Jacob deGrom capped his season with a magnificent outing, leading the Mets to a 3-0 win over the Braves Wednesday night in Citi Field.
In a dominating effort, deGrom two-hit the Braves over eight shutout innings. He did not allow a walk and finished with 10 Ks. That gave him exactly 1,000 strikeouts in his career. For 2018, deGrom finished 10-9 with a 1.70 ERA and 269 Ks in 217 IP. If he doesn’t win the CY Award, it would be a travesty.
The Mets didn’t make it easy for him, as they squandered two scoring opportunities before finally breaking through in the sixth inning. Michael Conforto doubled and Dominic Smith hit an RBI single up the middle for the game’s first run.
In the eighth inning, those two struck again, with Conforto hitting a homer that almost reached the Shea Bridge. Smith went opposite field for his fifth homer of the season.
Seth Lugo had a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the Save.
This was the sixth outing of the season for deGrom against the Braves. He came in with a 1.06 ERA and was somehow 0-2, giving an indication of what he went through this year. deGrom finishes the year with 41 IP against the NL East champs and he allowed just 4 ER for a 0.88 ERA.
Never saw Gooden in his peak in 84-85, but deGrom had the best season a Mets pitcher had since I’ve been watching. Jake was already really good coming into the season, but he kicked it up a notch this year, and never got frustrated by lack of run support and never let anything crumple around him no matter what. This was the best individual season since Wright’s ‘07 but sadly it was in a disappointing season but it takes nothing away from either guys greatness. I have no doubt that he deserves to win the cy young and with the voters being more into analytics they’ll see that won-loss records for pitchers aren’t all that telling and Jake will win his richly deserved cy young.
Gotta be ecstatic with Conforto’s second half and I think he’ll be a mvp candidate next year a year more removed from his shoulder injury.
Oh and whoever thought McNeil was a bad defender has been proven outright clueless and the Mets internal scouting has got to get better.
One more thing no more Austin Jackson please and please extend deGrom.
+1^ Gooden’s 1 year was more dominant if you can believe that. Seaver and degrom are very similar in their attitude and determination. Seaver was the best pitcher the Mets ever had. He was so consistent but if degrom continues his career like this he May be the most consistent Mets pitcher.
Even though the season sucked for the team, we got a season for the ages with Jake. It was a work of art. He was dominant. I think he sewed up the Cy with this victory.
deGrom is better than Gooden. Gooden had a fastball that was straight as an arrow and a very good curveball. Too bad he ruined his own career with his addictions.
deGrom, Syndergaard and Wheeler will be a very good 1,2,3 punch next year. Let’s hope they spend some dough and turn the team into a winner.
Wasn’t only the drugs that took him him down he was abused by pitching all those innings
Jake gave up 4 runs this season…..once, on April 10th. Wow
Outstanding season from Jake. While Doc had strong support and didn’t have to pitch worried that 1-2 runs would cost him a game, I feel that Doc had the better season. It seemed that we were finally going to witness a no-hitter in every start. I never saw Koufax or Pedro pitch on a weekly basis but the most comparable showing of dominance I witnessed was Guidry in the late 70s.
Now, let’s hope we sign Jake for another 4-5 years.
Tom Seaver, for many years, was the finest. And he was on my home team, The New York Mets. Seaver and Koosman, Tug and Taylor, Krane and Buddy, Cleon and Agee. Now that was a team to remember!
Gooden’s fastball was described as a golf ball coming in that just exploded upwards. While that is physically impossible, he got lots of K’s on it and it set up his 12-6 Lord Charles. A two pitch pitcher that was dominant, not bad. Back then we knew the Mets were winning every game Doc started because they actually had an offense. DeGrom may be better, may not be, different pitchers.
Interesting from tonight’s game, the Kidcaster said his favorite Met was Cespedes. That reminds us that while we see the nickel and dime of everything and the what have you done for me lately, kids don’t care and just see a great player. We should all remember that Cespedes is a great player that got hurt, but will heal. We need to be patient and turn down the volume of impatience.
Callaway said in the post game pressed that DeGrom had “like a million stressful innings”, and that he was tired after 8 innings. Well, Jake may have nailed down the Cy Young, but I’m very happy to see progress from Smith. Just as I said tonight that Bruce has adjusted somewhat and is hitting the ball to all fields, so is Smith. Now, if only Frazier realized that right field is his friend, he wouldn’t be the #7 or #8 hitter he has become.
There were four substandard hitters in tonight’s lineup. I don’t see what Mets decision makers see in unproductive veterans like Jackson. Lagares is twice the player, even if he’s injury prone.
My gut reaction: the The deGrominater , the CYA winner and they better extend him this winter. You don’t dis the best pitcher in baseball instead you make him happy.
He had a 94 game score, 10 strikeouts, reached his 1000 strikeouts for his career and very consistent and dominant season.
Who is the Mets Scouts that say McNeil was a poor defensive player. Probably the ones that labeled Conforto. I personally saw Conforto in the “A League playoff game”when he was promoted for that game and I knew and I wrote at the time that he was a good fielder. I m just a fan and I could see it so what are the scouts looking at.
Metsense,
Agreed on extending Jake.
Regarding defense, it is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. DRS has JMac as a pretty big minus player, UZR as a decent plus. From what I have seen as a fan, his is not a liability and of course can improve with more experience. He has a very solid all around game, unspectacular in any single facet but as a whole a solid player that brings dimensions this team dearly needs. Yeah, the BABIP suggests some regression, but this guy has earned a spot on the 2019 team until proven otherwise. They have to be giddy about his development. Dominic should not be written off yet, and Alonso and Gimenez are very likely major leaguers too, albeit at an undetermined level. This is good depth. Go fill up the pen and get an everyday catcher.
DeGrom is a legend and a great teammate. Despite the biblical lack of support from his team, he never said the wrong thing and always kept his focus. Seeing him smiling and hugging Wright in the dugout was a season highlight.