Noah Syndergaard tried his damnedest to give the Cincinnati Reds this game. Apparently, they didn’t want it. The Mets ran their latest winning streak to five games and their current run to 14 of 18 with a sweep in the Queen City.
Syndergaard pitched five hair-raising innings, surrendering six hits, four walks and no runs, while striking out seven. The “no runs” part was a real, rare gift, though, as the Reds ran themselves out of two potentially big innings. Cincy shortstop Jose Peraza led off the first inning with a double and was stranded. The Reds got two hits and a walk in the second, but had two runners thrown out trying to take advantage of Syndergaard’s reputation for a slow delivery. Cincinnati had first-and-third with one out in the third on a bunt single by Peraza and a more traditional base hit by Eugenio Suarez, but was denied a run when Suarez was picked off first and Peraza futilely tried to beat James Loney’s throw home. By then, though, the Mets had a 2-0 lead, through the good graces of Jose Reyes.
Reyes took the very first pitch of the game into the right field stands. In the third, with Syndergaard on first having singled, he hit into a force play. After Asdrubal Cabrera struck out, Reyes took a big risk with a steal attempt with Yoenis Cespedes at the plate. It paid off. Cespedes reached on a fielding error by Peraza and Reyes scampered home when Reds starter Anthony DeScalfani unfurled a wild pitch with Curtis Granderson batting. In the sixth, Granderson flew one over the centerfield fence and the Mets led 3-0. It became 5-0 in the top of the eighth when Wilmer Flores continued his torrid streak, launching a homer to left off reliever Wandy Peralta. A good thing, too, because things most assuredly got dicey in the bottom half, when Gabriel Ynoa pitched like a wino.
Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins had combined to hold the Reds off the board in the sixth and seventh. Ynoa started the eighth by surrendering a walk and two singles. Terry Collins was having none of that. With the bases loaded and nobody out, he hauled in eighth inning god Addison Reed. Reed struck out Tyler Holt, then gave up a single to Tucker Barnhart, plating Cincinnati’s first run of the day. After getting pinch-hitter Ramon Cabrera on a force play at the plate, Peraza hit a long fly to left for a two-run double, which didn’t miss much from being a four-run homer. With the tying runs in scoring position, Reed struck out Suarez to curtail the drama. The Mets added a run in the top of the ninth on back-to-back doubles by Cabrera and Cespedes. Jeurys Familia pitched an uneventful bottom of the ninth for his 47th save on the year.
Now it’s a well-deserved day off, then on to Atlanta, as we hope for some good news from Pittsburgh and Denver.
A few things:
* Pitched like a wino. Ha.
* TC tried to get Reed some rest, but once again it wasn’t meant to be. Blame the wino.
* TC making statement by sitting Bruce again. Interesting.
* Nimmo had horrible at-bat. Runner on 3rd, one out, he looks at a borderline pitch that easily could have been called strike three. A fastball, nothing tricky. Next pitch he takes another one, goes down looking. Keith in the booth mumbles: “I just don’t understand.”
Gary Sheffield wouldn’t allow you to walk him with a runner on third…. Nimmo’s looking for a walk??? Hey, maybe he was looking for “His Pitch” so he could swing “His Swing”……
I agree with Mex…I don’t understand!!!
When you go up to bat with less than 2 outs and a runner on third, the worst thing you can do is strikeout. The other bad thing, to pop up, is somewhat less in your control. The first priority is to put the bat on the ball.
For that reason, it is not a situation to work deep counts. In fact, it’s the last thing you want to do: you want to avoid a two-strike situation, because as I said, “the worst thing you can do is strikeout.”
With two strikes, you need to protect a little, maybe go out of the zone a touch, shorten up, all of that. Nimmo’s approach was to take consecutive borderline fastballs — the announcers though both were strikes, and I agreed.
I think the point Eraff has been articulating all season is that it’s a game of situations. Of sequences. You can’t go up there with your standard approach.
Not the end of the world, and hopefully he learned something. Taking a strike three fastball there was just brutal.
Question for Saber Guys…. A ground out with a run scored versus a k by Nimmo… Does the ground out have value for his Saber stats?
Stats, as you know, are simply records of what transpired during a ballgame. SABR stats — in my mind, there’s really no such thing — are basically just deeper & more detailed statistics than the old stand-bys, particularly advancements over the cumulative “counting” stats. Anything that happens on the field would show up in so-called SABR stats or, if you like, “advanced metrics.”
I think part of the issue/confusion is the weight that SABR “types” tend to give certain game events, particularly for their predictive value (a high K-rate for a pitcher, for example). They begin to have their “pet stats” — Brian’s beloved FIP and BABIP, etc. — and those stats become perceived as SABR stats.
There are also the mash-up stats, like WAR, which are completely made-up combinations where different stats are thrown into a blender to come up with one easy-to-grasp uber-number. There’s a name for these collective stats, but it eludes me at the moment. In the 70s or 80s, Thomas Boswell (not at all a SABR guy) advocated for a own Total Baseball Statistic. With the billion-dollar fantasy market, everybody is making up new proprietary stats. Aaron Gleeman came up with GPA, as I recall, as a weighted version of OPS. The signal gets lost in the noise.
In his fantasy AB, Nimmo would get an RBI for that ground out, and the AB would be reflected in various ways: His P/PA, his K ratio, and so on.
Back to Nimmo and stats: You and I saw that AB with our actual eyes, which sent signals to our private computers. We recognized what happened, and placed our own values on those events. I don’t think everything on the field can be quantified, but we both certainly made our qualitative assessments. Nothing replaces seeing the game — but the stats can enhance it. We need both. The stats-only guys lose me completely when they fail to show an understanding of the game’s nuances.
Not sure if that was a satisfactory answer. Maybe just a long-winded one.
Jim… I consider Myself a “Stat Guy”. I refer to “Saber Guys” when I’m reaching out for a little more info on the Stats themselves.
I Love BABIP!…UZR??? Mneh!!! The defensive stats are incredibly subjective interms of “Range”. Todays defenders are generally 2 and 3 grades above what we saw in the 60’s and 70’s—uniformly, todays players are really good fielders and amazing throwers—guys are throwing from all kinds of Angles!
The defensive “Failures” are so incidental, the exceptions to success are almost more an abberation than a true indication—throwing errors being a fairly big exception.
Most importantly, there are things that Stats don’t capture—if you remember, my own pet stat, “The Danny”. It tracks what is not tracked…. the uncharged but Obvious Error. The boneheaded Gaff.
I don;t know if Nimmo learned anything with that K— I believe that hitting is being taught just as Nimmo did.
In a Game of Situations and Sequences…sometimes you can force situations. You absolutely need to aim for the next step in the sequence— “I’m a lefty and bare minimum I’m gonna hit this ball to the right side and score a run”…. maybe you hit a homer. You don’t strike out looking, leaving the responsibility to the next hitter—he can get a hit with 2 outs as well as he can with one out and You standing on first. If you can do something about scoring a run, you push that sequence.
Right back to — “I Don’t Understand!”
Since August 1st Reed has inherited 16 runners and 11 of them have come around to score… From August 16th he’s allowed 10 of 11…
He also had the same problem last August when he allowed 5 of 7 inherited runners to score.
It’s clear that he shouldn’t be used at all when men are on base.
He’s a little gassed right now, needs more rest. It’s clear to see if you watch him pitch; the crispness isn’t quite there. Hopefully the arrival of Salas, and the expanded roster, will help lighten the load.
Good news from Pittsburgh!
The Mets finally got greedy and Scrooged the Reds. They have also caught the Cards!
Reyes joined the long ball club and then beat out a double play ball, stole a base and then scored from third on a wild pitch to maintain his membership in the small ball club. He is a catalyst.
Granderson now has 25 dingers and Flores continues to hit. Flores should be starting ever day and so should Kelly Johnson. Ynoa pitched himself out of a spot start.Robles looked good. Greeat point Name regarding Reed.
Well, on Reed, it’s a point that’s been out there for a while, better to let him start an inning.
But then there’s the real world and actual baseball games to play. Context is everything and it all gets lost when you stare at a spreadsheet.
Yesterday it was a 5-0 game going into the 8th. TC has a great 8th inning pitcher in Addison Reed, who has been overworked and showing signs of fatigue. So he went with Ynoa — maybe Henderson would have been a better choice, or anyone else in retrospect — and hoped, at that point, to rest both Reed and Familia.
But Ynoa walked a guy then gave up back-to-back hits. Bases loaded. Who ya gonna call?
It’s not an ideal world with picture-perfect situations. At that moment, the game was on the line, so TC went with Reed. It was the right decision, despite that he’s been awful with inherited runners. It worked, by about three feet, and Familia closed.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And if the Mets were going to blow a 5-run lead, Reed was the guy I’d want on the mound to do it.
Good news from Denver!
Rumor is Mets sign Tebow. What?????
From MMO:
“Would also like to point out that Tebow’s agent is Brodie Van Wagenen who also represents Yoenis Cespedes.”
Probably just coincidence.