The Mets hit three more homers but the pitching didn’t hold up its end of the bargain, as the Mets fell to the Indians, 7-5, Saturday afternoon.
- The game started off great, with Curtis Granderson hitting a leadoff homer. And it got better in the bottom of the frame, as Matt Harvey struck out the side.
- Harvey was perfect thru 4.1 IP and then the wheels came off. His velocity was down and despite that he seemed to be in love with has fastball. Perhaps he didn’t have a feel for an offspeed pitch today. He left with two outs in the sixth, having allowed five runs and forcing his successor to come on with the bases loaded.
- Rafael Montero took longer than you would have preferred to warm up. But he ended the inning with a strikeout, seemingly the beneficiary of two generous strike calls. The next inning was not so kind, as he let up two runs to extend the deficit to 7-1.
- And those two runs turned out to matter, as the Mets battled back for four runs. Yoenis Cespedes crushed a homer to left, a three-run shot. And Neil Walker hooked a solo shot down the line in RF to make it 7-5. But the Indians brought in their closer for a four-out save and the Mets couldn’t handle him.
- In addition to a third straight start for Harvey where he fell apart in the middle innings, the Mets also had Travis d’Arnaud leave the game early after he got hit by a pitch. X-Rays came back negative, at least.
Cespedes is proving to be the power bat in the middle of the lineup. Conforto in the three spot looks good. Walker is playing well and maybe belongs in the 5th moving Duda to sixth. Granderson is heating up and Cabrera is also playing well and if Wright sits today should be rewarded by batting in the two hole today. Yes, I am just a fan, an arm chair analysist tinkering with the line up.
Yesterday Montero spit the bit at a time when he needed to impress. In a 7-5 losing game, Blevins should have pitched the 9th so that Henderson can pitch the 7th inning today if needed. It would have set up the bullpen for the next four games in a row.
Hungry Washington is 9-1 but the focus should be taking care of our own business. It is a long season. LGM
We can only take care of our own business. On that I agree. But we dont live in a vacuum…which is only mounting the pressure. If on May 1 the Nats are >15 over and we still are stuggling to understand the present playing field…and say 5 under, Id be prepared to say that barring epic circumstances, the season is more or less toast for making the playoffs.
I don’t see that happening, not against this level of competition. The next 9 games are against Philly, Atlanta and Cincinnati.
If I squint slightly, I can see a 14-8 record for the Mets as May 1 dawns.
I think at worst, they’ll be at exactly .500 on May 1.
The insistence on using Blevins as only a LOOGY prevented him from being used either Friday or Saturday. I understand the preference to get him the platoon advantage but since RHB have a lifetime .724 OPS against him, letting him face righties is not the end of the world like it would have been for Scott Rice.