20/20 Hindsight: Mets Overcome More Than Giants
On Monday, people wanted Mickey Callaway sacrificed to the baseball gods, and by Wednesday, the Mets had won a home series. As you can guess a lot happened in just three games:
1. While the vast majority of people would have let Noah Syndergaard face Evan Longoria, it doesn’t mean pulling him from the game was the wrong decision, especially with Syndergaard’s numbers a fourth time through the lineup.
2. If you’re upset Seth Lugo entered the game and/or pinpoint his entering the game as the reason the Mets lost, you don’t trust or have faith in him. There’s no arguing around it.
3. Callaway’s real mistake was Robert Gsellman in the ninth. While we can all understand the other non-Lugo set-up men are terrible, you can’t pitch Gsellman into the ground this way. It’s indefensible.
4. Under the unjustifiable workload, Gsellman has a 12.96 ERA raising his season ERA from 2.48 to 5.05. Essentially, Callaway made one of his few reliable guys completely unreliable.
5. With everything that’s happened to the Mets bullpen, Jeurys Familia going out there and looking like the Familia of old might’ve been the most important thing that happened in this series.
6. Considering the state of the Mets bullpen and the complete lack of starting pitching depth, they needed one of Craig Kimbrel or Dallas Keuchel. Not only did that not happen, the overwhelming odds are the Mets didn’t even try.
7. Keuchel going to the Braves makes it so much the worse. His replacing one of Kevin Gausman or Mike Foltynewicz making their rotation much improved. That’s huge for a team just one game back in the division.
8. Andrew McCutchen trading his ACL is bad for both the Phillies and baseball. That said, it does open a door permitting the Mets to contend for a division title.
9. One cure for the bullpen ills is the Mete starters going deeper into games. Mets starters are on a streak of nine straight games of pitching at least six innings.
10. If before the season, someone told you Jason Vargas had a complete game shut out in the same game Adeiny Hechavarria hit a homer, you’d probably talk about the terrific job Wally Backman has done with the Long Island Ducks.
11 With that Hechavarria homer, he now has one more homer and just one fewer RBI than Robinson Cano despite having 114 fewer plate appearances.
12. With Cano leaving a game early, and his season in general, you’d realize this is just year one of what’s an onerous contract.
13. With Brandon Nimmo staring his rehab assignment, and Dominic Smith playing well, you do have to question if the Mets aren’t better off with McNeil at second, Frazier at third, Smith in left, and Cano as a pinch hitter.
14. Things have certainly changed over the past few weeks when it’s Clint and not Todd who’s the Frazier who is subject to scorn.
15. With his go-ahead homer, you realize Frazier has been the Mets best player over the past few weeks.
16. Carlos Gomez hasn’t been good, but at least he didn’t cost three players like Keon Broxton did.
17. The Mets and Juan Lagares needed him to have the game he had yesterday. If nothing else, he becomes a more viable fourth outfielder or defensive replacement.
18. Van Wagenen does deserve credit for keeping Tommy Tanous and Marc Tramuta. That duo helped the Mets have another terrific draft.
19. If nothing else, the Mets are great at home. At Citi Field, they’re 17-10 (.630), have a 118 wRC+ at home (third best in the Majors), and a 3.73 FIP (fourth best in the NL). Essentially, they’re the best team in baseball when they’re at home.
20. It’s great to see and hear Ron Darling again. He’s been sorely missed. Here’s hoping he’s healthy and will not have to leave the booth again anytime soon.
Yesterday was a wild game and nothing on Mickey’s follies yesterday? Wild game man. The seventh inning was just weird managing with Mickey bringing a guy off the bench to give away an out by bunting, which is from Jerry Manuel playbook instead of you known pinch hitting McNeil. Mickey then pinch hit for two guys that had homered and McNeil bailed him out with a ridiculous Ichiro type hit, Jeff’s barrel control is absurd man. The old line from Earl Weaver is if you play for one run it’s all you’ll get, and I thought it would cost them but Lugo, McNeil, Frazier and Lagares came up big.
I was sure that Frazier was gonna hit into a double play, but good on Mickey for sending Conforto and instead a pitch of two later Frazier hit a ridiculous one handed hooking homer.
I’ve gotten on Lagares about his offense but he had a great game and deserves to play over a washed up Gomez. Juan started the rally in the seventh on drove in a run the next inning and made a dazzling defensive play.
Wheeler looked solid but it seems like every mistake he makes seems to be a homer, but he again gave them length and has pitched better than his numbers.
The offense came up big late and looked like it would blow away Anderson in the first but Hech ruined the inning but turned it around with a couple hits later.
All in all a nice series win and now June gets much tougher.
I wrote about his seventh inning in the write-up for the game. While I think there might’ve been too much criticism over pinch hitting Davis for Dom, I thought he didn’t get lambasted enough wasting Gomez for a PH bunt in place of Wheeler who is a good bunter.
The Mets had a short bench and shouldn’t waste guys like that.
Bunting at all is stupid McNeil should have hit for Wheeler over Gomez
You’re 100% right. If you’re using McNeil, it’s there. Good call.