Brandon Nimmo

This Time, The Mets Own The Eighth Inning

Considering what happened the last two nights, the Mets really could have used a fast start to this game.  Instead, they got Steven Matz threw a 3-2 changeup that Ryan Zimmerman hit for a three run home run to give the Nationals an early 3-0 lead.

After the Zimmerman homer, Matz would allow a Moises Sierra single before going on a tear where he retired the next 11 Nationals in a row.  That stretch included a pick-off (scored a caught stealing), no walks, and five strikeouts.  He was at 74 pitches, and he looked good to go for a few more innings.

Essentially, Matz settled into the game.  However, where Matz settled in, his manager Mickey Callaway, did not.

With Tanner Roark starting to bark at the home plate umpire over some borderline calls, the Mets began to rally in the bottom of the fourth.

Asdrubal Cabrera led off the inning with a double, and Todd Frazier would follow with a one out walk.  Once again, it was Adrian Gonzalez delivering a key and unexpected RBI single.  The single scored Cabrera and allowed Frazier to go to third.

Jose Lobaton followed with what should have been an inning ending double play.  The only problem for the Nationals is Zimmerman can’t throw anymore, and he pulled Trea Turner off the bag not only preventing the Nationals from getting the double play, but also them getting even just one out.

On the play Frazier scored pulling the Mets to within 3-2 with runners on first and second and just one out and Matz due up.  Instead of using Matz in an obvious sacrifice bunt situation, Callaway pinch hit Brandon Nimmo.

Considering the events of the past two days, this reeked of a panic move.  You could only hope it would work out.  Initially, it looked like it would with Roark hitting Nimmo, who smiled and cheered all his way to first base.  Still, the move blew up as Amed Rosario hit into the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.

Considering how the Mets left a small island nation on the bases yesterday, and the team going all-in on the fourth inning, there was legitimate concern the Mets blew their shot.

That’s where Paul Sewald came in, and he gave the Mets another incredible three inning relief appearance.  If not for an extremely ill advised Jay Bruce dive, it’s likely all three innings would have been scoreless.  Instead, his final line would be 3.0 innings, one run, one earned, one hit, no walks, and five strikeouts.

Sewald both saved a taxed bullpen, and he gave the Mets a chance to win.  For once this series, the Mets took advantage of that chance.

With Ryan Madson working a third day in a row, the Mets offense would immediately go to work starting with back-to-back-to-back singles from Michael Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes, and Cabrera to load the bases.  After an injured and struggled Bruce popped out, Frazier delivered with the game tying RBI single. On the single up the middle, Cespedes would get his hand in just ahead of the Severino tag.

The Mets weren’t done either.  Gonzalez was intentionally walked to re-load the bases, Madson struck out Wilmer Flores leaving the game in the hands of Juan Lagares.  Historically, Lagares has struggled against right-handed pitching, but this season he can do no wrong, and he did no wrong in this at-bat hitting a go-ahead two RBI double.

As the inning continued, and the Mets batted around, Sammy Solis would issue a bases loaded walk to Conforto giving the Mets a 7-4 lead.  The capper would be Cespedes hitting a grand slam to give the Mets an 11-4 lead.

No, it wasn’t quite the Nationals coming from down 6-1, but it still felt good and nearly as important.  Also, it might have demoralized a Nationals team who thought they were going to return the favor to the Mets for them sweeping them at home last week.

Thanks to the heroics of Sewald and a revitalized Mets offense, the Mets won 11-5, and they are well back on track as they go on the road to make a statement against the Braves.

Game Notes: Jose Reyes grounded out to the pitcher in a seventh inning.  He’s now 0-18 on the season.

page top

Mets Don’t Execute, Callaway Makes Another Mistake, Mets Lose

In the top of the first, the Nationals quickly loaded the bases against Zack Wheeler with one out.  This is normally where Wheeler would implode, and based off of what happened last night, you’d think this was a spot where the Nationals would jump right out and put up a crooked number on the board.

Instead, Wheeler induced Moises Sierra to hit into the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.

What this told us about the Mets was this was not a completed deflated team.  They still had fight in them despite last night’s horrendous loss.  So, yes the fight was there.  The question was if the execution would be there to pull out a win.

As far as the Nationals were concerned the theme of the nights would be soft hits.  They’d use them to set up a Bryce Harper sacrifice fly in the third, and they’d use them to score two runs off Wheeler in the fourth to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

By that time, you were left wondering if the Mets had a rally in them.  They would in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff single from Wheeler of all people.

Wheeler quickly found himself on third after an Amed Rosario double, which might have been a triple had Wheeler not been ahead of him on the basepaths.  Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a sacrifice fly.  With Michael Taylor overthrowing the cutoff man, Rosario moved to third allowing him to score on the subsequent Yoenis Cespedes RBI groundout.

That pulled the Mets to within 3-2.  The Mets would have their chances to take the lead, but they couldn’t get out of their own way.

In the sixth, the Mets had runners at the corners after back-to-back one out singles from Juan Lagares and Tomas Nido.  For reasons that defy all logic, Mickey Callaway decided to pinch hit Jose Reyes instead of using Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Adrian Gonzalez, or even the newly called-up reliever Gerson Bautista.  If you thought Callaway had a rough night last night, he showed he learned nothing.

Reyes struck out in an ugly at-bat against Gio Gonzalez, and Rosario followed with a weak pop out in foul territory to end the inning.

In the seventh, runners were once again on the corners with one out.  This time it was due to a Wilmer Flores and Cespedes single.  They’d be stranded when Todd Frazier had an ugly strikeout, and Jay Bruce got rung up on a pitch on what the umpire believed was the inside corner.  Bruce disagreed.

In the eighth, it was a two out rally that sputtered out after a Conforto walk and Rosario single.  Brandon Kintzler would completely overmatch Cabrera to strike him out for the final out of the inning.

While the Mets were failing to cash in on rallies going 0-9 with RISP, the Nationals were tacking on runs to give themselves some breathing room.  They’d push a run across in the seventh and eighth, both against Robert Gsellman expanding their lead to 5-2.

The run in the eighth was a little troubling.  Michael Taylor singled and stole second.  On the stolen base, Nido’s throw was there by Rosario whiffed on the tag.  Later in the inning, Pedro Severino hit the ball directly to the drawn in Rosario, who froze thereby allowing Taylor to score easily.

In the end, the Mets lost this game not because they didn’t have fight after last night’s loss.  No, they lost it because they didn’t execute against a Nationals team they breathed new life into.  As a result, the Mets have now lost their first series of the year and are now looking to prevent getting swept.

Game Notes: Bautista made his MLB debut in the ninth walking one, allowing a hit, and striking out on in a scoreless inning.

page top

Mets Lose On Ugly Eighth Inning Meltdown

With two outs in the top of the first inning, Bryce Harper would hit one of the most incredible home runs you will ever see off of Jacob deGrom:

Harper was sawed off, and he still hit a no doubt home run.  Because of who the Mets are this season, they would immediately respond.

In the bottom of the first, Michael Conforto hit an opposite field double off of Jeremy Hellickson that Matt Adams just could not corral. After that, Todd Frazier, who is suddenly the hottest bat in the Mets lineup followed with a two out RBI single tying the game at one.

In the third, it was Frazier again.  After an Asdrubal Cabrera single and Conforto walk, Frazier ripped a go-ahead RBI double giving the Mets a 2-1 lead.  It could have been more but the Nationals nailed Conforto at home.

 

Juan Lagares would create the first rally after drawing a walk off of Matt Grace.  During Jose Lobaton‘s at-bat, he would steal both second and third base. That led to Mickey Callaway surprising everyone by calling a squeeze:

With the ball scooting away, this allowed Lobaton, who had reached earlier by walk, to get to third.  This put him in perfect position to score on an Amed Rosario fielder’s choice giving the Mets a 4-1 lead.

The Mets would quickly make that a 6-1 lead in the seventh.  Brandon Nimmo began the inning with a triple off the outstretched glove of Michael Taylor, and he’d score when Cabrera hit a two run homer off A.J. Cole.

At 6-1, the Mets looked to be in great shape. deGrom was pitching like the ace he is being the first Mets starter to pitch into the eighth inning.  His final line would be 7.1 innings, six hits, three runs, three earned, one walk, and 12 strikeouts.

At the time the Mets added four tack on runs, it didn’t look like deGrom needed them.  While he might not have a suddenly imploding Mets bullpen would actually need more than a five run cushion.

After allowing a pair of singles, deGrom was done with one out in the eighth.  Seth Lugo relieved him and walked Howie Kendrick to load the bases.  This led Callaway to call on Jerry Blevins, who allowed Harper to hit a two RBI single to bring the Nationals to within 6-3.

All three runs were charged to deGrom, but the last two were allowed to score by the Mets bullpen.

With Lugo and Blevins not getting the job done, Callaway summoned AJ Ramos with two on and one out in what was now a ballgame.

Ramos would strike out Ryan Zimmerman before allowing a single to Pedro Severino to load the bases.  That put the game in the hands of former Mets infielder Matt Reynolds, who pinch hit for Cole.  After a four pitch walk. the Nationals were within 6-4 and still with the bases loaded with two outs.  At this point, Callaway had little choice but to go to Jeurys Familia.

Familia would choose a bad time to blow his first save of the year as he allowed Wilmer Difo to tie the score with a two RBI single.  It got worse with him hitting Moises Sierra, a player who has not played in the majors since 2014, before issuing a bases loaded walk, the Mets second of the inning, to Taylor to give the Nationals a 7-6 lead.

In the ugliest inning of the year, the Mets bullpen would allow six runs (two inherited) off three hits, three walks, and a hit by pitch.  That really is embarrassingly bad and reminiscent of last year’s terrible Mets team.

Kendrick would homer off Hansel Robles in the ninth to ensure the entire Mets bullpen would pitch poorly on the evening.

Just to make sure this loss would sting all the more, Cabreara would hit a one out double off Ryan Madson, he would try to get to third on a pitch that got away from the catcher.  The play would be reviewed, Cabrera would appear safe, but the out call was upheld.  In the end, it doesn’t matter, Cabrera made a real bone headed decision.

The Mets came into this series with a chance to maybe bury the 2018 Nationals in April.  Instead, they may have breathed new life into a team which desperately needed a shot in the arm with this 8-6 loss.  This is really the Mets first taste of adversity this year.  Let’s see how they respond.

Game Notes: Yoenis Cespedes did not start the game for the first time this year.  He pinch hit in the eighth and flew out.  Jay Bruce didn’t start again today with his plantar fascittis flaring up again.

page top

Wilmer Homer Was a Family Affair

Due to a family event, I was unable to use the Mets tickets I had originally purchased for the game.  Considering it was me who scheduled the family event, it was REALLY poor planning on my part, except for one thing . . . .

With the exception of one of my uncles, an uncle who harbors no ill-will towards the National League team, we are all Mets fans.

We are all split on football and hockey.  Generally speaking, we all prefer NCAA basketball to the NBA, with us each having our own colleges we support.

Despite the many differences we have as a family, it is our being Mets fans that bind us.  Perhaps more than the blood itself.

So, when you have a group of us together, if there is a television around, any and all family occasions will eventually turn into us sitting there watching and rooting for the Mets.  Yesterday was no exception.

We talked about what a great and underrated pickup Todd Frazier was when he delivered an RBI single in the first.

While we all agreed we loved Mickey Callaway, we loudly wondered what the (blank) he was thinking pinch hitting for Tomas Nido with an open base and Thor on deck.

This led to a discussion as to what exactly the Mets should be doing about the cdatching situation.  Some wanted J.T. Realmuto.  Others, myself included, wanted the Mets to go with the catcher who would get the most out of this pitching staff.  Regardless, we all debated what the Marlins would want for Realmuto presuming the discussions would start with Justin Dunn and Peter Alonso.

We marveled at just how dominant Noah Syndergaard was with him finally returning to form early this season with his striking out 11.  We also groaned in that sixth inning when the Brewers plated two unearned runs on an Amed Rosario throwing error.

My family had smiles bigger than the one on Brandon Nimmo‘s face when he hit a game tying homer in the bottom of that inning.  All right, almost as big a smile.

We got nervous and held on for dear life as AJ Ramos had one of those heart in your throat innings, and he was not helped by Jose Lobaton. To a man, we agreed wild pitch or not, your catcher has to get that.  Regardless, Ramos got out of the inning with some help from Jerry Blevins.

Surprisingly, no one seemed that nervous about Hansel Robles anymore.  Sure, he may not have been everyone’s first choice, but there was a calm believing he could get the job done. For Robles, that must’ve been a different feeling from past years.

And in my family, we are smart baseball fans, so there was no waiting for Jeurys Familia to lose the game in the ninth.  We’re better than that, and with his stretch, I hope all Mets fans are getting to that point as well.

Finally, like Citi Field and wherever you were, we cheered and celebrated when Wilmer Flores hit the walk off homer.

Did I get to go to the Mets game yesterday?  No, I didn’t.  However, one of the reasons we go to games is to sit in the stands and have a shared experience.  Considering I watched yesterday with my family, and it was bitterly cold yesterday, I think watching it from an Italian restaurant a state away was probably a much better experience.

The next experience will hopefully be the group of us at Citi Field as we look to recreate one of our old traditions.  Hope to see you all there.

Game Notes: Wilmer’s second career walk-off happened against the very same Brewers team he was supposed to be traded to back in 2015.

page top

In Change of Pace, Mets Win

Coming into today’s game against the Brewers, the Mets had lost more catchers (Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki) than they had games on the season.  One of the reasons why that was the case was this Mets team has gotten contributions from almost everyone on the team and each night presents a new hero.

Early on, that hero was Todd Frazier. Up until today, he had been homerless in a Mets uniform.  That changed rather quickly when he hit a homer off Brewers starter Zach Davies to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

The Mets first run came in the first when Yoenis Cespedes followed an Asdrubal Cabrera one out double in the first inning.

After cruising through the first three innings where just about Lorenzo Cain being the only Brewer to challenge him in any way, Steven Matz would have a tough fourth inning allowing a double to Jesus Aguilar and a homer to Hernan Perez in consecutive at-bats tying the game at 2-2.

Of course, much in the same way the Mets have done all season, they immediately responded.  This time the response came in the form of Frazier hitting his second home run of the day.  That gave the Mets a 3-2 lead which would expand in the fifth inning.

The inning began with Michael Conforto drawing a lead-off walk against Davies and a Cabrera single.  After Davies struck out Cespedes, Craig Counsell went to the lefty Dan Jennings to face Jay Bruce and Adrian Gonzalez.

The move was completely ineffective as Bruce hit an RBI double to score Conforto, and Gonzalez brought Cabrera home with a sacrifice fly.  Apparently not having done enough damage to the Brewers’ chances of winning, Jennings threw a wild pitch allowing Bruce to score from third giving the Mets a 6-2 lead.

With the Mets having a lead and winning streak like this, it appeared the Brewers were going to have to be unconventional to try to beat the Mets.  In retrospect, they probably want to take back challenging Cespedes in the field:

Hyperbole aside, with Matz cruising and the way the Mets bullpen has been pitching of late, this game seemed like a lock for the Mets.  As we would soon see in the sixth inning, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The inning started when Bruce dropped a Domingo Santana fly ball.  The Brewers immediately capitalized with a Ryan Braun two run homer to pull them within 6-4.

After striking out Travis Shaw, the book on Matz was done.  He would be in line for the win after striking out five allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits and two walks in 5.1 innings.  With Seth Lugo coming in, it seemed like this game was a lock.  Instead, the Mets would find themselves hanging on to try to capture the victory.

Lugo was immediately met with back-t0-back singles by Aguilar and Perez.  Lugo would get out of the inning after inducing Orlando Arcia to ground into the 5-4-3 inning ending double play.

Lugo would be bailed out a bit again in the seventh.  After Cain reached on a single, he thought he would challenge Cespedes on a Santana single.  Cespedes nailed the speedy Cain to help snuff out that rally.

Even with Lugo not being himself, Mickey Callaway sent him back out for the eighth.  Finally, the Mets got burned as Shaw hit a solo homer to pull the Brewers within one run.  After an Aguilar single, Callaway was not about to let this one get away.

Callaway pulled out all the stops to make sure this one didn’t get away.  First, it was AJ Ramos to get Perez to fly out.  Then it was Jerry Blevins to face Eric Sogard.  After Sogard singled, Robert Gsellman came on to get Jett Bandy to get out of the inning.

The only thing left was for Jeurys Familia to come on in the ninth and get his Major League leading seventh save of the season.  Familia did that with a rare and much needed 1-2-3 inning to get the Mets to 11-1.

So far, the Mets have won games a number of ways during this nine game winning streak.  The handing on for dear life win we saw tonight was a different one than the other wins we have seen the Mets amass this season.  It’s just more evidence that no matter what happens this team will find a way to win.

Game Notes: Since joining the majors in 2012, Cespedes has a MLB leading 65 outfield assists.  Mets became the first New York team to start the season 11-1 since the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.  Before the game, Jacob Rhame was sent down to Triple-A, and d’Arnaud, who elected to have Tommy John surgery, was put on the 60 day disabled list.  Brandon Nimmo and Jose Lobaton were called up in their stead.  Lobaton tripled in his first at-bat as a Met.

page top

Cabrera Homers Part of Mets Refusal to Lose

You know you have a good team when they bring it every day no matter what the circumstances.  You know you have a great team when they always respond to adversity.  They respond to a tough inning in the field with a good at-bat.  When the opponent takes they lead, they come right back and tie the score.

Tonight was just the latest in seeing how this Mets team can be great.

In the first, Wilmer Flores doubled off Caleb Smith to score Michael Conforto, who led the game off with a double.  In the fourth, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a monster home run:

In the fifth, Amed Rosario hit a double, and Conforto singled him home to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.  With Jacob deGrom cruising, it seemed like this was going to be an easy game for the Mets.

Unfortunately, the fifth would prove to be an ugly inning for the Mets.  It started with a Yadiel Rivera grounder to third, which probably should’ve been called foul and Mickey Callaway should’ve challenged but didn’t.  We’d later see Todd Frazier deflect a ball he should’ve let go to Rosario, which led to the Marlins first run of the game.

The second run was scored on a Starlin Castro sacrifice fly.  On the play, Conforto completely missed the cutoff man allowing Rojas to go to second.  Justin Bour, who had a big night against the Mets, then homered to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead.

Where some teams would be shell-shocked, the Mets immediately responded with a Frazier double.  He’d then get aggressive on the bases tagging up on a Cabrera fly ball to left field and beating Derek Dietrich‘s throw.  After a Kevin Plawecki walk, this put him in position to score on the ensuing Juan Lagares sacrifice fly to tie the game at 4-4.

Surprisingly, given how Callaway has handled the pitching staff, deGrom came out to pitch a scoreless sixth.  He’d get a no decision, and his final line was 6.0 innings, seven hits, four runs, four earned, one walk, and six strikeouts.  Not a great start, but he did put his team in position to win the game.  With better umpiring and some better defense, that line would have looked much better.

In the seventh, Jacob Rhame came into the game, and he just didn’t have it.  The one none sacrifice out he got was a deep fly ball to center that probably would have gone for extra bases had it been someone other than Lagares out there.  Rhame did have a chance to get out of the inning, but he made a mistake on the first pitch to Bour.  Bour launched his second homer of the night giving the Marlins the lead against at 6-4.

Paul Sewald in just his second appearance of the year got the final out of the inning allowing the Mets a chance to comeback and tie the score.

Given how this Mets team has played so far this year, it should come as no surprise they did actually tie the score in the top of the eighth.  Flores and Cabrera would both homer off Kyle Barraclough.

In the bottom of the inning, Hansel Robles and the Mets dodged a bullet as Bryan Holaday just missed a homer.  Everyone but Robles, who probably wasn’t pointing up, thought that was out.  Where many expected Robles to melt down, he bore down.  He got out of the inning highlighted by punch out of Rojas to end the inning.

As a bad Marlins team will learn many times this year, you don’t give a good team like the Mets this many chances.

Brian Anderson threw a ball away allowing Rosario to reach safely instead of the Marlins recording the second out of the inning.  Brad Ziegler followed the error by walking Conforto to put the game in Yoenis Cespedes‘ hands.  Even with Cespedes being on a 1-20 cold streak, he still had the magic to deliver a two RBI double to give the Mets an 8-6 lead.

The two run lead was more than enough for the resurgent Jeurys Familia to close it out.

Ultimately, the Mets won this game because they are resilient.  They won because Cabrera hit two huge homers.  They won because they are embodying the spirit of Frazier who responds to every negative play with a positive one.  They won because they’re a great team.

In fact, at the moment, you can argue they’re the greatest team in Mets history because they now have the best start to a season in Mets history with them standing with the best record in baseball at 9-1.

Game Notes: Before the game, Brandon Nimmo was sent down to Vegas to make room on the roster for Corey Oswalt.  Oswalt was called up due to how taxed the bullpen has been early in the season.

page top

Mets Do Enough to Beat Marlins

After a huge sweep of the Nationals, Mickey Callaway put it to his veterans to see if the veterans wanted the day off after landing in Miami at 5 A.M.  In a promising sign for the season, the Mets players were not overlooking the Marlins, and they all wanted to get right back out there.

Certainly, after all the excitement in Washington, this series was going to be a bit of a let-down. The real challenge was not letting this become a trap series.  Fortunately for the Mets, they had Noah Syndergaard on the mound, which always gives the Mets a big advantage.

The one issue is Thor hasn’t quite been Thor this season.  Even in his Opening Day start when he struck out 10, he allowed four runs.  He didn’t see the fifth inning in his second start, and the early season troubles carried forward into tonight.

His troubles started in the fifth when Amed Rosario didn’t get his glove down on a Brian Anderson grounder.  With Michael Conforto playing deep in an expansive ToMarlins Park outfield that became a two base error.  After two quick outs, Syndergaard issued back-to-back two out walks to Bryan Holaday and Tomas Telis.  This led to a Miguel Rojas RBI single.

In the sixth, Anderson got to Syndergaard again doubling home Starlin Castro, who had led off the inning with a single.  Syndergaard would get out of the inning before allowing any further damage and with the Mets still having a lead.

His final line was 6.0 innings, five hits, two runs, one earned, two walks, and five strikeouts.  No, there is nothing wrong with that start, and with Syndergaard pumping in 94 MPH sliders, there wasn’t anything wrong with his stuff.  However, it just seems like something is just off.  And yet despite, that he got the win.

The Mets would score four runs even with the offense sputtering a bit against Jose Urena and the rest of the Marlins staff.  Despite getting the leadoff runner on in five of the nine innings and the team drawing five walks, they could only push four runs across home plate.  Fortunately, that was plenty.

Rosario got the first rally started with a second inning with a Todd Frazier lead-off walk.  He’d come home to score after ensuing singles from Asdrubal Cabrera and Adrian Gonzalez.  The damage might’ve been greater, but Kevin Plawecki hit into a double play.  Cabrera scored on the play giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.

That lead grew to 3-0 in the third on a rally started by a long Rosario double that nearly went out to deep center.  For a moment, it appeared he wasn’t going to score after a Conforto flyout and a Yoenis Cespedes strikeout. Rosario still came to score on a Jay Bruce RBI single.

For his part, Cespedes, who is battling the flu had a tough game at the plate.  He was 0-4 with three strikeouts leaving five Mets on base.  Even with that, he did make a great throw in the outfield:

https://twitter.com/HornikGSN/status/983494562051215360

Really, the Mets should have blown the game open in the seventh.  Gonzalez had a lead-off walk off Junichi Tazawa, and Brandon Nimmo, pinch hitting for Sydnergaard, reached on a Justin Bour throwing error.  Rosario came up and brought home Gonzalez with the one out RBI single to give the Mets a 4-2 lead.

Conforto would then walk to load the bases, but no further damage would be done as Cespedes and Bruce struck out to end the inning.

There are games where the inability to tack on runs comes back to bite you.  With the way the Mets bullpen is pitching this year, today wasn’t that day.

Hansel Robles flirted with trouble in the seventh, but he got out of the inning unscathed.  Jerry Blevins and AJ Ramos combined for a scorless eighth, and Jeurys Familia recorded his sixth save of the season.

It wasn’t an easy save for Familia.  Derek Dietrich hit a double just past the outstretched glove of Bruce to put runners on second and third with one out.  With the tying runs in scoring position, Familia responded by striking out Rojas and Castro to end the game.

The Mets had a tough task ahead of them having to face a bad Marlins team.  Overall, the Mets did what good teams do – they did what they needed to do to beat the bad team.

Game Notes: Juan Lagares did not enter the game for defense in the ninth.  This is the third time in Mets history they started the season 8-1.  In 1985, the Mets won 98 games and missed the postseason. In 2006, they won 97 games en route to winning the NL East.

page top

Callaway’s Third Managerial Test

If you look at the Mets first eight games of the season, Mickey Callaway has already been tested twice.  The first test came in the first five games of the season against the Cardinals and the Phillies.

In those five games, Callaway had to show everyone he wasn’t Gabe Kapler or Aaron Boone.  Put another way, he had to show us and his team he knew what he was doing.  He showed that mettle which has escaped both Kapler and Boone thus far in his putting his team in their best position to win a game.  More than that, he capably sat Brandon Nimmo after a big game and played Juan Lagares by justifying it to the media and his team rather than simply pointing to numbers.  Yes, Callaway used the numbers to inform his decision, but he handled his situation capably with no griping from the fans or team.

The next test came much earlier for Callaway than it comes for most managers. That test was whether he had the ability to manage in a big series.

We can argue whether an April series is ever truly a big series.  What we cannot argue is Callaway managed it like it was one, and his team responded in kind sweeping the Nationals and announcing this was a team to beat in the National League East.

Part of managing this like a big series was riding his bullpen arms hard.  Jeurys Familia pitched 1.2 innings for the save, and he has pitched six innings over his first five appearances.  Robert Gsellman pitched two games in the series, and he has made two two inning appearances over a four day span.

Seth Lugo was given the heaviest workload.  Two days after pitching two innings, he was used for an inning to close out an 8-2 game.  Three days later, he’s pitching three innings and picking up the win in a 12 inning game.

When it is a big series, and when you have short starts from both Matt Harvey and Steven Matz, you can certainly understand why Callaway rode his top guns the way he did.  The Mets had a chance to make a statement in that series, and they did.

Now, the Mets are not sneaking up on anyone.  We know they’re good, and the rest of baseball knows it now too.  The question is how does Callaway handle it.

Does he continue to ask his top relievers to keep going to the well, or do we start to see more innings from Paul Sewald (likely to be demoted when Zack Wheeler is activated), or Jacob Rhame, who made a statement of his own closing out Sunday’s win?  Really, how does this Mets team respond to success?

Do they continue looking like a team having fun grinding the salt and pepper shakers?  Are they going to be alright with splitting playing time or staying on the bench for stretches?

We don’t know the answer to those questions yet.  However, we do see Callaway is the type of manager who can deftly handle these and all questions this team is going to face.  Hopefully, we will see Callaway pass this third test with flying colors like he did with the first two tests.

page top

Strange But True Mets Minor League Facts

As we head into the 2018 season, we have seen some of these Mets prospects for a few years now, and we have made some assumptions about these players. Some of those assumptions are right on the money, and some of them, not so much. There may be some facts when brought to life which may surprise many of us. With that in mind, here are some facts about the Mets minor leagues which are sure to surprise you.

No. 1 Sandy’s First Draft Produced 11 Major Leaguers

When Sandy Alderson was entasked with rebuilding the Mets farm system, he and his staff went right to work with the 2011 draft. That draft was quite effective with the Mets producing 11 Major Leaguers from that draft.

1st Round: Brandon Nimmo & Michael Fulmer
2nd Round: Cory Mazzoni
3rd Round: Logan Verrett
4th Round: Jack Leathersich
8th Round: Daniel Muno
13th Round: Robert Gsellman
15th Round: Phillip Evans
21st Round: John Gant
34th Round: Seth Lugo
35th Round: Chasen Bradford

Almost as incredible, between trades and play on the field, nine of those players either played for a Mets team that made the postseason or were traded for a player who contributed to a Mets team that made the postseason.

No. 2 Vientos Same Age As Kranepool Was When Kranepool Debuted in the Majors

Last year, Mets second round pick Mark Vientos was the youngest player drafted at 17 years old. Amazingly, this is the same age Mets Hall of Famer Ed Kranepool was when he made his MLB debut. As a matter of fact, Kranepool was just a little more than four months older in his MLB debut than Vientos was when he made his debut in professional baseball playing in the Gulf Coast League.

No. 3 Alonso Only Player to Homer off Smith Prior to the Trade Deadline

When the New York Mets traded Lucas Duda to the Tampa Bay Rays for right-handed relief prospect Drew Smith, the one stat which immediately jumped off his Baseball Reference page was the fact he had allowed just one home run all season. The person who hit that home run was his future teammate Peter Alonso. On the home run, Smith would tell MMN’s Mathew Brownstein, Alonso “brings it up probably once a week (laughs). But that’s just part of it.”

No. 4 Nimmo Drew More Walks Than Rosario in Triple-A

Last year with all of the injuries, it seemed as if Nimmo spent most if not all of his 2017 season in the majors. To a certain extent that is true with him playing just 42 games in Triple-A. That was actually 52 fewer games than Amed Rosario had in Triple-A last year. Overall, Rosario would have 227 more plate appearances for the 51s than Nimmo would have. And yet, despite all of that, Nimmo would draw 10 more walks than Rosario did in Triple-A.

No. 5 DeFrancesco’s First MLB Win Came Against the Mets

In the offseason, the Mets hired the Houston Astros Triple-A Manager Tony DeFrancesco. DeFrancesco had been a manager in the Astros organization since 2011, and during that time, he did get a 41 game opportunity to manage the Major League club after the team fired Brad Mills. After beginning his managerial career losing five straight, his Astros came to New York to face the Mets. With the Suffern, New York native’s family in the stands, his Astros team won the game 3-1.

page top

Conforto Should Bat Lead-Off

With Michael Conforto coming off the disabled list, there was a question where he should hit in the Mets lineup.  Traditionalists wanted to see him in more of a classic RBI spot in the lineup like third or clean-up.  Sabermetrically inclined fans who saw Conforto as the best hitter on the team wanted him to hit second in the lineup.

His manager, Mickey Callaway, decided to bat Conforto leadoff.  It was the right decision.

Recently, teams have ever so slowly been moving away from the classic leadoff hitter.  It’s not longer about speed and stolen bases.  Now, it’s about the ability to get on base, and it’s about the ability to drive in runs when the lineup flips over.  Teams who have constructed their lineups as such have had success recently.

The 2015 Mets went to the World Series with Curtis Granderson (.259/.364/.457, 26 homers, 70 RBI) as their leadoff hitter.  The following year, Callaway’s Indians went to the World Series with husky first baseman Carlos Santana (.259/.366/.498, 34 homers, 87 RBI) as their leadoff hitter.  The reigning World Series MVP is George Springer (.283/.367/.522, 34 homers, 85 RBI).  Each one of these players were top three on their team in OBP, homers, and RBI.

With few exceptions like Bobby Bonds and Brady Anderson‘s steroid fueled 50 homer 1996 season, these types of hitters typically hit in the middle of the lineup.  Now, teams, especially analytically driven teams, have rethought that model, and they want these types of hitters atop the lineup.

Conforto is one of these types of hitters.

Before tearing his posterior casule, Conforto was hitting .279/.384/.555 with 27 homers and 68 RBI. Like Granderson, Santana, and Springer before him, he was top three on his team in OBP, homers, and RBI.  Also like that trio, Conforto did his damage from the leadoff spot.

One thing that was lost with Conforo was how much he found a home in the leadoff spot.  In the 68 games he had led off for the Mets last year, Conforto hit .279/.386/.555 with 20 homers and 45 RBI.  That was good for a 149 wRC+. That’s higher than the 54 wRC+ he has batting second or the 137 wRC+ he has batting third.

Really, Conforto is at his best when he is leading off.  That extends to leading off games where he hits .305/.397/.712 or leading off an inning where he hits .282/.373/.554.

In theory, Conforto should bat second.  Given his ability and his 2017 stats, he’s the best hitter in the Mets lineup – even better than Yoenis Cespedes.  However, part of his being the best hitter in the Mets lineup is his being in a spot in the lineup he is most comfortable and produces.  So yes, Conforto should even hit leadoff whenever Brandon Nimmo cracks the lineup.

Given his skill-set, how successful teams have been using similar hitters atop the order, and how he thrives in that spot, Conforto should be the Mets leadoff hitter.

page top