Alejando De Aza

Terry Collins Decision of the Game – Another Jay Bruce Start

To be fair to Terry Collins, he had a number of fine decisions yesterday. He went to Jerry Blevins to strike out Daniel Murphy to preserve the 4-3 extra inning win.

Collins also played a hunch starting T.J. Rivera at second. Rivera was the Mets offense last night, and he was the biggest reason the Mets won. Rivera made two nice defensive plays in the field, but it was his bat that was the difference. He was 3-4 with three RBI and a game winning homer against Mark Melancon.

These heroics were in part due to Collins’ insistence on playing Jay Bruce.

Since joining the Mets, Bruce is hitting .190/.271/.317 with four homers and 11 RBI. He’s gone from the major league RBI leader to just another Met not able to hit with runners in scoring position. He’s gone from an RBI machine in Cincinnati to a near automatic out.

Yesterday was more of the same from Bruce. He was 0-4 with a walk leaving three runners on base.

Since the rosters were expanded on September 1st, with .212/.297/.394 with two homers and five RBI. That coincidentally is the same time Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo were called-up to the majors.  When they were called up, Conforto was hitting .493/.541/.821 with six homers and 13 RBI, hitting both righties and lefties, in his most recent demotion to the minors.  Nimmo was hitting .407/.474/.651 with four homers and 14 RBI in the month of August before he was re-called.

Conforto and Nimmo were hot at the plate, and yet, Collins didn’t care.  He was going to play Bruce no matter what.  Conceptually, you understand it because Bruce was the big bat the Mets added at the deadline.  The cost of adding Bruce was Dilson Herrera.  You want to get him going to help your chances of going to the postseason, and hopefully, the World Series.  Collins is relying on his proven track record.  The only problem is that track record isn’t what people think it is.

For his career, Bruce is a .247/.318/.466 hitter averaging 26 homers and 81 RBI.  Over the prior three seasons, Bruce has been a .237/.303/.433 hitter with 25 homers and 87 RBI.  Keep in mind, Bruce has been hitting in the Great American Ballpark which is a hitter’s ballpark.  Bruce has been a low OBP hitter who has been a slightly better than average home run hitter.

Worse yet, he’s poor defensively.  In fact, he is the Mets worst defensive outfielder.  Playing Bruce moves Curtis Granderson to center field.  Granderson isn’t a center fielder anymore.  Playing Bruce keeps Alejandro De Aza on the bench, and De Aza is the Mets best defensive center fielder.  By the way, Conforto has acquitted himself well in center, and he has shown himself to be a player capable of being a much better offensive player than Bruce.

So overall, on a night were Collins made a number of decisions that helped the team win, his insistence on playing Bruce continues to hamper the team offensively and defensively.

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Mets Won Despite Terry Collins Trying to Make Things Interesting

The bad news was that Noah Syndergaard struggled.  It was to be expected from the scheduled times the Mets have had the past four games.  The good news is that the aforementioned issues didn’t matter because the Mets were playing the Reds yet again.

Syndergaard needed 95 pitches just to get through five innings.  He didn’t have one 1-2-3 inning.  He tied a career high by issuing four walks.  Still, he was able to keep the Reds at bay because he struck out seven batters, and because, well, you’ll never believe it – there were three base runners nailed on the basepaths.

Rene Rivera would nail two base runners alone in the second inning.  First, it was Brandon Phillips who was thrown out trying to steal second after leading off the inning with a single.  Scott Schebler would then walk, and Rivera would throw him out when he tried to steal second.

As if that wasn’t good enough, something more impressive happened.  There were runners on first and third after consecutive singles from Jose Peraza and Eugenio Suarez.  Mayhem would ensure, probably as the result of the Reds not knowing how to respond to Syndergaard trying to hold on a base runner.  Syndergaard caught Suarez napping on a throw over to first.  Suarez broke to second to get caught in a run down.  As this happened, Peraza broke for home.  Asdrubal Cabrera noticed, and he threw home to nail him to get Syndergaard out of another jam.

Due in part to that, Syndergaard’s strikeouts, and the Reds suddenly morphing into the Mets with runners in scoring position, Syndergaard pitched five scoreless and got the win because of the home run.

Right out of the gate, Jose Reyes took the first pitch of the game from Anthony DeSclafani, and he deposited it into the right field stands:

Reyes would account for the next run in the third when he scored a proverbial “Reyes Run.”  After Syndergaard led off the inning with a single, Reyes busted it out of the box to avoid the double play.  It seemed as if the Reds were going to get out of the inning as DeSclafani got Yoenis Cespedes to hit a grounder to short.  However, Peraza missed it allowing Reyes from first to third.  With Curtis Granderson at the plate, DeSclafani unleashed a wild pitch allowing Reyes to score.

It was part of a terrific game from Reyes who was 2-5 with two runs, an RBI, and a homer.  It was the rare terrific game for Reyes this year from the left-hand side of the plate.  Before today, Reyes was hitting .244/.283/.353 as a left-handed batter.  While it is a small sample size, it should be pointed out Reyes hit .275/.309/.374 as a left-handed batter last year, and .289/.328/.404 the year before that.  While he gets reviled, we could be seeing the positive effects of Reyes working with Kevin Long.

The other run was the result of the resurgent Curtis Granderson:

Granderson is suddenly scorching at the plate after having a poor July and a dreadful August.  Over Granderson’s last four games, he has three homers and seven RBI.  Given Terry Collins propensity to play him and bench Michael Conforto at all costs, the Mets are going to need more of the same from him.

Wilmer Flores would blow the game open in the eighth hitting a two run pinch hit home run off Reds reliever Wandy Peralta.  For some reason or other, Reds manager Bryan Price let the left-hander actually face Flores with the game still in doubt.  It was yet another sign we have seen from a Reds team that has seemingly quit on the season.

Flores’ pinch hit home run was the Mets 12th of the season, which ties the Mets single season mark set in 1983.

In addition to the Mets hitting a bunch of homers, a couple of struggling Mets relievers got some redemption.  Hansel Robles would pitch a scoreless 1.2 innings.  Robles went into the second inning of work because Collins emptied his bullpen yesterday, and because Robles clearly hasn’t gotten enough work all season.  Jerry Blevins then relieved Robles with a runner on and two out in the seventh to face Joey Votto.  Blevins snapped out of a recent funk a bit in striking out Votto.

Of course, no game would be complete without a completely baffling Collins’ managerial decision.  Yesterday, after Rafael Montero couldn’t make it through five, Collins had tabbed Gabriel Ynoa to get the last out of the fifth inning after Votto’s sacrifice fly off Josh Edgin.  As insane as it was to bring a minor league starter and use him for a third of an inning in a game the Mets needed a long reliever, it was even crazier to use that guy for the second game in a row.

With the Mets not knowing when Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz will be able to pitch next, and Montero showing he shouldn’t start another game, Ynoa was most likely the guy you would tab for the next start.  Instead, Collins chose him to pitch today even with Sean Gilmartin and Logan Verrett fully rested.  It should come as a surprise to no one what ensued.

Ynoa would immediately load the bases with no outs forcing Collins to go to Addison Reed, who is not good with inherited base runners.  Reed would strike out Tyler Holt, and then things would get interesting.  Tucker Barnhart would hit an RBI single, and the bases would remain loaded.  After a Ramon Cabrera ground-out, with Reyes getting the force out at home, Peraza would hit a two run double over Cespedes’ head.  Reed would strike out Eugenio Suarez to get out of the jam.  The Mets would keep the lead even if it was shaved down to 5-3.

The Mets added an insurance run in the eighth as Cabrera and Cespedes hit back-to-back doubles of Reds reliever Tony Cingrani.  Again, you have to question what the Reds were thinking with them pitching to Cespedes with an open base.

With the 6-3 lead, it was a save situation leading Collins to bring in Jeurys Familia, and he would record his 47th save of the season.  It would also be the 60th game he finished this season.  Reed and Familia have now pitched four times in the last five games.  But hey, it was a good idea to bring in a non-reliever in Ynoa for the second straight day.

Fortunately, the Mets pulled out the win, and they are now eight games over .500, and they are a half game out of a Wild Card spot (two in the loss column).  Pending what happens tonight, the Mets could find themselves in a virtual tie with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Game Notes: Gavin Cecchini didn’t play again today.  Alejandro De Aza started in center with Jay Bruce and Conforto sitting.  James Loney continues to hit better of late going 2-3 on the day.

Pennant Race: Everyone who matters plays later.

 

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Ex-Brave Beats the Ex-Met

This was a bizarre day even for the Mets. The Mets sent down Michael Conforto and calling-up Brandon Nimmo. Jose Reyes was brought back despite the domestic violence incident.  With all of that going on, the Mets still had a game to play. 

Jacob deGrom was shaky early on needing a few double plays to get out of a couple of innings unscathed. Overall, he pitched well against a bad Braves team. His final like was eight innings, seven hits, no runs, one walk, and six strikeouts. However, he did not get the win as the Mets offense failed him. 
There was a threat in the third when Yoenis Cespedes tried to stretch a single into a double.  He was easily out at second when he refused to slide. Instead of second and third with one it, Curtis Granderson stood alone on the basepaths with two outs. A Neil Walker pop out would put an end to the Mets only real threat against Braves’ starter Julio Teheran. 

Teheran matched deGrom zero for zero. He too lasted eight innings. He only allowed five hits, no runs, and no walks with seven strikeouts. You could call it a pitcher’s duel between two talented pitchers. You could also call it an contest in ineptitude between two dreadful offenses. 

The Braves chance for a walk-off win was stymied in the ninth when Granderson made a sliding catch in foul territory to end the inning and send the game into extras. 

The Mets finally broke through in the eleventh when ex-Brave Kelly Johnson hit a homer off ex-Met Dario Alvarez to put the Mets up 1-0. All that was needed was for Jeurys Familia to shut the door and recorded his 26th straight save to open the season. Given the Mets luck and Familia pitching more than one inning thd night before, it didn’t promise to be easy. It wasn’t. 

The Braves had a runner on second with one out and Freddie Freeman coming to the plate. At that point, Terry Collins made something readily apparent. He watches Mets games as closely as Mets fans do. He knows Freeman kills the Mets like other Braves’ Mets killers in the past like Chipper Jones (sorry Larry), Brian Jordan, etc. With that in mind, Collins ordered Famila to intentionally walk Freeman. 

It was a smart play as it prevented Freemam from killing the Mets again. It was a smart play as it set up the double play. When Nick Markakis hit the comebacker, the Mets got end the game by turning the double play. The 1-6-3 double play was the Mets third of the night. 

With all the emotion from today and drama that followed the Mets around most of this year, it is easy to forget the Mets are only two games back in the division and one in the loss column. The Mets will try to get closer tomorrow. 

Game Notes: In honor of the Negro Leagues, the Mets wore Brooklyn Royal Giants gear. As Nimmo didn’t get to Atlanta in time, the Mets started Alejandro De Aza, who was 0-4 with a strikeout. Travis d’Arnaud threw out another would be base stealer. 

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