My first experiences watching baseball was the late 80’s. Back then, baseball had a code. If you show up a player, expect to he plunked. If you’re plunked, the middle infielders better be ready to be on the receiving end of a takeout slide.
The idea of this behavior was to let the players police themselves on the field. If all else failed, the players would just have to resolve everything with a good old fashioned benches clearing brawl. This way of handling things has largely been legislated out of the game, but Sunday, we saw a return of it in the Blue Jays-Rangers game.
As a matter of background, these two teams played a hard fought, five game ALDS. The Blue Jays win was highlighted by this:
Now, there’s some disagreement whether this bat flip had any impact on Sunday’s game. In any event, Sunday was the last regular season meeting between these two teams. Jose Bautista led off the eighth with the Rangers leading 7-6. He was hit with the first pitch of the inning. Here’s what ensued next:
Wow.
Certainly, Bautista felt the Rangers threw at him. He had a very late, but still low, slide into Rougned Odor. There are three possible reasons for this:
- Odor’s throw was in line with Bautista’s head forcing him to get down;
- Bautista was trying to break up a double play; or
- Bautista felt the Rangers threw at him, and he was getting his pound of flesh.
Whatever the case, Odor was offended, and he landed a right hook. Keep in mind, this was no sucker punch. Bautista’s hands were up. It sparked an old fashioned benches clearing brawl.
Of course, that didn’t end anything. Prince Fielder would be hit with the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth. It was an 83 MPH change-up. The benches emptied, but tensions didn’t escalate as Fielder took his place at first base. It was all over.
Baseball has made many rules to try to prevent this all from happening. It’s why there are warnings. It’s part of the reason why the new slide rules are in place. The main reason for the new slide rules is Chase Utley is a dirty player and the Gane Two umpires in the NLDS had no idea what interference was.
Upon review of Sunday’s game, you could say the rules worked. Bautista was called for interference. There were six ejections stemming from the incident. However, the rules didn’t work as intended. The players attempted to police themselves and all hell broke loose. In many ways it was a throw back to 30 years ago when incidents like this would happen. No, they were not common place or even likely. It was just possible. In today’s game, it didn’t seem like this was possible anymore.
Overall, I don’t think anything that happened on the field has a place in baseball. There’s no reason to bean someone in the fashion the Rangers beaned Bautista if it was intentional. Late slides or throwing it at someone’s head is unnecessary. Furthermore, Odor’s punch shouldn’t happen on a baseball field. With that long caveat, I enjoyed it.
It reminded me of the baseball I grew up watching. It reminded me of a time when teams would use this as a rallying cry for the rest of the season. It reminded me of a time when teams generally disliked each other and wanted to beat each other’s brains in. It reminded me of a time where the Mets were on top of the baseball world. So yes, I enjoyed it.
However, one day of nostalgia is nice. What happened Sunday has no place on a baseball field, and I hope to never see it again.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Matt Harvey because he gave us all hope in 2013. Each and every time he took the mound, you didn’t know what was going to happen. It could be a no-hitter. Better yet, it could be a perfect game. He may strike out over 20 batters. You didn’t know. In 2013, anything was possible.
He had to have Tommy John surgery meaning nothing was possible in 2014.
Once Harvey returned in 2015, anything was possible again. We saw that as the Mets won the pennant. Harvey was through the thick of it all. He pitched more innings than anyone has post-Tommy John. He came so close to sending the World Series back to Kansas City.
In my household, there was only one man who pitched for the Mets:
Now, Harvey is struggling. Yes, anything is still possible. However, with Harvey’s struggles this year some of the magic is gone. Unfortunately, he’s been replaced by another Harvey:
With Harvey’s struggles, this is who my son thinks of when I ask him who Harvey is. This Harvey is not just a crane. He’s an engine too.
I wonder if he could pitch into the seventh inning.
So it looks like Carlos Torres finally get his revenge against Terry Collins for abusing his arm all these years.
In the third inning, the Rockies had already played a run extending their lead to 3-1. Tony Wolters swung and missed at strike three making it two outs with the pitcher coming up. Logan Verrett had minimized the damage. Nope, Home Plate Umpire Carlos Torres (no relation to the former Mets relief pitcher) called a pitch Wolters clearly swung and missed a foul tip. No strikeout. Here’s the replay.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbNNFfTx9g
Apparently, Wolters at bat was extended to prevent Curtis Granderson from assassinating Queen Elizabeth II.
In any event, Wolters at bat was extended, and he hit a two run double to make it 5-1. Terry Collins was tossed. The Rockies put a five spot up the inning. Verrett was eventually chase after throwing 75 pitches in 2.2 innings. In total, he allowed 10 hits, seven earned, and three walks with no strikeouts.
Verrett wasn’t good all night, BUT his outing would’ve been drastically different had the umpire actually made the correct call.
The Mets did show some character in the game despite being down 7-1. Neil Walker snapped out of his cold spell with a solo homer in the fourth. Lucas Duda singled home Yoenis Cespedes, who had a lead off triple, in the sixth. Duda later scored when Asdrubal Cabrera grounded into a double play. The sixth inning rally was ended when D.J. LeMahieu robbed Granderson of a base hit. LeMahieu had a terrific game in the field robbing the Mets of a few hits.
The Mets couldn’t muster another rally. They did fight, but it was all for naught. They lost 7-4.
On the bright side, the Mets bullpen was terrific. They went 5.1 innings allowing no runs, two hits, a hit by pitch, and no walks while striking out three. Sean Gilmartin deserves special mention for going two innings after pitching three innings on Thursday.
With that said, the Mets still lost. The loss guaranteed a losing road trip. It guaranteed the Mets lost their first series since the April 11 -13 series against the Marlins. The Mets dropped to third place in the NL East. But remember, it’s still just May, and it’s the end of a long West coast trip.
The Mets will be fine, and they’ll start winning games and series again. Avoiding a sweep by winning tomorrow will be a good start before heading home for a big series against the Nationals.
Game Notes: Ron Darling went into full Keith Hernandez mode. In the fifth inning, he sent Nate from the production crew behind home plate to get some guy to stop continuously waving. When the Mets were rallying in the sixth, he referred to the game as a Coors Light type of game. In the seventh, he referred to a mound visit between Wolters and Gonzalez Germen before a pitch was thrown as an embarrassment to the game.
Over at the Oh Murph, or OMDC, I explained why Mets fans should be voting for Daniel Murphy to start at second for the NL in the All Star Game. Here’s the link.
Albert Eistein once said, “the definition of insanity is seeing 2016 Matt Harvey pitch over and over again and expect to see him pitch well into the fifth inning.” Well, it was something like that.
Coming into tonight’s start Harvey had a 1.93 ERA in the first four innings. In the fifth, he had a 7.71 ERA. In the sixth, he had a 16.20 ERA. Each and every game, Mets fans think from innings 1-4 that Harvey’s back. Each and every game, Mets fans are trying to figure out what’s gone wrong again in the fifth and sixth innings. Tonight was more of the same.
Harvey pitched 5.2 innings allowing 11 hits, five earned, no walks, and six strikeouts. Three of the earned runs were scored between the fifth and sixth innings. The other two were scored in the fourth with a little help from a Michael Conforto misplay in left. Somehow his allowing a single to drop in front of him and roll past him was scored s triple.
Harvey’s undoing was the sixth . . . again. Harvey had stifled a rally the fifth only allowing a run. He allowed a one out double to D.J. LeMahieu. LeMahieu scored on a Tony Wolters single. Harvey had previously dominated Wolters. He struck him out twice. However, it’s hard to dominate someone when your fastball drops from the 95+ MPH range to the 90 MPH range. It also doesn’t help when the pitches are over the middle of the plate. By the way Harvey allowed these many hits and saw this much of a velocity drop?
That 13-hit performance by the Tigers in 2013 was Harvey's last start before the Tommy John surgery.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) May 14, 2016
Jerry Blevins relieved Harvey with two outs in the sixth, and he allowed an RBI double to Charlie Blackmon. It closed out the final line for Harvey. Again, Mets fans are just left with questions as to what is happening with Harvey.
Rockies starter Jon Gray dominated the Mets over seven innings to earn his first career win in his 14th career start. Kevin Plawecki was the only one really able to touch him up when he hit a two RBI double in the second. Those would be the only runs the Mets would score in Coors Field tonight. The Mets lost 5-2 in Coors Field.
Where has the Mets offense gone? The Mets offense was once again stymied. Put it this way, Plawecki’s two RBIs were the first from a Mets position player in 26 innings. It’s been 33 innings since a position player other than Plawecki has had an RBI.
Mets offense has disappeared. Hopefully, they’ll find it tomorrow. They are playing in Coors Field.
Game Notes: Once again David Wright struggled in the first game after a flight. He was 0-4 with three strikeouts.
On October 31, 2015, Jose Reyes allegedly grabbed his wife by the throat and shoved her into the sliding glass doors leading out to a lanai at their Hawaiian resort hotel room. His wife was taken to the hospital for treatment of her injuries while Reyes was arrested for these alleged acts.
If convicted, Reyes would’ve faced anywhere from two days to five years in prison. If convicted, Reyes could’ve been deported. If deported, Reyes would’ve had to forfeit the remaining $44 million left on his contract. Fortunately for Reyes, he didn’t have to face these consequences for his alleged actions because his wife didn’t cooperate with the prosecutors. Reyes walked off scot-free.
This left the ball in Major League Baseball’s court to punish Reyes. They dropped the ball.
Reyes was only suspended 51 games. Major League Baseball believed the hospitalization of a person violently grabbed around the throat and shoved was only worth 51 games. They believed whatever role Reyes played, if any, in preventing his case from coming to trial was worth 51 games.
The combined Chapman and Reyes suspensions equate to half a season. Half a season for two women allegedly being choked.
Major League Baseball had been opportunistic in announcing their Domestic Violence policy. There were good provisions like getting perpetrating players help. There were other interesting provisions like leaving the matter of suspensions open-ended. It was an interesting provision as it arguably allowed each case to be judged on its own merits.
The results have been vastly underwhelming. Reyes went from potentially facing deportation, thereby effectively ending his big league career, to a 51 game suspension. That’s only 31% of the season. He gets to keep roughly $36 million of his money. Additionally, he gets a $100,000 tax write-off for his donation to the cause of stopping domestic violence. With this suspension, Major League Baseball set forth a powerful message for all to hear:
Grabbing a woman by the throat and shoving her into a sliding glass door wasn’t as bad of an offense as using PEDs.
At what point does T.J. Rivera finally get his shot?
In his minor league career, Rivera has hit everywhere he’s gone. In his minor league career, he’s hit .320/.367/.423. For the past three years, he’s played Winter Ball hitting .307/.361/.445. Bottom line is Rivera has hit everywhere he has played in his entire minor league career. He had gotten better each and every year. For example, he’s hitting .330/.360/.524 in Triple-A right now.
Even with Rivera hitting so well and improving, it seems like the undrafted 27 year old may never get his shot.
He didn’t last year. The Mets were more comfortable with a struggling Dilson Herrera. They were more comfortable with Danny Muno. They didn’t protect him in the Rule 5 draft despite his offensive production. The Mets were able to keep him because no one thought he was worthy of a Rule 5 pick. Seeing what the Braves put on the field, it makes you question what are we missing with Rivera?
There is a tendency to scout a player’s minor league statistics. The belief is that if a player can hit in the minors, they can hit in the majors. The inverse of that is deemed to be true as well. However, there are many more factors at play like level of competition, approach at the plate, level of experience and age compared to the competition, etc. When taking a totality of the circumstances, a player who hits well in the minors but isn’t deemed good enough to hit in the majors is tagged as a AAAA player.
Is that the case with Rivera? Is he really just a AAAA player? That would be the most logical explanation as to why he still hasn’t gotten his shot.
To answer that, we need to look at what he is. Rivera is a utility player that can play second, third and short. In reality, given his range and arm strength, he’s best suited to second base. Overall, no matter where you play him, he’s not that great defensively. Despite his relative versatility, it’s Rivera’s bat that would carry him to the majors.
As discussed above, Rivera has hit everywhere. There’s good reason for that. He’s a disciplined hitter. He has a good compact swing, and he’s a gap to gap line drive hitter. He doesn’t generate much power, but he’s capable of the occasional double. In short, Rivera shows the skills to be able to get on base no matter what the level.
What we don’t know if that ability will ever translate. At the major league level, the Mets have Wilmer Flores and Eric Campbell. Campbell, in particular, is what Rivera aspires to be. Campbell can play a multitude of positions. He doesn’t generate much power, but he has shown the ability to get on base. So long as Campbell gets on base, the Mets aren’t sending him down.
In the event Campbell ever gets sent down, it’s highly unlikely Rivera ever gets the call. He’s buried at the upper levels of the Mets minor league system behind guys like Herrera, Matt Reynolds, and Gavin Cecchini. Worse yet, Rivera isn’t on the 40 man roster thereby further decreasing his chances of ever getting a shot.
Unfortunately, it appears Rivera may never get his shot with the Mets. He may never get an opportunity to show he has the tools to hit and get on base in the major leagues. It’s a testament to a deep Mets farm system. It’s an indictment of the rest of baseball, who apply AAAA tags to players without ever giving them a chance that they’ve earned.
T.J. Rivera has earned a shot to play in the major leagues. Hopefully, he will get that shot someday.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsminors.net
After a stretch where Kevin Plawecki hit .167/.348/.167, Terry Collins couldn’t bite his tongue anymore. Collins took the rare step of calling out one of his players publicly when he said, “I don’t mean to put a lot of pressure on him, but he’s got to start getting some hits. We all thought he was going to be a good offensive player. We need [him] to start getting hits.” (NY Post).
It was a bold move from Collins. He was challenging a player who had yet to rise to the challenges given to him.
Plawecki has risen to the challenge. In the first five games since Collins’ statement, Plawecki is hitting .333/.368/.667 with three doubles and a homer. He’s not just making contact. He’s hitting the ball with more authority. He’s finally showing why the Mets drafted him in the first round in 2012. He’s finally showing glimpses of the .290/.364/.432 hitter he was in the minor leagues.
Now, to say it’s Collins’ words is a bit cliched. Plawecki has been working with Kevin Long, who is a terrific hitting coach. He’s been in the majors for nearly a year now. He’s had the sinus surgery. He’s in a much better lineup than he was last year. He’s getting regular playing time. Ultimately, it’s probably not just one thing, but a multitude of things. In any event, something seems to have clicked with Plawecki once Collins made his statement.
It’s important because the Mets don’t know when Travis d’Arnaud will come back, or how he will play upon his return. The Mets need Plawecki to step up in d’Arnaud’s absence. It looks like Plawecki is finally doing it.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsmerizedonline.com
It was over before it began. The Dodgers sent Clayton Kershaw to the mound, and he brought his A game. Bartolo Colon took the mound for the Mets, and he allowed for runs in the first. When that happens:
Via @ESPNStatsInfo: Clayton Kershaw is 80-0 in his career when getting 4+ runs of support
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) May 13, 2016
The game was as awful and dissatisfying as a regular season game in May can be.
Not only did the Dodgers jump all over Colon, but Chase Utley had a great game. He jumped right on Colon with a single getting the first inning rally started. He then hit a homer in the second to make it a 5-0 game. He went 3-4 with two runs, an RBI, and the aforementioned homer. What made it all the more frustrating was no one plunked Utley let alone threw one into his kitchen.
There were not many pluses for the Mets. David Wright walked in the first meaning there wouldn’t be a perfect game. Asdrubal Cabrera did get a hit in the fourth meaning there would be no no-hitter. It was important because Kershaw had no-hit stuff going:
Kershaw threw a three hit shutout with one walk and 13 strikeouts. It was the second straight year he threw a shut out against the Mets.
Cabrera also had a nice night in the field with a couple of good defensive plays. Colon did make it through five innings despite getting tattooed most of the night. In the five innings he pitched, he allowed seven hits and five earned.
Colon gave way to Sean Gilmartin, who pitched well in his return to the Mets bullpen. He actually struck out Utley. Overall, Gilmartin, who had been starting in AAA, went three innings allowing one hit, no runs, and no walks with three strikeouts.
Overall, it was a lost game. Many teams have that against Kershaw. No shame in that. The only real problem tonight was watching Utley have a good night (and a good series) while looking comfortable at the plate.
The Mets move on to Colorado where the Mets hitters promise to be a lot more comfortable.
Game Notes: Lucas Duda and Michael Conforto sat against Kershaw.
As we’ve seen this past week, Mets pitchers have joined the fun in hitting the longball. Do you know all the Mets pitchers who have hit a homerun? Good luck!
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