Curtis Granderson

Send Down Logan Verrett

The Mets and Logan Verrett were in a difficult spot. With the doubleheader, some questionable bullpen management during the week, and Jim Henderson‘s torn nail, Verrett was going to have to go past the point he was probably comfortable going. 

Verrett’s last appearance was June 7th. His last start was May 14th. He had not thrown more than 75 pitches since April 19th. This was not a recipe for success. It was exacerbated by Verrett going up against a good Brewers offense in a hitter’s park. The results were not good. 

Verrett lasted four innings throwing 87 pitches. He was victimized by the walk and the longball. He allowed four walks and three homeruns. The homeruns to Chris Carter and Ryan Braun could be reasonably anticipated. The homerun to opposing pitcher Wily Peralta, even if Verret was absolutely spent, was just plain ponderous. It was an absolute no doubter to dead center.

Verrett finished the inning, but he could go no further. Hansel Robles came in and pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth. Antonio Bastardo pitched the final two innings making sure to put the game out of reach along the way allowing three runs on two homers. 

This means the Mets bullpen is down three pitchers tomorrow. It could be four depending on Henderson’s finger nail. Addison Reed has pitched three innings over the last three days. Same goes for Jeurys Familia. The Mets are in need of a fresh arm. To do that, someone has to go down. 

Robles and Verrett are the only two players with options. Robles threw far fewer pitches, and he has shown the ability to recover fast in his young career. Therefore, the choice is Verrett. However, the problem isn’t who to send down, it’s who to call up. 

The Mets could call up Erik Goeddel who was good with the Mets last year with a 2.43 ERA and a 0.990 WHIP. However, he’s struggling in AAA last year. Josh Edgin has not allowed a run this year, but he’s still coming back from Tommy John surgery. Rafael Montero and Sean Gilmartin could go multiple innings, but they will not be available with each having made a start the past two nights. 

It’s a tough position to be in, but it’s no tougher than scoring three runs in five innings against a truly terrible pitcher:

It’s frustrating to watch even with Curtis Granderson having a great game:

It’s still not as frustrating as watching the Mets constantly playing short-handed. It’ll continue with Neil Walker leaving the game with back problems. It’ll continue with a spent and somewhat injured bullpen. The Mets could solve one problem by sending down Verrett and caling someone else up. 

They won’t. It’s frustrating, even more frustrating than watching the Mets not take advantage of a very bad pitcher. 

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David Freese Would Be a Good Fit

Despite the Pirates being in the thick of the Wild Card race, and there being no reason to expect for them to drop out of the race, Jon Heyman wrote in his Today’s Knuckleball article that the Pirates could be willing to part with David Freese at the trade deadline.  Due to the Mets injury situation, Heyman linked Freese to the Mets.

Assuming that Freese is truly available, and the price is reasonable, Freese would be a solid addition to the New York Mets.

For his career, Freese is a career .277/.346/.418 hitter with a 112 career OPS+ and 115 wRC+.  His 162 game averages are 30 doubles, 15 homeruns, and 77 RBI.  With the exception of a poor 2013 season, which has proven to be an outlier, Freese has been an average defensive third baseman.  Over the course of his career, Freese has been a good hitter and a solid defender.  He would be a benefit to almost any team with postseason aspirations.

Here’s the catch: Freese has been even better this year.

This year, Freese is hitting .292/.373/.427 with a 127 OPS+ and a 124 wRC+ in 51 games.  This could be construed as a small sample size, but there are some underlying numbers that suggest his current batting line will be sustainable over the course of a full season.  First, Freese is still beating up on lefties like he has done his whole career.  He has faced lefties in 21 games this year, and he is hitting .366/.409/.610 against them.  For a Mets team that has been having some difficulty against lefties, especially with the Nationals Gio Gonzalez, adding Freese’s bat would be beneficial.

However, Freese’s numbers are not just reflective of his facing lefties.  Freese is also hitting better against rightes.  For his career, Freese has been a .269/.337/.401 hitter against righties.  He is now hitting .269/.362/.369 against them.  It’s a moderate, but important, improvement.  The underlying reason for this improvement may be his approach at the plate.  Freese has been hitting a lot of groundballs this year.  Freese is hitting the ball on the ground 64.2% of the time.  Normally, in this age of the shift, this could be construed as a negative.  Many times, we have seen batters like Curtis Granderson pull balls in to the shift.  That isn’t the case with Freese.  Historically, Freese has hit the ball to all fields.  In fact, over the course of his career, Freese pulls the ball 35.1% of the time, hits it up the middle 36.4% of the time, and goes to the opposite field 28.5% of the time.  In essence, it is hard to defend a player like that with the shift.

One of the corresponding factors to Freese hitting more groundballs is his hitting fewer flyballs.  Typically, unless you are hitting the ball over the fence, flyballs are turned into outs.  With Freese hitting fewer flyballs there is a decreased chance he will hit into an out.  The increased groundball rate coupled with the decreased flyball rate are strong factors in Freese’s high .397 BABIP.  Typically, the league average is .300, which would lead many to believe that Freese is due for a regression. Even if that were to happen, keep in mind Freese’s career BABIP is .342.  In essence, he is someone who’s natural talents led to a higher BABIP.  Therefore, even if Freese were due for a regression, it wouldn’t be as drastic as one might believe it to be.

Another benefit to adding Freese is the fact that he’s a more versatile player now.  Since he has joined the Pirates, Freese has also played at first and second in addition to third.  Thereofr,e even if David Wright and Lucas Duda were to return to the Mets completely healthy, Freese would still be an useful player off the bench.

Overall, Freese appears to be a better hitter and a more versatile fielder.  He’s exactly the type of player the Mets should be looking to add to the team.  The only thing standing in the way of that happening is the Pirates.  They first have to make him available, and the Mets need to be willing to meet their demands.  That is much easier said than done.

Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsmerizedonline.com

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Mets Bullpen Had One More Escape Act

As Lou Brown said, “Ok, we won a game yesterday. If we win today, it’s called ‘two in a row.’  And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called ‘a winning streak’ . . . .  It has happened before!”  That’s where Matt Harvey . He’s on a streak of good starts. 

On May 30th, he pitched seven innings allowing two hits, no runs, and one walk with six strikeouts. On June 5th, he pitched seven innings allowing four hits, one earned, and no walks with three strikeouts. Tonight, he pitched six innings allowing two hits, one earned, and two walks with eight strikeouts. That’s three straight starts allowing one run or less. That’s vintage Harvey. 

Harvey did get some help in the third when replay overturned a run:

https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/741439922691706881

Initially, the umpires ruled Aaron Hill got in under Kevin Plawecki‘s tag. Upon replay, it was ruled Hill was out, and the run was taken off the board. The Brewers would have to wait until the fifth to score. 

Ex-Met Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a one out triple to right, and he would score on Ramon Flores‘ sacrifice fly to left field. It was going to take a good throw to get Kirk out, but Alejandro De Aza was not up to the task. First, it got caught in his glove. Next, he double clutched. Finally, the throw was up the first base line. It was just one part of a bad game for De Aza. 

In the first, he erased a Curtis Granderson leadoff walk by hitting into a double play. In the fifth Brewers starter, Junior Guerrera, intentionally walked Granderson to load the bases with two outs to face De Aza. De Aza grounded out meekly to second. Overall, he was 0-5. 

Overall, the Mets batters weren’t hitting well. Even when Kelly Johnson hit a double in first at bat back with the Mets, he followed it up with a TOOBLAN.  With no force play, he was slow (somewhat frozen) on a ball hit to the shortstop. He was tagged out, and Harvey was nailed at first ending the inning. 

FINALLY, in the sixth the Mets gave Harvey some run support after not giving him any run support in 15 innings. Yoenis Cespedes did this:

He hit a laser to right center tying the game at 1-1. Unfortunately, that was all the run support Harvey would get as Nieuwenhuis did this to Johnson:

Harvey had a great start and a no decision.  It would become a battle of the bullpens. It was a battle of escape acts. 

Hansel Robles entered the game in the seventh, and it appeared like his struggles were going to continue. It was first and second with no outs with the newly minted Mets killer Nieuwenhuis at the plate. Robles struck him out, and then he got the next two batters to fly out to get out of the jam. Antonio Bastardo followed up with a 1-2-3 eighth. 

Jeremy Jeffres did his Robles’ impersonation in the ninth by getting out of a bases loaded no out jam. First, Plawecki popped up to second. Neil Walker pinch hit for Bastardo and struck out looking. Granderson then meekly grounded out to second. 
It was then Jim Henderson‘s turn for the Houdini act. He issued a one out walk to Jonathan Lucroy, who was pinch run for by Keon Broxton. Broxton would easily steal second, and he would go to third on a comedy of errors. Plawecki would bounce the ball 10 feet short of second, and the ball would go through Johnson’s legs allowing Broxton to go to third. After a walk to Chris Carter, he struck out Nieuwenhuis on three straight pitches, and he got Hill to ground out to end the inning. 

Henderson was then pressed for a second inning out of the pen despite his injury history. The reason was unavailable after pitching three innings in today days, and Logan Verrett will start tomorrow due to the doubleheader. After walking the leadoff hitter Flores, Henderson had to leave the game with what appeared to be a blister. That made it Jerry Blevins turn to get out of the jam. 

After a sac bunt, Blevins had a runner on second with one out, and he threw a pitch in the dirt. Flores took off for third, and he made it safely for a split second. Matt Reynolds, who was double switched into the game when Blevins entered the game, kept the tag on Flores, so when Flores oversold third, he was out. Rally over. 

Wilmer Flores then cleared the Flores’ good surname in the 11th. He ripped a one out double pushing Asdrubal Cabrera to third. After Johnson was intentionally walked, the Mets found themselves in the same situation as they did in the ninth – bases loaded and no outs. Plawecki fouled out, and then all hell broke loose. 

Reynolds hit a sharp liner at Jonathan Villar, who dropped it. He flipped the ball to Scooter Gennett, who stepped on second while Flores was standing there. By Gennett stepping on the bag, Johnson was out, but the Brewers didn’t know it.  They didn’t know it because the second base umpire somehow called him safe. They got Johnson, who was already out, in a rundown. While this was happening Cabrera scored making it 2-1. Keith Hernandez put it best when he said everybody had to do back to school. 

Jeurys Familia then came in and recorded his 21st save in his 21st chance to end all of this tomfoolery. 
Game Notes: Harvey is the all-time leader for winless starts in which he’s allowed one run or less through a pitchers first 78 starts. It gets better:

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Granderson Leads the Way

Curtis Granderson was all the offensive support Bartolo Colon would need. 

Colon pitched seven innings allowing eight hits, one earned, and no walks with two strikeouts. He also helped himself by picking off Scooter Gennett in the third. 

Colon got into some trouble in the seventh. Old friend Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a two out double to right just missing a homerun. Then Neil Walker took a sharply hit groundball off the chest. Nieuwenhuis was hustling all the way, and he would score right before Kevin Plawecki could apply the tag. It narrowed the score to 2-1. The Mets would get out of the inning when Plawecki’s one hop throw just beat Hernan Perez. It was a great tag by Asdrubal Cabrera off a tough throw to handle. 

The offense was essentially Granderson just like it was most of last year. He had the keynote address and a double in the third setting up the second run of the game. He scored the second run of the game off a Yoenis Cespedes RBI single. On the night, Granderson was 2-3 with two runs, a double, a homerun, and an RBI. Granderson’s double was particularly impressive because it went opposite field. 

The Mets blew it open in the eighth. The Mets loaded the bases with no outs, and Plawecki got a two RBI single through the drawn-in infield. The Mets could’ve had more, but Wilmer Flores pulled a TOOBLAN. With the play right in front of him, he kept going.  The ball was cut-off, and Wilmer was out on the basepaths. 

Lost in the TOOBLAN is how well Flores is hitting of late. He was 3-4, and he is hitting .476 over the last seven games. Another piece of good news was seeing Juan Lagares enter the game for defense. It was even better seeing him stretch a single into a double in his lone at bat. However, his sliding into second headfirst with a torn ligament in his thumb was cringeworthy. 

It was also cringeworthy seeing Matt Reynolds pinch hitting for Walker. It’s not a good sign especially after Walker took that hot shot off the chest. The good news there was Reynolds had another good pinch hit. He had an RBI pinch hit single scoring Lagares to make it 5-2. 

Even more cringeworthy was Terry Collins  decision to bring Addison Reed into the game after he pitched two innings yesterday. He would allow Gennett to hit an RBI double making it a 4-2 game. It would break his 15.1 inning scoreless streak. Jeurys Familia would close it out with a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts. He’s now a perfect 20/20 in save chances this year. Dating back to last year, he has 36 consecutive saves. 

Overall, it is nice to get some games in against bad teams to allow the Mets to get back on track. The Mets are now 4-0 against the Brewers, and they have now won two in a row. 

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Mets Battled for This Win

Noah Syndergaard set the tone for the night by battling through the game. 

He absolutely gutted out six innings. There was a Pirate in scoring position four of the six innings. Even with Rene Rivera behind the plate, the Pirates were 4/4 in stolen base attempts.  He surrendered a career high five doubles.  He allowed two in the first, and when the Mets tied the game in the fourth, he gave the Pirates the lead right back. He still hung in there.  He allowed seven hits, three runs, two earned, and two walks with five strikeouts.  The unearned run was the result of Neil Walker‘s error in the first.  It was part of a tough homecoming for Walker:

With the way the Mets have been going offensively lately, and with the Pirates starting phenom Jameson Taillon, Syndergaard was going to have to help himself at the plate. He did. 

In the fifth, he hit a leadoff double, and Alejandro De Aza would sacrifice him over to third. Michael Conforto hit a sacrifice fly, which would tie the score at 3-3. The Mets scored their first two runs in the fourth when Ty Kelly hit his first career homerun. It was a nice parting gift for him as it appers likely he will be demoted after today’s game due to the Mets re-acquiring Kelly Johnson. 

In the seventh, Jim Henderson allowed the Pirates to take a 5-3 lead with a rough inning. He allowed a leadoff walk to Andrew McCutchen. Then after Gregory Polanco just missed a homerun, he ripped a go-ahead double to right-center. He moved to third on Walker’s second error of the game, and he would score on a Josh Harrison sacrifice fly. 

The Mets would battle back again. In the eighth, De Aza would get a leadoff walk, and he would score on a Conforto homerun. The Mets would then load the bases, but they would fail to get a runner home to break the 5-5 tie. Kelly would pop out to short left, and Curtis Granderson, pinch hitting for Rivera, would ground out killing the rally. 
The Mets would get another chance with the bases loaded in the tenth. This time Collins pinch hit Wilmer Flores for Kelly. Flores hit a one out bloop single to give the Mets the 6-5 lead.  The Mets wouldn’t score another run, but they got all they needed. 

Addison Reed got the well earned win. With the Mets bullpen being a bit taxed, Collins asked him to pitch two innings. Despite a slight dip on velocity, Reed pitched two scoreless innings. It was another great outing for him in what has been an incredible year for him. 

Jeurys Familia come on in the 10th and recorded his 19th straight save this year. Of course on this night, it wasn’t an easy save. Familia walked the first two batters before getting Sean Rodriguez to hit into the 6-4-3 double play. Familia walked the next batter, and Plawecki stopped the ball with his face preventing the tying run from scoring. Familia then struck out David Freese to finally end the game and the losing streak. 

Overall, there was a lot to like. The Mets offense got going again. Conforto was 1-3 with a run, three RBI, a walk, and a homerun. Yoenis Cespedes went 3-5, and he scored the game winning run. The Mets snapped their nine game losing streak against the Pirates dating back to last year. 

Game Notes:

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No One Is Hitting

With the Mets injuries, it’s easy to blame the lack of offense on the Mets supposed depth. It’s true. The Mets backups have been dreadful:

These players haven’t done their jobs, and they have hurt the Mets. However, while the Kellys and the Campbells of the world get the blame for hitting the way you reasonably anticipate them to hit, the regulars who haven’t been hitting have not faced the same scrutiny.  In fact, the Mets right now have five regulars still in the lineup and four of them are just flat out not producing:

  • Asdrubal Cabrera – Since April 27th, Cabrera is hitting .227/.278/.355 with only 10 extra base hits in 151 plate appearances.  Over that stretch, he is striking out in 23.8% of his plate appearances.
  • Michael Conforto – Since May 1st, in what is now being infamously referenced as the Madison Bumgarner Effect, Conforto has hit .160/.224/.311 while striking out in 31% of his plate appearances.  He only has seven extra base hits over this stretch.  Terry Collins once had concerns with him lefties.  Right now, Conforto isn’t hitting anybody.
  • Yoenis Cespedes – Since May 25th, Cespedes is hitting .086/.132/.114 with no homeruns while striking out 34.2% of the time.  He is once again dealing with a hip issue, and he is clearly frustrated saying he is “a little lost at the plate right now.” (ESPN).
  • Curtis Granderson – Since April 30th, Granderson is hitting .180/.269/.375 while striking out 28.3% of the time.  His problems have been analyzed before show he’s hitting the ball on the ground more and it getting beaten by the shift.  So far, Granderson is not making the necessary adjustments.

Then again, no Met is making the necessary adjustments right now.  The end result is a putrid offense that is the worst offense in the major leagues.  According to Baseball Tonight, since May 12th, the Mets are the last in the majors in runs per game (2.8), OBP (.282), and strikeout rate (28%).  The team is also second to last in slugging (.354).  These numbers would look a whole lot worse if Neil Walker wasn’t hitting.

Overall, this isn’t the July 2015 Mets that had Campbell and John Mayberry hitting in the middle of the lineup.  There are legitimate hitters in this lineup who just aren’t hitting.  We can all analyze who the Mets should get to be their possible long term solutions at catcher, first, and third in the event any of those injured players aren’t able to return.  However, the simple truth of the matter is that unless the players currently here start hitting it’s not going to matter if the Mets make another move at the deadline.

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Twin 3-1 Losses Isn’t Niese

You knew it was going to be a long day when Jon Niese dominated the Mets in game one of the doubleheader. 

Niesepitched seven scoreless innings allowing two walks while striking out two. This unrecognizable man even recovered shrugged off an error turning a Steven Matz double into a triple by getting the next couple of batters out to escape the jam. For his part, Matz battled through five innings allowing eight hits, two earned, and two walks while striking out eight. 

It wasn’t a good outing for Matz, but he fought through it and limited the damage as much as he could. The problem is he got no help. The Mets didn’t score until Curtis Granderson hit an eighth inning homerun. Before that homer, Granderson was 2-53 as a Met against the Pirates (not an exaggeration). Granderson’s homerun was too little too late what would be a 3-1 loss. 

The nightcap was more of the same with another 3-1 loss.  

Terry Collins trotted out the same lineup as the first game, with the exception of the requisite swap of starting catchers, hoping for a change. Instead he got more of the same. It was made all the worse by the loss coming against a Juan Nicasio whose 4.75 ERA does not appear long for the Pirates rotation, especially with Jameson Taillon‘s much anticipated major league debut tomorrow. 

Overall, Nicasio pitched five innings allowing three hits and one earned with two walks and seven strikeouts over five innings. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he pulled off a successful butcher boy in the fifth setting up the third run of the game. Nicasio pulled the bunt back and singled off the glove of Jacob deGrom. The play moved Chris Stewart to third. He later scored on a John Jaso double. 

Like Matz, deGrom didn’t have his best stuff, but he mostly kept the Pirates at bay. He pitched six innings allowing six hits and three runs with no walks and no strikeouts. Like Matz, the Mets offense abandoned him. The only run scored was on a Kevin Plawecki RBI single scoring Michael Conforto in the fifth. 

There’s just no sugar coating it. The Mets offense was, and has been, putrid. They played 18 innings, and they only collected nine hits while scoring two runs. They went down 1-2-3 in nine of the 18 innings. 

Asdrubal Cabrera was 0-8, and he hasn’t had a hit in last 14 at bats. Yoenis Cespedes was 0-7, and he’s 3-36 in his last 11 games. Michael Conforto was 1-6, and he’s been hitting .160 since the end of April. These are three important bats in the lineup. Even without the Mets injuries, the Mets still need these guys to hit. They’re not, and their struggles are magnified because the Mets need them more than usual. 

Simply put, if they’re not hitting the Mets aren’t winning. They didn’t hit today, and the Mets were swept in both ends of the doubleheader. 

Notes: About the only good thing that happened today was Neil Walker got loud ovations before his first at bat of both ends of the doubleheader. It was a classy move for a classy player. Eric Campbell was the 26th man in the second game of the doubleheader. He didn’t play. 

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2016 May Report Card

The Mets entered May 15-7, in second place, and a half game behind the Nationals. The Mets finished May 14-15 and two games behind the Nationals.

The month saw some key injuries and their depth getting exposed. Below are the first month grades for each of the Mets players. Bear in mind, these grades are on a curve. If a bench player gets an A and a position player gets a B, it doesn’t mean the bench player is having a better year. Rather, it means the bench player is performing better in his role.

Position Players

Travis d’Arnaud (Inc). Due to a rotator cuff injury, d’Arnaud hasn’t played one game this month, and no one knows when he’s going to start a rehab assignment. Given the questions about his durability, this grade could’ve been an F.

Kevin Plawecki (F)  Plawecki hit .197/.284/.303 in May. He’s once again established he’s either not ready or incapable of being an everyday catcher in the majors.

Rene Rivera (C). Like Plawecki, Rivera hasn’t hit well. He hit .167/.286/.292 in the month. However, his grade is much higher as he’s been a good veteran presence behind the plate who has worked very well with Noah Syndergaard. Rivera has also neutralized the opponent’s running game.

Lucas Duda (D). Duda only hit .192/.300/.404 in May. We don’t know if these numbers are the result of his lower back stress fracture or not. With that said, you’re judged by your performance on the field, and he wasn’t good.

James Loney (Inc). He played in only one game. It’s too soon to judge.

Neil Walker (C). Walker came crashing back to Earth. In May, he hit .238/.326/.381 while hitting four homeruns. He also missed some games with a shin injury.

David Wright (C). Wright continued to strike out frequently in May. He still hit .215/.346/.462 with five homers.  His grade was downgraded because he’s been dishonest about his health. The only thing we care about now is whether the injection in his neck worked.

Asdrubal Cabrera (C-). Like his double play partner, Cabrera’s play was much worse in May. Cabrera hit .268/.308/.406 in May.

Wilmer Flores (D). Flores took a small step forward in May. He hit .250/.300/.357. He also missed some time on the DL exposing the bench.

Eric Campbell (F). Campbell had a decent West Coast Trip, but with that said, he’s been abysmal otherwise with him hitting .167/.281/.241. As a result of his poor play, the Mets designated him for assignment.

Matt Reynolds (D-) It’s a small sample size, but he hit .100 in his eight games. He was so bad, he couldn’t outlast Campbell or Ty Kelly. The only reason this isn’t an F is Reynolds stepped in for an ailing Cabrera one day, and he played decently.

Ty Kelly (F). He was called up due to injuries, and the only reason he stays on the roster is he’s a switch hitter.

Michael Conforto (F). Conforto is struggling for the first time in his career, and as his .167/.242/.349 line will attest, he’s having trouble figuring it out. He eventually will. However, the Mets need him to do it sooner rather than later.

Yoenis Cespedes (A). Cespedes has been everything the Mets could ask for and more. He’s showing that August was him turning a corner and not some hot streak.

Curtis Granderson (C-). Like seemingly every other Mets hitter not named Cespedes, Granderson struggled in May. His grade is higher due to the five homeruns, including the one walk off the other night. He’s also gotten hit lately. Hopefully, he’s turned a corner.
Juan Lagares (A).  His bat, even with a low OBP, seems to be getting better. Between that and his Gold Glove defense, he’s going to soon start forcing his way into the lineup more.
Alejandro De Aza (F). Hard to kill a guy who went from platoon to a 5th OF through no fault of his own.  With that said, when he does play, he doesn’t hit.

Pitchers

Matt Harvey (D). His nightmare of an April got worse in May. This isn’t an F as his last start was vintage Harvey. It looks like he may be back.

Jacob deGrom (B). Surprisingly, he was winless in May. Also, we may be seeing the effects of his decreased velocity with his ERA going up and his WHIP going down.

Noah Syndergaard (A). He followed a dominant April with a dominant May. He also hit two homeruns. It’s not an A+ because he didn’t actually hit Chase Utley.

Steven Matz (A).  Matz has been on a roll all month making him not only the odds on favorite for the Rookie of the Year Award but also making him a serious contender for the All Star team.  Even in last night’s blip, he still left the game in position to get a win.

Bartolo Colon (C+).  He’s been what he’s always been – good against bad teams and struggles against good teams.  There were more good teams on the schedule this month, so we saw him pitch to a higher ERA.  Bonus points for his first homerun.

Logan Verrett (F).  After a month of bailing the Mets out, it was Verrett who needed to be bailed out with a 6.46 ERA and a 1.761 WHIP.

Jeurys Familia (B).  He’s still perfect in save chances, but the last week he was shaky in non-save situations.  He blew a four run lead in one game, and he earned the loss after pitching poorly in a tied game.

Addison Reed (A+).  As good as he was in April, he was even better in May.  He has consistently been the best reliever in the Mets bullpen.

Jim Henderson (B-).  While his ERA has ballooned this month, his peripherals show that he’s still pitching pretty well.  He is starting to get exposed a bit by pitching too much to lefties and by getting a little more work than he was probably read to take on at this point.

Hansel Robles (B).  Robles was actually having a better May than April until the past week happened.  He’s gotten touched up the past two games by the long ball.  It’s something to keep an eye on going forward.

Jerry Blevins (B).  While his ERA has steadily gone done over the course of May, he has been hit a little harder.

Antonio Bastardo (C). Bastardo entered the season without the faith of his manager, Terry Collins, and it appears that he is in the same position.  Throughout his career, Bastardo has struggled with giving up walks, and he’s had that issue re-emerge this month.

Rafael Montero (Inc.).  Montero didn’t pitch in the majors this month.  One thing that is telling is even with Harvey’s struggles, the Mets never seriously considered him to pitch in the rotation or bullpen.

Sean Gilmartin (A).  Gilmartin had a brief return to the Mets due to some short outings from their starters.  Gilmartin did what he excelled at last year – pitching well no matter what the role the Mets gave him.

Terry Collins (B).  It was a tough month for the Mets all around.  However, this month the Mets seemed to finally get Harvey right, and Collins made sure to protect David Wright from himself.  As usual, Collins had his share of baffling lineup and bullpen decisions.  With that said, he still has the Mets in the thick of things.

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Glass Half Full Loss

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

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

And yet, they did. 

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

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

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

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Familia’s Struggles Lead to a Grandy Win

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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