Conventional wisdom is that you’re going to win one-third of your games no matter what and lose one-third no matter what. It’s what you do with that other third that determines how good of a year that you have. This was one of those games that could have gone either way. But Michael Conforto came up with a two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Mets to a 5-3 win over the Marlins Wednesday night. The Mets lead the series, 3-0, and look for the sweep tomorrow.
The Mets had a two-run lead but failed to add more to it despite having the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning. And in the bottom of the inning, the relievers who had been so good for three weeks fell on some hard times.
Dellin Betances started the inning and had two outs with runners on second and third. Betances got ahead of Francisco Cervelli 0-2 but ended up walking him to load the bases. After pitching last night, Betances was clearly gassed. But the other choice was to bring in Edwin Diaz with the bases loaded and no one honestly wanted to see that.
But Betances hit the next batter to bring in a run and cut the lead to 3-2. Diaz came into the game and for some reason decided to get cute with Logan Forsythe, starting him off with two sliders. He got a gift strike call on a 3-0 pitch – the ball-strike calls were bad all game – but still walked Forsythe to tie the game. Diaz retired the next batter to end the inning.
The first two Mets in the ninth inning were retired, with Amed Rosario striking out for the second out of the inning. Rosario finished the game 0-4 with three strikeouts and a GDP. Then Brandon Nimmo lined a single to keep the inning alive. And Conforto hit a bomb to dead center to put the Mets back on top.
Diaz looked like a different guy in the ninth inning, blowing away hitters to finish off the game.
The Mets didn’t use Seth Lugo in this game, meaning it’s likely he’s going to start – finally! – on Thursday. Gary Cohen was crucifying that decision in the late innings, saying how this was a must-win game, despite there being 34 games left on the schedule after this particular one. If you had a dollar for every time Cohen and birthday boy Ron Darling mentioned about how big this game was, you could have purchased a shot of top-shelf liquor at your poshest Manhattan saloon.
But the Mets did win the game and they’re doing what they should have done at least two weeks ago by (seemingly) moving Lugo to the rotation. Tomorrow will be tough, since the bullpen has been ridden hard and it’s unlikely Lugo will go more than three innings. Steven Matz will still likely pitch tomorrow and will be counted on to at least match the innings output of Lugo.
Jacob deGrom started and was his usual terrific self. He fanned seven and did not walk a batter over six shutout innings. It would have been nice to see him come out for the seventh but he didn’t exactly look comfortable on the mound and his pitch count was at 91. So, this was not really the time to criticize Luis Rojas for the hook.
The Mets as a team haven’t won enough of deGrom’s starts in his back-to-back Cy Young Award seasons. But they’re now 4-1 in his starts in 2020.
Don’t forget Nimmo’s single to continue the inning ahead of Conforto huge homer and don’t forget Ramos’ passed ball that started the Marlins comeback. Don’t forget Rojas keeping in Betances a batter or two too long putting Diaz in a bad spot. Dom has become the teams best hitter two years after he homered just twice in Vegas of all places, we need the dh next year. Guillorme continues to impress with his bat and he’s a magician with the glove. Alonso continues to struggle whenever a guys on base. Gary’s shrieking about Lugo going to the rotation was embarrassing, and he came off as clueless tonight. I’m so happy for Lugo who will be our second best starter in no time.
Didn’t see any part of the game live, but seeing the video of the walk to Forsythe gave me a chance to listen to the Marlins announcers criticize the Mets for not giving Diaz a clean inning, and not giving him clean innings in many situations. I understand their point, but if he’s their stud, treat him like one. If the Mets want to call Diaz their best reliever, they can’t baby him. If Diaz needs clean innings to be successful, find another closer.
Putting Lugo in the rotation gives the Mets their best chance at winning this year. Lugo and JDG can be a strong one-two. With the good news on Peterson, he, Matz and Gsellman can do the job on a solid 3-4-5 and give this potent offense a solid starting corps and a bullpen that needs each pitcher to pitch to his history.
I forgot about Porcello. At this point, he can have Gsellman’s spot. I’d like to keep the two lefties in the rotation.
It would be nice to get a strong CF for next year who can also hit. Dom Smith, forever blocked at 1B has dramatically increased his value to other teams. Can we also then snag a JT Realmuto, a move that will mirror Gary Carter coming to Shea and move us up a notch? One game at a time. Let’s keep it going.
If Alonso keeps this up, 1B won’t be permamently blocked. With Cano a year older and the likelihood of a DH in the NL, I wouldn’t be too quick to trade Dom. The kid has been on fire: 65 AB, 21 H (6 Hrs, 10 2B), 21 RBIs.
You don’t trade players when they’re cold, you trade them when they’re hot. You self evaluate when they’re cold.
I was one of the people who voted for the hypothetical Kelenic for Alonso trade Brian polled for last winter because I felt the first base position was overflowing. However, there may be room for both Dom and Pete with the DH, but I wouldn’t hold them just for insurance of one to the other. If I think one may have have peaked, I move him now.
And I believe this is Dom’s peak whereas Alonso has some room for growth from his present state and even last year.
Agree on moving Dom, but 53 HR years are historic and if anyone thinks pitchers aren’t pitching around Pete, thereby by also causing him frustration at the plate, then they don’t know baseball. The key is to get a good return on trades. Brodie will always be known for the Cano\Diaz fiasco but if they had had just average years last year and not terrible years, and we had marched into the playoffs with our starting pitching, we could have been popping champagne. Since the DH is likely here to stay, it does add miles to Cano and even Ramos. The easiest thing to do is buy free agents but that will take new ownership. Wouldn’t JT Realmuto behind the dish bring us to a while new level? Maybe a trade for Jackie Bradley Jr to play CF? The off-season is going to start early this year.
You keep saying and implying that the Mets don’t have great postseason hopes and it’s simply not true.
This year’s playoff format has 8 teams from each league making it, with the top two teams in each division and then two additional teams with the best remaining records as Wild Cards. While the WC may or may not be feasible, the Mets are **1** game behind the Marlins for second in the division. A win today and they’ll be in a virtual tie. With the teams having played a different amount of games, the Mets would have a slightly better winning percentage.
Stop saying that the offseason is going to start early.
You are right Brian. It’s such a crazy year with a 60 game season. They would have to go 22-12 just to get to 34 wins which I think is a reasonable amount of wins to make the playoffs. I just think they are the third best team in our own division and that there are a lot of teams in the western division with a lot of talent that might bump us out even with the expanded number of teams in the playoff hunt. Our best bet would be to win the division but now we are struggling with starting pitcher injuries. For a person whose glass is always half full, I need to be more hopeful for our team.
My opinion is that 31 is the magic number
Name thinks it will be even less than that.
Gut Reaction: it was a bad decision to let Betances face the last batter. Everyone could see that he was ineffective and Diaz could have used the wiggle room.
Today Lugo will finally pitch. Rojas knew that. Why didn’t he stretch out Lugo when deGrom exited and pitch three innings?
Guillermo deserves another start today.
Thank you Mike Conforto for saving the day.
Umm because (not announced until after the game so Rojas could take the fall) Mets decided to start Lugo tonight and if Lugo pitched 3 innings last night he wouldn’t be able to make said start tonight…
Lugo will probably get three innings in his start. I would have prefer the three innings last night. They would then slot Lugo into the rotation on Sunday. Last night was an opportunity to stretch Lugo, secure deGrom’s win and save the bullpen for today. It would have meant starting Lockett with a short leash today with a full rested bullpen. Now they have Lugo for 3-4 innings and their premium relievers are spent.
I think it’s unfounded to assume Lugo would have got the job done the last 3 innings yesterday.
He’s had 6 high leverage appearances from the pen this year and he’s taken a loss or blown the save in 3 of them so that’s not a good percentage.
Plus, 3 innings in a high leverage spot late in the game is a lot higher stress than 3 innings to start the game.
I wouldn’t criticize a manager for pulling a guy that isn’t getting it done. The mets are a collection of vMry average, interchangeable pieces, with no stars. Next man up. That goes for Matz and Alonzo if he continues to struggle. Would hate to say one year wonder, but he looks as lost as Rosario. Why ever throw strikes to these guys until they prove they can lay off down and outside cutters
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Last year. We were surprised to get Stroman. Who knows what BVW may do at the deadline this year.
Realmuto is good, but he will probably get overpaid in the off season. May be a different story for the Mets if he was 26.
We need to figure out our pitching dilemmas. Sure, Lugo has been an excellent reliever, but it is worth finding out if he can fill a starting role.
And yes, heck yeah, we are still in it. Only two games behind the Marlins who are starting to fold.