Terry Collins
For some reason or other, the Mets went with an injured and bad Jon Niese over a healthy and ready Robert Gsellman. One thing was for certain, no matter who started, the Mets needed an early lead and hold on.
The Mets just did that. Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera led off the game with back-to-back singles, and then they pulled off a double steal. Cleanup hitter Wilmer Flores then hit a three run homer to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
Niese would give it right back even with Ron Darling saying, “Don’t shoot the messenger, but Niese is 55-3 with a three run lead.”
Niese allowed three of the first batters to reach base narrowing the lead to 3-1. Then his knee became too much for him. Terry Collins then went to Gsellman with one out and runners on first and second. Gsellman was greeted by a Yadier Molina game tying RBI double.
Gsellman would escape the first without allowing another run. Gsellman would be in trouble most of the night, but he would bend but not break. He was really helped by some terrific Mets defense.
Asdrubal is a vacuum. #LGM #Mets 6-3 | End 4 pic.twitter.com/ttHR8efTAK
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 24, 2016
Even with the struggles, Gsellman would earn his first win in his first ever game. His final line was 3.2 innings, two hits, no runs, none earned, three walks, and two strikeouts.
Gsellman was in line for the win as the Mets offense responded immediately to losing the lead. Travis d’Arnaud would hit a one out single and move to second on a Gsellman sacrifice bunt. Reyes then singled him home as it seems every time d’Arnaud finda his way into scoring position, Reyes singles him home. Cabrera then doubled home Reyes to make it a 5-3 game.
Justin Ruggiano effectively closed the book on Cardinals Jaime Garcia with a monster home run:
Garcia only lasted four innings himself in taking the loss allowing seven hits, six runs, six earned, and one walk with six strikeouts.
Things calmed down once it became a battle of the bullpens. Alexander Reyes flashed his dominant stuff shutting the Mets down over 2.1 innings.
Josh Smoker pitched two tension filled innings, but he only allowed one run on a monster Randal Grichuk solo homer in the sixth. There wouldn’t be another as Yoenis Cespedes robbed Stephen Piscotty of a homer:
It was an even bigger play when you consider Cespedes seemingly tweaked his quad chasing down a liner in the first.
In the seventh, Jerry Blevins and his tight firearm left a runner on with one out. Jim Henderson would then make his first appearance since coming off the DL. He got the Mets out of the inning, and he punctuated it by striking out Jedd Gyorko looking to end the inning.
Like every other Mets pitcher, Addison Reed pitched into trouble, but he got out of it unscathed. Jeurys Familia was the only one of the Mets seven pitchers to have a 1-2-3 inning in recording his 42nd save.
At least for one night, the Mets and Cardinals switched places. The Cardinals were 2-10 with RISP leaving 11 men on base. The Mets were 5-10 with RISP including a James Loney ninth inning RBI single to make it 7-4.
The Mets have finally won three in a row since the All Star Break. The Mets are now 3.5 games back of the Cardinals in the race for the second Wild Card.
Game Notes: Neil Walker missed the game as he is on paternity leave. His wife gave birth to a baby girl, Nora Vail Walker. T.J. Rivera is taking his spot until he returns. Curtis Granderson didn’t start with the lefty starter. Jay Bruce would go 0-5 with two strikeouts. He is now two for his last 22.
Pennant Race: The Marlins lost to the Royals 1-0. The Nationals lost to the Orioles 8-1. The Pirates beat the Astros 7-1.
Overall, if you want to excuse the Mets performance due to injuries, there’s merit to the argument. However, don’t let that excuse away Terry Collins’ and Sandy Alderson’s performance. They chose to go with players have established they can’t do it instead of giving other players a legitimate opportunity.
On the Fourth of July, Matt Harvey made his last start of the season. Despite Harvey’s understandably poor performance, he left behind a gaping hole in the rotation the Mets didn’t fill.
First, the Mets went with Logan Verrett. In seven starts, Verrett went 0-3 with a 7.18 ERA and a 1.541 WHIP while only averaging five innings per start. He then lost his job to “fan favorite” Jon Niese who had been demoted to the bullpen by the Pirates before being traded to the Mets. In his lone start, Niese pitched 4.2 innings allowing four hits, four earned, and two walks with six strikeouts.
Combined, Verrett and Niese were 0-4 with a 7.30 ERA and a 1.524 WHIP. Last night, Seth Lugo walked off the mound after 6.2 terrific innings having only allowed seven hits, one run, one earned, and one walk with three strikeouts. He’d leave being two base runners that Jerry Blevins would allow to score.
When David Wright and Lucas Duda went down with season ending injuries, the Mets first turned to Eric Campbell who hit .159/.270/.222 with one double, one homer, and five RBI.
Next up was Matt Reynolds, who not only helped fill-in for Wright, but also provide some days off for Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera. Reynolds hit .211/.231/.382 with seven doubles, two homers, and 11 RBI.
Next up was Ty Kelly. As an infielder, Kelly is hitting .227/.292/.364 with one homer and three RBI.
Combined, Campbell, Reynolds, and Kelly have hit .191/.264/.315 with eight doubles, four homers, and 19 RBI. These are the options the Mets went with while making excuses why T.J. Rivera shouldn’t be called-up to the majors. When Rivera finally fot his shot, he hit .355/.344/.419 with two doubles and three RBI in nine games.
So yes, injuries have impacted the Mets. However, who they chose to replace those injured players had a similar negative impact. The Mets would’ve been much better with a healthy Harvey, Wright, and Duda. It’s possible they would’ve been over .500 and in the Wild Card race if they had given Lugo and Rivera a shot earlier.
Seth Lugo was the surprise starter tonight as Steven Matz couldn’t go due to a shoulder injury (shocking, I know). Lugo would be terrific and efficient.
Lugo’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, one walk, and three strikeouts. The line would’ve looked better had it not been for Collins’ managing. Overall, Lugo only needed 69 pitches. Not bad for a guy that Mets were hoping could provide five serviceable innings.
One area that Lugo wouldn’t help himself was on the basepaths. After failing to lay down a sac bunt, he found himself in the basepaths and hilarity would ensue on a Kelly Johnson two out single.
On the single, Tim Teufel first didn’t give a sign, and then threw up the stop sign after Lugo put his head down as Hunter Pence made a good throw home. Lugo saw this, and he headed back to third. Only issue was Jose Reyes broke for third when Lugo broke for home.
The Giants first got Reyes into a run down. As this was happening, Lugo had pretty much no choice but to break for home as there were two outs. As Brandon Crawford was seemingly the player paying attention in the fifth inning, he caught Lugo trying to sneak home. Lugo would be thrown out in the ensuing rundown.
The Giants returned the favor in the bottom of the fifth. Pence dropped a “double” between the rangeless Asdrubal Cabrera and centerfielder for the day Granderson. Eduardo Nunez then hit a line drive right at Granderson while Pence took off for home. Easy double play.
Just to make sure the fifth inning would set back baseball 50 years, James Loney booted a Joe Panik grounder. Lugo would the get the opposing pitcher, Johnny Cueto, out to put an end to the nonsense.
Still, Lugo would take the loss as the only run support he received was a Granderson second inning homer into McCovey Cove.
In the seventh, Lugo was lifted after the Giants announced Gregor Blanco as a pinch hitter. Terry Collins countered with LOOGY Jerry Blevins. Bruce Bochy, being a vastly superior manager, countered with the switch hitting Ehire Adrianza. Both he and Denard Span hit RBI singles making it a 3-1 game.
The Mets rallied in the eighth starting with a Reyes one out single. It was another terrific night at the plate for Reyes going 4-4 with a double. However, despite him getting to second as Brandon Belt threw one into his back on a Johnson pinch hit. Hr wouldn’t score as Jay Bruce hit into an inning ending double play.
Josh Smoker made his major league debut in the bottom of the inning. He’d get charged with two runs as Jeurys Familia, with some help from a Ryan Lochte neon yellow haired Cabrera made an error, couldn’t get out of the inning. Erik Goeddel relieved Familia and was greeted with a Conor Gillaspie two run homer making it 8-1.
With that, the Mets have lost three in a row and are now two games under .500.
Game Notes: Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes returned from the DL with the Mets sending down Ty Kelly and T.J. Rivera.
Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera are supposed to come off the disabled list, but that doesn’t mean that the Mets are getting healthy for the stretch run. Not in the least. Seth Lugo will make his first career start as Steven Matz is going to miss tonight’s start due to his bone spurs. Sorry, he is going to miss the start due to shoulder discomfort.
Matz started feeling shoulder discomfort the day after his last start. Matz felt this shoulder discomfort after having gone 7.1 innings in his prior start and throwing 120 pitches over six innings the start before that. In his last start, Matz had all but scrapped his slider, and he started relying more on his curveball as a weapon to get batters out.
It is important to note the Mets pitched Matz because they believed there was no structural damage. As Sandy Alderson said, “Continuing to pitch will not cause any structural damage. We will continue to monitor his situation, but at this point it’s a function of if he can tolerate the discomfort while continuing to pitch.” (New York Post). It should also be noted that, according to Jon Heyman, the Mets talked Matz out of getting surgery to remove the bone spur. Instead, the Mets decided it was best to have their young lefty try to pitch through the pain and help the Mets win another World Series.
One thing that stood out in Matz’s last start was how everyone seemed to believe he turned a corner. Not just this season, but possibly his career. Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez talked a few times about how important it was for young players to learn the ability to pitch while being hurt, while having pain. As Darling would say, pitchers always have pain, and therefore, they need to learn how to deal with it if they are going to take that next step.
That begs the question – was Matz pitching through pain or was he pitching through injury? Matz is going to miss this start, and according to Terry Collins, he may very well miss his next start as well. What if Matz pitching with the bone spurs led to his shoulder injury? There will be many theories bandied about, but at the end of the day, no one knows quite for sure. However, what we do know is that the Mets best chances to win both this year and the years going forward is keeping their starting pitchers healthy. They haven’t been healthy this year.
For what it’s worth, after his last start, Matz didn’t feel there was an issue saying, “My arm’s been feeling great. I have no complaints there.” (Newsday). Except, now he does, and we don’t know why. The only thing we do know is that the Mets pressured him into pitching with an injury in his elbow, and now, they are sitting him with a shoulder injury.
With Sandy Alderson paying Terry Collins a visit in San Francisco, it makes you believe that the Terry Watch has begun. The Mets have fired nine managers in season, and if they were to fire Collins, that would make it a tenth. Can you name the nine managers fired in season? Good luck!
Wes Westrum, Salty Parker, Yogi Berra, Roy McMillan, Joe Frazier, Joe Torre, George Bamberger, Frank Howard, Davey Johnson, Bud Harrelson, Mike Cubbage, Jeff Torborg, Dallas Green, Bobby Valentine, Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel
Well Jon Niese‘s first start since returning to the Mets went about as well as you expected it would go.
Niese’s defense failed him in the fourth with the Rickie Weeks and Yasmany Tomas homers turning a 1-0 lead into a 3-1 deficit. Niese wouldn’t make it through the fifth departing with two outs in the inning and a runner on second. His final line would be 4.2 innings, four hits, four runs, four earned, two walks and six strikeouts.
Terry Collins then turned to Erik Goeddel because he obsessively and compulsively overworks relievers with arm issues – just ask Jim Henderson. In a shock to no one but Collins the overworked Goeddel was wholly ineffective needing to be bailed out by Seth Lugo, who was the only effective pitcher in the night. Goeddel recorded no outs while allowing two hits (including a Weeks homer), two runs, two walks, and no strikeouts.
For the crowd suggesting Gabriel Ynoa should’ve started over Niese (myself included), Ynoa certainly didn’t make his case tonight. He pitched one inning allowing two hits, three runs, three earned, and one walk with no strikeouts.
Josh Edgin was similarly bad. His final line was one inning, two hits, four runs, four earned, two walks, and one strikeout. He gave up a long homer to Tomas is the eighth.
Overall, Mets pitching was horrendous allowing 13 earned runs.
Perhaps the only thing worse than the pitching was the offense. Through the first seven innings, the Mets only mustered one hit off Zack Godley, and that was Jose Reyes single to leadoff the game. Reyes would score later that inning on a wild pitch.
Godley’s final line was 7.1 innings, two hits, two runs, two earned, two walks, and four strikeouts. To be fair, Godley did enter the game 3-2 with a 5.24 ERA and a 1.366 WHIP.
After Curtis Granderson and Rene Rivera applied some lipstick to this pig of a game with a couple of homers, the Mets lost the game 13-5.
Worse than the pitching and the hitting is just the Mets play in general. They have gone 1-5 against the Diamondbacks, and they have gone 3-6 in the easiest nine game stretch on the schedule. It’s why the Mets are back to .500, and are now four games out in the Wild Card race.
Game Notes: Neil Walker missed his second straight game with a back injury. Jay Bruce had a RBI double in the eighth. He is no longer the major league RBI leader.
Pennant Race: The Cardinals beat the Astros 8-2. The Nationals lost to the Rockies 12-10. The Pirates beat the Giants 6-5. The Dodgers beat the Phillies 7-2. The Marlins lost to the Reds 3-2.
After Noah Syndergaard allowed a fourth inning laser homerun to Yasmany Tomas, it looked like Syndergaard was going to have to take matters into his own hands if the Mets were going to win the game. He did:
The home run was Syndergaard’s third of the year tying him with Tom Seaver and Walt Terrell for the Mets single season home run record. Syndergaard’s homer was a no doubter homer scoring him and Alejandro De Aza giving the Mets a 3-1 lead.
De Aza was on second because Michael Bourn absolutely robbed Rene Rivera of an extra base hit. With runners on second and third, it turned into a sacrifice fly scoring T.J. Rivera. It was part of a huge inning the Mets had off Braden Shiply that saw the Mets bat around scoring four runs.
That Syndergaard home run did more than give the Mets the lead, it sparked the offense. Later on that inning, Jose Reyes tripled and scored on a Curtis Granderson sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Kelly Johnson would lead off the inning with a solo home run. Rivera would then single and score on a De Aza double. De Aza would then come home on a two out RBI infield single by Reyes. Just like that it was 7-1 Mets through the first five and a half innings.
However, it wasn’t a laugher. Nothing is that easy with the Mets.
The Diamondbacks sixth inning rally started on a Rivera “throwing error” allowing Jake Lamb to reach. It wasn’t a great throw, but it was another example of James Loney not making a full stretch at first base. Lamb and Wellington Castillo would score on a Mitch Haniger triple. Haniger would come in to score on a Rivera two out fielding error (that one was on him). Overall, while Syndergaard started the game out strong, he would up struggling again. He pitched 5.2 innings allowing seven hits, four runs, two earned, and two walks with eight strikeouts. He was fortunately bailed out by Jerry Blevins to end the sixth.
In the seventh, Hansel Robles continued his recent shaky play giving up a leadoff double to Paul Goldschmidt and issuing a two out walk to Castillo. Terry Collins would then go to Addison Reed as he is the only person on the planet that does not know the Reed isn’t good with inherited runners. Reed was welcomed with a Haniger (him again) double scoring Goldschmidt. Just like that it was 7-5 Mets, and they were in for a fight.
Fortunately, Reed would settle down in the eighth with a 1-2-3 innings, and Jeurys Familia would slam the door shut in the ninth. With that, the Mets are now a game over .500 again, and they kept pace in the Wild Card race.
Game Notes: Rivera was a surprise late replacement for Neil Walker who had to sit out the game with a sore back. Rivera had the two errors, but he had a strong day at the plate going 4-4 with two runs. Reyes seems closer to his old self going 2-4 with a run, RBI, and a triple. Jay Bruce had his best day as a Met going 2-4 with a walk.
Pennant Race: The Dodgers beat the Phillies 15-5. The Reds beat the Marlins 6-3. The Cardinals beat the Astros 8-5. The Rockies beat the Nationals 6-2. The Pirates beat the Dodgers 4-3. The Mets are in third place in the NL East 10.5 games out, and they are 3 games out of the final Wild Card spot behind the Cardinals, Pirates, and Marlins.
There were a number of reasons why the Mets made the move for Jay Bruce. There was the obvious reason that Bruce was the major league RBI leader and he was hitting well with runners in scoring position. His addition was meant to address the Mets issues in those areas. The Mets also obtained Bruce as Yoenis Cespedes insurance, not just for this year with Cespedes quad, but also for next year in the event the Mets cannot re-sign him after he opts out. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, the Mets acquired Bruce due to the struggles of Michael Conforto.
It’s at least a possibility that the Mets never make the trade for Bruce if Conforto was hitting like he should. Instead, Conforto was mired in a horrific slump for two months after a hot April all but forcing the Mets hands. The team would have to send him to AAA to try to set him straight.
Conforto would start out hitting pretty well when he came back from his stint in AAA. In his first 12 games back, he hit .267/.371/.400 with four doubles and two RBI. He was taking the right approach at the plate by not only looking to hit he ball the other way, but by also hitting it the other way with authority. However, Conforto’s success wouldn’t carry forward. Terry Collins outright refused to give him regular playing time. He sat Conforto against lefties, and he sat him against tough righties like Justin Verlander and Jose Fernandez. Collins sat Conforto at times in favor of Ty Kelly because apparently Collins thought Kelly gave the Mets a better chance to win. By the way, the Mets are 7-14 in games in which Kelly plays.
Predictably, the young player gets lost on the bench, and he starts to press and lose his way. Conforto began to slump, and he found himself amid a 2-20 slump. In that stretch, Conforto only started in five of the Mets eight games, and he had only started 13 out of 23 possible games. Naturally, the Mets decided to send Conforto back to the the minors . . . again . . . so he could get more playing time. Apparently, this was a better solution than telling the manager the obvious – Play Conforto because he is a much better baseball player than Kelly.
In fact, Conforto, even at his worst, has been a better hitter than the other options the Mets have. Even with Conforto struggling this year, consider this:
- Michael Conforto – hitting .200/.298/.340 with four doubles, one homer, and three RBI in the 19 games he played after he spent time in AAA
- Brandon Nimmo – hitting .237/.297/.288 with one homer and five RBI in 20 games with the Mets
- Ty Kelly – hitting .186/.280/.256 with one homer and four RBI in 21 games with the Mets
- T.J. Rivera – hitting .222/.211/.278 with a double and three RBI in six games (none in the outfield).
In relatively similar small sample sizes, Conforto has hit better than Nimmo, who had been called up in his stead when Conforto was first demoted. Furthermore, Conforto has hit better than Kelly and Rivera, who the Mets have on the major league roster over Conforto now.
Also, take into consideration the Mets have a real center field problem. The aforementioned Bruce is struggling in right field this year meaning he is not suited to play center field. That leaves the Mets with the following two options to play in center field:
- Curtis Granderson – hitting .187/.265/.293 with two doubles, two homers, and two RBI in his last 20 games
- Alejandro De Aza – hitting .196/.339/.304 with two doubles, one homer, and three RBI in his last 20 games
Essentially, it is only Conforto who is being punished for being in a slump. Remember that during an epic postgame rant following a 9-0 loss to the Padres on August 11th, Collins had this to say, “Starting tomorrow we’re going to get after it. And those that don’t want to get after it, I’ll find some who do. Because in Las Vegas there is a whole clubhouse of guys that want to sit in this room. And that’s all I have to say.” (NJ.com). After that game, Conforto was the only position player sent down because apparently he was the only player in that clubhouse that needed to be taught a lesson.
The end result is the Mets getting diminishing returns from Granderson as he is forced to play every day in center field. It is also resulting in the Mets playing De Aza, who is once again slumping at the plate, against righties and Kelly, who cannot hit major league pitching, against lefties. Even with his struggles, Conforto was better than the numbers those three are putting up right now. Instead, the Mets would rather watch Conforto play everyday in AAA and tear the cover off the ball. Since his ill advised punishment, sorry demotion, Conforto is 5-9 with a hit by pitch, three runs, a double, a homer, and two RBI.
This isn’t a AAA mirage either. We’ve seen Conforto do that at the major league level. However, in order for him to do that he actually has to play. Instead, the Mets would rather leave him in the minors while fielding the worst possible team they can muster. If the Mets really want to win, they would call up Conforto and play him everyday because at his worst, he’s still better than what the Mets are throwing out there right now.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on Mets Merized Online