Billy McKinney

Stroman Great, Hendricks Just A Little Better

The New York Mets sought to complete a four game sweep of the Chicago Cubs. It was just the rare story of the Mets getting outpitched.

What makes it frustrating was Marcus Stroman was superb. After he allowed a two run homer to Javier Baez in the first, he just completely and utterly shut down the Cubs allowing just two more hits.

Stroman’s final line was 7.0 innings, four hits, two earned, one walk, and eight strikeouts. This should’ve been good enough to win, but he didn’t.

The reason was Kyle Hendricks, a very good starter in his own right, was just better than Stroman. That’s partially because while Baez got the big hit for the Cubs, the Mets didn’t get that big hit.

While Hendricks allowed just two hits and two walks over seven innings, the Mets STILL had their chances. In fact, there were three good ones which went nowhere.

Jonathan Villar doubled to lead off the first. Billy McKinney hit a one out double in the second. Both would be stranded.

In the fourth, Hendricks got himself into trouble waking Pete Alonso and Dominic Smith to start the inning. That rally fizzled when James McCann hit into a double play.

And that was it. The Mets wouldn’t get another base runner. The Cubs didn’t do much of anything either, but that didn’t matter as much to them as they already got their two runs in the first.

In the end, the Mets still took three of four and they’ve won five of seven from the Padres and Cubs. That’s not a bad stretch.

Game Notes: This was the second straight start Stroman struck out eight. That’s his season high, and he’s done that four times this year.

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David Peterson Re-Emerges

Every so often you’re reminded why the New York Mets have been so haphazard with their treatment of David Peterson. The talent is so tantalizing, and he can give you the occasional gem. Tonight was one of those nights.

He completely and utterly dominated the Chicago Cubs. For the first time in his career, he pitched six shut out innings. He only allowed one hit, but with it coming in the third, he went flirting with a no-hitter.

The singer and slider were working. Overall, Peterson walked two, allowed the one hit, and he had three strikeouts. Giving the night he had, and the season he’s had, Luis Rojas didn’t push him to go through the lineup a third time, and he got him out feeling good about the start.

He’d also leave with the lead putting him in position for his second win of the season.

For the first 3.2 innings, Jake Arrieta was relatively in control. Then, it quickly and suddenly unraveled for him.

With two out and one on, Billy McKinney drew a walk. James McCann then opened the scoring with an RBI single. On the play, Jake Marisnick‘s throw to the plate for past Willson Contreras allowing McKinney and McCann to advance. Both would score easily on Kevin Pillar‘s two RBI double giving the Mets a 3-0 lead.

That lead grew to 4-0 when Dominic Smith hit a homer to dead center off Arrieta in the fifth.

Entering the sixth, Tommy Nance relieved Arrieta, and he lost control. In walking back-to-back hitters, he threw five straight balls. Brandon Drury then pinch hit for Peterson, and he hit a pinch hit RBI single giving the Mets a 5-0 lead.

Things would get interesting from there. Trevor May entered his first game in a week, and he wasn’t sharp. In fact, he’d allow back-to-back homers to Anthony Rizzo and Patrick Wisdom cutting the Mets lead to 5-2.

Aaron Loup then entered the game with two outs, and he gave the Mets four outs to set up the save opportunity. Edwin Diaz would get that save opportunity, and he’d lock it down for his 13th save of the season.

This was another win where the Mets beat another .500 team. More than that, they have a winning record in June.

Game Notes: Mets have tied their franchise best home start with an 18-6 record. They last did that in 2015. Jacob Barnes was designated for assignment, and Sean Reid-Foley was recalled.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets Better Than Padres

For all the talk about the San Diego Padres this year, a depleted New York Mets team just took the season series:

1. People keep telling us to appreciate Jacob deGrom and not take him for granted. Not sure why because every Mets fan absolutely venerates him.

2. One of these days, deGrom is going to have a perfect game. It’s just going to happen.

3. Next time deGrom departs a game early, the reaction should be calm. He’s listening to his body, the Mets are listening to him, and they’re all just getting him ready to dominate in October . . . which he will.

4. While we’re told not to under appreciate deGrom, his sheer greatness is actually overshadowing Marcus Stroman who has been great this year.

5. Give credit where it is due, Joey Lucchesi has absolutely turned around his season. He wants a chance to go through a lineup a third time, and sooner or later, he probably should get that chance.

6. Not enough credit is being given to Luis Rojas and Jeremy Hefner for the job they’re doing.

7. Of course, it was a poor decision to leave in Jeurys Familia that long and to bring in Jacob Barnes in that spot. However, when you’re short bad and indefensible decisions like that are going to happen.

8. The question does need to be asked – if the Mets are so reticent to use Barnes, why is he still on the team?

9. Seeing Seth Lugo back to Lugoat form, you’re further convinced this team is going to win the World Series.

10. People can dismiss what Chris Paddack said all they want, but he does seem to have Pete Alonso‘s number.

11. Dominic Smith really needs to pick it up. Sooner or later, this team will get healthy, and he’s going to be in peril of losing playing time.

12. It’s great to see Luis Guillorme back healthy and performing wizardry in the field.

13. Months later, he may no longer be on the roster, but people should remember how Jose Peraza held down the fort and each and every single one of his homers gave the Mets a lead.

14. He’s probably not the best option, but Jonathan Villar has done everything the Mets could’ve asked. He’s been better than anyone could’ve reasonably expected, and at this point, the third base job should be his.

15. Of course, Billy McKinney is dealing with a sore knee and needed to miss a game. This would’ve be the 2021 Mets if that didn’t happen.

16. Tomas Nido has started struggling at the plate once he stopped being the everyday catcher, but James McCann is thriving.

17. More than what they’re doing at the plate, the Mets pitchers are thriving while throwing to both of these catchers. So long as the catchers are maximizing pitcher performances, they’re doing a great job.

18. On the topic of catchers, if Francisco Alvarez hits a huge homer, let him do a bat flip. Criticize him when he celebrates and the ball doesn’t go out, which is something that hasn’t happened yet.

19. People may want to get rid of the DH, but deGrom has more RBI than earned runs allowed.

20. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s June 14, and the Mets are over .500 so far this month.

Game Recaps

Jacob deGrom Provides Thrills and Chills

Mets Prove Power Rankings Pure Trash

Jacob Barnes Wrong But –

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Jacob Barnes Wrong Decision But –

Look, there’s absolutely no defending Luis Rojas bringing in Jacob Barnes to face Fernando Tatis Jr. with the bases loaded in a tie game. The ensuing grand slam was a shock to no one.

Rojas proffered his explanation. The bullpen was stressed, and their best reliever, Seth Lugo, was unavailable. Miguel Castro and Aaron Loup were also unavailable. With Billy McKinney ailing and Jonathan Villar dealing with a family matter, the bench was short limiting the pinch hitting options.

Fact is, you’re not seeing a manager bring his closer into the game in the seventh, so that rules out Edwin Diaz. With David Peterson set to go tomorrow, Robert Gsellman needed to be held back just in case. This all left very few options remaining.

Rojas said he didn’t tab Trevor May because he didn’t want to use him for just one out. So, he ran the roulette wheel and landed on Barnes. The fact that option was on the table was the exact problem here.

Sure, you could argue to pitch May, but that might’ve been for one pitch of one out. Considering for situation, that’s probably the wrong move as that’s the game right there.

However, if you look past the moment, and you assume May escapes the jam, now what? Yes, Drew Smith did go two innings in this game. That took them to the ninth. If the game hit extras, well, that’s the run.

To make the long story short, Barnes was realistically going to have to pitch in this game. This is the same Barnes who entered the game with a 6.27 ERA. Since 2017, Barnes had a 6.62 ERA.

Rojas was obviously aware of this. That’s probably why Barnes only pitched once over that past nine days. That one appearance came in a blowout loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Clearly, Rojas doesn’t really trust him and tries to limit his use of Barnes. That works for only so long. Eventually, you have to use everyone in your bullpen, and sooner or later, you get caught having to use them in a high leverage situation.

To a certain extent, that’s what happened Sunday. The Mets finally had to use Barnes (although not in that spot), and it completely burned them. It’ll burn them again the next time. Of course, that’s if there is a next time.

With pitchers in the minors like Sean Reid-Foley, it’s hard to imagine why the Mets are carrying Barnes in the bullpen. It helped cost the Mets this game. If this continues, it’s likely going to cost the Mets another game or two.

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Jacob deGrom Provides Thrills And Chills

Jacob deGrom was the difference in this game for the New York Mets more ways than one. The only thing which could stop deGrom was himself.

For the first 4.1 innings, deGrom was simply unhittable, and were once again on the perfect game watch. That was until Wil Myers dribbled one against the shift for a hit.

Myers thought he could steal a base, but James McCann gunned him down. With that caught stealing, deGrom would face the minimum through six. Given how dominant he was even that seemed like a batter or two too many.

Of course, deGrom set all kinds of records. His 0.56 ERA though 10 starts is the lowest ever. He needed just 61.2 innings to reach 100 strikeouts which is the fewest innings to reach that mark. Oh, and by the way, he’s hitting .400 with an .840 OPS.

He went out there and beat the Padres every way imaginable. He allowed just the one hit over 6.0 innings walking none and striking out 10. He’d get the win because he actually got run support.

At first, it didn’t seem that would happen. Blake Snell, who was great his last game against the Mets, had a strong start to this game.

The Mets didn’t get a threat against him until the fourth. It started with a Jonathan Villar single. It’s not a stretch to say at that point in the game it seemed Villar was the only guy who was going to get a hit.

Villar was on second with one out after he stole second, and Francisco Lindor lined out. Snell completely lost the strike zone walking the bases loaded.

That’s when Dominic Smith has a terrible at-bat. Despite Snell losing the zone, he went to attack a tough slider out of the zone. He checked his swing leading to the inning ending 1-2-3 double play.

It was a really tough game for Smith. He was 0-for-4 with two GIDP. He’s slumping as he’s in a 1-for-13 funk.

This wasn’t the Mets last chance. Rather, it was them starting to get to Snell.

Kevin Pillar led off the fifth with a hustle double. His beating out Tommy Pham‘s throw proved serendipitous as Billy McKinney ripped a double down the first base line to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Jose Peraza drew a walk, and then Snell would balk to put runners on second and third. deGrom would deliver with a two RBI single giving the Mets a 3-0 lead.

For deGrom, that was more than enough support. However, deGrom would only go six because the flexor tendon in his elbow was bothering him leading him to take himself out of the game.

Perhaps it was deGrom out of the game. It could’ve also been Miguel Castro dealing with a neck issue which would knock him out of this game, but the Padres looked energized.

Jake Cronenworth hit a two run homer pulling the Padres within 3-2. After Castro walked Manny Machado, Luis Rojas pulled his ailing reliever for Seth Lugo.

To the surprise of no one, Lugo did the job retiring the next two to get out of the inning. What was a surprise was that was it for Lugo.

Aaron Loup started the eighth for the Mets. He’d exit the game with one on and two out. That’s when Rojas tabbed Edwin Diaz for the four out save. Jorge Mateo immediately stole second, but it was of little consequence as Pham flew out to end the inning.

Things got interesting in the ninth. Machado hit a two out single putting the tying run on base. Eric Hosmer pinch hit for Myers, and he put a scare into the crowd as he pulled a ball just foul. After that, Diaz got Hosmer to pop out to end the game.

The Mets are now a season high seven games over .500. However, it’s not too much celebrating as there’s reason for concern for deGrom and to a lesser extent Castro.

Game Notes: Luis Guillorme was activates off the IL, and Travis Blankenhorn was sent to Triple-A. The Mets claimed Nick Tropeano off waivers and sent him to Syracuse. Tommy Hunter was transferred to the 60 day IL.

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Billy McKinney Auditioning To Replace Michael Conforto Permanently

One moment, you’re a player whose career is on the verge of ending before it really began. The next, you find yourself in the right situation, and you’re fulfilling your full potential.

That was the story with players like Jose Bautista and Justin Turner. However, it’s not a story we really see happen favorably to the New York Mets.

Enter Billy McKinney.

McKinney was the Oakland Athletics 2013 first round pick. While a prospect, he was involved in two high profile trade deadline moves. First, he was sent to the Chicago Cubs as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade. Then, he was part of the Aroldis Chapman trade.

Some of the shine came off McKinney’s prospects, and he dealt with a shoulder injury. With his being buried deep on the Yankees organizational outfield depth chart, he was included in the J.A. Happ trade.

McKinney struggles with the Blue Jays, and he was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays late last season. McKinney was claimed by the Milwaukee Brewers. He lasted all of 40 games before the underperforming outfielder was designated for assignment.

Make no mistake. This wasn’t necessarily the case of the Mets seeing something. Rather, with Michael Conforto down and Mets outfielders dropping like flies, the Mets had no other option than to obtain McKinney.

McKinney has been far better than the Mets ever could’ve imagined. Over 12 games, McKinney is hitting .275/.341/.700 with three doubles, a triple, four homers, and 11 RBI.

No, he’s not this good. No one is. However, we do see some positives from his Baseball Savant data. While he’s making a good amount of contact with increased exit velocities, it’s far too soon to adjudge if he can be the player many thought he could be when he was a top 100 prospect.

Right now, the only thing we can be assured of is he can field. Through it all, McKinney has shown himself to be quite a good fielder. If he can hit, his career is about to take off.

Fortunately for McKinney, he’s going to get the time to prove himself. Both Conforto and Brandon Nimmo are on the IL and aren’t returning soon. That allows McKinney to play everyday and to finally establish himself as a Major Leaguer.

On that note, it’s important to note he’s 26 and on the verge of the prime of his career. If he breaks out, that makes him a tremendous asset to a team as he’s under team control through 2024.

The Mets could use that. Aside from the fact this isn’t an organization deep in outfield talent, the Mets need to figure out their outfield past the 2021 season.

After this season, Conforto will be a free agent. In all honesty, he’s going to be extraordinarily difficult to sign. He’s represented by Scott Boras, and he’s basically the only All-Star caliber outfielder available in free agency. For that matter, he may be the only everyday outfielder available.

We can and should expect the Mets to do everything they can to keep Conforto. That said, we learned this past offseason with players like George Springer, the Mets have their limits, and they will walk away if they don’t believe a deal makes sense for them.

There are other factors like re-signing Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard. The Mets also have to try to figure out third base while preparing themselves for the eventual Jacob deGrom opt out.

This is all a long winded way of saying re-signing Conforto is complicated, and the Mets need a viable alternative. It’s possible that could be McKinney. Still, it’s only been 12 games.

A week or month from now, we may be begging for Conforto and Nimmo as McKinney implodes. We may also be even more excited as McKinney continues his breakout. We just don’t know.

The only thing we do know is McKinney has a chance. If he continues playing well, he’ll continue to play. If that happens, he will continue to get his chance to replace Conforto on a more permanent basis.

Time will tell.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets Secure Winning Road Trip In Baltimore

The New York Mets traveled to Baltimore to play the Orioles to complete their nine game road trip. With the split, they finished 5-4:

1. Of course, Kevin Pillar and Mason Williams were the first Mets to go back-to-back. In some ways, that’s the perfect encapsulation of this season.

2. On the subject of homers, Pete Alonso hit three, and he’s heating up just before a temperature check series against the San Diego Padres.

3. Alonso has always been one to speak his mind, and he was right on point when he said the biggest issue is the way MLB changes the ball year-to-year.

4. It’s funny. The Mets really had no choice but to obtain Billy McKinney, but now they suddenly look like geniuses for it.

5. The story of how Kevin Pillar has been a big believer in McKinney, was exited about the acquisition, and picked up McKinney when he joined the team speaks volumes about why this team is performing so well.

6. It’s funny how quickly fans went from why would the Mets sign Pillar to Pillar becoming a fan favorite they fiercely defend has been hilarious. It’s also a sign about all the things Pillar does right on and off the field.

7. While the Mets offensive onslaught felt great, especially the day after the Mets were blown out, some of the joy was taken out of it because it happened against Matt Harvey.

8. At this moment, David Peterson is not an MLB caliber starting pitcher, and it’s unfair to him to keep putting him in a position to fail.

9. No, the Mets don’t have a real answer in Triple-A, and it is going to be tough to navigate this next stretch, but when Peterson has given you 3.0 innings over the last two starts, he’s not going to help you.

10. The Mets desperately need Robert Gsellman to be good. As we saw, when he isn’t, games get way out of hand.

11. The best way for the Mets to navigate things going forward is to get starts like they did from Taijuan Walker.

12. There’s something to be said for Walker and McKinney, two once highly regarded prospects who haven’t lived to expectations, starting to look like the players we thought they would become under Luis Rojas.

13. This is getting way to ahead of ourselves, but McKinney just has this vibe right now where he’s just going to have a really big moment this postseason.

14. McKinney and Ty Kelly are doppelgängers.

15. It was hard to take Ron Darling seriously yesterday when he didn’t have Jacob deGrom atop his pitcher power rankings. In fact, it’s hard to take MLB Network seriously as Darling wasn’t the only one.

16. The baseball card shtick in blowouts works, and Darling and Gary Cohen trading an Andres Gimenez card for a Francisco Lindor was pretty clever.

17. It’s actually amusing the Mets had a game where Alonso and Dominic Smith were both in the lineup and neither played first base.

18. The replay system has become a complete and utter joke. They can’t even manage to get clearly blown calls overturned.

19. Nobody is talking about him, but Cedric Mullens is a phenomenal baseball player who put on a show against the Mets. The All-Star Game is at its best when it gives a player like him a stage to introduce himself to the world, and it’ll be great to see that next month.

20. MLB can keep the Mets down in the power rankings all they want. This is still a first place team.

Game Recaps

Mets Loss Was for the Birds

Mets Deep Six Orioles

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Mets Deep Six Orioles

The New York Mets got beaten up last night, but tonight, they returned the favor in a 14-1 win. The only downside was the bulk of the damage came against Matt Harvey, who the Mets pushed closer to getting DFA’d.

Pete Alonso opened the scoring with a two run homer in the first. The Mets then put five up against Harvey in the third highlighted by a Kevin Pillar three run homer.

Harvey wouldn’t pitch past the third, and Taijuan Walker was dominant. Walker pitched 7.0 innings allowing one run on five hits and one walk while striking out nine.

As for the Mets, they just keep on hitting. The best way to show how dominant they were is to just show the batting stats from the game:

  1. Jonathan Villar 2-5, 2 R, 2 2B
  2. Francisco Lindor 1-3, R, BB
  3. Pete Alonso 3-5, 3 R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI
  4. Dominic Smith 0-5
  5. James McCann 2-4, 2 R, 2B, BB, RBI
  6. Billy McKinney 3-5, 3 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI
  7. Kevin Pillar 3-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI
  8. Mason Williams 2-4, R, HR, RBI
  9. Jose Peraza 0-4

Overall, the Mets hit six homers. That included Pillar and Williams going back-to-back in the eighth. Believe it or not, that was the first time it’s happened this year.

The Mets end their road trip and season series with the Orioles. They are now primed to go home and send another statement to the San Diego Padres.

Game Notes: Mets were 5-4 on the nine game road trip.

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Chris Paddack Not Winning Pitcher Of The Week

Back in 2019, Chris Paddack famously threw down the gauntlet. He remarked while Pete Alonso was a deserving Rookie of the Month, Paddack would be Rookie if the Year.

The two went on wildly divergent paths from there. Alonso went on to become Rookie of the Year while Paddack has been a well below average pitcher with a tenuous spot in the Padres rotation.

While the New York Mets struggled to get hits and runs in most of this series, they did not have similar struggles against Paddack.

In the third, Jose Peraza hit a one out ground rule double, and after he was sacrificed to third by Marcus Stroman, Billy McKinney drove him home.

That 1-0 grew to 2-0 in the fourth when Dominic Smith homered to dead center

In the sixth, Alonso would get his revenge. After McKinney hit a lead-off single, he stole second. He then came home on an Alonso RBI single. At that point, it was 3-0.

That was a massive lead considering how Stroman was pitching. Yes, Stroman was wild with an uncharacteristic four walks. Still, he made the pitches he needed and got good defense.

For example, in the fourth, the Padres loaded the bases with one out. Webster Rivas hit a ball down the line. Brandon Drury fielded it on his knee, touched third, and began the inning ending double play.

It was one of those days for Stroman. He made the pitches he needed, and he got great defense. He also helped his own cause hitting an RBI double in the top of the seventh to increase the Mets lead to 4-1.

The only time the Padres could get to him was by a fluke. In the sixth, Stroman made a nice grab on a Fernando Tats Jr. grounder. Stroman made a poor throw (Alonso should’ve stopped it), and Alonso compounded it by the throwing it away himself allowing Tatis to go third.

Tatis would then score on a Eric Hosmer RBI groundout. That was it against Stroman.

Stroman allowed the one unearned run over 6.2 innings. He yielded four walks and four hits while striking out seven. He’d pick up the win.

That 4-1 Mets lead in the seventh grew to 6-1 when James McCann hit a two run homer:

In total, the Mets would win this game 6-2. After a tough start to this series, the Mets battled through, and they claimed a split. This deserves everyone’s respect.

Game Notes: After getting six extra base hits to start his Mets career, McKinney finally hit a single.

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Jacob deGrom Made Padres Look Like Children

Each and every time Jacob deGrom takes the mound, he does something special. Then, there are nights like tonight where he was just on another level.

We saw it with everything including his defense. He took what would normally be a weak infield single, and he turned it into an unassisted out.

That was nothing compared to what he did in the fourth.

Jake Cronenworth hit a one out single. It was a very nice play by Billy McKinney sprinting in the gap to keep Cronenworth at first. Cronenworth did get to second when Francisco Lindor bobbled a Fernando Tatis, Jr. grounder.

Then, we got the biggest play of the game. Eric Hosmer blooped a ball which landed in front of Dominic Smith. Cronenworth got crossed up thereby preventing him of any chance of scoring. As a result, the bases were loaded with one out.

That meant deGrom had them right where he wanted them. He made very quick work of Wil Myers striking him out on four pitches. Tucupita Marcano battled, but he’d strike out on a 3-2 slider to end the inning.

Right there was the Padres chance, and as we know when you fail against deGrom, you’re not going to get another opportunity. The Padres wouldn’t. The question really was whether deGrom would get run support.

After back-to-back nights where the Padres flirted with no-hitters, they threw Joe Musgrove, the only pitcher in Padres history to throw a no-hitter.

Ironically, Musgrove didn’t flirt with the no-hitter. That ended when McKinney led off the game with a double. To the shock of no one, the Mets failed to score.

Entering this game, the Mets hadn’t had a hit with RISP in this series. As such, you had to believe the Mets needed to homer to score.

That happened twice in the fifth as Jose Peraza and Lindor each hit a solo homer giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.

As impressive as these homers were, there was the miracle in the sixth. Kevin Pillar and Tomas Nido began that inning with consecutive singles. That’s when Jonathan Villar, who has been on the bench with a hamstring issue pinch hit for Trevor Blankenhorn.

Villar came up big with the Mets first hit with RISP in the series. Villar drove home Pillar to increase the Mets lead to 3-0.

That was more than enough for deGrom, who was absolutely brilliant. He pitched seven scoreless allowing three hits and one walk while striking out 11. His season ERA is now 0.62. That’s the lowest ERA a pitcher has ever had through his first nine starts.

Now, with deGrom recently off the IL, this was supposed to be no restrictions. Maybe that was the case, and maybe it wasn’t, but we saw deGrom lifted despite throwing just 77 pitches.

While the decision seemed curious, the Mets had Seth Lugo for the eighth and Edwin Diaz for the ninth all lined up. After a scoreless eighth for Lugo, the Mets tacked on an insurance run.

Former Mets prospect Nabil Crismatt was pitching his second inning of relief. Lindor led off the 9th with a lead-off double. After Smith drew a one out walk, Pillar drove home Lindor to increase the lead to 4-0.

The Mets threatened for more, but didn’t deliver. Not even with the bases loaded. This meant it was not a save situation for Diaz.

In years past that was an issue for Diaz. Not tonight. He pitched a scoreless inning preserving the Mets 4-0 win and snap the Padres 12 game home winning streak.

This win was made possible by deGrom who was brilliant. He keeps setting new records and further establishes himself as the best pitcher in the game.

Game Notes: In the game, deGrom passed Sid Fernandez for fourth all-time on the Mets strikeout list. deGrom has given up just 10 hits with the bases loaded in his career over 58 plate appearances.

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