The Mets laid an egg for the second straight night, getting beat up by the Nationals, 9-1, in the rubber game of the series Thursday night.
- Matt Harvey did nothing to make fans step off the ledge. He gave up a two-run homer to Daniel Murphy in the first inning and then surrendered seven runs in the third inning before finally getting yanked. His ERA now sits at an ugly 5.77 mark and there are seemingly no answers in sight.
- As bad as Harvey pitched, his defense did him no favors. With one out and the bases loaded, Harvey got a double play ball from the slow-footed Ryan Zimmerman. When the ball was hit to Asdrubal Cabrera, many fans thought the inning was over. But Cabrera had a rare fielding error and didn’t even get one out on the play.
- The next batter hit a frozen rope to left field that was in Michael Conforto‘s glove but he was unable to hold on. It ended up a two-run double. Three hits later Harvey was finally pulled.
- The bullpen was once again asked to perform more than three innings. Logan Verrett (2.1 IP), Antonio Bastardo (2.0 IP), Jerry Blevins (1.0 IP) and Addison Reed (1.0) delivered 6.1 scoreless innings. The pen now has a 2.48 ERA in 119.2 IP this year.
I think a few weeks in Vegas is in order for Harvey to get his head screwed on straight…then again this is hopefully a humbelling experience for Mr Harvey..
Humbling experience indeed!
Matt Harvey is not right, the whole world knows it. He needed his teammates to help him and tonight, they screwed him. Cabrera has to make that play. Stuff happens…
While it may be too early to label the Nationals as “hungrier” than the Mets, this sit on your hands and wait for something to happen approach that Collins has mastered has gotten quite old. I want to see de Aza playing tonight, and I better see Rivera up here by Monday.
Conforto is still a kid; Duda is up and down; Wright and Granny are players whose best years are behind them; Cabrera was not expected to be a top producer offensively; we know Plawecki can’t hit much. Can you imagine if Cespedes didn’t come back?
The Mets pitching needs the 25 man roster to be better than it is right now, and while Alderson, Ricco, and Riccardi scratch their heads to figure something out, Collins needs to recognize who is producing, who isn’t, and how to get more playing time for guys like de Aza who may actually help, but we will never know. I imagine the Mets have a timeline of phasing out players like Wright and Granny, but the problem is their manager isn’t sharp enough to avoid the minefields of the regular season, and thus they will have to produce more than their wins will dictate.
If there is answer on the farm, as TJ Rivera may be, enough of this crying about Campbell! They need bats!
I don’t see how your takes away from
Last night is to blame Collins. This is the team. There are contracts, roles, expectations. De Aza is suddenly the answer? Which means benching Granderson, who has two years on his contract and was a key performer last season. Is there any other guy on the bench who can play the game? What’s a manager to do? He has a very slow team, a thin bench, a key injury at catcher, and three veterans who are giving him nothing. The Mets are going to have to play through this, pitch very well, and try to survive. Meanwhile, the GM has to figure out how to make some upgrades to the bench. I still think trading for the Brewers catcher would be an interesting possibility.
And as I’ve said for a while, the worst scenario is not DW getting hurt, it’s him staying “healthy” and continuing to play on a regular basis. The Mets would be better if he vanished into thin air.
Jimmy P, let me respond to your various points as they may of may not relate to my post.
– The Brewers will want to rip us off for Lucroy and I don’t think the Mets need him.
– de Aza isn’t an answer, but he needs to be used as a possible short term solution to Granny’s and Conforto’s struggles. When players struggle, you need to scale back their usage. If you can’t bench a player when he’s hot, and you have to play him when he’s slumping, when does he sit? Playing de Aza three times a week is a win all around.
– Granny and Wright at the top of the lineup is a redundancy; you have two guys that a pitcher should challenge. That hurts this lineup. One of the two needs to move. Making one of them a #6 hitter and moving everyone else up a spot gives you better balance and more complexity in your lineup. I would put Wright at #6 against righties, and lead him off against lefties.
– This hitting approach was predicated on “hunting strikes”. Not taking strikes; not waiting for the perfect strike (unless you are at 2-0, 3-1, or 3-0); not trying to hit the ball to Timbuktu. You get a good pitch to hit, and you hit it hard. That’s it! They have quality MLB players at each position. Why isn’t this idiot harping on that again and again?
– Yes, they are slow. However, that isn’t the problem. The problem is managing what you have and as I wrote earlier, the Mets will need to win more games than their record will show by year’s end. By dragging their feet to recognize or address a problem, they may lose by a game or two at the end.
A 1-6 stretch sure brings out the best in people!
Yes, Harvey is all messed up and the solution may be as simple as sliding Verrett into the rotation and using Harvey as the long man. Hopefully it will allow Matt to work things out in low pressure sessions, have some success, reduce his work load, and work his way back into the rotatiion within three weeks. If that fails, then send him to Vegas to see Dr. Frank.
Granderson and Duda have very low OBP and that is stalling the offense because they are not getting on base. Both players have gone through this is the past. I didn’t expect a 2015 from Curtis but he needs to do better than this. If the Brewers pitching doesn’t cure him then a change in lineup spot and reduced playing time is inevitable. Duda is probably hurt ( his back is acting up) and Campbell is not a strong enough back up.
TJ Rivera deserved to be called up instead of Reynolds.
The Mets need to right the ship and take 2 of 3 and hit against this awful Brewer staff. A sweep would give them some good wind on their backs for the next Nat confrontation. Lets Go Mets.