The Mets win their ninth straight game and run their home record to 8-0 with a 7-1 win over the Braves Tuesday night.
Atlanta came into the game fourth in the NL with a 4.50 runs per game average but this was the seventh time this season they were held to three runs or fewer.
Mets exploded for four runs in the fifth, aided by an error by 2B Phil Gosselin on what appeared to be a double play ball.
Jon Niese pitched 6.2 innings and gave up just one run. Niese has been fortunate to only face the Braves and Phillies so far, a big reason why he has a 1.50 ERA, despite allowing 8 BB in 18 IP.
Having already thrown 91 pitches, Terry Collins allowed Niese to bat in the bottom of the sixth after he struggled some in the top of the frame. Niese retired the first two batters of the seventh before allowing a solo homer to Cameron Maybin.
With a righty coming up, Collins got to do his matchup masturbation bit. He brought on Erik Goeddel to face Jonny Gomes. After a four-pitch walk, he brought in Alex Torres to face Freddie Freeman. Torres ended the inning with a K. With a righty leading off the eighth, Collins brought on Carlos Torres.
Curtis Granderson finished with four RBIs. He entered the game with none.
Kevin Plawecki had two hits and two runs in his MLB debut. He also nailed a runner at second base with a strong throw.
Every starter, including Niese, reached base safely, except for Daniel Murphy, who went 0-for-4
With the option to have Hansel Robles enter the game with a 6-run lead in the ninth, Collins opted to use Sean Gilmartin, instead.
Goeddel looked rusty. Gilmartin n eede the work as well.
(Read in your best condescending political ad voice)
Charlie Hangley – a TC apologist
Riiiiiiiiiiiight…
Encouraged by Nieses Velocity, and Plaws debut.
Grandy was very fortunate tonight. Generally, He’s had good ab’s for the season. I did notice that he’s carrying a Leadoff philosophy to every ab—needs to attack soem 1st pitch fb’s. Convinced he will hit fairly well.
I know I usually carry the pom poms, but tonight I’d like to reflect on what I’m seeing:
1. So far this season, the opposition is making many fielding errors that the Mets are taking advantage of.
2. After seeing the pitching staffs of the Marlins, Phillies, and Braves, my only comment is LOL. Also, the Nationals bullpen is an Achilles heel for their staff.
3. Love the way the Mets seem to be getting key hits. Hope this continues.
4. For some reason, I’m not killing Collins. Is it me, or does he seem to not be interfering as much as the past?
5. I love Flores, but if we get Tulo, how much better are we better than the Nationals offensively when they are at full strength? And, who would you sit, Flores or Murphy?
Re: #4
I consider four relievers to complete 2.1 innings a bit much
Well, I give a mulligan once in a while. Goeddell was rusty because Collins hadn’t used him in 10 days and four pitch walk not how an inning should start. Too, pitching Torres for one batter kills an option and the pitcher’s psyche, which we all know Collins cares nothing about unless he’s a veteran position player who’s in a slump or is just not performing…
Great, now I’m pissed at Collins again!
Goeddel hasn’t gotten the work, so I’m with Charlie: that walk was on Terry.
Disappointed that TC is determined to reduce Alex Torres to LOOGY role, despite splits in the opposite direction. He should have stayed in and pitched the 8th, and would have, except that TC believes he’ll need a LOOGY today, and the day after, and the day after. If that’s the case, than another LH should replace Goeddel: He’d get more work.
Plawecki looked good.
I don’t think Campbell is a player, but he’s certainly holding down the fort.
Good think Curtis got those fortunate hits — on the first one, where in the world was Freeman positioned? — because everyone’s media darling, Kevin Long, has actually been hiding in the clubhouse during Granderson’s ABs. At least we don’t have to listen to how amazing he is as a batting coach every day now.
Gelb is the worst. If he asks one more guy, “So, tell us, how do you quantify what Matt Harvey’s swagger means to the team?”
Nine in a freaking row. That’s incredible. The air is thin up here, but the view is great.
Thanks for the recap: Nice to have a place to go with the morning thoughts.
Nine in a row! Double digits today.
TC had a 5-1 lead and he brings in Carlos Torres, one of his few experienced reliefers , instead of saving him forr a more crucial situation. Gilmartin and Robles should have pitched the 8th and 9th. Refer to the scrolling announcement box on te right for TC’s reason.》》》》》》》
Kevin Plawecki had a nice debut. You could say KP cleaned up.
I enjoyed this new feature Brian, keep up the great work.
One other thing: By my count, the Mets have given Dillon Gee two more starts to keep his job. And, also, Montero 1 start to take it.
Overall, I commend the strategy of slotting Montero into that start on the 28th. If a change is going to be made — and I am not advocating for it; I’m waiting and watching — this was a pretty deft way of handling it.
Yes, possibly Montero flunked the audition in the pen — he sure looked clueless at times — but I still think he’d potentially be more valuable back there if he ever figured out what pitches to throw, etc. Maybe he needed more time to make the transition? In any event, this spot start is an intelligent approach to what might be a changing of the guard.
As someone who believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that Montero should be the team’s fifth starter, I’m not outraged with how they’ve treated him. They got him starts in September last year when it would have been easy to go in another direction. They gave him a couple of starts in ST when it would have been easy to just groom him as a reliever. He did great as a starter but truthfully, so did Gee. I don’t agree with it, but you can make the case that it was Gee’s job and Montero had to take it away from him. And he didn’t knock “the champ” out.
And now the latest news about the spot start. A one-start tryout is far from ideal but you know what? At least they’re giving him a shot, however limited it is. And they gave him a couple of games to stretch out his arm. That’s better than last September when he went so long without pitching and then was told to go get ’em.
Right now I actually believe they want Montero to succeed. My theory is that if Montero pitches well in this start, he’ll get the job regardless of how well Gee pitches in his next two outings. Otherwise, why do it? A lot of lip service is given to being “transparent” but if this had no other purpose than to give guys a rest during a streak of a bunch of games, there was no reason to announce it a dozen days ahead of time.
Re: announcement. They had to explain sending him down. In this case, they tried the truth.
I was certainly encouraged to see a solid start to Kevin Plawecki’s major league career. It was pretty funny to see the rookie put his fundamentally sound swing out there right in front of whatever that thing Wilmer Flores uses as a swing.
One of the big challenges for Sandy Alderson – assuming Plawecki shows his talent in the next few weeks – will be finding the right trade partner for one of the catchers. I had been hoping that the Cubs would be that partner but see that Wellington Castillo is off to a good power start there so they may not be a good candidate.
Mets have come out and said that they’re not keen on trading one of the two catchers. Afraid that one bad pitch or AB can sideline a player and then make them weak at Catcher for a while.
Side note- Ike Davis threw a perfect inning last night!
Met’s are winning and it feels good. LGM!
I don’t think they even consider a trade until this winter.
That is just Flores’s swing. It’s unconventional, but it’s worked for him at each level (raked with it at each level is more like it).
Furthermore, Flores is posting a .727 OPS this year batting in front of the pitcher. How many Number 8 hitters in the NL can stake claim to that kind of production? (Or how many Number 8 hitters can claim that kind of production in the AL for that matter?)
Let’s see:
.751 – Adeiny Hechavarria
.808 – Andrelton Simmons
.902 – Clint Barmes
1.014 – Joc Pederson
1.109 – Zack Cosart
1.116 – DJ LeMahieu
That’s just the NL and there may be guys I missed.
So Flores is middle of the pack. Which, incidentally, is where I suspect he will be by season’s end (Joc Pederson is really batting 8th? That team MUST be stacked)
Nice job on the data mining. Always good to have evidence to back up the claims 😉
Aside from the elation of witnessing some corner of Mets history again, on the positive side, I have been trying to capture what it is exactly. Yes, of course, the wins are an antidote for much of the misery. But its more than that. In the past few seasons, Ive always had the mantra of lets celebrate the accomplishments, mostly individual, and accept that those will suffice. I figured the names on the back were the things to celebrate: Santana, no hitter; Dickey, Cy Young; Lagares, Gold Glove; deGrom, RoY; Reyes, batting title; Matt Harvey, monster. All these rescued what otherwise added up to little else but frustration and pure gripe about the team I love. But its now different. I’m struggling to identify the player I’m rooting for to have some sort of crazy spectacular year or accomplishment. In its place, I finally have realized that 2015 is now about the “Name on the Front, not the name on the back.” The team seems to have depth to manage problems. I can cheer just as hard for Plawecki as d’Arnaud, or Torres as much as Blevins, or…whomever for whomever. And my expectations are not changing. Last night Duda, Murph, Cuddyer had little to offer, but Granny and the bottom of the line up punished the Braves. Of course they did, after all they are the Mets!
Let’s Go Mets!
🙂
Love it Chris!
+1 And Steve Gelbs interviews are awkwardly painful.
I love the way the Mets have started the season. But, let’s see what happens as they go around the league.
The opponents will probably try to make adjustments based on scouting reports.
The Mets will have to face better hitting and pitching teams, such as the Cards and Dodgers.
To be successful you should beat up on the weak teams and so far the Mets are doing that.
Let’s temper the optimism a bit until we have a larger sample.
LGM!
That’s ok, everyone else needs to face them as well. Further, the Mets are not beating themselves, and that is the most impressive.