Lucas Duda

Lagares Call Was Bad Luck & Umpiring. 

The Mets bullpen blew a lead, and they found themselves trailing going into the eighth inning needing to score a run to tie the game. 

Because there was a lefty on the mound, Terry Collins pinch hit Juan Lagares for Michael Conforto. It paid off as Lagares hit a one out double. The Rockies then intentionally walked Yoenis Cespedes as he’s hitting lefties harder than Rougned Odor hit Jose Bautista. That brought Lucas Duda to the plate, who has been struggling of late. What ensued was an umpire making a horrendous call for the second straight game. 

Duda hit a groundball directly at Nolan Arenado. Arenado lunged to tag Lagares, but Lagares juked out of the way. Arenado then threw the ball to first to get Duda for an inning ending double play. You tead that correctly. The umpires ruled Duda hit into an inning ending double play. The reason was the umpires determined Lagares ran out of the baseline. 

Before commenting further, there are two things to keep in mind. First, Josh Harrison wasn’t deemed to be out of the baseline in this play against the Mets last year:

Second, Lagares gets three feet:

https://twitter.com/jschapiro_sbr/status/731976606835740672

It’s hard to tell from the angle, but it would appear Lagares was within the allotted three feet. Put it this way, Lagares didn’t step on the infield grass like Harrison did. What happened was the umpire made a horrendous call that potentially affected the outcome of the game. 

Terry Collins ran out to argue, but he didn’t exactly get his money’s worth. Based upon his ejection and post game rant Saturday, I’m assuming the umpire told him that if Collins doesn’t pick his words carefully, the Mets won’t get another call the rest of the year. 

Mostly, that play was a lot of bad luck for the Mets. First, Duda goes the other way with the pitch, and he hits a sharp grounder away from the shift. Unfortunately, he hits it right at Arenado. Lagares then runs right at the fielder. Now, Lagares could’ve read that ball better and either chose to go behind Arenado or stop thereby ensuring no double play. Instead, he busted it to third presumably hoping he could score. 

What happened was Lagares was in a position that Arenado could make a play and the umpire could make a call. It seems when you’re struggling like the Mets are, the ball finds the lone fielder on the left side of the infield, and the umpire makes a bad call.

In any event, the Mets got swept by the Rockies and are returning home for an already over-hyped three game set against the Nationals. With the day off, the Mets should play much better. Hopefully, the umpiring will be much better too. 

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Hey It’s Enrico Pollazo!

So it looks like Carlos Torres finally get his revenge against Terry Collins for abusing his arm all these years. 

In the third inning, the Rockies had already played a run extending their lead to 3-1. Tony Wolters swung and missed at strike three making it two outs with the pitcher coming up. Logan Verrett had minimized the damage. Nope, Home Plate Umpire Carlos Torres (no relation to the former Mets relief pitcher) called a pitch Wolters clearly swung and missed a foul tip. No strikeout. Here’s the replay.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbNNFfTx9g

Apparently, Wolters at bat was extended to prevent Curtis Granderson from assassinating Queen Elizabeth II. 
In any event, Wolters at bat was extended, and he hit a two run double to make it 5-1. Terry Collins was tossed. The Rockies put a five spot up the inning. Verrett was eventually chase after throwing 75 pitches in 2.2 innings. In total, he allowed 10 hits, seven earned, and three walks with no strikeouts. 

Verrett wasn’t good all night, BUT his outing would’ve been drastically different had the umpire actually made the correct call. 

The Mets did show some character in the game despite being down 7-1. Neil Walker snapped out of his cold spell with a solo homer in the fourth. Lucas Duda singled home Yoenis Cespedes, who had a lead off triple, in the sixth. Duda later scored when Asdrubal Cabrera grounded into a double play. The sixth inning rally was ended when D.J. LeMahieu robbed Granderson of a base hit. LeMahieu had a terrific game in the field robbing the Mets of a few hits. 

The Mets couldn’t muster another rally. They did fight, but it was all for naught. They lost 7-4. 

On the bright side, the Mets bullpen was terrific. They went 5.1 innings allowing no runs, two hits, a hit by pitch, and no walks while striking out three. Sean Gilmartin deserves special mention for going two innings after pitching three innings on Thursday. 

With that said, the Mets still lost. The loss guaranteed a losing road trip. It guaranteed the Mets lost their first series since the April 11 -13 series against the Marlins. The Mets dropped to third place in the NL East. But remember, it’s still just May, and it’s the end of a long West coast trip. 

The Mets will be fine, and they’ll start winning games and series again. Avoiding a sweep by winning tomorrow will be a good start before heading home for a big series against the Nationals. 

Game Notes: Ron Darling went into full Keith Hernandez mode.  In the fifth inning, he sent Nate from the production crew behind home plate to get some guy to stop continuously waving. When the Mets were rallying in the sixth, he referred to the game as a Coors Light type of game. In the seventh, he referred to a mound visit between Wolters and Gonzalez Germen before a pitch was thrown as an embarrassment to the game. 

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Kershaw & Utley Dominated the Mets

It was over before it began. The Dodgers sent Clayton Kershaw to the mound, and he brought his A game. Bartolo Colon took the mound for the Mets, and he allowed for runs in the first. When that happens:

The game was as awful and dissatisfying as a regular season game in May can be.

Not only did the Dodgers jump all over Colon, but Chase Utley had a great game. He jumped right on Colon with a single getting the first inning rally started. He then hit a homer in the second to make it a 5-0 game. He went 3-4 with two runs, an RBI, and the aforementioned homer. What made it all the more frustrating was no one plunked Utley let alone threw one into his kitchen. 

There were not many pluses for the Mets. David Wright walked in the first meaning there wouldn’t be a perfect game. Asdrubal Cabrera did get a hit in the fourth meaning there would be no no-hitter. It was important because Kershaw had no-hit stuff going:

Kershaw threw a three hit shutout with one walk and 13 strikeouts. It was the second straight year he threw a shut out against the Mets. 

Cabrera also had a nice night in the field with a couple of good defensive plays.  Colon did make it through five innings despite getting tattooed most of the night.  In the five innings he pitched, he allowed seven hits and five earned. 

Colon gave way to Sean Gilmartin, who pitched well in his return to the Mets bullpen. He actually struck out Utley. Overall, Gilmartin, who had been starting in AAA, went three innings allowing one hit, no runs, and no walks with three strikeouts. 

Overall, it was a lost game. Many teams have that against Kershaw. No shame in that.  The only real problem tonight was watching Utley have a good night (and a good series) while looking comfortable at the plate. 

The Mets move on to Colorado where the Mets hitters promise to be a lot more comfortable. 

Game Notes: Lucas Duda and Michael Conforto sat against Kershaw. 

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Matz Dominates the Braves

Terry Collins must be relieved that for the second straight day, a Braves pitcher got the better of a Mets starter. Last night, it was Matt Wisler only allowing one hit in eight innings against a struggling Matt Harvey. Today, it was Jhoulys Chacin getting the better of Steven Matz. 

With two outs in the third, Chacin singled off of Matz. It would put the game in a completely different perspective. 

Instead of Collins agonizing again whether or not to leave Matz in during a no-hitter, he could manage it like any other game. Strange enough, Collins said before the game if he was presented with another Johan Santana situation, especially with a young pitcher, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull him. Collins did pull Matz after he threw his 106th pitch. At that point, Matz had thrown 7.2 innings, and he just allowed his second hit. Matz was just terrific. In addition to the two hits, he allowed no runs, no walks, and he struck out eight. 

Matz has completely recovered from his awful first start. Matz is now 4-1. He’s lowered his ERA from 37.80 to 2.89. Matz is showing why many had him as an early favorite for the Rookie of the Year Award. 

While Matz dominated the Braves from the mound, the Mets batters dominated at the plate:

By the way, who had Rene Rivera as the first Mets catcher to homer this year in their office pool?

The other homers came from Asdrubal Cabrera and Lucas Duda, who hit two. Overall, the Mets completely dominated the Braves like we should all reasonably expect. The final score of 8-0 was deceptive. It made the game appear closer than it was. 

Game Notes: This was the Mets third shut out of the year. The Mets have now won six consecutive series. This is the first time they’ve done that since 2006. 

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Mets 4/4 Against the Braves

Twenty year old me never would’ve thought I’d say, “Thank God the Mets get to play the Braves 19 times a year,” but here we are. The Mets get to beat up on an awful Braves team 19 times a year. The Mets starting beating up on the Braves immediately:

Yoenis Cespedes‘ and  David Wright‘s homers were tattooed. 

As for Cespedes, his homer was a new Mets record:

Speaking of Carlos Delgado, this was the first time the Mets hit three homers in the first inning of a game since 2006. How you take that is up to you, but I choose to think of that as a good omen. 

Speaking of slugging Mets first basemen wearing the number 21, this was the fourth time this season Lucas Duda was involved in back-to-back homeruns. The Mets have gone back-to-back five times this year. 

After the first inning, the Mets bats quieted down a bit. Nothing of note really happened unless you want to count Wright singling off the face of Reid Brignac in the 

As for Bartolo Colon, he did what he does best. He beat a really bad team handily. Colon pitched eight shutout innings allowing seven hits, no walks, and seven strikeouts. Colon had only thrown 99 pitches, but Terry Collins pulled him out. Jeurys Familia would pitch the ninth. He allowed a run to spoil the shutout, but would hold on to preserve the 4-1 victory. 

Colon put on a show on the mound and at the plate:

Yes, this happened again:

Congratulations are in order to Colon for his 220th career win. He broke the tie with Pedro Martinez for the second most wins by a Dominican pitcher. Juan Marichal is in first place with 243 wins. For the Mets, it was their 16th of the year and are 4-0 against the Braves. 

Game Notes: Eric O’Flaherty is officially a Brave again as he pitched a scoreless seventh. Both he and Kelly Johnson received their NL Championship rings before the game. Neil Walker stole his first base as a Met in the eighth. 

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Mets April 2016 Report Card

The Mets finished an interesting month that saw them finish 15-7. Over the course of the month, they received contributions from everyone, well almost everyone. They finished in second place only a half game behind the Nationals. 

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

Position Players

Travis d’Arnaud  (F). Overall, d’Arnaud struggled offensively and defensively. He’s on the DL now with a shoulder injury. It’s the worst possible start to the season he could’ve had. 

Kevin Plawecki (C-). Plawecki has only seen limited duty.  While he did get a big game winning hit in his second start of the year, he hasn’t done much from that point forward. Furthermore, he’s not making a case he’s fit to take over full time for d’Arnaud whenever he does come back. 

Rene Rivera (Inc). He played in only one game.

Lucas Duda (C-). While Duda did have one hit streak, he hasn’t done much in other games. He had a .294 OBP. He’s not seeing the results from his new leg kick. At least he did throw out a runner at home. 

Neil Walker (A+). He led the league with nine homers. He’s even hitting lefties. Walker has been far better than anyone could’ve expected. 

David Wright (B). Wright went from being a corpse to being the Wright of old to just old. He’s having problems on his throws. With all that said, he’s still getting on base at a decent .354 clip, and he remains the Mets best 3B option. 

Asdrubal Cabrera (A). Cabrera has been better than expected. He’s hit like he did in the second half last year. Even if his range is limited, he’s made every play he should’ve made at SS. 

Wilmer Flores (D). He was woeful at the plate hitting .107/.194/.214. This grade would’ve been lower except he’s only played in 12 games, and he’s shown himself to be a terrific defensive first baseman. 

Eric Campbell (F). He’s seen even less time than Flores, but he’s also done less on those opportunities. 

Michael Conforto (A). He’s consistently been the Mets best player. When Terry Collins moved him to the third spot in the lineup, both he and the team took off. Even more amazing is the fact he has the potential to do more. 

Yoenis Cespedes (B+). Cespedes had a rough start to the season, but he seems back to the form he was in last year. In the field, he still shows limited range for center while still having that cannon of an arm. 

Curtis Granderson (B-). Granderson experienced the same slow start he experienced last year but without the walks. He’s started to turn things around and return to his 2015 form. 

Juan Lagares (A). He’s hitting lefties and his incredible defense has returned. 

Alejandro De Aza (C) Aside from one incredible game in Cleveland, De Aza hasn’t hit much. However, when you play limited time that one game does carry a lot of weight. 

Pitchers 

Matt Harvey (D). This was the year he was supposed to completely fulfill his potential as the staff ace. So far, he’s 2-3 with a 4.76 ERA. There may be a million valid excuses for the slow start, but ultimately we’re judged by performance. On the bright side, he’s pitched much better his last two times out. 

Jacob deGrom (A). With decreased velocity and troubles at home, the results are still where they are supposed to be. 

Noah Syndergaard (A+). He’s throwing harder than anyone in the majors, and in a very short time frame, he’s become the staff ace. 

Steven Matz (B). His last three games were spectacular. However, his first start was horrendous, and it really jammed up the bullpen. 

Bartolo Colon (B+). He’s back doing Bartolo Colon things out there from great defensive plays to the helmet flying off his head when he swings. He’s poised to eat up innings again while feasting on lesser competition. 

Logan Verrett (A+). When deGrom couldn’t pitch, he stepped in and made two great starts. He’s also pitched well out of the bullpen.

Jeurys Familia (B-). He’s perfect in save chances, but he’s been shaky at times. He’s allowing more baserunners than usual.  In his last three outings, he does seem to be returning to form. 

Addison Reed (A-). Reed has recoded six holds and one save. His WHIP is 0.973 and his K/9 is 11.7. Would’ve been an A except for one blown save in Cleveland and one rough appearance on Saturday. 

Jim Henderson (A-). Henderson went from non-roster invitee to locking down the seventh inning. He’s been all the Mets could’ve asked for and more. His WHIP is a little high, and as we saw from Collins, he’s susceptible to overuse. 

Hansel Robles (A). Collins has asked him to pitch on seemingly every situation imaginable, and he’s succeeded. 

Jerry Blevins (A). He’s really a LOOGY, and he’s limited lefties to a .158/.158/.211 batting line. When he’s been asked to do more, he’s performed admirably. 

Antonio Bastardo (A). We’re a month into the season, and he still has no clear cut role. Based upon his usage, it appears Terry Collins views him as the worst reliever in the bullpen. Even with all of that, he has pitched very well. He sports a 2.61 ERA. 

Rafael Montero (F). He’s only appeared in two games, but he was dreadful in those two games. He sports a seemingly low 11.57 ERA. It was clear Collins didn’t trust him in the bullpen. Montero the went out and proved Collins right. 

Manager

Terry Collins (C-). His team struggled to start the year, but he got things on track. He’s managed Wright’s back, and he’s found ways to get his reserves into games to keep them fresh. With that said, his early lineups were ponderous, and things didn’t turn around until he fixed the lineup. Additionally, his use of Henderson was egregious. 

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Mets Win Their First Home Series This Year

With the Mets recent winning streak and just overall better play, the only issue was Matt Harvey‘s slow start and his mechanics.  Four pitches into the game, Zack Cozart hit a homerun.  Ivan DeJesus followed with a single. It looked like Harvey was going to struggle again. 

Then the Harvey of old emerged. He struck out the next five batters and retired six straight. His fastball was topping 97 MPH. The Reds would cease making hard contact against him. As impressive as that was, the third inning was all the more impressive. 

The bases were loaded with one out after two soft singles and a Neil Walker error. Harvey then struck out Eugenio Suarez, and he got Devin Mesoraco out on a soft liner up the middle. Walker made a nice diving play up the middle there to redeem himself after his earlier error. Walker would then redeem himself in the bottom of the third:

Walker’s homerun would put the Mets up 3-1. The other two runs were scored in the first. Alejandro De Aza, starting in place of Curtis Granderson, scored an unearned run when Lucas Duda reached on a two base error. Duda scored on a Walker RBI single. 

Harvey ran into trouble again in the fifth. The Reds hit two infield singles leading to a run scored making it a 3-2 game. Harvey then induced Mesoraco to hit into an inning ending double play. At this point, Terry Collins would’ve been justified pulling Harvey there. He was in line for the win. The defense behind him was sloppy all night.  Harvey hasn’t been good so far this year in the sixth. Instead, Collins sent him back out there. He might have had to with a somewhat taxed back end of the bullpen. 

Harvey rewarded Collins’ faith by getting a 1-2-3 inning. Harvey’s final line was six innings, seven hits, two earned, one walk, and seven strikeouts. He threw 102 pitches. Most importantly, he got the win. Now, Harvey may not be all the way back yet, but he took an important step. It’s definitely a game to build on. 

In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets blew it open against the Reds dreadful bullpen. Eric Campbell, pinch hitting for Harvey, drew a walk. De Aza followed with a walk of his own. Michael Conforto then stepped up to the plate. What was strange was in a 3-2 game with two outs in the inning, the Reds didn’t turn to a lefty. They paid for it when Conforto hit opposite field double to left-center. It was Conforto’s ninth double in 18 games played. 

Jim Henderson came on for Harvey in the seventh because it was the seventh inning. He had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. After Collins’ earlier overuse of him, it appears Henderson is settling back in. Hansel Robles pitched the eighth inning (as he should). He too pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. That’s 15 strikeouts in ten innings pitched for Robles this year. Addison Reed, pitching for the fifth time in six games, pitched the ninth and recorded his first save of the year. He also recorded a 1-2-3 inning except he only had one strikeout. Mets pitching had 12 strikeouts in total.

The Mets have now won six in a row and 11 of their last 13. Shockingly, this was the Mets first series win at home this season. Now after the easy stretch is over, the Mets have tomorrow off (because it’s a Thursday in April), and they welcome the Giants for a weekend series. 

Game Notes: In 12 of the Mets 20 games, they have struck out 10+ batters. Yoenis Cespedes was given another night off with his leg contusion despite hitting a homerun last night. Granderson was just given the day to rest. De Aza started in right with Juan Lagares in center. 

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Young Players Lead the Way

There was a time the Mets relying on the young meant hoping Chris Young‘s shoulder wouldn’t fall apart, or the other Chris Young hitting above the Mendoza Line. The 2016 version is much better. 

Tonight, the Mets were carried by two 23 year old superstars – Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto. 

Syndergaard was throwing so hard he broke the radar guns in Citi Field.  With that said, he wasn’t dominating. Of the seven innings he pitched, he had only two 1-2-3 innings. 

However, just because he wasn’t dominating doesn’t mean he wasn’t intimidating. In Billy Hamilton laid down a bunt single in the third inning. He then stole two bases leading to the Reds’ only run of the game. Hamilton’s next at bat? Syndergaard buzzed him inside reminding Hamilton he’s 60’6″ away. 

Still Syndergaard had some problems. In  the sixth, the Reds had runners on second and third with one out. Syndergaard would then strike out Devin Mesoraco and Adam Duvall to get out of the jam. He got them both with sliders. 

Speaking of the slider, Syndergaard went to that well too often.  After he passed 100 pitches, and the Reds were going to the fourth time through the lineup, they were able to get a two out rally started. 

Zack Cozart would chase Syndergaard in the seventh with an RBI single before Antonio Bastardo came in and showed signs of over use. He walked the first batter he faced before allowing a game-tying single to Joey Votto. Logan Verrett came on in relief and got the Mets out of the jam leaving the score tied 3-3. 

Syndergaard’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, three earned, no walks, and nine strikeouts. 

The Mets would retake the lead on yet another Neil Walker homerun:

For his part, Conforto couldn’t make an out.  In the first inning, he hit a homer. He followed that with a single in the third. He got a shift double in the fifth. He hit a bloop by the left field line. Suarez got under it, but he still couldn’t make the play. It bounced into the stands for a ground rule double.  He walked in the seventh. The cycle was not to be.  He’s been amazing since he was called-up, and he’s been better since he started hitting third:

By the way, Lucas Duda hit another homerun:

In what was a good night overall, there was some cause for concern. Travis d’Arnaud continues to struggle behind the plate. While Syndergaard doesn’t hold runners on well, d’Arnaud’s throws were terrible. He was palming the ball. He was winding up too much. He seemed to be thinking more than reacting. Overall, the Reds were 5-5 in stolen base attempts. 

Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia closed out the win. 

The game was tougher than it should have been, but it’s still a win. It extended the Mets winning streak to four games. The streak should continue as the Mets are pulling it all together and are beating bad teams like they should. 

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Matz-terful Performance 

When Steven Matz first cracked into the majors with his grandfather jumping up and down, we expected him to do the Jerry Koosman each start. For the uninitiated, Koosman said his job as a pitcher was to shut them out and hit one out. Essentially, a pitcher should be a threat on the mound and at the plate. By the way, Koosman might’ve said that, but he was a terrible hitter. 

Tonight, Matz had one of those Koosman dictated games. Matz pitched 6.1 innings allowing nine hits, two earned, two walks, and eight strikeouts.   He got touched up was the third when noted Mets killer, Freddie Freeman, hit an RBI double. In the seventh, he ran out of gas, but Hansel Robles came in and got out of the jam. At the plate, Matz went 1-2. Terrible Braves team or not, Matz had a terrific night. 

At the plate, the Mets had some firsts. In the first inning, Lucas Duda hit the Mets first sacrifice fly of the year scoring Curtis Granderson, who led off the game with a single and moved to third on a Michael Conforto single. Speaking of Conforto, he would have his first career stolen base in the third inning. After Duda hit his sacrifice fly, Neil Walker walked for the first time this year. Don’t worry, he would add a homerun in the eighth. The second run scored in the first would later score on an error. Sarcastic Mets fans would tell you this is the first time all year the Mets manufactured a run. 

In any event, this game was what you would expect, or rather, what we should expect from Braves-Mets games this year. The Mets pitching and offense dominated. Every Mets starter, including Matz, reached base at least once. The Third Baseman Formerly Known as David Wright (RIP Prince) hit two doubles. He was 2-5 with one run, two RBI, and two strikeouts. Once again tales of his demise were greatly exaggerated. 

Somewhat surprisingly, Juan Lagares got the start in center for an ailing Yoenis Cespedes. It was surprising because Jhoulys Chacin, who is a right handed pitcher. Before Cespedes was signed, it was presumed there was going to be a centerfield platoon with Alejandro De Aza facing the eighties. 

Other than the Lagares -De Aza decision, nothing about tonight was surprising was the Mets domination. Once all was said and done, the Mets won 8-2. They need to dominate teams like this.  They need to sweep teams like this. The Mets are in the process of doing that. They’re getting back on track. 

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Cespedes Is Streaky Just Like Duda. 

As we’ve seen with Lucas Duda, fans can use streakiness as a perjorative to hide their contempt for a particular player. However, when fans love a player, like Yoenis Cespedes, they talk about how he carries a team or wins the NL East. 

Make no mistake about it, Cespedes is just as streaky as Duda. 

Cespedes was a superstar when he came to the Mets, or so it seemed. In his first 10 games as a Met, he hit .262/.279/.333 with no homers, five RBI, and seven strikeouts. Then Cespedes went off on an absolute tear starting with the last game the Mets played in Colorado. Starting from that point, Cespedes had a 31 game streak like none other. He hit .323/.379/.805 with 17 homers and 37 RBI. It was incredible. After that streak?  Cespedes finished the season hitting .280/.345/.320 with no homeruns and two RBI in eight games. 

Cespedes cold snap would carry into the postseason. In the postseason, he hit .222/.232/.352 with two homeruns and eight RBI in 14 games. Yes, Cespedes dealt with hand and shoulder injuries, but it’s also true Duda dealt with back problems. It doesn’t make either player anymore or any less streaky. 

So far this year, Cespedes has continued the streaky play. In the first eight games, he hit .233/.324/.333 with no homeruns, three RBI, and 11 strikeouts. In the six games since, starting with a trip to Cleveland, Cespedes is hitting .360/.429/1.000 with four homeruns and 10 RBI. 

Fact is Yoenis Cespedes is both streaky and beloved by the fan base.  He bunches his homeruns together during his hot streaks.  He’s capable of carrying a team on his back for long stretches of time without a moment’s notice. Therefore, next time you knock a player for being streaky, just remember the guy you put on a pedestal as being able to carry a team is just as streaky. 

Personally, I’ll take a Duda or Cespedes hot streak whenever they come. 

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