The Mets dropped the rubber game of their series with the Reds, by a 7-2 score Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati.
It looked good for the Mets on paper, with a day game and Jacob deGrom on the mound. But deGrom surrendered a two-run homer to Scooter Gennett and also gave up two other runs. The relievers didn’t help either, as they allowed homers to Joey Votto, an absolute blast, and to backup catcher Stuart Turner.
While the Reds were smacking homers left and right, the Mets did not hit a single one the entire series. Last year when the Mets played in Cincinnati, they hit 9 HR en route to a three-game sweep. What a difference a year makes.
Jose Reyes scored both Mets runs. Travis Taijeron got his first major league hit. That’s about it for the highlights.
Well, in a game that’s lost 7-2, surely there won’t be many highlights, but there are also some lowlights worth mentioning or maybe I never noticed them before.
– The Mets had two on and no outs in the second inning up 1-0. Lagares struck out on a curve, Taijeron struck out on a curve and deGrom actually hit it as he flied to left. Lagares can’t hit a curve to save his life. He struck out twice on them and needs to get help identifying the pitch.
– The batter before Ginnett’s two run homer reached on a grounder deep in the hole that Rosario got in front of(!) and made a strong, albeit low, throw to first that beat the runner, however Smith tried to do a snatch dig-out in the style of Willie Montanez and couldn’t. DeGrom then threw a fat fastball middle-middle to Ginnett and the Mets are down 2-1. If the Mets had a real manager, Smith should be spoken to and shouldn’t play this next game. I don’t know what they do in the minors, but in the majors that crap won’t fly. If you don’t know how to dig out throws, go over to a practice field and practice doing it. The problem with the way Bozo the Manager runs the team and the jerk that allows him to, is these bad habits not only fester but others see them and figure, ‘whatever, why should I give a crap?’ We are starting to see an anarchy of sorts, as we connect the dots and also remember what Gsellman had said about Alderson. There was an instance today that Cabrera struck out on a pitch that bounced. He didn’t even bother going to first but rather walked towards the dugout like he was Cespedes or something. This team better get a real manager or we should start finding a new team, one that actually shows care.
– DeGrom doesn’t hold runners on well. They were getting big jumps on him and while d’Arnaud’s throws seemed accurate and pretty strong, he had no shot.
– Familia threw Votto a straight fastball in on the hands and Votto cleared his hips and hit it over the right fielder about 20 rows deep. Wow!!
– Nimmo made a strong throw from medium deep left field with a runner on third and less than two outs and the runner didn’t even try. Impressive! Also, Nimmo almost killed the pitcher on a bullet that hit Stephenson. Nimmo deserves more time and Lagares deserves less. Sorry.
– Reyes is doing well sparking the team. Problem is the hitters that follow are barely igniting that spark.
– Rosario made a real rookie mistake on the Reds third run. With Hamilton on second and one out, Rosario fielded a slow-ish grounder hit by Votto moving to his right and threw to third to get Hamilton. But, it was a rushed and spiked throw that got passed Cabrera and had d’Arnaud chasing it down. Not getting the sure out on a pretty slow Votto and leaving the runner on third with two outs may not have made a difference as the next man singled nonetheless, but it shows the learning curve rookies and part time players will need to overcome.
– For some reason Bozo is back playing match ups and burning relievers. Familia couldn’t finish an inning although he only gave up one hit – the Votto homerun – and had no one on base but Blevins had to come in just to get a lefty out? Then after starting the next inning and giving up a single, Blevins gets pulled for Goeddell? Is Bozo serious with these moves of proven, veteran pitchers?
A theme lately that was on full display today:
1. There is no leadership on this team whatsoever.
2. The rookies will make rookie mistakes but they are seeing indifference from the veterans and are getting caught up in it.
3. I’m not saying the coaches don’t work hard to prepare their players, I’m sure they do as they have their pride and careers to consider, but as a former coach, I must wonder what the youngsters are thinking when they see other players give less than full effort and get away with it?
4. Remember when the Yankees used to be called “a circus”? It hurts to say, but Keith Law was right: LOL Mets!
I didn’t realize you were a former coach. Where was that?
It was youth basketball in New York. Learned early on that the rules need to be the same for everyone, or they are for no one. It may not have been pro baseball, but we hear enough quotes from players and coaches to realize the pro player needs disciple also, just differently.
It has been a tough August after the July 31st trade deadline compounded by the season ending injuries to Cespedes and Conforto. The only player that offensively seizing their opportunity to impress during the month of August is Kevin Plawecki with a 1.031 OPS in 22 at bats. Plawecki also gave the best pitching performance in August in his one inning of zero runs (LOL). The relief pitching has been good with seven relievers below league avegage for the month. After deGrom and Gsellman’s August ERA’s, only Montero put up a better than average ERA for the month. Harvey and Syndergaard will get an opportunity to pitch during September and show if they are healthy. Brace yourselves, without an offense, it is going to be a brutal September.
Bench Smith because you feel he missed scooping a Ball…???? I’m so happy that Gus is not the manager or GM
Not my point Eraff. If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “like Willie Montanez”, you have to see it to understand. It was a low throw that he actually caught, and had he just kept his glove in place to catch it without the extra windmill theatrics, he would have held it. But instead, he swings the arm around for some kind of effect and the ball pops out since he caught it at the edge of the glove, and it wasn’t deep enough in the pocket to be secure.
You point, as I read it, was to bench the rookie because he made a mistake. He’s got a little flash to his game and you don’t like it. So grab some pine, kid.
However, if your theme song all season is “Play the Kids!” then you have to drink bad fruit punch and slow dance with an awkward teenager to an icky song by Journey. You have to smile through it when she steps on your toes.
Rosario has made a surprising amount of mistakes so far. The other day, to site one example, he caught a ball on his backhand. Average runner at the plate. Rosario did a fancy hop-throw and got nothing on it. Two bounces, barely reached 1B, and the runner was safe by a step. He could have planted and gunned the guy out easily. Not an error but a bad play. Right now, the chorus is that he’s going to make mistakes, and everybody’s confident he’s going to learn from them. And I think that’s mostly correct. It’s just notable that he hasn’t learned some of these things yet. The tools are obviously off the charts. His mistakes are all in the “can be fixed” category. Right now, there’s more to fix than I had expected. Fortunately none of these games matter.
I don’t think we’re going to “learn” much of anything about Matt Harvey or Kevin Plawecki or anybody.
^ +1
Jimmy, I guess I’m just too boring to accept flashy and I accept that. There isn’t a problem with rookie mistakes, as I said nothing negative about Rosario’s miscalculating Hamilton’s speed and not at least getting a sure out, and neither have I previously mentioned benching a player to teach him a lesson, in as long as I can remember.
However, as a person that expects fundamentals and has learned to breakdown details, I just cant accept flashy, especially when it backfires. Substance over style, I guess. Sorry, but that’s just me.
+ Chris F 😉
I did not see the play having been blacked out on TV and AtBat.
One question: Smith does not seem outwardly like a “flashy” guy, say Reyes, Brandon Phillips, etc. Is it possible that is his scoop technique? Having played 1B through varsity HS, I definitely attacked some scoops with an arm swing, especially short hops.
As an aside Gus, what about the fielding and throwing errors, near errors, and bail outs from other players we see almost daily…should they sit?
I saw the play and my opinion differs from Gus – I didn’t see it as flash at all. Keith Hernandez always talks about how you need to start low and go up on scoops and I felt that’s what Smith did.
Didn’t see the play either, but that’s my understanding of how you make that play, too.
Kid is struggling in a big way. Can’t bury him, even for a day, with one bad play.
Fans want managers to react, and no fan wants that instant reaction more than Gus. But I believe that managers have to be very selective in how they react, and when, because it can backfire in a big way. Players in general need support and consistency. It’s a very hard game, huge ups and downs — you fail all the time, it seems — and players know when they screwed up.
There are times for that Gil Hodges moment, walking out to LF to take Cleon off the field, but that’s not a card you can play very often.
I was taught that the arm swing gives some vertical plane protection because the bounce may unpredictable, so its possible to use the whole glove and then more to capture the ball.
I was more surprised and then concerned that J Familia was taken out of the game after the Votto home run. The announcers put Familia’s fast ball at 92 mph.
Hopefully it was an arm strength problem so thatFamilia is just getting into game shape slowly throughout September.
On top of the variables of who is out on the field, we need to be suspect of some outcomes because the teams playing the Mets no longer see them as relevant. It does not matter if you pitch to…who’s left?…say Plawecki or Flores or Smith etc. Just sling it in and whatever happens is fine. I expect to see a lot of call ups and B team players against the Mets, making it harder to assess what we are witnessing as proof-of-concept for next year. Plawecki is probably the poster child for this.
In any event, it will be fun to see these guys out there in a new Mets world. The 2015 is officially a thing of the past. In chatter the other day, Metsense asked me about memories about the game we clinched the NL E in Cincy — was so awesome to be there. Duda’s slam in the first nailed the door closed the door. So many cool memories of that day! Many Reds fans left early and they were super gracious as Mets fans literally drowned out the stadium. I guess its time for new ones.
I’m clutched with a feeling of dread about 2018, a sense that they won’t do enough, won’t be committed, and (maybe worst of all) won’t be smart.
Seems pretty clear they are going to bring back the entire infield. One starter, one maybe (Smith), and four subs.
Side note: Tigers sent along $10 million in their Verlander trade, essentially buying three top 10 prospects. When the answers aren’t in-house, you’ve got to do something.
We’ll know definitively it’s all over when Sandy uses the word “patience” in one of his media talks.
And, again: With expanded WC format, and Thor and Jake, there’s every reason the Mets could play .500 ball and add a solid 6 weeks to that to reach the playoffs. That’s the dream now — and hey, you never know.
I just wish they wanted to be really, really good.
Just FYI, per MLBTR:
“In a stunning reversal, after a deal seemingly collapsed, the Tigers have officially sent long-time ace Justin Verlander to the Astros. Prospects Franklin Perez, Daz Cameron, and Jake Rogers will go to Detroit in the deal. Houston is also slated to receive $16MM from Detroit to cover a portion of Verlander’s remaining salary, along with a player to be named later or cash considerations.”
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Astros are getting $16MM and either more cash or a player.
Astros are getting $16MM and either more cash or a player.
…and Verlander…thats a huge difference.