Game Recap

Fast Forwarded Mets-Padres Game 

So I didn’t make it very far last night. The last thing I remember Wilmer Flores grounded out to end a rally, and Noah Syndergaard was throwing his first pitch in the bottom half of the inning. I was then out like a light. I’m sure a younger version of me was severely disappointed in me. 

In any event, I woke up around 3 AM with the gray screen from the television on. At that point, I knew the game was over. There was no epic extra innings battle featuring Bartolo Colon getting the game-winning hit while Eric Campbell became a Mets hero by coming in and recording the save. 

No, as I would find out, it was just a normal run of the mill game. There’s an inherent beauty in that, but no one will be talking about it for generations to come. Or perhaps it will. Maybe, just maybe, we will remember this game as the last game Syndergaard ever lost in 2016 . . . or ever. 

Until such time, we know Syndergaard lost his second game of the year despite allowing two earned runs. We know Drew Pomeranz had a good curveball working, and he shut down the Mets lineup. We know Tim Teufel sent Asdrubal Cabrera in the seventh, and he was nailed at the plate. We know the Mets lost their second game in a row, and they snapped their streak of six consecutive series wins. 

I know this because I caught Mets Fast Forward this morning. If you’ve never watched, they condense a Mets game into an hour. It’s a good way to catch up.  It’s more entertaining than reading a game recap . . . well, more entertaining than a game recap written on another site.  Unfortunately, something gets lost in translation. 

You miss the little things. You miss some of the lesser at bats where maybe you see why a batter is struggling. You sometimes miss how a pitcher either falls into a pattern or is changing his attack from batter to better. You miss most of the excellent calls of Gary, Keith, and Ron (no Keith last night). In essence, you lose a feel for the game. You lose the ebbs and flows. You miss the cadence that makes each game unique. 

With that said, I couldn’t make the full game with the 10:40 start. Not after staying up until 1:00 A.M. for the prior game. Not after dragging myself out if bed at 5:30 A.M. the next day. I tried and failed. With that said, Mets Fast Forward was a welcome sight. Too bad it’s not a viable option next week. 

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Too Little Too Late

Simply put, it was that kind of night for the Mets:

For a long time, it appeared that Colin Rea was going to pitch the first no-hitter in Padres history. He was mostly shutting down the Mets. The only Met who really hit him well was Curtis Granderson, who was robbed not once (as you can see above), but twice. However, with two outs in the seventh, Yoenis Cespedes singled putting an end to the no-hit bid. 

In the ninth, Granderson lead off the ninth with a homerun to dead center. Jay wasn’t getting to that one. The homer knocked Rea out of the game. Up until that point, Rea had only allowed two hits and one walk with five strikeouts. 

Rea was relieved by Brad Hand. He would allow a two run homer to Cespedes. What was a 5-0 cruise control win turned into a 5-3 lead necessitating the Padres closer, Fernando Rodney enter the game. Rodney would shut the door on the Mets rally and earn the save. 

Rea was the real star of the game going 9+ innings allowing three hits, one earned, and one walk with five strikeouts. 

Rea’s battery mate, Mets killer Derek Norris, helped Rea get the victory. Despite coming into the game with a .138 average, he teed off against the Mets’ pitching. He would go 3-3 with a walk, double, homerun, two runs scored and an RBI. He was hitting like there was a one hour rain delay and Terry Collins left Jeurys Familia out there. 

In truth, the Padres all teed off on the Mets pitching. They would score five runs on 11 hits. Six of those eleven hits would go for extra bases. The two homers were hit by Norris and Wil Myers. 

Most of the damage was done against Jacob deGrom, who was once again in the 93 MPH range with his fastball. He pitched five innings allowing eight hits, three earned, and one walk with only two strikeouts. He wasn’t missing bats, and he was getting hit hard. Logan Verrett came in and helped the bullpen a bit by throwing two innings of relief. While Verrett was luckier than deGrom, he got hit hard as well. His final line was two innings, three hits, two runs (one earned), no walks, and three strikeouts. 

Most will point to the long flight as the reason for the Mets loss.  Maybe. It’s also possible they ran into a pitcher that had everything working. It’s just time to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow night’s game, or tonight’s game for those Mets fans on the East coast. 

Game Notes: While the Padres are the only MLB team without a no-hitter, the Mets are still the franchise with the most games played before pitching their first no-hitter. 

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Matz Dominates the Braves

Terry Collins must be relieved that for the second straight day, a Braves pitcher got the better of a Mets starter. Last night, it was Matt Wisler only allowing one hit in eight innings against a struggling Matt Harvey. Today, it was Jhoulys Chacin getting the better of Steven Matz. 

With two outs in the third, Chacin singled off of Matz. It would put the game in a completely different perspective. 

Instead of Collins agonizing again whether or not to leave Matz in during a no-hitter, he could manage it like any other game. Strange enough, Collins said before the game if he was presented with another Johan Santana situation, especially with a young pitcher, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull him. Collins did pull Matz after he threw his 106th pitch. At that point, Matz had thrown 7.2 innings, and he just allowed his second hit. Matz was just terrific. In addition to the two hits, he allowed no runs, no walks, and he struck out eight. 

Matz has completely recovered from his awful first start. Matz is now 4-1. He’s lowered his ERA from 37.80 to 2.89. Matz is showing why many had him as an early favorite for the Rookie of the Year Award. 

While Matz dominated the Braves from the mound, the Mets batters dominated at the plate:

By the way, who had Rene Rivera as the first Mets catcher to homer this year in their office pool?

The other homers came from Asdrubal Cabrera and Lucas Duda, who hit two. Overall, the Mets completely dominated the Braves like we should all reasonably expect. The final score of 8-0 was deceptive. It made the game appear closer than it was. 

Game Notes: This was the Mets third shut out of the year. The Mets have now won six consecutive series. This is the first time they’ve done that since 2006. 

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What Happened to Harvey?

So who broke Matt Harvey, and what in the world is Dan Warthen doing to fix it?  Seriously, Harvey has talked about struggling with his mechanics since the beginning of the year. Nothing has been fixed. 

Tonight, Harvey had diminished velocity. His location was off. The immoral Braves offense was making solid contact against him. The Braves came into tonight’s game averaging 3.2 runs per game, and they’ve only hit five homeruns all season. Sure enough, Harvey allowed eight hits, three earned, and two walks with four strikeouts over 5.2 innings. He allowed the immortal Mallex Smith to hit a homerun. 

Before the night started, Terry Collins did point out that Harvey was sick.  Side note, if he was sick and clearly didn’t have it, why did he go out for the sixth?  Anyway, if Harvey’s sick, he does deserve some benefit of the doubt. However, two things should be noted before giving him the benefit of the doubt: (1) the Harvey of old would’ve toyed with no-hitting this team; and (2) this start was not unlike most of Harvey’s other starts. Harvey came into the game with a 4.76 ERA, and he left the game with a 4.76 ERA. Once again, Harvey had a rough sixth. 

https://twitter.com/bbtn/status/727670040573706241

As bad a night as Harvey had, Kevin Plawecki had just as bad, if not an even worse night, than Harvey. The third run of the game scored on a Harvey wild pitch. In reality, Plawecki didn’t get down on a pitch in the dirt and let the ball go through the wickets. While stolen bases are also a function of the pitcher’s ability to hold on runners, Plawecki did allow three stolen bases. To be fair, two of them were on a double steal he can no chance. 

If that wasn’t bad, Plawecki was terrible at the plate as well. He was 0-2 at the plate. In the fifth, when Asdrubal Cabrera got the Mets first hit off of Matt Wisler, he hit into an inning ending double play. Overall, when the highlight of your day is getting hit by a pitch, you know you had a terrible day. 

Speaking of the Mets offense, there were a lot of hard hit balls. Unfortunately, most of them were hit right at someone. Still, the Mets were one-hit, and they struck out four times. Not a good night. 

Not a good night for Collins either. He left Harvey in too long. He also failed to make an important challenge. In the fateful sixth, A.J, Pierzynski challenged Yoenis Cespedes‘ arm. Pierzynski was ruled safe on a bang-bang play. There was no challenge. 

Pierzynski would then score on the aforementioned Harvey wild pitch.

Overall, tonight reminded me of that scene in Pleasantville when the basketball team finally lost a game. Everyone stood around saying, “Can’t win them all,” when someone noted that they really had won them all. I really thought the Mets could realistically go 19-0 against this Braves team. They won’t. 

Hopefully, the Mets put this ugly game behind them as they march to 18-1 starting tomorrow. 

Game Notes: Harvey may or may not have been using chewing tobacco. This would be a good test of the NYC smokeless tobacco ban. 

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Mets 4/4 Against the Braves

Twenty year old me never would’ve thought I’d say, “Thank God the Mets get to play the Braves 19 times a year,” but here we are. The Mets get to beat up on an awful Braves team 19 times a year. The Mets starting beating up on the Braves immediately:

Yoenis Cespedes‘ and  David Wright‘s homers were tattooed. 

As for Cespedes, his homer was a new Mets record:

Speaking of Carlos Delgado, this was the first time the Mets hit three homers in the first inning of a game since 2006. How you take that is up to you, but I choose to think of that as a good omen. 

Speaking of slugging Mets first basemen wearing the number 21, this was the fourth time this season Lucas Duda was involved in back-to-back homeruns. The Mets have gone back-to-back five times this year. 

After the first inning, the Mets bats quieted down a bit. Nothing of note really happened unless you want to count Wright singling off the face of Reid Brignac in the 

As for Bartolo Colon, he did what he does best. He beat a really bad team handily. Colon pitched eight shutout innings allowing seven hits, no walks, and seven strikeouts. Colon had only thrown 99 pitches, but Terry Collins pulled him out. Jeurys Familia would pitch the ninth. He allowed a run to spoil the shutout, but would hold on to preserve the 4-1 victory. 

Colon put on a show on the mound and at the plate:

Yes, this happened again:

Congratulations are in order to Colon for his 220th career win. He broke the tie with Pedro Martinez for the second most wins by a Dominican pitcher. Juan Marichal is in first place with 243 wins. For the Mets, it was their 16th of the year and are 4-0 against the Braves. 

Game Notes: Eric O’Flaherty is officially a Brave again as he pitched a scoreless seventh. Both he and Kelly Johnson received their NL Championship rings before the game. Neil Walker stole his first base as a Met in the eighth. 

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Bakers Dozen

All you need to know about tonight’s game is the Mets scored a franchise record 12 runs in the third inning. Here’s how it happened:

As Ron Darling would later say, “You got the feeling that the inning might not ever end.”  This inning was a far cry from the 2015 Mets June/July offense. The Mets sent 15 batters to the plate. The only Mets batter that didn’t reach base or score at least once was pitcher Steven Matz. With his grand slam and six RBI, Yoenis Cespedes broke Butch Huskey‘s team record of five RBI in one inning. Who knew?  

The inning was so impressive Jake Peavy‘s ERA went from 6.86 to 8.61. The Mets scored half their runs off Peavy and the other half off of sacrificial lamb Mike Broadway. His ERA went from 3.86 to 11.81.

Matz lasted six innings allowing seven hits, zero earned, three walks, and four strikeouts. It wasn’t a dominating performance. He only had one 1-2-3 inning. With that said, he more than got the job done.  The only run scored by the Giants was a leadoff homerun on the seventh inning by Angel Pagan off of Jerry Blevins. It was a good decision by Terry Collins to give Blevins a full inning of work in a blowout. Blevins has been the least used member of the bullpen. 

As if they were irritated by Pagan’s homer, the Mets rallied again in the seventh to score a run. The 13th run of the game was scored on a Juan Lagares RBI single. Logan Verrett pitched a scoreless eighth, and Antonio Bastardo pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the 13-1 victory. I’m assuming Verrett, the long man in the pen, didn’t pitch two innings because Terry Collins’ Magic 8 Ball told him to do it. 

This was the Mets first game this season against a National League team that was expected to be a contender for not only the postseason, but also the World Series. 

Game Notes: Kevin Plawecki threw out Brandon Belt in the second. He’s now 5-9 in throwing out would be basestealers. Since taking over for the injured Travis d’Arnaud, he’s gone 2-13.  David Wright, who for some reason wasn’t pulled, continued his throwing issues with a throwing error in the eighth. Eric Campbell entered the game to play LF in the eighth. Michael Fulmer made his debut for the Tigers against the Twins. He went five innings allowing two earned, one walk, and four strikeouts. 

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Mets Win Their First Home Series This Year

With the Mets recent winning streak and just overall better play, the only issue was Matt Harvey‘s slow start and his mechanics.  Four pitches into the game, Zack Cozart hit a homerun.  Ivan DeJesus followed with a single. It looked like Harvey was going to struggle again. 

Then the Harvey of old emerged. He struck out the next five batters and retired six straight. His fastball was topping 97 MPH. The Reds would cease making hard contact against him. As impressive as that was, the third inning was all the more impressive. 

The bases were loaded with one out after two soft singles and a Neil Walker error. Harvey then struck out Eugenio Suarez, and he got Devin Mesoraco out on a soft liner up the middle. Walker made a nice diving play up the middle there to redeem himself after his earlier error. Walker would then redeem himself in the bottom of the third:

Walker’s homerun would put the Mets up 3-1. The other two runs were scored in the first. Alejandro De Aza, starting in place of Curtis Granderson, scored an unearned run when Lucas Duda reached on a two base error. Duda scored on a Walker RBI single. 

Harvey ran into trouble again in the fifth. The Reds hit two infield singles leading to a run scored making it a 3-2 game. Harvey then induced Mesoraco to hit into an inning ending double play. At this point, Terry Collins would’ve been justified pulling Harvey there. He was in line for the win. The defense behind him was sloppy all night.  Harvey hasn’t been good so far this year in the sixth. Instead, Collins sent him back out there. He might have had to with a somewhat taxed back end of the bullpen. 

Harvey rewarded Collins’ faith by getting a 1-2-3 inning. Harvey’s final line was six innings, seven hits, two earned, one walk, and seven strikeouts. He threw 102 pitches. Most importantly, he got the win. Now, Harvey may not be all the way back yet, but he took an important step. It’s definitely a game to build on. 

In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets blew it open against the Reds dreadful bullpen. Eric Campbell, pinch hitting for Harvey, drew a walk. De Aza followed with a walk of his own. Michael Conforto then stepped up to the plate. What was strange was in a 3-2 game with two outs in the inning, the Reds didn’t turn to a lefty. They paid for it when Conforto hit opposite field double to left-center. It was Conforto’s ninth double in 18 games played. 

Jim Henderson came on for Harvey in the seventh because it was the seventh inning. He had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. After Collins’ earlier overuse of him, it appears Henderson is settling back in. Hansel Robles pitched the eighth inning (as he should). He too pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. That’s 15 strikeouts in ten innings pitched for Robles this year. Addison Reed, pitching for the fifth time in six games, pitched the ninth and recorded his first save of the year. He also recorded a 1-2-3 inning except he only had one strikeout. Mets pitching had 12 strikeouts in total.

The Mets have now won six in a row and 11 of their last 13. Shockingly, this was the Mets first series win at home this season. Now after the easy stretch is over, the Mets have tomorrow off (because it’s a Thursday in April), and they welcome the Giants for a weekend series. 

Game Notes: In 12 of the Mets 20 games, they have struck out 10+ batters. Yoenis Cespedes was given another night off with his leg contusion despite hitting a homerun last night. Granderson was just given the day to rest. De Aza started in right with Juan Lagares in center. 

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Cespedes Revives the Mets

Sometimes it’s just looks like it’s not going to be your night. Yoenis Cespedes and Travis d’Arnaud were out with injuries. Reds starter Brandon Finnegan showed why he’s a highly rated prospect. Bartolo Colon didn’t have the mojo working:

No, after the Ivan DeJesus two run homer in the third to make the score 3-0, it looked like it wasn’t going to be the Mets night. Even when the Mets could get rallies going, this would happen:

No, the Reds were in control and about to snap their nine game losing streak against the Mets. Then the Reds got greedy. They tried to push Finnegan through the seventh inning. 

Juan Lagares had a one out single followed by a Kevin Plawecki walk. The Reds could’ve pulled Finnegan there. He just got out of a jam unscathed in the sixth. Instead, the Reds let him face Cespedes, who was pinch hitting for Logan Verrett. First pitch Cespedes saw:

Tie game. 

Finnegan was gone after six brilliant innings (and one tough inning). We then got a glimpse of why the Reds were loathe to go to their bullpen. 

Tony Cingrani entered the game. He was greeted by Curtis Granderson with a triple. Granderson would later score on a David Wright RBI single. It was a nightmare night for Wright at that point having gone 0-3 with two strikeouts at that point. It was emblematic of his recent struggles. In a brief moment, it was forgotten with that single making it 4-3. It was remembered again when he was picked off of first base (technically a caught stealing). 

This gave Verrett the win. He was terrific. He came on in the sixth inning, and he threw two shutout innings. He showed both his versatility and his value. He deserved this win. 

For the second straight night, Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia locked down the eighth and ninth. They preserved the Mets first come from behind win. It’ll be one of many. 

Game Notes: With the Cespedes injury, Michael Conforto hit cleanup against the lefty Finnegan. He went 2-4. Before the game, d’Arnaud was placed on the 15 day DL. Lucas Duda sat against the lefty but came on in the ninth for defense. 

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Young Players Lead the Way

There was a time the Mets relying on the young meant hoping Chris Young‘s shoulder wouldn’t fall apart, or the other Chris Young hitting above the Mendoza Line. The 2016 version is much better. 

Tonight, the Mets were carried by two 23 year old superstars – Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto. 

Syndergaard was throwing so hard he broke the radar guns in Citi Field.  With that said, he wasn’t dominating. Of the seven innings he pitched, he had only two 1-2-3 innings. 

However, just because he wasn’t dominating doesn’t mean he wasn’t intimidating. In Billy Hamilton laid down a bunt single in the third inning. He then stole two bases leading to the Reds’ only run of the game. Hamilton’s next at bat? Syndergaard buzzed him inside reminding Hamilton he’s 60’6″ away. 

Still Syndergaard had some problems. In  the sixth, the Reds had runners on second and third with one out. Syndergaard would then strike out Devin Mesoraco and Adam Duvall to get out of the jam. He got them both with sliders. 

Speaking of the slider, Syndergaard went to that well too often.  After he passed 100 pitches, and the Reds were going to the fourth time through the lineup, they were able to get a two out rally started. 

Zack Cozart would chase Syndergaard in the seventh with an RBI single before Antonio Bastardo came in and showed signs of over use. He walked the first batter he faced before allowing a game-tying single to Joey Votto. Logan Verrett came on in relief and got the Mets out of the jam leaving the score tied 3-3. 

Syndergaard’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, three earned, no walks, and nine strikeouts. 

The Mets would retake the lead on yet another Neil Walker homerun:

For his part, Conforto couldn’t make an out.  In the first inning, he hit a homer. He followed that with a single in the third. He got a shift double in the fifth. He hit a bloop by the left field line. Suarez got under it, but he still couldn’t make the play. It bounced into the stands for a ground rule double.  He walked in the seventh. The cycle was not to be.  He’s been amazing since he was called-up, and he’s been better since he started hitting third:

By the way, Lucas Duda hit another homerun:

In what was a good night overall, there was some cause for concern. Travis d’Arnaud continues to struggle behind the plate. While Syndergaard doesn’t hold runners on well, d’Arnaud’s throws were terrible. He was palming the ball. He was winding up too much. He seemed to be thinking more than reacting. Overall, the Reds were 5-5 in stolen base attempts. 

Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia closed out the win. 

The game was tougher than it should have been, but it’s still a win. It extended the Mets winning streak to four games. The streak should continue as the Mets are pulling it all together and are beating bad teams like they should. 

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Matz-terful Performance 

When Steven Matz first cracked into the majors with his grandfather jumping up and down, we expected him to do the Jerry Koosman each start. For the uninitiated, Koosman said his job as a pitcher was to shut them out and hit one out. Essentially, a pitcher should be a threat on the mound and at the plate. By the way, Koosman might’ve said that, but he was a terrible hitter. 

Tonight, Matz had one of those Koosman dictated games. Matz pitched 6.1 innings allowing nine hits, two earned, two walks, and eight strikeouts.   He got touched up was the third when noted Mets killer, Freddie Freeman, hit an RBI double. In the seventh, he ran out of gas, but Hansel Robles came in and got out of the jam. At the plate, Matz went 1-2. Terrible Braves team or not, Matz had a terrific night. 

At the plate, the Mets had some firsts. In the first inning, Lucas Duda hit the Mets first sacrifice fly of the year scoring Curtis Granderson, who led off the game with a single and moved to third on a Michael Conforto single. Speaking of Conforto, he would have his first career stolen base in the third inning. After Duda hit his sacrifice fly, Neil Walker walked for the first time this year. Don’t worry, he would add a homerun in the eighth. The second run scored in the first would later score on an error. Sarcastic Mets fans would tell you this is the first time all year the Mets manufactured a run. 

In any event, this game was what you would expect, or rather, what we should expect from Braves-Mets games this year. The Mets pitching and offense dominated. Every Mets starter, including Matz, reached base at least once. The Third Baseman Formerly Known as David Wright (RIP Prince) hit two doubles. He was 2-5 with one run, two RBI, and two strikeouts. Once again tales of his demise were greatly exaggerated. 

Somewhat surprisingly, Juan Lagares got the start in center for an ailing Yoenis Cespedes. It was surprising because Jhoulys Chacin, who is a right handed pitcher. Before Cespedes was signed, it was presumed there was going to be a centerfield platoon with Alejandro De Aza facing the eighties. 

Other than the Lagares -De Aza decision, nothing about tonight was surprising was the Mets domination. Once all was said and done, the Mets won 8-2. They need to dominate teams like this.  They need to sweep teams like this. The Mets are in the process of doing that. They’re getting back on track. 

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