Sometimes, we just can’t have nice things.
Matt Harvey pitched wonderfully for five-and-a-third innings, but had to leave with a tight hamstring after making a putout at first base with the Mets up 10-2. It remains to be seen if he will make his next start on Sunday in Miami. Sigh…
Now, about the offense: you were saying…?
The Mets put on a hitting display, the likes of which have not been seen around here in a very long time. Yoenis Cespedes hit three home runs, Lucas Duda hit two, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Travis d’Arnaud hit one apiece. Four Philadelphia pitchers are going to bed brokenhearted.
You could almost see this coming a mile away. Harvey was opposed by Clay Bucholtz, a once-promising right-hander who’s fallen on some severely hard times, both health and performance-wise. Curtis Granderson started off the game with an eight-pitch at bat that resulted in a walk. A long time later — Bucholtz could be called Steve Trachsel Lite for the way he dawdles out there — Cabrera cracked a double to right center. Cespedes then sent a missile to dead center that landed in the bushes past the 409 sign. It was obvious that Bucholtz would not be long for this game. In the second, Harvey led off by striking out. Granderson hit a bloop to center that Odubel Herrera lost in the dusky half-light. Granderson legged out a double. Cabrera singled, moving Granderson to third. Cespedes then hit a popup behind the plate that Cameron Rupp caught, but when he waited too long to call time, Cabrera alertly scooted to second, as if it were a long fly. Hero of the moment Jay Bruce then roped a base hit to right and the Mets had a 5-0 lead. Harvey surrendered a homer to Miakel Franco. That turned out to be of little consequence, because in the top of the third, Jose Reyes hit a most welcome one-out double and was knocked in by a d’Arnaud base hit. In the fourth, Cabrera hit his homer to right center and Cespedes followed with a tracer off the left field foul screen. After the Phils got one back in the bottom half, Cespedes hit his third — a moon shot off the second deck facing in left — with two out in the fifth. Duda hit his first shot into the right field stands in the sixth. d’Arnaud’s followed a Neil Walker double in the eighth. Two walks and a single plated another run that inning. And just for good measure, Duda hit another in the ninth. And in an odd statistical quirk, the Mets had three guys — Cabrera, d’Arnaud and Duda — come up a triple shy of a cycle, the first in club history that ever happened.
So now, we start to worry about Harvey, while going for the sweep with Zack Wheeler on the mound tomorrow night.
Personally, I think I would have focused on the six or eight good things that happened at the start of this GR.
There were 20 hits, 14 of which went for extra-bases. All eight starters had at least one hit – even Reyes! They were 6-16 with a BB with RISP.
Robles and Sewald bounce back with scoreless outings.
Mets are now 41-18 against the Phillies since the start of the 2014 season.
Whenever there’s a possible injury to one of the pitchers, that’s the first thing on my mind.
I was fortunate enough to be at this game of offensive barrage, and boy was it relentless. They scored in every inning except for one. It was definitely a stat-padding night against some pitchers who don’t belong in the big leagues as they entered having just one regular with a .810+ OPS and leave with 5 players above that mark.
Maybe being up at the plate so many times hurt Matt (he was up 4 times and yet he only last 5.2 IP!) or maybe because each half inning the Mets batted felt like forever, but I never thought that he felt crisp and was able to settle down.
Overall, it was a fun but kind of exhausting (yea i know, complaining about too much offense?) night.
Good to hear Name and a great game to be attending. Two nice things about Mets games at Philly recently:
1. The players love hitting there, and they hardly ever disappoint.
2. There usually are quite a few Mets fans there. Conforto gave the game ending catch to a Mets fan down the left field line.
To add, the post game news was good on Harvey as both he and Collins said that it was mostly a cramp and he should be fine for his next start.
Reyes said he had no problem with the dropping in the lineup as it happened when he was in Miami also. They put him at 7th for two weeks to get him going and then moved him back to leadoff.
Lagares feeling great and may be activated for Thursday’s game against a lefty. I expect Michael Conforto to start tomorrow in right field as he will then hop a flight west.
And my reaction when I saw the lineup: ☺️
Awesome display of power!
TC made the right choice with Jose. TDA with three hits was encouraging.
Harvey was solid and Robles had a clean effort. Robles has the most potential to be become an integral part of the bullpen so I find that most encouraging.
Cespedes, wow.
If you didn’t get excited last night at the prospect of someone hitting the cycle and the batter next to him in the order having the possibility to have a four home run game, you must be six feet under. Last night was exciting, and hopefully it woke up the bats for good. While they were facing lower tier competition, it was still nice to see the boys rake.
We had 3 folks 1 triple from a cycle.
Look, we play in Philly with our hair on fire, and so this prodigious output has to be seen in that light, but like you said, it sure was fun to watch.
I liked Cabrera tagging up from first on foul pop up.
Guy is a ballplayer.
He has all the intangibles. A player that needs to be seen on a regular basis to fully appreciate. The numbers don’t do it.
I remember Chris F passing along an article when the Mets signed him, basically TB players talking about what a great teammate he was, etcetera. It made me think that maybe there was more to him than I realized. Now I know that’s true. A top-step guy. Totally in every game. I really, really like him.
reposted:
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/good-fit-looks-likely-to-split/2247867
And I agree. He gets hammered as sort of defensive liability, but quite frankly that is pure rubbish. He is a huge part of the team, and i hope we pick up the option for 18. He was last years team MVP, and without doubt a key cog to the post season plans.
Go Droooooobs!