Game Recap
The Nationals won a 9-1 laugher against the Mets. With that said, let’s do a Spaceballs review:
Matt Harvey only lasted 2.2 innings allowing eight hits, nine runs, six earned, and two walks with two strikeouts. He finally allowed Bryce Harper to get a hit off of him in 22 at bats. Just about everyone got a hit off of him including Daniel Murphy, who went 2-4 with a two runs, two RBI, a walk, and a homer. He’s just under .400. Overall, Murphy just rubbed it in this series:
https://mobile.twitter.com/i/status/733450660843134977/photo/1
Mets are still in third, but they are now 2.5 games back. The Mets face the Brewers tomorrow.
Tonight promised to be a pitcher’s duel, and it did not disappoint. The difference in the game was Max Scherzer made two mistakes and Noah Syndergaard made none.
Curtis Granderson took the first pitch from Scherzer, and he homered to right. Scherzer would be careful with Granderson the rest of the game. Granderson would finish the night 2-2 with a run, RBI, the aforementioned homerun, and two walks. It appears that Granderson is breaking out of his May slump.
The Mets needed it too. Before the first pitch, the Mets discovered neither Lucas Duda or David Wright would be available. Wright’s back flared up necessitating he sit. Duda’s own back issues re-emerged requiring him to receive an injection and sit. In their stead, Eric Campbell and Matt Reynolds manned the corners. It was Reynold’s major league debut. He played third, batted ninth, and wore Wright’d glove. Campbell and Reynolds each went 0-3. Campbell struck out twice, and Reynolds struck out once.
It was a lineup reminiscent of last July. Like last July, Granderson provided the offense. Like last July, Michael Conforto came to the rescue. In the third, he homered to right to make it a 2-0 game. Syndergaard did the rest.
Syndergaard pitched seven innings only allowing five hits, no earned, and no walks while striking out 10. He had the pitches coming in at 100 MPH. Before the game, Bryce Harper said at the ESPN Upfront event he was curious as to what would happen against the 100 MPH fastball. The answer was an 0-3 night with two strikeouts against Syndergaard.
Aside from the two mistakes, Scherzer matched Syndergaard pitch for pitch. He allowed three hits, two earned, and three walks while striking out 10. He did all he could do, but he didn’t get much help from anyone other than Daniel Murphy.
It was Murphy’s first game back at Citi Field since signing with the Nationals in the offseason. In the first inning, he made a sparkling defensive play robbing Campbell of a hit:
Daniel Murphy knows this Citi pretty well: https://t.co/adZAVppFSs pic.twitter.com/Ti2okeEWOq
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) May 17, 2016
After that play, Murphy would get his first official at bat against the Mets. Before the at bat, Murphy would get a well deserved ovation:
Murphy would foul out to third. Before his next at bat, he would be booed. Murphy responded by dropping a single over the head of his replacement, Neil Walker. Overall, Murphy would go 1-3 dropping his batting average from .400 to .399.
Despite Murphy’s and Scherzer’s efforts, the Mets shut down the Nationals. Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia came on and slammed the door shut. The Mets won 2-0, took sole possession of second place, and moved within a half-game of the Nationals. The Mets can take over first place with a win tomorrow.
Game Notes: Kevin Plawecki had a nice game going 1-3 and throwing out Ben Revere trying to steal a base. It was only the fourth runner in 33 attempts thrown out while Syndergaard was on the mound. Of course, Oliver Perez entered the game and got his only batter out. Here was the Mets pregame video tribute to Murphy:
Thank you, Murph!https://t.co/bna7xfzZWX
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 17, 2016
The Mets bullpen blew a lead, and they found themselves trailing going into the eighth inning needing to score a run to tie the game.
Because there was a lefty on the mound, Terry Collins pinch hit Juan Lagares for Michael Conforto. It paid off as Lagares hit a one out double. The Rockies then intentionally walked Yoenis Cespedes as he’s hitting lefties harder than Rougned Odor hit Jose Bautista. That brought Lucas Duda to the plate, who has been struggling of late. What ensued was an umpire making a horrendous call for the second straight game.
Duda hit a groundball directly at Nolan Arenado. Arenado lunged to tag Lagares, but Lagares juked out of the way. Arenado then threw the ball to first to get Duda for an inning ending double play. You tead that correctly. The umpires ruled Duda hit into an inning ending double play. The reason was the umpires determined Lagares ran out of the baseline.
Before commenting further, there are two things to keep in mind. First, Josh Harrison wasn’t deemed to be out of the baseline in this play against the Mets last year:
Second, Lagares gets three feet:
https://twitter.com/jschapiro_sbr/status/731976606835740672
It’s hard to tell from the angle, but it would appear Lagares was within the allotted three feet. Put it this way, Lagares didn’t step on the infield grass like Harrison did. What happened was the umpire made a horrendous call that potentially affected the outcome of the game.
Terry Collins ran out to argue, but he didn’t exactly get his money’s worth. Based upon his ejection and post game rant Saturday, I’m assuming the umpire told him that if Collins doesn’t pick his words carefully, the Mets won’t get another call the rest of the year.
Mostly, that play was a lot of bad luck for the Mets. First, Duda goes the other way with the pitch, and he hits a sharp grounder away from the shift. Unfortunately, he hits it right at Arenado. Lagares then runs right at the fielder. Now, Lagares could’ve read that ball better and either chose to go behind Arenado or stop thereby ensuring no double play. Instead, he busted it to third presumably hoping he could score.
What happened was Lagares was in a position that Arenado could make a play and the umpire could make a call. It seems when you’re struggling like the Mets are, the ball finds the lone fielder on the left side of the infield, and the umpire makes a bad call.
In any event, the Mets got swept by the Rockies and are returning home for an already over-hyped three game set against the Nationals. With the day off, the Mets should play much better. Hopefully, the umpiring will be much better too.
So it looks like Carlos Torres finally get his revenge against Terry Collins for abusing his arm all these years.
In the third inning, the Rockies had already played a run extending their lead to 3-1. Tony Wolters swung and missed at strike three making it two outs with the pitcher coming up. Logan Verrett had minimized the damage. Nope, Home Plate Umpire Carlos Torres (no relation to the former Mets relief pitcher) called a pitch Wolters clearly swung and missed a foul tip. No strikeout. Here’s the replay.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbNNFfTx9g
Apparently, Wolters at bat was extended to prevent Curtis Granderson from assassinating Queen Elizabeth II.
In any event, Wolters at bat was extended, and he hit a two run double to make it 5-1. Terry Collins was tossed. The Rockies put a five spot up the inning. Verrett was eventually chase after throwing 75 pitches in 2.2 innings. In total, he allowed 10 hits, seven earned, and three walks with no strikeouts.
Verrett wasn’t good all night, BUT his outing would’ve been drastically different had the umpire actually made the correct call.
The Mets did show some character in the game despite being down 7-1. Neil Walker snapped out of his cold spell with a solo homer in the fourth. Lucas Duda singled home Yoenis Cespedes, who had a lead off triple, in the sixth. Duda later scored when Asdrubal Cabrera grounded into a double play. The sixth inning rally was ended when D.J. LeMahieu robbed Granderson of a base hit. LeMahieu had a terrific game in the field robbing the Mets of a few hits.
The Mets couldn’t muster another rally. They did fight, but it was all for naught. They lost 7-4.
On the bright side, the Mets bullpen was terrific. They went 5.1 innings allowing no runs, two hits, a hit by pitch, and no walks while striking out three. Sean Gilmartin deserves special mention for going two innings after pitching three innings on Thursday.
With that said, the Mets still lost. The loss guaranteed a losing road trip. It guaranteed the Mets lost their first series since the April 11 -13 series against the Marlins. The Mets dropped to third place in the NL East. But remember, it’s still just May, and it’s the end of a long West coast trip.
The Mets will be fine, and they’ll start winning games and series again. Avoiding a sweep by winning tomorrow will be a good start before heading home for a big series against the Nationals.
Game Notes: Ron Darling went into full Keith Hernandez mode. In the fifth inning, he sent Nate from the production crew behind home plate to get some guy to stop continuously waving. When the Mets were rallying in the sixth, he referred to the game as a Coors Light type of game. In the seventh, he referred to a mound visit between Wolters and Gonzalez Germen before a pitch was thrown as an embarrassment to the game.
Albert Eistein once said, “the definition of insanity is seeing 2016 Matt Harvey pitch over and over again and expect to see him pitch well into the fifth inning.” Well, it was something like that.
Coming into tonight’s start Harvey had a 1.93 ERA in the first four innings. In the fifth, he had a 7.71 ERA. In the sixth, he had a 16.20 ERA. Each and every game, Mets fans think from innings 1-4 that Harvey’s back. Each and every game, Mets fans are trying to figure out what’s gone wrong again in the fifth and sixth innings. Tonight was more of the same.
Harvey pitched 5.2 innings allowing 11 hits, five earned, no walks, and six strikeouts. Three of the earned runs were scored between the fifth and sixth innings. The other two were scored in the fourth with a little help from a Michael Conforto misplay in left. Somehow his allowing a single to drop in front of him and roll past him was scored s triple.
Harvey’s undoing was the sixth . . . again. Harvey had stifled a rally the fifth only allowing a run. He allowed a one out double to D.J. LeMahieu. LeMahieu scored on a Tony Wolters single. Harvey had previously dominated Wolters. He struck him out twice. However, it’s hard to dominate someone when your fastball drops from the 95+ MPH range to the 90 MPH range. It also doesn’t help when the pitches are over the middle of the plate. By the way Harvey allowed these many hits and saw this much of a velocity drop?
That 13-hit performance by the Tigers in 2013 was Harvey's last start before the Tommy John surgery.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) May 14, 2016
Jerry Blevins relieved Harvey with two outs in the sixth, and he allowed an RBI double to Charlie Blackmon. It closed out the final line for Harvey. Again, Mets fans are just left with questions as to what is happening with Harvey.
Rockies starter Jon Gray dominated the Mets over seven innings to earn his first career win in his 14th career start. Kevin Plawecki was the only one really able to touch him up when he hit a two RBI double in the second. Those would be the only runs the Mets would score in Coors Field tonight. The Mets lost 5-2 in Coors Field.
Where has the Mets offense gone? The Mets offense was once again stymied. Put it this way, Plawecki’s two RBIs were the first from a Mets position player in 26 innings. It’s been 33 innings since a position player other than Plawecki has had an RBI.
Mets offense has disappeared. Hopefully, they’ll find it tomorrow. They are playing in Coors Field.
Game Notes: Once again David Wright struggled in the first game after a flight. He was 0-4 with three strikeouts.
It was over before it began. The Dodgers sent Clayton Kershaw to the mound, and he brought his A game. Bartolo Colon took the mound for the Mets, and he allowed for runs in the first. When that happens:
Via @ESPNStatsInfo: Clayton Kershaw is 80-0 in his career when getting 4+ runs of support
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) May 13, 2016
The game was as awful and dissatisfying as a regular season game in May can be.
Not only did the Dodgers jump all over Colon, but Chase Utley had a great game. He jumped right on Colon with a single getting the first inning rally started. He then hit a homer in the second to make it a 5-0 game. He went 3-4 with two runs, an RBI, and the aforementioned homer. What made it all the more frustrating was no one plunked Utley let alone threw one into his kitchen.
There were not many pluses for the Mets. David Wright walked in the first meaning there wouldn’t be a perfect game. Asdrubal Cabrera did get a hit in the fourth meaning there would be no no-hitter. It was important because Kershaw had no-hit stuff going:
Kershaw threw a three hit shutout with one walk and 13 strikeouts. It was the second straight year he threw a shut out against the Mets.
Cabrera also had a nice night in the field with a couple of good defensive plays. Colon did make it through five innings despite getting tattooed most of the night. In the five innings he pitched, he allowed seven hits and five earned.
Colon gave way to Sean Gilmartin, who pitched well in his return to the Mets bullpen. He actually struck out Utley. Overall, Gilmartin, who had been starting in AAA, went three innings allowing one hit, no runs, and no walks with three strikeouts.
Overall, it was a lost game. Many teams have that against Kershaw. No shame in that. The only real problem tonight was watching Utley have a good night (and a good series) while looking comfortable at the plate.
The Mets move on to Colorado where the Mets hitters promise to be a lot more comfortable.
Game Notes: Lucas Duda and Michael Conforto sat against Kershaw.
Last time Jacob deGrom started a game in Dodger Stadium, it was Game 5 of the NLDS. That entire night deGrom was on the ropes. He didn’t have his best stuff. However, he fought through it seemingly with nothing but guile.
Tonight was eerily reminiscent of that night.
The Dodgers were hitting deGrom hard. The lefties were hitting him especially hard. The Coward and Corey Seager led off the game with opposite field doubles in the first. Utley scored on Seager’s double, and Seager scored on an Adrian Gonzalez sac fly. It was 2-0 after one. deGrom would be in and out of trouble most of the game, but the Dodgers wouldn’t score another run.
Part of that was the Mets playing some real good defense behind deGrom. In the second, David Wright dove and stopped a would be Yasiel Puig RBI single. Wright made a poor throw allowing Puig to reach first safely, but the run did not score. In the fourth, Asdrubal Cabrera reached behind him on a ball that ricocheted off the glove of deGrom, made a nice stab, and barely threw out Utley. Eric Campbell made a nice stretch on the play. In the fifth, Cespedes did this:
Yoenis Cespedes' throw to nail Adrian Gonzalez reached 91.1 mph and covered 232 feet, according to Statcast.
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) May 11, 2016
Overall, deGrom would pitch seven innings allowing eight hits, two earned, and no walks with four strikeouts. Unlike last time, he handed the ball off to the Mets bullpen instead of Noah Syndergaard.
Unfortunately, deGrom got a no decision because Alex Wood didn’t repeat his NLDS performance. He would only allow four hits, two runs (one earned), and two walks with nine strikeouts. In the NLDS, he only went two innings allowing four hits, four earned, and this:
The Mets had no bat flips off Wood. Instead, the Mets would need some help from Utley to score. It was quite ironic how skittish Utley was around second base in the third inning. With Cespedes on first, Wilmer Flores hit a ball up the middle. Utley made the snag, but he flipped it to no one. No, it’s not Seager’s fault for failing to cover second. It’s Utley’s fault because he’s pure evil. The ensuing batter, Michael Conforto, hit the ball to Utley, who threw a potential double play ball into left field. Cespedes would score on the play. Flores would later score on a Kevin Plawecki RBI single.
The game would eventually become a battle of the bullpens, and surprisingly, the Mets would lose despite having the much better bullpen. Hansel Robles gave up a two out walkoff homerun to Trayce Thompson. The Mets lost 3-2. It snapped the Mets three game winning streak.
Game Notes: Terry Collins had Lagares in RF because he apparently hates good defensive OF alignments. Plawecki is heating up and finally taking advantage of his opportunity. Both Lagares and Cespedes slipped on first base on pickoff attempts. Lagares slipped off leading to an out. Cespedes twisted his ankle but stayed in the game. Cabrera was hit by a pitch for the fifth time this year.
Yesterday, the Mets featured an odd lineup against a right-handed pitcher. David Wright was getting a scheduled day off. Wright will get these days off even if it means the Mets have eight players on the field. It’s that necessary and important. Neil Walker needed the day off because of a bruised shin. As such, with the Mets looking to earn a four game split with the Padres, Eric Campbell started the game at third.
It was a decision that would have a profound impact on the game.
In the second was a big part of the two out rally. He knocked in Kevin Plawecki, who doubled, and he would later score on an Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single. Ironically, for a player that we talk about being a leader in hard hit ball percentage, his RBI single was a slow rolling grounder up the middle. As they saw, that ball had eyes. Overall, Campbell would go 2-3 with a run, an RBI, and a walk. He also ended the game with this web gem:
Campbell had a great game. He went from a .182/.357/.182 hitter to a .286/.444/.286 hitter. It was first RBI and only his third run scored. For that matter, it was only his second start of the year.
Given Campbell’s past it’s too soon to say the Mets should give him more playing time even with Wilmer Flores‘ struggles. Still, Campbell has earned the playing time he has received, and he has shown the Mets he has a place on the roster. If Flores continues to struggle, we may see more and more of Campbell. If he plays like he did on Sunday, that won’t be a bad thing.
This game wasn’t about the superb game David Wright had going 2-2 with three walks, two runs, a homerun and an RBI. This game isn’t about Michael Conforto snapping an 0-17 streak with a homer. It’s not about Yoenis Cespedes hitting another homer. It’s not about the 6-3 win snapping the Mets two game losing streak.
No, it’s about Bartolo Colon‘s homerun:
There’s nothing more than needs to be said about tonight’s game other than . . .
Bartolo Colon homered.