Tag: mlb

Murph vs. Walker 2016: A Visual History Of Embarrassment 

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“I’m so good. I’m like Murph on steroids!” – Neil Walker’s thoughts March 2016 / “Jesus Christ, Murph is good. Is he on steroids?” -Neil Walker’s thoughts July 2016

It may only be July 30th, but the question of who wins the battle for second base supremacy in 2016 (Neil Walker or Daniel Murphy) has seemingly been answered. Murph is hitting .351 with 20 home runs and 76 RBIs. He’s on pace for 30+ homers, 100+ RBIs, a batting title, and a possible MVP award. He’s having one of the best seasons by a second baseman in baseball history. Walker on the other hand has a tenuous hold on the Mets starting second base job. He’s posting the lowest OPS of his career. He hit .307 with 9 home runs in April, and since then has hit .250 in May, .214 in June, and .236 in July.

I can’t take it anymore. Mercy! I yield! Just crown Murph the best NL second baseman of 2016. There’s time left for Walker to salvage his own season and help the Mets in the battle for an NL playoff spot. But Walker will never surpass Murph’s overall 2016 production. At this rate, Neil Walker may not even perform at a high enough level to warrant a qualifying offer. Great. So much for that plan.

Let’s just take a look at this visual history of Murph’s domination of Walker so far this season. Also, please keep in mind some of these images are symbolic representations of events this season, and some of these things actually happened (allegedly).

Murph Walker election
Murphy crushed Walker in the All-Star Game general election. Walker didn’t even carry his home state of Pennsylvania. Pathetic. Daniel Murphy: Making Mets Fans Miserable Again.
murph walker debate
No wonder Murph won the All-Star Game election in such a landslide. He destroyed Walker in all their televised matchups. Neil couldn’t stop sweating because of his embarrassing .222 batting average against the Nationals.
british surrender
Here’s Neil Walker surrendering to Murph and the Nationals after the Battle of Washington. Murph sure has made Walker, Sandy Alderson, and the Mets look bad with his .423 batting average, 7 home runs and 21 RBIs against them.
Jeopardy
Remember when Murph was paid big money by the Nationals and the Pirates traded Neil Walker because they didn’t want to pay him? If Walker keeps up his abysmal play, he may wind up making less money than Murph and Ken Jennings (pictured center).
rocky vs drago
Daniel “The Irish Stallion” Murphy absolutely demolished Neil Walker in every head to head matchup. They haven’t even been close.
Murph vs. Frazier
Here’s one of Murphy beating up the AL in the All-Star Game (represented by the great Joe Frazier). Murph went 2 for 3, and Neil Walker didn’t even qualify to play in the game. But don’t worry, Walker stayed on the sidelines and took pictures.

 

Murph Walker Mr Universe
Murph has so much power in 2016. Walker has hit way more homers in his career (109 vs. Murph’s 82), but even Walker is amazed at Murph’s power this season.
murph moon
Here’s one of Daniel Murphy walking on the moon (before Spring Training started). Neil “Armstrong” Walker can be seen in the background. You can’t see his face because he’s wearing a standard space mask. Murph refused to wear one because he has no problem breathing the “crisp moon air”.
Murphless in Seattle
Remember that scene in Sleepless in Seattle where Meg Ryan broke up with loser fiancé Neil Walker and then ran away with Murph to Washington?
murph neil plug pull
And finally, here’s where Daniel “Costanza” Murphy pulled the plug on his nemesis Neil. Neil will eventually walk at the end of the season. Probably to some new team.

Unwatchable 

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unwatchable unbreakable

Final Score: Rockies 6, Mets 1

M. Night Shyamalan presents “Unwatchable”, the story of the 2016 Mets. There is no twist ending. We just suck the entire time. Actually the movie should really take place over two years. Then the twist would be that after a 2015 World Series appearance led by the best young pitching the league has seen in years, the Mets found a way to squander their chance at a prolonged run. Twist baby!!! But that’s not really a twist for the Mets. That’s standard. The Mets average with runners in scoring position is .202. The Padres in 1969 hit .201 with runners in scoring position, and that is the worst average of all time. We’re on pace folks!

Here’s The Crap Part: Here’s the game recap. Honestly I’d skip over it. James Loney hit a solo homer and that was all she wrote for the Mets offense. The Mets had chances in this game I suppose. Curtis Granderson popped up with bases loaded and two outs in the second inning. The Rockies had walked them loaded. So it’s not even like we were rallying or something. The Mets also had two straight singles to start the 8th inning. Nothing to show for it. Nada.

Steven Matz didn’t really pitch great. But despite giving up 10 hits he battled through 6 innings and only gave up 2 runs. Carlos Gonzalez hit an RBI double off of him and Nick Hundley added an RBI single in the sixth inning. For most teams a 2-1 game in the 6th inning is very winnable. Not the Mets. The Rockies added four runs off the Mets pen.

Terry’s Ready To Die: Terry seemed totally composed and relaxed after the game. He told the players to calm down, listen to some music and to stop putting so much pressure on themselves. Man oh man Terry is ready to die (i.e. ready to be fired). He’s been fired before. He’s had the threat of the axe hanging over his head as Mets manager. He knows what it’s like. For him to come out after that game and have a happy press conference, he’s either come to terms with his potential fate or he’s just loading up on Xanax.

Things To Do For The Summer: This team sucks. Make alternate plans for the summer people. Check out the beach. Watch “Stranger Things” on Netflix or “The Night Of” on HBO. Try new food. Go for long walks. Join the gym. Do anything but watch these Mets. If you watch the Mets you’re just going to wind up drinking all summer. Let me do the Mets watching for you. I’ll bear the load. The burden is mine. I will be your Metssiah and bring my Metsciples the painful recaps. It is my burden.

Should Have Kept The Band Together: I really don’t like this team at all. Every game I watch just makes me wish we kept the World Series band together. We should have kept Daniel Murphy, Juan Uribe, and Tyler Clippard. Murph is going win the MVP, and Neil Walker will be lucky to win a Citi Field seat upgrade. Antonio Bastardo is absolutely horrendous. He gave up a three-run homer in the 9th to Carlos Gonzalez which made it 6-1 and blew the game open. It’s not like we were ever going to score anyway, but he can’t even mop up. He has METS disease so bad.

Go To Hell Wilpons: Everyone gave the Wilpons a damn lap dance in the offseason for retaining Yoenis Cespedes. Not me. Screw the Wilpons. This opt-out contract is BS, and he’s going to leave us for good. The trade market prices at the deadline are currently insane. That means every team is going to turn to free agency. And…that means Cespedes is going to get paid a zillion dollars. The Wilpons should have retained the World Series team and let Sandy upgrade that roster. We should have done just what the Cubs did. They kept their team of winners and made it even better. Instead we changed the whole thing up. Also, I’ve actually heard fans calling for the Mets to trade Cespedes. What planet am I on? Do people not realize he’s the best hitter we’ve had in the organization since Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza. It’s Mike Piazza weekend for Christ’s sake. The Mets didn’t start dangling Mike at the trade deadline in 2001 or 2002 when they failed to make the playoffs. Cespedes is the franchise bat we’ve craved for some time. We need more franchise bats not fewer!

Today: Bartolo Colon and Noah Syndergaard pitch the next two games. Should be auto-wins agains the Rockies. Not bloody likely.

Goodbye Juanny One Thumb

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I pointed out in my postgame recap that Juan Lagares has been horrendous since his return from the DL on account of his one functioning thumb. Well three hours later he’s on the DL and likely to get season ending surgery on his torn thumb ligament. Brandon Nimmo is coming up. Now we wave bye bye to Ol’ Juanny One Thumb!!!

Yoenis Cespedes says he can’t play center field anymore. Curtis Granderson isn’t a center fielder. The Mets are forcing Michael Conforto to “learn” the position on the fly. It seems our elite coaching staff has discovered a way to somehow teach Conforto athleticism. Assuming you’re as skeptical of that plan as I am, you’ve probably done the latest center field math. Without Juan we are left with…zero actual center fielders!!! Oh wait I forgot about De Aza. He’s our new hottest hitter. Phew. That’s promising. This team is really on the upswing.

RIP David Wright. RIP Matt Harvey. RIP Juan Lagares. RIP Jose Reyes? Soon enough. RIP season? Not yet. But it’s getting closer. This team is so screwed. The season’s not really over until we’re saying RIP Yoenis Cespedes. There may not be much time left for Ol’ Quadless Yo. The guy’s limping around like Kirk Gibson in 1988.

Panic City is on fire. I just finished looting a convenience store in the heart of town on the corner of Tommy John Scare Boulevard and Jose Reyes Hamstring Memorial Avenue. I’m heading down to Panic City Hall to torch the place. The “fire everyone” protestors are flooding the streets. The clock is ticking on the 2016 season. Tick…tick…tick…

Rock Bottom Again? How Low Can We Go?

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Final Score: Rockies 2, Mets 1

Rock bottom. Rock bottom. Rock bottom. Rock bottom… Oh I give up. I wanted to count all the times the Mets have hit rock bottom this season, but it’s basically a daily occurrence at this point. This Mets team is absolutely unwatchable. I love the pitching staff, but baseball games aren’t fun if your team can’t get clutch hits or come back to win.

Today’s game felt the most like the July 2015 Padres rain delay blown save because I was at work during both games and had a meltdown both times. I was in a meeting when Familia blew today’s save, and I wanted to get up and punch a hole in the conference room dry wall. Here’s my 3 step plan to fix this team. 1) Clone Yoenis Cespedes, Bartolo Colon, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Jeurys Familia (yes despite the two blown saves). 2) Fire everybody else. 3) Start the 2017 season with team clone (unless the clones can be produced by the trade deadline).

RISP: The Mets lone run came in the second inning on an RBI double by Rene Rivera. We have literally reached the point where the most reliable hitters on our team other than Yoenis Cespedes are Rene Rivera and Alejandro De Aza. Other than that run it was the same garbage offense we’ve seen for months. The team was 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Neil Walker doubled in the fourth inning with two outs, and then Asdrubal Cabrera hit a soft infield hit. But James Loney flew out and left them on base. In the fifth Rene Rivera hit a leadoff double and was stranded. In the 6th inning the Mets again had first and second with 2 outs, and Loney left them on base. In the 8th inning Rene Rivera singled, Alejandro De Aza doubled, and Terry pinch hit an injured Cespedes assuming the Rockies would intentionally walk him. And they did. The Rockies would rather face any player in the Mets clubhouse over a one-legged Cespedes. Anyway, Kelly Johnson hit into a force play at home, Curtis Granderson struck out, and Wilmer Flores flew out. Booooooooooo.

Familia Blew It Again: After Addison Reed and Jerry Blevins combined to pitch a scoreless 8th inning, Terry went back to Familia in the 9th. Terry had said yesterday that Jeurys Familia would not be available for today’s game. But the Mets went back to him. Familia convinced him he was feeling great and ready to go. Does that sound familiar? He gave him the old Matt Harvey “put me in Skip” and Terry was convinced in two seconds. Terry sucks. Anyway, he blew the game for the second day in a row. Familia gave up a leadoff single, a walk, and then a bunt single to load the bases. He struck out Tony Wolters, but then Loney made an error on a slow roller. That error led to the tying run and a wild pitch plated the winning run. The Mets had to pull him and put in Hansel Robles.

By The Way: Jacob deGrom was fantastic as usual. He went 7 innings scoreless innings and struck out 6. No decision obviously. He must be praying for free agency. This team has me wishing I could be a fan free agent. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.

By The Way 2.0: Neil Walker had three hits for the second day in a row. I guess he’s heating up? Screw him for taking so long.

By The Way 3.0: Rich MacLeod tweeted during the game that Juan Lagares is hitting .163 in 22 games since coming off of the disabled list. Really? Juan Lagares isn’t hitting well with one functioning thumb? That’s a head scratcher. Gotta love Juanny One Thumb!

Nothing But Ash: If the Mets don’t make a big trade by the August 1st deadline, Panic City will be nothing but ash before the summer is over. The “fire everyone” movement is going to get louder and louder if this team doesn’t pick up it’s play. Where the hell is Kevin Long? Huh? Show yourself Long! Why can’t we hit with runners in scoring position you bastard? You get all the credit for Murph’s tweaked swing and Cespedes’ hitting and this and that. Well I want heads! I want blood! I want accountability! I demand a pointless symbolic firing. Someone must pay the price! The Panic City Meltdown clock is ticking. Tick… tick… tick…

Tomorrow: Whatever. Let’s move past today’s disaster and focus on tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is Jose Reyes setback day!

 

Oh No, Not Tonight!!!

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Final Score: Cardinals 5, Mets 4

On a night where Yoenis Cespedes heroically gave the Mets a 4-3 lead with a 7th inning two run homer, Jeurys Familia finally blew a save. The Mets did their “never hit with runners in scoring position” thing for 6 innings. Then Yoenis Cespedes hit his home run, and at the time it felt like it could be one of those season changing clutch shots. Then it all came crumbling down in the 9th inning, and the Mets reminded us all that they are nothing but pretenders so far this season. We never get the happy script. It’s always the Shakespearean tragedy. The blown save couldn’t have come at a worse time. I felt like Barney Gumble in The Simpsons when he’s forced to be the designated driver, and he’s losing his mind at the bar as Homer and the boys get ripped. Then Duffman and the party patrol randomly show up because Barney had sent in 10,000 Duff labels, and it happens to be on the night he can’t drink.  Not tonight! Not tonight!!!!!

Quality Start: Logan Verrett pitched 7 innings, gave up 3 runs, 5 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 7. It was a quality start, and you can’t ask for more from a fifth starter in a big game against a Wild Card contender. Flush that quality start down the toilet with the rest of them.

We Suck: It was the same story in this game as every game. We had unlimited opportunities and failed almost every time. 12 hits!!! We were 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Yoenis Cespedes came up in the 7th inning.

Yo Saved The Day: Neil Walker hit an RBI single in the second inning to make it 1-0. Walker had 3 singles and a walk in this game. It was nice to see him do something at the plate for the first time this month. Once the Cardinals scored 3 runs off of Logan Verrett, it felt like that was going to stick. In the 7th inning, Travis d’Arnaud and Alejandro De Aza hit back to back singles off of Adam Wainwright. Then Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera struck out back to back with runners on first and third. Same old story.

Fortunately for the Mets, Wainwright threw a wild pitch with two outs and d’Arnaud scored making it 3-2. A nice gift run. I suppose Wainwright decided to pitch to Cespedes because it would have been his final batter of the night. I still think it’s a dumb decision to give Yo anything to hit if you can avoid it. But Yo had one of the best ABs of the season and hit a two run homer off a Wainwright curveball. The homer had the stadium rocking. Yo hadn’t hit a homer since early July. Wainwright hadn’t given up a homer in months. Ridiculous.

Familia Blew The Day: Addison Reed shut the Cardinals down in the 8th, and then Familia blew the game. He gave up 2 runs. I won’t even get into how he blew it or nitpick his pitch selection. He walked two batters. He should probably stop doing that. But he hasn’t blown a regular season save since last July. It just couldn’t have come on a worse night.

Stink: In high school, my gym teacher once turned to a group of sweaty teenagers and encouraged everyone to take a shower because “You stink. You stink like shit.” That’s how I feel about this group of Mets after that loss. As Forrest Gump once said, that’s all I have to say about that.

Today: Oh great a day game against the Rockies. Who cares? I can’t wait to watch the Wilpons force Sandy make an ill-advised trade of a bunch of our top prospects for Jonathan Lucroy.

Mets Split Doubleheader; Reyes Injured (The Lock of Locks)

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Reyes Injured (The Lock of Locks): Let’s start with the lead story. Jose Reyes didn’t play game 2 of the doubleheader after the Mets had said pregame that Jose and Yo would play both games. And the reason is…he’s officially injured. Grade 1 intercostal strain. Hammy, quad, intercostal. Who cares? Jose is more injury prone than Travis d’Arnaud. The safest bets going in the world yesterday were U.S. Treasuries, Golden State vs. Cleveland in the 2017 NBA Finals, and taking the under in the “Jose Reyes to the DL by July 31st” pool. The only bet that is more of a lock now is the Mets waiting too long to put Jose on the DL. Although I read Dilson Herrera was scratched from his Vegas start last night. So maybe the Mets are already preparing for his promotion.

As far as the doubleheader goes, the Mets split the twin bill which is fine by me. The Mets lost the day game to Carlos Martinez and won the night cap with Big Sexy on the mound. And the Nationals lost in embarrassing fashion last night. Papelbon blew the game. So all in all it was a good evening.

Game 1 Recap: The Cardinals won game one 3-2. Noah Syndergaard wasn’t at his best in this game. He wasn’t getting ahead of hitters and had a high pitch count. He miraculously worked 6 innings despite having over 100 pitches after 5. He made a mistake to Jedd Gyorko in the third inning and Gyorko hit a two run homer. But the first Cardinal run came in the second inning. The Cardinals hit three straight one out BS singles. Two were infield hits. One was a slow roller to Jose Reyes. The “single” that loaded the bases was deflected by Noah Syndergaard and consequently a play couldn’t be made. Then with the bases loaded, pitcher Carlos Martinez hit a ball back to Thor, and he made an error on the throw home. Horrendous. Thor wiggled out of the inning after giving up only that one run. But that run plus the two run homer by Gyorko was enough for the Cardinals.

The Mets left 11 men on base. Basically they left men on base every single inning. Tim Teufel held Reyes at third base on a Yoenis Cespedes double in the third inning. That was a blunder. In the fourth inning, Rene Rivera hit a two run homer which represented the laugh out loud 2 run scoring total for the Mets in the game. Kelly Johnson failed in big spots. Even Yoenis Cespedes failed in some spots during this game. He also came to bat in the 9th inning after Curtis Granderson led off with a single. He swung at the first pitch and almost hit a two run homer to center field. It ended up being a deep fly out. Then for some reason Grandy tried to tag from first base and was thrown out at second. It was one of many odd lowlights in a weird embarrassing first game.

Game 2 Recap: The Mets won 3-1. Bartolo Colon was efficient and Sexy. He pitched 7 innings, gave up 3 hits, 1 run, and struck out 8. He made one mistake to Jedd Gyorko who hit a solo shot. Jedd Gyorko with two home runs? The Mets love getting crushed by odd players. We always have some new obscure nemesis. Terry yanked Colon from the game after 7 innings with only 87 pitches. This made no sense at the time, but apparently he’s going to pitch on short rest this coming Saturday. Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia shut down the Cards in the 8th and 9th so it worked out.

The Mets did manage to get one clutch hit in game two. Asdrubal Cabrera broke his 0 for 32 streak of ineptitude with runners in scoring position with an RBI double in the the third inning to make it 1-1. But the Mets still left 5 runners in scoring position. James Loney hit into a double play to score a run in the fourth inning. Cabrera added a sac fly in the fifth inning to make it 3-1. The Mets crummy offense didn’t matter as much in game 2 because the pitching was so elite and efficient.

Citi Field Food Recap: So I arrived at the stadium yesterday around the 6th inning of game one. Let me preface this by saying I am a big fan of the food at Citi Field and a big fan of chef David Chang’s Momofuku restaurants. That being said, I bought the spicy chicken sandwich and fries at the Momofuku stand at Citi. Meh. It wasn’t anything special. And it was 30 dollars for the sandwich, fries, and a beer. Too rich for my blood. Never again. I’ll stick with Shake Shack or a sausage with peppers and onions.

Today: Do the Mets want to make a run? Do they want to make some noise in the NL playoff race? Well then we need to win a home rubber game against a Wild Card opponent. Logan Verrett vs. Adam Wainwright in today’s rubber game. Let’s go Mets.

They’re Back Baby!

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Final Score: Mets 3, Marlins 0

A big road series win against a division rival for the New York Mets? Yes sir. Steven Matz, Michael Conforto, and Jose Reyes with big performances? Hell yes. What a great way to end the weekend. The dog days of summer still lie ahead, but this was a key win to get under our belt before heading home for a huge home series against the Wild Card contending Cardinals.

Matz Was Back Baby: Steven Matz was 0-5 in the 9 starts before Sunday’s matinee. But Matzy got the W in this game. He went 6 innings, gave up just 4 hits, and struck out 6. He pitched through his bone spurs. His velocity was there all game. I really hope he can continue to push through these damn spurs. We need him out there on the mound putting up zeroes.

We Shut Down Stanton: Giancarlo Stanton went 0 for 3! We shut him down! Matz retired him with a man on in the third inning and two men on in the fifth inning. Reed even struck him out with a man on second in the 8th inning. It was nice to see Stanton walking back to the dugout with his head down for a change instead of seeing him admiring a ball he just sent into orbit.

Just Sign Him: Martin Prado went 3 for 3 with a walk. He’s been killing the Metsies this season. We should probably just sign him in the offseason. We need to find a way to get these Met killers off of the streets and on to our roster.

Conforto Was Back Baby: Michael Conforto went 2 for 2 and made a diving catch in center field in this game. If his bat is working, then the Mets are going to play him in center field and cross their damn fingers. It’s certainly promising to see him make a gold glove caliber play in his first career start.

Jose Was Back Baby: In the third inning, Michael Conforto singled and advanced to third on two straight productive outs. Then Jose Reyes slashed an RBI triple making it 1-0 Mets. Jose certainly was in vintage spark plug speed demon form this weekend.

Insurance Again: The Mets added two runs in the eighth inning on two straight RBI singles from Yoenis Cespedes and James Loney. I couldn’t believe the Mets scored any runs in this game let alone runs late in the game on clutch hits with runners in scoring position. I had my TV muted at the time of the late inning rally because I was on the phone. I’m going to experiment with TV muting going forward to see if there’s any correlation between silence and run scoring. I’ll miss Gary, Keith, and Ron, but I have to do my part to help boost this offense.

The Pen Never Left: Hansel Robles, Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia combined for 3 scoreless innings of relief to close this one out. If we get to say that a lot in August and September, we’ll be celebrating a playoff berth. I have a feeling that by the end of this week the Mets will have a new face in the late inning relief conversation. My sources tell me Assistant GM John Ricco aka Ricco not so suave is working the hell out of the phones leading up to the August 1st trade deadline.

Lucroy: Speaking of trades, Kristie Ackert of the Daily News says the Mets are in the Jonathan Lucroy trade conversation. She said Travis d’Arnaud is the piece being floated by the Mets along with prospects. The idea of adding Jonathan Lucroy is very appealing to me. Travis is great, but he’s Mr. Glass. I’d obviously love to have the more durable Lucroy. Let’s see how this plays out this week as the hot stove heats up.

Tomorrow: The Mets kick off a big three game home series against the Cardinals tomorrow night. Noah Syndergaard vs. Carlos Martinez. Let’s hope this game goes better than Saturday’s battle of the aces between Jacob deGrom and Jose Fernandez.

Mets Lose Battle Of The Aces

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Final Score: Marlins 7, Mets 2

It’s a good thing the Mets won on Friday. Friday was the must win game in this series because the odds of beating Jose Fernandez at home are pretty damn low.

Battle Of The Aces: Jose Fernandez went 7 innings and gave up 2 runs on 7 hits. Other than a Yoenis Cespedes RBI single and James Loney sac fly in the third, the Mets didn’t score against him or the Marlins pen. The Mets had opportunities to score in the first, fifth and eighth inning but just couldn’t execute. Jacob deGrom got rocked and chased from the game in the fourth inning. He gave up 5 runs on 10 hits. He just didn’t have it last night and left everything over the middle. His velocity plummeted prior to getting pulled. I don’t even want to think about the outing. Too painful. Let’s just move on.

Stanton Won’t Stop: Giancarlo Stanton hit a two run homer in the third that gave the Marlins a 3-2 lead, and it was a permanent lead. He added an RBI single in the fourth inning and went 4 for 5 with 3 RBIs. He just won’t stop crushing the Mets. As I’ve been saying all season, maybe we should be careful with him and avoid pitching to him? Maybe? Just a thought.

Walker and Cabrera: Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera were both 0 for 4. Cabrera came up in the first inning with two men on and did nothing. He came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning and did nothing. He’s 0 for his last 31 with runners in scoring position. The bottom line is Walker and Cabrera have not executed when the Mets need them to come up big. Walker hasn’t done anything offensively since April. Dilson Herrera is still raking in Vegas. It’s starting to get to the point where the Mets need to consider putting Walker on the bench and giving Herrera a shot.

It Happened: Michael Conforto played center field during this game in garbage time. I still can’t believe the Mets are going in that direction. One of the most ridiculous things about the Conforto move is that the Mets refused to move Neil Walker to third base or first base. Let’s move Conforto to center and Lucas Duda to left and let’s stretch Jeurys Familia out as a starter, but…DON’T MOVE WALKER. The Mets wouldn’t try an MLB veteran at a new position, but they’ll move a struggling young prospect to a new position in real time at the major league level. The organization can really be incompetent sometimes. Well basically all the time.

Today: Obviously the Mets need to win this road series today against their divisional foe. Hopefully Steven Matz can pitch through his bone chips. Pray.

I Forgot About Jose

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Final Score: Mets 5, Marlins 3

When I thought about all the ways this team could all of a sudden surge and have a huge August/September, I really didn’t think about Jose Reyes being the one to carry the club. I obviously thought about Yoenis Cespedes going on a tear, and he will undoubtedly need to be the engine that drives the club. But I was imagining Michael Conforto rebounding or Neil Walker finally deciding to get involved in the action for the first time since April or Asdrubal Cabrera starting to hit with runners in scoring position or Travis d’Arnaud looking like the hitter we all watched last season or Curtis Granderson smashing long balls. I really wasn’t thinking about Mr. Spark Plug Jose Reyes. Well last night, Jose went 3 for 5 with an RBI, a stolen base, and 2 runs scored. He was the primary reason the Mets won the baseball game.

Mr. Spark Plug: Jose Reyes led off the game with a double and with one out and Cespedes up, he stole third base. Luckily the ball got away from the catcher because he didn’t exactly get the best jump on the steal. But then Cespedes drove him in with a sac fly to make it 1-0 Mets. In the fourth inning, Travis d’Arnaud singled, Juan Lagares singled, and with two outs Jose Reyes hit an RBI single to make it 2-0. It was a huge clutch hit with a runner in scoring position and two outs.

Mr. Rotation Filler: Logan Verrett pitched 5.1 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits. The runs came on a two run shot by Christian Yelich in the 6th inning that tied the game at 2. Terry instantly pulled him from the game even though he had just under 80 pitches. Terry wasn’t screwing around. I was pissed when the Marlins tied the game simply because the Mets had stranded Cespedes at second base with two outs in the third and with this offense you just never know if they’ll have more opportunities to tack on runs.

More Runs: In the 7th inning, the Mets instantly reclaimed the lead. Jose led off the inning with a single off reliever David Phelps. Then Grandy singled and Jose wound up at third base. Then Yoenis Cespedes hit another sac fly to make it 3-2 Mets.

Pen Problem?: Hansel Robles and Addison Reed combined for 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. We hear many calls for the Mets to add a reliever before the deadline. But this crew of Robles, Reed and Familia has been pretty damn good. I suppose we could use another guy simply because their arms will eventually fall off.

Insurance Salesman: In the top of the 9th, Cespedes was hit by a two out Fernado Rodney pitch, and James Loney then mashed a two run homer to make it 5-2 Mets. They said on SNY that Rodney has given up two homers all season. One homer to Alejandro De Aza a few weeks back and one to Loney last night. That’s an absurd stat. I hope Rodney keeps stinking against the Mets.

The Penmaster General: Jeurys Familia closed it out, but he still did his thing where he puts lots of people on base and stresses everyone out. Cespedes made a horrendous misplay in left field that led to a leadoff double for Christian Yelich. Then Familia struck out Giancarlo Stanton, walked Marcell Ozuna, and struck out Derek Dietrich. Martin Prado added an RBI single to make it 5-3 before Jeurys finished the game off. 50 straight regular season saves. Familia is special.

Today: Jacob deGrom vs. Jose Fernandez? Are you kidding me? What a game. Let’s take the series.

Mets Can’t Give Up; Every Team Is Mediocre

On By themetssiah1 Comment

I completely understand the way that most Mets fans feel as we approach the final week before the MLB trade deadline. This team has been mediocre for nearly three months now (35-37 since April). Last season at this time the Mets were 2 games out of first place in the NL East. This season we sit 6.5 out of first and a game out in the Wild Card. There is no Yoenis Cespedes type of player coming to this club on July 31st to carry the team in August and September. Although the Mets have had stellar pitching in 2016 (ERA 3rd in MLB) and have hit a lot of home runs (6th in MLB), they haven’t been able to score runs (28th) and hit with runners in scoring position (last). The bottom line is the Mets may not be the luckiest team this year, but they don’t get clutch hits or comeback late in baseball games. That has made for an uninspiring product on the field.

It’s Okay To Be Okay: With all that being said, the notion that the Mets should sell or stand pat at the trade deadline is completely and utterly insane. Why? Because almost every team in the league is mediocre at best. The Mets went to the World Series last year, and openly stated the goal was to win a championship this season. As a result of that, every fan set the Mets 2016 baseline for success at a high level. Everyone expected elite regular season play from this team, and they’ve been about as mediocre as a team can be since the end of April. But the bottom line is very few teams are elite and we don’t have to be to make the playoffs.

The Land Of Mediocrity: Last year at the end of the season, there were 3 NL teams (Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates) in that 95 win, .575 winning percentage realm of success. Right now in 2016 there’s three teams trending in that direction (Nationals, Cubs, Giants). But everyone else stinks! The Phillies, Braves, Brewers, Reds, Rockies, Padres, and D-Backs are all well below .500. The Cardinals and Pirates are hovering around .500 but are nowhere near the regular season juggernauts they were in 2015. The Dodgers are mediocre at best and injured and may lose Clayton Kershaw for the season. Oh and remember those “elite” teams I mentioned? Well the Mets took 5 of 7 from the Cubs this year and 2 out of 3 from the Giants. Sure we’re 4-9 against the Nationals, but they’ve just been Murphing the hell out of us.

It’s Called A Window, Pal: This season will be a war of attrition. Keep pace with all the mediocre teams. Keep the core players on the field. Get the injured bodies back by August. A hot three week stretch in August or September will lead to a Wild Card berth. Let’s see if we can hang around the longest. Why not? I’ve actually heard some crazed fans comparing holding on to Cespedes at the 2016 deadline to when the Mets held on to Reyes in 2011. That’s completely ridiculous. Our current situation is the exact opposite of 2011. In 2011 we were on the verge of a rebuild. In 2016, we are playing in our championship window and Cespedes is part of our core. This young pitching staff is in place right now, and we have to make the most of the 3-6 year stretch where the arms are under team control.

I realize Matt Harvey is out for the season and that sucks. But the core players are here and producing at a high level. Yoenis Cespedes, Noah Syndergaard, and Jeurys Familia were all All-Stars. Jacob deGrom is having an All-Star caliber season. Steven Matz has struggled of late, but he’s still having an impressive rookie campaign. These are the core players. How can we even consider waving the white flag with the core producing? No. I don’t want to hear about bone spurs and sore quads and next year. Giving up on this team and on this pitching staff in 2016 would be insane.

This Is Life In MLB: There’s no denying that the quality of Mets baseball we’ve seen in 2016 has been far from elite. But it’s never elite for 6 months, and it doesn’t have to be. We certainly learned that lesson last year. Baseball nowadays is 4 awful teams, 4 very good teams, and 22 mediocre teams hanging around and trying to get a ticket to the playoffs. That’s just the way the league works. Dave Cameron at FanGraphs wrote a great preseason article essentially dismissing the notion that MLB has a tanking problem. In the article, he highlights the larger point I am trying to get at above.

The point is that MLB is experiencing a “golden age of parity” as Cameron puts it. This isn’t the NBA where the Warriors vs. Cavs is an absolute lock to repeat as the 2017 NBA Finals matchup and where one player can turn a team from garbage to playoff caliber. This isn’t the NFL where there’s like four to six real contenders that make the playoffs every single season and having an 8-8 or 9-7 record is a pretty strong indicator that your team doesn’t have a great chance of winning the Super Bowl. MLB is a league where the average fans spend half the season ripping their hair out because their team fails to live up to a standard of winning that probably wasn’t achievable to begin with. How often do we say over the course of the season “just win this series”? Well good luck maintaining that .667 winning percentage.

Sure We Need A Lot But…: The bottom line is the Mets have a number of areas where they need to improve. They need to do so through internal improvement and via some external acquisitions. But that’s the same situation almost every team is in. If we fail to make the playoffs then we take the roster and tweak what we need to in the offseason. We’re trying to win a championship after appearing in the World Series last year, and we have a window to do so with the core players I mentioned above. You try to win and then you tweak. Try and tweak. It’s all we can do. Giving up is not an option. After all, the Mets just need to be the best damn mediocre team in Stink Town! How hard is that?