Jose Reyes

Vargas, Whole Mets Team Terrible

Jason Vargas‘ last start of 2007 was a 3.1 inning effort where he allowed nine runs on 11 hits.  His first start of this season was a 3.2 inning effort where he allowed nine runs on nine hits.  Seeing that, you would only assume Vargas could only improve from there.

Seeing his start today, you would be right.  That’s the good news. The bad news is he’s still terrible.

A Nick Markakis double and Kurt Suzuki gave the Braves a 3-0 lead in the first, and they were off and rolling.

Really, at that point, the game was over.  It was.

Not only did the Braves have Julio Teheran on the mound, but the Mets had another one of their non-competitive lineups enragingly featuring Jose Reyes leading off and playing third.  To be fair, Reyes limited the damage by going 0-4 and misplaying what should have been a foul out.

To perfectly encapsulate both how this game and this series was, Teheran was 2-2 with an RBI and a sac fly.  The entire Mets offense had just two hits off of him, and those did not come until the seventh inning when the score was already 11-0.

That’s right.  11-0.

It got to that point because the Braves chased Vargas in the fifth with a Ronald Acuna and Markakis home run.  Matt Harvey would get the Mets out of the fifth inning jam, and he would pitch a perfect sixth.

Harvey’s velocity was back up to 95, and for a moment you caught yourself thinking maybe he turned the corner.  Well, he didn’t.  Not even close.  In the seventh, he allowed five runs on three hits and three walks.

After the game, you heard people like Nelson Figueroa say Harvey isn’t even a Major League pitcher anymore.  Of course, the silence on Reyes, who was terrible again, and Adrian Gonzalez, who wasn’t great again, was deafening.

Right now, there are a lot of problems with the Mets.  Fortunately, one of them isn’t Jacob deGrom, who appears to be healthy enough to make his next start.  So, there’s that.

Game Notes: The Mets entered this series without being swept or shut out all year.  They’ve now been swept and been shut out in consecutive games.

page top

Cespedes Great, Rest of Team Not So Much In Loss To Braves

With the Braves sending to the mound RHP Mike Soroka for his Major League debut, you knew this was going to be a rough game for the Mets.  The players change.  The managers change.  Even the uniforms have changed.  And yet, somehow, whenever a pitcher makes his Major League debut against the Mets, you know he is going to shut the Mets down.

For a brief second, it seemed like Soroka would be the exception.  The Mets had two on and two out, but Todd Frazier would ground out to end the threat.  From there, it was pretty smooth coasting for Soroka.  Even with he was in trouble, he would be aided by an Adrian Gonzalez double play grounder in the third and a Mets team who was 0-4 with RISP.

Really, the only blip from Soroka on the night was one pitch he threw to Yoenis Cespedes:

Even in this frustrating loss, the good news was Cespedes was still sizzling hot even after his thumb injury which forced him to leave Sunday’s game.  On the night, he was 3-4 with a run, homer, and an RBI.  In the field, he made a couple of nice plays, and he had one of those trademark Cespedes throws:

The problem with the Mets tonight was they needed more than just Cespedes.  Ideally, that would have come in the form of Noah Syndergaard.

It wasn’t to be as the Braves were very aggressive against Syndergaard with many attacking the first pitch.  To start the game, the Braves got consecutive hits from Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna, Freddie Freeman, and Nick Markakis.  After that Syndergaard settled in a bit, and he gutted through six innings.  That’s what a true ace does.  Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he finds a way.

Unfortunately, even with him figuring a way to get a quality start, the Mets just didn’t have it.  After Soroka, Dan Winkler, who was pressed into action after a Shane Carle injury got through the seventh.  In the eighth, Michael Conforto, Cespedes, and Jay Bruce failed to plate Asdrubal Cabrera, who had led off the inning with a single off A.J. Minter.

In the ninth, the Braves turned to Arodys Vizcaino for the save, and Frazier got it all started with a single that bounced just in front of the diving Markakis.  Then, the Braves did their best Luis Castillo impersonation with seemingly their entire 25 man roster incapable of fielding a pop up to right before second base.

Amed Rosario twice tried to butcher boy it, and he swung and missed both times.  He then just fanned on the third pitch of the at-bat.  Still, the runners would advance on a Vizcaino wild pitch thereby allowing Frazier to score on a Wilmer Flores RBI groundout.  With the Mets down 3-2, the game was then in Jose Reyes‘ hands.

In a surprise to no one, Reyes failed to deliver.

Game Notes: The Mets are now 7-9 since Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki went down.  Fortunately, Plawecki is a few weeks away.

page top

Mets Free Agent Signings Didn’t Produce In April

During the offseason, many Mets fans, myself included, had implored the Mets to go out on the free agent market and address the real needs this team had.  Instead, the Mets went out, looked for bargains, and they signed more Major League free agents than they had during Sandy Alderson’s tenure as the Mets general mananger.

On the surface, it must be working out because the Mets are 17-9 and in first place.  With the salt and pepper shaker bit, the Mets seem to have built a strong clubhouse and a strong team who is in good position to make the postseason.

However, if you dig a little deeper, you will see of all the players the Mets signed this past offseason, Todd Frazier is really the only one producing.  While we are dealing with small sample sizes, here is the respective WAR for each of the Mets free agent signings:

Adrian Gonzalez-0.3 WAR
Jay Bruce 0.0 WAR
Jose Reyes -0.2 WAR
Jason Vargas -0.3 WAR
Anthony Swarzak 0.0 WAR

Combined, these free agent signings have accumulated a -0.8 WAR. Now, there are bound to be some caveats to this, and one of those caveats is injuries.

Vargas and Swarzak have both spent time on the disabled list. With Swarzak, his being on the disabled list has prevented him from contributing.  With Vargas, his injury limited him to one start, and in that one start where he allowed nine runs on nine hits in 3.2 innnings, he was arguably rusty.  At least you hope Vargas was rusty.

With respect to Bruce, he has been hampered by plantar fascitiis.  As a result, the Mets have not seen the player who got off to a terrific start last year.  Instead, this looks more like the Bruce of 2014 – 2016 who averaged a 0.1 WAR.

Bruce’s injury and Gonzalez’s ineffectiveness have had it’s impact on the Mets which go far beyond their recent 7-8 streak.  No, their presence on the team has limited Brandon Nimmo‘s playing time.  Nimmo has started the season hitting .313/.488/.563 with a double, two triples, a homer, three RBI, and a stolen base.  If this were a true meritocracy, Nimmo would be leading off and playing everyday.

Instead, because he made the mistake of being born in the 1990s instead of the 1980s, he’s on the bench.  As a result, the Mets are not fielding their best team each and every day.

Speaking of which, it is still baffling how Reyes is still on this roster.  Last year, he had a -0.6 WAR, 94 wRC+, and an MLB worst -26 DRS among infielders.  Basically put, he couldn’t hit and couldn’t field.

As for the argument he’s a mentor for Amed Rosario, then he’s failing at that job too.  Rosario has an unfathomably low 4.3% walk rate, a  high 25.3% strikeout rate, and a -2 DRS.  Overall, he’s hitting just .238/.282/.325 with five doubles, a triple, no homers, eight RBI, no stolen bases, and two caught stealings. The end result of that is Rosario having a -0.2 WAR.

Looking at Rosario’s numbers, he’s nowhere close to living up to his potential.  Rosario is a truly gifted player, and the Mets have a lot invested in him and his development.  So far, whatever Reyes is telling him, just isn’t working.  And if Reyes is playing poorly and isn’t helping Rosario along, you need to again question why Reyes is here.

The good news is we should reasonably expect Bruce and Vargas to improve.  Sooner or later, Swarzak will return and be a real shot in the arm for the bullpen.  To that extent, the Mets could be a significantly better version of the 17-9 team they are right now.  Of course, part of being a better team is putting their younger players like Nimmo and Rosario in a position to succeed.  To that end, the Mets may need to re-look at the players they signed this offseason and cut bait where appropriate.

 

Editor’s Note: This was partially adapted from the 3 Up, 3 Down piece published on MMO

page top

Gonzalez Rejuvenated in San Diego

One of the most interesting phenomena in sports is how when an aging player returns to his old stomping grounds, sometimes he is just able to turn back the clock.  As Mets fans, we saw this in 2006 when Mike Piazza had a two home run game against Pedro Martinez.  Yesterday, we saw Adrian Gonzalez have one of those days.

It’s been bad for Gonzalez of late, really bad.  He’s been mired in a 1-17 stretch with no extra base hits.  Going back a little further, over his last 10 games, he’s hitting .121/.205/.212.

Things have been so bad Wilmer Flores got the previous two starts at first base.  Yes, the Padres were starting left-handed pitchers both days, but Gonzalez has killed Clayton Richard.  However, when you’re hitting like he’s been hitting, you’re not going to get into the lineup.  You’re also going to hear about the Mets planning to move Jay Bruce to first base.  This meant if Gonzalez was going to do anything to stop it all from happening, he was going to have to do it now.

That seventh inning three run homer was needed because it helped put what was a close game away.  Instead of a tight 4-2 game with Mickey Callaway having to use his best relievers, it was a 7-2 laugher allowing Callaway to get work for guys like Matt Harvey.

It was all part of a great day for Gonzalez.  Overall, he was 3-6 with a run, double, homer, and five RBI.  He would have had an even better day had Franchy Cordero not robbed him of another double earlier in the game.

With Gonzalez front and center, this was really a day when a lot of beleaguered Mets got healthy.  Jose Reyes contributed going 2-5 with three runs, a homer, RBI, walk, and a stolen base.  Tomas Nido was 2-5 with a run, RBI, and a walk.  And Harvey would pitch a scoreless ninth, even if he did allow a hard hit double to Eric Hosmer.  Really, that’s the last time I want to ever put Harvey’s name, double, and a 2015 Royal in the same sentence.

Going with the rejuvenation theme, Zack Wheeler was good, which was needed from a Mets rotation still trying to figure out who can be an effective third starter in this rotation.

He battled most of the afternoon, and he did not get a 1-2-3 inning until the fifth, his last inning of work.  That said, what impressed you most about this start was how Wheeler found that extra something at times when he’s usually lost it.  Wheeler ended a rally in the first by striking out Freddy Galvis.  He helped curb a third inning rally limiting the damage to two runs by striking out Carlos Asuaje.  After Manuel Margot‘s two out single, stolen base, and advancing to third on a throwing error, Wheeler struck out Hosmer.

Overall, Wheeler had nine strikeouts, but what was really remarkable was how he got them at key moments when he needed a strikeout.  That hasn’t always been his M.O., and it’s a real positive step going forward for him.

Even with his start and with Gonzalez turning back the clock was how the Mets offense put five spots on the board in consecutive innings.  It was a full on onslaught by a Mets offense which saw every starting position player register two hits.  Even Brandon Nimmo, who came on for Yoenis Cespedes, would register two hits.  In addition to Gonzalez, Reyes and Todd Frazier would homer.  The sum total of this barrage was a 14-2 Mets win marking the first ever time the Mets have scored double digits at Petco Park.

Of course with this being the Mets, not everything could be a positive.  Cespedes, who has been torrid of late, had to come out of the game after executing a double steal with Bruce.  In what was his second stolen base of the inning, Cespedes jammed his thumb.  The good news is the x-rays were negative.  The bad news is Cespedes believes he can’t play over the next three days, and that’s with the Braves coming to town.

Still, things could have been a lot worse with Cespedes, and with the Mets going to Petco, a place where they had only previously won one series, things could have gone a lot worse there.  All in all, this was a good series where the Mets got back on track.

Game Notes: Paul Sewald recorded his first hold of the season.  He initially came on to relieve Wheeler when it was a two run game.  He now has a 1.98 ERA on the season.

page top

Mets Blow Another Late Inning Lead

Through seven innings, the batters in this game might as well have gone up to the plate blindfolded and holding onto a broken tennis racket.  That was how good their chances were scoring a run against either Jacob deGrom or Julio Teheran, both of whom dominate the other team and allowed just four hits apiece tonight.  Really, their final lines were practically identical:

deGrom (ND) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K
Teheran (ND) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 6 K

It wasn’t until the bullpens got involved that these offenses would wake up, and with the Mets being the away team, they were the ones who went off first.

Wilmer Flores drew a leadoff walk against Braves reliever Sam Freeman, and he moved to second on a Jose Reyes single.  For Reyes, despite him entering this game 0-20, he had a resurgent game reaching in his first three plate attempts going 3-4 with a run and a stolen base.

The pivotal moment of the inning, and at that time, the game was when Ozzie Albies just botched catching the throw in his haste to turn a double play on a Michael Conforto grounder.  While Reyes was initially ruled out, Mickey Callaway challenged the call, and Reyes was ruled safe.

As an aside, it was the second successful challenge for the Mets on the day.  The other was just as important on what was initially ruled an Ender Inciarte stolen base of third with no outs in the sixth:

Todd Frazier‘s holding on the tag kept the game scoreless, and it helped allow this game remain scoreless into the eighth.

With the bases loaded and no outs, this was the spot where you assumed Yoenis Cespedes would come through.  Even with his recent struggles, and his batting .195 on the season, he’s still gotten the clutch hits, and he is still hitting with the bases loaded.  Except for tonight.  He hit a shallow fly to Nick Markakis, and with Flores on third, there was no way he was going to tag up and score on that.  With Cespedes’ failure to deliver, it put the rally in jeopardy.

That was until Asdrubal Cabrera came up and hit a clutch two run RBI single to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.  Jay Bruce followed with an RBI single, and he hustled to second on an Inciarte fielding error.

Eventually, Adrian Gonzalez was intentionally walked, and Jose Lobaton hit a sinking line drive which Preston Tucker almost misplayed.  Instead he made a sliding catch getting the Braves out of the inning down 3-0.

With his performance yesterday, you thought this would be enough for AJ Ramos to lock down.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see that Ramos tonight.

No, we saw the Ramos who has troubles maintaining the strike zone.  He’d bookend an Inciarte strikeout with walks to Ryan Flaherty and Albies.  With Mets killer Freddie Freeman coming up, Callaway understandably went to his lone lefty Jerry Blevins.

Much like how he performed on the season, Blevins failed to get the exact guy he was brought into the game to get.  Freeman hit a two RBI double to pull the Braves within one.

Blevins would strike out Markakis, but the damage was done.  It was done not just because the Braves plated two runs, but because Blevins failure to get both left-handed batters, but also Ramos’ ineffectiveness, Jeurys Familia needed to come into the game to get the last out of the eighth.

Going multiple innings like this was something that was once old hat for Familia, and with him doing it already two times this season, the hope was he could do it tonight.  He didn’t.

It started with a leadoff walk to Dansby Swanson, who scored the game tying run on a Johan Camargo (yes, the very same one) triple.

The Mets got a bit of a break with Kurt Suzuki lining a ball off of Frazier’s glove.  Suzuki reached first safely, but Camargo wouldn’t score on the play.  It seemed things were turning back towards the Mets direction as Charlie Culberson struck out, which at least created the possibility the Mets could get out of the inning with double play.  That didn’t happen because, as Gary Cohen predicted may happen, Inciarte dropped down the drag bunt:


With that bunt, the Mets lost the game 4-3.  More than that, the Mets blew a great start from deGrom.  More than anything, this is the second time this week, the Mets bullpen has lost a game against a division rival.  It is still too early to begin worrying about these sorts of things, but it is never to be soon to be aware of what issues it could raise for the Mets down the road.

Game Notes: Before the game, it was announced Matt Harvey was moving to the bullpen.  Joining him there was Corey Oswalt.  Gerson Bautista was sent down to make room for Oswalt.

page top

Mets Blogger Roundtable: Pleasant Surprises of The 2018 Mets Season

After the Mets lost a brutal game to the Washington Nationals with an epic eighth inning meltdown, you’d be hard pressed to think of anything good about the 2018 Mets even with the team having a 12-3 record.  Of course, last night, the Mets had their own eighth inning rally to remind everyone just how good this Mets team can be.

With there being so many different surprises this season, our Mets bloggers answered the question about what they believe to be the most pleasant surprise of the 2018 season:

Roger Cormier (Good Fundies)

I would have to say it’s all of the winning. Now don’t get me wrong – I didn’t expect a 1-161 season (the Mets always win Opening Day), but boy, all of the winning at the jump? It was an embarrassment of riches. I would *never* ask for 11 wins after 12 games. Yet the other shoe kept refusing to drop. My shoes just stayed on my beach blanket as I danced in the sands of glory. I have pneumonia now of course thanks to this weather, but boy was it fun. They say you never know when you’re living in a golden age, and I wanted to prove this ‘they’ wrong. Back to reality though. *Nyquil chug* Sorry, what was I saying? Oh right, the winning. Yes, the surprise was all of the winning.

Joe Marcic (Loud Egg)

I was going to say the bullpen… but maybe not.

Besides the bullpen, I’d say the DL. I do not want to say this too loudly and jinx things, but Mickey Callaway‘s handling of his players (especially pitching) has been great. Both catchers being out hurts, but it’s not too bad this early in the season. Unpleasant surprise: Jose Reyes not getting a hit. Did not see this coming.

Metstradamus (Metstradamus Blog)

Adrian Gonzalez. Everything else is a distant second.

Greg Prince (Faith and Fear in Flushing)

The most pleasant surprise of the early season was that the ugly 8-6 loss to the Nationals fifteen games in was considered a total shock as opposed to business as usual. Wouldn’t have seen the status quo reshaping itself so definitively prior to Opening Day.

Mets Daddy

The Todd Frazier effect on everything Mets.  He’s brought a winning attitude to the team.  He’s become the upbeat clubhouse guy, and he’s started this fun friendship with Yoenis Cespedes.  He also helped start that goofy grinder thing that has someone become not just a team bonding thing, but a thing Mets fans have come to actually like.

Speaking of Mets fans, Frazier is one of the good ones, like Wilmer Flores, who takes time to interact with the fans.  He’s already making himself a fan favorite, and he seems like one of those players we will irrationally love for the next 40 years.

While the Mets have been a surprise this season, the excellent work from the participating bloggers isn’t.  As always, I encourage you to visit their sites to get their unique, thoughtful, and interesting takes on the Mets.

 

page top

This Time, The Mets Own The Eighth Inning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

page top

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

page top

Can’t No-Hit Or Beat The Mets

Well, isn’t this just the Mets luck?  On a day when Mets fans and the entire organization all were celebrating the Five Aces finally making one turn through the rotation, pitching would be the story of the game.  The story wasn’t Zack Wheeler, who had the best start by a Mets pitcher this season.  No, initially the story would be Marlins rookie Jarlin Garcia would no-hit the Mets through the first six innings of the game.

In his Major League debut, Garcia stared down the entire Mets lineup, and he didn’t allow anything except two ill-timed sixth inning walks and Todd Frazier reaching on an error.  Even the walks didn’t hurt him as Jay Bruce would get thrown out trying to steal third.

Naturally, when you have a no-hitter going, you know you are out-pitching the opposing pitcher.  What was surprising was it was not by much.

After making one start in Triple-A to hone his mechanics, Wheeler was great tonight.  He would become the first Mets pitcher to pitch into the seventh inning.  The knock on Wheeler was always his walking too many people and not being able to put batters away.  Tonight, he struck out seven while only walking one.

While Garcia allowed no hits, Wheeler would allow just two.  Unfortuantely, one of those was a Miguel Rojas home run.

With the Mets getting no-hit until Frazier had a single off of Marlins reliever Drew Steckenrider, you would think the Mets lost this game.  Yeah, that wasn’t happening to the 9-1 Mets.

Before the game, it was announced Travis d’Arnaud needed to go on the disabled list with a torn UCL.  Naturally, this meant Kevin Plawecki would get plunked on his catching hand by a 100 MPH from Marlins reliever Tayron Guerrero.

Plawecki stayed in the game, and Michael Conforto, who did not start against the left-handed Garcia, came on to pinch hit for Juan Lagares.  The Marlins countered with LOOGY Chris O’Grady.  It didn’t matter as Conforto his a double to the right field corner.

That set up runners on second and third with one out.  Instead of going with the hitless switch hitting Jose Reyes to pinch hit for Wheeler, Mickey Callaway went with Adrian Gonzalez.  Callaway’s faith in Gonzalez was rewarded with him delivering a go-ahead two RBI single.

When Starlin Castro couldn’t corral an Asdrubal Cabrera pop up in shallow right field, Junichi Tazawa would be brought on to neutralize Wilmer Flores.  It didn’t work with Flores delivering an RBI ground rule double.  Frazier would follow with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 Mets.

To punctuate the win, Robert Gsellman struck out the side in the eighth.  He has now struck out 12 of the 27 batters he has faced this season.

Jerry Blevins and AJ Ramos would combine to pitch a scoreless ninth to secure the Mets 4-1 victory.

Really, this was a game the Mets were dead in the water.  They were unable to get a hit because of great Marlins pitching and defense.  All that ended in an epic eighth inning rally.  Really, that’s how great things are going for the 10-1 Mets right now.  Even when getting no-hit and having no catchers left from their Opening Day roster, they come back and give Wheeler the victory.

Game Notes: While Plawecki stayed in to run the bases after the HBP, he would be lifted when his turn in the order came back up.  Tomas Nido, who was called up to take d’Arnaud’s spot on the roster, pinch hit for Plawecki and hit into an inning ending double play.  Reyes remains hitless.

page top

2015 Feel With deGrom, Cespedes, Bruce Beating Nationals

This might have been the Nationals home opener, but this game certainly had the feel of an Opening Day to the season.  You had a great pitching matchup with Jacob deGrom and Stephen Strasburg.  More than that, as a fan, there was a great sense of anticipation for the matchup.  Not just because of the pitching matchup.  Not just because of the eagerness to see how the Mets matchup against the Nationals.

No, the biggest headline of this day was Michael Conforto making his 2018 debut.

Given the poor run of luck with significant injuries and the ensuing recoveries, you would expect Mets fans to have trepidation.  David Wright and Matt Harvey are Exhibit A and Exhibit B for that.  And yet, for some reason, the Mets fans seemed to have nothing but excitement to see their future superstar return to the Mets ahead of schedule.

Mickey Callaway put him in the lineup as the leadoff hitter and as the center fielder.

It wasn’t the greatest of starts for Conforto, who said he wanted to start today because he wanted Strasburg.  He struck out in his first at-bat against Strasburg on three pitches.  In the bottom of the first, Adam Eaton hit the first pitch over his head for a lead off double.  With Anthony Rendon following with a single on a ball Jay Bruce would bobble, it was quickly 1-o Nationals.

Things would get better for Conforto and deGrom.

Bruce would atone for his error by nearly hitting one out against Strasburg.  Two quick outs later followed by a Kevin Plawecki walk, the Mets had runners at the corners with surprise starter Jose Reyes at the plate.  The Mets didn’t need Reyes to deliver here because Strasburg would balk trying to pick off Plawecki leading to Bruce scoring.

Eaton and Rendon would strike back in the third to give the Nationals the lead again.  Eaton walked, and he would score on a Rendon double.  From that point forward, it was all Mets.

Yoenis Cespedes lead off the fourth with a game tying home run.  As if it wasn’t exciting enough to see Cespedes tying up the game, the Mets would rally in the fifth.

Plawecki led things off with a leadoff single, and he moved to second on a Reyes ground out.  After a deGrom strikeout, that meant it was up to Conforto to try to break the tie.  Up until this point in the game, he struck out on three pitches, and he hit into a double play.  Things did not look great in this at-bat as Strasburg quickly went up 1-2 on him.  Then, Conforto showed us just how healthy he is:

His opposite field home run showed us not just the return of his all field power, but also his great approach at the plate.  In our “Yes, Virginia” moment, we now knew Conforto was alright.

Now, with a 4-2 lead, this put the game in deGrom’s hands.  With his entering the game with an all-time best 1.98 ERA in day games and his being 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA and 0.983 WHIP in Nationals Park, it looked like it would be smooth sailing for the Mets.

However, this is the Mets and nothing is ever easy.  The Nationals quickly loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth.  This wasn’t helped by deGrom uncharacteristically issuing back-to-back walks to Rendon and Bryce Harper.  With deGrom being the ace that he is, he bore down.

First, he got Ryan Zimmerman to hit a shallow fly to right.  Howie Kendrick hit a laser right at Reyes.  Finally, deGrom struck out Trea Turner on three straight pitches, the last one looking.

It’s still early in the season, and there are 155 games left to be played, but this may prove to be a seminal moment of the 2018 season because after that we didn’t see the Nationals who tortured the Mets in 2014 and 2016.  No, this started to feel like the 2015 season with the Nationals falling apart when pushed by the Mets.

The ungluing happened in the seventh inning.

Turner was ejected for arguing with the home plate umpire, and Brandon Kintzler just didn’t have it.

After the Reyes pop out, Brandon Nimmo pinch hit for deGrom, and he nearly hit one out.  Conforto walked.  After a borderline strike was called to strike out Asdrubal Cabrera, Cespedes and Bruce would get the benefit of the doubt on close pitches.  Both batters would have 3-2 counts.  Cespedes walked, and Bruce hit a grand slam giving the Mets an 8-2 lead.

Jerry Blevins and Robert Gsellman would combine to pitch a perfect seventh.  Hansel Robles navigated through a one out Rendon double while striking out the side.  One his strikeout victims was Harper who is now 1-4 with three strikeouts off Robles.  Seth Lugo would bring it home to preserve the 8-2 win.

Overall, the Mets got a big home run from Cespedes.  They had an injured player come back and provide a huge home run.  One of the Mets aces outpitched one of the Nationals aces.  The Nationals had a key player suffer an injury and another one lose their cool.  The Nationals bullpen melted down while the Mets bullpen was much better than expected.

If I didn’t know any better, I would swear this was August 2015.

Game Notes:  deGrom became the first Met this season to have a quality start.  His final line was 6.0 inning, four hits, two runs, one earned, three walks, and five strikeouts.  After the sixth inning, Eaton left the game with an injury.  He was off to a hot start after tearing his ACL.

 

page top