Balancing passion and logic for an underwhelming team as the trade deadline nears

Yesterday in a little back-and-forth with longtime commenter Mike W the topic of emotion was broached. My favorite quote about sports and emotion was by former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, who when asked how important emotion was in the game, quipped that no one was more emotional than his wife and she couldn’t [...]

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Gut Reaction: White Sox 6, Mets 2 (7/20/23)

Jose Quintana made his 2023 debut and pitched five solid innings. But Drew Smith relieved him and once again brought his gas can with him to the mound. The end result was a 6-2 White Sox win, as Chicago averted the sweep Thursday afternoon at Citi Field. Quintana gave up a run in the first [...]

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Justin Verlander adds another strong outing to the Mets’ recent run of quality SP

The Mets’ starting pitching has really rounded into form here over the last month or so. With Justin Verlander’s 8 IP, 1 ER outing Wednesday night, Mets’ SP now have a 3.32 ERA over their last 31 games. For the entire season, starters for the club have a 4.45 ERA, which is one point above [...]

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Gut Reaction: Mets 5, White Sox 1 (7/19/23)

Justin Verlander was terrific and the Mets cruised to a 5-1 win over the White Sox Wednesday night at Citi Field. It’s the Mets’ ninth win in their last 13 games and having already clinched a series win, they’ll go for the sweep Thursday afternoon. Verlander did not allow a baserunner the first three innings [...]

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Gut Reaction: Mets 11, White Sox 10 (7/18/23)

Francisco Alvarez hit two 2-run homers, part of a four-homer attack, as the Mets built an 11-4 lead and hung on for an 11-10 win over the White Sox Tuesday night at Citi Field. Alvarez and Brett Baty delivered back-to-back homers in the first inning, part of a five-run inning, the most runs the Mets [...]

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Putting context to Starling Marte’s OPS+ drop

My preseason projections anticipated drop-offs from Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar. But the other players underperforming on the 2023 Mets were a surprise to me. Today, let’s look at the decline of Starling Marte, since arguably that’s the one that’s hurt the Mets the most. Last year, at age 33, Marte put up a 133 [...]

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Mets 2, Dodgers 1 (10 INN) 7/16/23

Max Scherzer finally pitched like an ace and the offense did just enough to push home the winning run in the 10th inning, lifting the Mets to a 2-1 victory Sunday afternoon against the Dodgers at Citi Field. Scherzer allowed just one hit and no runs in seven innings and he handed the bullpen a [...]

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Kodai Senga’s brilliant pitching, the Galvis Line trio, Brandon Nimmo’s unusual surge

In his first start back from the All-Star break, Kodai Senga continued his strong pitching, as in a six-inning stint he fanned nine batters and allowed only one run. But that strong outing went for naught, as neither the bullpen nor the offense contributed very much in a 5-1 loss. Senga got a no-decision but [...]

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The quiet resurgence of the Mets’ pitching over the last month

Between June 4th and June 9th, the Mets played five games, lost them all and allowed 46 runs. That brought the team’s year-long ERA to a 4.80 mark. In the 26 games since then, the Mets’ staff has a 3.38 ERA, which is a marked improvement. Additionally, that ERA came while facing predominantly winning teams, [...]

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