The Mets defeated the Padres at Citi Field tonight, and all it took was 11 innings. It brought them back to .500 and snapped their four-game losing streak.
- Jacob deGrom, continuing to prove he’s this team’s true ace, pitched a great one that he deserved to win but obviously didn’t. His only mistake was not pitching a complete game shutout. OK, his actual only mistake was a a solo homer to Yangervis Solarte in the seventh that tied it. His final line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 K. He was just fantastic.
- Jeurys Familia broke the string of the bullpen retiring batters (it was 24 after a perfect 8th from Addison Reed) in spectacular fashion by surrendering his first HR of the season to Wil Myers with two outs, blowing the save. *Sigh*
- The Mets offense took a break from last night’s exhaustive effort, scoring only one run off a shaky Jarred Cosart despite having multiple chances to get more. To be fair, they would’ve had this one in the bag if not for a great over-the-shoulder catch in deep center by Travis Jankowski. They scored more in the end, though, and that’s all that matters.
- Jose Reyes returned from the disabled list and made an immediate impact, despite going 0-4. He walked to open up the first inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch, then went to third when Christian Bethancourt threw the ball into center trying to catch him. He ended up scoring on a Neil Walker single.
- Speaking of Walker, he’s been great for this team and really the only one hitting worth a damn. Besides his first inning RBI, he led off the bottom of the 11th with a hit. He was aggressive on a bloop single by James Loney when noticing that the Padres’ shift left third base open and made it there safely. Finally, on yet another Wilmer Flores groundball, he was super aggressive and ran home, forcing newest Met-killer Ryan Schimpf into a bad throw that sailed away from the catcher and allowed Walker to score the winning run. Phew.
Got home just in time to see the winning run. Sure beats sitting through 9 innings of uninspired ball like I seem to have done too much here lately.
By my count, the Mets had lost seven straight one-run games. Nice to be on the other end.
As Brian said, it’s hard to watch nine innings of players just waving at the ball and mostly missing. But, it’s a win. Beggars can’t be choosy.
However, there is a little something that has been bothering me and I need to speak about, and that is the notion that Wilmer Flores is a “platoon player.” I know that I give you all a headache about my infatuation with Flores and my disdain for anything that has to do with Terry Collins, but this is not specifically about Flores.
Flores is no more a platoon player than Michael Conforto is. Both are players that Need To Play!!! Flores is hitting .203 this year against righties and .318 against lefties. Last year, he hit .251/.301. For his career, he is .249/.261. He isn’t great, but he is just as good as most of the stiffs on this team, and it has quite a few.
I don’t think a player should be labeled as a platoon player until he has been in the league a few years. I wrote earlier this week how the Giants allowed Brandon Crawford to develop batting eighth and seeing lefties. Ditto Brandon Belt. I don’t see why Conforto, Nimmo, and Flores aren’t developed as everyday players, when they are not being run back to Vegas. I would rather see Conforto batting eighth than Granderson at all. Why does Granderson have an iron clad grip on a starting job, if, they actually really want to win? Collins is good for lip service only, while allowing the inmates to run the asylum. And then, why don’t they execute? Have you ever heard of players trying too hard if they don’t have to?
Gus, Flores got everyday status for most of last year at ss. The main counterargument against your proposition is simple, and something you surely are aware of: Flores has no position on the diamond where he is passable, except perhaps 2B where is fully blocked offensively and defensively by Walker. Flores is wholly unsuitable to play the left side of the IF. By comparison Crawford plays GG SS. If we had Andrelton Simmons at SS, then Id agree. Instead we have a player with the agility and hands of Frankenstein. Nimmo is definitely not ready to be a big leaguer, and also has no position to play, and Conforto might have been moved through the system too fast. Unfortunately for Conforto the PCL is not successful in prepping hitters. He also needs to learn all OF positions. All three of the players you talk about have shown defensive liabilities that cant be ignored.
Chris, first of all, I will not be bringing up these topics any longer. In fact, I had told myself to avoid the Collins topic, but he keeps giving me new reasons. Flores shows flashes of competence at both left side positions, but bouts of incompetence. However, on a team that needs offense, he needed to be in there over any at bats Reyonlds got. Other teams put catchers in left field, and no one says a word. I thought it was hysterical when Flores last night said that if you hit the ball, good things can happen. As Mel Allen – God rest his soul – used to say, “how bout that”?
I read a post by someone last night on MMO that pointed out that Trout was hitting .220 in his early stages, Bradley Jr. (whose swing I cannot understand) struggled much more through two call ups, and all young players need consistent at bats in MLB to find themselves. I agree with this statement.
But, my comment wasn’t a pro-Flores comment but rather an anti-management comment. At this point, why is Granderson getting Conforto’s time? He is no better than Conforto, and Conforto can be here learning not wasting his time in the PCL, as you point out. Also, I would rather give Nimmo a chance to play everyday over Granderson. This team wastes the most valuable commodity in the world unlike any I have witnessed in any sport.
Lastly, I said a few weeks back that the Mets are quickly becoming the Yankees of the mid-80’s grasping at straws one year at a time. How will next year’s possible Cespedes, Gomez, Bruce eye-catching outfield strike you? It’s coming, and we will be cheering it. Like it or not. The Mets seem to be too caught up in today and keep punting tomorrow. There a radio commercial out about a guys who puts his money away to have in 2037 and his friend that doesn’t save a dime…
Gus, I hear your point. It is baseball’s version of the “chicken and the egg.” Which came first?
When a young player demonstrates splits, a team can (theoretically) decide too quickly that he’s a platoon player — and thus, turn him
Into one. We’ve seen this with Flores, Lagares, and Conforto.
On the other hand, it might be an accurate assessment of their abilities. How many years. Of poor performance do you endure? Where is the line?
With older players, it is easier to watch. With young players, it feels almost wasteful, like we are turning a potential core player like Conforto into a part-timer.
Of course, if this was 2011-2014, it would make more sense for them to learn through their struggles. Now it is harder, especially with a weak-hitting team.
When he first arrived, several argued that he should be platooned because of his historic weakness vs. LHP. Last year, the same was heard about Lucas Duda. In both cases, management continued to give them regular PT and they reduced the gap between splits.
It’s not always clear the right way to go. To me, it would not be about stats but about the eye test. He quality of those outs. Are they competitive? Are there hopeful signs? Or are we seeing horrible ABs where the player looks completely overmatched?
If Wilmer had a plus glove, it would be much easier to let him work through it. He’s a type who seems to need to work through things. I’d give Conforto a much fuller test then the pop quizzes he randomly gets — and fails.
These are not easy decisions, and there are no clear answers.
One note: in the Mets two WS years, they relied heavily on platoon players, which different lineups vs. LHP and RHP. Shamsky, Teufel, Garrett, Boswell, Swoboda, Kranpool, Bachman ….
At same time, by horsing around with Dykstra they delayed and ultimately missed his full development.
Jim, one point I can reply to with some certainty is that Conforto was better in the minors against lefties than righties, and he explained that growing up the person he hit often against (his dad?) was a lefty. But on the Mets, you get labeled. They eat and breathe the LOOGY and many other half truths about handedness.
Flores has over 1100 ab’s…. he’s young…he’s not captive to what he now is…but 1100 ab’s over 3 years begins to frame a guy and his ability. I believe his limitations as a baseball player are pretty well known. The sole part of his game that can develop is his hitting…and he’ll need to hit a ton to hide and accept the rest of his game.
He’s slow and a bad baserunner…. his lack of foot quickness hurts his throwing…. his “baseball brain” is not well developed as a baserunner or fielder.
They don’t need to force ab’s on him…he needs to force them to give him ab’s.
The Padres made a poor decision not going for a DP on the ball hit by Flores. While a good throw likely would have gotten Walker at the plate, it was a tailor-made GDP, especially with a slow runner going to first.
Brian, we laughed about that in the chatter, but I wonder if Flores’ infield hit earlier in the game on a grounder up the middle didn’t fool the second baseman into thinking Flores had wheels.