This one hurt.
The Mets had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the ninth and did not score. The Marlins had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the inning and after a 12-pitch, Martin Prado delivered an RBI single to give the Marlins a walk-off win, 4-3.
Steven Matz came back and was not overpowering but battled and pitched into the sixth before leaving with a blister.
Addison Reed came on in the seventh inning and handed the game off to Tyler Clippard, with the Mets holding a 3-2 lead. The announcers talked about how Clippard had not allowed a run in Marlins Park. But it was more than that. He hadn’t allowed a run in SunLife Stadium, either. That’s 33 IP in the home park of the Marlins without a run. He gave up a homer to a lefty to tie the game in the eighth and then stayed in for the ninth and took the loss.
Another day, another homer for Wilmer Flores. His two-run homer in the sixth gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Yoenis Cespedes started the scoring for the Mets with a solo homer in the first inning. He made a leaping catch in the ninth inning and made a strong throw to the plate but it was too late to prevent the winning run from scoring.
On one hand, they arent going to win every single game. They are 4 games up and have a realistic shot at being 3 games up after the Nats series and then, theoretically, at least, have a change to “get well” in 7 games against the Braves and the Marlins again (this time at home.) Unfortunately, the Nats have an even easier schedule from here on in.
My instincts, honed from years of disappointments, tell me that the Harvey announcement neutralized and possible reversed all the good momentum that they’ve generated since the Flores non-trade. I am feeling very bitter about Harvey’s approach to this. Ideally, he would have told Boras to take a hike. If he’s going to honor his 180 hard limit, then I would have been disappointed but would have respected him if he would have owned up to it. He’s stalling, kicking the can down the road, and sucking the life out. Wright was seen talking his ear off in the dugout. I’ve not been a huge Wright supporter, but I do have to give him props for being a real Mets guy (yeah, the huge contract helped, of course) but I’ve always seen his as trying and as putting his team first.
Someone put it well on an earlier post – “Harvey is dead to me.” I think it was James. Well stated. He’s not quite dead to me yet. He’s beyond a well pitched game on Tuesday, for me at least. If he’s going to redeem himself, he needs to stand up for what he wants to do, be a man about his business, and make a clear and certain statement. If he doesn’t do that, he’s dead to me, even if he throws 200 innings and he wins game 7 in the series. (but if that happens, I have the right to forgive!)
This just in from Tranquil city.
“The Mets technically haven’t lost any ground to the Nationals, at least if all you care about is the final standings at the end of the year and don’t care about the size of the margin of victory.
On August 27th, the end of the 7 game winning streak, the Mets were 6.5 up with 35 to play
If the Mets played .500 ball the rest of the way, for the Nats to overtake the Mets, they needed to go 25-11, which is .694
After today’s game, the Mets are up 4 games with 26 to play
If the Mets played .500 ball the rest of the way, for the Nats to overtake the Mets, they need to go 18-8, which is .692
Essentially, the Mets need to continue playing at their mediocre .500 pace (4-5 since August 27th), while the Nats need to continue to win 70% of their games (7-3 since August 27th) in order for the Mets to blow this thing, which is the same spot the Mets were in 2 weeks ago.”
We will have comments from the mayor of Panic city in just a moment…
Let’s see the Math after this week
How about these tweets from Doc?
can’t believe what I’m hearing i couldn’t imagine me or ron darling agent would even think about taking the ball from us come crunch time i Would expect Matt being the ace to come out & say he’s pitching if they make the playoffs & moving forward he wants the ball every 5th day here on out as Iong as he’s feeling good ….lets remember stressful innings r more important than innings counts not even going to mention my innings as a 18yr 19yr 20yr.
@DocGooden16.
Well said.
This is better advice from a Doc. (sorry about that!)
6 September 2015
Mayors Office
123-01 Roosevelt Ave
Panic City, NY 11368
My Fellow Citizens:
The month of September is usually cruel to Mets fans except in rare circumstances. While many talking heads and prognosticators spread what seemed like holiday cheer when the Mets were 6.5 games ahead with about 40 games to play, I reacted with less certainty. The math coming from various different outward projections failed to sense the regularity at which our beloved team struggles in September, for a variety of disconnected reasons. The projections also failed to account for our neighbors to the south finally coming around the horn.
Today we face the biggest struggle in nearly a decade. Each of you must understand that our biggest strength is beginning to wear thin from a lot of battles so far. It is time to recognize they are tired. Furthermore, a look at trends from this season show a number of good times balanced by bad times. Unfortunately we have peaked with our recent good times and can only hope to find a glide path that allows us to land safely into October. It is my duty to tell you that is unlikely. Many reasons complicate the likelihood a positive conclusion to the ’15 season. In the coming weeks, I will continue to explain them, but until then, I urge each of you to try and remain positive. I am excited to tell you that 82 wins, and thus a winning season is within the city’s grasp. And that is a great deal to be thankful for.
We may say good bye to some favorite citizens of the city by the end of the year. It is natural to expect change as people wish to find other destinations. Until then, please try to remember no one expected the warriors of our beloved city to battle so hard this campaign. I believe we have bright days in our near future.
Chris F
Mayor, Panic City
As a resident of your fine city, I appreciate the official communication. I know all to well that circumstances will likely conspire against a positive conclusion to this campaign, but your steady leadership will keep most of us off the ledge. Well that, and football season…
Chris, let me cheer you up. I believe this will be the first time this year, but check this out:
Granderson
Wright
Murphy
Duda
TDA
Conforto
Flores
Pitcher
They are finally healthy and you know what, I think they’re going to kill Washington!
Wait a minute! They should, but there’s always the Terry factor. He’s the reason we even have a Panic City.
“Pitcher”. That struck me as funny. let’s hope Niese can break his recent trend of nightmares.
This just in:
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/matt-harvey-mets-playoffs/
This helps. I can’t help but think that it’s still a little vague, but this is a very good recovery.
The cynical side of me wonders if Boras has some stake in The Players Tribune, but I can leave that on the sideline. Was Jeter a Boras client?
Harvey has a stake in The Player Tribune. If you read his title it doesnt say NY Mets starting pitcher, it says NYC Bureau Chief.
Pure damage control. He cannot return to NY with Rome on fire.
Four games up and in first place !
The worst case scenario is a one game lead on Thursday morning, but one win is a three game lead, two wins a five game lead and three wins is a seven game lead. On Thursday I expect a three game lead. Washington is playing good.
The most disturbing aspect of the Marlin series was that they had a clutch home runs in both games that grab bed the lead going into the 7th inning but the bullpen coughed it up twice. On paper, it appeared as if Reed-Clippard-Familia were all rested and should have gotten it done. Clippard failed in the eighth (it happens) but did TC have to burn him the second inning so he can’t pitch in game 1 of DC ? TC had a well rested bullpen going into Miami and he lost two games without getting his closer into any game .
As the Mayor of this frightened town, it’s worth noting that yes, we have the lead, but that doesn’t mean this instaneous snapshot records what actually is happening. The trajectories of the two combatants have now switched. We peaked, but it’s clear it was too early and without enough separation…oh to have the wins in Boston and Philly we squandered, not to mention the hot mess of Miami (a far too common refrain) we just created. But the Nats offense, the very thing that’s been bad as all get out is now firing on all cylinders after their massacre of the Braves. We could barely must runs against lousy pitching, how will our high wattage players respond to quality throwing? Anyways, I’ve run out of panic buttons to hit here in the Mayors Office, and running around like a headless chicken looking for others push down on. I sure hope somebody is on the other end of the panic button!