Alejandro De Aza
This matchup was supposed to be Justin Verlander versus his heir apparent Noah Syndergaard. Instead, we got to see more of the struggling Syndergaard.
In the first, Ian Kinsler would steal second and third off the battery of Syndergaard and Rene Rivera. He would then score on a Miguel Cabrera RBI ground out.
Kelly Johnson gave Syndergaard and the Mets a 2-1 lead with a two run home run off Verlander in the fourth. That 2-1 lead would have been good enough for Syndergaard a couple of months ago. However, this diminished bone-chipped version of Syndergaard would give the lead right back in the bottom of the fourth.
First, he allowed a long two run home run to Victor Martinez. The Tigers would continue the rally scoring another run on a James McCann RBI single. It should be noted that it was J.D. Martinez who scored on the play after doubling to right field.
Jay Bruce made a strong throw to second, but Matt Reynolds laid down an awkward tag. Still, Reynolds held the tag on Martinez. Replays would show Martinez came off the bad, but Terry Collins would not challenge. Martinez would score later making it 4-2. It would prove to be the deciding run in the game.
Syndergaard would make it through six innings throwing 112 pitches. His pitch count rose in part because he has issued a 10 pitch walk to Nick Castellanos and a nine pitch walk to Victor Martinez. It is indicative of Syndergaard’s location being off. Syndergaard’s final line was six innings, seven hits, four runs, four earned, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
In contrast to Syndergaard, Verlander wouldn’t struggle. He dominanted the Mets over six innings allowing four hits, two runs, two earned, and one walk with nine strikeouts. Those nine gives him an American League leading 164 on the season.
The Mets offense only mustered four hits until the ninth. The team had gone 0-3 with runners in scoring position. Even if you were to claim Verlander was that dominant, it does not explain why the Mets couldn’t do anything against a Tigers bullpen that entered the game with a 4.18 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, and a .266 batting average against.
Former Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez would come on and survive a Mets rally in the ninth. Neil Walker had a leadoff single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and to third on a Bruce ground out. He scored on a James Loney ground out ending the rally. The final score was 4-3 with the deciding run being scored Martinez, who would have been out if Collins challenged the play.
Yet again, the Mets have failed to win back-to-back games. They haven’t done so since July 6th – July 7th. The Nationals won moving the Mets back to nine games out in the division. The Cardinals and Marlins are leading in their games. And, oh yeah, Gary Apple is terrible.
Game Notes: Today’s game of center field musical chairs had Brandon Nimmo in center, Alejandro De Aza in left, and Curtis Granderson at DH. Michael Conforto sat even though it was a right-handed pitcher on the mound.
After tonight’s loss, the only person angrier than Mets fans was fake tough guy Mark Teixeira.
In an interview earlier in the year with Carton and Governor Chris Christie, he admitted he would never charge the mound, but he sure is good at pulling a hissy fit.
Whether it's yelling at his own 3B coach or screaming at Matz, Mark Teixeira is one doofy angry guy. #Yankees #Mets pic.twitter.com/gTUYGiTym5
— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) August 4, 2016
He would then have a very late slide into Neil Walker because sliding late into a defenseless player is tougher than being a man and facing off against Steven Matz.
It’s hard to imagine Matz throwing at Teixeira even though Teixeira hit a three run homer off of him in his prior at bat to break a 3-3 tie. Matz hadn’t had pinpoint control since he’s been dealing with the bone spurs, the ball was at Teixeira’s feet, and it was an extra base runner with the Mets trailing. In this pennant race, the Mets need all the wins they can get, and they’re not sacrificing games to exact revenge on a .195 hitter.
Regardless, the Mets should not have been in that position. They were tattooing Yankees starter Chad Green starting with Curtis Granderson delivering the keynote address:
It was his 18th leadoff home run with the Mets breaking his tie with Jose Reyes.
Granderson has a terrific night going 1-3 with two runs, one RBI, three walks, and a home run. The rest of tur a Mets offense? Not so much.
Wilmer Flores was halfway to a Joe Torre (four GIDPs in one game) by the third inning. He killed a first inning bases loaded rally by grounding into an inning ending double play. In the third it was only runners on first and second when he grounded into his inning ending double play.
In the second, it was Walker who killed a rally with a double play. Given the amount if base runners were left on base, you knew it was going to come back and haunt the Mets. The Mets should’ve score much more than three runs in the first three innings, but what else is new?
The team was 2-12 with runners in scoring position including Michael Conforto striking out in a big spot in the seventh when he represented the tying run, and Granderson had scored a run on a James Loney ground out to make it 6-4. He was amongst the biggest culprits of the night as six different Mets would leave multiple men on base:
- Neil Walker (2)
- Yoenis Cespedes (5)
- Jay Bruce (3)
- James Loney (2)
- Michael Conforto (5)
- Wilmer Flores (5)
Between that and Matz allowing six earned over six innings of course the Mets weren’t going to win this one.
To make matters worse, Teixeira would get the last laugh. He got into Hansel Robles‘ head with Robles thinking Teixeira was stealing signs. Robles lost his concentration and his cool leading to a Starlin Castro infield RBI single to Robles. No, Asdrubal Cabrera doesn’t make that play.
After an uncharacteristically poor performance, Robles was pulled while Teixeira and the third base coach were laughing at him. After Josh Edgin walked in a run against Didi Gregorious, the only batter he faced, there would be three runs charged to Robles making it 9-4.
That’s where it would remain as Luis Severino came on and shut down the Mets allowing one earned on one hit and one walk with five strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Walker would homer off Tyler Clippard in the ninth to provide some window dressing in a 9-5 loss.
With Daniel Murphy going off again for the Nationals, the Mets are a season high 8.5 games out of first place.
Game Notes: Bruce is now 0-8 with one walk and three strikeouts to begin his Mets career. Despite Collins’ you hit you play philosophy, Alejandro De Aza, Travis d’Arnaud, and Matt Reynolds would sit. Cespedes shot an 83 before the game, and he would go 1-5 with two strikeouts in the game.
The Mets acquisition of Jay Bruce was designed to solve the Mets offensive woes, and more importantly, their difficulty with hitting with runners in scoring position. However, the move coupled with Yoenis Cespedes‘ injury, it exacerbates the Mets center field problem.
As Barry Bloom reports for MLB.com, Sandy Alderson admits, “As people will comment, it’s not an absolute perfect fit for us. You start with the need for offense and go from there.” The Mets need to go from there as Cespedes can no longer play center field.
In fact, the Mets are unsure what Cespedes is capable of doing after a game where he said he can no longer go “full speed” anymore without experiencing pain. (Matt Ehalt). There is real fear amongst the Mets as Terry Collins said, “To be honest, he could go out there. Could he aggravate it? Maybe. And if he aggravates it more, we’re looking at three or four weeks. I’m not going to do that.”
Fortunately, the Mets will be able to use Cespedes at DH for the next five games with the Yankees playing two at Yankee Stadium followed by a three game set in Detroit. After an off day Monday, who knows what the Mets can get out of Cespedes, or what the Mets outfield alignment will be.
This is a Mets roster without a true centerfield option. Juan Lagares had thumb surgery will be out for at least six weeks. Imported replacement Justin Ruggiano just landed on the disabled list.Michael Conforto has only played five games there, and Collins doesn’t appear to be eager to put him there or to let him hit against left-handed pitching.
With these injuries, Terry Collins admits, “We’re asking now for three guys to play a position they’re not comfortable playing.”
Curtis Granderson has more center field experience than anyone on the roster, but he hadn’t played there regularly since 2012. For what it’s worth, Collins doesn’t appear eager to play Granderson in center either as he believes it “is going to tax him a lot.”
Given Collins reluctance to play Granderson and Conforto in center, and his other options being injured, he had gone so far as inquiring about newly acquired Met Jay Bruce‘s willingness to play center.
With respect to the center field dilemma, Bruce stated, “[Collins] asked me if I played any center and I told him that I had. But it sounds like the plan is for me to play a lot of right field. I told him I’d be more than willing and happy to play anywhere he needed me. I don’t think there’s a clear cut center fielder on the team. I’m ready for wherever he puts me. I’m ready for anything.”
Despite the inquisition, Collins still intends to keep Bruce in right saying, “I’m going to play him in right field for now. I’m scheduled to talk to Grandy in a little while about moving him in the outfield situation. [Bruce] told me he hasnt played center field since 2008, so that’s quite a while.”
Just like Bruce, Granderson has taken a team-first position on the issue. When the issue first arose, and Granderson got a start out there, he said, “Wherever they put me at – Catch, short, pitch, outfield – I’ll play all of them.” (Jared Diamond, Wall Street Journal).
The best bet for now might just be Alejandro De Aza who has been the Mets best hitter since July 1st. With yesterday’s perform de, he is hitting .342/.500/.553 with two doubles, two homers, and four RBI in that stretch. Each and every game he hits, it becomes harder and harder for the Mets to sit him. It should also be noted that before Cespedes was re-signed, he was brought in by the Mets to platoon with Lagares in center.
Overall, like it did when he joined the Mets a year ago, everything revolves around Cespedes with Collins saying, “A lot of this is about [Cespedes’] availability. We’re still trying to figure out what path to take as we get down the road a little bit. Health is going to be a big thing for them all.”
Editor’s Note: this was first published on Mets Merized Online
Coming into the season, the Mets were high on Dilson Herrera, and they viewed him as the second baseman of the near future. It is why the Mets let postseason hero Daniel Murphy walk, and they eschewed other long term free agent options to trade for Neil Walker who was a year away from free agency. However, the Mets made it perfectly clear they were willing to forego Herrera as the second baseman of the future if the right player came along. That is why the Mets doggedly pursued Ben Zobrist in the offseason. For the right piece or for the right price, the Mets were going to move on from Herrera to make the team better.
It is just hard to believe that player was Jay Bruce.
There is a lot to like about Bruce. He is a traditional slugger who is leading the league in RBI. He has a very affordable team option. He is insurance against Yoenis Cespedes missing an extended period of time this year, and quite possibly insurance against him leaving in free agency. He also helps with a sluggish Mets offense and with the Mets inability to hit with runners for scoring position. He is also more of the same.
This is a Mets team full of low OBP, high slugging outfielders – Bruce, Cespedes, Curtis Granderson, and Michael Conforto. With the exception of Cespedes, all of the Mets current outfield options are left-handed batters. What this team doesn’t have is a center fielder. Currently, the best defensive center fielder on the team is Alejandro De Aza. While he is the team’s hottest hitter and best defender, it is hard to imagine he is going to be an everyday player while the team sits one of Granderson or Conforto everyday. In sum, Bruce is a nice offensive upgrade, but he doesn’t solve the teams problems. With that in mind, it seems like Herrera was a steep price to pay for someone that doesn’t solve what ails the team.
It’s also selling low on Herrera in what has been a tough year for him. Herrera has gone from a .327/.382/.511 hitter to a .276/.327/.462 hitter in AAA this year. He has had nagging shoulder issues, and he has fallen into some bad habits at the plate. It has been the first time the 22 year old has struggled at the minor league level. However, given the fact that he is still young for his level, and the fact that his struggles are closely associated with an injury, there is every reason to believe Herrera will rebound and become the All Star second baseman the Mets envisioned he would become. That is a steep price to pay for a duplicative player that does not solve the Mets problems.
We are just seeing it now with Michael Fulmer in Detroit. Fulmer was the big time prospect the Mets traded last year. He is the leading Rookie of the Year contender, and he is certainly in the Cy Young conversation with him going 9-2 with a 2.50 ERA and a 1.089 WHIP. With each and every dominant start, it is a stark reminder how much the Mets need him this year with Matt Harvey‘s season ending surgery and Zack Wheeler being well behind schedule to return to the rotation. Overall, the idea behind trading Fulmer was to trade from depth to acquire a missing piece . . . a missing piece that was an imperfect fit. As we see last year, the Mets supposed depth was an allusion.
Now, the Mets did trade from depth with Herrera. Gavin Cecchini could move from shortstop to second, which now seems to be his destiny with the meteoric rise of Amed Rosario. Wilmer Flores could move over there next year. The Mets could always re-sign Neil Walker or another free agent or make another trade. Depending on David Wright‘s health, Jose Reyes could move from third to second. There are any number of factors at play, but as we see again this year, the Mets can never have enough depth as this team seems more snakebitten than any other team in the majors. With that in mind, the Mets are now less deep at second base, and they are quite possibly without their best second base option for next year.
The Mets traded away another big time prospect for another slugging corner outfielder. Hopefully, Bruce will have a similar effect on the Mets as Cespedes did last year. The Mets are going to need that type of performance to help them get back to the postseason. They are going to need that type of performance to help Mets fans forget about the player they gave away in Herrera.
Pick a date from this season including last night. If anyone told you Alejandro De Aza and Travis d’Arnaud would lead the Mets offensively to a win, you’d either stare in disbelief, or you’d call that person an outright liar. Frankly, a James Loney stolen base would seem more believable. Well, tonight not only would Loney steal a base, but De Aza and d’Arnaud would lead the Mets offensively.
It started in the bottom of the third when, at the time, Masahiro Tanaka seemed to have no-hit stuff. The early no-hit bid was broken up by Jacob deGrom, and he would score when De Aza homered to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.
This was more evidence that De Aza has been the Mets best offensive player for more than a month now, and the Mets need to find him playing time especially with the team having no true center fielder on the roster.
That 2-0 lead would grow to a 3-0 lead when d’Arnaud hit a solo shot to lead off the fifth.
Since the rumored Jonathan Lucroy fell through, d’Arnaud seems like a much more relaxed and better player.
This was more than enough support for a deGrominant deGrom. The final line for deGrom was seven innings, four hits, no runs, no earned runs, one walk, and eight strikeouts. His velocity and swagger are almost completely back. When he’s this good, you’re reminded why the Mets should not be counted out.
In the seventh, the Mets would put the game far out of reach seemingly taking out their aggression from last night’s game and a season long struggle hitting with runners in scoring position.
It started with Wilmer Flores singling and advancing to second on a Brett Gardner error. He would come home to score on a Michael Conforto RBI double. He would score on a Matt Reynolds RBI single. He’d move to third on a deGrom single, and he would score on a Yoenis Cespedes pinch hit infield single. The hobbled Cespedes certainly turned on the jets when he smelled a base hit. Terry Collins would still play it safe pinch running Curtis Granderson for him. The fourth and final run of the inning would score on a Neil Walker RBI double.
In the inning, the Mets would send nine batters to the plate scoring four runs on six hits.
Jon Niese made his first appearance since the trade, and he was less than warmly greeted by a fan base who remembered him bad mouthing everyone out the door. He worked his way into a bit of a jam in the eighth before striking out Brian McCann on a borderline pitch to end the rally. However, Niese wouldn’t escape the game completely untouched as Didi Gregorious would hit a solo shot off of him in the ninth to break up the shutout. On the bright side, he pitched much better than Antonio Bastardo, which, admittedly, isn’t saying much.
One Met that was warmly greeted was Jay Bruce:
The Mets got Bruce, in part, to revitalize the offense and hit with runners in scoring position. On his debut, Bruce would go 0-4 with two strikeouts, but the Mets overriding goal was achieved for at least one night as the Mets scored seven runs while going 4-10 with runners in scoring position.
Following the 7-1 win, this seems like a different Mets team for at least one night.
Game Notes: Conforto had a great game going 2-4 with one run, two doubles, a walk, and one RBI.
Steven Matz deserved a much better fate. He danced in and out of trouble all night. Even with that balky elbow, he reached back and found something to make the pitch to get out of the inning. That was until the sixth inning.
Mark Reynolds hit a double to set up second and third with no outs. Now, Reynolds should have been out. Center fielder Michael Conforto fielded the ball cleanly off the wall and made a terrific one hop throw to Neil Walker well ahead of Reynolds. However, Walker had trouble catching the ball like he’s had trouble hitting since May 1st.
After David Dahl popped out, the Rockies sent up their eighth place hitter Nick Hundley. Instead of intentionally walking him and setting up the double play with the opposing pitcher Tyler Chatwood coming to the plate, the Mets decided to pitch to him.
Hundley would hit a ground ball past Wilmer Flores. Flores should have had it, but for whatever reason, when he plays third, he has fall down left, fall down right range, and in this instance, he didn’t fall down fast enough. It would be a 2-1 lead, which for the Mets lately seems insurmountable.
It wasted Matz’s gutsy performance. His final line would be six innings allowing 10 hits, two earned, one walk, and five strikeouts.
The only run support he received was a James Loney second inning solo shot. It was the first home run Chatwood allowed outside Coors Field this year.
Coming into the game, he was 5-0 with a 1.30 ERA and a 1.014 WHIP. Tonight it was more of the same with him going seven innings allowing only three hits, one earned, and four walks with four strikeouts. When Chatwood was on the mound, hitting with runners in scoring position wasn’t that big an issue as no one would get on base. Officially, the Mets were 0-3 with runners in scoring position against Chatwood.
You’d tip your cap to him, but you don’t know if he was great again, or if the offense is that bad. When he exited the game, he had a 3-1 lead after a Mark Reynolds seventh inning laser to left field off of Erik Goeddel.
Then there was a cruel sense of déjà vu. A day after Jake McGee couldn’t get anyone out, he couldn’t get anyone out today allowing back-to-back singles to Alejandro De Aza and Curtis Granderson. It was first and second with no outs, and the Rockies would go to Scott Oberg to bail them out. With him facing this inept Mets team, of course he did.
Travis d’Arnaud, Yoenis Cespedes, and Loney came up swinging at the first pitch. d’Arnaud was sawed off, and he grounded to third. Cespedes popped out to the first baseman. Loney weakly grounded into the shift. At that point, the game was effectively over.
In case anyone had any delusions of grandeur of the Mets coming back, Antonio Bastardo took care of that allowing a three run bomb to Carlos Gonzalez. At 3-1, the game was over. At 6-1, it felt like the Rockies were beating a dead offense with a stick.
There were two reasons to believe that the Mets were going to win today’s game against the Rockies. The first was that since July 10th, the Mets have alternated wins and losses, and the Mets lost last night. The second reason was that Jacob deGrom was taking the hill during a day game, and deGrom is the Dayman having gone 15-3 with a 1.63 ERA and a 0.923 WHIP in day games. In his last start, deGrom threw a complete game shut out.
With that in mind, you knew a Rockies team who played a night game was not going to do any damage against deGrom. They didn’t as deGrom pitched seven scoreless innings allowing just five hits and walk one while striking out six. Trevor Story was the only Rockies baserunner to reach second base, and no Rockies even reached third against him. Seemingly, the only reason deGrom was lifted from the game having thrown 97 pitches was to get some more offense.
The Mets were in need of it as well. The team didn’t have Jose Reyes and Yoenis Cespedes in the lineup due to injury. Michael Conforto was sitting because the Rockies were starting the left-hander Tyler Anderson. That meant Alejandro De Aza, and his extremely poor splits against lefties, was in the starting lineup. Furthermore, Rene Rivera was starting over Travis d’Arnaud. It was a weak lineup that featured the still struggling Neil Walker was batting cleanup. It should then come as no surprise that heading towards deGrom’s spot in the lineup in the seventh inning, the Mets were only up 1-0.
That run would be scored on a Rene Rivera two out RBI double scoring James Loney from first. Perhaps inspired how the Sid Bream-esque Loney was able to score from first, Rivera was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. He made the ill-advised last out of an inning at third base. Even with that, he had a terrific day going 3-3 with two doubles and an RBI. It was Rivera who would leadoff the seventh inning with a single off Rockies reliever and former Rays teammate Jake McGee starting a curious chain of events.
De Aza followed Rivera’s single with a double to deep left-center field. That double would have scored anyone other than Rivera. Still, the Mets had runners at second and third with no outs. Terry Collins then made the bold choice of using Cespedes as a decoy. The Rockies took the bait walking Cespedes to load the bases. As Cespedes had a flare-up of his quad before the game preventing him from playing the field, he would be lifted for the pinch runner Steven Matz. It was a defendable position considering with his bone spurs there was no way Matz would ever pitch in this game, and he has decent speed. Furthermore, the Mets did not want to waste their bench any further. After Collins made two very good and defendable decisions, he began to make some baffling decisions.
The Rockies would bring in the right-handed reliever Scott Oberg into the game to pitch to Juan Lagares. Rather than keeping Lagares, his best defensive center fielder, in a tight 1-0 game, Collins went to his bench. Instead of going with Michael Conforto, the best hitter he had on the bench, Collins went to Kelly Johnson for some reason or other. At this point, the Mets struggles with runners in scoring position would really become magnified. Johnson would hit into a fielder’s choice with Story choosing to take the force out at home. Bases were still loaded, but now with one out. Granderson would chase a ball in the dirt to strike out putting it all on Wilmer Flores to come through. He didn’t. He hit a shallow popout to the center fielder Charlie Blackmon to end the inning. The Mets had bases loaded with no outs, and they still could not score.
The Mets were very fortunate they have an incredible bullpen that would hold onto this lead. Despite pregame overtures that Jeurys Familia would be unavailable for today’s game, Collins went to Addison Reed in the eighth. Reed would record two outs and would allow a single to DJ LeMahieu. Collins then lifted Reed for Jerry Blevins, who struck out Carlos Gonzalez to get out of the inning.
Familia would come on in the ninth on a day he was supposedly unavailable, and a day after he blew his first save in approximately one year. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy as it never is with the Mets. Story would hit a leadoff single, and he would steal second. Rivera was late on the throw, and it got through the infield. Familia would then walk David Dahl on a 3-2 count. Daniel Descalso was sent up there to lay down a sacrifice. With two strikes, he laid down a bunt spinning towards the line. Rivera let it go as it seemed as if it was going to go foul giving Familia the strikeout. Instead, the ball stopped dead on the line loading the bases with no outs.
It seemed like Familia would get out of it for a split second. He struck out Tony Wolters to get the first out. Then Cristhian Adames hit a ball that Loney just booted. The Mets weren’t going to turn two, but the Mets could’ve recorded at least one out. With that, Story would score the game tying run. With Blackmon at the plate, Familia spiked a ball at the edge of the grass that just ate up Rivera behind the plate. The wild pitch allowed Dahl to score the tying run. At that point, Familia intentionally walked Blackmon, and Collins lifted him from a game he shouldn’t have been used in the first place. Hansel Robles then came on and get the Mets out of the inning without any further damage. Maybe, just maybe, he should’ve pitched in the eighth or ninth rather than a tired Familia who Collins had declared was not available for this game.
When you peruse the official statistics for this game, you will see Familia blew the save and took the loss. That is true. However, it was a series of curious late inning decisions by Collins that really set the stage for this loss. It is quite fitting the very Kelly Johnson Collins had to bring into the game would make the final out in the ninth.
Game Notes: A night after going 3-3 with a walk, Walker was 3-4 on the day. It appears like his deep two and a half month slump might be coming to an end.
Over the past month, Alejandro De Aza has completely turned his season around. He has been unrecognizable in July hitting .333/.484/.500 with a double, a home run, and an RBI. With De Aza being and useful and productive player, it seems like anything is possible including but not limited to Antonio Bastardo becoming a competent part of the Mets bullpen. Yes, even that. And it has happened.
In Bastardo’s has 10 appearances, he has pitched 12 effective innings. Over this stretch, he has a 2.25 ERA and a 0.833 WHIP. Batters are only hitting .205/.222/.341 against him. This is a completely different pitcher than the one who pitched to a 5.46 ERA and a 1.618 WHIP over his first 29 appearances that saw batters hit a whopping .261/.372/.443 off of him. He has gone from a guy Terry Collins justifiably buried in the bullpen necessitating the Mets to seek out a reliever on the trade market to a potentially valuable piece in the bullpen. What has happened?
As strange as this may sound for a pitcher on the Mets, Bastardo has benefitted from throwing his slider more frequently. Coming into this season, Bastardo had used his slider 31% of the time, and it proved to be a plus pitch for him. Batters didn’t make much contact off the pitch swinging and missing 44.46% of the time. When a batter was able to put the bat on Bastardo’s slider, it usually resulted in weak contact with the batters having a .168 batting average and isolated power of .091. For whatever reason, Bastardo has shied away from this pitch in the beginning of 2016.
To start the season, Bastardo’s slider usage rate dropped from 31% to 24%. Instead, Bastardo began to throw more changeups, which is a very bad idea. Over his career, batters tee off on Bastardo’s changeup hitting .375 off the pitche with a .609 slugging percentage. Essentially, every batter turns into Babe Ruth when they get a chance to hit Bastardo’s changeup. In reality, there is no reason for Bastardo to ever throw his changeup especially when you consider that batters see it coming. Over his career, batters swing and miss only 26% of the time. Overall, batters aren’t fooled by the pitch, and they do some real damage when they make contact. Over Bastardo’s last 10 appearances, he is still throwing way too many changeups, and the pitch is still being hit hard and frequently. However, he is able to compensate for that by throwing more sliders.
In what has been Bastardo’s best stretch of the season his slider usage rate is back up to 33%. He is still generating similar swing and miss numbers (39.13%), and batters are still unable to do anything with the pitch hitting .125 off the pitch with an isolated power of .000.
Perhaps more important than the pitch selection is the fact that Bastardo is throwing strikes. The main issue with Bastardo has always been control, and those issues were really prominent to begin the year. In his first 29 appearances, Bastardo was averaging 5.5 walks per nine innings. He was only throwing strikes 60% of the time. Now, he’s getting the ball over the plate throwing strikes 70% of the time. He has only walked one batter over the last 12 innings. With him throwing his slider more frequently, and getting the pitch over the plate, he has become a more effective pitcher. He has become the pitcher the Mets thought they were getting when they signed him to a two year $12 million contract in the offseason. So is he back?
It might be too early to say. We have seen some flashes here and there only to be disappointed once again. The Mets have only used him ONCE over this stretch to get some batters out in a close game. That resulted in Bastardo allowing Daniel Murphy to hit a home run off of him to make it an 8-7 game. Other than that, Bastardo has been used mostly in blowouts and to preserve the bullpen arms when the Mets have been behind. While Bastardo is pitching much more effectively, it is difficult to determine if he’s ready to once again pitch in a pressure filled situation with the game on the line.
With that in mind, the Mets should keep their current 7-8-9 combination as Hansel Robles–Addison Reed–Jeurys Familia. If Bastardo keeps pitching well, he could crack that group for a night or two to give one of those guys a breather. He could also be called on to get big outs in the sixth inning. That could be his role, and he can do it extremely well so long as he keeps throwing his slider, and he keeps throwing strikes.