Seth Lugo
When the Mets hire a new General Manager, one of his, or in the case of Kim Ng getting the job, her, first duties is to decide if they want to retain Mickey Callaway as the Mets manager. Given how Callaway may come attached at the hip with Dave Eiland and seeing how this pitching rotation took off this year, you’d be inclined to keep Callaway on the job.
However, seeing Aaron Boone in Games 3 and 4 of the ALDS, we know a General Manager needs to look at much more than that. Basically, the new General Manager needs to assess not just if Callaway is the guy who can bring the Mets to the postseason, but he needs to assess if Callaway would stand as an impediment to the Mets winning a World Series.
In the regular season, we have seen some really good and really terrible things from Callaway and his coaching staff. The question is what is fixable and what are flaws which stand in the way.
The negatives have been oft discussed. There was the lineup card incident. Callaway had real difficulty handling the media. We saw him exhaust the bullpen, especially Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman, early in the season. He was also not above continuing to go back to that well even with them being overused. At times, the lineups were outright baffling, and unlike some of his other issues, this was something which seemed to get worse (more traditional?) as the season progressed.
On the positive, the Mets players did progress. According to wRC+, Brandon Nimmo was the second best hitter in the National League. Michael Conforto returned to his All Star form. Amed Rosario went from potential bust to improving young player. Jeff McNeil emerged as an everyday second baseman. Lugo became a dominant reliever. As noted previously, the rotation improved. Mostly, this team did not quit even after the season was over after a 5-21 June.
We have also seen Callaway use analytics to inform his decisions. In April, he was started Juan Lagares because Jacob deGrom was a flyball pitcher, and the Cardinals starter, Michael Wacha, had reverse splits. Essentially, he is well versed in analytics, and he’s able to use them to inform his decision making.
He’s also an aggressive manager. On multiple occasions, he brought in a reliever to force the other managers hand. Instead of being reactive to another manager’s pinch hitting choice, Callaway ensured he brought in his better pitcher to get a worse hitter up at the plate thereby ensuring himself of the better match-up.
Essentially, there’s enough here to suggest Callaway is the right guy for the job, but make no mistake, it is not a clear-cut decision. While he was strong in motivating and developing players as well as being aggressive in his pitching decisions, his position player choices left something to be desired and arguably got worse as the season progressed.
In the end, if the Mets are going to keep him or replace him, they better be right.
Just when you thought you’ve seen it all from Jacob deGrom this year, he had one final special moment in store for us all.
Finally, in his sixth start against them, deGrom would beat the Braves. Despite him allowing just four earned in 33.0 innings against the Braves this year (1.09 ERA), he was 0-2 against the Braves this year with the Mets 0-5 in his starts. Really, to beat the Braves, deGrom needed to shut them out.
With him possibly getting the opportunity to clinch the Cy Young, deGrom would do just that pitching eight scoreless and completely dominant innings.
Ronald Acuna, Jr. led off the game with a single. Johan Camargo led off the second with a single. That was it. No other Braves batter would get a hit.
It was not until the sixth the Braves would have a batter reach safely, and that was an all too fleeting moment for the Braves.
Acuna would strike out swinging on a wild pitch, and he’d take off for first. However, he was ruled to have rounded first, and as such, when he was tagged by Dominic Smith, the inning was over.
While deGrom was phenomenal, even by his standards, he didn’t do it alone. In fact, Jeff McNeil was a wizard making not just one
Smooth, @JeffMcNeil805, real smooth. ? pic.twitter.com/2M6uLij63r
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 27, 2018
but two brilliant defensive plays
We have no words to describe this. Just enjoy. #RealDeal pic.twitter.com/hSVAaNXIex
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 27, 2018
Unlike deGrom’s previous five starts against the Braves, and really most of his starts this seasons, he would get enough run support. Tonight, that support would come from the bats of Michael Conforto and Smith.
In the sixth, Conforto hit a one out double off Braves reliever Luke Jackson. Smith would deliver a two out single giving the Mets a 1-0 lead, which was all the run support deGrom needed.
For good measure, Conforto and Smith would homer in the eighth. Each homer was impressive in their own right.
Smith was an opposite field shot, and Conforto’s was an absolute bomb which landed near the Shea Bridge. It would be his career best 28th homer.
That 3-0 lead was more than enough.
deGrom would finish the night strong striking out three of the last four batters he faced. With his striking out Ozzie Albies to end the eighth, he recorded his 1,000th career strikeout:
1⃣,0⃣0⃣0⃣ career strikeouts for @JdeGrom19. The fastest #Mets pitcher to get there.
News flash: This guy's good. pic.twitter.com/NeeMHtbdOe
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 27, 2018
His final line for the night was 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K.
When Seth Lugo closed out the ninth for his third career save, deGrom finally got his 10th win. If he does go on to win the Cy Young, it will be the fewest wins from a Cy Young award winning starter.
All told, deGrom finished the year 10-9 with a 1.70 ERA, 0.989 WHIP, and an 11.2 K/9.
He became just the third pitcher in MLB history with a sub 2.00 ERA, more than 250 strikeouts, and fewer than 50 walks.
That’s deGromination.
Game Notes: There was some consternation over deGrom not coming out to get cheered and depart the game. Under MLB rules, if he stepped on the field, he would have been required to face at least one batter.
That Cy Young Award is now so close for Jacob deGrom he can almost taste it. While Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola have slipped this month, deGrom continues setting records.
With his win tonight (A WIN!), he broke the record he shared with Bob Gibson and Chris Carpenter for consecutive quality starts in a season.
In his seven innings of work, deGrom allowed just one earned on three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts. He would lower his MLB best ERA to 1.77.
After Wilmer Difo hit a second inning sacrifice fly, deGrom would only yield one base hit. That lone base runner wouldn’t get past first.
Unlike other games where deGrom has taken the loss for a terrific start like this, he would get that rare win.
Amed Rosario hit the first pitch of the game for a double. Victor Robles misplayed it, but Rosario didn’t head to third. For a moment, it looked like Rosario would be stranded there, but Jay Bruce blooped a two out single to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
After the Nationals tied it in the second, the Mets got the lead again in a big three run third.
That rally was started with Michael Conforto and Bruce hitting consecutive one out doubles off Nationals starter Joe Ross.
Dominic Smith brought home Bruce with a key two out RBI. After an uncharacteristic Anthony Rendon error allowed Todd Frazier to reach, Devin Mesoraco doubled home Rosario.
At that point, it was 4-1 Mets, and deGrom was in the drivers seat. Effectively speaking, both offenses went completely silent. That meant the cushion the Mets have deGrom was more than sufficient.
Seth Lugo pitched a scoreless eighth, and Robert Gsellman had an eventful ninth. He’d get through it allowing just one run with some help as Conforto made a leaping catch to take a hit away from Bryce Harper.
With the 4-2 win, both the Nationals and deGrom now see their records at .500. With how the season has gone,
Game Notes: After not playing in over two weeks, Mesorsco was 3-for-3 with a double, RBI, and
https://twitter.com/mikemayermmo/status/1043316071770537984?s=21
Heading into the Month of September, Jacob deGrom was probably the favorite to win the Cy Young, but it was still anyone’s game with Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer having great seasons of their own. So far this month, deGrom has separated himself ever further from the pack.
In Nola’s three September starts, he is 1-2 with a 5.60 ERA. Scherzer had a decent start to the month until his loss to the Braves on Friday. In that start, Scherzer allowed six earned in four innings. Now, he’s 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in the month.
Like Nola and Scherzer, deGrom has seen his ERA rise this month. Still, deGrom’s 2.70 ERA this month is half of Scherzer’s. That is also because deGrom had a “bad start” in Boston.
For deGrom, it was the bottom of the third in Boston which derailed what had looked to be a truly special start.
After striking out six of the first seven Red Sox batters he faced, Rafael Devers and Christian Vazquez hit back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners with one out. Mookie Betts brought home Devers with a sacrifice fly. This is normally where deGrom would get out of the inning, but he would leave one up to Brock Holt, who hit a two run homer to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.
Right then and there, deGrom’s streak of 26 starts not allowing more than three earned and his 21 consecutive quality starts streak was on the line. From there, there were points where you thought deGrom wasn’t going to reatch the sixth. In fact, Mickey Callaway had Jerry Blevins warming at one point. There may have also been points where you thought he would allow another run.
He didn’t.
Instead, deGrom would go seven innings allowing the three earned on five hits with one walk and 12 strikeouts. The 12 strikeouts were really impressive. Entering the game, the Red Sox were the second hardest team to strike out (19.7%). In the game, deGrom would strike out 12 of the 27 batters (44.4%) he faced.
Importantly, the Mets would rally to tie the score and get deGrom off the hook. In the sixth, Amed Rosario would follow an Austin Jackson single to put runners on second and third with no outs. Jeff McNeil would not hit a liner deep enough to score a run, but Wilmer Flores would . . . barely:
https://twitter.com/MLBReplays/status/1041405356977659904
Unfortunately, Betts would get hurt on the play. It should shift Jackie Bradley, Jr. to right with Tzu-Wei Lin in center. Michael Conforto would then hit a double to deep center to tie the game. It’s debatable if Bradley would’ve gotten to it. Regardless, the Mets were down a run.
They would tie it in the seventh on a two out RBI single by Rosario. Brandon Nimmo was 90 feet away from scoring the go-ahead run and giving deGrom the lead, but McNeil couldn’t bring him home.
WIth that, deGrom notced another no decision, and he still remains a game under .500, and yet, he he having an all-time great season. In fact, with this start, deGrom tied Bob Gibson and Chris Carpenter single season mark for consecutive quality starts. In the seasons Gibson and Carpenter set their marks, they won the Cy Young.
So should deGrom.
Game Notes: Seth Lugo took the loss after allowing a run in the eighth.
In an emotional press conference, David Wright announced he was playing on Saturday, September 29th and never again. While we’ve already entered into a post-Wright Mets era, this was a crushing confirmation of the news.
With news like this, the last thing on most people’s minds was playing a game. Let alone two. And yet, there was a scheduled doubleheader.
In the first game, we were treated to a terrific performance from Steven Matz.
After allowing back-to-back homers to Peter O’Brien and Isaac Galloway in the second, Matz would hit his first career homer to tie the game.
.@smatz88 drives this one with authority for his first career home run! #PitchersWhoRake #RaiseTheApple? pic.twitter.com/kKkdKDBTar
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 13, 2018
The game would stay tied 2-2 until the seventh when O’Brien would strike again singling off Drew Smith to drive home Brian Anderson, who led off the inning with a double off Matz.
Overall, Matz pitched 6.1 innings allowing three earned on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
It seemed the Marlins were going to win this game 3-2, but that was until Don Mattingly made a mistake. Instead of sticking with Adam Conley, who absolutely owns the Mets, Mattingly went to Kyle Barraclough because Amed Rosario was due up.
Mickey Callaway went to Dominic Smith who grounded out right in front of home plate.
While Smith wouldn’t deliver, Michael Conforto would hitting a game tying homer off Barraclough. It was his fourth homer in five games.
Three pitches later, Todd Frazier would hit a walk-off homer.
With that, the game ended with a homer by Wright’s heir apparent for best homegrown position player followed by a homer by the guy signed to replace Wright. Really, it was quite the fitting ending.
But still, there was more baseball to be played.
Surprisingly, the Mets got a strong start by Jason Vargas with him allowing little more than a two run homer to Miguel Rojas over six innings.
Vargas would get the win for a few reasons. Chief among them was his catcher Tomas Nido, who made a great play in the field
Tomas Nido impresses in Queens during a 4-3 victory. #Mets pic.twitter.com/jm4jrUkC5C
— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) September 14, 2018
before hitting his first career homer
Tomas Nido, the @Mets' No. 12 prospect, went deep to left for his first MLB homer. The ? went 400 feet and had an exit velocity of 101.9 mph. Watch live: https://t.co/nY6ru3JzAQ pic.twitter.com/n8SdejjbMq
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 13, 2018
The Nido solo shot opened the scoring for the Mets in a three run inning capped off by a two out Conforto RBI double.
That 3-2 lead would hold up as Seth Lugo was as dominant as you can be in his two innings. In fact, Lugo would strike out five of the seven batters he faced.
The Mets built a seventh inning rally starting starting with a Jeff McNeil two out single. As the inning progressed, the Mets scored insurance runs on singles by Conforto and Smith.
That 5-2 lead proved to be save for Robert Gsellman to shut the door on a seemingly rare doubleheader sweep.
With the sweep, the Mets are now just 10 games under .500 for the first time since June 21st.
Game Notes:
Here’s how good Zack Wheeler has been pitching in the second half of the season. Last night, he allowed three runs on three hits while walking two and striking out nine. For him, that now qualifies as a poor start.
The Dodgers were able to score the three runs off of him because they hit two homers. It should come as no surprise one of those homers was by Cody Bellinger, who absolutely owns Wheeler. In fact, Bellinger is 4-for-8 against Wheeler with four homers and nine RBI.
The other homer was in the fourth inning. After Justin Turner hit a comebacker which hit Wheeler in the ribs, Max Muncy would hit a two run homer off of Wheeler. Given how Wheeler was still dealing with the shot to the ribs, you could put a bit of a mental asterisk next to that one, especially when you consider Wheeler would retire eight of the next nine batters he faced.
Even with those homers, the Dodgers could not pull ahead of the Mets.
In the fourth, the Mets finally broke through against Hyun-Jin Ryu. Amed Rosario singled and Jeff McNeil doubled to put runners at second and third with no outs. From that point forward, the Mets would BABIP the heck out of Ryu.
Mets hits tonight with a hit probability <50%:
Flores, 4th inning single: 9%
Nimmo, 5th inning single: 34%
Rosario, 5th inning single: 48%
McNeil, 7th inning single: 13%— john (probably watching college football) (@_Jawhnn) September 6, 2018
Wilmer Flores would hit one back which hit Ryu that allowed him to reach safely and would allow Rosario to score. McNeil would challenge Joc Pederson‘s arm on a Michael Conforto flyball, and he would score because Yasmani Grandal could not hold onto the ball. In an odd official scorer position, Conforto was not given the RBI as it was ruled an error on Grandal.
Part of the key to that play was Flores going to third, which would allow him to score from third on the two out RBI single from Austin Jackson. That was important as Jackson was nailed at second trying to challenge Alex Verdugo‘s arm. Had Flores been at third, it’s very likely he does not score on the play.
Kevin Plawecki led off the fifth with a double, and he moved to third on a Brandon Nimmo bloop hit. After Wheeler struck out, Rosario singled home Plawecki. Later that inning, Flores brought home Nimmo on a ball Enrique Hernandez was not quite tall enough to get. With that, the Mets had a 5-2 lead, and they were in control of the game.
That became a stranglehold with Conforto delivering a seventh inning RBI single, and Ryan Madson throwing a wild pitch to allow McNeil to come home from third.
After 105 pitches, Wheeler was done after seven, and Mickey Callaway brought on Seth Lugo to close out the final two innings. He did just that allowing no hits and striking out a batter. With the win, the Mets have now won consecutive West Coast series, and the team is playing much better baseball of late. They are two games over .500 in the second half.
Game Notes: In his final at-bat ever against the Mets, Chase Utley lined out to Nimmo. So in the end, the dirtiest player alive lined out to the nicest and most genuine player in the majors.
When Justin Turner hit a first inning home run off of Jacob deGrom, it was evident deGrom did not have his best stuff. After all, deGrom had not allowed a home run in his last 42 innings pitched. As it turned out, it really was a struggle for deGrom with him needing 109 pitches to get through six innings. That’s notably because he threw 108 pitches in each of his last three starts, and he went 9.0, 6.0, and 8.0 innings respectively.
Through all of his troubles tonight and him fighting it, deGrom’s final line was 6.0 innings, two hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and six strikeouts.
It’s at the point where deGrom is so good his inability to find himself and be on his A game leads him to having an absolutely terrific and dominant start. He’s been having a lot of those lately. In fact, with this quality start, deGrom set a new Mets record with 20 straight quality starts. It gets better. With deGrom allowing three earned runs or less in his past 25 starts, he has set a new MLB record.
And to think there are some people who don’t want to give him the Cy Young. Of course, those people’s justification is wins. Well, tonight was another exercise of how absurd that is.
While deGrom has been great all season, Alex Wood has been great of late, and the Mets do not hit left-handed batters well. More to the point, for some reason when the Mets have been playing good teams of late, they find ways to shoot themselves in the foot. Tonight was no exception.
In the first Wilmer Flores hit into an inning ending double play. In the second, Todd Frazier, who had made a fine catch in the game diving into the stands, was thrown out stealing to end the inning. In the third, Austin Jackson struck out to end the inning with runners at second and third. After all of that, deGrom needed to take control of things himself in the fifth inning.
After a Jay Bruce leadoff walk and a Devin Mesoraco single (he was lifted from the game and Jose Reyes pinch ran for him due to injury), Jeff McNeil hit into a double play leaving it up to deGrom to get Bruce home from third. With him using McNeil’s bat, deGrom delivered the RBI single tying the game at 1-1. Really, deGrom was doing all he could do out there with him combining his excellent pitching with him going 2-for-2 at the plate.
There was a chance deGrom was going to get into the seventh inning in this game to just allow him to hang around long enough to hope beyond hope the Mets put him in a position to win. However with an Amed Rosario error in the sixth inning, that pretty much ended that hope meaning the 8-8 deGrom was saddled with another no decision, and this was going to become a battle of the bullpens.
The Mets would win that battle as the offense would eventually break through and because the Mets bullpen did not break.
In the seventh, the Mets were close. They had the bases loaded with two outs, but Jackson couldn’t deliver the key hit. Well, if the Mets thought they were close, the Dodgers were even closer.
Against Seth Lugo in the seventh, they had runners at the corners and no outs. Lugo first struck out Yasmani Grandal, and then he induced Yasiel Puig to hit into the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
In the eighth, Drew Smith issued a two out walk to Turner which almost blew up in his face. If not for the low right field wall in Dodgers Stadium, it is likely Manny Machado‘s double gives the Dodgers a 2-1 lead instead of being a ground rule double putting runners at second and third with two outs. After getting Enrique Hernandez to fly out to center, Smith officially dodged a bullet.
Kenta Maeda was not dodging the same bullet in the ninth. After a Bruce leadoff double, Kevin Plawecki sacrificed him over to third base. After McNeil was hit by a pitch, the Mets had runners at the corners with one out setting the stage for Brandon Nimmo, who came on to pinch hit for Smith:
NIMMO!
GOODBYE! 4-1 in the 9th! pic.twitter.com/CIzSoQvTGi
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 4, 2018
With Nimmo’s pinch hit three run homer, the Mets had an unlikely 4-1 lead, which Robert Gsellman had the task to save. It was not going to be easy for him and the Mets. After a replay review, the Dodgers had runners at the corners with no outs. The game was 4-2 after Grandal brought a run home with a sacrifice fly. That would be the final score as Gsellman induced Matt Kemp to hit into the game ending 6-4-3 double play.
So overall, the Mets won a game partially because of the six dominant innings he gave them, but for some reason, there is going to be a voter out there who is not going to put him atop the Cy Young ballot because of his 8-8 record.
Game Notes: With the Dodgers starting the left-handed Wood, McNeil batted eighth, and Nimmo was on the bench. Before the game, the Mets recalled Dominic Smith, Jack Reinheimer, and Drew Gagnon.
Three years after his Major League debut, it’s still difficult to make heads or tails with Steven Matz. There are days he looks absolutely terrible, and then there are days like today.
In seven innings, he completely dominated the Giants with a career high 11 strikeouts. It was the first double digit strikeout game of his career.
Unfortunately for him, what was arguably the best start of his career was just a no decision as the Mets bats are ice cold and Evan Longoria hit a fourth inning solo homer off Matz. It was just one of three hits off Matz all day.
On the other side, Derek Holland was shutting down the Mets. He was not as dominant as Matz, but he was in control all game.
Despite Holland pitching well, Brandon Nimmo would work out a one out walk, and he would score from first on the ensuing Tomas Nido double:
Pretty neat-o from @tnido24. ? pic.twitter.com/XJ0wl3eMS5
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 1, 2018
In the sixth, the Mets had a chance to take the lead, but Todd Frazier had some really poor base running.
First, after he drew a two out walk, he stole second. On the play, Nick Hundley three the ball into center. Frazier did not move to third as he was deked by Giants shortstop Alen Hanson.
Worse yet, on a Michael Conforto infield single, Hanson picked Frazier off third base:
Outstanding, @AlenHanson92
#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/0ZpxxUwTEJ
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) September 1, 2018
Seth Lugo (two innings) and Jerry Blevins (inning) kept the Giants scoreless and hitless as the game went into extra innings.
Finally, in the top of the 11th, one of these two teams would get a hit with Wilmer Flores leading off the inning with a double off Hunter Strickland. He’d move over on a Jay Bruce groundout, and he scored on a go-ahead Frazier sacrifice fly.
Robert Gsellman, who has been struggling of late, pitched a perfect ninth with some help from Nimmo:
Now THAT'S how you put an exclamation point on a win, @You_Found_Nimmo! pic.twitter.com/pzeARjJlWk
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 1, 2018
That Nimmo catch sealed the Mets win in a game completely dominated by pitching. That domination was headlined by Matz, who we can only hope has turned the corner much in the same way we have seen Zack Wheeler do this year.
Game Notes: With the Giants starting Holland, the Mets sat Jeff McNeil in favor of Flores at second. Bruce played first.
For the second straight year, Seth Lugo has the best Player’s Weekend jersey with “Quaterrican.” Seeing that jersey as well as some others we will see over the course of this weekend coupled with the color players from Mets past, it does not you wonder which jerseys Mets players from years past would have selected. On that front, the Mets bloggers offer some of the jerseys we would have like to have seen.
Michael Baron (nym.news)
Tom Seaver. “THE FRANCHISE.”
Second place is Gary Carter. “KID.”
Mark Healey (Gotham Baseball)
Metstradamus (Metstradamus Blog)
Franklin Gutierrez, who was a Met for ten minutes, was nicknamed “Death to Flying Things”. I’m sorry but the only two things that could top that would have been Richie Hebner using a middle finger emoji, or anything Willie Montanez would have come up with.
Also, did you know that George Foster‘s nickname was “Yahtzee”? I would buy that.
Greg Prince (Faith and Fear in Flushing)
I like seeing the nicknames we don’t learn about as matter of course, the ones that are personal or known more in the clubhouse than in the public. So ideally, Tom Seaver would have been SPANKY, Willie Mays BUCK and Howard Johnson SHEIKH.
Also, though it would have been hard to resist CHOO-CHOO for Clarence Coleman, I’d like to believe the catcher of few words from the 1962 Mets would have gone with BUB. And given that it was 1962, I could only hope everything was properly spelled.
James Schapiro (Shea Bridge Report)
Mets Daddy
Looking back, a Darryl Strawberry “Straw” jersey would have been hilarious for the noted coke problems of that team. It would have been funny to see Paul Lo Duca wear a “Captain Red Ass” jersey. Funny, but not likely to happen.
Ultimately, the jersey I would have liked to have seen could have been done this year. After all, what would have been better than seeing Jacob deGrom opting to chose “Sidd Finch” for his jersey?
The answer to the rhetorical question is reading the blogs from the writers who are so generous in contributing their time. Certainly,t hey all have stories to tell about these and many more players. In fact, they may have some nicknames all of their own, but to find that out, you will have to visit those sites.