J.D. Davis

Taijuan Walker Gets Some Help

The New York Mets sent Taijuan Walker to the mound to take the series against the Washington Nationals. He did everything the Mets could possibly ask of him, and we saw his team step up around him.

We got a sense of what type of day this was going to be when Josh Harrison reached on a lead-off single. However, he was not there for long when Walker, who has an excellent move, picked Harrison off of first:

Long story short, Walker and the Mets were going to make this a long afternoon for the Nationals offense. That topsy turvey first inning would end for the Nationals when Jonathan Villar robbed Josh Bell of a hit:

We saw this again in the third when Victor Robles got greedy. Robles had hit a ball to the right center field wall where Michael Conforto fielded it. Now, to Robles’ credit, Conforto’s arm hasn’t been good at all this year. However, on this play, he was perfect with a relay to Jonathan Villar, who nailed Robles at third:

Here’s what is so fascinating. The first two hits by the Nationals off of Walker were IMMEDIATELY erased off the basepaths. That’s a real problem when you are trying to score runs. That’s an even bigger problem when you get all of three hits off of Walker over his seven scoreless innings.

Of course, a very large part of that was the way the Mets played defense in this game. There was perhaps no bigger defensive play in this game or even the season than what we saw from Albert Almora in the sixth.

In the sixth, Walker had issued a one out walk to Yadier Hernandez and then hit Trea Turner with a pitch. After a fielder’s choice by Bell, there were runners at the corners with Kyle Schwarber at the plate. Schwarber would give one a ride which Almora tracked down in Juan Lagares fashion:

There was literally nothing the Nationals could do to crack what was seemingly an impenetrable Mets defense. What was odd about that is the Mets defense was the second worst in the National League coming into this game with a -7 DRS. However, this still made the plays when it counted, and they would put Walker in a position to win.

One of the reasons why is the Nationals started Patrick Corbin, who is not only just a shell of himself so far this year, but he also struggles against the Mets hitter. Chief among them is J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto. It should come as little surprise both had a good day at the plate.

Davis was 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs, a homer, and two RBI. We also saw Conforto go 1-for-4 with a double, but he deserved a better fate. In the bottom of the fifth, Conforto had hit what was originally ruled a sacrifice fly. However, upon reply, Francisco Lindor missed touching home plate making that a double play and not an RBI:

Honestly, it was just one of those weird days for the Mets offense, and home plate umpire Doug Eddings just had one of those really bad days. Case-in-point, in the fourth inning, the Mets had already scored a run on a James McCann RBI single. They had loaded the bases thereafter with two outs with Brandon Nimmo coming to the plate.

As is usually the case, Nimmo worked the count full. The last pitch was further outside than a pitch already called a ball in the at-bat, and frankly, it was well off the plate and towards the opposite batter’s box. As Nimmo started sprinting towards first, Eddings rang him up.

What really hurt about that was not only was that going to be another run to make it a 4-0 game, but Pete Alonso was going to come up with the bases loaded. Instead, with the game 3-0, Alonso would lead off the fifth, and he would make it 4-0 all on his own:

The Mets offense wouldn’t do much from that point, but it didn’t matter as the pitching and defense carried them the rest of the way. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t any drama.

Miguel Castro relieved Walker to start the eighth, and the Nationals offense seemed to come alive. Andrew Stevenson and Yadiel Hernandez book ended a Harrison striking out to put two on and one out. Castro responded by striking out Ryan Zimmerman, who was pinch hitting for Turner after he had been hit by a pitch earlier in the game, and Bell to end the jam.

Edwin Diaz came on for the ninth, and he pitched a perfect inning. With that, the Mets are once again above .500, and they have won two out of the three series at home (tying the other). In the end, we see the Mets taking care of business at home, which is a recipe for a good season.

Game Notes: This marks the first time the Mets have played consecutive series all season without a postponement. Nimmo has reached base safely in 15 out of the 16 games he has played. Jeff McNeil did not start for the fourth time this season.

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Jacob Completely deGrominates Nationals

To a certain extent, you can say Jacob deGrom underperformed tonight. After all, Andrew Stevenson and Starlin Castro managed to get a hit off of him.

That’s it. That was the total extent of the Nationals offense, and honestly, it was a miracle they even made contact.

deGrom set a career high with 15 strikeouts. He was around 100 MPH the entire night. He retired the final 19 batters he faced.

Really, there are no words to describe how great deGrom was. That’s because they haven’t been invented yet. Likely, that’s because we have not seen anything like this.

It’s at the point with deGrom where he’s struck out 14+ in three consecutive starts. He has a 0.31 ERA on the season. With this complete game shutout, his career ERA is lower than Tom Seaver‘s Mets ERA, and deGrom has a better ERA+ to boot.

Dominating from the mound isn’t enough for deGrom. No, he also has to be great at the plate. Tonight, he was 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs, a double, and an RBI.

That’s right. Jacob deGrom had as many hits as he allowed. He also scored and drove in more runs than he allowed. In fact, deGrom drove in as many runs in this game as earned runs he’s allowed. Of course, that also means he scored more than he’s allowed.

Overall, the Mets won 6-0, and it was almost all because of deGrom. He was pure magic to the point where he awoke a sleeping Mets offense.

After his third inning RBI double off Erick Fedde, Brandon Nimmo would hit a two RBI single. That three run inning put the game out of reach.

Nimmo returned to the lineup after missing two games dealing with a hip issue. He was great too going 3-for-5 with two runs, a homer, and four RBI.

The other run was driven in by Dominic Smith with a seventh inning single driving in Nimmo. Of course, this is all filler. What the night was really about was deGrom.

We are seeing pure greatness every fifth day. You never know what he’s going to do next. The only thing you do know is he’s going to amaze.

Game Notes: Michael Conforto hit for a second consecutive game for the first time since the second game of the season. After a day off due to his defense, J.D. Davis returned to the lineup. He fielded the only chance he had, but he also had a three strikeout game.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets Swept In Embarrassing Fashion By Cubs

The New York Mets came to Chicago looking to beat up on a reeling Cubs team. Instead, they got beat up and are reeling themselves.

1. J.D. Davis needs to be on the bench period. He continues to prove he can’t field, and that really hurt the team in this series.

2. In the three game set Taijuan Walker, David Peterson, and Joey Lucchesi failed to go four innings let along five.

3. Walker and Peterson were really hurt by Davis’ defense. Walker would also be hurt by walks as would Lucchesi.

4. The more you see Lucchesi, the more you realize he’s not a starter, but he might be a great reliever.

5. One bright spot of this series was maybe discovering Sean Reid-Foley could be a real piece. He kept his walks down for a night. If he can do it for many nights, watch out.

6. Speaking of watch out, Pete Alonso is heating up. He hit some big homers, one of which left the ballpark.

7. Michael Conforto almost hit one out, and he at least appears to be working towards being his normal self.

8. After all the nonsense and hand wringing over Francisco Lindor, he hit his first homer and had his first three hit game.

9. Jeff McNeil just can’t seem to get going this year. It’s really difficult to pinpoint the problem too.

10. While the Mets are struggling at the plate, it’s too early to derive conclusions. That said, they’re following the same patterns as other Chili Davis coached teams with climbing ground ball rates.

11. James McCann is just so good mechanically, and he gets the ball out so quickly, he gives his middle infielders a real chance to get down the tag.

12. The one issue with McCann is he hasn’t been great receiving throws. Then again, the throws to him at home have been terrible.

13. The Mets defense on Wednesday set the sport back. It was just that bad, inexcusably so.

14. Davis can be terrible all he wants, but he has no one to blame but himself. He sure can’t blame Alonso.

15. The state of umpiring in the game is really bad. We’ve seen Mets pitchers get really squeezed. Walker was ejected AFTER he was removed from the game. Kris Bryant still hasn’t touched first.

16. Luis Guillorme is the epitome of a grinder. Down 12 with two outs in the ninth, and he battles in an at-bat and gets a hit.

17. If Brandon Nimmo has an issue, the Mets should just get him on the IL. Get him the rest to allow him to come back as their best offensive player.

18. If Kevin Pillar is struggling this much, the Mets should at least throw Albert Almora at least one start.

19. Edwin Diaz has great stuff, and he can be absolutely dominating and unhittable. That said, it’s really difficult to trust him when he implodes like he did in the 10th inning.

20. It’s hard to take people seriously when they support runners on second in extra innings and seven inning doubleheaders, but they get bent out of shape about uniform colors.

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Luis Rojas Luck Ran Out In Mets Loss

New York Mets manager Luis Rojas rolled the dice a number of times in the game against the Chicago Cubs, and he kept getting lucky. Really, it was a number of just interesting, weird, and outright wrong decisions.

With J.D. Davis incapable of playing third, the Mets finally relented and put him on the bench. The Mets also sat Jeff McNeil. That led to Luis Guillorme at third and Jonathan Villar at second, instead of the reverse, which would’ve been the better defensive alignment.

So, naturally, right off the bat, Rojas’ (or front offices’) decision looked genius when Guillorme robbed Ian Happ:

This helped Joey Lucchesi get through the first two innings unscathed. Unfortunately, the Cubs would get to him in the third.

After walking two with one out, Lucchesi was on the verge of escaping the inning unscathed after a Happ flyout. Lucchesi had some bad luck with he got hit by a Willson Contreras comebacker driving in a run.

Kris Bryant then hit a two run double giving the Cubs an early 3-0 lead. That would prove to be it for Lucchesi as he would be lifted in the fourth for a pinch hitter.

The Mets responded in the fourth immediately. Dominic Smith doubled, and then Pete Alonso followed with yet another homer to pull the Mets to within 3-2.

The Mets would have a chance to build on this but couldn’t. Michael Conforto would double, and Villar drew a walk. That was it as neither Kevin Pillar nor Nimmo, who pinch hit for Lucchesi, could drive home the tying run.

At the time, Lucchesi had only thrown 60 pitches, and the Mets bullpen had been worked hard the past few nights. Rather than err on the side of caution, Rojas went to recently called up Sean Reid-Foley.

Reid-Foley was phenomenal pitching three scoreless. A pitcher who has struggled all of his career with control walked none and struck out four.

In the seventh, Rojas got lucky again. With one out and one on, Rojas tapped Davis to pinch hit over McNeil against Ryan Terpera. It worked as Davis hit a game tying RBI double, which should’ve been a triple as the ball got away from Jake Marisnick.

After a scoreless seventh by Trevor May, Rojas made the very curious decision of having Aaron Loup start the inning with the first Cubs LHP due up sixth.

The decision looked like an immediate disaster with Marisnick hitting a lead-off triple. Loup bore down getting Austin Romine to pop out, and Happ to strike out.

Rojas then went to Miguel Castro. Why Castro didn’t start the inning is anyone’s guess. Castro came up big striking out Contreras to end the inning.

Rojas then made yet another curious move. He only used Castro for the one batter. He would wind up double switching Edwin Diaz into the game which was setting the stage for Diaz to pitch two innings.

Notably, Diaz is not accustomed to two innings, and he’s not great with runners on base. With his being set up to pitch the 10th, and there being the ridiculous runner on second rule, that’s an important consideration.

The Mets got to the 10th partially because James McCann threw out another runner. On the play, Bryant had the bag stolen, but he came off the bag for a nanosecond. McNeil, who was double switched into the game with Diaz, kept the tag on leading to Bryant being called out.

In the 10th, Villar started the inning on second because Rob Manfred hates baseball. He’d quickly be on third due to a wild pitch. After McNeil struck out, Guillorme and Francisco Lindor walked loading the bases with one out.

Dominic Smith had the chance to deliver a huge hit. He hit the ball hard, but right at the second baseman David Bote, who started the inning ending 4-6-3 double play.

The Mets would not get another opportunity as Rojas’ luck finally ran out.

Diaz started the 10th, which meant a runner on second. His first pitch of the inning hit Matt Duffy. Bote would lay down the sacrifice. On the bunt, Alonso had a play at third, but he’d slip leaving only the out at first.

Rojas ordered the intentional walk to load the bases, and Jason Heyward came up as a pinch hitter. Diaz would throw one down the middle, and Heyward ripped a game winning single.

With that, the Mets suffered their first sweep of the season. They lost to a bad Cubs team and really looked bad in the process. At least, they are still .500 and in first place.

Game Notes: Trevor Hildenberger was sent down to make room for Reid-Foley. Mets were 1-for-8 with RISP stranding seven.

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Mets Need To Stop Playing J.D. Davis At Third Base

For two nights in a row, J.D. Davis made errors which cost the New York Mets dearly. In back-to-back nights, his defense was a direct cause of Taijuan Walker and David Peterson being unable to navigate through five innings.

The problems with Davis at third are multi-faceted. He sometimes has difficulty hitting balls hit right at him. He doesn’t have range. While he has a strong arm, he seemingly has the yips where he is taking multiple steps before releasing the ball.

Honestly, this is a player who is crossed up right now, and it is an adventure when he is out there. Right now, his play is on par with Todd Hundley in left field or Mike Piazza at first base. Put another way, the Mets are putting a player in a position to fail, and despite Davis’ best efforts, he’s failing miserably.

This is not a direct reflection on the effort. We all saw the reports of Davis working with Gary Disarcina and Francisco Lindor. There is really nothing to doubt the effort. That said, there is every reason to doubt he can play third base or any position.

Since joining the Mets in 2019, Davis has a -19 DRS at third base. That is the worst at the position by a significant margin. In fact, on just his play at third base alone, he’s the fifth worst defender in the majors. When you include his -9 DRS in left field, he surpasses Jurickson Profar as the worst fielder in all the majors.

The Mets were attempting to hide him at third, and they thought putting him next to Lindor would help. Seeing him in action this year and over the past three years, it’s not working. It can’t work.

Also, keep in mind, the Mets are not just trying to hide Davis’ glove. Because they refused to make the hard decisions, they put Pete Alonso at first pushing Dominic Smith to left field. That put Brandon Nimmo to center. Of all those moves, Nimmo in center seems to be the only one working well. That’s the Mets getting lucky.

The Smith in left field is another factor. The Mets left side defense is atrocious. He and Davis combined are working to neutralize Lindor. Honestly, what is the point of getting Lindor if you’re going to surround him by terrible defenders? That’s like putting a great sound system in a Ford Pinto.

The bigger problem is the Mets pitching staff. We saw it with Walker and Peterson, and we will see it with Marcus Stroman. In fact, we will also see it with Jacob deGrom. The Mets have a ground ball pitching staff. That issue will further compound it self when Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard return from the IL.

Overall, the Mets have built a team based on ground ball pitching. That is why you could believe you can get away with Smith in left and Nimmo in left. That’s all well and good. However, you can’t assemble a ground ball staff and put literally take the worst defensive third baseman in the majors and make him the starter.

The Mets decision is compounded by the fact they have Luis Guillorme, who is a great defender. We also see Guillorme is hitting to start the season. He’s a grinder who is just never going to give up. Case-in-point is Guillorme’s at-bat last night. The Mets were down 12 with two outs in the ninth, and he got a base hit after battling in a seven pitch at-bat.

Overall, when you look at how the Mets built this team, Davis cannot start. When you look at how mightily, he’s struggling, Davis cannot start. When you see his numbers over the past three years, Davis cannot start. When you see the other options available, Davis cannot start.

Yes, this is getting redundant, but then again, so is the Mets insistence on trying to make Davis an everyday player. They tried. Davis tried. It’s not working, and they are putting an entire season at risk by doing so. It’s time to make Davis the strong bench player he was always meant to be and allow Guillorme and/or Jonathan Villar play in his stead.

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Mets Defense Sets Baseball Back A Century Or Two

David Peterson had no-hit the Chicago Cubs for the first 3.1 innings. That was despite a moving and ever changing strike zone.

The Mets had a 2-0 lead, and things looked great. After all, Francisco Lindor hit his first homer with the Mets:

Not only would the Mets lose this one, but they would lose bad. Adding salt in the wound was how embarrassing a loss it was. The fourth inning defense was just about the worst you’ve ever seen:

It was 2-1 Mets after the Cubs hit three consecutive singles. With runners on first and second, Javier Baez hit what should’ve been an inning ending double play. Instead, J.D. Davis, the worst defender in baseball, booted it.

That error not only allowed the inning to continue, but it opened the floodgates. It also precipitated just a series of gaffes.

Michael Conforto threw one away. Lindor booted one and then threw it away. After all was said and done, the Cubs scored seven runs. Gary Cohen called it a circus, and he was being kind.

In the fifth, Lindor had a bloop, and Pete Alonso had a blast. That’s putting it mildly. Alonso killed that ball:

At that time, they had hope. It was just 7-4. The problem was the Mets weren’t done playing just awful baseball.

Lindor and Jeff McNeil got crossed up on who should play a ball. That turned into a Willson Contreras double. James McCann had a catcher’s interference.

One potential inning ending double play ball deflected off Robert Gsellman‘s leg and into center. Another was hit to Davis who took his time and STILL nearly threw it into the outfield.

That was just the three run fifth.

In the sixth. Trevor Hildenberger walked the bases loaded before allowing a grand slam to Javier Baez. At that point, it was 14-4, and frankly, it seemed like the Mets were lucky to be that close.

It got to that point Guillorme pitched. That’s right, their second best defender pitched while Jonathan Villar took over at short with Davis at third.

Guillorme allowed two runs making it 16-4. The sad part is this ruined Guillorme’s 0.00 ERA entering the game.

Perhaps, the most impressive part of the game was Guillorme. With the Mets down 12 and two outs in the ninth, Guillorme battled, and eventually, he pulled off the single. The Mets wouldn’t score that inning.

The Mets lost, but at least they played Davis at third. That, and not winning games or supporting their young sinkerball pitcher, is what’s really important.

Game Notes: Brandon Nimmo sat out with a sore hip. Luis Guillorme is hitting .417/.563/.417, but he can’t start over Davis.

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J.D. Davis Blames Pete Alonso For His Error

In the Mets 3-1 loss against the Chicago Cubs, J.D. Davis was a disaster in the field again. That should be no surprise as he’s literally been the worst defender in the Majors since he joined the New York Mets in 2019.

What was interesting about the two errors was he didn’t seem bothered by it, and he didn’t take ownership of it. In fact, on the second throw, he thought he did nothing wrong.

According to Davis, he doesn’t know what happened there because he “delivered a strike.” That’s another way of saying Pete Alonso was the reason for the error.

Seeing how Davis doesn’t believe he was at fault, let’s take another look at the play:

There can be no other conclusion here than Davis is delusional. Actually, that’s a charitable explanation. There are others which don’t reflect well on Davis’ character, but even with his involvement with the Houston Astros and the aftermath, we won’t go there.

First, Davis makes no effort to charge or get in front of the ball. Arguably, backhanding it like he did allowed him to be in a better throwing position.

After that, Davis took about three to four steps before he threw the ball. This has become a pattern, and it’s becoming a problem. With each passing day, it becomes apparent Davis has the yips at third.

This is no laughing matter. It’s a serious one which we saw rob Mackey Sasser of what was a promising career. It was also something which helped bring an end to that Mets run. It’s a sad moment for both the team and the player.

After the steps, the problem is Davis didn’t throw a strike. Rather, he threw it high. Between the steps and the high throw, Alonso was forced to make a stretch for the ball he otherwise shouldn’t have needed to make.

Now, Alonso’s foot did seemingly come off the bag, and yes, Kris Bryant did not touch first base himself. Bryant is a red herring here. The issue is Davis’ throw and steps effectively forced Alonso off the bag.

Davis not being able to field his position is a real problem for the Mets. His compounding it with the yips is all the more alarming. However, for some reason, they don’t have a problem with that.

They should have a problem with Davis blaming a teammate and not taking accountability. That’s a real problem, and it should be unacceptable. We’ll see just how much the Mets deem it as such in the coming days and weeks.

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Umpires And J.D. Davis Cost Mets Chance To Win

Taijuan Walker took the mound looking to build off of his strong start to the season. Instead, he was plagued by bad umpiring and defense.

It got so bad Walker was ejected in the fourth. At that point, he had had enough of getting squeezed. The same could be said of Luis Rojas who was also ejected.

After 3.2 innings Walker had allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits and SIX walks. He struck out seven, but again, six walks.

Things should have gone better for Walker even in an abbreviated start. In the third, Walker got the ground ball he needed to get out of the inning. The bad news is Willson Contreras hit it at J.D. Davis.

What should’ve been a routine play was an error the Mets could’ve have. With that, it was 1-0 Cubs.

As bad as that was, there was the all around disaster in the fifth. Kris Bryant hit a ground ball towards Davis, who threw the ball away again.

If you’ll notice, Bryant never touched first, and yet, he will still called safe. That right there speaks to the state of umpiring and just how bad Davis was in this game.

It’s notable Davis has the yips, and he can’t get a throw off without double clutching and taking a few steps. For some reason, that was the over exaggerated narrative about Jeff McNeil, but for Davis, it’s ignored.

The good news is the Mets bullpen held up. After Walker was ejected, Robert Gsellman (0.2), Jacob Barnes (2.0), Jeurys Familia (1.0), and Trevor May (1.0) combined to keep the Cubs scoreless. That kept the score at 3-1, and, theoretically, gave the Mets a chance to win.

They didn’t.

Once again, the offense was flat out bad. As a team, they were 1-for-6 with RISP leaving 10 men on base. For five innings, they made Jake Arrieta look like the Arrieta of old.

Things were at their worst in the ninth. Craig Kimbrel was looking for the save, and he was wild. He was begging the Mets to take walk after walk after walk.

Two of the first three batters did walk. The second one, Davis struck out on a ball he had zero excuse swinging at:

After a Luis Guillorme pinch hit single to load the bases, the Mets seemed to be in great shape to tie or take the lead.

It was at that point Kimbrel regained his control. He struck out Brandon Nimmo, and then Francisco Lindor jumped on the first pitch he saw.

When Lindor grounded out, the game was over. This was easily the most frustrating loss of the season. On the bright side, it’s just one game, and they’re still in first place.

Game Notes: This was the guest time Nimmo did not reach safely this season.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets On Rocky Mountain High

The New York Mets flew into Colorado, and they were greeted with snow. That meant another postponement and another doubleheader to the schedule. It just seems like this is the way 2021 is going to go:

1. Marcus Stroman has been nothing short of phenomenal. He’s fielding his position better than anyone, and he’s 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA. He’s been better than expected, which is saying something.

2. As great as Stroman has been, Jacob deGrom is still the best pitcher on the planet. His striking out 14 and nine in a row once again put him on the precipice of Tom Seaver‘s level. That’s a testament to how great he is.

3. One remarkable thing is through the first seven years of their careers, deGrom has a better ERA+ than Seaver, and seeing the way he has started this year, it will continue through their first eight seasons. Of course, Seaver threw a lot more innings.

4. It was nice to see deGrom get picked up by his offense for once. It was also great to see Francisco Lindor deliver his first game winning RBI as a member of the Mets. Certainly, it will be the first of many.

5. Lindor’s enthusiasm out there is only matched by Stroman’s. When you have these two players out there, it makes the Mets not just more likeable but more exciting to watch.

6. While Lindor and James McCann have not hit yet the way we expect them to hit, their defense has been terrific. Case in point was McCann gunning down Trevor Story to end the game with an exceptional tag from Lindor.

7. The defense still hasn’t been there from Michael Conforto who has had a misplay and a poor throw on Saturday. On the bright side, he has started hitting again.

8. Pete Alonso has started picking it up. He has been hitting it hard all year, and at least in Coors Field, his rockets were finding holes.

9. The best way to describe how great Brandon Nimmo has been to start the season is a 1-for-4 day is an off-day. After all, it was the first time all season he only reached base fewer than two times.

10. It looks like it just might be one of those hard luck years for Jeff McNeil as not matter how much he hits it hard, it is just going to find someone.

11. While we can expect the bat to turn around, we don’t know when his glove will. He made an error which almost cost the Mets the win. While it is still early, he is at a -1 OAA. He’s generally better than that, so it is still too early to be concerned.

12. That said, the Mets best defensive alignment is still with McNeil at third and Luis Guillorme at second. That is something to keep in mind when the Mets continue to run out ground ball pitcher after ground ball pitcher.

13. Speaking of Guillorme, despite his playing very well to start the season, it appears with J.D. Davis activated off the IL, he’ll never play again. That is all the more baffling considering the Mets have all of these ground ball pitchers, and Guillorme is a flat out better player.

14. There was far too much of an overreaction to Luis Rojas going to Robert Gsellman and Jacob Barnes in the second game of the doubleheader. The Mets simply cannot keep going to Trevor May and Miguel Castro every day. They are going to burn out, and then you’re stuck with Barnes trying to hold leads.

15. The bigger issue was Barnes making the roster in the first place. The Mets had better options, and they eschewed them to carry him on the roster. Case-in-point, it appears Joey Lucchesi is probably better suited to the bullpen, which would have allowed them to carry Jordan Yamamoto.

16. Speaking of Mets pitching decisions, Steven Matz has been phenomenal to start the season. Trading him was a completely unforced error. Hopefully, it will not cost them at some point this season. And yes, he would have been successful with the Mets this year.

17. Seeing all that has transpired, it is hard to believe Sandy Alderson still has a job with the Mets. Perhaps, Steve Cohen is allowing the organizational review to complete before taking action. Until that time, Cohen at least deserves the benefit of the doubt.

18. On that topic, we are three weeks into the season, and Mickey Callaway is still employed by the Los Angeles Angels.

19. So far, Edwin Diaz has been really good. If so, that is great news for the Mets and their chances of winning the division.

20. Jonathan Villar hitting a pinch hit RBI double driving home pinch runner Albert Almora speaks to the depth the Mets have built. If they continue getting contributions from their entire roster like the way they are right now, this is going to be a truly special season.

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Jacob deGrom And Edwin Diaz Combine For 17 Strikeouts In Win

To start the game, Jacob deGrom didn’t have his best stuff. In fact, he was “only” hitting 96 on the gun. Naturally, he was phenomenal.

Starting with a strikeout of Josh Fuentes in the second, deGrom would strike out nine consecutive. That was one short of Tom Seaver‘s Major League record of 10 in a row.

That’s when the defense completely failed deGrom. Fuentes led off the fifth with a grounder up the middle. Jeff McNeil would Field it cleanly but throw it away allowing Fuentes to reach safely.

Then, Dom Nunez would hit a ball off the wall. Michael Conforto played it terribly off the wall. With him chasing the ball down, Fuentes scored easily, and Nunez had a triple.

Yonathan Daza followed with a shallow liner to right. In what was very likely driven by deGrom pitching, Nunez went home. He scored easily as Conforto made a poor off line throw which gave James McCann no chance to field it and make the tag.

Ramiel Tapia followed with a flick of the wrist Coors Field homer. Just like that, a 1-0 lead turned into a 3-1 deficit courtesy of three unearned runs.

As is normally the case, deGrom received next to no run support. That was even with Chi Chi Gonzalez starting for the Rockies.

deGrom led off the third with a single. In what was a completely inane decision, Brandon Nimmo, the Mets best hitter was called upon to sacrifice deGrom to second, which he did.

After a Francisco Lindor ground out and Dominic Smith walk, Pete Alonso delivered with an RBI single. At the moment, it seemed like it was all the run support deGrom would need.

It also appeared that was all deGrom was going to get. Part of the reason was all of the double plays.

In the second, it was J.D. Davis killing a potential rally with a double play. In the fourth, Trevor Story made a great play off a McCann grounder to turn another double play.

In the sixth, Alonso got one of the runs back hitting his second homer of the season:

deGrom’s final inning was the sixth, and he was great again. He would strike out two more. This would mark the second straight start where he struck out 14.

Overall, deGrom allowed three runs (zero earned) on three hits with one walk. Believe it or not, he’d actually pick up the win.

McCann led off the seventh with a single off Rockies closer Daniel Bard. Luis Rojas would send in Albert Almora in to pinch run. He’d soon look like a genius.

Jonathan Villar pinch hit for deGrom and hit a double to right. Almora dashed from first, and he JUST got his hand in to score the game tying run.

After a Nimmo infield single put runners on the corners, Lindor delivered his biggest hit in his nascent Mets career. His RBI single gave the Mets a 4-3 lead.

With the 4-3 lead, Edwin Diaz came on for his first save chance of the season. He struck out the side to earn his first save. That means he and deGrom managed to strike out 17 Rockies over a seven inning game.

With the late rally, deGrom earned his first win of the season. Overall, he’s 1-1 with a 0.45 ERA. Not a bad way to start the doubleheader.

Game Notes: With Davis activated off the IL, Jose Peraza was optioned. With this being a doubleheader, Stephen Tarpley was called up as the 27th man.

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