In a battle of division leaders, the Mets edged the Cubs 3-2 at Citi Field Tuesday night. The Mets have now taken the first 2 games of a four game set against the northsiders.
The Cubbies grabbed the early lead on a third inning two run blast to right center by Javy Baez. The Mets came right back in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. Jonathan Villar drew a walk, and then Dominic Smith beat the shift by slapping a hit into short left which he turned into a double, putting runners on second and third. Pete Alonso followed with a single, scoring both runners.
The tie was broken in the 5th when Villar and Francisco Lindor had back-to-back singles. Smith drew a walk to load the bases, then Alonso lofted a sacrifice fly to get his third RBI of the game and give the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Taijuan Walker was again impressive on the mound for the Mets, pitching seven innings and yielding only five hits. He racked up 12 strikeouts. After 92 pitches, he was relieved by Seth Lugo to start the eighth.
It was the top of the ninth that decided this nail-biter of a game. Wilson Contreras singled off of Lugo, and Manager David Ross sent in Jake Marisnick, the speedy ex-Met to pinch run. Pinch-hitter Eric Sogar drove a shot into the right center gap which was cut off nicely by center fielder Kevin Pillar before it hit the wall. Pillar whirled and fired the ball back to the infield, where Luis Guillorme relayed it to home and catcher James McCann made a nice tag on Marisnick for the out. Seth Lugo then retired Jason Heyward to earn a two inning save.
So the Mets kept rolling, helped in part by the questionable decision by the Cub third base coach to try to score Marisnick all the way from first base in the ninth. It doesn’t get any easier for the Cubs on Wednesday when they have to contend with Jacob deGrom on the mound.
One correction: Pillar did not “whirl”. He threw the ball quickly across his body in a very accurate and effective throw back to the infield. Nice to see the Mets execute and make the play that routinely would be done against them in the past. As far as I can remember, only the ’86 Mets were very good at nailing baserunners on these kinds of plays, otherwise the Mets usually lost the base-running/outfeld assist game.
Wilson Ramos would have dropped the throw…
Mets are looking more and more like a team that believes in itself, forging an identity… gotta give Rojas credit for that.
Executing a fundamental play to perfection almost certainly made the difference between a win and a loss last night, although they would have had their shot in the bottom of the ninth. Plus, it pumps up the team and the fans.
I don’t think the send sign was as egregious as GKR made it out to be. Most teams can’t execute that play with much dependability.
Walker has been just a fabulous addition to the team so far, he and Stroman’s contributions are a big part of the reason why they are in first place.
Was there a “send” sign, though? Gary & Keith seemed to think Marisnick ran through a “stop” sign.
I’m not sorry they let Marisnick walk at the end of last year.
Very tough stretch for the Mets coming up.
Th Nationals this weekend with no Scherza or Strasborg.
The Braves with depleted pitching staff.
The Phillies with hobbled Harper (back) and Segura, their MVP and Met killer (groin)
and the Yankees in there as well, all before July 8.
If the team can play tough in the next two weeks, we start looking toward the trade deadline and people start thinking about the post-season… Marlins would be sellers… Marte! Cubs have to decide about Bryant. … wow.
Rojas is a moron.
12 straight retired. 92 pitches. No brainer Walker should have started the 8th inning and got the chance to at least 1 or 2 more outs.
Ripple effect: The Mets could have had a PH in the bottom of the 8th when it was 1st and 2nd one out. If you had to use Lugo to get 1 or 2 outs in the 8th could have double switched him in. If you didn’t have to use him in the 8th you would have had a fresh Lugo for the 9th instead of a tiring one.
Name and I commented in the Chatter that we didn’t like pulling Walker.
The above ripple effect shows that Rojas indeed made a mistake by not using a double switch whenever Lugo entered the game.
The one mistake that didn’t surface was that May was the next option and warming in the bullpen.
I don’t think Rojas is a moron but these instances highlight are his shortcomings.
5 games ahead, first place without full strength. Scott/Alderson have assembled a deep and talented roster.
It strikes me that, given the concern about starter innings coming off the shorted 2020 season, that 90 pitches is the new 100 pitches.
That may be Rojas reasoning, but since it’s not backed by any data or science, i will continue to rail against that belief.
I agree.
It was a nail-biter for sure. The play at home was super dramatic.
On a side note: Wilson Ramos was designated for assignment yesterday.
Very astute comment about the double-switch… so true and so important. Winning games tends to obscure questionable moves by the manager, and Rojas is getting a lot of mileage out of team’s success. But in all fairness, we New Yorkers skewer him for losses, so he deserves some kudos if they win.
No one makes 100% good decisions… many are 51-49 in outcome… I guess the results are as good a barometer as any. Lugo muddled through and the team got the W… Rojas is brilliant!
Wobbit I think your comment about many decisions being 51-49 is right on. You can often make a case either way. I would have liked to see Walker go out for the 8th but I don’t have a huge issue with not sending him out at that point (I would have had a big problem if May replaced Lugo and started the 9th). I don’t think Rojas is a moron. I think he gets second guessed every time they lose as you mentioned, but anyone can second guess. Considering the injuries the Mets have dealt with, being in first place by 5 games should get him some credit.
“Considering the injuries the Mets have dealt with, being in first place by 5 games should get him some credit”
1. Everyone agrees that a pitcher W-L record is utterly useless in terms of evaluating a pitcher, so why would you judge a manager by the team W-L record?
2. The fact that they are in first place by 5 games is also a product of the other teams in the division not playing well. What of instead the Mets had the same record but the Braves played much better and were 3 games ahead of the Mets? Makes no sense to judge a manager on how other teams are faring.
3. Rojas isn’t picking the replacement players. They’re being given to him and he has no choice but to play them because they are the only healthy bodies to have. This is also not a good criteria to judge him either because he’s not making any decisions and the fact that they are performing or not performing has nothing to do with Rojas.
Rojas is a fucking idiotic moron who needs to be fired asap.
He’s a smart guy, but has no experience. There is no substitute for experience.
I just don’t agree. I’ve had different opinions on how I would use some players at times but for the most part I don’t have major issues with most of his moves. I realize there’s subjectivity in the decisions that any manager makes and also that I don’t have access to the same information that Rojas does. I have no idea whether he is being dictated a game plan that says no more than 90 pitches, what the pitcher is telling him, etc. I respect your opinion but have a different one.
Pillar’s throw was impressive, since he was moving from left to right and then threw leftwards to Guillorme.
The top three starters have the following ERA+ numbers so far this year:
deGrom 687
Walker 187
Stroman 166
Wow!
Managers lose more games than they win. I’d hazard that over 162 games, a bad manager costs his team 10 games in the win column. So far, I wild say Rojas has lost 2-3 games that maybe the team should or should have won.
By the same token, managers are somewhat responsible for their teams playing well. They put players in good positions to succeed, whether it be in the lineup, in key points of the game, and of course, managing pitchers. So far one has to acknowledge that the Mets have over-achieved…
Need I remind anyone, as we sit here 9 games over .500, that we would have killed for that in the past few seasons… I distinctly remember being stuck 7-10 games under .500 and not being able to move the needle. Rojas is 40% towards a pretty darned good season. The next trial by fire just ahead.