Paul Sewald

Conforto Finally Homers Giving Mets A Win

This was panning out to be another one of those horrible Mets losses we have seen recently.  The Mets were not scoring runs at all even though they were in a hitter’s park.  And yes, there was even the really embarrassing and inexcusable moment.

After a Devin Mesoraco double play grounder erased a Michael Conforto seventh inning leadoff single, Jose Reyes got his first pinch of the season in 11 attempts. Understandably, with Reyes’ speed, the Mets reeling, and the team down 1-0, Mickey Callaway went for it.

Instead of going with Amed Rosario, Callaway went with Dominic Smith, who was up due to Jay Bruce going on paternity leave, to get that big hit.  Smith wouldn’t get that hit because Jake Arrieta picked Reyes off first base.  And with that, all hope seemed lost yet again.

Hector Neris came on to get what should have been an easy save, and it certainly seemed as if that was going to be the case when Adrian Gonzalez popped out to start the inning.

Then Wilmer Flores battled back not just from 0-2, but looking over-matched on the first two pitched of the at-bat to rip a single into left.  The Mets at least had life, and for a split second, it looked like Conforto was going to give the Mets the lead, but he pulled it foul.  Two pitches later, and Conforto wouldn’t pull it foul.

Mesoraco followed with a homer on the very next pitch.  Suddenly, the Mets 1-0 lead, and the team falling to .500 turned into a 3-1 lead.  That became a 3-1 victory after a Jeurys Familia 1-2-3 ninth.

Suddenly, the stories weren’t how Steven Matz walked four while somehow managing to allow just one run over five.  It wasn’t about how a combination of Seth Lugo, Paul Sewald, and AJ Ramos had to pick up the slack to keep it close for an offense, which did nothing.

No, the story is now how the Mets had perhaps their best victory of the year, and how they may have turned things around with Noah Syndergaard taking the mound tomorrow.

Game Notes: Mesoraco’s teams are now 1-20 in games he has played this season.  In Los Angeles, Matt Harvey made his Reds debut pitching four scoreless while allowing just one hit while striking out two.

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Mets Offense Snaps Funk, Bullpen Holds On

After a horrid offensive homestand, Mets fans were left with the hope coming to hitter’s parks like The Great American Ballpark and Citizen’s Bank Park would help wake up this Mets offense.  Well, on the second pitch of the game from Homer Bailey to Michael Conforto, it seems like our hope was well placed:

The combination of the Reds pitching and Citizen’s Bank Park really did wake up this Mets offense.  Things were going so well offensively that not only did the Mets score in each of the first five innings, but Adrian Gonzalez would hit two home runs.

Jay Bruce would also homer to ensure that all the pure left-handed hitters would have a homer run on the day.

But it was more than Conforto and Gonzalez who woke up.  Amed Rosario was 2-3 with an RBI and a sac fly. With the exception of Asdrubal Cabrera and Todd Frazier, the two who happened to be their most consistent hitters all year, each Met in the starting lineup had at least one hit.

Take out Jose Lobaton and all the starters had multi-hit games.

In the beginning, this seemed as if it was going to be more than enough run support for P.J. Conlon and the entire Mets pitching staff.  The Irish born lefty making his MLB debut got off to a great start keeping the Reds scoreless through two and to just one run through three.

With two outs in the fourth, and the Reds gaining some momentum, with three doubles in the inning coming from Eugenio Suarez, Scooter Gennett, and Tucker Barnhart, Mickey Callaway went to Paul Sewald to nip the rally in the bud.

Sewald did just that, but he would run into trouble in the sixth yielding a home run to Suarez, and then leaving runners at the corners with one out.  Robert Gsellman came on, and he allowed just a sacrifice fly to make it 7-5.

Like Sewald, Gsellman was in to pitch multiple innings, and he would even hit for himself striking out.  When Gennett homered to make it 7-6, you were left questioning the decision.

You were also left questioning some of the Mets base running.

In the sixth, the first inning the Mets did not score, the Reds caught Rosario in a run down off third base on a Yoenis Cespedes ground ball.  He was eventually tagged out, and the run did not score.

In the eighth, Jose Reyes pinch ran for Cespedes, and he misread a ball, and did not bust it to third causing Glenn Sherlock to hold him at third.

Fortuantely for the Mets, it did not matter as Jeurys Familia came on and recorded the save giving the Mets their first win in over a week.

Game Notes: Conlon joined teammates Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz in getting a hit in his MLB debut.

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deGrom Hurt, More Than This Game May Be Lost

Through the first four innings, Jacob deGrom was pitching like the ace we know he is.  After a tough loss, and with first place in the balance, he was as great as he has ever been.  Through the first four innings, deGrom had walked none, allowed just two hits, and he struck out six.

He then went into the tunnel into the clubhouse.  He was done for the day with a hyper-extended elbow.  Based upon the ensuing MRI, he may be gone longer than that.  If deGrom is gone, the Mets will have lost much more than a 7-0 game.

Look, we can get into Tom Glavine–Greg Maddux–John Smoltz 1999 strike zone Sean Newcomb was getting from Home Plate Umpire Lance Barrett.  The Mets were clearly irritated by it, and we even saw Todd Frazier say something about umpiring in general after the game.

We can delve into Paul Sewald and Robert Gsellman struggled out of the bullpen really for the first time all season long.

We can even wonder how in the word Wilmer Flores forgot to do the one thing in baseball he is actually good at doing – hitting left-handed pitching.

Really, right now, none of this matters.  As it stood, this pitching staff needed at least one more starter, and that was assuming Jason Vargas will get better and Zack Wheeler won’t turn back into the guy who forced the Mets to put him in Triple-A to start the season.

Sure, the Mets are just a half game back, and it is possible Matt Harvey, Seth Lugo, and/or Corey Oswalt step up here.  We saw something like that happen in 2016 when Lugo and Gsellman performed a miracle over the last month of the season.

Maybe it’s being a little overly dramatic, but after what we saw with Noah Syndergaard‘s injury last year, and how the energy from the team and the ballpark flat-line after deGrom left the game, it’s very possible the Mets need a miracle.

I guess it’s times like these we all channel our inner Tug McGraw and say, “Ya Gotta Believe”

Game Notes: AJ Ramos now has a five appearance stretch without issuing a walk. There was a delay in the game because Yoenis Cespedes‘ necklace broke, and they had to get the diamonds off the diamond.

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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.

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Mets Defense Blows Another Game

The story of this game should have been Noah Syndergaard returning to form.  Like on Opening Day, he was mowing down the Cardinals, but this time, he was much more efficient in doing so.  Through six, he kept the Cardinals scoreless striking out six and allowing just two hits, and it looked like the Mets were going to cruise to a 2-0 victory at that point.

Both RBI came from Yoenis Cespedes, who snapped out of his funk going 2-5 with a double and two RBI.  The first RBI was a first inning off Carlos Martinez scoring Brandon Nimmo from first.  In the seventh, in what looked like window dressing at the plate, he plated Amed Rosario with a sacrifice fly.

However, as we have learned with Cespedes, sometimes he will giveth and sometimes he will taketh.

That was evident with Tommy Pham “doubled” on a ball that hit off of Cespedes’ glove.  Pham would then come home to score on a Marcell Ozuna single to cut the lead to 2-1.  With the way Paul DeJong kills the Mets, really it was a miracle he didn’t tie the score on his double.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter as the Mets gave up the lead in the eighth with some more poor defense.

What was interesting was Mickey Callaway let Syndergaard start the eighth while holding back Robert Gsellman.  Really, you wonder why not just go to the fresh arm after an inning in which Syndergaard faced some trouble.  Really, this is a bit nitpicky because this is Syndergaard we are talking about here.

In any event, Rosario threw a ball away on a Greg Garcia grounder starting off the inning with a runner on first instead of one out and the pitcher’s spot coming up.  Syndergaard struck out Yadier Molina before allowing a single to Matt Carpenter leading to his getting pulled from the game.

Gsellman was in a tough spot, and he didn’t deliver immediately.  The first batter he faced, Pham, singled to tie the score.  To his credit, with the go-ahead run in scoring position and just one out, Gsellman got Jose Martinez to ground into the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.

After a rusty Seth Lugo battled through a hit batter and walk to get through a scoreless ninth, the Mets would get an absolute gift run in the 10th.

After two quick outs, Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier hit back-to-back singles putting the game into Adrian Gonzalez‘s hands.  Somehow, not only would Luke Gregerson walk Gonzalez, but he would also walk Jose Lobaton to force in a run. With Jeurys Familia coming into the game, it seemed like the Mets would win a series after losing two straight.

Didn’t happen.

After two quick outs, Pham hit a ball up the middle most second baseman make fairly routinely.  The problem is Asdrubal Cabrera, even at full strength, doesn’t have much range.  With his current leg injury, he has almost no range.  Cabrera did all he could do, but he really had no shot at Pham.

Oddly enough, Juan Lagares wouldn’t have a shot at the subsequent Martinez double.  Oddly enough, Callaway went against his recent trends, and he put in Lagares for defense.  Martinez’s ball to deep center was a play almost no center fielder makes, but we have all become so spoiled by Lagares, he almost makes the impossible seem routine.  He ran back to dead center, leaped, and missed.  Instead of another highlight reel defensive play, it was a game tying double.

AJ Ramos pitched a perfect 11th, and Paul Sewald pitched a perfect 12th.  Unfortunately, the hottest pitcher in the Mets bullpen couldn’t keep the Cardinals off the board.  A Martinez walk followed by consecutive singles to Ozuna and Dexter Fowler was the ballgame.

With that, the Mets have lost three straight series, and the vibes from their amazing start have faded.  They have faded because the bottom of the lineup is black hole, but mostly, it is because this defense is bad and plays bad.

Game Notes: With the Mets out of position players, Sewald hit for himself in the top of the 13th.  Jose Reyes grounded out in the 10th to end that rally.

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Resilient Mets Win Behind Resurgent Cespedes, Bruce

If you were paying attention before the game, there was a stir over a contrived controversy featuring Yoenis Cespedes.  No, it was not the typical contrived Cespedes controversies with his golf, cars, or his hat being backwards.  No, this one was the utterly false claim that somehow Mets fans are irritated with or hate Cespedes.  Today, Cespedes set out and showed why such claims are utterly preposterous:

If you think he took out a month’s worth of frustrations and completely demolished that ball, you would be right:

The Mets really needed that homer too because the Mets have not been playing their best baseball of late, and they were not really getting anything going against Cardinals starter Luke Weaver to that point, and Zack Wheeler was struggling.

Wheeler’s day started with his allowing a Tommy Pham two run homer in the first.  He would never quite settle in with his not registering one 1-2-3 inning in the game.  While he dodged troubled in the second and third, the Cardinals got to him again in the fourth with Kolten Wong‘s second double the day scoring a run, and Weaver delivering an RBI single of his own to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.

The Mets lone run had come off a complete Marcell Ozuna misplay in left on what was scored a Jay Bruce RBI triple.  The Mets continued rallying from there, but they were not able to score another run in that second inning.  The seminal play was an Adrian Gonzalez hot shot Wong made a great play on which kept the slow and injured Bruce at third.

Really, the Mets looked dead in the water until there were two outs in the top of the fifth, and Weaver lost the strike zone.  He walked Wilmer Flores and Michael Conforto on eight straight balls until the aforementioned Cespedes homer.

With Wheeler lifted after four uninspiring innings, this put the game in new reliever Matt Harvey‘s hands.

In the fifth, he was victimized a bit by Bruce’s complete and utterly lack of speed.  Dexter Fowler hit what should have been a single, but with Bruce’s speed, he made it an easy double.  That allowed Fowler to score easily on the subsequent Paul DeJong double. Likely, Fowler doesn’t score from first on the De Jong double.  Still, Harvey did allow back-to-back well struck balls which broke the 4-4 tie.

Overall, Harvey pitched fairly well out of the bullpen.  In his two innings, he allowed one earned on two hits with one walk while striking out two.  Tomas Nido was helping him get those extra calls, and Harvey had better velocity than we have seen of late:

All in all, it was a positive outing for Harvey was in line for the loss partially because Mickey Callaway has been making some odd decisions of late and because of Bruce’s speed.  Really, Bruce’s speed cost the Mets at least two runs tonight – when he couldn’t even score on the Wong play and his allowing Fowler to get into scoring position.

As for Callaway, in the top of the 7th, Callaway used Juan Lagares instead of Brandon Nimmo as a pinch hitter.  Considering Nimmo’s OBP and Jordan Hicks‘ 6.2 BB/9 this year, you might as well of put Nimmo on first to start the inning.  Instead Callaway went with his best defensive outfielder who struggles historically against right-handed pitching.

Still, even with the Bruce speed issues and Callaway’s curious decision making, this is a resilient Mets team.

Paul Sewald kept the Mets in the game with a scoreless seventh, and the Mets offense went to work against Hicks in the eighth.

Todd Frazier started the inning with a four pitch walk, and he went first to third on a Bruce single which snuck just past Jose Martinez.  A Gonzalez sacrifice fly would tie the game up at 5-5.  Unfortunately, that was where the rally would end.  Luke Gregerson came on and struck out Amed Rosario and got Nido to fly out to get out of the jam.

This would be the second time the weak bottom of the lineup prevented the Mets from cashing in on an opportunity, and it was another instance where you were left wondering why Callaway didn’t bring Nimmo into the game to take full advantage of a key opportunity.

Again, even with that, Sewald was great out of the Mets bullpen again.  He had two scoreless innings keeping the Mets in the game.

Robert Gsellman would make things really interesting in the ninth by first walking Matt Carpenter, and then allowing a bloop single to Pham.  However, he would send the game into extras by first striking out Martinez and then inducing Ozuna to hit into the inning ending 5-4-3 double play.

That play loomed large as Bruce would hit a go-ahead homer in the top of the 10th off Matthew Bowman.  Inexplicably, Mike Matheny challenged whether Bruce touched first base, which only served to give Jeurys Familia more time to warm up in the bullpen.  The well warmed up Familia came on to blow through the Cardinals for his ninth save of the year.

With some questionable decisions and calls, the Mets are back to their winning ways.  They won mostly because this is a resilient club with every member of this team summoning something each night to help deliver a win.

GAME NOTES: This was the first time all season the Mets wore a blue alternate jersey.  Mets are now 3-0 in extra inning games.

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More Faith In Gsellman Than Reyes

Last night, Mickey Callaway made a crucial decision in the game, which surprisingly, helped lead towards the Mets scoring the winning run in the top of the 12th inning.  Instead of pinch hitting for Robert Gsellman, he sent him up to the plate, and he was plunked by Josh Ravin to lead-off the inning.

Now, there were many things which informed the unuual decision of having a pitcher lead off an inning in extra frames.  Mostly, this was the result of Paul Sewald being unavailable, Gerson Bautista likely unavailable, Seth Lugo and AJ Ramos having already pitched, and Callaway likely holding onto Jeurys Familia for a save inning.

For his career, Gsellman is 6-50, and yet, most Mets fans probably had more faith in Gsellman in that spot than Jose Reyes.

On the season, Reyes is 0-20, and he probably hasn’t even been that good.

So yes, with a the game still in the balance, I’d rather see a reliever hit for himself than see Reyes take the plate.  That’w where things are for Reyes now.  It is better to go with the reliever than trust the guy who simply cannot get a hit.

To rub salt into the wound, Gsellman was kept into the game to run for himself instead of Callaway going to Reyes.  That’s pretty bad when you consider that’s the one thing Reyes actually still does well.

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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.

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Cabrera Homers Part of Mets Refusal to Lose

You know you have a good team when they bring it every day no matter what the circumstances.  You know you have a great team when they always respond to adversity.  They respond to a tough inning in the field with a good at-bat.  When the opponent takes they lead, they come right back and tie the score.

Tonight was just the latest in seeing how this Mets team can be great.

In the first, Wilmer Flores doubled off Caleb Smith to score Michael Conforto, who led the game off with a double.  In the fourth, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a monster home run:

In the fifth, Amed Rosario hit a double, and Conforto singled him home to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.  With Jacob deGrom cruising, it seemed like this was going to be an easy game for the Mets.

Unfortunately, the fifth would prove to be an ugly inning for the Mets.  It started with a Yadiel Rivera grounder to third, which probably should’ve been called foul and Mickey Callaway should’ve challenged but didn’t.  We’d later see Todd Frazier deflect a ball he should’ve let go to Rosario, which led to the Marlins first run of the game.

The second run was scored on a Starlin Castro sacrifice fly.  On the play, Conforto completely missed the cutoff man allowing Rojas to go to second.  Justin Bour, who had a big night against the Mets, then homered to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead.

Where some teams would be shell-shocked, the Mets immediately responded with a Frazier double.  He’d then get aggressive on the bases tagging up on a Cabrera fly ball to left field and beating Derek Dietrich‘s throw.  After a Kevin Plawecki walk, this put him in position to score on the ensuing Juan Lagares sacrifice fly to tie the game at 4-4.

Surprisingly, given how Callaway has handled the pitching staff, deGrom came out to pitch a scoreless sixth.  He’d get a no decision, and his final line was 6.0 innings, seven hits, four runs, four earned, one walk, and six strikeouts.  Not a great start, but he did put his team in position to win the game.  With better umpiring and some better defense, that line would have looked much better.

In the seventh, Jacob Rhame came into the game, and he just didn’t have it.  The one none sacrifice out he got was a deep fly ball to center that probably would have gone for extra bases had it been someone other than Lagares out there.  Rhame did have a chance to get out of the inning, but he made a mistake on the first pitch to Bour.  Bour launched his second homer of the night giving the Marlins the lead against at 6-4.

Paul Sewald in just his second appearance of the year got the final out of the inning allowing the Mets a chance to comeback and tie the score.

Given how this Mets team has played so far this year, it should come as no surprise they did actually tie the score in the top of the eighth.  Flores and Cabrera would both homer off Kyle Barraclough.

In the bottom of the inning, Hansel Robles and the Mets dodged a bullet as Bryan Holaday just missed a homer.  Everyone but Robles, who probably wasn’t pointing up, thought that was out.  Where many expected Robles to melt down, he bore down.  He got out of the inning highlighted by punch out of Rojas to end the inning.

As a bad Marlins team will learn many times this year, you don’t give a good team like the Mets this many chances.

Brian Anderson threw a ball away allowing Rosario to reach safely instead of the Marlins recording the second out of the inning.  Brad Ziegler followed the error by walking Conforto to put the game in Yoenis Cespedes‘ hands.  Even with Cespedes being on a 1-20 cold streak, he still had the magic to deliver a two RBI double to give the Mets an 8-6 lead.

The two run lead was more than enough for the resurgent Jeurys Familia to close it out.

Ultimately, the Mets won this game because they are resilient.  They won because Cabrera hit two huge homers.  They won because they are embodying the spirit of Frazier who responds to every negative play with a positive one.  They won because they’re a great team.

In fact, at the moment, you can argue they’re the greatest team in Mets history because they now have the best start to a season in Mets history with them standing with the best record in baseball at 9-1.

Game Notes: Before the game, Brandon Nimmo was sent down to Vegas to make room on the roster for Corey Oswalt.  Oswalt was called up due to how taxed the bullpen has been early in the season.

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Callaway’s Third Managerial Test

If you look at the Mets first eight games of the season, Mickey Callaway has already been tested twice.  The first test came in the first five games of the season against the Cardinals and the Phillies.

In those five games, Callaway had to show everyone he wasn’t Gabe Kapler or Aaron Boone.  Put another way, he had to show us and his team he knew what he was doing.  He showed that mettle which has escaped both Kapler and Boone thus far in his putting his team in their best position to win a game.  More than that, he capably sat Brandon Nimmo after a big game and played Juan Lagares by justifying it to the media and his team rather than simply pointing to numbers.  Yes, Callaway used the numbers to inform his decision, but he handled his situation capably with no griping from the fans or team.

The next test came much earlier for Callaway than it comes for most managers. That test was whether he had the ability to manage in a big series.

We can argue whether an April series is ever truly a big series.  What we cannot argue is Callaway managed it like it was one, and his team responded in kind sweeping the Nationals and announcing this was a team to beat in the National League East.

Part of managing this like a big series was riding his bullpen arms hard.  Jeurys Familia pitched 1.2 innings for the save, and he has pitched six innings over his first five appearances.  Robert Gsellman pitched two games in the series, and he has made two two inning appearances over a four day span.

Seth Lugo was given the heaviest workload.  Two days after pitching two innings, he was used for an inning to close out an 8-2 game.  Three days later, he’s pitching three innings and picking up the win in a 12 inning game.

When it is a big series, and when you have short starts from both Matt Harvey and Steven Matz, you can certainly understand why Callaway rode his top guns the way he did.  The Mets had a chance to make a statement in that series, and they did.

Now, the Mets are not sneaking up on anyone.  We know they’re good, and the rest of baseball knows it now too.  The question is how does Callaway handle it.

Does he continue to ask his top relievers to keep going to the well, or do we start to see more innings from Paul Sewald (likely to be demoted when Zack Wheeler is activated), or Jacob Rhame, who made a statement of his own closing out Sunday’s win?  Really, how does this Mets team respond to success?

Do they continue looking like a team having fun grinding the salt and pepper shakers?  Are they going to be alright with splitting playing time or staying on the bench for stretches?

We don’t know the answer to those questions yet.  However, we do see Callaway is the type of manager who can deftly handle these and all questions this team is going to face.  Hopefully, we will see Callaway pass this third test with flying colors like he did with the first two tests.

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