The Mets’ offense flashed back to its pre-trade doldrums for seven innings, then erupted. And the eruption wasn’t caused by any of the new faces.
Tied at one in the top of the eighth, Lucas Duda led off with a base hit off the right field wall. Travis d’Arnaud followed with a roller through the shortstop hole. For some unfathomable reason — other than the revered “book” — Wilmer Flores was called upon to bunt. Surprise! He couldn’t do it. Ruben Tejada then struck out on an eight-pitch at bat. Eric Campbell, the forgotten man, pinch hit for starting pitcher Jon Niese. Campbell hit a floater just to the left of second base, just out of the reach of shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, scoring Duda with the go-ahead run. Juan Lagares then scorched a ball into the right field gap, sending d’Arnaud and Campbell home with ease. That was a triple for Lagares. Curtis Granderson then followed with a double of his own and suddenly the Mets had a four-run lead — presumably causing Bryce Harper to choke on his chewing tobacco.
Niese pitched another terrific game, going seven innings, allowing four hits, striking out six, walking one and hitting a batter. The single run he surrendered came in the third, a result of that lone walk Hechavarria, followed by a successful sacrifice bunt by starting pitcher Brad Hand and a single by Dee Gordon four inches past the reach of a diving Flores. Cole Gillespie followed with a hit-and-run single, but Niese’s killer changeup cause Christian Yelich to hit into the inning-ending double play.
The Mets tied it in the sixth. After two quick outs, Flores racked a double off the left field wall. It was a shot that would have been a tying home in any other park — and made his later being ordered to bunt that much more inexplicable. Tejada then hit a single into short right. Flores chugged around third and made a contorting, twisting slide into the plate to avoid the tag.
It was nice to see a solid offensive performance by the Old Guard. Let’s face it: a week ago, the Mets aren’t winning this game. Attitude goes a long way.
(As this is written, Arizona trails Washington 5-3 in ninth in DC. Isn’t scoreboard watching fun?)
We’re in first place and we won – no scoreboard watching necessary!
It was the 10th Quality Start in the last 11 games for Niese. He’s got a 2.78 ERA in his last 71.1 IP. Glad he got the win after getting screwed last time out.
The obsession with the LOOGY strikes again.
Eric O’Flaherty? Why? Not missing any bats and hasn’t been effective since 2012…
Once again the thought occurs: were there really no teams that couldn’t have improved themselves by trading for Niese? He’s not a better option than Jeremy Guthrie for Kansas City, for example? It isn’t as if picking him up would have stopped them from adding Cueto.
Makes no sense to me.
Niese is viewed as an injury risk, which I don’t necessarily agree with.
All things considered I’m glad we still have Niese and would love to keep him around for next year as well. He works hard, has a team friendly contract, is a proven end of the rotation starter and provides a veteran presence.
Who knows what will happen to the SP’s next year? Injuries are inevitable in this game. Plus, having 6 or 7 guys around to compete for 5 isn’t the worst situation in the world.
Agreed, totally. There have been several teams in baseball history that developed serious, duplicate talent at one position or another, and managed to make the rest of the Major League teams fat by undervaluing what they had. It’s an easy mistake to make; I’d like to see the Mets avoid it — which translates to, I wonder who is going to be the player to be named later in the deal for O’Flaherty?
The San Fran Giants of the late 1950’s -early 1960’s developed Bill White, Willie McCovey, the Alous, Orlando Cepeda, Leon Wagner, plus a few guys such as Willie Kirkland who looked promising; plus Tom Haller, Jim Ray Hart, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal, Jim Davenport, and sometimes Chuck Hiller. And of course they already had Willie Mays.
The payoff was one trip to the World Serious, no championships. I think it’s safe to say they didn’t manage their resources wisely. I don’t want the same to be said someday about the New York Mets.
Now that Jon Niese has been absorbed into a winning atmosphere the pressure to perform has lessened considerably and his natural talent has emerged unimpeded by the caution that co-exists with a losing culture.
Jon Niese had another good game. They pay him the bargain price of $ 7 M. Next year that salary bumps up to $ 9 M, Wheeler is expected to return mid year 2016. The Mets can decide a year from now if they want to trade Niese at the deadline or trade one of their five studs. Niese’s alleged injury concerns become less of a concern for other teams because he has team options in 2017 and 2018. If injured, the team that acquires him could walk away after the year.
Flores bunting in the 8th was a strategy that conceded an out and reduces the chances of a big inning. The Marlins still had six outs to score runs. The fact that it failed made it worse but bunting isn’t a guarantee to move runners up to begin with. Campbell’s pinch hit bailed out the bunt strategy. Campbell will probably be sent down with Cuddyer being activated on Friday.
O’ Flaherty . oh really, I thought we were cured of the LOOGY addiction.
Still in first.and it is their division to lose, (sorry Jayson your team is in second) .
Metsense, as we discussed yesterday, the thought of the bunt was based on the inning in which it would happen. It’s the eighth inning of a tied game. Successful hitters make an out 70% of the time, so why not make it a productive out? The runners would advance and the chances of scoring go up because they would be able to score on another out rather than needing a hit. Had it been a few innings earlier, then bunting may have been a mistake.
As Mets fans, we have not seen the advantages of playing good fundamental baseball, but if we ever do, run production would really increase. A huge part of the first run scored was Niese, as the on deck hitter, guiding Flores to slide way wide and was pointed out by Darling during the telecast. Without that bit of guidance, Flores is tagged out as by going almost out of the baseline he barely avoided the tag. The only other pitcher I remember seeing coach a base runner coming home was Matt Harvey and have specifically brought up deGrom as making that specific mistake. All funadamentals are important.
I loved that Darling pointed this out during the game. These little details in the game would get missed with any just about any other broadcasting crew. And I love that you brought it up again here Gus! That was a great piece of baseball and Flores was safe by a millimeter and a nanosecond, thanks to Niese’s heads-up play.