The Mets won for the eighth time in their past 10 games with a 7-4 win over the Marlins Tuesday night. Six of those wins have come against teams in the playoff hunt, with two victories apiece over the Marlins, Cards and Giants.
- Seth Lugo struggled early in the game, giving up two runs in the first inning, but settled down to give the club six strong frames. Lugo’s best work came at the end of his appearance, as he retired the final eight batters he faced.
- The offense banged out 13 hits, led by four from Jose Reyes and two homers from Curtis Granderson, who delivered a pinch-hit homer leading off the sixth and a two-run blast in the seventh. Asdrubal Cabrera also had two hits, including a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.
- Hansel Robles had a strong game, going two scoreless innings. Jim Henderson, called on to pitch for the third time in four games, failed to close out the ninth, necessitating an appearance by Jeurys Familia, who picked up his 43rd save of the year with a one-batter appearance. That ties his saves output from 2015.
Henderson… “third time in four games.” TC should be charged with abuse.
Bottom of the sixth and the Mets are looking to blow it open. It’s 4-2, bases loaded and one out. De Aza strokes a hit into right field straight to Francaeur and Reyes scores from third but Tuefel also waves home Cabrera, who is hobbling around third and as his knee inhibits his ability to run, he has to stop and his leg buckles. Jay Bruce is looking at the coach, not the runner, and goes all the way to third. So when Cabrera retreats to the safety of third base, he sees Bruce standing there.
How in the world does Tuefel forget:
1. Who the right fielder is?
2. That the guy running in second can barely run?
Tuefel effectively ended that inning. I feel for those players and the need to overcome the manager and third base coach on a regular basis.
Jose…..Jose, Jose….Jose….Jose!!!!!
Last night the Mets passed the Marlins and caught the Pirates in the wild card standings. The Brewers left the bases loaded in the tenth and the Cardinals won 2-1. One more win will secure the Marlin series.
Walker is having back trouble. The Mets have Wright and Duda lost for the season. Do the Mets offer him anything but a QO to buy time on the extent of the condtion? Flores has had hits vs RHP the last two games. Reyes has been a catalyst. Cecchini is hitting in Vegas. Business wise, a QO would screw Walker because other teams won’t want to give up the draft pick and commit to a multi year contract because of the chronic injury.
Imagine if Granderson goes on one of his hot streak like he has done in the past?
Way to go Lugo. Lets Go Mets !
In addition to the Mets, today I’ll be rooting for the Diamondbacks, Cubs, Phillies, and Brewers.
It’s exhausting — I know I’m asking a lot from my body — but it’s that time of year.
There are many good reasons for mocking the expressed goal of “meaningful games in September” — mostly because as a goal it falls so far short of an ambition for true excellence — but, yes, as fans it’s great to have games late in the season that matter. With a race to the playoffs — Oh Game 163! — the intensity and scope of our fandom quadruples.
Good times, good times. LGM!
From MLB.com:
You may not have noticed it in the midst of Curtis Granderson’s two home runs or Jose Reyes’ four hits as the Mets beat the Marlins, 7-4, on Tuesday night, but we saw a Major League record set in Queens, by none other than Seth Lugo. The relatively unheralded Mets rookie allowed just two runs over six innings while helping New York keep pace with St. Louis for the second Wild Card spot in the National League.
As for the record, it happened in the sixth inning, when Lugo dropped a nasty 1-2 curveball to strike out Miami’s Xavier Scruggs swinging. Statcast™ measured that curve at 3,498 rpm, which is the highest-spin curve we’ve ever tracked.
Now, if you want to point out that we’re only in the second season of Statcast™ and that measurements go back only until the beginning of 2015, that’s more than fair. But not only was Lugo’s curveball considerably higher than the Major League curve average of 2,498 rpm, it’s a continuation of the “Lugo has great spin” story — one that put him on our radar from almost the instant he made his Major League debut on July 1.
When Lugo first got the call to New York, it’s more than fair to say he wasn’t exactly high on the must-see list of most prospect followers. He was a 34th-round pick in 2011 out of tiny Centenary College in Louisiana — a school known far more for NBA legend Robert Parish than any particular baseball pedigree, and then Lugo missed all of ’12 after injuring his back and requiring the terrifying-sounding “lumbar spinal fusion surgery.” Even this year, Lugo was carrying a bloated 6.50 ERA in the hitter’s paradise of Las Vegas, allowing 103 hits in 73 1/3 Triple-A innings.
So when Lugo made his debut in the eighth inning of a rain-delayed July 1 game that the Mets would go on to win 10-2, few really took notice. Few, that is, until he struck out Anthony Rizzo on a 3,485 rpm curveball so wicked that it actually hit the NL MVP Award candidate in the back foot after he swung through it. It was the 16th Major League pitch of Lugo’s career, and it immediately made waves as the second-highest individual spin curve of the Statcast™ era, behind only one from Angels ace Garrett Richards.
More from the article:
Highest average curveball spin, 2015-16, minimum 50 pitches (326 qualified pitchers)
1. 3,337 rpm — Lugo
2. 3,100 rpm — Richards
3. 3,000 rpm — Jesse Hahn
4. 2,970 rpm — Charlie Morton
5. 2,953 rpm — Scott Oberg
Of those 326 qualifiers, only three have managed even 3,000 rpm, and as you can see, Lugo is the leader not by a little, but by a lot. You want high spin on curveball because it’s delivered with topspin, which means the ball is spinning towards the dirt, and the high spin helps give it more downward movement. It goes without saying that a curveball that dives is generally more effective than one that hangs up.
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This is a great article by Mike Petriello, posted at 11:16am today, and I’m sorry I can’t get a link but it’s worth searching.
Those names on that list suck… which means curveball rpm is not very useful in evaluating a pitcher
I had a similar thought, Name. Not that the players”suck,” but that no one has established what that data means. The signal lost in the noise. They didn’t even get into effectiveness of pitch.
I’d think a big issue would also be the MPH of pitch, not to mention location. In short, let’s start with Kershaw and work backwards.
That said: Lugo does seem to have a nice spinning curveball. I just don’t know what it means.
Jimmy, the article states that the higher the spin rate, the more the break. Lugo’s average break is 10.8 inches, second only to Mike Fiers. Not a superstar, yet, but a solid foundation; his 95 fastball and a Warthen slider could make this guy a real weapon.
2016 Major League hitters vs. curveballs under 3,000 rpm
Percent of all curves thrown: 97.9
Average against: .214
Slugging against: .352
2016 Major League hitters vs. curveballs over 3,000 rpm
Percent of all curves thrown: 2.1
Average against: .154
Slugging against: .217
None of these guys can mix in a 95mph heater. Lugo seems to have a solid two pitches, no the Warthen slider.
That Curve was Nasty!!! he later threw some 95 mph fastballs in the 6th inning, Nasty Curveball… 95 mph Fastball…. Add some command and you have a Real Pitcher