The Mets got Murph’d and No-Yo’d again. They dropped 3 out of 4 at home against the Nationals. Absolutely pathetic. They need Yoenis Cespedes in the middle of the lineup. When your offense is dependent on one guy, it’s undoubtedly a weakness. But it’s the reality for the New York Mets. It is what it is. The Mets need Yo. Period. Steven Matz had a strong start to close out the pre-All Star break schedule. He went 7 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits. He only struck out 5 and walked 4 which wasn’t ideal. But he was throwing his slider. He’s pitching through the elbow bone chips, and he’s found a way to remain effective.
Walk Werth and Screw Murph: Matz made a mistake in this game. He walked Jayson Werth and gave up a two run shot to Daniel Murphy. Murph made it 2-0. The Mets walked Jayson Werth twice in this game. We love walking Werth. We should probably stop doing that. It makes no sense. Werth isn’t that good and Murph is a force in the Nationals lineup. Let’s stop giving Murph opportunities to burn us. And as far as Murph goes I ranted about it yesterday. He’s public enemy number one. He’s our arch enemy now. His 21 RBIs against the Mets are the most in a single season since Ryan Howard. It’s a joke at this point. He’s destroying us. Go to hell Murph.
Jose Did Stuff: Jose Reyes hit two solo homers batting right-handed. Amazing. He’s seemingly the only hitter who decided to show up. Good for him. Obviously two runs wasn’t enough.
Gio Doesn’t Stink: Gio Gonzalez has had a bad season. But he dominates at Citi Field in his career. So he shut down everyone other than Reyes over 5.2 innings. Duh.
Our Boy: Alejandro De Aza made the final out of the game. He went 0 for 3 and he’s awful. He cracked a foul ball earlier in the game off his knee/inner thigh. I thought for sure he had shattered the bone and would leave the game. But of course he was completely fine because he’s not an important player and the baseball gods decided to spare him. The baseball gods are just watching us suffer and twisting the knife. At least Michael Conforto is killing it in Vegas right now. I’m guessing he’ll be back in the MLB lineup very soon.
To Hell With Fantasy: Wilson Ramos hit an RBI single in this game to make it 3-1 Nationals and starter Tanner Roark came in to pitch 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. I have them on my fantasy team. I hate them.
The Needs: The Mets could really use another bat, a starting pitcher, and a setup man. That’s an offseason wish list not a trading deadline agenda. But Sandy is going to have to figure out how to patch this lineup up. We are 47-41 and tied with the Marlins for the last Wild Card spot. If we aren’t going to compete for the damn division, we still need reinforcements to stay in this Wild Card race.
This Week: The All-Star Break is here. The Mets need a breather. Cespedes reminded everyone after the game that there’s a “lot of baseball left”. Thanks for putting it all in perspective Yo. It’s a long season. Let’s take a break this week, nurse our wounds, and come out of the gate strong.
As we head into the All-Star Break, the Mets have dropped 2 out of the first 3 games at Citi Field to the Nationals. Now we look to Steven Matz to help us salvage a split of this home series. The Mets dropped last night’s game 6-1. They couldn’t muster any offense against Mad Eye Max Scherzer. They managed 4 hits total against the Nats and a sac fly. Yoenis Cespedes wasn’t in the lineup therefore we didn’t score. That’s the least surprising thing of all time. The Yo-less lineup aka the No-Yo Remnant isn’t really equipped to do a whole lot. Logan Verrett gave up 5 runs over 6.2 innings. That’s bad. Antonio Bastardo gave up a 2 run homer to Daniel Murphy. That’s worse.
This game was totally the Daniel Murphy show. Every single game against the Nats this year has been the Daniel Murphy show. He had an RBI single in the third inning, an RBI double in the fifth inning, and a two run homer in the seventh inning. The Mets planted a destructive seed within their own division by letting Murph go to Washington. Well the plant has grown, and it is royally screwing us. Murph the Met slayer is now an official face on Mount MetKillmore.
Daniel Murphy joins Chipper Jones, Chase Utley, and Pat Burrell as the most hated Mets killers from my lifetime. I’ll never forget feeling like we could compete with the Braves in the late 90s and early 2000s. Sometimes the Mets would tease me and make me think we actually had a chance to beat the Braves. And then Chipper Jones would launch one of his many homers at Shea Stadium and destroy my false hope. Pat Burrell put up 42 of his 292 career home runs against the Mets. It certainly felt like all of his career homers came against us. Chase Utley murdered the Mets for over a decade with Philly. He killed Ruben Tejada last year. He has truly cemented his face on Mount MetKillmore.
You might be wondering where Jimmy Rollins is on the mountain. Well Murph replaced him temporarily (Murph has a large amount of slaying to do to stay on the mountain forever). But Rollins doesn’t need to be on Mount MetKillmore. He’s already one of the top all time Met killers and the face of the Jimmy Rollins Met Killer Memorial Site.
The re-occurring Murph embarrassment is not something I was prepared for in 2016. I have to be honest. I expected him to perform at a high level once he signed with Washington. I knew he would have a big season and have some big moments against us. But then I decided to lie to myself. I focused on the Murph ball. I imagined him booting grounders against us or making horrendous throws from second base and costing the Nationals games. I refused to start preemptively hating Murph for no reason. Well in 2016 he’s given us a reason to hate him. We haven’t seen Murph ball in the field against the Mets. And his .438/.462/.875 batting line with 6 home runs and 19 RBIs is a pretty solid reason to despise him.
So in my mind he’s now our top nemesis. I’ve heard people say they are excited to see him excelling and blah blah blah. No way. You certainly can be mad at the Wilpons and Sandy for letting him go if you want. But you can’t enjoy Murph crushing the Mets while simultaneously rooting for the Mets. That’s impossible. So let the hate boil. As the Evil Emperor in Star Wars once said, “Let the hate flow through you.” It’s time for us to embrace Murph as public enemy number one.
On the same day that Matt Harvey announced he will get season ending surgery to address his thoracic outlet syndrome, Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes left the game due to injuries. God hates us. The Lord hath smited the Mets yet again. At least the Wilpons won’t have to pay for Thor’s and Yo’s airfare to the All-Star Game.
Thor Got Burnt: In the second inning, Clint Robinson hit a two run homer that made it 2-0 Nats. In the top of the third inning, Ben Revere led off by hitting a ball between Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera. Yo made a sliding catch and nearly took out Asdrubal who was standing in his way. Then with one man on and one out, Daniel Murphy crushed an opposite field RBI double making it 3-0 Nats. On the play, Yoenis Cespedes ran a little awkwardly while pursuing the ball in the outfield.
Cespedes Dead Quad: In the top of the fourth inning, Cespedes was removed from the game with a strained quad. Murph killed him. Murph and God. Every time he steps to the plate against the Mets, Murph is slicing us open and watching us bleed out on the field. And now, his magic hits are injuring our stars. After the game, Cespedes said he dealt with a similar injury last year with Detroit. He said he missed 4-5 days, and then he was back. Then he said something like I hope I can avoid the 15-Day DL “God willing”. I wouldn’t look to the man upstairs for help Yo. He doesn’t like us very much.
Syndergaard Dead Arm: In the top of the 5th inning, Thor’s velocity all of a sudden dropped down to 91. Terry didn’t like what he was seeing and he pulled him from the game. He told Terry after the game he just lost it. He said his arm went dead. Harvey’s arm went dead. Thor’s arm went dead. That’s two thus far Shooter. Unbelievable. He says he’s fine. Hopefully it’s just temporary dead arm. But forget about the All-Star Game. We have no shot this season without him. He’s got Ridged Ruffle bone chips in his elbow. His arm is inexplicably shutting down like an old Super Nintendo with a shoddy motherboard. Please give him this week off to reset.
Uno Dinger: Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth inning. At least he’s showing power lately.
Strasburgo:Stephen Strasburg is so good. He’s healthy, and he knows how to pitch now. That’s a dangerous combination. He went 7 innings, gave up 2 hits, 1 run and struck out 9. The Mets never had a shot against him.
The Only Chance: In the 8th inning against Shawn Kelley, Wilmer Flores hit a ground rule double and Jose Reyes singled. Then Oliver Perez came in and got Curtis Granderson to line out softly to the shortstop and Juan Lagares to hit into a double play. Juan was hitting in Cespedes’ spot in the lineup. So yeah Ollie danced on Yo’s grave. He rubbed salt in our wounds for sure. Choke artist Jonathan Papelbon closed the game out at 3-1.
Bartolo The Human Twinkie:Bartolo Colon was named to the All-Star Game. He’s such an enormous 43 year old dynamo. He could survive a Nuclear Holocaust. He’ll be heading to Petco Park where he cranked that dinger earlier this season. By the time this weekend is over he may be the only one representing the Mets. Pray for Familia.
Today: Logan Verrett vs. Max Scherzer. The odds are against us. And we already know God ain’t on our side. Please stop killing all of our players big man.
“Is that my starter in there?” (Me outside the Harvey operating room)
Today Matt Harvey officially joined David Wright on the list of 2016 players to succumb to METS disease. When your star pitcher comes to you and says, “Hey skip I can’t feel my arm anymore. It’s numb,” you know it’s METS disease. He got the TJ surgery. He came back and led the Mets to the 2015 World Series. He blasted through his innings limits and gave the team everything he had. Unfortunately I thought he figuratively gave the Mets everything he had. It turns out he actually went all in physically. As a fan, I will never forget the sacrifice Matty made for this team.
In truth, I don’t know how connected his 2015 innings total is to the thoracic outlet syndrome that is ending his season. I’m sure there’s a genetic component. Obviously it’s also related to the Mets drinking water in the clubhouse. There are many factors in play here. Regardless of what caused it, the syndrome ends Matt’s season. Now he needs to get a surgery that for many pitchers has helped prolong their career (Chris Young, Jaime Garcia) and for others has signaled the end of their career (Chris Carpenter, Josh Beckett). The surgery could involve getting a rib removed. No this isn’t your classic cosmetic/pleasure motivated Marilyn Manson rib removal surgery. They remove the rib because it has been displaced and is affecting blood flow. It’s a serious career threatening procedure. Figures. I hope he comes back healthy and strong, but I’m not getting my hopes up. Much like David Wright and his spinal stenosis, this goes beyond baseball. These guys need to get healthy and worry about the stupid game later.
And so we play on in 2016 without Matt who never really pitched anywhere near his capabilities at any point this season. Can you imagine if he had? We’ll just have to make a run without him. I’m sure we’ll use the internal options at our disposal initially. Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, Gabriel Ynoa, Sean Gilmartin, Logan Verrett are all here and ready to contribute. Hopefully Zack Wheeler will be here soon, although yesterday Sandy made it seem like a 2016 return for Zack is no longer a certainty. Greeaaaat.
I don’t know if this means we’ll try and trade for a pitcher. The Pirates are shopping Jon Niese already which is one of the most hilarious things I’ve heard this season. I’d take him back for a sack of potatoes and nothing more. This whole thing really sucks. This is the reason why building your team around young pitching is smart but also risky. You really need a ton of arms to make it work. The only way you survive is with unlimited depth. Pray for Matt. Pray for all the other arms on our team. We need every arm that we have left.
A man can only admit when he was wrong and ask for forgiveness.
Final Score: Mets 9, Nationals 7
Before this game, Terry didn’t include Wilmer Flores in the lineup. The general consensus among Mets fans was that this was a classic case of Terry being a moron. Wilmer had 4 home runs this week. He’s scorching hot. Everyone was furious about the decision. I must say, I was not angry. I was completely fine with sitting Wilmer. It’s not that I don’t like Wilmer. I just figured he’d play at least two games this weekend, and I didn’t feel like getting worked up about the benching. I’m excited about our new stable of viable infielders, and I got caught up in the depth celebration.
Well a man can only admit when he was wrong and ask for forgiveness. Wilmer has a .309 career batting clip in July. His next highest monthly batting average is .267 in August. His home run last night has started to help us avenge the June sweep by the Nationals in Washington. Wilmer is now Summer Flo. He is…The King in July! The King in July!
Murph Out The Gate: In the first inning, Bartolo Colon gave up a leadoff triple and of course Daniel Murphy drove in the run to make it 1-0. Murph’s public shaming of the Mets organization continued right away last night.
Clutch Single: In the first inning, James Loney struck out with two outs and runners on second and third base. But in the third inning with Yoenis Cespedes on second and Neil Walker on first, Loney came through with an RBI single to tie the game 1-1.
Love Getting Burned By The Big Dogs: In the fourth inning after retiring Murph, Bartolo Colon gave up a solo bomb to Bryce Harper. My first thought was that we really love getting burned by the best player on the team huh? Giancarlo Stanton had a field day and now Bryce. That was before I knew there was no stopping the ball from flying out of the park last night. Plus it’s not like we are going to issue first inning free passes to Harper with the bases empty.
Ball Was Flying: Still in the fourth inning, Clint Robinson and Anthony Rendon hit back to back homers with two outs. They made it 4-1 Nats.
Ball Was Officially Flying: After the Nationals fourth inning home run barrage, I was shook. But it wasn’t until the Mets homers in the bottom of the fourth that I realized we were playing this game with diminished gravity levels or something. The home runs did not stop. Travis d’Arnaud hit a solo shot. Jose Reyes launched an upper decker home run to right. Then Curtis Granderson doubled and Yoenis Cespedes doubled to make it 4-4. The Mets came back to tie the game instantly. They chased Lucas Giolito in the fourth inning. Hell, Neil Walker and Yo executed a double steal!
The First Botched Takeout Slide Call: In the fifth inning, Bartolo gave up a single to Oliver Perez and Ben Revere. Jayson Werth then grounded into a force at second. That set up first and third with one out for Murph. Murph hit a double play ball up the middle. The Mets turned the double play and the outs were called on the field. Unfortunately Murph was safe by a mile at first. The Nationals won the challenge, and Oliver Perez scored to make it 5-4 Nationals. My beef on the play was that Jayson Werth’s slide at second was a violation of the takeout slide rule. It was an obvious violation in April of 2016. At the start of the season they were making the call on the field every time. Since then they’ve stopped calling it because MLB listens to fan outcry and seemingly is run by a bunch of pathetic cowards who can’t implement a rule change to save their lives. Well on this particular play the umpires felt the slide was legal and the run scored.
Who Can Leave Their Starter In The Longest: Lucas Giolito should have come out after the Grandy double in the fourth inning. He couldn’t get ahead in the count at all last night. Frankly all the pitchers struggled to execute. But I felt Dusty left him in too long. Well in the fifth inning, Terry tried to steal the crown from Dusty. After the run scored on the challenged double play, Jerry Blevins should have been coming in to face Bryce Harper. Instead Terry left Tolo in. He gave up a single to Bryce and an RBI single to Wilson Ramos that made it 6-4 Nationals. When Terry finally did bring in the pen, Jerry Blevins walked his batter but Hansel Robles was able to get out of the inning.
The King In July: The most important part of Terry’s call to the bullpen in the fifth inning was that he double switched Wilmer Flores into the game. In the bottom of the fifth, Asdrubal Cabrera and Brandon Nimmo hit back to back singles off of Oliver Perez. Then with one out, Wilmer Flores hit the game altering 3-run shot that made it 7-6. TC said after the game it reminded him of Wilmer’s enormous home run last season against Washington. It was remarkable. He has 5 home runs this week alone. He has to be NL player of the week. Also in the fifth, Curtis Granderson doubled with two outs and the Nats intentionally walked Yoenis Cespedes. The Mets should probably take note and stop getting burned by the elite player on every team we face.
Ollie: In the 6th inning, Oliver Perez doubled for his second hit of the game. That was only notable because it was additional evidence that this particular game was completely insane.
More Bombs: Asdrubal Cabrera launched a solo shot in the bottom of the 6th that turned out to be the game winner. It made the game 8-6. As much as Wilmer had the big hit, every single Mets infielder contributed with the stick last night. Reyes, Walker, Loney, Cabrera, and Wilmer all had RBIs.
What Do We Do?: In the 7th inning, Antonio Bastardo reminded us all yet again that he sucks. He gave up a leadoff solo shot to Mets killer Daniel Murphy making it 8-7 Mets. Then he retired Bryce Harper and Wilson Ramos. He then induced a comebacker off the bat of Clint Robinson and he made arguably the worst throwing error of the season. He just threw it away right past Wilmer at first. Terry was forced to go to Addison Reed who was just stellar in relief. He retired the side. I really don’t know what to do with Bastardo. We paid him. We need to see if he turns his season around. It’s a really crummy spot to be in.
Bonehead Pickoff: In the 7th inning with one out Jose Reyes walked. I knew as soon as he got on base he was going to try and steal, but I was completely against it. The ball was flying out of the park. I wanted to give Grandy and Yo a chance to put one in the seats. Unfortunately, Jose got picked off like an idiot. In the end we still got the insurance run because Grandy singled, the Nats walked Yo (Duh), and then Neil Walker hit an RBI single to make it 9-7.
The Second Takeout Slide Call: Addison Reed slammed the door in the 7th and retired the Nats in the 8th. He’s been absolutely stellar. Jeurys Familia came on in the 9th and walked the leadoff man like a fool. But then in true Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion, the entire game came full circle. With Jayson Werth on first, Murph hit a ball that nearly got past a diving Cabrera at short. But Cabby made a fantastic stop and started to turn the double play. The Mets got the out at second and made an unsuccessful throw to first. But Werth rocked Neil Walker on a takeout slide, and this time the umps called the Utley rule. They called the double play. The Werth slide wasn’t all that different from the play in the fifth inning. The bottom line is Werth purposely took out Walker and came off the bag. It’s a rule violation. Then Familia struck out Harper to end the game.
Nats Cry Like Babies: The Nats GM Mike Rizzo tried to fight umpire Jim Joyce after the game. I get their frustration. I share it. It’s appalling that the umps can’t make consistent calls in the same season, same month, same week, or the same freaking game. It’s a complete joke. But they got the call right. The Nats can’t complain about that. I’m done listening to complaints about the slide rule. The rule has been changed. Stay on the bag and slide directly at the bag. Period.
Also Harvey Is Out Forever: On the day of arguably the biggest win of the regular season, the Mets basically announced Matt Harvey is deciding between getting surgery for thoracic-outlet syndrome and missing the rest of the season or getting some interim thing done that will ultimately delay the inevitable surgery until after the season. He’s dunzo. I’ll have more on this once Harvey decides. Until then there’s really nothing new to report. Well other than what Sandy snuck in at the end of the Harvey press conference. Apparently Zack Wheeler is behind in his rehab from TJ and may not be back this season. Sandy snuck that gem into the conference at the last second. Jesus Christ we can’t have nice things at all.
Look how happy Wilmer is to lose his job to Reyes!
Final Score: Mets 4, Marlins 2
The power of Wilmer Flores, the spark of Jose Reyes, and the grit of Jacob deGrom on the mound helped the Mets take today’s rubber game from the Miami Marlins. It’s really hilarious how Wilmer consistently raises his performance level when he thinks he’s going to lose his job. He caught one whiff of Reyes, and all of a sudden he’s going home run for home run with Giancarlo Stanton. Two multi-home run games in one week for our boy Wilmer? That’s insane.
Happy To Get Canned: Wilmer launched a solo home run in the second inning to give the Mets a 1-0 lead, and he added another solo shot in the fourth inning to make the lead 4-1. Both shots came off Marlins lefty starter Justin Nicolino. Wilmer did hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. Ultimately the wasted opportunity didn’t cost the Mets the game. I suppose Wilmer The Great can’t do everything. Flores said postgame that he’s happy Jose Reyes is here because it makes the team better. And I totally believe he’s being honest. How could he not be excited to have a stable of viable starting infielders? It’s amazing. Right after the game Terry is wondering aloud how in the world he’s going to find playing time for Wilmer and Jose. Ummm Terry I think we’ll figure it out. Is he serious? It’s called a rotation. It’s called depth. You give old man Neil Walker and bum knee Asdrubal Cabrera a day off. They are dying. Michael Cuddyer disintegrated after one half of baseball last season because he was played into the ground. This suddenly deep crop of infielders makes me smile even more than Wilmer when he finds out he’s been demoted.
The Playing Time Usurper: Jose Reyes got the start at shortstop today because Asdrubal Cabrera was up all night dealing with some family matter. Hopefully nothing serious. Anyway he had two doubles. In the third inning, Rene Rivera walked and Jacob deGrom failed to bunt him over. But Reyes doubled and set up second and third for Curtis Granderson who singled in two runs. That made it 3-0 Mets.
My Man: Jacob deGrom is my man. With David Wright seemingly gone forever, deGrom really is my favorite player on the team hands down. He didn’t have his best stuff, and he had to battle today. He got through jams in the first and fifth inning. But he always seems to find his way through 6 or 7 innings and limits any damage. He went 7 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 runs, walked 2, and struck out 7. Noah Syndergaard is heading to the All-Star Game, Steven Matz is a Rookie of the Year candidate, and Bartolo Colon has been sexier than ever. But my confidence is at its highest when deGrom has the ball.
We Did It Again: Jacob deGrom’s only mistakes were surrendering two solo blasts to Giancarlo Stanton. Remember him? He hit two home runs yesterday. We obviously didn’t learn our lesson about being careful with Stanton. I don’t care that deGrom is an ace. I don’t care that Stanton came up without men on base or that the Mets had a lead. He’s a one man wrecking crew. He scored all the damn runs for the Marlins. Joe Maddon had the right idea earlier this year when he put Bryce Harper on base every time up. Just walk the guy. Pitch around him. Challenging him and consistently getting burned is the definition of insanity. We have an actual choice. Make the right one next time please.
Tomorrow: The Mets start a four game home set against the Nationals tomorrow. Big Sexy is on the mound. I’ll be at the game. We have some nice momentum. Let’s take it to the top team in the NL East. Let’s head into the break scorching.
On July 4th 2016, Yoenis Cespedes did what he’s been doing for the Mets for over 130 games at this point. He sparked the offense, had clutch hits, and won the team a baseball game. The Mets had arguably their most impressive victory of the season yesterday. Before the end of the third inning, they were down 6-0 to the Marlins. Matt Harvey gave up 11 hits, 6 runs (5ER) over 3.2 innings. He continued what has been an unimpressive campaign in his second season removed from Tommy John surgery.
But despite being down 6-0, the Mets were able to crawl back and eventually win this ball game. Travis d’Arnaud and Curtis Granderson hit solo homers in the fourth and fifth inning respectively. That made it 6-2 Marlins. In the sixth inning, the Mets got to the Marlins bullpen. Travis d’Arnaud hit an RBI single and Kelly Johnson hit into a run scoring double play to make it 6-4. It was at this point that Yoenis Cespedes took the team on his back and contributed the big hits that were needed. In the 7th inning, Neil Walker walked and Yo hit a huge doubleto make it second and third with nobody out. That set up a James Loney RBI groundout and a Wilmer Flores sac fly to make it 6-6. Then in the 8th inning, d’Arnaud drew a leadoff walk. Juan Lagares then sacrificed him over to second base in what was a close play at first that was originally called safe, challenged, and ultimately ruled a sac bunt. Then with two outs Neil Walker was walked (again), and Yoenis Cespedes crushed a doubleto score d’Arnaud and Lagares to make it 8-6. The double was Yo’s third hit of the game. 8-6 was the final score.
Almost every member of the bullpen stepped up and combined to toss 5.1 scoreless innings of relief. The bullpen was huge in the effort to bail out Harvey. But there’s just no way the Mets score enough runs to win that game without Cespedes. We could probably say that sentence for a majority of the team’s wins in 2016. I have always been firmly in the “pay Cespedes whatever he wants” camp. But I think considering the MVP level 2016 campaign he is putting together, we’ve reached that point in the season where it’s time to be more vocal about the need to lock him up.
Cespedes is the only true undisputed impact bat (franchise bat? elite bat? choose whichever cliché you want) in this Mets lineup. Without him this team doesn’t make the playoffs last year and is barely a Wild Card contender at this point in the season. I still have no idea why he didn’t receive any market value offers this past offseason. I have no idea why the Nationals didn’t up their offer so it had a higher Net Present Value than the Mets 3 year deal. Part of me thinks Cespedes dealt with a little bit of the Daniel Murphy effect. I’m not trying to compare the actual career production of these two players at all. But I am saying that teams may have been hesitant to pay Murph and Cespedes because of enormous spikes in production relative to their career numbers over the last year or so.
Murph’s 14 regular season home runs last year combined with his 7 postseason home runs certainly represented a spike in power production when you consider his previous season high was 13 (in 2013). When you look at that and then you consider his 14 home runs in 2016 along with his .347/.387/.579 batting line through 81 games, the production starts to become a little more than a product of small sample size. Yoenis Cespedes has had a similar spike in 2015-16. He’s been hitting between .290-.300 for a season and a half at this point and posting an OPS close to .900. He’s on pace for 40 home runs. This is a guy who hit .240 in 2013 and .260 in 2014 and never hit more than 26 long balls before his 35 home run campaign last year. Daniel Murphy is 31 years old and Cespedes is 30. I can understand that teams might be skeptical that these two players will sustain these late career production spikes in the short term and over the course of a long term deal.
I also think regardless of whether you feel it should, the poor 2016 performance by Matt Harvey may impact the Mets decision to sign Cespedes. It seemed unlikely before the season that Matt Harvey was going to sign a contract extension with the Mets because he’s a Scott Boras client, and also because he was under team control for another 3 years. Well based on his performance so far this year, it seems almost impossible that he will sign any type of extension in the near future. He’s certainly not going to lock up a deal with his value at an all time low, and I don’t think the Mets are going to be inclined to pay him right now either.
Assuming the Mets financial resources are somewhat limited (which seems to consistently be the case) the team might be more inclined than ever to use their additional revenue to extend Cespedes rather than plan to save funds for a future Harvey deal. Again, the two deals should not be linked because the Mets should spend whatever is necessary to field a winning product. I think in the long run, a winning product should include Cespedes and Harvey. But we must be realistic and acknowledge that any long term contracts they give out will undoubtedly diminish the chances that they give out more of them. If the Mets are actually debating whether to devote future resources to Cespedes or Harvey, 2016 may fully tip the scales in Yo’s direction.
The bottom line is Yo is going to opt out of his contract at season’s end, and I think it’s safe to assume a lot of teams are going to bet on his 2015-16 level of production continuing. I think the majority of teams are going to want to add his franchise bat to their lineup. He’s only enhanced his value this season by showing that he can at least hold his own as a center fielder. The Wilpons need to grab their checkbook, call Roc Nation, and add whatever number of years and dollars he wants to his current deal so they remove the opt out and ensure the Mets keep him in the lineup for the next 6 years or so. I don’t care about the bad back end of the deal. I don’t care that he may throw his back out at the driving range. We need to make this happen ASAP and avoid an offseason bidding war. The guy is a warrior and a star. He’s the heart of the offense, and I want to be able to see him launching upper deck moon shots at Citi Field for years to come.
The Mets just inexplicably went from watching the season spiral out of control to sweeping the best team in the National League. That’s the most baseball thing I’ve ever heard. The season is so freaking long and ridiculous.
The Mets Hit Lefties Now?: The Mets were getting shut down by left-handed pitchers all season. Before the game, the Mets had a .693 OPS against lefties which ranked 26th in baseball. But now we can beat Jon Lester? Somehow we chased Jon Lester out of the game in 1.1 innings. We scored 8 runs and hit 3 home runs off Lester despite him having an ERA hovering around 2 on the season. How in the world does a team go from having one of the worst offenses and being unable to hit lefties to crushing one of the best lefties in the game? I’d like to think it’s because we “have the Cubs number” or some BS, but I think it’s just the offense finally breaking out and taking out any pitcher in its path.
The Mets Hit Home Runs Again?: Yoenis Cespedes hit that moon bomb homer on Thursday. Then the Mets hit 5 bombs on Friday. Neil Walker added a jack yesterday. And then today the Mets hit 5 more home runs. The offense goes from lifeless to raining home runs on the Cubs elite pitching staff. Live by the dinger, die by the dinger. The ball is flying out yet again. Curtis Granderson hit a solo shot in the first inning to make it 1-1. Then in the second inning, the Mets chased Lester from the game. Wilmer Flores hit a solo homer to start the inning. Literally seconds before Wilmer hit the blast, I was sitting in my seat at the game ranting about how his power has dissipated this season. So I take full credit for his power resurgence today. Anyway, with one out Matt Reynolds doubled and Rene Rivera hit a two run shot to make it 4-1. Then Lester, like an idiot, walked Noah Syndergaard. Juan Lagares doubled to make it second and third with one out. Grandy, Yoenis Cespedes, Neil Walker and Wilmer Flores then hit consecutive singles to run up the score and make it 8-1. The Flores single finally drove Lester from the game. Later in the game, Wilmer Flores (5th inning) and Kelly Johnson (7th inning) added two run home runs. Rene Rivera and James Loney had RBI singles. In total the Mets had 14 runs on 22 hits. It was the highest hit total the team collected at home since 1981.
Wilmer Flores Is Amazing Now?: Wilmer Flores went 6 for 6 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. He tied the Mets single game hit record set by Edgardo Alfonzo in 1999 against the Astros. I was at the Kirk Nieuwenhuis 3 home run game last season. I went from a 2016 Citi Field jinx to inspiring Mets players to set franchise records. Also, Wilmer can totally feel Jose Reyes breathing down his neck. I love that Wilmer’s response to the arrival of Reyes is to step up his performance. The fact that we will soon have Wilmer Flores, Jose Reyes, Neil Walker, Asdrubal Cabrera, Kelly Johnson, and James Loney is fantastic. Hopefully with Nimmo, Grandy, Cespedes, Lagares, and eventually Michael Conforto in the outfield, our team will now just be a straight up regular rotation of major league players. It will keep all these guys fresh. We just spent the weekend watching the Cubs do it. Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, and Javier Baez are playing all over the place in Chicago. Willson Contreras is catching and playing outfield. Miguel Montero is catching and pitching! Honestly the rotating stable of position players is the best way to go. It should have been the Mets plan from day one, but better late than never.
Bone Spurs Don’t Matter?: Noah Syndergaard went from elbow bone spurs and getting blasted by the Nationals to straight up dominating again. I guess the cortisone shot has started to take effect. He went 7 innings, gave up 7 hits, 1 run, and struck out 8.
The Mets Beat Elite Teams?: The Mets went from getting dumped on by the Braves to embarrassing the best team in the NL. The Mets really got smoked by the elite teams in the NL Central last year, but had a lot of success against the NL East. So far this season they have had real success against the NL Central, but the results have not been nearly as good against the NL East. The Mets need to improve their performance against their division rivals immediately.
Mop Up Stink Off: As you would expect, Antonio Bastardo and Logan Verrett handled mop up duties against the Cubs. I think at this point they are both low men on the totem pole. Bastardo handled the 8th inning fine, but Logan Verrett gave up a homer in the 9th and threw a wild pitch that led to a second run. He still managed to close the game out though to seal the 14-3 win. Also, Logan Verrett autocorrected to “slogan Verrett” on my phone. I think his slogan for 2016 would be, “Logan Verrett: When the game gets out of hand and you need an arm.”
Hot Notes From The Game: I saw a guy at the stadium with a Tsuyoshi Shinjo #5 jersey. Then on the way home I saw another guy rocking a Shinjo jersey on the subway. I had no idea there were that many Shinjo jerseys in circulation, but what a classic. I also saw a guy with a custom #25 jersey that said Last Name “BA”. Bad ass? Big Al? I honestly couldn’t crack the case on that one. Before first pitch, I was sitting near the right field line watching Rene Rivera toss the ball around in the outfield. Rivera has such a big fat catcher’s body. I had trouble telling the difference between Rivera and Dan Warthen purely based on their frame.
Paul Newmo: I keep trying to figure out a doppelgänger for Brandon Nimmo. Is it young Paul Newman? Nimmo has gangly teeth so he’s not quite at the movie star dreamboat Newman level. But I think it’s kind of uncanny.
Tomorrow: The Mets now have three games against the Marlins and four against the Nationals before the All-Star Break. They really need to run off a bunch of wins and head into the break hot. Need to beat the NL East.
I really couldn’t be more elated to see that the Mets have something on Jake Arrieta. He’s arguably the top pitcher in the game, and the Mets just keep on beating him. They make him look human. I don’t get it. I’m not going to dig deep into the reasons behind it. All I know is we beat him again and took 3 out of 4 against the super hyped up Cubbies. The Stinko rock bottom Mets that got swept into oblivion by the Nationals just came home and embarrassed the NL juggernaut Cubs. You really can never tune out when it comes to baseball. This series is actual proof that when you least expect it, your team can turn things around. Hopefully it’s a permanent turn and not an aberration.
Neil Walkyear: Neil Walker set the tone for the game right away. He kept the team’s power weekend going with a two run blast in the first inning. As I said yesterday, his June disappearance really hurt this squad. If his ding dong stick is back, then the Mets offense will certainly be partially back.
Big Sex Machine: The success of Bartolo Colon is truly mind blowing. The guy just paints the corners, pitches to contact, and gets outs. That’s it. He went 6 innings, gave up 4 hits, 3 walks (unusual), 2 runs and struck out 5. He seemingly got the Cubs to hit key groundouts whenever he needed one. He made one big mistake in the fourth inning when he surrendered a two run bomb to Anthony Rizzo to make it 2-0. Sometimes all that contact can burn him. But it was just another robotic quality start. He outdueled Jake Arrieta. Arrieta only went 5.1 innings, gave up 8 hits and 4 runs! Unbelievable.
D’ArNeed Him: In the fourth inning, Asdrubal Cabrera singled with one out and Alejandro De Aza walked with two outs. Is De Aza heating up? Probably not. Still destined to be cut. Anyway, with two on and two out Travis d’Arnaud hit a little bloop pop up that landed between the center fielder, shortstop, and second baseman. It was the perfect lucky little dinky BS hit that the Mets never get. Luck! BABIP! Hooray. That made the game 4-2.
Chances: The Mets had opportunities in the fifth and sixth inning to score more runs. In the fifth Brandon Nimmo and Neil Walker singled to get on base. And nobody could drive them in. Both were left on base. Then in the sixth inning, De Aza and d’Arnaud singled with one out and Juan Lagares hit into a double play. Men left on base. What else is new? But this time it didn’t burn us. The gods smiled upon us this weekend.
Commissioner: In the 7th inning, Erik Goeddel gave up a solo blast to Ben Zobrist with two outs to make it 4-3. The Mets should have just signed Zobrist, Daniel Murphy and traded for Neil Walker. Just corner the second base market.
Battle Of The Addisons Part 2: In the 8th inning after surrendering a leadoff single, Addison Reed struck out the damn side. He struck out his same named nemesis Addison Russell to end the inning. The guy has been dynamite this season. God I hope he keeps it up for the long run. Anyway, Jeurys Familia retired the side in the 9th inning without the tightrope act. Having an elite lockdown closer is arguably my favorite thing about this team.
Sore What?: Bartolo said after the game that he’s dealing with some left leg soreness. Ummm what? He battled a sore back earlier this year and now a leg. But the soreness doesn’t actually affect his play. It’s really hilarious that the 43 year old guy on our roster is by far the most durable.
Time To Gamble: So before this series the Mets were going off at 18 to 1 to win the World Series. I think it’s time to lock in that bet. I went from writing them off in Washington to gambling the big bucks on them to win it all. That’s how things go in the Panic City casinos.
Draw The Line: So I’ll be at today’s game watching Noah Syndergaard. The Mets are 0-4 in games I’ve attended this season. I think I need to actually draw the line at 8. If the Mets go 0-8 in games where I’m at the park I don’t see how I can keep showing up. Too risky.
The Mets hit home runs again? Is this happening for real? The calendar flips from June to July, and now the Mets have seemingly rediscovered their power stroke. The Mets hit 5 home runs last night. The game may have had two rain delays, but the weather gods could not stop the Mets.
Dingers In The Rain (Act 1): The Mets power surge started in the second inning when James Loney and Asdrubal Cabrera hit back-to-back solo blasts off of Jason Hammel to make it 2-0 Mets.
Rain Delay: The tarp came out after the second inning, and I thought for sure that would be the end of the night for Jacob deGrom. He was dealing right out of the gate. Originally, I was pissed they even started the game because of the possibility that the rain could jeopardize deGrom’s outing. But the Mets brought him back out after a delay that lasted over an hour. The Cubs brought Jason Hammel back out there too. I guess I missed the memo that says it’s okay to bring starters back out after long rain delays.
The Lone Man: James Loney hit a pre-rain dinger, and once the game got started again he added a two out two RBI double in the third inning after Neil Walker singled and Yoenis Cespedes walked. He went 3 for 5 in the game with 3 RBIs. He’s hitting .297/.345/.495. Yeah I’d say the decision to take a flier on him has worked out thus far.
Dingers In The Rain Act 2: In the fourth inning, Wilmer Flores walked, Travis d’Arnaud singled, and deGrom sacrificed them over to second and third. Brandon Nimmo then launched a three run shot to make it 7-1. In the fifth inning Yoenis Cespedes added a solo dinger and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two run blast to make it 10-1. It was his second dinger of the game. That was really all the scoring the Mets needed.
Rain Delay 2.0: Other than a solo blast he surrendered to Kris Bryant, deGrom had a great night. He went 5 innings, gave up 3 hits, 1 run and struck out 7. He got pulled after the second rain delay. Jerry Blevins, Hansel Robles and minor league call-up Seth Lugo combined to pitch four innings (1 run) to close out the game. All these rain delays brought back memories of the July 30, 2015 game against the Padres. I’ll never feel confident in the Mets chances of winning during a rain delay ever again. I’m scarred for life.
The Hot Guys: Everyone got involved for the Mets last night. Nimmo, Cabby, and Loney. Oh and Yoenis Cespedes was 2 for 4. Yo had two hits and the Mets won the game because duh. They win when Yo goes.
Asdrubal and Neil: I mentioned this earlier in the week but look how much Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera disappeared in June.
Neil and Asdrubal are going to have to pick it up big time now that the calendar has flipped to June. Last night was a good start.
Jesus Is Good Again?: Brandon Nimmo went 2 for 5 with his big 3 run shot. He also made a stellar play in the field. I also noticed he’s a big Jesus guy. He did an awful lot of pointing to the man upstairs on his big hits. I suppose that’s good. Daniel Murphy was a godly man, and I think we’ve felt his absence this year. Hopefully Nimmo can help get us back in the good graces of the Lord.
Baseball Is So Ridiculous: Every single Mets fan had their nooses ready for this weekend. The Mets season was spiraling out of control. And now here we are two days later and we’ve snagged two games from the freaking Cubs. We can’t beat the Braves. But the Cubs? No problem.
Today: Let’s see if we can beat Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester. I’ll be at the park on Sunday jinxing the hell out of the Mets. So I hope we win tonight.
Final Score: Nationals 3, Mets 2
The Metssiah 