Max Scherzer was terrific and after a bullpen meltdown in the eighth inning, the Mets scored in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Starling Marte to beat the Yankees, 3-2, and sweep the two-game series.
Scherzer mostly cruised thru the first four innings and then had to work harder in his final three frames. But he was successful, in no small part due to taming Aaron Judge, who was 0-4 with three strikeouts against the Mets’ starter. Scherzer, pitching on his 38th birthday, finished with 7 IP, 0 ER, 2 BB and 6 Ks.
The Mets handed a 2-0 lead to David Peterson in the eighth inning. But Peterson started with a four-pitch walk and then served up a gopher ball that tied the game. One batter later, he was relieved by Seth Lugo, who hasn’t exactly thrived when coming on mid-inning this season.
But Lugo had terrific stuff, looking like the guy from 2019. His curve had great break and his fastball was at 97. He got out of the eighth inning and came back for the ninth. A two-out hit brought Judge up to the plate but Lugo got him to ground into a force play to end the inning.
The Yankees brought in Clay Holmes, their best reliever, to face the heart of the Mets order in the eighth inning. And Holmes kept the Mets off the board. But that meant bringing in a lefty to face Eduardo Escobar in the ninth.
Escobar, with a giant split with him favoring LHP, delivered a double to put the Yankees in a bind. Tomas Nido successfully sacrificed Escobar to third. Brandon Nimmo followed with a dribbler that the pitcher did not field cleanly, putting runners on the corners and setting up Marte for his game-winning hit.
The Mets had jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a solo homer by Pete Alonso in the second inning and an RBI single by Francisco Lindor in the third, which brought home NIdo, who opened the inning with a double.
Mets had three extra-base hits and all three were involved in the scoring. Meanwhile, the Yankees hit a homer but couldn’t come up with a hit with RISP. They were 0-7 tonight and 0-15 in the series.
Great win tonight in a playoff packed house atmosphere. You hit it on the head with Max being terrific. Hoping Jake is really back next week. Hits up and down the order except for McNeil was the sign of a good team. Striking Judge out three times was huge. Lugo was huge tonight. And Alonso, does it yet again. Now off to Miami where we need to walk out with another series win. Bassist, Carasco and Walker give the Mets a strong chance of winning each of games if we keep hitting. Even Vogelbach got a hit and a couple of walks. So far a decent addition. Hate days off when they are playing well.
Gut Reaction: Escobar delivered the clutch hit to start the game winning rally while batting right-handed. Lugo was nasty last night. I was surprised that Peterson pitched in that situation because he hasn’t relieved in high pressure, late inning situations in the past. It shows that the Mets need to obtain a late inning reliever. It was a great win, thank you Mr Alonso, Lindor, Scherzer, Lugo and especially Marte.
Let’s win two or three from Miami LGM
Awesome to see the old Seth Lugo out there, hitting 97 for the first time (?) in a long while.
It’s not how he’s used, it’s how he pitches. But to me, given his need for rest, this is the ideal.
I guess we won’t know if Diaz would have been used in a save situation, but good he could be rested. Still just July.
On Peterson: I think Buck is sincerely & almost sentimentally giving Peterson an opportunity (that he’s earned) to take that job in the pen. The deadline looms. It would be nice if he was the answer — but it’s not looking good. One scenario is to go down to Syracuse and work as a late-inning reliever. Learn that pattern. My suspicion is that his stuff & temperament makes him by far best suited as a starter.
I also think that Peterson is an awesome trade chip.
I left it alone in the article but since you’re doubling down here – let’s be honest and say that the Mets were not using Diaz in a save situation in the 9th inning.
The broadcasters last night – who talked to Showalter – said that he was likely unavailable. Showalter has not used Diaz four times in five days all season. I’d wager that Showalter hasn’t used any reliever that way this year. That might have been standard operating procedure for Luis Rojas but one of the thing that separates Showalter from those guys who managed the Mets before him is his understanding that using anyone four times in five days is a terrible way to run a pen. This was a July game after all, not the pennant-clincher on the last day of the season.
If Diaz was available, Showalter would have used Lugo in the eighth. Instead, he was holding Lugo for the ninth. It didn’t work out and he had to adjust on the fly.
And speaking of Lugo, I’m sure you saw in The Athletic about how he and Jeremy Hefner identified a mechanical issue and have tried to address that. Maybe his arm isn’t held together with spit and duct tape and about to fall off in any minute, huh
You might be right about Diaz. I don’t think it’s been determined. Up by one in the 9th, Buck might have gone to him.
I read the article in the Athletic. It also echoed much of what I’ve seen and said this season: His stuff has looked bad all year, inconsistent, no sharpness, no bite — and the results have borne that out.
Maybe it’s just a mechanical issue. Maybe he was juiced by the atmosphere in the stadium.
We know he’s useless for back-to-back outings and needs more recovery time that typical relievers. We know he’s had a labrum tear for some years. We know he had surgery after 2020 season (I think). We know he’s N/A on a regular basis.
He’s doesn’t look right to my eyes — doesn’t strike me as 100% healthy — but he was awesome last night. It would be fantastic if he can do that on a regular basis.
You always point to use and like to blame managers. But he’s simply not been very good this year and many times has taken the mound with nothing but duct tape, chewing gum and heart.
If he was healthy, why does he have to be handled like a Faberge egg?
Most of the time it’s good to be away from the clubhouse and the press briefings as you’re not worried about relationships and maintaining access. But in a case like this, it’s certainly not an advantage being 100+ miles away.
Lugo has not been as good as he was in 2019 this year. But he’s been no worse than average and a lot better than that if used with rest.
Is it an injury? That’s certainly a possibility, one which I don’t dismiss. We have some evidence now that it’s at least partially (if not completely) a mechanical thing. If it turns out to be purely mechanical – maybe he can be used with the same restrictions as every other reliever in the pen and no more. That would be ideal.
My M.O. is always to look at what could be done differently if we’re not getting the desired results. No one else is under any requirement to look at things the way I do.
Yet I feel I made a pretty strong case to use Lugo in a particular fashion, one not outrageously difficult to implement nor one that would put the rest of the relievers in the pen in some awkward position. It would certainly be less stressful for other relievers to use Lugo the way I proposed than the way TC used Scott Rice and the other lefty relievers, pitching them for such a small number of innings, leaving other relievers to pick up the slack.
You can argue that the sample size wasn’t large enough. But it never is with a reliever during the year. My take is that there was absolutely no reason not to try it, to see if the results continued. When we’re talking about paying the deadline cost for whatever flavor of the day, getting a free upgrade is a good thing. And when he was used in a non-optimal way – and the results continued to be bad – there’s no reason not pointing that out.
They moved on from Cano
They sent Smith to the minors
They gave more playing time to Guillorme
Those were all things done in short samples. Just because the sample size isn’t of ideal length doesn’t mean that it can’t possibly be right. It would cost nothing to try what I proposed with Lugo and it cost something to ignore. And for a guy as smart and as prepared as Showalter – it was just a surprise, one that I felt worthwhile to point out.
It’s worthwhile to point out how McNeil has done after a great start. It’s worthwhile to point out how Nimmo not being patient for large stretches has hurt him. And it’s worthwhile to point out how effective Lugo has been with a day of rest and starting the inning clean.
You ask why it was necessary to treat him that way if he was healthy. I don’t know the answer why. But, in my opinion, the why isn’t nearly as important as the what – in this case the bottom line.
Let’s hope that this mechanical tweak is the cure. And that will be your why.
One other thing:
I am prepared to be outbid for Contreras. I still want him — and want him to catch 2x a week — DH other days — build relationships with pitchers — but don’t want to give up insane price tag. We’ll all differ on where that line is, especially if it includes Robertson. Of the top prospects, I would include either Vientos or Mauricio and some lower-level bodies (and Dom, please!), but I can’t give away both of those guys.
I’m still not moving Ramirez, Baty, Alvarez, Allen.
So maybe the option is go hard on a top reliever or two and grab Mancini and live with “Defense First” at catcher position.