Well, well, well… What on Earth happened here?
Full disclosure: I spent this game in a Broadway theater (The Ferryman. I highly recommend it before it closes in July.), so color me a little nonplussed when I saw an in-game score in a Manhattan pub afterwards. I will piece together a recap from MLB Gameday and accompanying video.
The Mets grabbed an early lead when Pete Alonso jumped all over a hanging curve from Jose Quintana and drove his 26th home run over the right center field fence. The 26 home runs ties the Mets’ rookie record set by Darryl Strawberry in 1983…for the whole season. We’re still three weeks from the All-Star break, if you hadn’t noticed. I think it’s a safe bet that Alonso will not go oh-for-three-months in the home run department and a new record will be established. Given a one-run lead, Zack Wheeler shined on this sunny Chicago afternoon. After allowing two singles to start the first, he was able to induce a double-play ball from Javier Baez and strike out Willson Contreras. A Wilson Ramos leadoff walk, an Amed Rosario double and a super-clutch two-out, two-RBI base hit, slapped the other way by Jeff McNeil made it 3-0. Then it was off to the races. Wheeler pitch around trouble again in the second, the Mets tacked on more in the third. J.D. Davis singled to left and Todd Frazier followed that with a Wrigley Special of a homer, a wind-aided fly ball just over the left field fence. Armed with a comfortable 5-0 lead, Wheeler skated through the next five innings. By the time we reached that point, though, the Mets’ bulge had grown to 10-0.
In the fourth, McNeil got another two-out RBI, making Rosario’s leadoff double pay off. In the fifth, Davis reached second on a dropped throw by first baseman Victor Caratini, Michael Conforto singled him home and Ramos knocked one to the middle of the center field bleachers. In the sixth, an Alonso double, a walk to pinch hitter Dom Smith and a replay-aided base hit by Frazier added to the scoring smorgasbord. Wheeler gave up the Cubs’ first run on a double play in the seventh. Mets manager Mickey Callaway, figuring a nine-run lead would be safe, entrusted the rest of the game to his beleaguered bullpen, but this being the Mets and all, well…ya never know. This time, he only needed one body. Chris Flexen pitched around two walks in the eighth, and gave up the final run of the day on a wild pitch following a leadoff double by Jason Heyward.
The Mets will now go for a most difficult — and surprising — series win tomorrow, in a dandy pitching matchup, Jacob deGrom vs. Cole Hamels.
That was a laugher from the third inning The lead felt tenuous in the first two innings when Wheeler gave up hits to the first two hitters, but got a huge double play in the first innings and worked around McNeil botching a double play ball and dominated from the third to the sixth. Zack did a nice job getting out of the jam in the seventh and really had a good fastball blowing the ball by guys in big spots.The Cubs were really aggressive early so Zack started throwing breaking pitches early in the count.
No idea why Mickey had Gsellman up in the pen in a blowout but it was predictable. I am sure Mickey will say he was trying to save Zack’s numbers or so gobbledegook for almost bringing Gsellman in the game. Flexen struggles with his command and control a bit but thankfully got the job done otherwise Mickey would have brought in Diaz or Gsellman.
Another monster game by the tag team of Alonso and McNeil as they are the most dominant tag team since the Steiner brothers. Alonso continues to kill baseballs and you at this point gotta laugh when he homers. McNeil did his thing in the third when Lagares(who is no longer a major leaguer), and Wheeler struck out and McNeil’s hit in the third on a pitch in the other batters box almost was as ridiculous as yesterday’s hit.
Frazier’s homer was the most Manfred homer ever even more ridiculous than his homer vs the Astros in the Alcs a few years ago. Ramos had a good game at the plate but looked terrible behind the plate with one or two more passed ball and could easily be credited with a dozen.
No idea why Davis was pulled midgame was he the guy Mickey talked to the trainer about?
All in all good series so far hope deGrom finishes it off tomorrow.
If you get a chance to see a replay of the game, be sure to catch the top of the 9th. Caratini retires all 3 batters and makes great play on Ramos. Rather enjoyable to watch with a 9 run lead.
Gut reaction; they needed to have a laughter. Wheeler did the job. 7 innings and 1 earned run.
The 29 old Wheeler will be tough to replace if he leaves this off season.He has started 15 games and is #7 in the NL in innings pitched. Among the 75 starters in the NL he was ranked 28th in FIP and 46th in WHIP. When he is compared to the competition or peers he is better then the majority of them (and Wheeler is having a down season.) Wheeler’s situation should have been addressed this past off season. The Mets should have extended him or they should have traded him then. I think that the Mets should make this decision before the trading deadline because Wheeler is worth more than be draft pick.
Metsense, I would resign Wheeler. We disagree in that I would have waitied to see him back up last year, and now that he did, I’d offer the deal. Wheeler will take a fair offer because teams have started considering injury history unlike never before. If Wheeler get a 4/$60, he would consider it. It’s a nice offer for both sides.
I’d build around Wheeler, Syndergaard and DeGrom jettisoning Matz and Vargas this July, if the package is good enough.id collect all the prospects I can for Frazier, Vargas, Matz, Smith, and anyone else they can sell high on. That’s exactly what DiPoto did to BVW, and BVW needs to learn from that. I would keep Diaz, McNeil, Conforto, Alonso, and Davis as a core to my team, supplemented by Cano, Rosario, Ramos, Lowrie, Familia, Lugo, Gsellman, and hopefully Nimmo, with a few quality additions.
No team is perfect, but with good leadership and the right mix, this team should be much better than it is.