The second place Philadelphia Phillies are red hot. With their win tonight against the New York Mets, they’ve now won 10 out of their last 11.
Tonight, the former Cy Young winners, Rick Porcello and Jake Arrieta, who aren’t that anymore, pitched well and to a 2-2 stalemate through six. The Mets two runs coming off an opposite field two run homer by Michael Conforto.
Left field love from the lefty. #LGM pic.twitter.com/xaJtyv7rN0
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 5, 2020
But the Mets couldn’t pull out the win because the Phillies are a better. You see they go to the top of the free agent market, and they use their top prospects to get players who merit it. They built real rotation depth, and they also kept prospects in reserve to address their bullpen issues.
The Mets go searching for discounts. They throw away prospects needlessly. They never address the bullpen by trade.
This left Jared Hughes in a bad spot. He’s just not a two inning reliever. He shouldn’t be going 40+ pitches. In his career, batters have a .900 OPS against him.
After allowing a run in the seventh, he stayed in for the eighth. He ran out of gas allowing two more runs putting the Mets down 5-2.
The Mets had their chance in the eighth. Dominic Smith hit an RBI single to pull the Mets to within 5-3. There were runners on first and second with one out.
Robinson Cano, Van Wagenen’s biggest trade acquisition, lined out. Pete Alonso then popped out to end the inning.
Meanwhile, new Phillies closer, Brandon Workman, recently obtained from the Red Sox, earned the save for the Phillies. Instead of being dismayed by this, just remember Steve Cohen is buying the team, and he can hire a good GM to turn things around.
Game Notes: The Mets DFA’d Billy Hamilton to make room for Erasmo Ramirez. Hamilton is the players the Mets obtained for Jordan Humphreys.
Tom Seaver‘s 41 hung in the dugout, and the Mets players honored Seaver by rubbing dirt on their right knee. Considering the marks Seaver would have on his own knee from his drop and drive style, there really was no better tribute.
As for the game, it wasn’t pretty by any means. There was poor pitching, base running gaffes, and just sloppy play.
Still, the Mets fought in this game. They battled back from deficits of 4-0 and 7-4. They forced extra innings, and it was Pete Alonso up with a runner on second to lead off the inning. He would hit the first Mets walk-off lead-off two run homer.
Ya Gotta Believe! #MetsWin pic.twitter.com/GlarRAtvny
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 4, 2020
With that homer, Edwin Diaz picked up a win. The Mets won a needed game. The fans got a much needed win.
It’s been an emotional day in an emotionally draining year. We all needed this one. We needed a reason to cheer. It also helped to have a reminder why we love this team.
As fans, we love these players. They’re resilient. They battle. They don’t give up. They didn’t tonight, and they earned a victory, and in doing so, they won one for Seaver.
What makes Mets broadcasts so special is Gary Cohen and Howie Rose grew up Mets fans. They’ve been there since the beginning, and they’re an encyclopedia of Mets knowledge.
To wit, no one knows just how great Tom Seaver was and just how much he meant to Mets fans.
For Mets fans, today is the wake and funeral. We’ve lost Seaver, and we’re turning in more to hear the tributes than we are to see the Mets face the Yankees.
We need Cohen and Rose to deliver the eulogy. They’ll do that in their pre-game introductions. They’ll do it by spinning tale after tale during the games.
They should do so unfettered. No need for Steve Gelbs interjections or for Wayne Randazzo to be able to really provide no perspective on this.
There is a place for Seaver’s former teammates Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez to provide some perspective. Having listened to them through the years, they both respect and revere Seaver much like we all do.
Overall, this is the day we all want to hear from Cohen and Rose. SNY and 880 should find a way to get them in the booth again together and to have them simulcast the game across TV and radio.
Let them deliver Seaver’s eulogy in a way only they can.
The New York Mets should honor Tom Seaver by having their players wear 41 for their game today against the New York Yankees, the team Seaver beat for his 300th career win.
No, I’m not the first to suggest this, and I won’t be the last.
Seaver is the most important Mets player in team history. He’s far and away the best. He’s so great it’s next to impossible for any current or future Mets player to surpass him.
The Wilpons haven’t always been great when it comes to honoring Seaver. They didn’t do anything on that front until last year. Ten years after Citi Field was opened, they finally did something renaming the road in front of Citi Field 41 Seaver Way.
The statute they promised still hasn’t been erected, and they won’t be majority owners of the team when that statute is eventually erected. For them, this is the last opportunity they have to do the right thing here.
For MLB, they’ve allowed these previously. For example, just last year all of the Angels players wore 45 in honor of Tyler Skaggs, who had died tragically.
In the end, this is what baseball does to honor fallen players. Seaver has died. The best Mets player ever. The best right-handed pitcher since World War II. The starting pitcher with the highest percent of the vote in Hall of Fame history.
Every generation of Mets fans needs to honor and mourn the man as does all of baseball. The best way we know how is to listen to the emotional words we’ll hear from Gary Cohen and Howie Rose, and to see the players all wear 41.
To his parents, he was George. To friends, Tom. To the National League, he was Cy Young. He went by and was known by many names including Tom Terrific.
The most important of those monikers was The Franchise.
Perhaps no player was more synonymous with a team than Tom Seaver was with the New York Mets. He brought the team to greatness. He was easily the best player to ever play for the franchise.
For that matter, he’s quite possibly the best greatest starting pitcher post World War II. To date, there has never been a starting pitcher inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame with a higher percentage of the vote.
There are many who can wax poetic about the Imperfect Game, the 19 strikeout game, the Rookie of the Year, three Cy Young, 1969, 1973, and his return in 1983.
We can talk about our rejoice in his no-hitter and reaching 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. There was so much to appreciate and cheer.
As Mets fans we were lucky to have Seaver. But now, like in 1977, he’s gone, and we’re absolutely heart broken. At age 75, Seaver has died.
We talk about the Midnight Massacre. There was the 1973, 1988, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2015, and 2016 postseason losses. There was the 1998, 2007, and 2008 collapses. As Mets fans, we’ve known many low and sad moments.
This is worse than all of them combined. Seaver, the best thing about this team, is gone. The Franchise is gone forever.
Hopefully soon, we can one day walk down 41 Seaver Way. We may one day soon see the Seaver statue. His number hangs in left field, and his plaque is in Cooperstown. There are just so many honors and memories of him.
We each have our own special ones. Those will never go away. Now, more than ever, as should cherish them while saying a prayer for Seaver and his family.
Say one for your fellow Mets fans as well. We lost the person which made our team great. We lost the man who showed us anything is possible, even for the Mets.
But, the memories, those remain. They’ll live on forever. And so will Seaver because the legends never truly die.
He’s alive in the record books, the plaques, statues, and the stories you hear. You’ll hear more of them from Gary Cohen, Howie Rose, other Mets fans, and baseball greats. You’ll hear it from parents and grandparents. Listen and take it all in.
Appreciate what made Seaver great from those who knew and saw. Love them for it, and remember why you move the Mets. And yes, mourn Seaver being gone.
As Mets fans, we love and cherish Seaver. We always have and always will. That will never change.
Thank you for everything Seaver. May you Rest In Peace.
Because of the state Brodie Van Wagenen left the Mets starting pitching depth, the debate was whether the Mets should start Ariel Jurado or Franklyn Kilome. For those who wanted to settle the debate, both would pitch in the game.
It turns out everyone was wrong.
Jurado allowed five runs over four, and Kilome allowed four runs over three. Kilome would take the loss.
The pitching marred Jeff McNeil continuing to return to form, Luis Guillorme still being hot at the plate, and Andres Gimenez‘s first career homer. On the last note, Gary Cohen actually called it:
A home run @andresgimenez will never forget. #LGM pic.twitter.com/KfzsJqQOmA
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 2, 2020
Really, the less said about this game the better. This was an Orioles team a postseason bound team should beat. Then again, it’s hard to say the Mets are a postseason caliber team.
Rubbing salt in the would is the Orioles were sellers at the trade deadline, and they sold Miguel Castro to the Mets. The Orioles have a better record than the Mets, and they’re just as many games out of the postseason as the Mets are.
When Brodie Van Wagenen took over as GM, the Mets organization had an embarrassment of starting pitching depth. He was gifted a starting rotation which had Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz.
Waiting in the wings were promising prospects like Justin Dunn, Anthony Kay, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Kevin Smith. There was also interesting prospects like Corey Oswalt and Franklyn Kilome.
Now, the Mets rotation this week was literally posted as deGrom followed by a bunch of TBAs. The reason? The starting pitching depth is gone. Kaput!
For some reason, Van Wagenen thought the old adage you could never have enough pitching didn’t apply to him. For some reason, he actually thought he improved the Mets rotation and depth with Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha.
Even with the Van Wagenen proclaimed deepest rotation in baseball, the Mets had to move Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman back to the rotation. Still, they didn’t have enough starting pitching.
Someone will undoubtedly argue the Mets pitching staff suffered a number of injuries, and Marcus Stroman opted out. But that completely misses the point. That’s exactly why you need quality depth. That quality depth is long gone.
Now, at the trade deadline, Van Wagenen could’ve looked at this and pursued another starter. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t. What we do know is not only did he not obtain a starting pitcher, but he would also get rid of one.
Van Wagenen traded Kevin Smith for Baltimore Orioles reliever Miguel Castro. He traded a promising left-handed starting pitcher who continues to improve and defy scouting reports for a reliever with a career 4.94 FIP and 1.409 WHIP.
Yes, Castro is talented reliever for sure, but his skills have yet to translate to tangible Major League success. This is the guy you take a flier on in the offseason. He’s not the player you overpay to get as your big time late inning reliever to help get your over the hump. Castro has not been and is not that guy.
As for Smith, he’s the latest starting pitching prospect Van Wagenen needlessly traded away for pennies on the dollar. Van Wagenen explained it away like Smith was a future fifth starter. That’s not too different from how he was dismissive of Dunn’s and Kay’s abilities before being shown how embarrassingly wrong he was.
In what should hopefully be Van Wagenen’s last trade deadline, he traded away his fourth starting pitching prospect. You could form what would’ve been a good Major League rotation with what Van Wagenen traded.
Instead, the Mets will gave zero starting pitching depth and next to nothing in return for all of these trades.
Not even Jacob deGrom would stem the losing streak. Not even in the day time against the Marlins with a lead.
Jeff McNeil broke out of a slump in a big way with a second inning RBI double. Later in that second, Dominic Smith hit a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.
After that, the Mets again forgot how to hit in RISP going 2-for-10 in the game. However, you would’ve thought that wouldn’t matter. After all, deGrom was on the mound.
Well, the near impossible happened. He would have a near Steven Matz moment in the sixth.
Garrett Cooper led off the inning with a homer. Then, Pete Alonso couldn’t field a somewhat tough hop allowing Matt Joyce to reach. That’s usually when deGrom bears down, but he just didn’t seem to have it in this inning.
He was up 1-2 on Lewin Diaz who then hit an RBI double. deGrom was up 0-2 on Miguel Rojas, who then hit a go-ahead RBI single. He was then up 1-2 on Jorge Alfaro, who hit an RBI to put the Marlins up 4-2.
The odd part was deGrom was his normal self over the first five innings, and he struck out nine. Of the four runs he allowed, only one was earned. Still, you have some to expect much more from deGrom.
The Mets didn’t get him off the hook. Robinson Cano homered in the bottom of the sixth to pull the Mets to within 4-3. The Marlins got that run back when Brian Anderson homered off Brad Brach in the eighth.
This 5-3 loss was yet another bad loss for this team. The Mets can fool themselves they’re still in the race, but nothing we have seen recently suggests they’ll stay in it.
Game Notes: deGrom became the first pitcher to face an opponent four times in a row since Freddie Fitzsimmons did it in 1929.
The Yankees were banged up, and they struggled against the Mets. However, when push came to shove, they came out on top because this Mets team couldn’t get that big hit or big out.
1. The Mets were sellers at the deadline obtaining Steve Cohen for Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz, and a Wilpon to be named later.
2. You’d have to assume if any deadline deals go forward now they have Cohen’s blessing. Of course, with the Wilpons, it may not be safe to assume.
3. This season is more evidence Brodie Van Wagenen should be fired. Hopefully, that’ll be one of the things Cohen does first.
4. No, Van Wagenen’s hot mike saying Rob Manfred doesn’t get it doesn’t make him likable or competent.
5. Hopefully, that wasn’t Van Wagenen’s Terry Collins ejection video.
6. Mets should insist on wearing Jackie Robinson‘s 42 for the rest of the year as art of their protests.
7. Luis Rojas‘ bullpen management has not been great.
8. Not using Drew Smith to protect a five run lead but then using him in a tied extra inning game is bizarre. That’s still not as bizarre as bringing in Edwin Diaz with runners on base.
9. These games just further cement how much the Mets need Seth Lugo in the bullpen. Aside from him, there’s no one you can truly trust in that pen.
10. The Mets are looking for a catcher at the trade deadline because Wilson Ramos has been terrible, and all indications are Tomas Nido has COVID19.
11. The COVID19 anonymity doesn’t work when you put players on the IL. At that point, we all know who had it.
12. Aside from that huge three run homer, Pete Alonso has been lost at the plate all season.
13. The same is true for Amed Rosario. He hit that walk-off homer off Aroldis Chapman, and then he once again did nothing at the plate. Also, he still hasn’t drawn a walk all year.
14. Chapman plunked J.D. Davis leading some to point out Davis was on the 2017 Astros.
15. Speaking of Davis, he’s been flat out terrible. Without the juiced ball, he’s back up to a 50% ground ball rate. That’s where he was before the juiced ball.
16. While others struggling mightily stay in the starting lineup, Luis Guillorme continues to sit despite his stellar defense and his continuing to get on base. If he’s not playing, it’s clear these Mets only want to win with Brodie’s guys.
17. Dominic Smith continues to play great, and he continues to show the Mets organization failed when they didn’t give him a real chance to win the first base job.
18. Andres Gimenez had just about as bad an inning at third as you can have. It’s a reminder he’s a rookie who never played above Double-A before this season.
19. If you like these seven inning games, you don’t like baseball. You might’ve at one point. You might’ve even loved it. But if you’re pushing for seven inning games now, you no longer like the sport.
20. Hopefully, Cohen tells Van Wagenen he’s not allowed to ruin the Mets future for short term personal glory before being shown the door for a real GM.
Game Recaps
Mets At Homer In Yankee Stadium
The Mets were up 7-2 after a good Rick Porcello start and some late clutch hitting blowing the game open. It was the bottom of the seventh of the top end of the doubleheader, which meant this game should have been over.
But this is the Mets.
Andres Gimenez, ironically in for defense, threw a ball away to allow the lead-off hitter to reach. Later on in the inning, he had a chance to tag out Thairo Estrada to end the game on an insanely bad base running mistake, but Estrada would kick it out of Gimenez’s glove.
Still, that doesn’t explain why Justin Wilson pitched so poorly. Even with those two gaffes, Wilson still allowed two runs leaving runners at the corners with two outs.
For some reason, Luis Rojas thought it would be a good idea to bring Edwin Diaz into this spot despite Diaz being horrendous with inherited runners.
Well, Diaz threw a wild pitch scoring a run before allowing Aaron Hicks to hit a game tying homer. From 7-2 to tied 7-7.
Since this is a doubleheader in 2020 and Manfred hates baseball, this meant the eight inning was considered extra innings, and there was a runner at second to start the innning.
As usual, the Mets can’t get a hit with RISP. In the bottom of the inning, Michael Conforto had Michael Tauchman nailed at the plate, but Wilson Ramos missed the tag.
That meant Diaz got a blown save and a loss in one of the most frustrating losses you will see.
Being this is the Mets, more misery was in order.
Yankees prospect Deivi Garcia made his Major League debut and was great allowing just an unearned run over six.
In that sixth, Jeff McNeil reached and went to second on a Luke Voit error. He’d score on a Dominic Smith RBI single. The rally ended there was J.D. Davis, who has been absolutely terrible of late, hit into an inning ending double play.
That play got Seth Lugo off the hook after he had allowed one run over 3.2 innings. It also meant another maddening loss was on the horizon.
Drew Smith, who was not trusted to protect a five run lead in the first game, came on to pitch the eighth. He’d take the loss because Gary Sanchez would hit a grand slam off of him, and in the bottom of the inning, Ramos would strike out in his bases loaded situation.
Overall, the Mets should’ve won four of these games. Instead, they lost three, and they did so in excruciating fashion.
Game Notes: Luis Guillorme made a pinch hitting appearance and drew a walk. Despite hitting .419, it was just his sixth plate appearance over the past week.