If you like crisp baseball and you missed this game, consider yourself fortunate. In a game where not much was expected because the Mets were throwing Trevor Williams into an impossible situation, the Mets failed to reach even those modest goals, as they fell to the Diamondbacks, 5-2, Saturday night in Arizona.
Williams didn’t get much defensive support from his infield and his pitches weren’t all that great, either. It led to the D’Backs scoring four runs in the first three innings. While the Mets’ relievers performed better than they did yesterday, the offense just couldn’t get much going all game.
It didn’t help that the Mets had three straight lefty batters in the bottom of the order, including the struggling Dominic Smith and Robinson Cano batting back-to-back. Smith did have a double and Cano was gifted an infield hit on a ball fielded by the pitcher where the throw would have beat him by five steps if it had only been on target. But otherwise, those two had non-competitive ABs.
Old baseball wisdom is that you’re going to win 1/3 of your games and lose 1/3 of your games no matter what. It’s what you do with the other 1/3 that determines your season. This was one of those games that was simply a loss from the start. Nothing more to do than shuffle this one sideways and look to get back on the winning track tomorrow and claim their fifth straight series to open the season.
Gut Reaction: Williams didn’t seize his opportunity. He was a passable 5th starter with the Cubs. He should get more multiple innings in low leverage situations. He was stale.
McNeil has a .284 BA and .745 vs LHP yet he was bury in the batting order in even PH in the late innings. ???
Rodriquez is pitching well and getting back from oblivion.
Medina struck out the side.
Let’s get another series win with Megill pitching today.
Cano getting hit by batted ball while standing close to bag at 2B sure looked like his Willie Mays falling-down-in-CF moment.
Buck’s face on that one.
I like that Buck clearly dislikes losing.
Ouch!
This ices the cake that Wobbit produced in the Game Chatter last night on Cano.
After a great spring Dom Smith looks like he is trying to play his way off the team. Granted, he only has about 28 ABs but he’s done basically nothing at the plate. You can say just about the same thing about McCann and Nido but at least when they are in they have a huge role behind the plate. Cano is simply awful, and slow and unproductive. They are stuck with his salary but not with the requirement to play him. JD Davis and the clean shaven Guillorme are also off to awful starts. The only solace is that these are bench players and not starters and it seems with the DH there is far less need for pinch hitters.
It is so true that it is that other third of the games that decides your destiny and we are off to a good start. And we need to remember that even the lowly DBacks, playing in division that has become hugely competitive with the other 4 teams currently playing at a .625 or better clip, have MLB quality starters. Chalk this game up in the one third of the losers and let’s see how Megill does in the rubber game. We do face Bumgarner today and he’s off to a good start. LGM
Expanding the “1/3 Games Destiny’s Theory ” I thinking it’s less.
In every 10% of the games, which is 16 games of the schedule, if a team just wins only one game more than .500 % then they would have a record of 9-7. Extrapolated it would be 90 wins in this season. Since 2012, when the playoffs were expanded, a 90 win season guaranteed a playoff berth in the NL. Just one win more every 16 games is the difference of mediocrity and the playoffs.
This makes alot of sense. You need to do this by beating up bad teams and not have tour bullpen blow four run leads and lose Luke they did to the Phillies a couple if weeks ago. I still say we need another good reliever now and not wait until the trade deadline.
I love hearing all the theories. I agree with both mathematical assessments. Another theory could be about wining each series. As long as you can win a series, you increase your position in the standings. With around 50 series, winning every series puts the team around 105 wins.
The Mets are in a lull. The offense seems stale and the team seems like it is stuck without air in the tires this week. I know you all will hate this, but I point at Cano. Just as we here at 360 can’t understand why he is playing, so are his teammates. It causes consternation at best and dissension at worst. Continue playing Cano and Brodie VW continues to sink this team… Cut out the cancer and watch the Eppler/Buck team find itself.
Meanwhile, Tylor Megill has something to say today. If his team can escape the desert with the series and move to St.Louis with a chance to regroup, he puts a notch on his belt: a stopper notch. Starting pitchers often are asked to rescue a team, and even at this point in the season and this point in his career, a pitcher’s true character starts to emerge. My gut says he is headed for big things… today we get a huge clue.
In spring training Showalter explained that Cano’s role would be one of coach, backup third baseman, backup 2B, occasional DH. What changed that? I’d love to know. If it’s Marte, well, then he’s our new Lindor trying to call the shots. But, if it’s Cohen saying, “we can’t cut him and have him be productive on another team while we are paying him, like the Angels did Pujols”, I totally get that. Too, Cano has always been a notoriously slow starter. This must be a huge headache for the manager and Front Office.
They have to play Cano enough to warrant any move they choose to make down the road. It makes sense. Play him a lot. If he fails, he’s gone and no one can protest. If he succeeds, he contributes. If he gets injured, problem suspended. They have little choice… if they don’t play him they prolong the tenure.
Marte Scmarte. He’ll be quietly glad too if they cut Cano and the Mets are better as a result… and is there any doubt about that?
Sure Buck hates this. He inherited this problem but it will not last much beyond 50 games. Hopefully less. Dom Smith would be the next concern. If I were Billy Eppler, I would be spinning my wheels non-stop.