Whew! The latest unlikely hero, rookie TJ Rivera, narrowly helped us avoid what was almost the most heart-breaking loss of this roller coaster season.
Noah Syndergaard pitched as good a game as he’s ever pitched with seven dominant innings of nasty, filthy stuff. He exited with a commanding 3-1 lead, having struck out 10 Nationals on an array of sharp sliders and curves, and his usual heat. Addison Reed pitched a clean eighth to keep the lead intact, but the wheels absolutely came off in the ninth with the usually reliable Jeurys Familia blowing his fourth save of the season. However, he hardly deserves the blame as two runs scored on a combination of a bang-bang play at first, a throwing error by Jose Reyes, a seeing eye single, and a high chopper that eluded Familia. The big righty managed to bear down and get the final outs to send it to extra innings.
In the top of the tenth, Rivera hit the most unlikely of go-ahead home runs which was satisfying for a moment until we all came to our senses and collectively blurted out, “who the @#$%* is going to close this game?!” Journeyman Fernando Salas got the first two out before surrendering a painful hit to Jayson Werth. Then Daniel Murphy and his 19-game hit streak against his former team came to the plate and Terry Collins wisely pulled Salas for the lefty Jerry Blevins. After working the count full, Blevins struck out Murphy on a sweeping curve. Put it in the books!
Assuming we make the playoffs, I feel like we deserve a 7-game series against the Nats. I want to see Syndergaard, JDG and Matz go up against Scherzer, Strasburg and Gio. Or Roark, whoever they feel is their #3
or Noah, Colon, Gsellman, and Lugo!
; – )
Sometimes TC has a gut feeling that he can squeeze another inning out of Montero and it really backfires. Most of the time he starts someone and they perform, like Matt Reynolds did last week and TJ Rivera last night. How TC does it I’ll never know. I mean there was a RHP starting and Kelly Johnson was not starting at 2B. He also started the 10th with Salas and rightfully had Blevins finish vs Murphy. TC is not the best at strategy but once again he is pulling the right strings in a pennant race and deserves credit for that.
Lets go get another series win.
I think it’s more often than “once in a while.” The mistakes get overstated.
Blevins has cojones.
Salas, a huge addition.
And I’m glad Matt mentioned it up top. Everything went wrong for Familia in the 9th, almost none of it his fault. And as it was all crumbling around him, the save already “blown” — man, what an unsatisfactory label to tag on that performance — he get even tougher and shut the door. He gave the Mets a chance to win. A lesser competitor would have folded, “not my day.”
Maybe when we speculate on 2B next season, naming Flores & Cecchini, that the best man might be Rivera after all. Not ruling it out!
I have been banging that particular drum for a long time now; too long no doubt. Mostly my touting of Rivera has taken the form of “why didn’t Kansas City take this kid off our hands a few years ago? Because they’d rather give Omar Infante $30 million to be awful.”
Rivera, once the League gets to know him, will face a steady stream of whatever they think will get him out — my guess is, what he has been facing already, only two more inches outside the zone — and after a soft spell he will revert to hitting .290-.300 or so while walking in 6% of his plate appearances. The resultant low-ish OBP will always limit his value, but it doesn’t negate what he can do.
A team with two super subs, in this case Rivera and Flores, two players who can fill in, discharge their defensive duties and drive the ball, will be a team that wins more games than one would suppose from simply looking at the everyday lineup. Junior Gilliam, Tony Phillips, Gil McDougald; those guys were extremely valuable. Are Flores and Rivera in that league? Of course not; but both can play, and there are advantages to having two of them available.
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Winning this game was vital because of what happened in the ninth. Giving up a 3-1 lead and losing would really hurt this, or any team, at a time when there isn’t time to dwell on painful loses. But, coming back and winning makes them feel like Matt said, “whew”! For the Nationals, they don’t care because they were losing 3-1 and they are still up 8 games, so for the Mets it was huge to pull it out.
Just kind of wondering what is going on with Conforto. There is something political going on because it has gotten passed the point of saying that Granny is hot or we have to get Bruce going. The kid hasn’t started a game in over a week and through that, Granny had a 0-11 stretch and Bruce still looks dazed and confused. If Conforto isn’t starting, I guess there’s no reason to use the name Nimmo… Me thinks it has to do with proclaiming that “he needs to play everyday”, which is a type of statement that got Backman fired.
I don’t think it’s political. Curtis could use a day off, but there’s no denying that his hot stretch has been instrumental in the team’s turnaround — while he’s been playing a credible CF.
It’s why I have never fully supported the “hot hand” theory. Baseball is a game of streaks. You don’t get the hot streak unless you stay with a player during his down times. It’s a delicate balance. I’d like to see Conforto get in there more. But he has not excelled in the fill-in role. Just a tough situation to manage.
Bruce did lead the NL in RBI when he came to the Mets. I’d like him to sit more, because his ABs have been largely pathetic. Now he’s just waving at balls. But Sandy traded for him — Sandy is fixated on him — and there’s an argument to be made that because of his track record, you’ve got to keep writing his name in the lineup. I don’t feel that way. But again, just not a simple situation to manage.
I’m sympathetic to the difficulties.
I’d like to see Conforto in the lineup tonight.
Bruce has had 3 days off so far this month and Granderson has had 1. I think what’s hurting Conforto right now is that the CF opportunities have dried up. He’s made three starts in September and only one of them has been in CF. TC has decided that De Aza is a better option in CF than Conforto. I’m not sure he’s right but I’m not sure he’s wrong, either.
TC is starting to give Bruce some days off but I think he needs to sit for 2-3 straight days. Just take a deep breath and collect himself. Good way to get Conforto some ABs, too.
You cannot keep 4 LH Hitting OF’ers warm and ready rotating through 2 slots. The year has been all about that. Conforto is largely useless now— does he have 4 ab’s in the last week?
In the IF, Reyes needs a day off…. Cabrera will need one.
The only way the Bruce trade works out in our favor is if we can get something good in return for him in another trade this offseason. Lefty corner outfielders are a dime a dozen but power is scarce and he has a reasonable contract for next year. Assuming we trade him and d’Aza does not return there will still be a juggling act. If Cespedes returns, he plays LF with Lagares/Nimmo in CF and Conforto in RF, but wait, we still have a year of Granderson left. It’s a head scratcher for sure.
I can’t be as dogmatic about Bruce as Matt. The reality is that he could still help the Mets win some big, big games down the stretch and in the playoffs. The power is real. It could still turn out very, very well for the Mets. We just don’t know.
One thing is true: When guys slump, they always look awful.