The St. Louis Cardinals have a utility infielder, acquired this year from the San Diego Padres. His name is Jedd Gyorko. That last name is pronounced “Jerk-O” and the appropriateness of that pronunciation is not lost on at least one Mets fan.
The Mets and Cards played a “traditional” twi-night doubleheader today, due to last night’s game falling victim to an East Coast monsoon. In game one Noah Syndergaard matched up against St. Louis’ fine right-hander Carlos Martinez. Syndergaard was not his sharpest, racking up 84 pitches in his first four innings of work. That he was able to pitch six full is noteworthy in and of itself. In the interest of full-disclosure, the beginning of this game took place while I was on my way home from work, so I caught the first three innings on the radio. I heard Syndergaard misplay a throw home with one out and the bases loaded for the Cardinals’ first run in the second. I heard St. Louis widen its lead to 3-0 in the third on a Matt Adams walk and a home run by Jerk-O. I arrived home and had to rush out to an appointment, so while changing clothes I followed the game via MLB Gameday on my cell phone. I put the phone down to take a land-line call with Cardinals having a second-and-third, one-out situation in the fourth. I picked the phone back up, fully expecting the Mets to be down 5-0. Instead they were down 3-2. A replay call overturned a steal of third by Tommy Pham and Aledmys Diaz struck out. In the bottom half, Asdrubal Cabrera was hit by a pitch and Rene Rivera homered (!!!) to account for the Mets’ runs. But that was it. The Mets had runners on base in four of the last five innings, but couldn’t push anyone across. Their final rally in the ninth was done in by some overeager base running. Curtis Granderson led off with a single. Yoenis Cespedes followed with a long fly to deep center that was hauled in by Pham. Granderson, trying to make something happen, tagged up at first and was nailed by a perfect throw. James Loney grounded out meekly to end the game.
In game two, it was deja vu all over again. In the top of the second, Jerk-O hit another home run to give the Cards an 1-0 lead. Bartolo Colon — the Mets’ personal Buddha — was the victim this time. He didn’t stay victimized for long, however, as redemption finally found Asdurbal Cabrera. Cabrera came into this game oh-for-his-last-thirty-two with runners in scoring position. With two outs and Alejandro De Aza on third following a leadoff double (!!!) a failed bunt and a groundout, Cabrera hit a double of his own to plate De Aza and tie the score. It stayed that way for all of one inning. In the bottom of the fourth, a double and a fielding error put Neil Walker and Wilmer Flores on first and third, respectively. Loney then hit into a double play at second base and the Mets had the lead. In the fifth, Cabrera struck again, lifting a sacrifice fly to left to knock home De Aza again. From there, it was up to Colon to quell any possible threat. He did some fine quelling before handing the ball off to Addison Reed for a perfect eighth and Jeurys Familia to fairly easily convert his fifty-second consecutive save opportunity.
The series finale is tomorrow. Let’s see if the Mets can take another one.
With Reyes likely headed for days off, and a likely DL stint, here comes The Dilson.
Reyes got hurt? Say it with me: Wilmeeeeeeeeeer!
Game 2…bottom 6…3-1…bases loaded…
…no Pinch Hitter for Bartolo!!! shocking.
#2 Boner—the Pinch runner in the 1-0 count. Why wasn’t that move immediate???
If the Mets would hit league average with RISP they would be challenging the Nats for the division lead. This doubleheader is a case in point. Zero in game 1 and Cabrera finally coming through in game 2.
All or nothing Rivera has more RBI’s then TDA. He makes the best of his .211 BA.
I realize that Flores has a 666 OPS vs RHP but with Reyes injured and Flores so hot, he should get the starts until he cools off.
Since the Mets can’t hit with RISP then maybe it would be better to add a bat. The not hitting with RISP is baffling. Lets win the series today. LGM
B-R has the Mets 145-701 (.207) with RISP. The NL has a .255 average with RISP. To get the Mets to that level, they’d need 34 more hits. Obviously not all of those would come in games that they lost where a couple of runs would have made the difference. Shoot, not all of them would result in runs, either. But I’m thinking if they were average in these situations, they wouldn’t be challenging for the division, they would be leading.
+1 Thanks Brian for doing the research!
It is interesting to see the sway to recognizing that BA with RISP is something that matters, which I suppose is especially true when it is at an historically bad level. I will add that as big a fan of BA with RISP as I am, that cold “number” has a lot connected to it. Suffice to say when it is this bad, unless you have an super-extraordinary number of chances to effect the total. For the Mets this isnt true as our LOB total is about league average. It also stands out because unlike Cincinnati or Colorado, we have fine pitching.
Rosario Sat for the 3rd time in 4 games—Herrera sat last night as well. Pre Deadline scratches are interesting.
I think Chris F has it right above. Herrera might be headed to Queens. Grade 1 intercostal strains generally take about 4 weeks to heal.
According to Adam Rubin: “Dilson Herrera actually slept funny on the bus from Las Vegas to Fresno and was scratched from the PCL game on Tuesday for that reason. It was just a coincidence in timing that he was scratched nearly simultaneously with Jose Reyes’ intercostal injury, I’m told.”
Great. Here comes Eric Campbell, then… oy.
Also, a big shout out to Jonathan Papplebon for blowing another lead.
Jerk-O better stay quiet today.
Hoping somebody dusts him, but nobody will.