The 2016 season came to a close in a stunning fashion, as Jeurys Familia surrendered a three-run homer in the ninth inning to break up a scoreless tie and give the Giants a win in the Wild Card game Wednesday night.
- It was a fantastic pitching battle between Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner. Syndergaard was everything the Mets hoped he could be. He threw strikes and allowed just five baserunners in seven innings. It took some extra pitches for him to get through the seventh and while going into the inning it looked like eight innings was a possibility, it was clear that Terry Collins wasn’t going to allow his only stud pitcher to run an MLB high in pitches.
- Meanwhile, Bumgarner continued his excellent playoff history. He cruised through the first three innings, needing just 21 pitches. He struggled some in the middle innings but the Mets stranded a runner in the fourth, two in the fifth and another in the sixth. But Bumgarner righted himself to retire nine of the last 10 hitters he faced. He’s now 3-0 in postseason elimination games.
- It was not the deciding factor in the game but the home plate umpire seemed to have a very tough night. Early on, it seemed like there were poor calls both ways. But after Bumgarner complained – first on a call when he was batting and then a call when he was pitching – it seemed every single call went the Giants’ way. In the eighth and ninth innings alone, Mets hurlers had five pitches identified as strikes by K-Zone that were called balls. The Giants did not have one in either inning.
- Familia came into the game with a 63.3 GB%. All four balls hit against him in the inning were fly balls, including a leadoff double and the game-winning home run.
- It was a tough way to end the year. But in case anyone needed proof, this is why you win the division – so your season can’t end after just one game.
- No doubt it was a challenging year. But we should all be proud of how the team never quit and made a fantastic September run to make it this far. Hopefully, the injured will return ready to go for Spring Training. Even if that happens, there is a ton of uncertainty in the offseason for a team that has made it to the playoffs in back-to-back years. It will be an interesting hot stove league once again.
It was a fantastic game, but of course it’s disappointing the team that we root for didn’t come out on top.
The Mets made a huge bet first time thru the lineup to be aggressive and that bet didn’t pay off. It happens. I’m happy that they did come up with a plan (and stuck with it), but wished they would have started working him in inning 3 rather than 4 (though it probably wouldn’t have made a huge difference)
LVP of the hitters is clearly Cespedes. Bumgarner badly exploited his flaw up in the zone and thru 4 PA, Cespedes didn’t adjust one bit. I think Mets fans will let go of him easier after today.
That’s alot of production all year you want to let go of…
Stunning for sure. The Mets had a game plan to pitch them up on the zone, and it failed them in the ninth. It didn’t help that Winter’s strike zone moved around a bit after the sixth inning, but Familia has to locate better. Had Familia been able to put away Panik up 1-2 in the count, then you walk Gullespe to take Bumgardner out of the game.
While Bumgardner was lucky on the soft liner in the eighth by Cabrera, he gave a lesson to every young Mets hurler watching that control is the key that Familia hasn’t mastered. Familia gets ahead of many hitters and can’t put them away.
However, this is a good team and if Cespedes comes back, they should have all the pieces to beat everyone next year, but 90% of baseball is from the neck up. Pay attention kids.
0-0 no outs, Rivera on second. You are going against a pitching legend. You bunt –
Familia chokes in big games. He threw a meatball to a scrub and he got hammered.
Season over – They overachieved but now they need to make some changes.
What an amazing run…a Gift Season for the last month or two!
Of all the possibilities, this team’s success without it’s Starting Pitcher foundation has been one of the most unlikely sports stories I can recall.
Flawed…Frustrating…. a bazillion pounds of Pluck…. one of my favorite teams and sports seasons ever!!!!….the 2016 Mets!
Eraff- very well said.
I was lucky enough to be at the game. Citi was absolutely rockin. We really have the best fans.
Easy to blame the ump or second guess this or that. The game went exactly as we could have hoped, only Familia blew it. I would love to know how this game would have turned out had we escaped the 9th.
Big picture -I’m proud of this team and enjoyed a wild season.
I was also fortunate enough to be at the game last night. Citi was incredible, the fans were standing more than sitting in a game that had almost no scoring opportunities. A great pitchers duel. Weirdly, I felt good about our chances until Granderson made the catch. As soon as he did my thoughts became, “I’ve seen this game before and I know how it ends.” Perhaps that is why I left the ballpark disappointed but not overly so, I was mentally prepared for the ending.
More likely my mood was influenced by the fact that this team had already overachieved so mightily and given me big games I never thought I would see, many of them wins. Somewhere for me the 2016 Mets became a team that was more about the journey than the destination, in a sport with daily games.
Before the body is cold the blogosphere will start up with all of the 2017 stuff. Hell, I already said goodbye to Loney a few minutes ago.
The 2017 Mets have a hard act to follow, as the 2016 Mets were quite a good show.
Familia Ending? His last four post season appearences have led to runs, starting with the Gordon game #1 home run and ending last night with the Gillaspie home run. The Mets would not have been there without Familia but his two wonderful seasons have been marred by not “closing” the job. It is the elephant in the room that needs discussion.
Burmgarner was sensational and one must tip their hat to him for continuously throwing up zeroes in the most important baseball games. He is becoming a true legend.
Syndergaard has built upon his own reputation with last nights performance.
That Granderson catch was awesome. He knew he had to run full steam into that wall ….and he did !
A great season from a great bunch of players who played through the adversity of injuries and never gave up. Wait till next year! Lets Go Mets!
Yes, two things that I didn’t mention and probably should have.
1. That Granderson catch was terrific. Someone in the chatter claimed that there was no way that Cespedes would have made that play. According to Statcast, he covered 102 feet!
“According to Statcast™, Belt generated a 105.9-mph exit velocity and a 25-degree launch angle as he hit Syndergaard’s 97.9-mph fastball a projected distance of 408 feet. That combination of exit velocity and launch angle produced a .971 batting average and a home run 91 percent of the time this season.”
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/205096768/curtis-granderson-makes-great-wild-card-catch/
2. That James Loney play in the seventh inning where with the shift on, he went way further than he should have to make a play — and then didn’t even bend over to try to try and field it! Just bad decision making by a guy who’s played 1B the overwhelming majority of his career.
Far from the first time Loney did that. The idea that he is a good defender is just wrong. What he does is make easy plays look hard. He sets up badly for throws and has to either fall to the ground or catch balls in fair territory that a more accomplished first baseman catches correctly. As he makes some of these unnecessarily tough plays he has more “highlight reel” plays. The issue is someone with competent footwork turns those plays into easy outs. Oh, and he also has no range and wrongly backhands groundballs off to the side that sometimes go by because he is not in front of the ball. Other than that, he is a plus defender.
I feel a little weird bashing Loney today of all days as we actually needed him, and he was the best James Loney he can be, including a very big home run. But if not today when? Hard to believe Loney is on a big league roster in 2017.
Have a nice life, James, wish you the best. Just hoping to never have to see you in a Mets uniform again.
I was in favor of giving Loney the start for his defense, but looked like a coat rack out there.
Duda is much better than Loney. However, I don’t think Lucas did enough to demonstrate that he was fully healthy, and those 2 errors on Sunday probably gave TC pause. At the same time, Loney had some good games and big hits, so he was making a case for himself.
I hoped Duda would get some starts in the NLDS. But, well.
Forgot to mention: Kelly Johnson over Eric Campbell to PH, right?
Great game, but heart-breaking ending. I kind of think the key was actually last weekend when the Giants swept the Dodgers. had the Mets been playing St. Louis last night in the wild card game, I think the Mets would still be in the post season.
The Mets played hard last night like they did all season, now its “wait til next year” with hopefully a less injury plagued roster.
I’m grateful today to have Mets360 where I can process some of this stuff. Thanks to all of you guys who write here, and comment, and to Brian especially for doing so much of the heavy lifting. Trying to get back to work & it helps to come here and clear the head:
* The “attack early” strategy was a spectacular bust. Could not have gone any worse.
* Someone pointed out that walking Panik was the key to that 9th inning, and the game. Could have gotten Bumgarner out of the game at that point. Familia was facing the bottom of the order there and he simply didn’t have it. Badly spiked 2-3 balls before the plate. No command. And the umpire gave up on the low strike in the 8th inning. When can we recall an outing where he recorded all three outs on fly balls? I don’t blame him for the failures in the second and third “blown” saves in last year’s WS. In Game One, that was on him — the Gordon HR — but it was one bad pitch, one spectacularly bad decision. Tonight, he came out of the pen with nothing. Just didn’t have it. Too amped, trying too hard, unprepared for the big stage. Sadly. If that top of 9th goes well, the game shifts toward the home team.
* I love Familia and think he’s a great closer. I’m sorry that this has become his story, but that’s the reality. He underperformed. Our lives take strange paths. This is something hard that he’s going to have to overcome. I think he will.
* Addison Reed, once again, courageous & unflappable. Several things went wrong that inning and he kept throwing darts.
* Bizarre & pathetic for Rivera to run on a grounder to SS. He occasionally did those things, Little League mistakes that I wouldn’t expect from a good 9-year-old player. Strange for a fringy player.
* Cabrera, Granderson had quality ABs all night long. Very few hard hit balls all night long.
* Noah was awesome.
* We missed Wilmer.
* I don’t like Jay Bruce. I get that he’s a dangerous hitter. But he’s not my kind of ballplayer. I think he would love (love, love) to get out of NYC; I hope Sandy obliges.
* Cespedes had another one of these games. I think the Mets were six games under .500 when he was out of the lineup. In a lot of ways, he was out of the lineup again last night. A disappointing disappearing act. Bumgarner seemed to throw every pitch exactly where he wanted to against Yoenis, that high-borderline FB in particular. Mets needed their best player to do something.
* I never looked forward to Game 163, hated the idea of losing it, hated the big celebration for making WC. I mean, I think it’s good for baseball, but it’s not a game I ever wanted to see the Mets play. The Division Title or bust! Losing the WC game is just brutal. I had two tickets for the game last night, and two sons, so they went instead of me. I was going to get my shot against the Cubs in the NLDS. I was really rooting for us (and my guys) to have one more exhilarating moment. One more game where the stadium lifts off like a rocket ship. Everything was in place. That must have been a long drive home.
* Hat tip, Madison Bumgarner.
Jimmy, great points like everyone today is making. No sour grapes, just reality. Familia spiked the pitch to Gillespe right before the homerun pitch. It was a sinker. The next pitch was also a sinker but he threw it in the middle of the zone and this one didn’t sink. He needs better command and to relax.
The pitch to Alex Gordon was another sinker that didn’t, but this one was actually just outside the strike zone, thigh high. Not as bad a pitch as last night’s.
The Gordon HR was a “quick pitch,” and ill-advised. He came into that Series in dominant form. It really felt like “game over” time, but in a good way.
After that, TC failed to put him in classic closer situations, clean innings. Last night, however, was just bad.
It was a very long drive home. Thanks for the kind words. Mets360 is like a therapy session for all of us right now. Perhaps just for today maybe Brian should rename this column “gut punch reaction”
Typically the Mets add a banner to the stadium to commemorate post season successs. What does this banner say? Game 163? Wildcard loser?
It hurts. I didn’t realistically think we’d have a chance against the Cubs, but I was rooting hard for another week of Mets baseball. I have no interest in football or hockey and I’m a Knicks fan it the NBA has become very hard to follow if you’re not a fan of one of the 3 super teams. You know before the season starts that no one else has a chance. That’s never the case in baseball.
In the best of all worlds, the Mets brass get pissed about how the season ended, and work to keep those players, trainers, and coaches who can help the team succeed and shed those that can’t.