Jacob deGrom
After what has largely been a disappointing career for Rafael Montero, it certainly seems odd to ask him to have a better final pitching line than seven innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, one walk, and four strikeouts. Considering where he’s been in his career, this line seems like nothing short of a miracle. Certainly, you would take that line from Jacob deGrom and be quite happy.
However, it is not the pitching line yesterday that is at issue. It was the way those three runs scored.
You hate to see the Mets fall down 1-0 early with Montero allowing a solo home run to the second batter of the game, Marcus Semien. By the way, the sooner that guy gets out of New York, the better. After entering the series as a .151/.300/.247 hitter with no multi-hit games, he went off on the Mets. In the series, Semien was 7-13 with a homer, three RBI, and two stolen bases.
Even with the Mets falling behind early, the team would tie it with Michael Conforto hitting his 19th home run of the season off Atheltics starter Daniel Gossett:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/889201912360439808
Right after that game-tying third inning home run, Montero would allow the Athletics to jump right back ahead in the top of the fourth. The pitch Khris Davis hit out was middle-middle meaning Montero just failed to execute.
The Mets would rally back in the sixth inning to once again tie the score. Jay Bruce would hit a lead-off single, move to third on a T.J. Rivera double, and he would scored on a Jose Reyes RBI groundout. Wilmer Flores walked to continue the rally, but Rene Rivera could not punch home that go-ahead run. It would cost the Mets as Montero would go right back out there and allow the Athletics to take the lead again.
This time, Montero allowed a solo homer to Matt Chapman. Again it was a poorly executed pitch over the heart of the plate to a player with plus power.
Overall, Montero allowing just three runs over seven innings is the latest sign of his turnaround from enigma to a major league caliber starting pitcher. It’s also impressive that even with him allowing these homers he didn’t melt down. He went right back to working to get the next out. With him pitching like this, there definitely will be a spot for him on the 2018 Mets roster.
However, while Montero is making these strides, he needs to begin making that next step. That step is shutting down the opponent when your team either ties the game or take the lead. Make no mistake, the Mets loss on Sunday was on the Mets offense for not producing against a poor Athletics starter. However, Montero played a role in allowing those home runs to come at the worst points imaginable.
So yes, Sunday was a step forward for Montero, but it was not as big a step forward as we may want to believe.
Game Notes: This could have been the final home game for Curtis Granderson (0-3, BB), Bruce (1-4, BB, K), and Lucas Duda (0-4, K) as a Met. Conforto was 2-4 with the homer.
For those of us that forget, the New York Mets really had no interest in re-signing Jose Reyes after the 2011 season. When he signed with the Marlins in the offseason, there was a war of words between the two camps with Reyes saying he never received an offer, and Sandy Alderson saying Reyes’ agent was aware of the framework of the type of deal the Mets might be willing to do.
Since leaving the Mets, Reyes was roundly booed as a member of the Marlins, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, and finally had an overly brief and turbulent career with the Colorado Rockies. For reasons we all know, and need not be discussed in-depth at the moment, it led to the Rockies releasing Reyes. This also led to Reyes re-uniting with the Mets.
Last year, he was decent with the Mets helping the team make the postseason by obtaining the top Wild Card spot. The Mets brought him back as David Wright insurance, and he has struggled for most of the season. So far, Reyes is hitting .231/.293/.392. That’s good for a 79 OPS+ and a -0.8 WAR. Not to belabor what you already know, but Reyes has been a bad baseball player.
It’s bizarre we all know it, but the Mets don’t. Reyes’ 90 games played leads the Mets this season. Part of that is he hasn’t been hurt. An even bigger part of that is Terry Collins and the Mets organization won’t or can’t admit Reyes isn’t good. This is of course reflected in how the social media team has inundated us with Reyes since the All Star Break with tweets like this:
A man of the people. pic.twitter.com/Ovn5sg29Ce
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 12, 2017
Jacob deGrom is the ace. Michael Conforto is the All Star. Yoenis Cespedes is the most important player. Curtis Granderson is the role model. Addison Reed, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Jay Bruce are the players on the trade block. Yet, somehow, the Mets have made it a point to feature Reyes despite his poor play and his personal issues.
Yes, Reyes has played better of late, but he has been nowhere near as good as Conforto, Duda, deGrom, or Seth Lugo. You wouldn’t know that by looking at how the Mets promote their players.
Sure, this is a silly gripe, but when the Mets have nothing to play for this season, you tend to notice these things. Maybe if the Mets did the right thing by calling up Amed Rosario fans could focus on that. Maybe, just maybe, the team could promote him. I think we can all agree that is beneficial for everyone.
When all hope is lost, the main reason to watch the Mets is Jacob deGrom. He started today, and he delivered.
While deGrom may not have been as dominant as he has been over this stretch, he was still great. For the first six innings, no Cardinal player reached third base. In fact, the Cardinals only reached second base twice in the game.
deGrom’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and three strikeouts.
That one run shouldn’t have scored. Luke Voit had a hard hit ball to the wall Yoenis Cespedes fielded cleanly, and he had Voit dead to rights at second. Only issue is Asdrubal Cabrera didn’t bother to cover second.
Instead a run scored, deGrom got his ovation, and Paul Sewald got the Mets out of the inning.
With deGrom going like this, you knew the Mets needed one, maybe two runs to win the game.
Mets took care of that and then some. This should come as no surprise as the Mets have now averaged 7.4 runs per game over deGrom’s now seven game winning streak.
In the first, the Mets put three runs on the board and all were with three outs. A Cespedes single scored Cabrera. Lucas Duda doubled home Cespedes, and Wilmer Flores brought him home with an RBI single.
Flores getting the start was interesting, especially with the right-handed Mike Leake getting the start for the Cardinals. Perhaps it was due to T.J. Rivera making two errors yesterday. Maybe Terry Collins just wanted to give Flores a game after he’s sat for so long. Maybe it’s due to the tumors the Red Sox may have interest in him.
In any event, Flores had a good game with that RBI single and a nice play in the field:
? Wilmer! ? pic.twitter.com/Zpkl4Lc4wo
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 20, 2017
After the good first inning, the Mets had a better second inning. Michael Conforto got things started with a single, and he moved to third on a Jedd Gyorko error allowing Cabrera to reach.
Jay Bruce hit an RBI single, and Cespedes followed with an RBI double making it 6-0. After Duda was intentionally walked Jose Reyes singled home Cespedes to make it a 7-0 game.
It should’ve been a laugher. It wasn’t.
In the eighth, Sewald was pulled by Collins with two on, two out, and back-to-back lefties due up for the Cardinals. Rather than find something out about Sewald in a 7-1 game and rest his bullpen with a noon game tomorrow, Collins couldn’t help himself. He went to a completely worn down Jerry Blevins.
While Blevins has been great most of the year, he has struggled mightily since June 1st. In that time, Blevins has a 5.84 ERA and batters are hitting .269/.367/.423 off of him.
Left-handed batters Kolten Wong and Magneuris Sierra hit consecutive singles to make it 7-3. With those two singles, Blevins has now allowed 25 inherited runners to score this year, which is the fifth worst in the majors.
After Blevins walked the pinch hitter, pitcher Adam Wainwright, to load the bases, Collins had to go to Addison Reed for the four out save.
As Reed is really the only remaining reliever who is reliable left in that bullpen, it should be no surprise Reed made quick work of the Cardinals for his 16th save of the season.
With the 7-6 win, the Mets have an opportunity for the split tomorrow.
Game Notes: Josh Edgin has allowed more inherited runners to score than Blevins with 29. That’s the third worst mark in the majors.
If the Mets really want to go on that second half run like they’ve done the past two years, the run needs to begin now. It needs to begin now because the Mets have put themselves in a deep enough hole. It needs to happen now because the Rockies are in town.
For the Mets to get on that run, their pitching needs to be great, and Yoenis Cespedes needs to get going. Tonight, that happened.
Jacob deGrom shook off an unearned first inning run to completely dominate the Rockies. Over eight innings, he only allowed four hits, two runs, one earned, and one walk with 10 strikeouts.
The Rockies had an opportunity to score a third run in the sixth, but Cespedes nailed DJ LeMahieu at home plate. It was a typically strong throw from Cespedes, and it was a great tag by Travis d’Arnaud. The lesson as always is you do not run on the tandem of Cespedes and TdA.
Got heeeeeem! @ynscspds shows off the cannon to nail the runner at the plate. ?
9-2 #Mets | Mid-6 pic.twitter.com/F0qoQuDZP6
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 15, 2017
In addition to this throw, Cespedes was great at the plate once again going 4-6 with a run, double, and an RBI.
Two of Cespedes’ hits came in a six run third inning where the Mets knocked Rockies starter Jon Gray out of the game, and they blew the game open.
Cespedes got the inning started with a double. Both he and Jay Bruce would score on a T.J. Rivera RBI double. Rivera would come around to score on a Jose Reyes single.
The Mets would keep the rallying going loading the bases with no outs. After a deGrom strikeout, Mets All Star Michael Conforto knocked in a run with an RBI groundout. An Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single later, and the Mets were up 8-2.
From there, the Mets used a pair of homers to tack on runs:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886026068272062464
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886039800356188161
Rockies reliever Scott Oberg loaded the bases in the eighth, and he walked Cabrera to bring home the 13th run. Cespedes followed with an RBI infield single to cap off the Mets scoring on the night.
It was a complete offensive onslaught where every batter in the Mets lineup reached base at least two times. That includes deGrom, who is a good hitter in his own right:
Jacob deGrom has a league leading 12 hits as a pitcher, second most is three guys with 8.
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 15, 2017
This is the type of onslaught where you can at least dream of the Mets making a run. Certainly, there’s an opportunity ahead of the trade deadline. There’s an opportunity when the Mets playing up to their abilities like they did in tonight’s 14-2 victory.
Game Notes: This was deGrom’s seventh double digit strikeout game and 17th of his career. Nolan Arenado seemed to injure his hip running through the bag at first base, but initially stayed in the hand. Later, he was pulled. It was unknown if an issue flared or if it was due to the blowout. Josh Edgin pitched a scoreless ninth.
Everyone has an opinion on why the All Star Game isn’t as popular anymore. For some, it is due to the free agency because it allows players to shift leagues. For others, Interleague Play has taken the fun out of the one time we see American Leaguers play National Leaguers. Finally, there is a case the accessibility of games with cable and the internet takes some of the interest out of the All Star Game because you can see the best players of the game whenever you want.
Despite the passing interest, for me, it is always exciting when you see a young Mets player make his way to the All Star Game for the first time.
Back in 2006, we saw David Wright help launch himself into superstardom. In his first ever All Star at-bat, he hit a homer. In 2013, Matt Harvey got the the start before the home crowd, and he pumped up the home faithful with two scoreless innings. It was Jacob deGrom‘s turn in 2015 when he became the story of that All Star Game striking out the side with just 10 pitches.
Now, it is Michael Conforto‘s turn.
The last time he was on a big stage was the 2015 World Series. In that World Series, he was one of the best Mets on the field with a .333 batting average. In Game Four, Conforto had seemingly propelled the Mets into tying the series hitting two home runs. The point being Conforto will not shy away from being on the big stage. This is his chance to once again make a name for himself.
What better time to do it than right now for the 24 year old budding star. He will be on a field with the biggest names in the game. Right now, Bryce Harper, Jose Altuve, Daniel Murphy, Buster Posey, Nolan Arenado, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, and even Aaron Judge are his peers. Like Wright, Harvey, and deGrom before him, Conforto has a chance to have a moment tonight that sets himself apart, to have the whole world take notice.
We know Conforto is capable. We’ve seen him do it. He has been great all year hitting .284/.403/.542 with 14 homers and 41. That is why he is the youngest Mets outfielder to be named an All Star since Darryl Strawberry. That is why I’ll be watching tonight.
Tonight can very well be Conforto’s moment, and I can’t wait to see it happen.
For those that don’t follow the Mets minor league system closely, Thursday was about as bad a day as one organization could possibly have.
The day began with the Mets announcing Cameron Planck, last year’s 11th round draft pick, is going to undergo season ending shoulder surgery. Planck is undergoing shoulder surgery before ever throwing a pitch as a professional.
Ironically, the Mets didn’t pitch him last year to protect his arm. The Mets invested heavily in the high school arm paying him $1,000,001 to keep him from going to the University of Louisville.
Before the surgery, Planck had a mid-90s fastball, a terrific change, and a developing knuckle curve. Hopefully, he can not only be this pitcher once again, but also fulfill the destiny he had as a potential front line starter.
Another potential front line starter in the Mets organization is Thomas Szapucki.
Last year, Szapucki was 4-3 with a 1.38 ERA, 0.885 WHIP, and a 14.9 WHIP in nine starts between Kingsport and Brooklyn. The 21 year old lefty has a mid to high 90s fastball and a curveball that baffled both right-handed and left-handed batters alike.
Things have not gone as well for him this year. His 2017 season was delayed due to a shoulder impingement in his pitching arm. After five good starts, Szapucki left Thursday’s game.
Initially, it was believed he left the game in relation to his getting hit with a line drive. No such luck. As it turns out, Szapucki left the game with left forearm discomfort. Many times a pitcher’s complaints of forearm discomfort is a precursor to Tommy John surgery.
If that’s the case, on one day, the Mets may have lost two pitchers who were on the path to one day being top of the rotation starters for the major league club.
While we rightly focus on the issues the major league rotation has had staying healthy, there needs to be focus on the Mets inability to keep their minor league pitchers healthy. If the past few seasons is any example, the Mets NEED a strong group of minor league starters when the major leaguers get hurt.
More than that, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, and Jacob deGrom are not that far off from free agency. Should any of them depart, the Mets need someone to take their place.
Szapucki and Planck should be front and center among internal candidates. Hopefully, Thursday will not stand in the way of that happening.
Normally, when your team walks away from a from bases loaded no outs in the first inning, and the Mets only walk away with one run, you begin to brace yourself for a long night.
Except tonight, the Mets had Jacob deGrom on the mound, and deGrom has been in one of the best stretches of his career. Given the fact that he’s pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last four starts allowing one run or less in each of those starts, there was every chance deGrom could make that run stand.
So while a Jay Bruce strikeout and a Lucas Duda GIDP bracketed a T.J. Rivera RBI HBP, the Mets got a lead for their ace. In the second, the Mets went up 2-0 on a Jose Reyes lead-off homer off Carlos Martinez, it looked like deGrom had all the room he needed.
Then, the Cardinals bats came alive.
Over a span of seven batters between the third and fourth innings, the Cardinals would hit four homers against deGrom. There were back-to-back homers by Randal Grichuk and Paul DeJong in the third, and back-to-back homers again in the fourth. This time it was by Dexter Fowler and Jedd Gyorko.
Fortunately for deGrom, they were all solo shots. Fortunately for the Mets, Martinez struggled even worse.
In the top of the fourth, Reyes led off with a double, and Travis d’Arnaud singled him home. Somewhat surprisingly, deGrom would swing away, and he’d hit into a fielder’s choice. The poor Cardinals defense would rue not turning the double play when Curtis Granderson doubled him home.
After the Cardinals tied the game with the aforementioned fourth inning homers, Bruce would untie the game:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/883506208082100226
In the seventh, Rivera plated another run with a double scoring Yoenis Cespedes, who began the inning reaching on a Matt Carpenter error. Basically, Cespedes drilled a grounder that sometimes second baseman just could not field.
The hit must’ve been some relief for Rivera. He had been stinging the ball all night, but this double was the only hit he had to show for it.
The Mets came out of that seventh inning with another run giving them a 6-4 lead, but it should have been more.
After Cespedes reached on an error, Bruce had a terrible slide into second base. Instead of runners on second and third with no outs, there was a runner at third with one out.
After the Rivera double, Reyes was hit by a pitch, but d’Arnaud couldn’t deliver the two out RBI. This didn’t give the Mets pitching much margin for error.
For his part, deGrom was good with this two run lead. He’d pitch seven innings allowing just eight hits (four homers). He stuck out five while walking none. All in all, it was a good outing that gave the Mets a chance to win.
Jerry Blevins was first out of the pen with the assignment to get Carpenter. As noted by Gary Cohen, the oft used Blevins had a noticeable dip in velocity, and Carpenter took advantage ripping a single through the shift. With a group of right-handed batters following, Terry Collins brought in Paul Sewald.
Sewald allowed a single to the first batter he faced, Stephen Piscotty. After that, Sewald induced a double play ball off the bat of Fowler. However, the ball got stuck in Asdrubal Cabrera‘s glove. That hesitation prevented any chance of turning two with the speedy Fowler. In fact, Reyes didn’t even bother to throw to first.
Gyorko would hit a long sacrifice fly to pull the Cardinals within 6-5. Yadier Molina then got a hold of one that seemed destined to give the Cardinals the lead. Instead, the ball fell harmlessly into Cespedes’ glove.
This meant Addison Reed had no cushion as he sought to concert his 15th save. While the first two batters hit deep liners to center, Granderson was there to make the play. Reed then battled with DeJung, who was having a terrific night at the plate. Reed won the battle striking him out, and deGrom won his fifth consecutive start.
With the win, the Mets are now tied with the Cardinals in the loss column as the two sub-.500 teams run out of time to get into the thick of the Wild Card race.
Game Notes: Michael Conforto took BP before the game, and he’s likely going to be activated tomorrow.
Tonight, we were once again reminded why no-hitters are extraordinarily difficult, and next to impossible if you pitch for the Mets. It’s next to impossible as Johan Santana slayed a number of demons one rainy night at Citi Field.
Jacob deGrom had no-hit stuff tonight. It was one of those nights where the Phillies just couldn’t touch him. With some help from his catcher, Travis d’Arnaud, he was getting the corner. He was getting his fastball up to 98 MPH. All the stars seemed aligned except one thing – his pitch count.
On his 80th pitch, with two outs in the fifth inning, the Phillies finally got their hit. Andrew Knapp hit a lazy fly ball that should’ve ended the inning. Stat Cast literally put the play at a 99% catch probability. The problem with Stat Cast is it didn’t account for Curtis Granderson losing it in the lights.
As the ball fell behind him, the crowd groaned, and Knapp had his triple. It wasn’t much of a surprise Granderson lost the ball in the lights. In the previous at-bat, he had temporarily lost a line drive off the bat of Nick Williams only to recover at the last minute.
To a certain degree, Ty Kelly following with a well hit single was a bit of a relief. Whereas the Knapp hit was cheap, this wasn’t. Another consideration was with deGrom already over 80 pitches, he wasn’t going the distance.
On the other hand, the score was 2-1, and deGrom lost the no-hitter in the most excruciating way possible. It should come as no surprise he was miffed:
Curtis is wondering what happened to his water pic.twitter.com/9W571valoH
— Meditations in Panic City (@MedInPanicCity) July 1, 2017
Despite his anger, deGrom would continue dominating the Phillies. His final line was seven innings, three hits, one run, one “earned,” one walk, and 12 strikeouts. It was just the latest in what has been a stretch of dominating starts for deGrom:
Jacob deGrom over his last four starts –
32 IP, 15 H, 3 ER, 31 K, 0.84 ERA
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 1, 2017
Lost in the Granderson botched play was his providing some offense to give deGrom the lead.
T.J. Rivera led off the second inning with a double, and it appeared as if he might be stranded there with the pitcher’s spot coming up with two outs. deGrom would work out a walk against Ben Lively bringing up Granderson.
Granderson hit a slow roller up the middle. Freddy Galvis got to the ball, but with Granderson’s speed, it was an infield RBI single giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.
Speaking of triples that should have been outs, Jose Reyes hit a ball to the wall in center. More times than not, Odubel Herrera makes that play. Tonight, he couldn’t hang onto it. This set up a d’Arnaud RBI single.
d’Arnaud is getting hit. Over his last three games, including tonight, he is 4-10 with a double, homer, and three RBI. If he continues hitting like this, he’ll quiet the talk of the Mets needing to upgrade at catcher. In fact, he may even get his manager to play him everyday.
This game was ultimately closer that it probably should have been. A first inning rally was ended with a Wilmer Flores GIDP. Part of the reason the Mets only came out of the second with a run was a d’Arnaud GIDP.
The Mets had little room for error, but their bullpen made it work.
Jerry Blevins allowed a one out double to Cameron Perkins. He kept things at bay with a Daniel Nava ground out. Terry Collins brought on Paul Sewald, who got Galvis to fly out to end the inning.
Addison Reed pitched a perfect ninth to give the Mets a good win. Mets are really trending in the right direction with good pitching and timely hitting. They’ce now won six of seven, and the Nationals may be facing another injury.
Game Notes: Lucas Duda missed another game with the flu, and Michael Conforto sat because he still cannot swing a bat. No, he still hasn’t been put on the DL.