Musings

GKR Once Again Prove They’re Best Booth In Baseball

When Michael Conforto leaned over the strike zone in on a pitch by Anthony Bass. The end result was a hit by pitch forcing Luis Guillorme home with the game winning run.

There’s no mincing words here. Home Plate Umpire Ron Kulpa blew the call, and he would later admit it. While Kulpa blew it, Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling immediately knew it was a blown call, and they said Conforto should’ve been out.

As you can hear, they said a lot more than just that. First and foremost, we heard Cohen knew the rules cold, and he knew it wasn’t getting overturned.

Both Keith and Ron spoke about how that should’ve been called an out, and Darling took it a step further to point out it’s ridiculous replay can’t overturn this call.

Keep in mind, this is the Mets, not the Marlins telecast. GKR wanted it called correctly because they’re honest about what they see. They’re honest even when it comes to a player in Conforto they really like and respect.

Now, this should be the norm, but we all know it isn’t. What we got there, what we always get from GKR, was an honest assessment of what transpired. These are three people who love the game, and it always shows.

Mets fans are lucky to have GKR as is all of baseball. They don’t rely on shtick, and they’re not embarrassing homers. Rather, these are three people who are honest about what they see on the field no matter how much they all love the Mets.

page top

Michael Conforto Elbows Out A Win

Being a starting pitcher isn’t always fair. You can have a great outing like Taijuan Walker and still not get the win.

Walker came out throwing heat hitting 97 MPH on his fastball. With a little help from Francisco Lindor, he’d keep the Miami Marlins hitless through 4.1 innings.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lindofr01.shtml

The problem for Walker was the Mets offense was non-existent. Well, their offense with runners in scoring position.

Brandon Nimmo led off the bottom of the first with a double, and he was stranded. In the third, Lindor and Michael Conforto drew a pair of two out walks only for Pete Alonso to foul out.

In the fourth, the Mets loaded the bases with one out, but Walker couldn’t help his own cause hitting into the inning ending double play. Finally, the Mets would break through in the fifth, but they were unlucky.

The Mets loaded the bases with one out with Dominic Smith at the plate. Smith hit a long fly to center which looked like it would clear the bases one way or another. Instead, Starling Marte would make a great read and play limiting Smith to a sacrifice fly.

Unfortunately, Walker gave the lead right back. Mets killer Jon Berti singled to lead off the inning. Walker came very close to picking him off, and it would cost him.

Corey Dickerson hit a double to right, and when Conforto fumbled with the ball which bounced off the wall towards center, Berti scored easily. Marte would later move Dickerson to third on a fielder’s choice.

Walker then battled Jesus Aguilar. Aguilar had a great at-bat battling back from 0-2, checking his swing on a nasty pitch, and then singling home the go-ahead run on a full count.

On the bright side, the Mets bullpen, who struggled in Philadelphia, was excellent. Miguel Castro, Trevor May, and Edwin Diaz combined for three scoreless innings which gave the Mets a chance in the bottom of the ninth.

Jeff McNeil, who for reasons beyond comprehension is only batting seventh in the lineup, led off the ninth after starting the season 0-for-10. Actually, make that, 1-for-11.

That homer off Marlins closer Anthony Bass tied the score at 2-2. The Mets weren’t done.

Luis Guillorme pinch hit for Diaz, and he hit an infield single to second. After Nimmo doubled, the Marlins walked Lindor to load the bases to put the pressure on Conforto who has been struggling at the plate.

What looked like strike three nicked Conforto’s shoulder forcing home the winning run. Conforto successfully stuck his elbow out to get the win.

It was quite the redemption story for Conforto who needed that hit. It was also a great start to the season for Diaz getting that win. It’s even better the Mets won their first game of the season.

Game Notes: Dellin Betances was put on the IL with a shoulder impingement. Trevor Hildenberger was called up to join the bullpen.

page top

Jeurys Familia Showed He May Have A Great Year

The numbers weren’t good. Two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk. Put the results aside for a second.

Jeurys Familia looked like he could be in line for a very good season.

Just look deeper than the results. Neither of the two hits were really indicative of how well Familia was pitching, and as an extension of that, neither was the runs against him.

Neither the Adam Haseley single or Rhys Hoskins double were hit all that hard. In fact, the Hoskins double was the second weakest hit ball of the night. Really, no one made good solid contact against Familia. That’s evidenced by the lack of barrels against him.

With any luck, that’s a 1-2-3 inning. Instead, Pete Alonso throws the ball away trying to get Hoskins at second allowing Haseley to score.

What happened next is important. With everything going haywire, and the day after the Mets blew a late lead with a horrendous inning against the Phillies, Familia bore down. He made quick work of Andrew McCutchen striking him out.

Familia then didn’t give Bryce Harper a chance to launch a homer to let the Phillies back into the game. Instead, like a veteran, he tried to get Harper to bite, and when Harper didn’t, he drew a walk.

We would see the epitome of defensive indifference that inning as well. Hoskins was just allowed to walk to third. That’s one of the only reasons why he scored the second run.

After the Harper walk, Familia faced J.T. Realmuto, and he got him to hit the ground ball he needed. Unfortunately, even with Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil turning it quickly, the ball just wasn’t hit hard enough to turn two.

Again, we saw the defensive indifference as the Mets just let Realmuto go from first to third undaunted. Familia didn’t let this get to him as he got Didi Gregorius to fly out to end the game.

Breaking it down again, let’s review what we saw from Familia.

First off, Familia has really good stuff hitting 98 MPH with his fastball. For a pitcher with real command problems last year, he only went to three balls to Harper, a batter he was arguably pitching around to get to Realmuto.

We saw him respond to a bad and unlucky start to the inning by striking out McCutchen. Also, no one was able to square him up and make good contact against him.

If we see Familia have good velocity, induce weak contact, get big strikeouts, and stay poised when things around him go haywire, he’s going to have a big year. In the end, that’s the biggest takeaway from his appearance, and really, that’s great news for the Mets.

page top

Dominic Smith Not A Platoon Player

There are certain left-handed pitchers where no matter how good your left-handed batters are, you’re sitting them. Names which come up mind include Clayton Kershaw and maybe Madison Bumgarner.

Whatever your list, it’s not going to include Matt Moore. As such, when the New York Mets sit Dominic Smith against him, they’re announcing they see Smith as a platoon bat.

If that’s the case, it’s extraordinarily bad decision making, and really, it’s a poor assessment of the talent on this Mets roster.

Honestly, that is an assessment which should’ve been discounted last year. In 2021, Smith hit .283/.391/.509 against left-handed pitchers.

That wasn’t a one year anomaly either. In 2019, Smith hit .303/.361/.515 against them. Overall, since 2019, Smith has hit .291/.380/.512.

That equates to a 141 wRC+. In that time, only Brandon Nimmo, another left-handed hitter, has a better wRC+. Yes, he’s even better than Pete Alonso (126).

That means not only is Smith one of the Mets best hitters, but he’s one of their best against left-handed pitching too.

For sake of comparison, Kevin Pillar, who started over Smith, has a 119 wRC+. Albert Almora‘s is a woeful 40. All told, while Pillar is good, he’s not better than Smith.

Now, you can argue this is too much of a reaction to just one game. After all, Pillar is going to have to get into games. There are also other factors like his defense why you’d play him.

That said, this was the Mets first game. There was literally no other competing objective than put your best team on the field. That makes their first game a clear indication they believe Pillar is a better player against left-handed pitching than Smith.

That puts Smith in a platoon role where he sits against left-handed pitching. With Smith being one of the best hitters against left-handed pitching, they’re flat out wrong and making a mistake.

Smith is an everyday player. In fact, he’s clearly one of their best, and there’s no reason why he isn’t playing everyday.

page top

Fernando Tatis, Jr. Injury Reminiscent Of Michael Conforto

Back in 2017, Michael Conforto had emerged as a true star. In fact, he had made his first All-Star appearance, and at 24, the former first round pick was starting to push to become one of the best players in baseball.

That’s exactly when disaster struck. Robbie Ray threw a pitch, Conforto took a big cut, and then he went down:

https://youtube.com/watchv=mvw6Ge5BSgY

Conforto tore the posterior capsule in his shoulder requiring surgery. At the time, there was a real question whether he’d ever get back to being Conforto.

There were a lot of factors, including his being completely and unnecessarily rushed back, but it would take him about a year to get back.

Truth be told, it was longer than that. It probably wasn’t until nearly two years after did we see Conforto return to the form he was at before that swing.

That’s exactly the thoughts which ran through Mets fans minds when Fernando Tatis Jr. went down.

No injuries are quite the same. Even two of the same injury is not the same. Just look to how Zack Wheeler needed multiple years and surgeries to return from Tommy John whereas Noah Syndergaard seems primed to go once he’s eligible to come off the IL.

That said, it would seem Tatis is likely gone for the year. Fortunately for San Diego Padres fans, their front office doesn’t have Jeff Wilpon. That means doctors will make decisions on Tatis’ rehab and return.

It should also be noted this is the benefit of Tatis’ mega-extension. Both he and the team will be forced to take the long term view. There’s no rush to play him in his pre-arbitration or team control years because he’ll be a Padre for a decade.

That’s decidedly different for Conforto. He didn’t get the benefit of the organization taking a long term view of his career. Tatis will, and he will be better for it.

page top

Francisco Lindor Era Finally Begins

If not for the Washington Nationals, we would have seen the start of the Francisco Lindor Era with the New York Mets. Instead, that era starts in Philadelphia nearly a half week into the season.

If Mets history is any gauge, the era will start off with a win as the Mets have won on Opening Day at a higher percentage than any team in Major League history. The chances of that increase exponentially with Jacob deGrom on the mound.

Of course, this isn’t really Opening Day, but that is also besides the point. The real point is Lindor is a Met now, and he will Be for the following decade.

In that decade, there is a clear path for Lindor to easily surpass Jose Reyes to become the best shortstop in Mets history. In fact, in what New York Yankees fans may consider sacrilege, he could go on and become the best shortstop in New York baseball history.

Anything is on the table with Lindor. Since his career began, he’s been the best shortstop in baseball, and really he’s been the third best player in the game. Looking at it that way, it certainly fits that Mike Trout and Mookie Betts are the only higher paid players.

Lindor is having a Hall of Fame career, and much like Mike Piazza and Gary Carter, he’s going to get the opportunity to cement that legacy in Flushing. If so, he will join Piazza and Tom Seaver as players who have entered the Hall of Fame as Mets and had their numbers retired by the team.

With Lindor and Steve Cohen’s willingness to invest not just in players, but also the front office and technology, this promises to be one of the greatest stretches in Mets history. In fact, it could surpass what we saw in the 1980s.

Whatever happens from here on out, it’s most likely going to be defined by Lindor. He’s a genuine superstar playing in the best city in the world. Chances are this is going to be a mixture of magic and amazin.

page top

Shohei Ohtani Doing His Best Noah Syndergaard Impersonation

It was big news tonight that Shohei Ohtani was in the lineup. The reason was for the first time in his career Ohtani was in the lineup for a game he pitched.

He didn’t disappoint. Ohtani not only hit 100 MPH with his fastball, but he also did at the plate.

This was a great moment, and it was even better it happened on Sunday Night Baseball, so we all could watch on in awe. It was also unique that it happened for an AL team as teams are not all that willing to part with the DH for a game.

That said, it’s not all that unique. In fact, we’ve seen Noah Syndergaard do this. In fact, you could argue Syndergaard was much more impressive. First off, there was The Syndergaard:

For those who ask what The Syndergaard is, it’s homering while pitching a shut out. There are extra points for surpassing 100 MPH on the mound and at the plate like Syndergaard did in that game.

There was also the time Syndergaard had two homers in a game against the Dodgers:

If you think about it, when we see pitchers out there hitting homers and cranking 100 MPH fastballs, we should be thinking of Syndergaard because he’s done it in a game more than anyone.

Hopefully, we will soon see Syndergaard back on the mound and at the plate surpassing 100 MPH. And yes, we will hopefully see more of this for Ohtani (hopefully he’s alright) because it’s great for the game.

page top

Jed Lowrie And Zack Wheeler Have Outhit Mets Roster And Other Alarming 2021 Stats

After being unable to make more than eight hitless pinch hitting attempts over two years, Jed Lowrie has out-hit the entire Mets team in 2021. For that matter, so has Zack Wheeler.

So much for the universal DH.

Wheeler also has more strikeouts than anyone on the Mets pitching staff including Jacob deGrom. For that matter, so has Matt Harvey. In fact, Harvey has struck out more batters than the entire Mets staff combined.

If you think that’s scary, consider Chris Flexen does as well. In fact, Flexen has more wins that the Mets do this year. Of course, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering Brodie Van Wagenen was horrible as the GM.

Of course, we all know the reasons why Wheeler is out-hitting the Mets, and Flexen has been stats than anyone on the Mets is because the Mets haven’t been able to play their opening series.

Until that point, Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo, and Carlos Carrasco are atop all the Mets pitching categories despite their not being able to begin their season for at least a month. Of course, no one is pitching for the Mets now.

The stats are so skewed J.D. Davis is the Mets top fielder . . . and hitter. Right now, Davis can be considered the Mets player because he’s tied atop every statistic. That’s how you know things aren’t great.

Fortunately, the Mets hiatus will be over soon when they take the field in Philadelphia on Monday. When that happens, we should soon see deGrom correct a number of these bizarre discrepancies caused by the Nationals COVID infections.

page top

Good Day For Former Mets Pitchers

Thanks to the Washington Nationals, we can’t watch New York Mets baseball just yet. What we could do was see former Mets pitchers in action.

Matt Harvey took the ball for the Baltimore Orioles, and he looked good. His slider was moving, and he touched 95 MPH. Unfortunately, he fell one-third of an inning short of the win.

Zack Wheeler took the ball for the Philadelphia Phillies, and he’d have more hits himself than he allowed. He was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.

On the mound, he struck out 10 over 7.0 innings with the only hit against him coming from Travis d’Arnaud.

We also saw the former bullpen arms do well. Darren O’Day pitched 0.2 scoreless and picked up a hold. Michael Fulmer picked up a hold for pitching a scoreless inning while hitting 95 MPH.

All-in-all, it was a pretty good day for former Mets pitchers. Hopefully, that momentum for Mets pitchers will confine when the Mets are finally able to start their season on Monday.

page top

J.D. Davis Can’t Be Bothered To Think About COVID19 Vaccine

The New York Mets season will be off to a late start. With multiple Washington Nationals players becoming infected with COVID19, the opening series between these two division rivals was canceled.

With that as a backdrop, J.D. Davis was asked about getting the vaccine when he’s eligible to receive it. He incredulously responded he hadn’t thought about it.

Somehow, a player sidelined waiting to start the season wants us to believe he didn’t think about the vaccine created which would’ve permitted him to play this weekend.

He’s either incredibly vapid where he actually wants us to believe he doesn’t have the mental capacity or awareness to think about a vaccine for a once in a century pandemic, or he’s lying like he did when originally asked about his involvement in the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal.

Yet, despite his wanting us to believe he hasn’t thought much about COVID19 and returning to normal life, he wants us to believe he’s upset they’re not playing and that the players are happy cooped up unable to do anything beyond dealing with one another.

But hey, why would you have to sit around thinking about things when you’re just handed a third base job you didn’t earn? Moreover, why would think there are ramifications for your decisions when you were given an enormous pass for the Astros scandal and lying to the press?

page top