Asdrubal Cabrera

Glass Half Full Loss

Going into last night’s game, you’d be hard pressed to find reasons to be optimistic. 

Clayton Kershaw was squaring off against Bartolo Colon. David Wright missed another game with a neck issue, which mean another Eric Campbell start. To make matters worse, the Mets fell behind Kershaw 2-0. There was really now reason to believe the Mets could come back to tie the game. 

And yet, they did. 

In the sixth, Asdrubal Cabrera homered off Kershaw. In the eighth, the Mets had Kevin Plawecki on first with two outs.  Fortunately, Kershaw was lifted from the game leaving Curtis Granderson to face the lefty Adam Liberatore. Granderson hit a game-tying triple. The Mets showed some fight and came back against the best pitcher in baseball. 

Yes, Jeurys Familia struggled in the ninth. He took the loss after allowing two runs on two hits and two walks.  The Mets lost 4-2.  It was frustrating that Familia had a second straight tough night, but at the end of the day, Familia will be alright. This was just a blip on the radar. 

The biggest take away is that a weak Mets lineup fought back against the best pitcher in baseball. It gives you hope for optimism no matter how frustrating the ninth inning might’ve been. 

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Familia’s Struggles Lead to a Grandy Win

So far, Chase Utley is 5-16 with two walks, three runs, two doubles, one homerun, and four RBI. It’s one thing not to exact revenge, it’s a whole other to let him be this comfortable at the plate. The last double was a bases clearing double off of Jeurys Familia, who was in in a non-save situation, turning a 5-1 easy win for Jacob deGrom and the Mets and turning it into a frustrating 5-5 game. It was annoying. It was aggravating. It was the perfect theater for Curtis Granderson:  

Granderson took the second pitch of the ninth inning and hit a walk off homerun giving the Mets a 6-5 win. 

Granderson needed it. He’s been having a rough May. He had been 0-3 with three strikeouts and one walk before the game winning at bat.  In fact, Granderson started his night striking out against Dodgers 19 year old phenom Julio Urias. 

Fortunately for the Mets, it was downhill from there for Urias. Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker doubled off of him. Juan Lagares had a two RBI single making it a 3-0 game before Urias could even blink. Urias threw 35 pitches against eight Mets batters in the first. His final line was 2.2 innings, five hits, three earned, four walks, and three strikeouts. He left due to a mixture of his pitch count and his effectiveness. 

Urias was bested by deGrom. On the night deGrom pitched seven innings allowing only three hits, one earned, and three walks with seven strikeouts. His velocity was back in the early innings, but it faded in the later innings. The only two blips on the radar for him was his making his first career error in the third followed by Chase Utley not literally sacrificing himself. It was a sacrifice fly, not a sacrifice to appease Mets fans.

deGrom wasn’t the only Met who had a good night. Lagares went 3-4 with one run, three RBI, and one homerun. The homerun was an opposite field shot off righty to boot. 

  
Speaking of homeruns, David Wright homered in his third consecutive game. His homerun was a vintage David Wright shot to right center. Speaking of vintage, the Mets delivered tonight while wearing the 86 racing stripe jerseys as the Mets celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the 1986 World Series Champions. 

The Mets win tonight, absent failing to plunk Utley, was a nice homage to that team. An even better one was the Mets moving into first place in the NL East (tied with the Nationals). 

Game Notes: It was the second walk-off homerun of Granderson’s career. Cabrera made a decent play in the field

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Darkness Filled This Knight

Any hopes of this being a Happy Harvey Day was shattered when Daniel Murphy launched a fifth inning two run homerun into the upper deck off of Matt Harvey making it a 5-1 game. Murphy really pimped that homerun too. 

It was the third homerun hit against Harvey on the night. Given Harvey’s pattern this year, it should come as no surprise that the first two homeruns were back-to-back shots by Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon. Overall, Harvey had another career worst night in what had been a nightmare of a season:

For the night, Harvey pitched five innings allowing eight hits, five earned, and two walks with a career worst one strikeout. He has an MLB worst 6.08 ERA. 

Unfortunately, Harvey didn’t get much help. The Mets 6-8 batters were Eric Campbell–Kevin Plawecki–Ty Kelly. Kelly was making his debut with David Wright getting a scheduled day off. It’s hard to question Collins’ handling of Wright so far this year because it has been superb. With that said, if it was an either/or situation, it’s surprising he wouldn’t trot out his best possible lineup for a Harvey start; last night’s Wright homerun notwithstanding. 

With this lineup, it’s not much of a surprise that Stephen Strasburg had a good night. He pitched 6.2 innings allowing four hits, two earned, and two walks with 11 strikeouts. It should be noted that Strasburg found himself in the same shoes last year that Harvey finds himself now.  Strasburg finished last year going 6-2 with a 1.90 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP. This year he’s a sure fire All Star and an early Cy Young candidate with an 8-0 record with a 2.79 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. 

The Mets offense was an Asdrubal Cabrera homerun fourth inning homerun and a short lived rally in the seventh. The Mets had a first and third with no outs with the aforementioned Campbell-Plawecki-Kelly triumvirate due up. Campbell got an RBI ground out making it 5-2. Plawecki walked, and Kelly struck out. In his big league debut, Kelly was 0-4 with three strikeouts. Juan Lagares then pinch hit for Hansel Robles (who was great again), and he struck out against Felipe Rivero ending the rally. 

Any hopes that the Mets would come back were dashed by the bullpen. In consecutive innings Antonio Bastardo and Jim Henderson allowed solo homeruns. It snapped the Mets’ bullpens 16.2 inning scoreless inning streak.

Campbell hit a one-handed two run homerun in the ninth (yes you read that right) to make it 7-4. That would be the final score.  It wasn’t really that close, but it was just one game, albeit a game that leaves the Mets once again looking for answers across the board. The Mets play another one tomorrow. 

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Mets Show Some Resiliency 

The odds were stacked against the Mets today. They received word that Lucas Duda would be going on the DL with a stress fracture in his lower back. The Mets were facing Gio Gonzalez, who absolutely owns them. 

So naturally, the Mets offense played homerun derby. David Wright got it started with a three run homerun in the third. Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker went back-to-back in the fifth. With those and many more homeruns, the Mets now lead the majors as a team. Cespedes is the leader in homeruns. He’s now on pace for a 55 homerun season. Somehow that seems light. 

Throw in a third inning RBI single from Asdrubal Cabrera and an Eric Campbell sacrifice fly in the third, and you get a 7-1 Mets win. Colon pitched well going seven innings allowing five hits and one earned. One thing of note is he walked two batters. This is now his second straight start with more than two walks. Both of these starts came against the Nationals. 

The Mets are now only a half game back in the East with way too many games left on the schedule to be worried about the NL East standings. With that said, Matt Harvey takes the mound tomorrow with a chance to pitch the Mets into first place. 

Game Notes: Ryan Zimmerman stole a base in the sixth, and it was completely on Colon. Colon went to the wind up, and the extremely slow Zimmerman took off. He had the base stolen quite easily. 

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Matz Back on Track

After all the Mets fans hysteria after Matt Harvey struggled against the Nationals, it was easy to forget there was a game to be played tonight. 

Like most of May, the Mets offense seemed to forget as well. For the first five innings, the Mets offense could only muster one run with three hits and a walk against Wily Peralta. This is the same Peralta who came into tonight’s game with a 2-4 record, 7.30 ERA, and a 1.992 WHIP. It didn’t matter as the Mets offense lately has been worse than Peralta . . . at least until the sixth inning. 

Asdrubal Cabrera lead off the inning with a single, and he scored when Michael Conforto hit one into what used to be the Party City Deck. 

Mets led 3-2. 

There was a chance for more, but well, no one is quite sure what happened. Yoenis Cespedes singled, and he took off on a 3-2 pitch to Neil Walker. Walker took the pitch right down the middle for strike three, and Cespedes didn’t even bother sliding into second. Former Met Carlos Torres came on, and he got the Brewers out of the inning. 

The three runs were enough for Steven Matz, who was terrific. He pitched seven innings allowing three hits, two earned, and no walks with eight strikeouts. He only made one mistake, which was hit for a two run homer in the first by Chris Carter, who is tied with Cespedes for the league lead in homers. Matz’s start was all the more incredible when you consider he had been shut down with elbow inflammation. 

However, it looks like he’s back on track, and the Mets are back on track as well. 

Game Notes: Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Torres got their NL Championship rings before the game. Eric Campbell started at third as David Wright had a scheduled day off. Rene Rivera had a nice game with an RBI ground out in the second, and he threw out another basestealer:

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The Mets Infield Is Eric Campbell

Right now, the Mets are in a prolonged offensive slump. It seems like every Met not named Yoenis Cespedes is having problems at the plate. Here’s how bad things are. Here are the triple slash lines for every Mets infielder (except Matt Reynolds) since the West Coast trip began:

  1. .176/.300/.235
  2. .227/.320/.273
  3. .152/.243/.273
  4. .129/.325/.258
  5. .200/.250/.267
  6. .235/.278/.294

Look at this list. Now, go and pick out which player is Eric Campbell. No, it’s not all Campbell. Yes, those are the real stats. Yes, each of the Mets infielders has been presented in that grouping. Take a look again and pick out which one is Eric Campbell. 

The answer is number 2.  

The other players were Lucas Duda (#1), Neil Walker (#3), David Wright (#4), Wilmer Flores (#5), and Asdrubal Cabrera (#6). 

Campbell’s numbers are not too far off his career slash line of .230/.319/.321. What’s interesting about that is every Mets infielder is hitting like Eric Campbell right now. Not surprisingly, Eric Campbell is the best version of himself. Since the West Coast trip, Campbell is second among Mets infielders in batting average, OBP, and slugging.

He’s even added a few nice defensive plays. He had the diving stop at third for the final out of the game on Mother’s Day. He made two nice defensive plays at first last night including robbing Daniel Murphy of an extra base hit in what was then a tied game. So no, Eric Campbell isn’t the problem. He’s performing about as well as you can reasonably expect the last man on your bench to perform. 

No, the problem is everyone on the Mets infield is performing like they’re Eric Campbell. 

We can all talk about the Mets striking out too much. We can talk about their supposed over reliance on the homerun. We can talk about their problems hitting with RISP. We can talk about all of that at length. However, we first need to find out how the Mets entire infield hits like Eric Campbell now. 

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Hey It’s Enrico Pollazo!

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. 

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It’s a Walkoff, It’s a Walkoff

Last time Jacob deGrom started a game in Dodger Stadium, it was Game 5 of the NLDS. That entire night deGrom was on the ropes. He didn’t have his best stuff. However, he fought through it seemingly with nothing but guile. 

Tonight was eerily reminiscent of that night. 

The Dodgers were hitting deGrom hard. The lefties were hitting him especially hard. The Coward and Corey Seager led off the game with opposite field doubles in the first. Utley scored on Seager’s double, and Seager scored on an Adrian Gonzalez sac fly. It was 2-0 after one. deGrom would be in and out of trouble most of the game, but the Dodgers wouldn’t score another run. 

Part of that was the Mets playing some real good defense behind deGrom.  In the second, David Wright dove and stopped a would be Yasiel Puig RBI single. Wright made a poor throw allowing Puig to reach first safely, but the run did not score.  In the fourth, Asdrubal Cabrera reached behind him on a ball that ricocheted off the glove of deGrom, made a nice stab, and barely threw out Utley. Eric Campbell made a nice stretch on the play. In the fifth, Cespedes did this:

Overall, deGrom would pitch seven innings allowing eight hits, two earned, and no walks with four strikeouts.  Unlike last time, he handed the ball off to the Mets bullpen instead of Noah Syndergaard.

Unfortunately, deGrom got a no decision because  Alex Wood didn’t repeat his NLDS performance. He would only allow four hits, two runs (one earned), and two walks with nine strikeouts. In the NLDS, he only went two innings allowing four hits, four earned, and this:

The Mets had no bat flips off Wood. Instead, the Mets would need some help from Utley to score. It was quite ironic how skittish Utley was around second base in the third inning. With Cespedes on first, Wilmer Flores hit a ball up the middle. Utley made the snag, but he flipped it to no one. No, it’s not Seager’s fault for failing to cover second. It’s Utley’s fault because he’s pure evil. The ensuing batter, Michael Conforto, hit the ball to Utley, who threw a potential double play ball into left field. Cespedes would score on the play. Flores would later score on a Kevin Plawecki RBI single. 

The game would eventually become a battle of the bullpens, and surprisingly, the Mets would lose despite having the much better bullpen. Hansel Robles gave up a two out walkoff homerun to Trayce Thompson.  The Mets lost 3-2.  It snapped the Mets three game winning streak. 

Game Notes: Terry Collins had Lagares in RF because he apparently hates good defensive OF alignments. Plawecki is heating up and finally taking advantage of his opportunity. Both Lagares and Cespedes slipped on first base on pickoff attempts. Lagares slipped off leading to an out. Cespedes twisted his ankle but stayed in the game. Cabrera was hit by a pitch for the fifth time this year. 

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Hot Soup

Yesterday, the Mets featured an odd lineup against a right-handed pitcher. David Wright was getting a scheduled day off. Wright will get these days off even if it means the Mets have eight players on the field. It’s that necessary and important. Neil Walker needed the day off because of a bruised shin. As such, with the Mets looking to earn a four game split with the Padres, Eric Campbell started the game at third. 

It was a decision that would have a profound impact on the game. 

In the second was a big part of the two out rally. He knocked in Kevin Plawecki, who doubled, and he would later score on an Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single. Ironically, for a player that we talk about being a leader in hard hit ball percentage, his RBI single was a slow rolling grounder up the middle. As they saw, that ball had eyes. Overall, Campbell would go 2-3 with a run, an RBI, and a walk. He also ended the game with this web gem:

  
Campbell had a great game. He went from a .182/.357/.182 hitter to a .286/.444/.286 hitter. It was first RBI and only his third run scored. For that matter, it was only his second start of the year. 

Given Campbell’s past it’s too soon to say the Mets should give him more playing time even with Wilmer Flores‘ struggles. Still, Campbell has earned the playing time he has received, and he has shown the Mets he has a place on the roster. If Flores continues to struggle, we may see more and more of Campbell. If he plays like he did on Sunday, that won’t be a bad thing. 

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Fast Forwarded Mets-Padres Game 

So I didn’t make it very far last night. The last thing I remember Wilmer Flores grounded out to end a rally, and Noah Syndergaard was throwing his first pitch in the bottom half of the inning. I was then out like a light. I’m sure a younger version of me was severely disappointed in me. 

In any event, I woke up around 3 AM with the gray screen from the television on. At that point, I knew the game was over. There was no epic extra innings battle featuring Bartolo Colon getting the game-winning hit while Eric Campbell became a Mets hero by coming in and recording the save. 

No, as I would find out, it was just a normal run of the mill game. There’s an inherent beauty in that, but no one will be talking about it for generations to come. Or perhaps it will. Maybe, just maybe, we will remember this game as the last game Syndergaard ever lost in 2016 . . . or ever. 

Until such time, we know Syndergaard lost his second game of the year despite allowing two earned runs. We know Drew Pomeranz had a good curveball working, and he shut down the Mets lineup. We know Tim Teufel sent Asdrubal Cabrera in the seventh, and he was nailed at the plate. We know the Mets lost their second game in a row, and they snapped their streak of six consecutive series wins. 

I know this because I caught Mets Fast Forward this morning. If you’ve never watched, they condense a Mets game into an hour. It’s a good way to catch up.  It’s more entertaining than reading a game recap . . . well, more entertaining than a game recap written on another site.  Unfortunately, something gets lost in translation. 

You miss the little things. You miss some of the lesser at bats where maybe you see why a batter is struggling. You sometimes miss how a pitcher either falls into a pattern or is changing his attack from batter to better. You miss most of the excellent calls of Gary, Keith, and Ron (no Keith last night). In essence, you lose a feel for the game. You lose the ebbs and flows. You miss the cadence that makes each game unique. 

With that said, I couldn’t make the full game with the 10:40 start. Not after staying up until 1:00 A.M. for the prior game. Not after dragging myself out if bed at 5:30 A.M. the next day. I tried and failed. With that said, Mets Fast Forward was a welcome sight. Too bad it’s not a viable option next week. 

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