A rarity happened in the rubber game between the rubber game between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves on Thursday night. They defeated the Braves 4-1, off of a strong pitching performance from, who else, Jason Vargas.
Vargas, who draws as much ire from the Mets fan base as Anthony Swarzak (who was also featured in the game) pitched the most effective game of his season. Not having to face Met killer Freddie Freeman, Vargas threw seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits while striking out six. Perhaps the best part of Vargas’s night was that he did not give up a walk in his seven innings pitched.
For the Mets to produce their 4 run total for the evening, it only took two swings from two catchers. The first swing was from Kevin Plawecki, who crushed a ball 404 feet for a solo home run off of Braves starter Julio Teheran. The score would remain 1-0 until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Devin Mesoraco, pinch hitting for Vargas, drilled a three-run home run, driving in Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier to extend the lead to 4-0.
It was an interesting night at the plate for the Mets. They struck out a total of 10 times, but they also showed some sort of restraint by being able to draw four walks. The only Met to have a multi-hit game was Bruce, who also appeared to maybe have re-triggered his foot injury while running the bases.
The bullpen of the Mets bended, but did not completely break for the Mets. One run was credited to Swarzak, although it was Drew Smith who gave up the hit that drove in the run. Gsellman was shaky to enter the ninth, but eventually settled down to strikeout Freeman to end the game. My Gut Reaction is that tonight shows that one of the true weak links on this team is the bullpen, and the Mets truly need to evaluate the situation heading into the offseason.
The Mets will begin their final series of the season on Friday at Citi Field against the Miami Marlins. Corey Oswalt will take on Jose Urena at 7:10 pm.
Very strong showing by Vargas. I dismissed him months ago and didn’t realize he has gone 6-1 over his last 7 starts with an ERA under 3. He finishes 7-9 while Jake ends up at 10-9. I have to say Jake had a slightly better year. Hopefully it will persuade voters to discount the importance of wins when awarding the Cy Young.
Think about this. MVP Jacob deGrom.
A month ago, Drew Smith was a lock for next year’s bullpen. He had a 2.31 ERA in August and we wrote his name in ink. Well, he was terrible in September. His average against this month is .357 and his ERA is 5.59. What a complete failure this bullpen has become.
Nice W. Three games left until my weekday nights become much emptier. Chris F., where art thou?
My gut reaction: Vargas was outstanding and because of his contract and his experience and the way he closed the season, he will be the fifth starter to begin the 2019 season. Oswalt also finished strong but not as good as Vargas and the Mets have money invested in Vargas.
The catching platoon has been average this season . They produced all the runs in the game by hitting 2 home runs giving them 17 total. But Devon is an injury risk and Plawecki can’t throw out base stealers.. They need to upgrade the position.
I went to the game last night and sat 20 rows back of home plate. It is a beautiful Stadium and a win by the Mets only made it a memorable night. LGM
The Mets were 25th in fWAR with 0.5. Average was the Mariners at 1.6.
The Pirates were #1 at 5.1, the Marlins 4.6, and Dodgers 3.6.
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0
Jason Vargas ends up with a 0.1 fWAR season. Does anyone actually believe he was replacement level?
bWAR had him at (-0.3) or essentially the same guy.
I guess I’m confused to your question. Do you think he was much better than what you could pick up for “free” or do you think he was even worse than that?
By the end of the year, he was much better than replacement. But taking his season as a whole – I’m pretty sure the Mets could have picked up someone to give them 92 IP at a 5.77 ERA pretty easily.