Brandon Nimmo
Look, even with the Mets remaining schedule, it was unrealistic to expect them to finish the year undefeated. They’re going to lose some games. Tonight was a game you’d expect with Sean Gilmartin, who hasn’t started a game in over a month, having to make the spot start because Noah Syndergaard has strep throat.
Things went worse than expected. Right off the bat, the Phillies went up 3-0 off a Maikel Franco three run homer. Gilmartin then loaded the bases, including an intentional walk to the right place hitter Jorge Alfaro. Things were going so poorly for Gilmartin tonight, he couldn’t escape the jam. Opposing pitcher Alec Asher would hit a two RBI single chasing Gilmartin from the game.
Terry Collins brought in Rafael Montero, who eventually got out of the jam. Of course with him being Montero, he’d make things a lot worse.
Under his watch, the Phillies lead would expand to 10-0. Given the state of the Mets bullpen, Collins did the smart thing and made Montero just get through it. Montero allowed five earned on 3.1 innings. Collins pulled him after 67 pitches.
The bright side about going down 10-0 is Collins was able to pull his starters and give them some time off. Collins gave his starters to put a run on the board, but they didn’t. With that, Collins pulled Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes, and Curtis Granderson. He replaced them with T.J. Rivera, Gavin Cecchini, Ty Kelly, and Brandon Nimmo.
Astutely, Collins also left in Travis d’Arnaud, Lucas Duda, and Michael Conforto. Each of these players need to get some reps if they are going to be the postseason contributors the Mets need them to be.
This is the group of players that would make the game some fun. While the starters couldn’t hit Asher the backups could.
Duda got the rally started by busting it out of the box and reaching on a Freddy Galvis error. After a d’Arnaud single, Franco would throw the ball away. Instead of a possible inning ending double play, Cecchini reached, and Duda scored.
After a Rivera single, Nimmo would hit a double scoring Cecchini. Kelly then hit a sac fly scoring Nimmo. Collins then pinch hit James Loney who ruined everything by making an out. Being fair, he did hit the ball hard down the line, but still, it’s Loney.
The 51s would then get two more in the sixth. Collins actually kept Conforto in against the left-handed reliever Joely Rodriguez. Conforto got the rally started with a one out walk, and Duda followed with a single up the middle. After a d’Arnaud strikeout, Cecchini would get his first career hit with an RBI double to right-center. For some reason (oh right, he’s a bad third base coach), Tim Teufel held Duda who could’ve scored easily. Fortunately, it wouldn’t come back to bite the Mets as Rivera dribbled down the line for an RBI single. It’s a hard hit single in the box score.
In an attempt to not go to anyone who will pitch in the playoffs, Collins tried to push Jim Henderson to a second inning. Normally, this would a really bad move, but all things considered, it was understandable. When Henderson got in trouble, Collins went to Josh Smoker to try to get the Mets out of the jam.
With Cesar Hernandez reaching on a bunt single Smoker double clutched on, and A.J. Ellis swiping third when d’Arnaud tried to pick him off, it looked like the come back dream was dead. When Odubel Herrera lifted a fly ball to left, it was a foregone conclusion. Except it wasn’t. Kelly would unleash a parabolic throw home that would beat Ellis by a mile to keep the score at 10-6.
Kelly would then lead off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Alejandro De Aza pinch hit for Smoker and flied out to center. Eric Campbell then hit into an inning ending double play. It seemed as is the Mets best chance of winning the game was over. You would be wrong.
Phillies reliever Hector Neris would issue back-to-back one out walks to Duda and d’Arnaud. Cecchini would then hit his second career double, barely missing a home run, scoring Duda to make it 10-7. Finally, the Mets could bring the tying run to the plate. Unfortunately, Rivera flied out to shallow center, and Nimmo popped out.
At this point, you were expecting the Mets to come back in the ninth to win it.
Things got so insane Jay Bruce hit a pinch hit no doubt home run against Phillies reliever Michael Mariot. Campbell then came back from 0-2 and worked out an 11 pitch walk. That allowed the Mets to bring Conforto to the plate as the tying run with Duda behind him. Once Conforto walked, Duda came up as the go-ahead run. It was the first time all night, the Mets got the go-ahead run to the plate.
Duda popped out leaving it to d’Arnaud. Sadly, d’Arnaud hit a come backer to end the game. There was some slight disappointment with that. However, the young players made this a fun game to watch. Instead of losing 10-0, we got a sense of what the future may look like. It looks like a group of gritty, never say die, talented players.
Yes, the loss hurts, especially with the Cardinals having already won and the Giants winning. However, if you are going to lose, you might as well have your big guys get some rest and watch your young players thrive in the process.
Final Score: Phillies 10 – 51s 8 – Mets 0
Game Notes: With Cecchini, Nimmo, and Conforto playing, the Mets had three of Sandy Alderson’s first round draft picks in the same lineup. With the loss, the Nationals clinched the NL East.
As we have seen all season, the Mets basically need to hit home runs in order to score runs and win games. Last night, against the Phillies was no exception in what was a back-and-forth nail bitter.
Curtis Granderson would get the Mets on the board with a two run shot off of Phillies starter left-handed starter Adam Morgan:
The home run was an important one as it gave the Mets and Seth Lugo a 2-0 lead in a game they really had to have after being swept by the Braves.
Well, because this is the Mets, and nothing is easy, that two run lead would turn into a 3-2 deficit thanks to a couple of Phillies long balls. At the time, Seth Lugo was cruising, after only allowing a run off a Roman Quinn RBI groundout after Cesar Hernandez legged out a triple. However, in the top of the fifth, Ryan Howard and Cameron Rupp would got back-to-back. Those homers effectively knocked Lugo out of the game after another strong effort.
Ty Kelly would pinch hit for Lugo in the bottom of the inning, and he would get a rally started with a walk. He eventually came home on a Yoenis Cespedes clutch two-out single tying the game. With the way things have been going with the Mets lately that RBI single seemed bigger than it probably was. What was even bigger was Cespedes RBI double in the seventh that would score Jose Reyes to give the Mets a late 4-3 lead. With Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia ready for the eighth and ninth, this game seemed in the bag.
It wasn’t as Reed was done in by three balls that didn’t leave the infield and one that did. Hernandez used his speed again to bunt his way on, and he was standing at second after a Quinn sacrifice bunt. The Mets would challenge the next play, and it was really close, but Odubel Herrera beat T.J. Rivera‘s throw to first to set up runners on the corner with one out. Rivera really did all he could do on that play. He made a diving stop that saved a run, he popped up, and he made a strong throw. Herrera just beat the throw. Why? Well, as usual the “good defensive baseman” James Loney couldn’t bother stretching on the play. It was a crucial play because Maikel Franco would hit a three run homer to turn the Mets sure-handed victory into a 6-4 deficit.
There was an ominous tone to the home run after the Braves series. It was an even worse situation when the Mets failed to score in the bottom of the eighth and the bottom of the Mets lineup was due up in the bottom of the ninth. Brandon Nimmo would pinch hit for Travis d’Arnaud and get on with a single. After Nimmo, Jay Bruce made his obligatory pinch hit strike out thereby leaving the game in Reyes’ hands:
You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger hit in Reyes’ Mets career. As big as that home run was, what would follow in the 11th would loom even larger.
In his second straight multiple inning outing, Familia would put the Mets in position to lose in his second inning of work. After a clean 10th, Familia would allow a leadoff double to Freddy Galvis. Familia would be ever so close to navigating around it getting the next two guys out. Then in a curious move, perhaps to negate the ability of Hernandez killing the Mets with his legs again, Collins ordered an intentional walk. A.J. Ellis, who is a renown clutch hitter, would deliver the go-ahead single giving the Phillies a 7-6 lead.
Jerry Blevins would relieve Familia, and he would load the bases by hitting Herrera. That led Collins to turn to Jim Henderson, who would walk Franco to give the Phillies an almost insurmountable two run lead.
Still, the Mets had a chance with Nimmo leading off. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the same magic he had in his last at bat. Michael Conforto, pinch hitting for Henderson, would have to get this rally started. He did by drawing a walk. He would find himself standing on second after a Reyes single. At that point, the Mets would send Asdrubal Cabrera to the plate as the winning run. Right now, he is the guy you want at the plate more than anyone – not just the Mets, but in all of baseball. He would show you why:
His bat flip said it all. It was a huge emotionally charged home run to give the Mets the victory they so desperately needed. The home run also made baseball history as the Mets become the second team to come back with homers to erase two run deficits in the ninth inning or later in a game.
With the much needed victory, you felt the momentum for this team shift. You once again felt as if the Mets were assured of winning a Wild Card spot. As it stood, the win helped the Mets keep pace with the Giants and put them a half a game up on the idle Cardinals.
There’s anothe name to add to the Braves collection of Mets killers. It started with Terry Pendleton who got his start as a Mets killer with the Cardinals. He passed the torch to Chipper Jones who passed it to Freddie Freeman. Apparently, Freeman has been tutoring Ender Inciarte.
Not only would Inciarte get the game winning RBI, he would rob a game winning home run. He stole a homer, a Mets victory, and spoiled a terrific Bartolo Colon start.
Colon had completely shut the Braves down through the first six innings. He was his usually nimble self popping off the mound on balls up the middle to make a neat defensive play. In the sixth, he caught Mallex Smith straying a little too far off second when he nabbed the Ender Inciarte comebacker. It started the routine 1-6-5 fielder’s choice.
In the seventh, Colon reached the end of the line. Anthony Recker hit a two run homer off of Colon. I’ll spare you the “He Reckered It!” line. With two outs in the inning, Colon would be chased by a Dansby Swanson single. As Colon departed, he gestured to Swanson as if to compliment him for the base knock.
However, it was Colon that deserved the praise. After Addison Reed got the Mets out if the inning, Colon’s final line was 6.2 innings, six hits, two runs, two earned, no walks, and six strikeouts. He would depart on the long side because of a pair of homers.
In the first, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two run homer off of John Gant, scoring Jose Reyes naturally, to give the Mets the 2-0 lead. That lead would grow to 3-0 on a Rene Rivera fifth inning home run. Unfortunately, those three runs weren’t enough.
Reed would come back on to pitch the eighth. The Mets defense would let him down.
Inciarte would reach as James Loney completely bungled a sure out by being a bad first baseman. It was his second bone-headed play of the night. In the sixth, Loney had failed to stretch on a Colon pickoff attempt. Colon bailed him out by starting the aforementioned fielder’s choice. There was no bailing out Loney this time.
In a controversial move, Collins removed Reed from the game to get Josh Smoker in against Freddie Freeman. It was absolutely the right move as Freeman was hitting .400/.500/.600 off Reed entering the night with two homers. Furthermore, Smoker did his job breaking Freeman’s bat thereby generating a weak blooper. Unfortunately, the ball had eyes and fell behind Cabrera.
With runners on first and second with one out, Collins went to Jeurys Familia for the five out save. It didn’t happen.
The Braves immediately took advantage of Familia’s inability to hold on base runners by executing the double steal. Rather than throw to second and nail the slow Freeman, Rivera made the mistake of trying to get the speedy Inciarte at third. Rivera’s mental error proved costly.
Matt Kemp had a terrific nine pitch at bat against Familia. He eventually lifted a fly ball to left, and Inciarte ignored the third base coach by breaking for home. It was the right move. Yoenis Cespedes didn’t get his momentum behind the throw, and his throw was up the line. Just like that tie game.
The bottom of the eight could be best described as much ado about nothing. The Braves used three pitchers, and the Mets used three pinch hitters. The Mets would load the bases in the strangest way possible.
Cespedes lead off with a double. It was a double instead of a triple. because he was posing as the ball hit off of Kemp’s close. Curtis Granderson was then intentionally walked. During T.J. Rivera‘s at bat, the Mets would return the favor with a double steal of their own. Rivera would strikeout setting up for some histrionics.
The Mets announced Kelly Johnson as the pinch hitter for Matt Reynolds. The Braves then brought in the left-handed Ian Krol. The Mets responded by bringing in Eric Campbell, who Krol intentionally walked to load the bases. Kevin Plawecki pinch hit for Loney and struck out to end the inning.
The Mets would immediately regret blowing the opportunity. The Braves would get two soft singles off Familia. Inciarte would then hit a soft grounder past Familia to score the go-ahead run.
The Mets went back to their bench with three straight pinch hitters in the bottom of the ninth against Braves closer Jim Johnson. Brandon Nimmo hit a lead off single. The next pinch hitter was Jay Bruce who struck out of course. The last of the trio was Travis d’Arnaud who worked out a walk. This set the stage for Cabrera.
Over this month, Cabrera was been willing the Mets to the Wild Card by being the best hitter in baseball over the stretch. All he could do against Johnson was to fly out. This set the stage for the Mets MVP Cespedes who looked foolish striking out against Johnson to end the game yesterday.
Cespedes launched one to deep center which looked like the game winner. Inciarte came from absolutely nowhere to jump, leap over the fence, and literally snatch away the Mets victory.
With that, just like old times, the Mets suffered a frustrating September sweep at the hands of the Braves.
Game Notes: Alejandro De Aza got the start over Bruce. De Aza started in center shifting Granderson to right.
No matter how you look at it, the Jay Bruce acquisition has been a disaster for the Mets. In 40 games, Bruce has hit .176/.255/.289 with only four doubles, four homers, and 11 RBI. Bruce has gone from the major league leader in RBI to tied for 30th in the majors and 10th in the National League. He went from hitting .360 with runners in scoring position to .172 with the Mets.
Yesterday was rock bottom for him. He got mixed up with Curtis Granderson on a catchable flyball that lead to a Matt Kemp RBI single instead of a an out with Bruce having a chance to throw the runner out at home. At the plate, Bruce was 0-3. Worse yet, when the Mets were rallying to try the game, Terry Collins pinch hit Eric Campbell for him when the Braves brought in the lefty Ian Kroll to face him. Bruce was brought to the Mets just for these RBI situations. However, it has now gotten to the point that no one trusts him in those spots.
Bruce’s struggles have led some to suggest the Mets should decline Bruce’s $13 million option and give him his $1 million buy out. If the Mets were to do that, it would be a very poor decision.
Over his career, Bruce is a .247/.317/.465 hitter who averages 26 homers and 81 RBI. With Bruce turning 30 years old next year, there is every reason to believe Bruce’s struggles with the Mets are the result of a player struggling when joining a new team more than it is a Jason Bay falling apart when signing the Mets and playing his games under the old outfield configurations of Citi Field. So yes, there is reason to believe Bruce will return to form next season whether or not he is wearing a Mets uniform.
Admittedly, the Mets are going to have a glut of outfielders next year. Curtis Granderson is under contract for another year. The Mets figure to give Michael Conforto an everyday job next year. Juan Lagares should be healthy and could form a center field platoon with Brandon Nimmo. Furthermore, Justin Ruggiano, who mashed lefties in the short time he was with the Mets, is arbitration eligible. In addition to that, the Mets should do all they can to bring back Yoenis Cespedes in the even he opts out of his contract. Looking over this list, it’s hard to find a spot for Bruce in the Mets outfield.
The Mets could shift Bruce to first base. However, Lucas Duda, who has been a much better offensive player than Bruce, is still under team control. Additionally, with the overcrowded outfield, it is possible the Mets will seek to move Conforto to first base as has been recommended by Keith Hernandez. Overall, no matter where you look, there may not be room for Bruce. With that in mind, why pick up his option?
The reason is Bruce is an asset in what is going to be a weak free agent class. After Cespedes, the best free agent outfielders will be Ian Desmond, Mark Trumbo, and Jose Bautista. Each of these free agents have their own issues.
Desmond was a surprising All Star outfielder after struggling last year with the Nationals. However, overlooking his stats, Desmond has a number of issues. First, he is hitting .239/.287/.362 in the second half. Second, he’s showing himself to be a platoon bat hitting .272/.329/.442 against righties and .338/.373/.507 against lefties. Lastly, Desmond appears to be a product of Globe Life Park hitting .336/.374/.516 at home and .244/.309/.405 on the road.
Trumbo is essentially Bruce with vastly inferior defense. He also has the same issues as Desmond. He’s hitting .188/.266/.431 in the second half. He’s hitting .183/.232/.415 against lefties. He’s also hitting .257/.337/.552 at Camden Yards and .242/.282/.498 on the road.
Bautista is a 35 year old outfielder who has taken a step back this season. Over his last six seasons with the Blue Jays, he played at a superstar level hitting .268/.390/.555 while averaging 38 homers and 97 RBI. This year he is only hitting .258/.359/.433 with only 18 homers and 59 RBI.
Another team could look at these options and determine they would rather obtain Bruce who should have similar production at a reasonable $13 million price tag. Teams may also prefer to keep their first round pick rather than give it up for Desmond, Trumbo, or Bautista. Additionally, if Bruce bounces back from his struggles with the Mets, the acquiring team could make him a qualifying offer allowing them to obtain a compensatory first round pick in the event Bruce leaves them next offseason.
There’s the other issue. Cespedes is far from a lock to return. In that scenario, the Mets may feel compelled to find a player who can put up the power numbers Cespedes does. Like it or not, the Mets only real opportunity to replace Cespedes’ bat in the lineup will be a Bruce caliber bat. With Bruce most likely being the cheapest option as well as the option that doesn’t require the Mets to forfeit a first round pick, he is probably the Mets best Cespedes replacement (NOTE: no one can truly replace Cespedes).
So yes, Bruce has been a terrible with the Mets. However, that shouldn’t prevent the Mets from picking up his option as he is going to have value for someone next year. Just cross your fingers that team won’t be the Mets.
It doesn’t matter that the Twins are one if the worst teams in baseball. When you’re fighting for a postseason spot, the games are going to be tough. Tonight, the Twins showed a lot of fight. It certainly helped them that they were sending their ace, Ervin Santana, to the mound.
And you know with him being a former Brave, he’s pitches well against the Mets. That’s exactly what happened tonight.
The Mets did absolutely nothing against Santana for the first four innings. T.J. Rivera got things started with a single, and he moved to second on a balk. Because Paul Molitor apparently had no idea James Loney isn’t good, he ordered an intentional walk. It wouldn’t burn the Twins. First, Rene Rivera struck out. Then, Terry Collins gambled a bit pinch hitting Kelly Johnson for the starter Seth Lugo. Johnson popped out to end the inning.
It also closed the door on Lugo. It was the typical bend but don’t break Lugo outing where he found an extra gear on his fastball and three more curves when he was in trouble. The only run the Twins were able to score off of him was an Eddie Rosaro solo homer in the fourth.
Lugo’s final line would be five innings, four hits, one run, one earned, four walks, and two strikeouts.
The Mets had a chance to get Lugo off the hook in the seventh. T.J. got the rally sterted with a cue shot double down the first baseline followed by another inexplicable intentional walk to Loney. Alejandro De Aza pinch hit for Rene and walked to load the bases. Terry Collins then made two strange decisions.
The second, but most puzzling, was his waiting for a pitch to be thrown before having Ty Kelly pinch run for Loney. The other curious decision was going to Michael Conforto to pinch hit. It was strange because Conforto has been idle for too long and because he’s been uncomfortable pinch hitting. Furthermore, the Mets activated Lucas Duda just for spots like this. Collins went with Conforto, who had a bad at bat striking out on four pitches.
The bad news was the Mets missed out on another huge scoring opportunity. The good news was Santana was done for the night.
Jose Reyes gave a rude welcome to Twins reliever Ryan Pressly by hitting the first pitch by Pressly for a single. Reyes would quickly find himself on second after a wild pitch and an Asdrubal Cabrera groundout. With the game on the line, Yoenis Cespedes was at the plate with a 3-2 count, and he would lunge at a ball off the plate:
Of course, he came through in that spot tying the game at one. Molitor went to his left in the pen Taylor Rogers. Rogers would make quick work of the two lefties Collins was so nice to stack in the middle of the lineup, Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce. By the way, Bruce, the man Collins has the utmost confidence, was 0-5 with a strikeout.
The game would go into extras as:
The trifecta of T.J. Rivera, Ty Kelly and Kevin Plawecki were not able to drive in a run in the bottom of the ninth. I'll pause for gasps.
— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) September 18, 2016
Lost with the Mets practically emptying their bench was terrific work out of the bullpen. Josh Smoker, Fernando Salas, Jerry Blevins, Addison Reed, Jeurys Familia, and Hansel Robles combined to pitch five shutout innings allowing only three hits and one walk with striking out eight.
However, they wouldn’t get a sixth shutout inning. Byron Buxton would hit a long home run off Robles to give the Twins a 2-1 lead in the 11th. It wasn’t a bad pitch, and it shows why people think Buxton is going to be a great player. None if that matters.
What matters is Granderson led off the bottom of the 11th with an opposite field home run to tie the game at two.
After Granderson’s homer, and the obligatory Bruce out, the Mets, sorry, Las Vegas 51s, continued the rally. T.J. and Brandon Nimmo hit back-to-back singles. Kevin Plawecki almost ended the game. However, instead of his liner going into center, it hit the pitcher leading to the fielder’s choice. It put the game in Matt Reynolds hands. After fouling a ball off his foot, Reynolds was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Reyes worked out a nine pitch at bat, but he would strike out looking ending the inning and sending the game into the 12th.
Granderson once again hit the huge extra inning home run.
This one was a game winner – off a lefty to boot. It was the first time in Mets history a Mets player hit a game tying and game winning home run in extra innings.
With that, the Mets won a tough game and will make up ground on someone tonight.
Game Notes: Granderson’s homers wrre the Mets’ 200th & 201st of the season, which is the new Mets single season record.
The Mets have 17 games remaining in their season, and at the moment, they still do not know who their second baseman is going to be on a game-to-game basis.
For most of the season, the answer was Neil Walker. Even with him struggling in the middle of the season, at a time where he couldn’t feel his toes, he was having the best season of his career. It was more than tying his career high in homers. He became a much better hitter from the right side of the plate. He was much improved defensively. He was a big part of the Mets. However, his season was over as he needed season ending surgery to address the herniated disc that prevented him from feeling his toes over the summer.
Fortunately, the Mets had a good backup option with Wilmer Flores and Kelly Johnson. Flores hit .306/.346/.542 with five homers and 19 RBI in August. He mostly did the damage against lefties, but he was also maturing as a hitter with him starting to hit against righties. Flores didn’t need to be overexposed against righties though because Johnson was having a resurgent season as a part time player with the Mets. In his 71 games with the Mets, Johnson has hit .269/.328/.473 with nine homers and 23 RBI in 73 games. The Mets very well could have rode this platoon the rest of the season. However, disaster struck again.
On Saturday, Flores slid headfirst into homeplate, and he injured his neck. He is having difficulty just taking batting practice. There is no telling when he will be able to fully warm up for a game let alone play again. This would be an opportune moment for Johnson to step up, but he has been slumping. Over the past two weeks, Johnson is hitting .188/.212/.313 with one homer and three RBI. While Johnson has been terrific all year for the Mets, it is quite possible that he has been overexposed playing semi-regularly after the Walker injury. Given Flores’ injury and Johnson’s slump, Terry Collins had to do something drastic, and that was starting T.J. Rivera last night.
Rivera had not started a game since the September 5th finale for AAA Las Vegas where he overtook Brandon Nimmo for the Pacific Coast League batting title. Rivera answered the call. He would make three terrific plays in the field. The third one in the ninth got overlooked because Daniel Murphy busted it out of the box to beat the throw, and because, as usual, James Loney didn’t stretch. However, it was at the plate where Rivera really stood out. Rivera came through in the clutch time and again delivering in both of his RBI opportunities with a two out RBI single in the first and a sacrifice fly in the fifth. When there were two outs in the top of the 10th, Rivera delivered with a home run off an 0-2 pitch from Mark Melancon, who had not allowed a home run since July 17th. With this game, Rivera made a case for himself on a Mets team that does not have an answer to second base right now.
This is unexpected as many thought this opportunity would never come. During the season, the Mets gave chances to Eric Campbell and Ty Kelly first while Rivera was thinking of new ways to try to get called up to the majors. The Mets would have to go through a rash of infield injuries for him to even be considered. He waited so long, in part, because he doesn’t fit the Mets profile. He’s an aggressive contact hitter at the plate. He’s not working the count. He’s finding his pitch, and he’s going to drive it somewhere.
So no, at no point during the first 140+ games this season did anyone, especially the Mets, think that Rivera would ever be the solution at second base. However, the Mets are looking for an answer at the position right now, and Rivera stepped in and helped the Mets win a game they lose any other time in their 54 year history. It really might just be time for Rivera.