Tag: braves

Mets Concede Series Finale To Giants With Dog Doo Lineup

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Final Score: Giants 6, Mets 1

The Mets dropped the series finale to the Giants in a game where Terry rested our top left-handed hitting sluggers against Madison Bumgarner. In the top of the 4th inning Matt Duffy singled and stole a base. Then Buster Posey singled, and Brandon Belt followed that with an RBI groundout. Hunter Pence capped the inning with a two run blast to make it 3-0.

Noah Syndergaard was not at his best on Sunday. He officially tired in the 6th inning and with 2 outs and 2 men on, Terry yanked him in favor of Hansel Robles. Robles gave up an RBI single to Hunter Pence which made it 4-0.

The Giants tacked on a couple runs late in the game, but the Mets never really made a legitimate push to win this one.

Credit Where It’s Due: Madison Bumgarner is elite and shut the Mets down when he had to on Sunday. The Mets had many opportunities against MadBum, and left a bunch of men on base. Ultimately they couldn’t get the big hit in the big spot and you have to give the Giants ace credit for pulling that off.

Terry’s Terrible Lineup: In a home finale where the Mets had a chance to go for the jugular and sweep the Giants, Terry fielded an absurd lineup. Lagares in RF? Never never never never never. Stop it!!! He’s a gold glove centerfielder. Wilmer stone hands was back out there again and this time at shortstop. He’s been awful. And here’s the problem. If we have no confidence in Curtis Granderson and Lucas Duda facing elite left-handed pitchers, then we need to get a right-handed bench bat that can actually play. Eric Campbell and Wilmer Flores have not cut the mustard so far this season.

Soupermetrics: Speaking of Soup, Eric Campbell puts his team leading “likeliness to start percentage” of 0.5% on the line in Sunday’s matinee. He actually got a hit to raise his average to .182 and he walked.

Mini Series Preview: The Mets open up a home series against the Braves tonight. Since we swept them at Turner Field, they have gone 2-4. There’s nothing to preview really. They’ve won 6 games on the season. They are the worst team in the league, and the Mets are arguably the hottest team. Sweep please.

Game 1: Bartolo Colon vs. Mike Foltynewicz

Game 2: Matt Harvey vs. Matt Wisler

Game 3: Steven Matz vs. Jhoulys Chacin

Mets Sweep Braves; Game Of Thrones Returns

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Final Score: Mets 3, Braves 2

Jacob deGrom is back. He got the win in today’s series finale going 5.2 innings and giving up 1 run. Michael Conforto got two RBIs today with a sac fly in the 1st inning and an RBI double in the 6th inning. Asdrubal Cabrera has stayed scorching hot going 2 for 4 and raising his average to .333. We swept the series with Wilmer Flores, Juan Lagares, and Kevin Plawecki all in the lineup. Our B-squad had no problem with this Braves team. What a fantastic road trip. It doesn’t get much better than going 7-2 on the road. As I’ve said over and over, you must beat these bad teams. So we deserve a pat on the back for getting the job done. That being said, the Nationals haven’t slowed down one bit. The Nats are 14-4 on the season and 7-3 in their last 10. We are 10-7 and have gone 8-2 in our last 10. So let’s keep it up because there’s still ground to make up.

Tonight: The Mets swept their weekend series, Jacob deGrom returned, and Game of Thrones returns tonight on HBO. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Tomorrow: The Mets head home to play the Reds. Our ongoing war against the worst teams in the NL continues tomorrow night. To borrow from Game of Thrones, let’s mount the head of the Reds mascot on a spike.

Mets Take Series; Braves Stink

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Final Score: Mets 8, Braves 2

The Mets rolled last night again in Atlanta. Steven Matz pitched a very solid 6.1 innings with 8 strikeouts. He gave up an RBI double to Freddie Freeman early and an RBI single to Nick Markakis late. He did give up 9 hits, but he kept getting out of jams and only yielded those two runs.

The Mets got their scoring going right away. Curtis Granderson singled, Michael Conforto singled, and Lucas Duda got the one out sac fly. A little small ball. Hooray! Then Neil Walker walked and the awful Braves made an error on an Asdrubal Cabrera grounder to score Conforto.

In the 4th, Travis d’Arnaud got a leadoff single. Then with two outs the Braves walked Curtis Granderson and promptly gave up a 2 run double to David Wright. That made it 4-1. Asdrubal Cabrera added an RBI single in the 7th.

In the 9th, Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker hit back to back home runs. It was the 4th time in 5 games that this Mets team accomplished back to back bombs. Juan Lagares added an RBI triple. That made it 8-2 and that was all she wrote.

Braves Stink: My only takeaway from this game (if it wasn’t abundantly clear already) is the Braves stink. We know this. My season preview said that. My series preview said it. It’s ok. They are rebuilding. They are actively stinking. The reason I bring it up again is because of what happened in Philly. In Philly we won 2 out of 3. Great. Excellent. Congratulations. When we dropped the finale of that series in extra innings in embarrassing fashion, I chastised the Mets. I said it was a terrible loss that a great team can’t have. A lot of fans said “Come on! Give them credit. At least they won the series.” And I will not do that. The Phillies and Braves are garbage. They are going to have some days where they beat us outright. On those days you tip your cap and move on. But when you have a chance to beat them and you blow it, you are really hurting your overall playoff chances. We must have a better record than Washington against our NL East opponents. Period. Every game matters. And of course we must beat Washington. But if we split our games against the Nats, it’s going to come down to that BS April series finale against Philly. Or perhaps even today’s sweep opportunity against Atlanta.

Today: Jacob deGrom is back. The Braves have a stud rookie on the mound though. Let’s send this kid back to the minors and sweep these mooks.

Mets Beat Braves; Cespedes Re-tweaks Leg

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Final Score: Mets 6, Braves 3

We’re above .500! Hooray! But let’s start with what really matters. Pray for Cespedes. In the 7th, David Wright doubled and then with 2 outs Yoenis Cespedes drove him in with a double that appeared to be a home run off the bat. That gave us our 6th and final run. When Cespedes slid into second base he supposedly re-aggravated the leg injury he got when he dove into the stands at home against the Marlins. Pray that a day or two will save him. Cespedes really comes to play man. I always thought that his limpy style of walking was just his swag strut. But now I’m pretty sure he’s just one of those super tough athletes that always plays with a nagging injury. I’m so happy we have him. Please get well soon Yo. 

Anyway, the game was a long ball show again. Curtis Granderson hit a Grand Slam in the 2nd inning, but the Mets were lucky to be in that spot. The Braves walked Asdrubal Cabrera and Travis d’Arnaud with 1 out. Then Matt Harvey attempted to sacrifice them over and pitcher Bud Norris had an easy opportunity at a double play. He blew the throw to third base and everybody was safe. After that blunder, Grandy laced one out of the park. Grandy also added a second home run with a two out solo shot in the 4th inning. He was a one man wrecking crew tonight.

I was really looking for a quality start from Matt Harvey to give us some confidence as we approach the end of April. Unfortunately, he was just mediocre again. He battled to get through five innings. In the second, Kelly Johnson had an RBI single and Mallex Smith had an RBI double. Cespedes saved Harvey from getting chased from the game in the bottom of the 5th. Harvey walked the leadoff man, but then retired the next two batters. Then he gave up two straight singles to Adonis Garcia and A.J. Pierzynski. On Pierzynski’s single, Nick Markakis tried to score and Cespedes nailed him at home with a laser throw.

Antonio Bastardo, Jim Henderson, Jerry Blevins, and Jeurys Familia were able to finish the game despite a little trouble in the 7th.

Benchcicle Prophecy: I wrote in the series preview that this might be a good weekend to get Juan Lagares a start considering he’s becoming a benchcicle, and we are playing a crummy team. Well with the Cespedes injury, to quote Dr. Ian Malcolm, “Life uh, finds a way”. Travis d’Arnaud had another 0-fer last night bringing his average down to .158. I’m sure Kevin Plawecki will get the day game on Sunday, but Travis is really struggling. Also, Asdrubal Cabrera looked like he hurt his wrist or finger sliding into second base in the top of the 8th inning. He stayed in the game, and I haven’t heard anything about it. Then in the bottom of the 8th, Cabrera made his first error. Maybe Wilmer Flores will score a start this weekend too. Although we’d be better off defensively with a one-handed Cabrera.

Terry Cab Accident: Terry got in a cab accident before the game. Thank the gods he’s ok. It makes you think of when that cab took Duaner Sanchez from us back in 2006. During the game, Terry threw reliever Antonio Bastardo out there for a second inning of relief after a dominant 6th inning. In that 7th inning, things fell apart quickly for the Bastard of Citi. Maybe Terry can actively try and not kill these relievers on the field? Is that possible?

Rain Delay PTSD: Before the 8th inning started last night there was a rain delay. It was probably only an hour, but it brought back memories of that pre-trade deadline July game against San Diego last year. I still tremble thinking about Familia blowing that post rain delay 9th inning.

Today: Steven Matz goes for the Mets. Let’s win the series today. There’s nothing I want more this Sunday then to watch the Mets sweep the Braves and then watch the premiere of Game of Thrones.

Series Preview: Last Season At Turner Before They Burn Her

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The Braves are 4-11. They started the season by losing 9 in a row to the Nationals and Cardinals. Since then, they swept the Marlins in Miami and then lost 2 out of 3 at home to the Dodgers. From the Mets perspective, this should be the same story as Philadelphia. The Braves are rebuilding and have already conceded this season. The Mets must beat up on them no matter where the games are held.

Last Season At Turner: In 2015, the Mets went 11-8 against the Braves and 5-5 at Turner Field. If we are looking to improve upon our 90 win 2015 season, a good place to start would be against Atlanta at this cursed field. Speaking of Turner Field, it’s the last year the Braves play here before they move to their new stadium. Supposedly the organization has stopped taking care of the damn place and the infield grass is an uneven mess. Our infield defense has been solid so far this season, but I’m sure Turner Field will find a way to screw that up for us. Maybe when the Braves leave behind Turner, they can also dump the tomahawk chop? Maybe they can try something a little less obnoxious and offensive? If the U.S. is going to take Andrew “Trail of Tears” Jackson off the front of the 20 dollar bill, maybe Manfred will encourage Atlanta to come up with some clap-based cheer that has nothing to do with Native American war cries. But that’s doubtful considering the Washington Redskins are still hanging around the NFL.

Pitching Matchups:

Game 1: Matt Harvey vs. Bud Norris

Panic City is at an Amber Threat Level regarding the status of Matt Harvey. The conversation last year was “Shutdown Harvey?!? No way!” Now the Panic City Council is saying “How did we not shutdown Harvey?!?” Dan Warthen said Harvey had a great bullpen session this week, and he fixed his “mechanical issue”. The bottom line is we need to see something positive from Harvey. It doesn’t even need to be a strikeout filled complete game. Let’s see him get through 6 innings without tiring and collapsing late. That would be a refreshing change.

Last year, Harvey took a big fat loss at Turner Field. He went 6.2 innings and only gave up a run. Guess what month it was? June. It goes without saying that the entire 2015 season must be viewed through the B.C. (Before Cespedes) and A.C. (After Cespedes) lens. Since this was a B.C. loss it means nothing to me.

Bud Norris is off to a 1-2 start with a shining 6.23 ERA. He was a scrap heap pickup by the rebuilding Braves to round out their rotation. He gives up some long balls. He’s given up 20+ home runs 3 times in his career, and he’s already given up 3 on the season. Last time out against Miami he gave up two of those home runs and didn’t get out of the 6th inning. The Mets faced him at home in May of last season when he was on Baltimore. He went 7 innings and gave up 3 runs.

Neil Walker is 9 for 23 against him with a home run. That’s a .391 clip. Yoenis Cespedes is 3 for 10 with a home run. Uh oh.

Game 2: Steven Matz vs. Jhoulys Chacin

Chacin is only 28 and his career got off to a promising start despite playing in hitter friendly Colorado. But he has battled shoulder issues and other injuries which ultimately led to his release in Colorado. And if Colorado is letting a pitcher go, you know there’s real issues. Atlanta brought him in to fill out their rotation as they wait for young pitchers to emerge from their system. He shutout Washington in his first start over 6 innings and struck out 8. He wasn’t quite as impressive last time out against Miami where he went 5.1 innings and gave up 3 runs. He’s a groundball pitcher so that may limit our ability to punish him with long balls. That being said, Neil Walker is 3 for 9 against him, David Wright is 2 for 9 and Juan Lagares is 2 for 6.

Steven Matz got rocked in his first start and dominated last time out. Let’s hope this start goes well and he can get in a consistent groove.

Game 3: Jacob deGrom vs. ? (Aaron Blair? Mike Foltynewicz?)

The Braves haven’t announced their Sunday starter yet. It could be young pitcher Mike Foltynewicz who went 4-6 with a 5.71 ERA in 18 appearances (15 starts) for the Braves last season. The alternative would be highly touted prospect Aaron Blair making his major league debut. The Braves snagged the former 2013 first round pick Blair as part of the haul they received from Arizona for Shelby Miller in the offseason. Blair is 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 0.79 WHIP at Triple-A so far this season. He also has 22 strikeouts in 19 innings. He throws a 91-95 MPH fastball that induces ground balls. He also throws a curve and change-up.

The Mets will finally get Jacob deGrom back. His baby boy Jaxon is healthy and supposedly Jacob’s lat has healed as well. It’s good to have him back although we certainly didn’t lose anything with Logan Verrett on the mound. Jacob deGrom went 0-1 in 2 starts against Atlanta last season. The loss came at Turner Field. Of course he went 7+ innings in both starts, struck out 12 overall, gave up 9 total hits and 3 total runs. In his defeat at Turner Field he only gave up 2 runs. As you would expect, both starts were in June (B.C.).

Things To Look For:

Braves Pitching: Braves have a team ERA of 4.67 and are in the bottom third of the league. They are considering bringing up top pitching prospect Aaron Blair in large part because of how incompetent their starters have been so far. Let’s hit them early and often.

Big Ball Only: We really need to get some key situational hits this weekend. At a minimum, we need to convert more often with runners in scoring position. I know chicks dig the long ball. Frankly, so do the overweight men who watch on their couch. But at some point they will lose their luster if we keep dropping games because we can’t get a clutch single or a sac fly.

Kevin Playwecki?: Travis d’Arnaud hit a few balls hard in the series finale against Philly, but he’s still batting below .200. Kevin Plawecki should get a start this weekend during the day game on Sunday. I’m hoping for a healthy All-Star season from d’Arnaud. But I won’t be upset if Terry gives Kevin an extra game here and there to keep Travis fresh.

Get ’em While They’re Cold: Freddie Freeman and Kelly Johnson have both started the season hitting around .150. It will be nice to see Kelly Johnson again. It would be nice if he was in a Mets uniform instead of Eric Campbell.

Benchcicles: The guys on our bench never play. I completely understand why. It’s simply because the starters are much better. Duh. They are real MLB starters. All these years we sat here debating if Ruben Tejada should start or Omar Quintanilla. We dissected whether to sign Chris Young, John Mayberry Jr., and many other players. And the one unifying theme was that they were all garbage. The starters that we have now are the opposite of garbage. They are established, consistent veterans or young budding stars. My point is that Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares have taken a backseat because we have superior options. That being said, we should look to get these two guys some playing time against a crummy team like the Braves if the series goes well. It’ll help keep them from becoming ice cold on the bench, and it’ll help preserve our starters over the long season.

My Best Guess: Predicting the 2016 MLB Playoffs and Player Awards

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Major League Baseball has such parity. Sure we can probably narrow down the field of competition to around 15 teams before the season even starts. Roughly half the league is actually competing for a championship. But that’s a hell of a lot better than the annual three team dance in the NFL or the one team in the NBA that has a chance to win (I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with Olden Plate Warriors). Jayson Stark from ESPN (and Winterfell) writes a brilliant annual column showing how the parity in MLB compares to that of the NFL. It really gives you an idea of how even the MLB playing field is, and how hard it is to predict the outcome of the season. Honestly, if you want the real crystal ball just look at the Vegas lines. Vegas knows better than me or any of the other baseball writers. That being said, if you want some of my magic insight, here are my playoff and player award predictions for 2016:

The Metssiah’s Player Award Predictions:

AL MVP: Manny Machado. Yeah I didn’t pick Mike Trout. I’m crazy!! Machado had a breakout season last year, he’s young, and he’s part of a beastly lineup. Plus my scouts (google images) say Machado’s head looks enormous this spring. Maybe he’s been getting his swoll on this offseason. I’m no phrenology expert, but big head equals big season.

AL Cy Young: Chris Archer

AL Rookie of the Year: Byron Buxton

NL MVP: Bryce Harper. Again. That being said, Yoenis Cespedes is going off at 25 to 1 in Vegas for MVP. I like that sweet action.

NL Cy Young: Max Scherzer. Yeah I’m betting against my boys, but I’ll say Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard finish 2, 3 and 4 respectively so I feel better about the betrayal.

NL Rookie of the Year: Corey Seager. But Steven Matz will probably be in the conversation.

 

The Metssiah’s American League Playoff Predictions:

WC Game: Rangers over Blue Jays

ALDS: Royals over Rangers and Astros over Yankees

ALCS: Astros over Royals

 

The Metssiah’s National League Playoff Predictions

WC Game: Nationals over Pirates

NLDS: Cubs over Nationals and Mets over Giants

NLCS: Mets over Cubs

 

World Series Prediction: Mets over Astros

 

Also, for my previously published divisional predictions see these posts:

American League East

American League Central

American League West

National League East

National League Central

National League West

My Best Guess: Predicting the 2016 National League East

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(This is one post in a series of posts where I will be predicting the outcome of each MLB division. The final post will include full 2016 MLB postseason predictions.)

Before the 2015 season started, the Nationals were heavy favorites in the NL East. The experts saw them winning 100 games and representing the NL in the World Series. A lot of people also predicted the Marlins would have a big season after they made a number of offseason moves. These moves included the acquisition of utility infielder Martin Prado, 2B Dee Gordon, and OF Ichiro Suzuki. The Mets were seen as a pitching rich team with more young pitching on the way midseason. But the experts unanimously agreed that the Mets were short an impact bat. The rebuilding Phillies and Braves were expected to be the cellar dwelling duo that actively reinforced the division’s reputation as the NL Least. Well in the end the Marlins were terrible, and they joined the Phillies and Braves at the forefront of MLB’s list of bad teams. The Nationals had tons of injuries, a horrible manager, and by September the Nationals hit rock bottom when their new closer Jonathan Papelbon choked out NL MVP Bryce Harper in the dugout on national television. As expected, the Mets had elite pitching and an absolutely anemic offense through July. However, once they acquired Yoenis Cespedes at the trade deadline, the offense went from worst to first and launched the Mets to the NL East crown and a World Series appearance. Not much changed this offseason as far as the NL East big picture is concerned. The Braves and Phillies are still rebuilding. The Marlins are still pretending they have a chance to be good. The Mets and Nationals should duke it out for the division crown. Here’s what I see in 2016:

NL East: 1) NY Mets (x) 2) Washington Nationals (wc) 3) Miami Marlins 4) Atlanta Braves 5) Philadelphia Phillies

I see the Mets and Nationals battling for the division all season long. As I wrote in my Mets season preview, I see the Mets winning the World Series for a number of reasons. The main reasons being their unrivaled starting pitching and the fact that they have the postseason experience now. We all saw what the Royals did in the 2015 postseason. They were so composed. So battle tested. I expect the Mets to have that same moxie in 2016. And the Mets get to have a full season of Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz now. Not to mention the eventual return of Zack Wheeler who had arguably the best raw stuff of the entire group of pitchers. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard could all realistically win the Cy Young. I think the Mets have a deep lineup too with the potential to score a lot of runs. Michael Conforto is probably going to breakout. Neil Walker is going to have a big contract year. Yoenis Cespedes is going to make everyone around him better. Bullpen could be a weak spot, but as long as Jeurys Familia is closing, it won’t be that big of a problem. A pen arm can always be added down the stretch.

That being said, the Nationals aren’t going to be a pushover. And I think both the Mets and Nationals will wind up in the playoffs. The Nationals stumbled due to injuries last season and appalling managing by Matt Williams. Plain and simple. Sure the Mets came up big against them when they had to. Sure Yoenis Cespedes ended the Nationals career of Drew Storen with that September home run off of him that led to a sweep and ultimately locked up the division. But the Nationals ultimately stumbled more than the Mets truly beat them. The Nats still have a stacked rotation and lineup. I doubt Ryan Zimmerman will stay healthy in the same way I doubt David Wright will stay healthy for the Mets. Jayson Werth will probably rebound after his injury plagued 2015 which included a 5 day stint in jail for reckless driving. I think by season’s end, they will have the MVP (Bryce Harper) and the NL Cy Young winner (Max Scherzer). Stupid Daniel Murphy will probably provide a tremendous boost to their offense while simultaneously committing blunder after blunder in the field. Same story as his stint with the Mets. They revamped their bullpen, but I don’t really like any of their new pieces. They added former Met castoff Oliver Perez and Met farmhand Yusmeiro Petit. Woop-de-freakin-doo. They also have a Syndergaard-esque prospect due to come up in Lucas Giolito. He could really change the game down the stretch. I think the Nats will win a wild card after beating up on our weak division.

The Marlins hired Don Mattingly to manage and Barry Bonds to be their hitting coach. Just to be clear, these two guys are coaching. They are not joining the actual 2016 Marlins roster, in their playing prime, as a result of some tear in the space time fabric. The Marlins were 71-91 last season. They were awful. You can blame their former manager Mike Redmond and their GM Dan Jennings all you want. But I think this team stinks. Sure they have potential MVP candidate Giancarlo Stanton. But he gets hurt every season. He’s already battling knee pain again this spring. Dee Gordon won the batting title last season at 2B for the Marlins, and they still only won 71 games. He’s going to regress in 2016. Jose Fernandez is back for a full season at the top of their rotation. That is going to have a huge impact because he is so elite. And they did add Wei-Yin Chen as a number 2 starter. But they lost Carter Capps out of the pen this spring to TJ surgery. He was going to challenge for the closer’s job. Maybe the Marlins improve a bit. Maybe they go .500. But I don’t see them being much better than that.

The Phillies and Braves are in rebuild mode. They are both going to be miserable to watch and the Mets and Nationals are going to destroy them every other week when they play. The Braves made great offseason trades to continue to bolster their already stocked farm system. They robbed the D-Backs in that Shelby Miller deal. Dansby Swanson seems to be an elite future SS, and they also netted top pitching prospect Aaron Blair. The trade of their existing SS Andrelton Simmons netted them pitcher Sean Newcomb. They are stocking up on young pitching. Everyone’s trying to find a way to beat the Mets at their own game.

The Phillies waited way too long to start their rebuild, but they finally did start. They dished Cole Hamels last season. They even traded young closer Ken Giles to the Astros in the offseason. They signed some scrub players to fill out the pitching staff namely Jeremy Hellickson for the rotation and David Hernandez for the bullpen. They are excited to see what Maikel Franco does at 3B in his first full season and what Odubel Herrera does in the OF in his second season. But it’s going to be a brutal year in Philly. I’m sure the fans have their batteries primed and ready to pelt the Philly Phanatic.

 

Other Divisional Predictions:

American League East

American League Central

American League West