The Mets broke out the broom in a big way, piling up 22 hits en route to a 14-3 win over the Cubs Sunday and a sweep of the four-game series.
- Wilmer Flores tied a club record with six hits, including two home runs. He started the game batting .224 and finishes it with a .255 mark. For what it’s worth, Jose Reyes is hitting .217 in seven games at Double-A.
- For the second time in three games, the Mets smashed five homers. Joining Flores in going deep were Curtis Granderson, Rene Rivera and Kelly Johnson.
- The recipient of the offensive outburst was Noah Syndergaard, who posted 7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB and 7 Ks. He needed just 84 pitches to complete seven frames and he registered 100 mph on the radar gun.
- On the other side of the coin, Jon Lester had one of the worst starts of his career, including his earliest exit, as he lasted just 1.1 IP and surrendered 8 ER. The Cubs’ bullpen is so beat up that they used a mid-inning pitching change to bring in a position player.
- Every Mets starter hit safely and each position player tallied at least two, except for Matt Reynolds, who went 1-6.
4 in a row, after a discouraging Slop Fest of a week…Funny Game!
Wow. You can’t make this stuff up. Awesome.
On Monday night in the chatter, we were wondering why Rivera wasn’t catching Syndergaard while the Nationals were running gleefully on the bases. Hopefully, Collins re-learned how well they work together.
Flores had a great game, just like Kirk did when he had his three home run game last year. He has a career OPS of .680 and an OBP of .292. He has improved offensively this year but he his not a starting player. The Mets have been looking for speed and OBP at the top of the order to generate some small ball offense. Reyes could be a solution but probably not. Flores should keep playing while “hot” and Reyes should be waiting in the wings. Prior to yesterday, some have stated Flores should be sent down. They forget that Flores has no options.
Regarding the game and the series, it is hard to believe this is the same team that couldn’t hit in June. Go figure.
It was an encouraging series against the Cubs. The next 7 games will tell us a lot about how this season might shape up and if our bats don’t continue we can easily find ourselves in third place 10 behind the Nats. It might then be too late for some trade deadline magic. Fingers crossed. #letsgomets
Cannot take away anything from a 6-6 day from Flores at the plate. We all know that’s not “who he is”, but days like yesterday for Flores, and the team, are worth being happy about. If this has opposing GMs thinking Flores is an asset, then it’s time to pull the trigger on a beneficial trade for his services. I’m not proposing anything specific at this moment, but more that the car looks nice right now after a wash and some armor-all.
One thing that won’t make much news today is the real Flores we saw at 3B. The line score shows a gaudy number of runs and hits, and a 1 in the E column. Flores did not have a good 9th inning in the filed. He let a fully catchable ball go right over his glove diving to the line. This wasn’t steps right – just straight right in reflex. The ball wasn’t beyond reach. In fact the ball would have gone right to the pocket, except his arm was too low so it went right over the top. He wasn’t charged an error, but a solid 3B, like a Martin Prado or Todd Frazier, makes that catch…and throw. Instead Baez is standing at 2B.
The next batter, Matt Sczcsdfzr, or whateverthehell his name, hits a perfect big bounce grounder right at Flores who is basically level with the bag. He really doesn’t need to even move to field it, which has did perfectly. Unfortunately the error would come exactly as you expect: throwing wildly to 1B and pulling Loney off the bag right into the runner coming. It was so wild Loney caught it in foul ground and so missed getting run down, but he was pulled off the base. It’s the Flores conundrum throwing: when he puts enough sauce on it, 1B is just a dot on a map that he hopes to get near; when he aims at 1B there not enough sauce to make it to the base without scooping intervention. Either way, those things find you in October. So we now have runners on first and secon when both should be outs…and giving outs away is not good baseball.
When you are ahead by a couple touchdowns and go 6-6 with two dingers it’s a thing rightly not being noted. He even gets the game championship belt. But the real Flores who we see daily was there, and the product is not good enough to play 3B.
+1
Way to go, Mookie! I mean, Wilmer; I tend to see Flores as this team’s Mookie. You know, a player who is loved mostly for peripheral reasons.
Flores has the stroke, the hitting talent; and he knows something about suffering, too. I would dearly love to see him settle in and have himself a year.
While I am not comparing the players, I am comparing the circumstances.
When the Mets traded David Cone to the Blue Jays, we got Ryan Thompson and Jeff Kent. I remember Jeff Kent’s days in New York. Nobody liked him. We liked Ryan Thompson. Thompson was a five tool guy that played CF. Kent was a glacier that was sour in the clubhouse and didn’t like reporters sticking microphones in his face so they didn’t like him back and wrote about what a jerk he was. Kent played 3B for the Blue Jays but The Mets felt he could handle 2B better with his lack of mobility. Kent stabbed at the ball defensively, wasn’t smooth.
Kent looked to pull everything, never went the other way. Kent was an average hitter until age 29, then something happened. He was traded to the Giants and they left him alone. If it was juice, we never heard it his name mentioned.
Flores is lanky. But, should he keep working with Barwis, in three years he will be a rock hard 27 year old that will not strike out and put up solid power production: mid 20’s HRs, 40+ doubles, low K’s, but low OBP. Maybe .280/.325/.475? He has been known as an RBI guy always because he doesn’t strikeout much. Do you want this in your lineup?
And don’t scoff at it, because he is hitting .333 in high leverage situations. How many Mets could come close? His batting average on line drives is .741! Yet his BABIP is only .275. With the MLB average being .670 on line drives, it is fair to expect some good fortune to come to Flores as he hasn’t had much yet.
My last point is while he may not be a great third baseman, why can’t he be our future at second? Herrera isn’t lighting up Vegas and has had trouble turning double plays. Hererra is hitting .290 in Vegas, and if the Vegas equivalent is losing 65 points in MLB, what’s all the hoopla? While Herrera has speed, what else can he do that Flores hasn’t already proven?
I am honored and proud to announce: Screw Herrera! Wilmer Flores is the future at 2B, and it looks bright!
What do Jeff Kent and Bobby Bonilla have in common? Both were disappointing as Mets but put up MVP numbers when protected by Barry Bonds in the lineup. When you hit in front or behind a beast hitter you see nothing but fastballs. Murphy is benefiting from this effect with Harper this year.
But, Kent had the talent to do it. Can’t just throw a player in there and expect him to have MVP numbers. My point is, if a player doesn’t fit our profile as “talented”, he is quickly brushed aside. But you make a good point Matt.
I agree Matt, but didnt some SABR guy come out and say…thats nothing more than “baseball legend”?
Gus…you say you’re not comparing them?…. but you did. I’ll help you—- Jeff Kent Hit Like a Hammer at a time when people were fascinated with punch and Judy 2nd basemen. He finally landed in some places where they appreciated his “Is” rather than his ” Is Not”. He hit to a 775’ish OPS as a Met….and he got better as he moved along…that’s a good 100 OPS better than Wilmer.
Wilmer needs to Hit to stick—he has very little upside to his game, other than the Bat…and the Bat is suspect. While I don’t like to Judge players for what they are “Not”, Wilmer’s future is Slower and Less Versatile… He needs to hit like a Madman.
You’re hoping he can hit like Kent???…ok…but Kent ran decently, and made himself a passable firelder—- I don’t think Wilmer has those tools.
( I always thought they should have made him a Catcher)
Eraff,
I wasn’t comparing their production because I would have pointed out that Flores’ at the same age as Kent’s was much better. But, Kent turned himself into a league MVP and I’m trying to make people consider Flores as merely a long term contributor to a good team. Flores however needs to focus more on the field and stop taking errors too lightly, which I see him do.
What I compared was that people like to see a swing like Conforto, or speed like Herrera, or defense and an arm like Lagares before they give ugly ducklings like Kent and Flores any love, players like Flores can compare themselves to Magadan, Turner, early Olerud, early Youkilis; players who originally didn’t quite fit the mold but had to persevere and catch a break or move to a team that gave them a chance.
The shame of it is we had a player in Murphy that we waited and waited and waited to break out, until there “was no room for him”, and now we see him feel like the girl we love is married to someone else.
Flores just doesnt have a baseball card to believe he is more than face value: a .260 hitter with a .700 OPS (sub 100 OPS+). Thats not the guy I want next to me in a foxhole. Hes got a wonderful, feel good story, the every Mets fan can enjoy and celebrate. He has had a few memorable moments that will form part of Mets lore for eternity. But I dont think we can confuse his so-so, but occasionally memorable, bat and wildly sub-par defense with being an every day major-leaguer. He has nothing to do with Murphy in any way, and the comparison is just spurious.
correct..