On a night where the Mets looked to even up the Subway Series, the Yankees had other plans. The Yankees defeated the Mets, 5-3. Robert Gsellman got the start for the Mets, his first since returning from injury. He is taking the rotation spot of Seth Lugo, who recently became injured. In his start, Gsellman pitched decently. Over 5.1 innings, Gsellman allowed three runs, two of them earned. He walked three and only struck out two, but only allowed four hits. Now is an important time for Gsellman. He needs to pitch at his highest level, so he can secure a rotation spot for next season.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Mets were able to attack starter Jamie Garcia, but not the bullpen. After putting up all three runs on Garcia, they only scratched one hit off of the Yankee bullpen. Rene Rivera had the big hit for the Mets tonight, a solo home run. Out of the leadoff spot, Juan Lagares produced two hits, including a double. Michael Conforto also had a double on the evening. Asdrubal Cabrera and Gsellman accounted for the only other hits.
The game was lost in the bullpen. Paul Sewald came into the game, and gave up two hits, two earned runs, and two walks in his 1.2 innings pitched. Other than Sewald, the bullpen was solid. Chasen Bradford gave up two hits, but did not allow a run. Josh Smoker and Erik Goeddel each put up clean slates. The Mets will try to salvage the final game of the series tomorrow at 7:10 when Steven Matz will take on Luis Severino at Citi Field.
Once again, missed ball and strike calls by the home plate umpire play an important role in the game.
The blown call on strike three to Hicks in the 7th may have been one of the worst calls I’ve seen. The pitch was just off the middle of the plate, clearly on the inner half, thigh high. Ball four! Yeah, right.
The called third strike on Cabrerra in the eighth was easily several inches off the plate inside. Strike three! Yeah, right.
Both of these calls came at key times in the game and were two of many, many missed calls on the night.
I understand that calls are going to be missed, but to anyone who regularly watches games, missed ball and strike calls are really becoming a regular occurrence. At least 20 per game. In a typical game with say 250 pitches, that is an 8 percent miss rate. Much, much too high to be acceptable.
It must be fixed.
As for the Mets, they are rapidly becoming totally unwatchable. Little to no hustle (even witnessed Rosario trotting to first!), giving away at-bats, generally poor and totally uninspired play night after night. We can only hope it’s gonna be better next year, but with all the glaring holes this club has, I’m preparing myself for the worst.
I agree with you that getting balls/strikes call right should be job 1.
I’m curious as to what you think is an acceptable miss rate for human umpires.
Edit – I think your 250 pitch estimate is way too low. Last night there were 297 pitches and the game before was 271.
An acceptable miss rate should be no more than 2 or 3 percent, which I think is still a little on the high side. After all, these are highly-paid professionals making these calls.
While my estimation (it was purely that — I didn’t look it up) of the number of pitches in a game may have been low, I also believe my estimation of 20 missed calls was low as well.
For whatever the reason, it just seems to me that this has become a very troubling trend. Sure, one can say “what’s one missed pitch?” which I can understand, to a point. However, look at the situations in which these calls were missed (and they clearly were missed, not borderline calls at all) last night: A called strike three on Hicks may have been crucial, leaving 2nd and 3rd with two down, rather than bases loaded with one away. Additionally, when Cabrerra was called out, the Mets had their lead off runner aboard and the count was 2 and 2 at the time. 3-2 with no one out and a fast runner at first (Lagares) is a much different spot than one out and a runner at first.
I thought MLB was experimenting with an electronic strike zone in Single A. Last year, I believe. I have heard nothing about this experiment this season, however. Don’t know if that is the answer though, as it would have to be as reliable as, say, how tennis makes “in” or “out” calls.
Again, I’m on your side on this issue in general.
I do think it matters what the percentage is, though. To be clear, I don’t pretend to know the percentage answer. Pulling numbers out of the air, if umpires miss 15% of the pitches, I don’t think the electronic strike zone has to be perfect to be utilized. If we could go from 15% to 5% that would be more than enough reason to do it.
In my opinion, it’s extremely unlikely that human umpires will ever be accurate to 2-3% – I just don’t ever see that happening because, like you, I believe they miss way more than that now. Not because they’re not trying or they’re not putting enough energy into their job – rather that the job is so unbelievably difficult.
If there are 300 pitches in a game, they would need to get 291 pitches right to hit that 3% target. I would be thrilled if the electronic strike zone would have that accuracy.
Pretty much with you Brian. At this point, anything which can improve the accuracy has to be better than things are now.
I was at the game so I didn’t hear the in game commentary. Can someone explain to me why Collins left Sewald out to dry with the bases loaded and Didi up? Where’s Blevin’s? Any lefty?
Because he’s just going through the motion since he doesn’t give a crap. Problem is, it’s hurting the team. Cabrera should just be cut if no one wants him. I understand the need to see Reynolds, but why Ceccini can’t play everyday is bewildering. Collins should just get September off.