Month: May 2017

2017 Mets: Hitting Is The New Pitching

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Remember when the Mets thought they could follow the model of the late 90’s Braves? They thought they could build a championship caliber roster, and the heart of that roster would be made up of elite young flame-throwing starting pitchers. Well it seems like our heart is failing thanks in large part to the organization’s incompetence and their total mishandling of the young aces. The young arms have all pretty much been destroyed. But on the flip side…now the offense is smoking hot!

I guess it’s time for a total change of plans. Hitting is the new pitching. Let’s rewrite our team mission statement and rebrand our team image by plastering the face of our best hitter all over the place. Wait, the organization destroyed our best hitter Yoenis Cespedes too? Okay, let’s just use Conforto’s face and do this thing. Hitting is king!

Wednesday’s Hit Parade: The Mets scored 16 runs on 20 hits against Atlanta on Wednesday in a 16-5 win. They didn’t hit any home runs. Just hits on hits on hits. They had rallies in the 1st inning (2 runs), the 3rd inning (3 runs), the 5th inning (4 runs), and then the 8th inning (7 runs). Michael Conforto and T.J. Rivera each had 3 hits. Rene Rivera had 3 hits and 3 RBIs. Jose Reyes had 2 hits and 5 RBIs. Even Neil Walker and Curtis Granderson are starting to pick things up. The starting pitching was garbage. Jacob deGrom gave up 5 runs on 8 hits over 5 innings. He walked 5. Awful. But who cares? Pitching is old news.

The Comeback: Last night the hot hitting and trash pitching continued. Minor league bum Rafael Montero was smoked in his start giving up 5 runs on 7 hits over 3.2 innings. Get this guy out of my face. Josh Smoker came on in relief and gave up two more runs. The game seemed out of reach even after Grandy’s two run homer in the fourth inning made it 7-3. But I totally forgot about our new team strength. I forgot that this offense is red hot. In the 7th inning the Mets rallied. A comeback victory rally? Insanity. The team crushed reliever Brad Ziegler. Six straight hits by the Mets led to four runs. T.J. Rivera played hero with a game tying two run double. He also had a homer in the first inning. The Marlins walked Wilmer Flores with the bases loaded in the 7th inning to give the Mets the 8-7 lead. That was the final score. The Marlins had plenty of opportunities in this game to score more runs, but they wasted them.

Stolen Crown: On Thursday the Mets were rained out. Jay Bruce had hit a two run homer in the game, but Mother Nature wiped it away. He’s still the rainout king to me.

Thor Non-Story: This week Noah Syndergaard got a second opinion on his destroyed lat muscle that was torn as a result of the organization’s gross incompetence. Anyway, the Mets media really tried to turn this non-story into a big deal. The new doctor said he’s out for 3 months. So did the first doctor. He’s out forever.

D’Arnaud Out Forever: The Mets finally put Travis d’Arnaud on the 10-Day DL after 3-4 days of trying to magically heal his injured wrist. Now the Mets say the injury is worse than originally expected. Sooo he had an injury, the Mets tried to make him play, and now it’s worse. Sound familiar? The Mets broke Yoenis Cespedes, Syndergaard, and d’Arnaud this season, and I can’t even muster any outrage. They broke me too.

Today: I still have Robert Gsellman starting in my fantasy league, and yes I realize that makes me an idiot. That being said I need him to have a good outing today. It will literally make or break my fantasy week. I’m guessing he gives up 7+ runs over 3 innings.

Last Place!

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Final Score: Braves 9, Mets 7

Don’t let the final score fool you. The game wasn’t close at all. Jay Bruce hit a grand slam with two outs in the 9th inning off Braves mop up reliever Matt Wisler which made the game seem like it came down to the wire. It didn’t. The Mets lost and dropped back into last place in the NL East.

So Deep: In spring training Sandy Alderson boasted that the Mets pitching staff is deep. Fast forward to now and Noah Syndergaard has been injured due to the organization’s incompetence, Steven Matz never recovered from his 2016 injuries, Matt Harvey is still recovering from major surgery, Zack Wheeler is a five inning pitcher, Seth Lugo has a shredded UCL, and Robert Gsellman is pitching like a rookie that doesn’t belong in the majors. Other than all that the GM totally nailed his assessment of our pitching depth.

It Wasn’t Actually Close: Matt Harvey had no command and couldn’t get his breaking ball over the plate. He gave up 6 runs on 8 hits over 5.1 innings. Many fans are questioning Harvey’s toughness and commitment. I’m pretty sure he’s still recovering from a major operation, and it’s the organization’s fault for forcing him to pitch right out the gate. If they cared about Harvey they would have signed some veterans and took the pressure off him. Instead we have no depth, and we need him to perform like an ace. That’s not happening right now folks.

King Bruce: Jay Bruce hit a two run homer in the first inning and a garbage time grand slam. Asdrubal Cabrera also hit a solo shot in the third inning. We scored runs on homers. Surprise. Jay Bruce has been fantastic. If we’re still in last place in July I’m sure Jay will fetch a decent minor league piece at the trade deadline.

Travis Out Forever: Travis d’Arnaud took some knocks behind the plate last night, but he left the game with some wrist soreness. Apparently Terry knew about it before the game and for some reason Travis still started. Pure incompetence. Travis said after the game he wasn’t concerned about the wrist. I’m sure he’ll ice it, miss 60 games, and then he’ll be ready to play this summer.

Worst Pitching, Best Hitting: Mets fans spent the last two years being tortured by the fact that we had elite starting pitching but a horrendous offense for long stretches of the season. The team wasted so many quality starts by our young arms. Well now we’re going to witness a new brand of torture. We’re going to watch a competent offense and a pitching staff that gets rocked each and every day. The Mets need to sign a starting pitcher immediately. The only thing worse than frantically searching for a competent bat on the MLB waiver wire during the season is dumpster diving for a competent starter. But honestly I’d rather watch Jake Peavy get shelled than watch Rafael Montero.

Yankees Position Player Studs: The Mets built their franchise around young pitching, lost in the World Series, and two years later it’s all coming apart. The Yankees went the Cubs route and focused on acquiring/developing quality young position players, and they are now dominating. Aaron Judge is leading the league in everything, Gary Sanchez is on his way back from injury and Clint Frazier and Gleyber Torres aren’t far behind this first wave of young talent. I’m sure they’ll immediately win a World Series.

MachadoGate: I only have one comment on the Manny Machado/Red Sox controversy from last night. To summarize: Red Sox and Orioles have ongoing beef and Chris Sale threw at Manny Machado at the beginning of last night’s game. Machado went ballistic after the game saying he has no respect for the Red Sox franchise. My only comment is Thor did the same thing with Chase Utley last year, and he was instantly tossed from the game. MLB sucks, and they need to consistently enforce their stupid rules. They should be tossing Chris Sale immediately for a play like that and suspending him for 3 starts. If they really wanted to stop it that is what they would do.

Today: Jacob deGrom vs. Bartolo Colon tonight. Perfect game for Tolo?

Count Your Blessings

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Final Score: Mets 7, Braves 5

When your team loses its two star players to injury in the same week, it’s helpful to take a deep breath and focus on something positive.

Michael Conforto has been a bright spot in a sea of darkness. He smacked a leadoff homer last night. He went 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs. Without him this team looks a lot more like a lost cause right now.

Rally: In the 4th inning the Mets had a thing called a rally. It actually doesn’t have to involve home runs. It happens when your team has multiple hits in one inning and those hits lead to runs. Asdrubal Cabrera led off with a single, Jay Bruce doubled, Neil Walker hit an RBI single, Curtis Granderson walked, Jose Reyes added an RBI groundout, Travis d’Arnaud reached on an intentional walk, T.J. Rivera hit an RBI single, and Michael Conforto also added a two run single to make it 6-1.

Young Guys I Like Watching: T.J. Rivera deserves playing time. Terry needs to keep playing him as long as Lucas Duda is out and even find starts for him if Duda returns. The guy hits. I’d also like the team to call up Brandon Nimmo to play some center field. It’s not that I’ve lost faith in Curtis Granderson. The reality is we need to have a better idea of what to expect from Nimmo next year. We might as well watch him regularly now with Yoenis Cespedes out. He looked good for Team Italy during the World Baseball Classic and during his stint in the majors last year.

Gsellman’s Rotation Spot: Robert Gsellman didn’t look great last night giving up 5 runs over 5 innings. The Mets bullpen let two inherited runners score when Gsellman was yanked in the 6th with no out. Obviously his rotation spot is safe because the Mets have no other options #Analysis.

Reyes Is Hot: Jose Reyes is making frequent and hard contact at the moment. He went from ice cold to locked in at the plate. Hopefully he helps carry the load in this lineup.

Today: Matt Harvey vs. R.A. Dickey tonight.