The Royals held serve and got a sweep of the first two home games with a convincing 7-1 win over the Mets Wednesday night. The series resumes on Friday in New York.
Johnny Cueto dominated the Mets throughout the game. Some believed he was on the ropes early but the Mets got very few good swings against him all night. He was in such complete control he ended up with a complete game, which is rare during the season and virtually unheard of in the playoffs. Announcers mentioned that the last time an AL pitcher had a complete game in the World Series was Jack Morris.
The early story is all about the “relentless” Royals. The team won 95 games this year so clearly they’re good. But the hits and runs produced by Kansas City in this game were at least as much due to poor pitching as good hitting. There’s no expanding the strike zone, no making hitters move their feet, and not nearly enough off-speed stuff. If you keep throwing pitches middle-middle, the other team is going to get some hits.
The bottom line is that Kansas City deserved to win this game. It’s now up to the Mets to come home and copy what the Royals did and win games in their stadium. They should have won Game 1 and gotten a split. Instead they dug a big hole. Now it’s up to Noah Syndergaard to give them a lift in Game 3.
Well…at least they won the pennant…sigh…
they would have gone farther if not rely to much on david wright they schould of gotten that guy frazier from the reds to play 3b the mets habits of being too cheap will come back to haunt them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the royals are hardly the oakland as?????
The Mets lost two games. The series is not over but they need to take tomorrow to study and regroup. If they hang their heads, it really is over.
I didn’t get to watch this game at all sadly, but I heard the strikezone was microscopic, which is irritating. Two crucial errors cost the Mets Game 1. Feeble hitting and too many walks cost them Game 2. They can’t lose Game 3, period.
The Royals’ RelentessFactor+ (park adjusted) was tops in baseball this season, so that’s the reason they won these first two. Not hitting mistake pitches. No way no how.
This was rough way to open the series. So…take the next 3 at Citi?
Last night Cueto was unfortunately very good and the Met offense has been rather weak lately. Conforto and his possible sub Cuddyer have been nonexistant. Cespedes is not driving the ball. Flores has not hit a home run in a real long time. The Mets need a good offensive showing in Game #3.
DeGrom giving up the four runs on all those hits was shocking to me. KC is playing very focused but they don ‘t scare me. The Met offense needs to show up. Let’s Go Mets and keep the faith.
Let’s take a few at CitiField.
They need to hit. Team energy comes from offense, high-fives in the dugout, slides into second base, balls sent over the wall.
When the offense struggles, it’s difficult for any team to show life.
These guys have to hit.
Some randoms:
* Does show us, as in 2000, the importance of winning when you can. That Game One loss was so huge, because we had them exactly where we wanted them. Would have changed the entire narrative.
* I still believe the Mets can take this in 7, which was my original prediction. They need to hit. The only way to win the WS is through a team effort. Everybody. Far too many no-shows so far.
* That was Lagares in CF, the 2015 version, in a nutshell. Fair or not, he’s half-a-step short.
* No matter what happens here, this winter will be a real test of the Mets GM, because this team will require a makeover. Guys coming and going, money to spend and big decisions to make.
* Right now, I don’t think DW has 6 HRs in his bat for next season. I hope he hangs ’em up — but he won’t. Tragic, really, on a baseball scale. He’s just not himself. Can’t throw overhand. Think about that.
* I do agree that deGrom and Harvey are basically gassed. Conforto, possibly, too. Long year.
* Harold Reynolds is impossible. But the phoniest narrative of all is about how this is some kind of great KC offense. Look at the facts. It’s middle of the pack statistically. A great team because: fabulous defense, great bullpen, terrific speed, good starters, and a solid lineup top-to-bottom that never gives an AB away. Right now it is all clicking.
* The big bat, Cespedes, just seems so cold and aloof. Deep into this postseason, Mets still waiting for their star to show up.
* I thought KC would be extremely tough for a variety of reason, but biggest is that they were there last season, and this year came to win the damn thing. Not fazed at all. Impressive club. They have a different, more purposeful aura than the Mets — though most of that might come from the offense. It’s impossible to look alive when you can’t hit.
* When you think it will go 7 games, built into that is an understanding that there will be dark times. Every WS loss is a knife to the heart. It will get better.
* A Game 3 win is not only essential, but it would go a long way toward righting the ship. I still believe!
#LGM
Excellent post, James! On each of your bullets, I either agree or I agree wholeheartedly. With regard to some of the other comments, (Rob Rogan) I too am sick and tired of how the Royals are being annointed like they are the MLB version of the San Antonio Spurs. I suppose that the broadcasters are instructed to “find the narrative” and the KC “relentlessness” and “team approach” is the easy answer, It’s up the the Mets to change the narrative. One hanging sinker allowed the media to stick to the storyline. If the Mets won, they’d be talking about the KC poor defense, the great Mets baserunning, the better Mets defense, the timely hitting, etc.
We live in a soundbite world unfortunately.
I would love to hear Gary, Ron and Keith call this series.
Outstanding post James. The point about Wright hurts, but I can’t argue it. Why doesn’t he throw overhand anyway?
I haven’t been here in a while, but had to come see what y’all
are saying and thinking. Maybe psychologically they like being
the ragged underdog all the time, it’s toughness. They play till
past midnight half the season anyway, I think they find it interesting.
They love winning at the end of games. d’Arnaud looked happy
after the first game just because it was long.
These pitchers are really young. We’ve all known Cueto is a monster.
What do we really know about our four big giant pitchers?
We know about our fifth one,
I said he should start the first game. Thwart a norm once in a while,
get new fans of the game. KC lives for fastballs, and while Colon throws
them most of the time, they’re often 89 mph two seamers, and the Kansas
City psychos wouldn’t like them, it would ruin their game. KC runs a tight
ship, they play small ball a lot, mixed with that AL slugger style. They
do anything and everything, they dart out there and when people hit
they catch it and when they pitch it they hit it, like Willie Mays said he did
when asked. And they run the bases like they want to get off of them
quick so they can sit down. .
I’d change the line up a little, it’s too strange. Push Wright back
to batting third, put Granderson clean up, Duda second, Flores lead off.
Thwart more norms.
Syndergaard should pitch well, his flame should suit the situation. His
ridiculous whomping curves and absurdly tailing fast balls that go all over
the place like they’re off speeds, they go all around the clock sometimes.
How do you do that with a fastball? I’m sure the KC batters are watching film
trying to figure out the same thing. I saw him pitch the Saturday Yankee
game towards the end of the season, he was doing okay for a while,
except the first five minutes. I was way up high behind home looking
down third. Well my two cents. It’s time to let’s go now. Our nuthouse
is as hard to deal with as theirs, so we should have that edge. We’re just
as loud and grittier. Baseball was born here. Harry Wright stood out in
the field and shouted at everyone what to do during play. I always wonder
how distant David might be related, although he’s kind of a quiet guy.
Start Colon instead of Matz in Game 4, thwart that norm too.
Game 1 we lost. Game 2 they won. I cant begrudge last night, and by the way could not even bring myself to watch. Game 1 was soul crushing. Pitch 1 was soul crushing. Familia’s gimmick quick pitch was soul crushing. Leaving 1-1 would have been awesome. The long and short of it is without some dramatic turn around, a sweep looms. Now the Mets believe in the Royals. When the O’s believed in the Mets in ’69 it was all over.
Our hitters have gone ice cold.
Our pitchers are far overdrawn and exhausted or are fawns.
Our defense went out for vacation.
I hope a little orange and blue home candy helps, but the Royals couldnt care less. We could not hit Chris Young the other night. That says all you need to know.
Don’t give up, Chris, there’s still hope. Let’s win Game Three.
But I agree, Game One was brutal & painful. Last night I was oddly serene. We lost fair & square.
The Mets have a better offense than they’ve shown so far. Giddyup!
Chris F, good buddy, that Gordon homerun vs Familia took the wind out of me just like the Mike Sciosia two run homer against Dwight Gooden in the ninth with the Mets having a 4-2 lead and would have went up 3-1 in the series. I was at the game and one could hear a pin drop from the silence. They lost that game and the series.
I was fortunate also to be at Game #6 of the 1986 World Series and experienced the other extreme. That night they fell behind 2-0 early and finally tied it, 3-3, in the 8th inning. In the tenth the Red Sox broke the tie on a solo home run and added another insurance run. The Mets were facing elimination and with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the 10th all the fans were screaming at the top of their lungs trying to stop the season from ending. Lo and behold, the screaming did stop the season from ending!
I think this group of Mets can stop the season from ending. Root hard and loud for them. Have faith and stick with them. Let’s Go Mets !!!!
Thanks guys. Im trying to find the strength, but game 1, pitch 1 actually, knocked me in the heart.
What’s with all the flak against Wright and proclaiming that he’s dead? Sure, he hasn’t hit much in the postseason, but it’s a sample size of 10 games.
When he came back from the injury this year, he hit .277/.381/.437 for an 818 OPS in 30 games. It was against the doldrums of the league and crappy pitching, but considering the severity of the injury, the 4 month layoff, and people thinking that his career was done, it was still noteworthy. Granny and Yoenis outhit him over that time period, but guys like Daniel Murphy, .272/.301/.512, and TDA, .278/.358/.472, hit about the same, so it’s not like he was far off from the main core group of guys