The strange thing about this part of the season is the team has to do everything they can do to win games in order to get their team into the postseason. However, at the same time, the team is assessing players to find out who could be valuable pieces on the postseason roster. Accordingly, the manager has to balance finding out something about a player in a pressure situation with making sure the player doesn’t fail and blow the game.
This year Josh Smoker is the embodiment of that conundrum.
After Josh Edgin struggled, the Mets decided to go call-up Smoker and give him his shot to pitch out of the bullpen. Smoker earned the shot as he had a 1.04 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP in his 14 appearances after the All Star Game. He was also striking out 11.4 batters per nine innings during that stretch. Additionally, he had the stuff to pitch in the majors. According to Brooks Baseball, Smoker throws over 95 MPH with a slider and split that generates a lot of swings and misses.
Still, relying on Smoker was far from a given. He still had a 4.11 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP in AAA. It wasn’t just the typical Pacific Coast League inflation. In his minor league career, Smoker had a 4.58 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. Again, while his stuff translated to the majors, it did not translate statistically. Overall, while there was promise, Smoker was far from a given.
That’s what makes Smoker’s current run with the Mets all the more impressive.
In 15 appearances with the Mets, Smoker has a 4.38 ERA and a 1.135 WHIP while striking out an eye-popping 15.3 batters per nine innings. As it stands, he has reverse splits with him faring better against right-handed betters better than he does against left-handed batters. That is not all together unexpected as Smoker was only slightly better against lefties than he was against righties while in AAA this year. This means that Smoker is more than just a LOOGY, he’s a reliever that can be trusted for a full inning.
Over his past seven appearances he’s more than a pitcher than can be trusted. He’s a pitcher that can be used in high leverage situations. In those appearances, Smoker has yet to allow a run while striking out 10 batters in 5.1 innings. He is limiting batters to a .167 batting average while allowing no extra base hits. What’s even more impressive with the batting average numbers is Smoker has allowed a .375 BABIP meaning there’s not going to be regression on the balls in play. Rather, there is promise that he will get even better. The key to this impressive run is he is throwing 71% of his pitches for strikes.
As Smoker has improved at the major league level, the question is transitioning from whether the Mets can rely upon him at all to what exactly will his role be in the postseason.
Recent reports indicate in the likely event Yoenis Cespedes opts out if his contract, the starting point in negotiations will be four years, $100 million. Other industry insiders believe with the run Cespedes has had with the Mets, his next contract will exceed $125 million. Seeing how much Cespedes has meant to the Mets, the team can ill-afford to lose him in free agency no matter what the cost.
So what exactly does this have to do with Mets minor leaguer Tim Tebow? Well, Tebow is the golden goose.
It's Tebow Time! @TimTebow #LGM pic.twitter.com/en7IT5nSmo
— Majestic Athletic (@MajesticOnField) September 19, 2016
That’s right. The Mets are selling Tebow jerseys and other Tebow merchandise. Quickly, the Tebow Mets jersey has already become a top seller. Normally, teams would not be permitted to sell jerseys of minor league players who are not on the 40 man roster. However as ESPN’s Darren Rovell reports, Tebow circumvented that by agreeing to a deal directly with Majestic.
This last point is important. According to ESPN’s Adam Rubin, because Tebow is not part of the MLB licensing deal, the Mets are not required to share the profits from the sale of Tebow merchandise with the other 29 teams. Accordingly, with each and every Tebow jersey sold, the Mets will make exponentially more money on it than they would have if, for example, a fan purchased a Cespedes jersey.
Overall, this means if you want the Mets to re-sign Cespedes, the best way to show your support for him might just be buying a Tebow jersey. If the Mets sell enough of them, there should be no excuse for the Mets being unable to re-sign Cespedes.
T.J. Rivera hit a two run homer in the bottom of the fourth to bring the Mets with three runs. The game was now in play after Noah Syndergaard had allowed five runs in 3.2 innings.
The home run changed the dynamics of how Terry Collins needed to use his bullpen.
Now, even with the expanded rosters, the Mets bullpen was a bit overworked. The Mets needed their bullpen to pitch 11.1 innings over the previous two games. With Syndergaard getting knocked out in the fourth, the bullpen would need to get another 5.1 innings.
Sean Gilmartin pitched the first 1.1 innings. His turn in the lineup would come up in the sixth, and Collins would do the right thing in pinch hitting Kelly Johnson for him, especially with a runner in scoring position.
At this point, Collins had to figure out where to go for the final four innings. Collins went to Josh Edgin. Now, Edgin has pitched in the previous two nights (even if the one outing was just to face one batter). It is also important to note this is his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
More important than any of that, Edgin has made 10 appearances this year pitching to a 6.00 ERA and a 1.500 WHIP. Righties are hitting .273/.467/.545 off him this year and .243/.344/.346 for his career. He’s a LOOGY and not a cross-over lefty. None of this stopped Collins for sending him out for a second inning.
On Edgin’s 30th pitch, he walked Jace Peterson to load the bases. Hansel Robles came in and couldn’t get out of the jam. He allowed a two RBI single to Dansby Swanson to make it 7-2 putting the game reasonably out if reach. This was a situation created by Collins, and Robles couldn’t bail him out.
Now, there will be some who will defend Collins pointing out Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis were due up the following inning. It’s a valid yet misguided point.
Yes, you want Edgin facing Freeman and Markakis. However, you don’t want Edgin having them after having pitched in the prior inning and with Edgin pitching on the third consecutive game. It doesn’t make sense.
It was incumbent on Collins to look ahead and use a different pitcher in the sixth and leave Edgin in reserve for when Freeman and Markakis came to bat. Collins tried to get two innings out of Edgin. It was a move that backfired, and it helped the Braves blow the game open.
Back in 1998, a Mike Piazza led Mets team was in prime position for the Wild Card. They were one game up on the Cubs with five home games left in the season. First up was the 97 loss Montreal Expos followed by the clinched a long time ago Atlanta Braves. The Mets wouldn’t win another game.
In the process, the Mets would finish one game behind the Chicago Cubs AND the San Francisco Giants. Behind Steve Trachsel, the Cubs would win the Wild Card in the one game playoff. The Mets would stay at home watching as they couldn’t beat a bad team or the Braves.
That and tonight’s game is a reminder that the Mets have not locked up one of the Wild Card spots.
Simply put, Noah Syndergaard was not good tonight. He only lasted 3.2 innings allowing eight hits and five earned. It didn’t matter that he was throwing his fastball over 100 MPH and his slider was back to 95 MPH. He wasn’t locating, and the Braves were hitting him.
As usual, it was Freddie Freeman who killed the Mets. He homered in the third to make it 3-0. He then effectively knocked Syndergaard out if the game with a two run double in the fourth.
Conversely, the Mets weren’t hitting. The sum of their offense through the first eight innings was a T.J. Rivera two run homer off Braves starter Aaron Blair. This was the same Blair that entered the game 0-6 with an 8.23 ERA and a 1.774 WHIP.
Simply put, the Mets offense laid an egg. Still, the Mets were only down 5-2 after the Rivera homer. The game was within striking distance.
Josh Edgin and Hansel Robles would combine in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Edgin, in his second inning of work, would load the bases. Robles came on in relief, and he allowed a Dansby Swanson two run bloop single to left making it 7-2.
By the way, Swanson is becoming an annoying Brave. He opened the scoring in the second with an RBI single in addition to the aforementioned two RBI single. Overall, he was 3-5 with one run, three RBI, and one stolen base.
The Mets did get something going on the ninth. Michael Conforto led off with a single. Ender Inciarte then misplayed a James Loney line drive single into an RBI double. The Mets had something brewing. It ended when Terry Collins turned to Ty Kelly and Jay Bruce to pinch hit for Kevin Plawecki and Rafael Montero respectively.
Kelly struck out looking and Bruce popped out to right. After a Jose Reyes popped out to left to make the final out, the Mets have given the Giants and Cardinals an opportunity to cut into the Mets narrow lead in the Wild Card race.
Game Notes: Loney was 3-4 with an RBI double. Curtis Granderson was 3-4 with a run. As a team the Mets were 0-7 with runners in scoring position.
One of the more difficult things about being a father was missing many of my child’s firsts because I was at work. I missed the first time my son crawled, stood up, walked, and talked. This weekend, I got to experience another one of my child’s firsts, and I could have done without it.
He was stung by a wasp.
When your child is stung by a wasp, especially for the first time, a million thoughts race through your head. My initial reaction was to take the Mets Mike Piazza jersey retirement cap off my head and kill/hit the wasp away. The question then is what do you do next?
The answer to this question is call your pediatrician. Whenever you have a question, call your pediatrician. Go seek medical advice.
Don’t even stop to google it. You’re going to come up with a number of websites with good to really bad advice. You know Web MD is going to say the limb needs to be amputated immediately or worse. You don’t really know how good the other websites are. Some will say it’s not big deal, just rub some dirt on it while others will convince you to immediately call a faith healer because medical science cannot cure your child.
So yes, start with your pediatrician as you always should.
Still reading? Ok. If you want my non-medical doctor advice, keeping in mind you shouldn’t rely on someone else other than a doctor for medical advice, here is how I recommend proceeding. Again, I’m not a medical doctor. I’m just a rationale human being that’s been stung before.
First, get rid of the wasp. It’s going to keep coming back to sting again and again and it might call for backup, so hit it with your hat, a newspaper, etc. Just get rid of it. If there are a number of them around, get out of the area and fast. Don’t risk a second, third, or more stings. If it was a bee, it’s unfortunately going to die now, so pick it up gently (it can’t sting again) and place it in some flowers so it can pass away peacefully.
Second, get the stinger out. Scrape it off with a fingernail, a credit card, etc. Scraping it off is the easiest and probably the best method. Others are using tape to remove the stinger like it’s lint on your business suit or to pinch the skin around it to bring the stinger to the surface and then scrape it away or pluck it out with a tweezer.
Once the stinger is removed, get ice on it as soon as possible. Even if your child isn’t allergic, which thank God, my son isn’t, the area is going to swell and swell quickly. In fact, even with ice the area will still swell. In the case of my son, it went from a wasp sting on the middle finger to him looking like he had an inflated doctor’s glove for a hand. Bee stings aren’t usually this bad though – they might just create a small lump.
The sting should be fine now if your child isn’t allergic. You should only worry if your child breaks out in hives or has trouble breathing. That’s the sign of an allergy. That means you have to get to a hospital immediately for emergency treatment.
Once the situation is handled, get a Band-Aid on it with either some Benadryl cream or a baking soda/water mixture. This will prevent your kid from scratching. Keep in mind, it’s going to itch. If you want to prevent infection, remember to use Polysporin and not Neosporin. Young kids may have an allergy to Neosporin. The worst thing you can do is apply something your child has an allergy to an open wound.
If your child was stung at home, you may have a wasp nest nearby. Check the garden, the eaves and the loft, plus any outbuildings like the shed or garage, to locate the nest. They usually look like a grey mass of paper hanging from the ceiling or attached to a wall, and it’ll be crawling with wasps. Stay well away from it – if they see or smell you they’ll attack you just for being there. Contact a pest control service as soon as possible on a site similar to https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/local/california/vandenberg-air-force-base/ and leave it to the professionals to destroy. A large wasps nest is full of thousands of wasps which will easily kill you if they sting you enough times.
A bee’s nest, on the other hand, is no risk at all. Bees are friendly and docile unless you physically attack them, so their nest should be left where it is. If it’s in an inconvenient place, get a professional beekeeper to move it for you.
From there, it’s time to go out and get some ice cream and watch the Mets game.
Actually, no, I missed my first game all year even though my son was excited to see Lucas Duda play for the first time in months (I was too). Of course, the Mets game was of secondary concern to my son being alright. And yes, it did help that the Mets won. It always does.
When a player goes down, the natural inclination is to go seek out a veterans to be the stop gap or replacement. The reaction is understandable because you want a steady presence with someone who has proven stats. Granted, it’s most likely going to be diminished stats, but people would rather deal with that than a young player who may not be ready and could be even worse than the veteran.
That’s why we saw the Mets make a move to re-acquire Kelly Johnson not too long after David Wright went down. It’s why the Mets acquired James Loney to replace Lucas Duda. It’s also why the Mets brought back Jose Reyes to help an injured and underperforming Mets offense. It’s also why the Mets traded for Jay Bruce rather than counting on Michael Conforto to return to form. For the most part, it has worked out for the Mets.
With that said, Reyes is the only imported veteran who is currently producing. Johnson is mired in a 12-54 slump. Loney has hit .253/.287/.337 since the All Star Break. Bruce has hit .181/.261/.297 since joining the Mets.
These underperforming veterans coupled with the Neil Walker and Wilmer Flores injuries have forced the Mets to turn to some youngsters.
T.J. Rivera has all but taken over the second base job for the rest of the year. In the five games since he became the starting second baseman, he is hitting .450/.455/.800 with two home runs. Both of those home runs proved to be game winners. For the season, he is hitting .344/.344/.492.
Yesterday, Conforto started for Bruce, who the Mets have taken to booing after every at bat. Conforto made the most of his opportunity going 2-4 with two RBI. In the four games he was given an opportunity to start since he was recalled when rosters expanded, Conforto has gone 4-16 with two doubles, two RBI, a walk, and a hit by pitch.
It’s not just the offensive players that are outprodicing the veterans, it is the young pitchers as well.
When Matt Harvey went down, the Mets understandably turned to Logan Verrett who did an admirable job filling in as a spot starter last year. Unfortunately, this year he had a 6.45 ERA as a starter in 12 starts. The Mets also went out and brought back Jon Niese who was actually worse with the Mets than he was with the Pirates before undergoing season ending knee surgery.
With Verrett and Niese faltering and the injuries to Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom, the Mets had no choice but to go with their young pitchers.
First was Seth Lugo, who has arguably been the Mets best starter since he has joined the rotation. Lugo has made six starts going 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA and a 1.091 WHIP. Including his nine relief appearances, Lugo is 4-2 with a 2.35 ERA and a 1.043 WHIP.
He is joined in the rotation by Robert Gsellman. Gsellman has made four starts and one relief appearance where he came in for Niese when he went down for good with his knee injury. Overall, Gsellman is 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA and a 1.405 WHIP.
In addition to the offense and the rotation, the Mets have had Josh Smoker emerge in the bullpen. In 15 appearances, Smoker is 2-0 with a 4.38 ERA and a 1.135 WHIP while bailing the Mets out of a few jams. More impressively, he is striking out 15.3 batters per nine innings.
Overall, these young and untested players have stepped up and helped take the Mets from an under .500 team to a team 11 games over .500 and in the top Wild Card spot.
One of the reasons the Mets went out and obtained Jay Bruce at the trade deadline is the team felt they needed another power bat in the lineup other than Yoenis Cespedes. Unfortunately, that trade hasn’t panned out well with Bruce hitting just .192/.271/.315 with just four homers and 11 RBI in 36 games as a Met. Worse yet, the Mets gave up Dilson Herrera, who could’ve taken over as the second baseman when Neil Walker required season ending back surgery and Wilmer Flores injured his neck.
Bruce’s struggles could be alleviated if the team was getting production at first base. However, James Loney has similarly struggled. Since the All Star Break, Loney is hitting .249/.276/.329 with only eight extra base hits in 51 games. These numbers are even worse when you consider Terry Collins has done all he could do to help Loney offensively by playing Flores at first against left-handed pitching. Worse yet, Loney’s reputation as a Gold Glove caliber first baseman has been greatly overblown. While defensive metrics for first base can be seen as imperfect, and cannot be fully trusted in a single season sample size, Loney has a -3.2 UZR and 0 DRS. Combining that with the prior two seasons, Loney has averaged a -2.4 UZR and a -1 DRS. Overall, these numbers speak to Loney’s lack of range and his failure to stretch on balls thrown to first base.
The solution to both of these problems would be Lucas Duda. In 2014, Duda beat out Ike Davis to become the Mets first baseman. In his two seasons as the Mets first baseman, Duda was a .249/.350/.483 hitter who averaged 28 homers and 82 RBI. Entering the season, Bruce was a .248/.319/.462 hitter who averages 26 homers and 80 RBI. Accordingly, Duda was a better power hitter and “run producer” who also got on base at a higher clip. Naturally, Duda far surpasses Loney has a hitter.
Defensively, Duda’s poor defensive reputation really rests on one bad throw in the World Series. Over his career, he has a 2.5 UZR and an 11 DRS. Over the two seasons he was the everyday first baseman, Duda averaged a 0.1 UZR and a 5 DRS. Using these advanced metrics, Duda is a much better defender than his reputation suggests, and he is a better defender than Loney. More importantly, as Keith Hernandez consistently pointed out over the past few seasons, Duda cheats to get to each and every ball thrown by an infielder. He stretches as far out as he can to help the Mets get the out calls on the close calls at first base.
Offensively and defensively, Duda is exactly what this Mets team needs for the stretch run and the postseason. Unfortunately, Duda suffered a stress fracture in his lower back. With a few setbacks during his rehabilitation, Duda was supposed to be gone for the season.
As it turns out, he wasn’t. Duda was able to get enough stationary bike riding and batting practice in for the Mets to feel comfortable activating him from the disabled list on Saturday. Even better, he got the surprise start on Sunday.
He would go 0-2 with a strikeout looking rusty at the plate. He was eventually lifted for Asdrubal Cabrera when the Twins brought in the left-handed Buddy Boshers to pitch the sixth. In the field, Duda was back to his normal form stretching out to give his team the best chance possible to get the base runner.
Getting on the field was a good start. However, if the Mets are going to make a run in the postseason, they will need Duda’s bat. There are 13 games left in the season for him to get into form. Hopefully, Collins will give him every opportunity to get going before the Wild Card Game.
If so, we have seen a hot Duda bat carry the Mets for long stretches. It just might carry the Mets to the World Series.
What possesses people of a certain age to wake up and go, “You know what, let’s go to the children’s zoo today!” I would like nothing better than hanging out with a bunch of kids all day. Maybe we can go to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza afterwards!
Technically, yes, you’re permitted to go, and the zoo is happy to take your money.
However, unless you’re Adrian Balboa, why are you there?
Better yet, why do the people who go to the zoo forget it is really intended for kids?
Too frequently, these teenagers, young adults, or just out and out old people have no issue pushing ahead of children to see the penguins, or my favorite reaching past a child to prevent them from feeding the birds.
It’s cute and fun for a toddler to get the bird on a stick. You’re an adult – you need more in your life if you’re either trying to catch the bird a toddler is trying to get, or you’re excited to catch the bird. I mean it’s food on a stick. You’re not exactly baiting and trapping an animal – you know, a real accomplishment.
Also, please explain to me why you feel the need to smoke everywhere. First off, you know it’s not permitted. The laws prevent it. Furthermore, the signs are present telling you you’re not allowed. Simply put, if you’re smoking in a children’s zoo, you’re an awful human being.
Look, I don’t bring my son to nice restaurants like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse because he doesn’t belong there. As well behaved a child as he is, he’s still a toddler that is prone to acting up, which is similar to how you act looking in the aquarium making Finding Nemo and Finding Dory jokes:
He doesn’t belong there. That’s why I don’t bring him there.
It’s part of the societal contract. I don’t bring my son to adult places where he doesn’t belong. The reciprocation is supposed to be you not being an idiot hanging out at a children’s zoo, forcing your way to the front to see the animals, not paying attention to the kids running around, and even taking a ride on the train.
Overall, there’s just something wrong with you if you’re idea of fun is hanging out in a children’s zoo. Regardless of whether or not you’re on some kind of registry, you know you shouldn’t be hanging out at children’s places. Don’t go to them.
In turn, I will continue to not bring my son to nice restaurants and bars.
Next time you feel the urge to hang out with a bunch of little kids, just go ice skating.
Last week, Terry Collins failed to pinch run for Wilmer Flores in the eighth inning because, as he said, “I was trying to get the pitching set up and get a pinch hitter in and got distracted, my fault.” (New York Post).
As a result of Collins being distracted, Flores, one of the slowest runners on the Mets, stayed in the game. T.J. Rivera hit a pinch hit single that would’ve scored almost any other Mets player. Instead, there was a play at the plate. Flores slid headfirst into Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Not only was Flores out at the plate, he was knocked out of the game with a neck injury. With his ensuing wrist injury, he might be gone for the season.
With that in mind, you figure Collins would be sure not to get that distracted again. You’d figure wrong.
The Mets were down 1-0 in the seventh, and they loaded the bases. With the pitcher’s spot due up, Collins was looking at his deep bench to pick his second pinch hitter of the inning. As you have to pinch hit for the pitcher, you also have to get your pitching lined up for the next inning. Ultimately, Collins would pick Michael Conforto to pinch hit.
While all of this “hysteria” was occurring, Collins left James Loney, who is perhaps the slowest position player in all of baseball, standing on second base. If Flores wasn’t scoring on a single, you know Loney wasn’t either.
It wasn’t until after Conforto took a first pitch strike that Collins figured out he needed a pinch runner. Naturally, he wouldn’t go to one of his faster runners, but to Ty Kelly. Ultimately, it didn’t matter as Conforto, who has been ice cold since being put on ice by Collins, struck out leaving the bases loaded.
Fortunately, the Mets would go on to score in the eighth and win the game in extras behind two Curtis Granderson home runs.
Still, you have to be worried that the Mets manager made the same mistake twice in the same week. You have to be even more concerned when you consider these are errors most managers don’t even make.
It doesn’t matter that the Twins are one if the worst teams in baseball. When you’re fighting for a postseason spot, the games are going to be tough. Tonight, the Twins showed a lot of fight. It certainly helped them that they were sending their ace, Ervin Santana, to the mound.
And you know with him being a former Brave, he’s pitches well against the Mets. That’s exactly what happened tonight.
The Mets did absolutely nothing against Santana for the first four innings. T.J. Rivera got things started with a single, and he moved to second on a balk. Because Paul Molitor apparently had no idea James Loney isn’t good, he ordered an intentional walk. It wouldn’t burn the Twins. First, Rene Rivera struck out. Then, Terry Collins gambled a bit pinch hitting Kelly Johnson for the starter Seth Lugo. Johnson popped out to end the inning.
It also closed the door on Lugo. It was the typical bend but don’t break Lugo outing where he found an extra gear on his fastball and three more curves when he was in trouble. The only run the Twins were able to score off of him was an Eddie Rosaro solo homer in the fourth.
Lugo’s final line would be five innings, four hits, one run, one earned, four walks, and two strikeouts.
The Mets had a chance to get Lugo off the hook in the seventh. T.J. got the rally sterted with a cue shot double down the first baseline followed by another inexplicable intentional walk to Loney. Alejandro De Aza pinch hit for Rene and walked to load the bases. Terry Collins then made two strange decisions.
The second, but most puzzling, was his waiting for a pitch to be thrown before having Ty Kelly pinch run for Loney. The other curious decision was going to Michael Conforto to pinch hit. It was strange because Conforto has been idle for too long and because he’s been uncomfortable pinch hitting. Furthermore, the Mets activated Lucas Duda just for spots like this. Collins went with Conforto, who had a bad at bat striking out on four pitches.
The bad news was the Mets missed out on another huge scoring opportunity. The good news was Santana was done for the night.
Jose Reyes gave a rude welcome to Twins reliever Ryan Pressly by hitting the first pitch by Pressly for a single. Reyes would quickly find himself on second after a wild pitch and an Asdrubal Cabrera groundout. With the game on the line, Yoenis Cespedes was at the plate with a 3-2 count, and he would lunge at a ball off the plate:
Of course, he came through in that spot tying the game at one. Molitor went to his left in the pen Taylor Rogers. Rogers would make quick work of the two lefties Collins was so nice to stack in the middle of the lineup, Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce. By the way, Bruce, the man Collins has the utmost confidence, was 0-5 with a strikeout.
The game would go into extras as:
The trifecta of T.J. Rivera, Ty Kelly and Kevin Plawecki were not able to drive in a run in the bottom of the ninth. I'll pause for gasps.
— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) September 18, 2016
Lost with the Mets practically emptying their bench was terrific work out of the bullpen. Josh Smoker, Fernando Salas, Jerry Blevins, Addison Reed, Jeurys Familia, and Hansel Robles combined to pitch five shutout innings allowing only three hits and one walk with striking out eight.
However, they wouldn’t get a sixth shutout inning. Byron Buxton would hit a long home run off Robles to give the Twins a 2-1 lead in the 11th. It wasn’t a bad pitch, and it shows why people think Buxton is going to be a great player. None if that matters.
What matters is Granderson led off the bottom of the 11th with an opposite field home run to tie the game at two.
After Granderson’s homer, and the obligatory Bruce out, the Mets, sorry, Las Vegas 51s, continued the rally. T.J. and Brandon Nimmo hit back-to-back singles. Kevin Plawecki almost ended the game. However, instead of his liner going into center, it hit the pitcher leading to the fielder’s choice. It put the game in Matt Reynolds hands. After fouling a ball off his foot, Reynolds was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Reyes worked out a nine pitch at bat, but he would strike out looking ending the inning and sending the game into the 12th.
Granderson once again hit the huge extra inning home run.
This one was a game winner – off a lefty to boot. It was the first time in Mets history a Mets player hit a game tying and game winning home run in extra innings.
With that, the Mets won a tough game and will make up ground on someone tonight.
Game Notes: Granderson’s homers wrre the Mets’ 200th & 201st of the season, which is the new Mets single season record.