The 2013 season has been frustrating for the Mets but last night’s game was not one that should be described that way. On a night where they honored the firefighters who gave their life battling the wildfires in Arizona, the Mets showed some character of their own. While nowhere near a life-and-death situation, the Mets overcame adversity and made two unlikely comebacks to win.
After 79 games, the Mets have a 34-45 record. Monday night, the Mets won in dramatic fashion, scoring runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to forge a tie and then having two runners cross the plate in the bottom of the 13th to eke out a one-run victory. It was the seventh walk-off win of the season for the Mets. That matches the number of walk-off wins for the 2012 Mets, a team that in the second half of the season seemed to roll over and die if it fell behind at any point in the game.
One can use any number of negative adjectives to describe this year’s team. But one thing that seems apparent is that this team is going to use all 27 – or in last night’s game 39 – outs to score runs. The tactical errors of the coaching staff are enough to drive a fellow to drink. Yet it’s clear that they deserve at least some credit for creating a squad that battles until the end of the game.
The Mets have scored 33 runs in the ninth inning so far this year. That’s the fourth-most runs they’ve scored in any inning, a stat made all the more impressive by the fact they’ve come to bat nine fewer times in that frame. There have been 22 times this year the Mets have scored in the ninth inning. Compare this to a season ago, when the Mets scored 50 runs in the ninth inning all season, which was their second-worst inning for scoring runs. The 2012 squad scored in the ninth just 31 times.
Of course, some people will complain that the Mets should not have needed to bat in the ninth inning Monday night, as they left 12 runners on base through the first eight innings. But unless you’re going to score all of your runs by solo home run, you need to get runners on to get them home. The simple fact is that not every runner that gets on is going to score.
So far this year, the Mets have scored 311 runs and have left 540 runners on base. Ignoring homers and runners who got on base but who were retired on the base paths, that works out to having a run scored for every 2.73 runners. That’s pretty consistent with the 2012 club, which scored a run for every 2.72 runners.
As analysis goes, that’s pretty shoddy. Yet it seems to me that matches up well with common perception – that you should essentially score a run for every two runners left on base. Unfortunately, run scoring is not nearly so linear.
To me, a game like last night is so much more preferable than a game like the Mets played on April 30th, where they got just four baserunners all game, scored a run, had a runner eliminated on a double play, left two runners stranded and which they lost 2-1. In my mind, that’s much more of a frustrating game, especially given that the pitchers who handcuffed the Mets were the immortal Kevin Slowey and Ryan Webb.
Ultimately, if you get enough chances to score, eventually the runners will cross the plate. Last night the pitching allowed the offense enough chances to finally break through.
Perhaps the offense would have come through sooner if so many rallies didn’t wind up with John Buck at the plate. He stranded six runners in the first seven innings and then got thrown out as the trail runner trying to advance on a ball that momentarily escaped the catcher with the game tied in the ninth inning. Incredibly, the Mets scored the winning run in an inning where the Diamondbacks intentionally walked Buck, putting the go-ahead runner on base. That’s a decision that ought to be second-guessed.
Maybe it’s not fair to pick on Buck on a night where the Mets had 16 hits and 11 walks and one in which the bullpen contributed seven innings and allowed just one run. However, I think the decision to highlight Buck’s shortcomings is more defensible than the choice to label this type of game as “frustrating,” which more than one person has done.
If last night’s game was a movie, it would be described as one packed with thrills, chills and adventure. The game lasted over five hours, had a bunch of plot twists and ended up with the good guys winning.
If you thought this game was frustrating, there’s one thing I want to know – What game were you watching?
If the Mets are scoring that many runs in the ninth it means they’re losing. The team needs someone else besides David Wright as a consistent R.B.I. threat. Sure they get base runners but without clutch hits they’re going to be spectators on the bases. Buck is showing the wear and tear of all those years of playing with injuries and catching. But as for the coaches. Why did Buck start a day game after a long night game? If TC doesn’t have the confidence to rest Buck and his anemic bat what does that say about Anthony Recker?
They bat on the road in the 9th inning in games they are winning.