T.J

Cespedes 3 HR, 14 Runs Scored, Mets Offense Is Back

With the Mets offense struggling of late, and with the Phillies throwing at Asdrubal Cabrera last night, the Mets wanted to get out to a fast start. Yoenis Cespedes took care of that:

It was part of a night the Mets offense that just exploded all over Clay Buccholz and the Phillies. Things got so bad that even Jose Reyes got in on the action hitting a double. Not too long thereafter Buchholz left with an apparent elbow injury. 

Now, it should be noted Reyes’ double came from the seventh spot in the lineup. With him scuffling, Terry Collins dropped him down and put Curtis Granderson in his old lead-off spot. 

Whether it was Citizens Bank Park, Buchholz, Cabrera getting thrown at, the randomness of baseball, or this new lineup putting the top OBP guys atop the lineup, the offense clicked. Every position player got at least one hit:

  1. Granderson 1-4, 2 R, 2B, 2 BB
  2. Cabrera 4-6, 3 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB
  3. Cespedes 4-6, 3 R, 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI
  4. Bruce 1-6, 2 RBI
  5. Walker 2-5, 2B, BB
  6. Duda 4-6, 2 R, 2B, 2 HR, 2 RBI
  7. Reyes 1-6, R, 2B
  8. d’Arnaud 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB

As noted above, the lineup hit seven homers with Cespedes becoming the first Met to hit three homers in one game twice:

Cespedes also tied a Mets club record with four extra base hits in one game. 

As impressive as that was, Duda absolutely annihilated a home run to deep center over the batter’s eye in sixth inning:

Duda now has 14 home runs at Citizens Bank Park. That’s the most home runs by a visiting player. 

Another note on Duda, he hit his home run off the left-handed pitcher Adam Morgan. Typically, Duda struggles against left-handed pitching. This year he already has three extra base hits, including two home runs against them. He’s using that up the middle approach that was so successful for him in 2015. This is a good harbinger of things to come.

Another good harbinger was Matt Harvey‘s start. The velocity was there, and the results were mostly there.  He would go 5.2 innings allowing five hits, two runs, two earned, and one walk with six strikeouts. 

The Phillies got the Harvey in the fifth loading the bases with two outs. Harvey then snapped off three nasty curve balls to strike out Odubel Herrera to get out of the inning. Of note, the first two curves were spiked in the dirt, and d’Arnaud gobbled them up keeping the runner at third.

Overall, you knew it was the Mets night when T.J. Rivera pinch hit for Robles and drew a walk. As we know from last year and his minor leader numbers is Rivera never walks. 

The one issue with Harvey is he tweaked his hamstring in the sixth. Collins did the right thing by not chancing anything and going right to Hansel Robles who got the Mets to the eighth. 

Also, if you are prone to overreact, Josh Edgin had his first rough outing allowing two doubles and two runs in the eighth inning. However, the game was a blowout. No one should focus too much on anything when a game gets completely out of hand. 

Conversely, Paul Sewald got into his second game, and he looked more calm and composed even if he walked one. He pitched a scoreless ninth to close it out for the Mets. 

Overall, Cespedes hit three homers. Cabrera, Duda, and d’Arnaud fell just one triple short of the cycle. The seventh inning was the only inning they didn’t score a run. By far, it was the best Mets offensive game this season. 

Naturally, with this being the Mets, we couldn’t exactly enjoy this 14-4 win completely because we have to wait with baited breath about Harvey’s health. 

Game Notes: Mets are now 41-18 in their last 59 games at Citizens Bank Park. The Mets now have 46 homers in their last 21 games at Citizens Bank Park. 

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Terry Collins Decision of the Game – Almost Repeating His Pinch Running Mistakes

Last week, Terry Collins failed to pinch run for Wilmer Flores in the eighth inning because, as he said, “I was trying to get the pitching set up and get a pinch hitter in and got distracted, my fault.”  (New York Post). 

As a result of Collins being distracted, Flores, one of the slowest runners on the Mets, stayed in the game. T.J. Rivera hit a pinch hit single that would’ve scored almost any other Mets player. Instead, there was a play at the plate. Flores slid headfirst into Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Not only was Flores out at the plate, he was knocked out of the game with a neck injury. With his ensuing wrist injury, he might be gone for the season. 

With that in mind, you figure Collins would be sure not to get that distracted again. You’d figure wrong. 

The Mets were down 1-0 in the seventh, and they loaded the bases. With the pitcher’s spot due up, Collins was looking at his deep bench to pick his second pinch hitter of the inning. As you have to pinch hit for the pitcher, you also have to get your pitching lined up for the next inning. Ultimately, Collins would pick Michael Conforto to pinch hit. 

While all of this “hysteria” was occurring, Collins left James Loney, who is perhaps the slowest position player in all of baseball, standing on second base. If Flores wasn’t scoring on a single, you know Loney wasn’t either. 

It wasn’t until after Conforto took a first pitch strike that Collins figured out he needed a pinch runner. Naturally, he wouldn’t go to one of his faster runners, but to Ty Kelly. Ultimately, it didn’t matter as Conforto, who has been ice cold since being put on ice by Collins, struck out leaving the bases loaded. 

Fortunately, the Mets would go on to score in the eighth and win the game in extras behind two Curtis Granderson home runs. 

Still, you have to be worried that the Mets manager made the same mistake twice in the same week. You have to be even more concerned when you consider these are errors most managers don’t even make. 

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