The birthday boy Terry Collins won’t sleep very well tonight, as the Pirates defeated the Mets 5-4 tonight. The now 68 year-old managed his team to a tied Saturday night. Although the team received solid production from both sides of the ball and entered the ninth with a 4-3 lead, the Mets were unable to pull through. Zack Wheeler pitched well, allowing three earned runs over six innings pitched, striking out five along the way. The Mets need more starts like tonight from the likes of Wheeler in order to salvage what is left of the bullpen. More innings from the starters means less innings we have to be tortured by anyone in the bullpen not named Jerry Blevins.
Speaking of the bullpen, it was all clean until the ninth. The bullpen combination of Blevins, Fernando Salas, and Neil Ramirez, combined for two shutout innings. Addison Reed then blew the save in the ninth inning. On an interesting side note, Ramirez has still not produced an out for the Mets in three games pitched. My gut reaction is that Ramirez will not last much longer in a Mets uniform, especially if he does not produce outs. Reed gets credited with a blown save, and currently leads the league in innings pitched for a reliever. Tyler Pill made his major league debut in the 10th, going 0.2 innings without allowing a run. Josh Edgin then allowed a bases-loaded hit to John Jaso to end the game 5-4. Pill will receive the loss.
On the offensive side of the game, the long ball was the story. Lucas Duda, Travis d’Arnaud, and Jay Bruce each went deep to contribute to the cause. Jose Reyes hit a double along with Duda and d’Arnaud, and Curtis Granderson contributed a triple. Michael Conforto also had a single, which gave every starting position player except Asdrubal Cabrera a hit. The offensive effort that was provided should have been enough, but the bullpen was yet again to blame for the loss.
The rubber game of this series will take place on Sunday Night Baseball at 8:00, when Matt Harvey will try to secure a series win against the Pirates.
It took six relievers to go 3.2 IP. At least this time guys were taken out because they weren’t getting the job done, rather than strictly for matchups.
I found it curious that Salas was used Friday night when the club had a seven-run lead but the first reliever that Collins turned to Saturday in a one-run game was Neil Ramirez. In four games with the Mets, Ramirez has 1.1 IP, a 20.25 ERA and a 4.501 WHIP.
It may be time to go to the whip with Zack Wheeler. I know he got hit hard in his last inning and the smart thing to do was turn it over to the bullpen. But the team’s bullpen is in such sad shape that the smart thing may have been to send him out for the seventh.
There’s no way that Wheeler is going to remain in the rotation and stay in the 115-inning range. So, either he’s moving to the bullpen or he’s going to blow past that number. In either case, one more inning last night wasn’t going to move the needle much in his successful comeback.
Zack Wheeler requested an extra off day between starts after his previous outing — clearly feeling fatigue — so I think “going to the whip” in May after what he’s been through would be abusive and counter-productive.
But, yes, another painful loss.
Reed had a poor game, just one of those things. Wheeler had to at least start the seventh but according to TC he developed a blister. The offense has been great in May with three above 1..000 OPS, one above .900, two above .800 and six others above .735 and none are named Cespedes.
It is time that the Mets (and baseball) reconsider managing “innings” and start managing “pitchers” instead. Fatigue can cause injury so avoiding it makes sense. Every pitcher is different, one size does not fit all.
Three above average catches by Juan Lagares who happens to have a .810 OPS the last 30 games. He is fun to watch.
Play within yourselves, stay positive and go for the series win tonight because you can’t hit a seven game home run.
At this point, they have to take it game by game and wait for the reinforcements to arrive.
I didn’t see the game last night, and I’m hoping someone who did can help out here.
I have noted, after looking up the game’s play-by-play, on three occasions the Mets doubled with two out and a man on first. The runner failed to come around and score on all three occasions. Two of the runners were Conforto and Granderson, among our fastest and best baserunners. The other was Walker, certainly not in the turtle category, a la Flores, R. Rivera or Bruce. I’m finding it hard to believe that none of these runners were able to score with two out, when they would be running on contact.
Anyone?
I too did not see the game and relied on the play by play, in my case CBSsports.com. I kept thinking constant deja vue with the double second and third scenarios repeating. Perhaps the new 3rd base coach is a little gunshy?
Pete and John, all those were legitimate stops. The Pirates have some of the shortest distances down the line at 320 feet to the wall and hustle to pickup hits. The first one by Duda was in the right field corner where Polanco has a great arm and got to it quickly, the announcers even touched on these factors. In fact, Polanco picked it up just as Walker was getting to third base.
The second instance was basically a base hit up the middle by Reyes with Conforto on first, but McCutchen was so over shifted to left center that by the time he got to it, Reyes’ speed allowed him to make it a double.
The third one was a rocket down the left field line by TDA into a short left field corner that was fielded quickly and Granderson even pulled into third rather then even round it! TDA hit only rockets last night and has no business batting 8th but for Bozo the Manager that cares more for his own agenda than results.