NLCS G2Normally I would be writing about the minor leagues but, as I got the rare chance to watch the Mets take a 2-0 lead in the NLCS last night, I am going to focus on something else.  Chiefly I will write about the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of last night’s win against the Cubs.  Firstly, I must thank Paul M. again from the bottom of my heart for taking me.  That being said, let’s talk about what we saw:

The Good:

The Mets had three clear stars of the game.  Curtis Granderson who got things started with his bat, kept things from getting close with his glove and extended the lead with his legs.  Granderson’s moment of the game was the catch against the right field wall off of Chris Coughlan.  He took a homer away from the Cubs and kept the Mets in control.  That being said, he was the third star of the game.  Daniel Murphy’s first at bat was game changing.  It ended up proving the winning run but more importantly gave the Mets utter confidence for the rest of the game.  Mr. Murphy is only the second star of the game.  The number one star of last night’s game was Noah Syndergaard who was in command and dominating.  While Jake Arietta pitched well, Syndergaard was truly great last night.  All this was done with what seemed like the least consistent strike zone.  Syndergaard looked as good as he’s ever been advertised.

The Bad:

Lucas Duda is bad right now.  He looks lost at the plate and part of the problem is that he’s not being aggressive, but he’s also chasing bad pitches.  Duda needs to swing at pitches earlier in the count as pitchers are taking advantage of the knowledge that he rarely swings until he’s got strikes on him.  Right now there is probably nothing to lose in giving Michael Cuddyer starts at first against left-handed starters.  If the Mets can get Duda to wake up before the end of the playoffs they are going to win it all.

The Ugly:

The Mets were caught looking 6 times in the game.  Part of the issue was the Umpire who was not doing a great job of calling a consistent strike zone but the other half falls on the shoulders of the Met hitters, Terry Collins and the Met hitting coach.  When you have two strikes there are “pitches you can’t take” and the Mets failed to recognize this again and again.  If the Mets continue to leave their bats on their shoulders it will not help their chances of putting the final nails in the coffin or their chances of winning the series beyond.

All things considered it was a great game and I was privileged to go.

13 comments on “Noah Syndergaard is more than merely the God of Thunder

  • Metsense

    Good observations. I guess the cold weather made you a lucky “stiff” to be at the game!

  • Name

    I’m sorry, but no matter how many strikeouts someone racks up, if you can’t complete 6 innings, it can hardly be considered a dominant or amazing performance.

    The number one job of a SP to get outs, and Noah didn’t get enough of them last night.

    • David Groveman

      I guess we disagree. I see completely keeping the imposing Cubs lineup silent for as long as he did pretty darn dominating.

    • Chris F

      Of course thats the ideal. 5 2/3 was enough to break the spine of their hitters. Was it as good as Harvey’s outing? no. But Noah had an excellent start, and the Cubs thought so too.

      • Name

        If i had to rate the start on a 10 point scale, i would probably give it a 6 or 7. The way it was being described here and last night on the chatter was like a 9 or a 10.

    • jb hill

      considering that noah threw approx. 100 pitches between 4 warm ups & in relief in game 5 against the dodgers on thursday, yeah, he was amazing, dominating, and a whole bunch of other ings…..

      • Name

        He was dominating, evident by the 9 strikeouts. But it was not a dominant start, which takes into account quantity and quality.

        I guess i’m just arguing semantics here.

        • jb hill

          now that i’ve had a few days to come down from my ”mets win again” high, i agree with name’s last comment here. but my opinion was based on reading in several papers on how many total pitches noah tossed in the game 5 L.A. series. also, i have nothing but good things to say about how terry collins is handling his pitching staff in the playoffs so far. so obviously, i’m completely confused…..

      • TexasGusCC

        Noah himself said that he threw about 7-9 pitches each time he warmed up, and that was four times. How did it come out that he threw 100 pitches when the man himself said 7-9 each time?

  • Peter Hyatt

    In looking ahead (hey, I am old enough to), I like our chances against KC more than Toronto, even though it would be fun to play against RA.

    With KC, we have better starting pitching, and more HRs.
    KC has more hits for average and excellent relief pitching.

    The danger we face with KC might be what Name is referring to:

    getting the middle innings past us safely.

    We are great to start, and to close, but in between, it is scary.

    I also found Noah to dominate while he pitched but wished he could economize and go further. Getting all the way to Familia would be wonderful

    KC’s strategy might be to run pitch counts on our starters and get to the middle relief.

    It is fun being Metsie fan. I hope Lucas pulls out and “The Talent” gets hot again.

    • Chris F

      I’m going the other way. I think our pitching measures very well against the all or nothing Blue Jays. KC manufactures runs in all kinds of ways that test a lot of the safety net: they hit all over and the contact requires very solid defense, which I think will expose us. They run like the wind, and that will expose the slow pitching to home and TdA shaky arm. Plus, I think KC is generally just a way better team than than TO. Wild card situation: I hate the AstroTurf in TO and that crowd in the dome can be unruly. All that said, either team will be a full meal to handle, not to mention the remaining wins against the Cubs.

      • TexasGusCC

        And you didn’t even compare the bullpens Chris. Would rather the Blue Jays, their pitching is suspect.

  • Matty Mets

    You can come back against the Jays, but the only way to beat the Royals is to bury them early. Not only do they have a great pen, but they tend to put together big rally innings late in games.

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