Suspended Mets Offense Awakens

The New York Mets began the suspended game down 3-1. Rich Hill volunteered to pitch earlier than his spot because the Mets needed a starter. He’d be far from the only person who stepped up on the day.

Now, while Hill stepped up, he wasn’t great. The deficit grew to 4-1 in the second when Victor Robles hit an RBI double.

Then, something happened to the Mets offense. That something was Joe Ross. As fans, we tend to focus on the Mets killers of the world, but we overlook the Rosses of the world who just wilt when they see the orange and blue.

Brandon Nimmo awoke the offense with a leadoff double in the third. That led to the dreaded bases loaded no outs situation. Michael Conforto got the Mets past the mental hurdle of never scoring with an RBI groundout. This sparked a three run inning tying the score at 4-4.

It was the first time in a week the Mets scored more than three and just the second time all month. Whether it was Ross or not, the Mets offense seemed to be clicking.

They needed it to because Hill ran out of gas in the fifth. After allowing the first two to reach, he allowed a Luis Garcia two RBI double putting the Nationals up 6-4. That’s when the Mets went to the bullpen to ask Jeurys Familia to stop the bleeding.

Familia didn’t exactly do that. The first batter he faced, Riley Adams, drove home Garcia with an RBI single. After a sacrifice bunt, he was in scoring position. That set the stage for Jeff McNeil to save the game.

In what was a flashback, Alcidies Escobar, a 2015 Kansas City Royal, was up against Familia with the opportunity to end the game. He’d rip a liner, but McNeil got higher than we’ve ever seen him robbing an RBI base hit and ending the inning.

The Mets then started chipping away at that lead. In the bottom of the inning, McNeil drew a leadoff walk, and he was still there with two outs. On a 3-2 pitch, a clearly hobbled McNeil was running when Conforto ripped an RBI single through the shift.

Thanks to a double clutch from Carter Kieboom on the relay McNeil scored easily. Conforto tried to advance on the throw, but he was caught in a run down easily making the last out.

Gabe Klobosits relieved Ross to start the seventh. Nimmo would led off the inning with a single. Two batter last later, Pete Alonso came sooo close to giving the Mets the lead. Instead, it was an RBI double pulling the Mets within a run.

While the Mets wouldn’t get the lead there, they finally would in the eighth. With a runner on second, Jonathan Villar was up there hybrid bunting, that is, he was up to sacrifice, but he always bunts to get a base hit.

That always puts extra pressure on the defense, especially with his speed. Nationals pitcher Mason Thompson fielded it rather cleanly and easily, but he appeared to rush the throw leading him to throw it away. The tying run scored, and Villar was in scoring position.

Later in the inning, we’d see pinch hitting extraordinaire Brandon Drury. For some reason, just like Matt Franco in 1999, some pinch hitters just get locked in at the plate. That’s been Drury this year, and he delivered again with a go-ahead RBI single through a drawn-in infield.

Astonishingly, that was the first Mets lead in 43 innings. Somehow that seems impossible. Then again, the Mets have been terrible of late losing four straight and nine of 10.

The Mets got to this point not just due to the offense but the bullpen as well. Familia, Miguel Castro, Drew Smith, and Trevor May combined to pitch four scoreless allowing just the two hits. They walked none and struck out two.

While the Mets were armed with the lead heading into the ninth, they weren’t out of the woods. The very mercurial and rusty Edwin Diaz was coming in for the save, and the first batter he’d face was Juan Soto.

Diaz made quick work of Soto striking him out on four pitches. With Soto down, it was effectively game over at that point. Diaz hit the easy save, and the Mets finally won a game.

This is what we envisioned the Mets offense can and should be. There are reasons why he saw it happened with Ross being one of them.

There was also Nimmo being a table setter. McNeil was spraying the ball, and Alonso’s talk about the process produced tangible results.

Mix in Conforto getting further away from COVID and returning to form with some luck, which is always needed, and you get a huge Mets win. The key now is to build off of this.

Game Notes: The second game of the doubleheader was rained out. The Mets signed Josh Reddick to a minor league deal.

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Theo Epstein Should Never Be Under Consideration For Mets

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the New York Mets are looking to hire a big name president of baseball operations. This has led to Mets fans clamoring for Theo Epstein.

The talking points are breaking the curses with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. Of course, this ignores the Mets are partially in the predicament they’re in because of Theo Epstein.

Initially, the Mets had hired Jared Porter to be the GM with Zack Scott beneath him. This create the opportunity for Porter to grow into the president role under Sandy Alderson’s tutelage.

As we know, that didn’t happen due to a report from Mina Kimes and Jeff Passan of ESPN which reported Porter’s sexual harassment transgressions while a member of the Cubs. An important part of that report was the Cubs knew and actively tried to whitewash and hide the claims.

On this topic, remember Mets owner Steve Cohen hired WilmerHale to investigate the organization in the wake of the Porter and Mickey Callaway news. This led to the firing of at least two people, but more than that, it was supposed to be an indication the Mets were going to change the organizational culture and uproot these behaviors.

Cohen can’t do that and then hire Epstein. Epstein built the culture Cohen purportedly wants to eliminate. By hiring Epstein, it’s a signal Cohen never actually cared.

Frankly, Epstein doesn’t care. He’s the same guy who traded for Aroldis Chapman the same year he was suspended for choking and threatening his girlfriend with a gun firing it off in the garage. He’s also the person who actually tendered Addison Russell a contract after his vile physical and emotional abuse of his ex-wife.

If you don’t care and just think curse breaker, well, honestly, that’s just wrong. There’s no need for Epstein when there are so many other great people out there who could do an even better job.

If you remain unconvinced, remember, Epstein pissed off Kris Bryant with the service time manipulation. The Mets are in desperate need of a third baseman, and the free agent pool is essentially Bryant or nothing.

Does it really help the Mets to hire someone who will make signing all the more difficult? In reality, your answer shouldn’t hinge on this. There’s more than enough reasons beyond this to never want Epstein as part of the organization. In fact, there’s no reason why Epstein is even in baseball.

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Mets Blame Players For Injuries And Have Them Play In Rain

For New York Mets fans salivating for one of those good old fashioned Terry Collins throw the players under the bus press conferences, interim GM Zack Scott gave it to them. While it lacked the flair, the substance was on point.

Scott said the Mets have been mediocre, and their play of late has been unacceptable. In all honesty, both were true, and there’s no issues with him saying that.

Then, Scott went on to say the soft tissue injuries were really the result of players not following designed protocols from the team. Essentially, the Mets washed their hands from the vast majority of injuries their players faced.

What’s hilarious about that is the Mets started a game with a threat of rain. Remember, before first pitch, the home team decides whether or not to proceed. After that, it’s the umpires.

With the Mets proceeding, they got one inning from Carlos Carrasco. After he sat around a bit, he had to simulate a game to continue with the process of stretching out.

Because the game was suspended, the Mets bullpen, starting with Drew Smith, has to pitch eight innings. And, that’s before the second game of a doubleheader.

Keep in mind, the day after that, Rich Hill takes the mound. The Mets learned the hard way Hill is just a five inning pitcher. That means even more stress for the bullpen. That means they’ll be overtaxed as they hop on a plane to head out west.

So yes, Scott and the Mets can put these injuries on the players. They are in charge and can say whatever they want. However, behind that is a series of pitching decisions and decisions like tonight which have led to pitcher injury after pitcher injury after pitcher injury.

For all we know, it’s these types of decisions and missed opportunities which have trickled down to the position players. Overall, the Mets are right in saying the players have their share in the injures. However, as the Carrasco one inning suspended game shows, this front office isn’t as innocent as they told us they are.

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Michael Conforto’s Struggles Are Understandable

Back in 2016, we were asking what was wrong with Michael Conforto? As it turns out, the answer was a wrist injury.

Five years later, we’re asking the same question. The answers are out there but haven’t been as obvious.

Before looking at Conforto, we should take a quick glimpse of Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers. Very much like Conforto, many were baffled as to why he wasn’t performing anywhere near his expected level of production.

The answer was COVID. Prior to training camp, he contracted COVID, and it hampered his preparation for the start of the season. Even with his being able to participate in training camp, he never really got up to speed.

There were some smaller injuries early in the season he might not have normally suffered. It really took him over half a season before we saw a glimpse of what he could be. On that, Zibanejad indicated COVID was the reason:

“It was hard, it wasn’t easy and everyone reacts to it differently,” Zibanejad said on a Zoom call with reporters. “I wasn’t feeling very good. I told you guys I was fine, but it was just for my sake I didn’t want to create anything around that or put that in my own head really.”

(AP).

This merits another look at Conforto. Like Zibanejad, he had COVID on the eve of Spring Training. While Conforto downplayed the impact, like Zibanejad initially did, he admitted it affected his ability to prepare for the season:

“I was very lucky,” Conforto said. “I had really mild symptoms. My fiancée had it more on the moderate side, she experienced everything. I certainly had some shortness of breath and it wasn’t easy for me, being so close to spring training I was really trying to work out, and I just couldn’t do that.”

(Mike Puma, New York Post).

Whereas Zibanejad was able to get up to speed on his game and conditioning so he could turn it on at the end of the season, Conforto didn’t get that opportunity. Just 33 games into the season, he suffered a hamstring injury.

The injury cost him 69 games, which was over 40% of the season. During the time Zibanejad was pushing and working, Conforto was rehabbing. It makes a significant difference.

Perhaps, that is why we haven’t seen Conforto do much of anything this season. His current 94 wRC+ would be the worst of his career. That number is actually an uptick of where it was.

In August, he’s looked slightly more Conforto like hitting .227/.393/.455. Prior to that, he was .198/.324/.327. That was an 89 wRC+.

Honestly, at this point, blaming COVID and the hamstring could be guessing. After all, we haven’t heard from Conforto again.

That said, Conforto did admit he was completely unable to work out on the eve of Spring Training. He then lost over 40% of the season due to a hamstring injury.

In some ways, this is similar to 2018. He looked good enough after the shoulder injury, but he wasn’t in game shape, at least not Conforto game shape. As a result, Ed wondered if he could ever be the same player again.

It took time, but he returned to being that player. Hopefully, we’re seeing the same thing here. A Conforto who probably should’ve been given more time is turning it on late.

That’s good for him as he’s got free agency to deal with this offseason. It’ll be good for the Mets too as they now find themselves in a dogfight for the NL East, and they’re without a leader to help push them through it.

Now, more than ever, the Mets need Conforto. The hope is the lingering effects of COVID and the hamstring are behind him. If so, watch out.

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“Don’t Just Believe, Know” Can Become “Ya Gotta Believe!”

Back in 1973, Tug McGraw got himself in a little bit of hot water with New York Mets Chairman of the Board when he responded to the pep talk with the “Ya Gotta Believe!” chant. It irked Grant, who was a renown miser, but here’s the key thing with McGraw – he backed it up.

At that point, McGraw was having a career worst year. From July 11 until the end of the season, McGraw made 28 appearances pitching an astounding 69.1 innings.

Over that stretch, McGraw was 5-2 with 14 saves, a 2.21 ERA, and a 1.067 WHIP. He would pitch 3.0 innings on the final game of the season earning the save as the Mets won the division by a game.

McGraw went forth and backed it up with a terrific postseason. In fact, it was probably one of the finest postseason performances from a Mets reliever. Overall, he was 1-0 with two saves and a 1.98 ERA.

While his earlier jeering battle cry fell flat and irked the Mets front office, his backing it up made it a well known and beloved Mets battle cry.

This is a similar situation Pete Alonso now finds himself.

The Philadelphia Phillies just swept the Mets knocking them from first place to third. It’s part of a maddening 1-9 stretch which has seen the Mets fall to just one game over .500 as this team looks like they’re going to completely fall apart.

Making this all the worse was the most recent loss was a complete hit two hit shut out at the hands of former Met (who wanted to remain a Met) Zack Wheeler. Fans have not been this dejected all season.

The very last thing Mets fans wanted was some Pollyanna pep talk from the fan favorite telling everyone everyone is fine. Well, that’s what they got from Alonso:

This feel exceedingly flat. That goes double with Alonso going 0-for-11 in the series with five strikeouts. One of those strikeouts came in the ninth when he represented the go-ahead run.

Really, Alonso has been terrible of late. Over his last 16 games, he’s hit .140/.269/.316. His not hitting has coincided with the Mets collapse.

Todd Zeile was irked by the comments. He wanted to see more accountability and a more honest assessment of the situation. This echoed Mets fan sentiment. Being honest, it was a very mild account of how fans felt.

There’s a problem with the sentiment from Zeile and others. They were expecting Alonso to be someone he’s not. What we got from Alonso was who he is.

Alonso is where he is due to the belief he has in himself. He’s the player he is because his focus isn’t just on process, but more to the point, not getting too low. He’s the living embodiment of McGraw’s mantra.

Now, it’s really up to Alonso to back it up just like McGraw did. If he takes off and the Mets do win this division, fans will have a much different reaction to the comment.

If the Mets win the division, “Don’t Just Believe, Know” will become a fitting sequel to “Ya Gotta Believe!”

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Third Place Mets

Well, on the bright side Taijuan Walker pitched reasonably well for the New York Mets. The pitcher who has really struggled in the second half had his first quality start since June 25.

That said, the king balls continue to be a real issue for him. This time, Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto, and Bryce Harper each hit solo shots off of him.

That was more than enough for the Philadelphia Phillies as Zack Wheeler completely and utterly dominated the Mets in a two hit complete game shut out.

If not for Brandon Nimmo, who was 2-for-4 with a double, the Mets get no-hit. Frankly, the Mets probably deserved to be no-hit. Besides Nimmo, there was just one walk, and the Mets combined to strike out 11 times.

To add insult to injury, trade deadline acquisition Javier Báez left the game with an injury. The Mets are saying he’s day-to-day, but at this point, they’re saying it is relatively meaningless.

With the Atlanta Braves also winning today, the Mets dropped to third. For a team 1-9 over their last 10 games, there’s no telling just how much worse it’ll get.

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At Least J.D. Davis Got To Play For Soon To Be Third Place Mets

The Philadelphia Phillies started the left-handed Ranger Suarez, who was only slated to go about three innings. The New York Mets completely overreacted to this.

Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith didn’t start. Instead, it was J.D. Davis and Kevin Pillar, who were a combined 0-for-6 with three strikeouts through the first eight innings.

Really, the entire Mets offense had looked inept through the first eight innings. They only had two hits and just one extra base hit came from Tylor Megill in the fifth. Of course, he would be stranded.

Megill was really good for four innings. Unfortunately, the Phillies would get to him in the fifth. Brad Miller hit a solo shot, and Odubel Herrera hit a three run homer to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead.

Megill was out after 4.2 innings. He allowed those four earned on five hits and one walk while striking out five.

The Phillies lead would grow to 5-0 when Miller hit his second solo shot of the game. That one came off Yennsy Diaz in the eighth.

With the Mets appearing to be playing out the string in this one, the Phillies went to Mauricio Llovera to mop it up. That proved to be a giant mistake as Michael Conforto, Jonathan Villar, and James McCann went back-to-back-to-back to pull the Mets to within 5-3.

That forced the Phillies to bring in their newly obtained closer Ian Kennedy. It was very rocky for Kennedy. Pillar greeted him with a single. After a McNeil pinch hit foul out, Brandon Nimmo drew a walk bringing up Pete Alonso as the go-ahead run.

Now, the talking point around the Mets has been their troubles hitting the fastball. For whatever reason, they’re struggling and seem unprepared. Well, Kennedy took advantage of this getting Alonso to chase fastballs up and above the zone to strike himself out.

Kennedy then essentially repeated the act with Davis. Fittingly, it was Davis who struck out to end the game.

With the loss, the Mets drop to 1.5 games out of first. They’re now also a game back in the loss column with Zack Wheeler starting for the Phillies tomorrow. To make it all the better, the Mets are an Atlanta Braves win within dropping to third.

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Mets Are In Second Place

The Philadelphia Phillies went after it at the trade deadline while the New York Mets didn’t. Tonight, Kyle Gibson got the win, and Ian Kennedy earned the save, two players the Phillies obtained at the deadline, as the Phillies took over first place from the Mets.

Again, we saw the Mets load the bases with no outs and fail to score. Its depressing to think that’s now become the expectation. It certainly didn’t help matters Marcus Stroman was told not to swing when he recorded the first out.

Speaking of Stroman, he pitched well, and he really gave the Mets a chance to win. Unfortunately for him, he made just two mistakes, and they came back to haunt him.

Didi Gregorius homered off Stroman in the second. In the fifth, Brad Miller hit a ball to the wall. Michael Conforto mistimed his jump, and Brandon Nimmo didn’t bother backing him up.

The end result was a Miller triple. Later in the inning, Gibson, who was actually allowed to hit, drove an RBI single through that drawn-in Mets infield increasing the Phillies lead to 2-1.

That one Mets run was courtesy of Dominic Smith. In the third, he followed walks to Nimmo and Pete Alonso with a two out RBI single.

As a credit to Luis Rojas, he treated this like a big game going to Aaron Loup, Seth Lugo, and Edwin Diaz. Loup and Lugo came up big delivering zeros.

Diaz didn’t. Yes, we know the defense he doesn’t pitch well in non-save chances, but this was a huge spot. Jean Segura hit a hot shot, which ate up Jonathan Villar. It was a tough play ruled a single, but a better third baseman (an area of need the Mets didn’t address) makes the play. Bryce Harper followed with a two run homer giving the Phillies a 4-1 lead.

Villar led off the ninth with a homer off Kennedy making it 4-2. The Mets got nothing going after that, and as a result, lost by that score.

It should infuriate every Mets fan the difference in this game was allowing the pitcher to swing. Stroman isn’t incapable with the bat, and he has speed, but he was told not to swing to avoid a double play. As an aside, a double play probably scores a run which is something the Mets can’t do.

Frankly put, when you’re not trying to win games, you don’t deserve to win them. That goes for not letting Stroman swing and how the Mets approached the trade deadline. Whatever the case, they’re now in second place as a result.

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Mets Becoming Unwatchable

There are actually worse things for baseball teams than losing. One of them is becoming unwatchable. Sure, that sometimes goes hand-in-hand, but being unwatchable is another level.

Take their last game as an example. They strike out nine times including the platinum sombrero from Javier Baez. This somewhat correlated with the 15 runners left on base. The same can be said for the two double the plays.

The Mets started the game with the bases loaded and no outs. They didn’t score. For the other 29 teams, that’s a surprise. For the Mets, it’s becoming par for the course. Moreover, fans excitement is moving the way from excitement to seeing just how the Mets will screw it up.

The starting pitching kept this afloat, but it’s taken a step back a bit due to a mixture of injuries and fatigue. Even when they do well and get a Rich Hill, he’s only a five inning pitcher, which exposes the soft underbelly of the bullpen.

When a player like Albert Almora goes off with a three hit game, he’s carrying the offense instead of taking it to another level. That’s because players like Michael Conforto are a shell of what they’ve been.

This Mets team completely failed to take advantage of their opportunities to create some distance between themselves and the rest of the NL East earlier in the year. Now, those teams addressed their needs at the trade deadline, unlike the Mets, and they’re chasing them down.

Now, the Mets lead is only 0.5 games, and they’re about to face the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies have the chance to not only catch the Mets here, but also leave them in the dust.

Right now, there’s no expectation for anything other than that to happen. That said, there’s still a lot of talent on this roster, and they were very good in May. Hopefully, they figure it out and move from unwatchable to unbeatable again.

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El Mago Show In Miami

The New York Mets obtained Javier Baez to be a difference maker as the team tries to hold on and win the division. In the 5-3 win against the Miami Marlins he was just that.

In the Mets three run second, Jesus Aguilar had him dead to rights on a Tomas Nido fielder’s choice. Aguilar made a perfect throw home, but Baez made a slide only he can to score the run:

The Mets would eventually blow that 3-0 lead, but they’d get the lead back in the eighth when Baez hit the go-ahead homer in what would become a Mets 5-3 win:

It’s difficult to know how things will go when you add at the trade deadline. Sometimes, you get Jay Bruce in 2016. Other times, you get Yoenis Cespedes in 2015.

In that game, Baez was much more Cespedes than Bruce. If that continues, the Mets will win this division. After that, if everyone gets heathy, who knows?

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