Tag: rafael montero

Over Before He Started

On By themetssiah2 Comments

Final Score: Nationals 8, Mets 1

This game against the Nationals was over the second Terry Collins decided to start Rafael Montero. The Mets never had a chance with Monty the BP pitching machine on the mound. I said after his last start he should be replaced in the rotation. Hell everyone other than Terry felt that way. Instead Terry went with him, and he had nothing. Keith Hernandez was even baffled by the decision. As he warmed up before the first pitch Keith talked about his horrendous numbers and all the walks he surrendered in his previous starts. Keith implied it could be a long night. Well it wasn’t a long night for Montero.

Get Him Out: Once Montero was handed the ball to start, Terry had many opportunities to salvage the game. Monty loaded the bases in the first inning on a Trea Turner single, Jayson Werth walk, and Daniel Murphy single. If I’m the manager, I’m already warming up my long man and pulling Montero from the game. I wouldn’t have even let him face Bryce Harper. Instead Terry left him in, and he walked in two runs. Somehow Rafael Montero managed to escape the first inning without surrendering the big game killing hit, and I thought to myself, “Thank God. At least his day is done.” Nope.

Get Him Out 2.0: In the second inning the Mets had two men on and two outs with Rafael Montero’s spot due up. Instead of pinch hitting, Terry kept Monty in the game. Mind blowing decision. He obviously struck out and then pitched like crap the following half inning.

Get Him Out (Last Chance): Montero surrendered a leadoff homer to pitcher Mat Latos in the bottom of the second inning to make it 3-1. Then he retired the next two batters before giving up a double to Murph and walking Bryce Harper intentionally. I thought at this point he was done. I thought Terry was finally ready to pull this bum from the game. Instead of taking him out, he left him in to surrender a three-run blast to Anthony Rendon. Unreal. The Nats added a couple of extra runs later in the game and the Mets never got anything going against the awful Mat Latos (before he was pulled with an injury). But this game was over because Montero took the mound.

Flushy Flushy: It’s not even fair to pretend that Gabriel Ynoa, Logan Verrett, or Sean Gilmartin give the Mets a great chance to win a ball game. They don’t. But they give the Mets SOME chance to win. And Montero gave them no chance whatsoever. It’s hard to believe Terry continues to flush meaningful games down the toilet. It’s not like we’re in a goddamn race for a playoff spot or anything!

Please Remember: Don’t forget Terry’s blunders. The team was on the path to destruction in August. Then Yoenis Cespedes came back and some other hitters became hot. And as a result of that Terry will receive credit for “not losing the team” and people will say “his guys play for him”. And you know what? He deserves some credit. If he gets the blame when the players fail to perform, then he gets credit when they turn things around. But don’t forget all the in-game blunders Terry has had this season. We’re probably going to wind up winning 84-89 games. Whether we win the Wild Card or not this season will be about the games we failed to win that Terry and Co. ultimately flushed down the toilet. Those games are the difference between a division title and a chance at the BS Wild Card sham playoff game.

Stiff Neck: Speaking of Terry’s blunders, Wilmer Flores still has an injured neck because Terry forgot to pinch run for him this weekend. Nice job TC!

Second Class Citizens: The Mets remain in the second Wild Card spot because the Cardinals lost to the Cubs. God the Mets and Cards are such second class citizens in the NL. The Cubs and Nationals are just a better class of club. Period.

Jeff Wilpon’s Boy: The Mets lost Triple-A manager Wally Backman yesterday. At first they said he was fired but later he clarified that he actually resigned. Who the hell knows? All I know is that I’ve read for years now that he’s a terrible manager who doesn’t listen to the organization and burned out a number of young arms at Triple-A including last night’s useless arm Rafael Montero. Remember when Monty was a top prospect? Rumor has it Wally killed him. There’s supposedly a long list of arms that he’s messed up. Apparently he’s stuck around with the organization because Jeff Wilpon loves him. I know many fans wanted to see him manage because he had the ’86 fire. Oh well. And now his watch has ended.

Today: Noah Syndergaard to the rescue today. Save us Thor!

Walk-Off Yo Bomb

On By themetssiah1 Comment


Final Score: Mets 2, Marlins 1

To be honest, I needed this win. Monday sucked at work. Then I came home, and my upstairs neighbor apparently spilled a bunch of water all over his bedroom floor. That water then proceeded to leak all over my bedroom ceiling. So if Jose Fernandez shutout the Mets I was ready to start punting couch cushions while screaming “Serenity now!” But Yo saved my day. The Fernandez shutout became unlikely because 1) he wasn’t at his sharpest and 2) the umpire had a horrendous strike zone. Jose’s pitch count was too high and the Mets got to the Marlins pen. And then Yoenis Cespedes did what he does. He saved the day with a 10th inning, 2 out, walk-off solo homerun.

Organizational Incompetence: Before we get into this game, it’s important to highlight how the incompetent Mets organization set the team up to fail. Their poor decision making really almost ruined the team’s chances at a victory last night. On Sunday, Robert Gsellman started and pitched 6 innings. He now serves absolutely no purpose on the roster for at least 5 days. The obvious demotion to make room for last night’s starter Rafael Montero was Robert Gsellman. Gsellman would have to do his league mandated 10 day minor league stint because of the demotion, but it doesn’t matter with rosters expanding on September 1st, and also with the healthy return of Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom.

Instead of that decision, the Mets demoted infielder T.J. Rivera while Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera are supposedly unavailable with injuries. They left the team with a two man bench. Why? Terry said before the game it was because of a miscommunication. He literally said that he thought Asdrubal or Neil would be available and didn’t know they were going to sit until after the roster decision was made. Baffling incompetence by Terry, Sandy and all of these mooks. Unreal.

Kidcaster: Also on a lighter note, early in the game SNY did their annual Kidcaster thing where they let some 8 year old son of a rich network executive do the play by play. The kid last night was great. I can’t imagine being composed while sitting in the booth with Gary, Keith, and Ron now let alone at 8. Anyway, the Kidcaster reminded me of something. Remember when the Mets refused to meet Bobby Ojeda’s SNY contract demands and replaced him with Kidcaster Nelson Figueroa? They replaced their postgame bulldog with puppy dog Nelson Figueroa over dollars and cents. Ridiculous. Nelson is fine, but I’m team Bobby for life.

Umpire Sucked: Anyway, this game was a pitcher’s duel with a bunch of walks. The walks all stemmed from the fact that the home plate umpire sucked. One of the worst balls and strikes umps of the 2016 season. Jose Fernandez had 4 walks and Rafael Montero had 6. With all those base runners I never thought in a million years Montero would make it through the second inning let alone pitch 5 scoreless innings. But he did. He got through 5 innings without surrendering a run. I thought Montero was going to blow the game in the 5th with two men on and one out, but he induced a double play. Once Montero tossed 5 scoreless and Fernandez was pulled with over 100 pitches through 6 scoreless the game became a must win for the Mets. Good teams take advantage of opportunities to win a close game against another team’s ace.

Are You Kidding Me?: In the bottom of the 5th inning with one out, Terry Collins pinch hit Jacob deGrom against Jose Fernandez because of our short bench, and also because he’s a moron. I get that deGrom can hit. But there is almost no situation where it’s appropriate to bat our franchise starting pitcher against a guy who throws 97 MPH. You’re telling me the possibility that deGrom pokes a single into the outfield and gets a one out base runners makes it worth the risk of Fernandez losing a pitch up and in and breaking deGrom’s goddamn hand?!? The only time I’m okay with deGrom pinch hitting is a do or die one game playoff with no position players left on the bench. And you know what? DeGrom is starting a game like that and unavailable to pinch hit in that spot anyway so it’s a moot point. Montero should have pinch hit for himself and struck out on 3 pitches and then come out of the game. In the end nothing happened. Thank God.

Umpire Sucked 2.0: Wilmer Flores had a chance for a big hit with two men on and one out in the 6th but he flew out. Jerry Blevins pitched a scoreless 7th. It should have been a 1-2-3 inning but the ump squeezed him on a 2 strike pitch to Martin Prado.

The Cespedes Route: In the 8th inning, Addison Reed coughed up the first run of the game. Old man Ichiro Suzuki sliced a double to center field. He’s so damn good. Legend. Then Xavier Scruggs hit a frozen rope double to Yo in left field. It was a double off the bat and it made it 1-0 Marlins. Yo took a strange route to the ball but had no chance to catch it regardless. That didn’t stop mooks on Twitter from questioning his skills and decision making. I guess you can’t stop the haters no matter what you do. But the fact that Yo has Mets fan haters blows my mind.

The Home Plate Collision: In the bottom of the 8th, our second best remaining hitter Jose Reyes hit a leadoff double to right field. He then advanced to third on a Alejandro De Aza fly out. It’s funny but before this inning I was thinking of making some joke in this post about how the Mets broke their consecutive games with an injury scare streak. Unfortunately that joke was flushed down the toilet when Reyes scored on a wild pitch and pitcher A.J. Ramos dove into his back at home plate. Ramos had no play, but he managed to tackle Jose as he slid into home.

I thought Jose was dead. I thought we’d be tossing him into a shallow DL grave right next to his blonde friend Asdrubal Cabrera. Goodbye Blonde Brothers aka Blonde Bombers aka Bleach Boys aka Team Lannister. But luckily Jose shook off the collision and stayed in the game. His speed created a run, and it tied the game at 1. Also for the record, if he had to come out of the game the Mets had no infielders left on the bench and probably would have put Rene Rivera in the infield or something. The unfathomable roster management blunders need to be highlighted as much as possible.

Burn The Damn Bench?: Speaking of roster management blunders, in the 9th inning Terry pitched Jeurys Familia and then with two outs in the bottom of the 9th he pinch hit Rene Rivera for him with two outs. Then Mattingly went to the righty reliever and Terry burned the backup catcher and brought in ice cold Jay Bruce. Terry was crossing his fingers that the pulseless Jay Bruce would hit a walk-off shot. Instead he lined out to first and left the Mets with no bench players for extra innings. I bet if the Kidcaster was still in the booth he would have called Terry a dumb stupid doo-doo head.

The Goddamn Walk-Off: Josh Smoker pitched a clutch 1-2-3 top of the 10th inning  and then with two outs Yo saved the day with his walk-off blast. Pay Yo. Do I need to say anything more? If you want to know how I feel about Yo read every one of my posts. Pay Yo.

Grandy Was Involved: Curtis Granderson reached based 3 times last night with a hit and two walks. I’m sure Terry will finally start benching him in favor of Jay Bruce now.

Sorry I Killed Robles: Before the game Steve Gelbs asked Terry “Why is Hansel Robles struggling?” Terry basically responded: “His arm is tired” aka “I killed him.”

Loser: Daniel Murphy no longer leads the NL in batting average?!? Wow what a pathetic loser. I knew he’d be a bust.

Today: Seth Lugo pitches tonight. Hopefully Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera are back in the lineup. Win! Win! Win!