The Mets ran their win streak to 11, tying a franchise record, with a 6-3 win over the Braves Thursday afternoon. It was the third straight sweep for New York, which has won four of the five series it has played en route to the best record in the majors at 13-3.
- Daniel Murphy opened the scoring with a 3-run double and later added an RBI single. It was the first multi-hit game of the season for Murphy.
- Bartolo Colon became the first pitcher in the majors to reach four wins. He allowed 3 ER in 6 IP and did not walk a batter. For the year he has 1 BB and 23 Ks in 26 IP.
- Juan Lagares extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He has 13 hits in this span, 12 of which are singles.
- For the sixth time this season, Curtis Granderson scored after reaching base via a walk. Granderson moved into a tie with Bryce Harper for most walks (14) in the majors this season.
- After scoring 13 runs in their first three games against the Mets, the Braves were held to just six in this last three-game set. In two games this year, Atlanta has 20 runs scored. In its other 13 games, that total is just 40. That’s an average of 3.1 runs per game.
That was some game. But nobody got hurt, and ugly wins count just as much as the pretty ones.
11 straight!
Now 4-2 against the Braves without them having faced either Harvey or deGrom. Does anyone still feel they have our number?
Id say they will not turn into the way we toss the Phillies around like a rag doll. No doubt, the world has changed as weve seen in the past couple seasons. Ive lived through a lot of misery at the hands of atlanta.
Theres still 13 games to play.
That said, I love what Im seeing!
This feels great to watch! I’m just mildly afraid of the team going away from Citi Field, because I don’t want them to stop winning!
I don’t feel the Braves walked away from that sweep thinking, “Wow, what a team!”
They probably did think, however, that Familia is one hell of a closer.
I don’t really care what the Braves tell themselves to build their self esteem.
But if they’re being honest with themselves, they should say something like – “We just got outscored 16-6, didn’t face their two best pitchers and played them while two of their three best hitters were on the DL.”
It was interesting and a bit of a downer to see the vitriol for Daniel Murphy on Twitter. First of all while the bonehead play he made in the field was incredibly frustrating it shouldn’t be forgotten that Daniel while in a deep slump had that 3 rbi double that staked his team to the early lead. Later he had another RBI single which came off a lefty.
But in the big picture people are forgetting the rock he has been for the team these last few horrible seasons. Let’s cut the dude a break especially in his likely lame duck season.
Larry, everyone loves Murph as a guy with extraordinary ethic. Unfortunately he’s a terrible fielder, and does t hit with enough power to be a real bat. He’s pretty much a bench-level utility guy. His baseball instincts are pretty bad…as we see on a regular basis.
Larry, too, Murphy is still going through spring training.
If you don’t like vitriol – Twitter’s not the place for you.
But I know what you mean. Without blinding speed, Murphy steals something like 20 bases in a row but somehow people want us to believe that he doesn’t have baseball instincts. That throw he made to the plate was a perfect strike and was not very much further from where Lagares either bounced his throw or threw it 10 feet up the line but he’s not good defensively. The last four years he’s produced 9.5 fWAR despite missing 1/3 of 2011 all while playing out of position (3B, ya know) and people say he’s a utility guy.
And someone can rightfully point out his bonehead plays – and boy does he make bonehead plays sometimes – but you can’t let a dozen bad plays define a player’s season. Take everything he does – offense, defense, baserunning, bonehead plays – add it all up and he’s above average. He’s not a perfect player by any means but he’s a team guy who gives it his all every time he steps on the field and his overall production is above what FanGraphs defines as average.
Above average? His first play this season was a grounder to second, which he couldn’t make the throw to first. Day after day we see misguided positioning and actions on the field. Yes he did make a good throw, but he regularly makes terrible throws. For example e other day on the sharp hit ball to second with a guy on third…and from the infield grass he throws the ball 10 feet up e first base line. With balls in play, his base running has been a mystery. He can steal a bag, mostly because I don’t think pitchers hold him on closely (although I’ve not really looked that over while watching the games). There is no denying he is a defensive liability. Hes a great slap hitter, and if he was a Brandon Phillips like defender, I’d be thrilled, but he’s not.
A Brandon Phillips like defender? That’s not a reasonable standard. That’s like a fan of another team complaining because their average CF isn’t a Juan Lagares type defender.
If Murphy was a Phillips like defender, that would add 1.5-2.0 fWAR a year to his total and make somewhere around a 4 or 5-win player and we could debate about signing him to a contract extension, even with what’s coming behind him.
You remember the gaffes and dismiss the positive contributions – hey, all of our minds are selective, I don’t mean to pick on you specifically. But that’s why we keep track of these things and have objective standards. And even those these objective standards rate Murphy as a poor fielder at 2B, his overall contribution to winning games is above average.
A dozen? That is per week.
I love Murphy, he plays hard snd can hit. But the guy is a total space cadet on the field.
Twitter is a cesspool.
One thing that should be mentioned is that Terry Collins did a good job in this game. He didn’t push Colon and he didn’t do his matchup BS, either. Each reliever pitched a full inning and the three of them held Braves’ batters hitless in six AB when they did not have the platoon advantage.
I agree. It’s sort of staggering to See TC do a good job…and it’s also heartening. Let’s hope he figures out how to keep this going.
I am also amazed that suddenly Collins is doing a good job before, during, and after games. So far, he is using his bullpen correctly, making up decent lineups, and keeping from making dumb comments to the media. Can this possibly continue? I hope so!
I guess someone’s been reading your articles, Brian.
The Braves came into town in second place and 1 1/2 games out. Three gaames later they are licking their wounds and are 4 1/2 games back after being swept. Beating your division rivals head to head is the fastest way to put distance between you and them. Very nice job.
The Mets will play their division in 26 of the first 31 games. They are13-3 vs the division. Very impressive.
The Mets have had difficulty winning at Citi Field but they started this season 10-0. Amazing!
The Mets have met their challenges and succeeded . Great job!
Highlights to this point are starting Pitching and Jeurys Familia. I believe the Mets have been very “fortunate” and decently opportunistic.
Grandy has been More unlucky than Bad— Cuddyer seems to have been much more Lucky than GOOD…his BABIP has just recently dropped below .500.
Impressed by Plaw… Flores is Ugly but he’s being Productive. Lagares needs to stick to hard contact— he looks too much like he’s always looked, and the results kind of suck (offensively). He needs to stick to contact.
I’m a bit concerned with the lack of aggression, although “the walk thing” was very clearly a tactical plan for today— but I’d like to see more Hitter’s Count thunder and aggression.
…and “Lucas Duda Can Hit”.
I’ve never seen a study, but my instincts tell me that walks come at a higher rate during the first few weeks of the season before pitchers settle down. Amazing to see the Braves bullpen in such disarray.
Much has been made of the Mets pitchers yielding the fewest walks in the NL: A side effect of Zack Wheeler’s injury.
Walks by month in the NL: 2014
1218 – March/April
1245 – May
1163 – June
1063 – July
1205 – August
1035 – September
The rooks are up there hacking in September. July has fewer because of the AS break; about 1.400 fewer PA than in both June and August. There were 101 fewer PA in June than there were in April, which surprises me. Guessing the season started much earlier in 2014 than it did this year.
Anyway, September was the outlier last year and there does not seem to be a huge difference outside of that month. Have no idea if 2014 is typical or not.
As someone who attended yesterday, I was of course happy with another win and the final pitch. But my big “gut reaction” was that replay is quickly ruining the sport.
Replay goes against the very nature of what baseball is selling.
A professional baseball game is entertainment. Being completely “fair” and getting everything right is a nice goal, impossible to do anyway, and not really the be all and end all. World leaders are not being decided on the field, it’s just a game. Sure, we need umps so it is not wrestling, but we pay for action, moments, excitement, and replay destroys the experience. Yesterday there was only one play in the entire game that was fun and interesting (unless you love walks.) At least the play would have been before replay. You know the play of course, an exciting play at the plate that ended up reviewed and overturned.That play, by the way, was not ruined because it was overturned, just reviewing it ruins it. Let’s review ourselves.
Before replay, as that play ends and the umpire gives the out call, fans, who are standing watching the whole thing evolve, get the payoff they pay for, a great moment that creates an adrenaline rush. Next comes the associated screaming and yelling, and the chance to release some of the stress of everyday life. Now, and fans will quickly become conditioned, the out call means nothing, and we will know all we can do is wait five minutes to find out the outcome. And by the time it comes any excitement is gone, replaced by either relief, or worse, disappointment.
Why pay for that?
Bingo, yes, that’s it exactly. It’s not the time lost, the five empty minutes staring at the umpires with their headsets as they gaze dumbly into the middle distance, it’s that you’ve taken a highlight of the game and, as a result, stopped the game cold.
It’s as if the MLB was concerned about the heart conditions of its fan base. “Hey, easy, folks. Relax, relaaaaax. Don’t get too excited here.”
+1 Michael
+1 James
Replays on safe/out calls stink!
At least they should let the umpire kick dirt on the pants of the losing challenging manager and scream at him “what are you blind?”