances of redemption, but ultimately you are what you are. We would see that tonight with Bruce and Montero in the Mets disappointing 12 inning 3-1 loss to the Braves. 

In the fifth inning, it was the guy Mets fans didn’t want to see go in Bartolo Colon against the guy Mets fans didn’t want to see return in Jay Bruce. Colon was by far the most popular of the two. You could even argue Mets fans don’t like Bruce.

And yet, when Bruce sent a Colon pitch over the right field wall, and the Mets took a 1-0 lead, Mets fans were thrilled. 

The Mets needed that home run too. Colon was dealing. Now, it wasn’t unusual to see Colon have a good game, but it was unusual to see him at the velocity he was sitting at during the game. Unlike his time with the Mets, Colon was sitting in the low 90s, and he got it up to 94 multiple times. 

While Colon’s velocity was surprising, Jacob deGrom‘s wasn’t. After offseason surgery, he was back in the upper 90s and hitting 98 on the gun. Watching tonight, deGrom was back both in terms of velocity and results. 

On the night, deGrom pitched six brilliant scoreless innings. His final line was 6.0 innings, two hits, no runs, one walk, and six strikeouts. However, he did not get the win. 

After an impressive Opening Day appearance, Hansel Robles struggled tonight. He allowed a hard line drive off the bat of Nick Markakis that Bruce played into a triple. It took Bruce forever to get to that ball. 

Robles then walked Brandon Phillips on four pitches that were not particularly close. Adonis Garcia followed this by ripping a double into right field tying the game. 

Two important points about the double. First, it was definitively deep enough to tie the game, but it was a ball a right fielder should catch. Second, Asdrubal Cabrera pulled a Chuck Knoblauch and absolutely deked Phillips as he got to second base. 

The hesitation by Phillips was enough to keep him from scoring on a play he should have scored on. It kept the score tied 1-1. 

After Robles hit Kurt Suzuki to load the bases, Terry Collins turned to Jerry Blevins to get out of the bases loaded one out jam. 

Blevins reared back and struck out Emilio Bonifacio on a 3-2 pitch and induced Ender Inciarte to ground out. With that, Blevins got out of a jam and gave his team a chance. 

After Fernando Salas, Addison Reed, and Josh Edgin combined to pitch a scoreless eighth, ninth, and tenth. 

Edgin’s outing was particularly encouraging. He was locating well, and he ended the tenth by striking out Mets killer Freddie Freeman. 

After the Mets wasted a one out Bruce hustle double in the tenth, the Mets turned to Rafael Montero   in the eleventh. 

Things didn’t start well when Montero issued a lead-off walk to Matt Kemp. Mets killer Brandon Phillips followed with a one out single, his 37th consecutive game with a hit in Flushing, putting runners at the corners. Then something interesting happened. Montero bore down. 

He got ahead of Garcia, and he kept Garcia off balance eventually inducing him to hit into an inning ending 4-6-3 double play. 

Montero’s luck ran out in the 12th. He gave up a lead off single, and he loaded the bases with one out. While he got Dansby Swanson to ground out, he allowed Kemp to hit the go-ahead two run double after Freeman was intentionally walked. 

It was a three double game for new Met killer Matt Kemp on a team of Mets killers. However, that really killed the Mets was an offense that couldn’t hit a poor Braves bullpen. 

Game Notes:  Mets starters have yet to allow a run this year. Jose Reyes had struggled to begin the season. He is now 0-9, and he made an error in the eighth inning.  Neil Walker is also looking for his first hit. Michael Conforto made his first punch hitting appearance of the year flying out to deep center. In the tenth, Duda was intentionally walked; that is, he was assigned first base. 

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