What a game! Tonight’s game presented us with a great storyline, and a great showing from the Mets. Noah Syndergaard, a former top Blue Jays prospect, goes against his former team that has won 11 games in a row. The Mets would walk-off tonight in the bottom of the 11th thanks to a Wilmer Flores single which drove in Lucas Duda.
- Syndergaard pitched very well, allowing one run and striking out 11 hitters in six innings. Jose Bautista hit a monster homer off Syndergaard in the first inning, but Syndergaard settled in nicely.
- Bautista hit two homers, including a game-tying home run down the left field line against Jeurys Familia, which resulted in Familia’s second blown save of the season.
- The Mets failure to turn double plays has become frustrating, as Jose Reyes hit a ground ball to Ruben Tejada, and the team could not turn the double play. Familia would strike out Josh Donaldson on three pitches to get out of the eighth inning.
- Duda, Flores, Juan Lagares, and Tejada drove in runs for the Mets offense tonight, as Duda doubled in Michael Cuddyer in the bottom of the 11th with two strikes and two outs to tie the game.
The Mets are going to need depth from Matt Harvey as the bullpen has been overused the past couple of days. Harvey goes against Scott Copeland in tomorrow night’s game.
Mets have won four of their last five and have Harvey going next. Hopefully he can duplicate Syndergaard’s outing.
Mets remain the only team that Mark Buehrle hasn’t defeated.
Mets were on the right side of not being able to turn double plays too.
In the 11th inning, Cuddyer hit a ground ball to Valencia, the second baseman, who decided to chase Tejada instead of tossing it to second to the force. This ended up costing them the game.
Going to say something that I would never expect to have said, but it’s called for. The unsung hero of this comeback win is Ruben Tejada. His base running move suckered a young second baseman that could have either flipped to second for a DP or throw to first to get Cuddyer, then with Tejada going backwards they get him in a rundown and end the game. Cuddyer was ahead in the count and swung at a pitch at his ankles! Terrible! However, for all the breaks our young players gave away, it’s good to have some come back.
If atejada can be used in a supporting player role, and his head is on right, he can be useful; anything else, get rid of him.
Hey Name, you stole my thunder!
Way to go Wilmer!
Clutch hit Flores. Nice base running Tejada. Dominating pitching Syndergaard.
Flores has an fWAR that puts him smack in the middle of NL shortstops and a wRC+ of 99. I can accept that and actually hope his wRC+ could go up to 110.
The steroid era changed the philosophy of hitting. I think we need to get back to the point that strikeouts are bad. Last night Duda got his bat on the ball and blooped a tieing double. He could not have done that if he struck out. A criticism of Flores is that he doesn’t walk enough (same with Murphy) but they are amongst the team leaders in RBI’s because they put the bat on the ball. Taking hittable pitches just doesn’t work if it isn’t in the player’s DNA. See it, like it, hit it.
Nice (but not great per Name) win. First Place and opening up some breathing room.
Wilmer Flores has 31 RBIs and has struck out 27 times
Lucas Duda has 29 RBIs and has struck out 59 times
Oh, and Flores has comes to bat with 81 runners in scoring position
Duda, despite 34 more PA, has come up with 70 runners in scoring position
Putting the bat on the ball is necessary. But the key has always been getting the opportunities.
I was at the game. Tejada was excellent all game long, despite the hitch that prevented the Mets from turning an around-the-horn DP. Murphy gets back and Ruben becomes the useful, all-around utility infielder that God intended him to be.
I did not like bringing in Familia for yet another 4-out save. It’s June. He’s thrown the most IP of any closer in baseball, and he’s two years away from elbow surgery and an injury-riddled early career. Terry burns out bullpen arms, we know that as a fact, so this is a concern moving forward. We’ve never seen Collins manage games that actually matter; I think he’s got a case of “every game is game 7” syndrome.
“Innings count” is such an arbitrary thing. Noah threw, I think, 109 pitches last night in 6 IP. So did he “only” throw 6 innings? Were they difficult because the Jays are so formidable? Or easy because he cruised? A fascinating contrast from Buerhle, with laser control, who may not have gotten 3 swing-and-misses all night. He averaged about 11-12 pitches per inning. Effortless.
Oh, I thought the Blue Jays 2B made the correct play on Cuddyer’s softly hit grounder. As did Tejada, who did not run into the tag. Going to 2B was not an option for the DP. I suppose he could have thrown to 1B and then hoped for a “tag ’em out” at 2B, but that’s a risky, unconventional play. He got the sure out, the 2nd of the inning, and left a runner at 1B. I can’t fault him for that decision.
Big moment: The 2-2 pitch to Duda missed the zone. Getting to a full count was huge, because it sent Cuddyer on the next pitch. If count wasn’t full, he doesn’t score.
Great game, full of things.
JP,
A good analysis but……even if he can’t get the DP, the play is to get the out at second base. With Cuddyer running Reyes has the arm to make a DP a possibility.
It was a weakly hit ball. And by tagging Tejada, he got the out at 2B. There was no chance for a conventional 4-6-3 DP. His only bet was to tag the runner and throw to 1B, but Tejada pulled up short to save valuable time. Good baserunning, good baseball all around, IMO.