One of the fundamental questions in baseball is: How do you want to win the game? For the second straight night, Buck Showalter pulled an ace pitcher who wasn’t on the top of his game, only to have the bullpen give up runs. The Mets didn’t have a lead in this one and ended up with a 3-2 loss to the Braves.
After getting ambushed for two runs in the third inning, Jacob deGrom rebounded with three scoreless innings. He didn’t have his best stuff but was battling and no one watching wished that another pitcher was in the game.
deGrom went back out in the seventh inning with the game tied, 2-2. He got the first two batters of the inning and was 2-2 on the third hitter but couldn’t put him away. After two fouls and a ball, deGrom gave up an infield single, one that Bret Baty dove for but couldn’t make the play.
Next up for the Braves was Michael Harris, a batter that deGrom struck out two times previously in the game. But at 95 pitches, easily a season-high, Showalter decided to win the game with his bullpen. He brought on Seth Lugo mid-inning to replace deGrom. Lugo gave up a single up the middle but the runner was off on the pitch and he scored from first base, just beating the relay throw to the plate.
Hats off to the Braves for winning the game with aggressive baserunning.
With most MLB pitchers, removing them when they’re no longer at their best is the right thing to do. However, it’s my opinion that removing deGrom in that situation was a mistake. It’s certainly possible that the Mets were going to lose this game no matter what decision Showalter makes there. My preference would be to keep deGrom in the game, 100 times out of a 100, when all he’s done is give up an infield single.
He was at 95 pitches, it was time to go. He is recovering and you want him healthy in October, not just August. At some point, other have to do their job too.
The throw to the plate that Nimmo made was one of the weakest throws I’ve seen a major league outfielder make. There’s no way Grissom should have scored on that play.
John Harper from SNY, 13 hours ago on Twitter:
“Nimmo said he knew Grissom would be trying to score but admitted he just made sure to throw to Ruf, the cut-off man, rather than turning it loose: “The only thing I wish I had done, maybe, was let it rip to home plate.” No maybe about it. That was the game.”
Nimmo is getting fried today from everybody. Stuff happens.
Gus,
I love Nimmo but this is the show, and that game was huge. He deserves some heat for the throw. It happens, these guys are human. The issue wasn’t whether he threw through, it was that he made a crappy throw to Ruf. That is a play to let rip with a low on-the-fly throw and let the cut-off guy make the decision, every single time…nothing to think about.
In general, it does strike me, albeit anecdotally, that OF throwing has gotten worse over time. Not so much the cannon arm throws/velocity, but the accuracy to the base and especially to hit the cutoff guy in the chest…most of these throws aren’t difficult, even at live speed. The OFers that do this consistently well are the exception…it should be the other way around.
The problem with Nimmo throwing the ball to home plate is the only way he can make a throw that far is to make it a lollipop throw. Two crisp throws to the plate was the best chance at getting the out.
Maybe Nimmo could have charged the ball better. Maybe he could make a better throw to Ruf. But there’s no universe where a Nimmo throw to home from where he fielded the ball is the best option.
We all know Nimmo has a chicken arm. We want players to be Willie Mays and excel at everything but those players are pretty rare. I accept the limitations of his arm. What I find most revolting was his 0-4 with 3 Ks, when two of those ABs came with runners in scoring position.
Reason I am not as hard on him is that I realize that building a winning culture takes lumps. It takes learning to be aggressive but collected, being smart but having learned from mistakes, and it takes being prepared. Obviously, despite Nimmo knowing what was going to happen, he couldn’t get passed doing what he “should do” – hitting the cut-off man – and what his mind was telling him to do.
Reminds me of Daniel Murthy’s base running plays that used to bring him ridicule even from his best friend David Wright, but when he took that extra base in Los Angeles, I didn’t hear anyone scolding him for it. What if the pitcher managed to beat him to third? But, no risk, no glory. Nimmo will need to remember that.
Gut Reaction: This game was a tough loss. You knew that it was going to be difficult night when, in the 3rd inning, they had 1st and 3rd with no outs and didn’t score. The next 2 batters, McCann and Nimmo struck out, without contact to make a productive out, then Marte tapped to the pitcher. A wasted opportunity.
deGrom should Have faced at least one more batter. I know the reason but don’t agree with the reason. deGrom was not out gas. 95 pitches wasn’t a strain. He was not losing his stuff. That situation, in the 7th inning, is what he is paid to do. deGrom should not be taking out , especially in this important game, unless the manager determines that he is losing his stuff. I hate pre- determined pitch counts.
We squandered a few early scoring opportunities. Hats off to the Braves pitchers. Several ways to rationalize the loss but we are still in first place and yes we had two starters go two innings in that series. Big test with Philly next and a bunch of yet to be determined starters after Bassitt. Tough grounder for Baty and it is likely that Escobar would have made that play. Still want to see him continuing at 3B. This is exactly the time to see if he can step up and be this years Conforto. DVR set for the Philly series.
If the Mets continue to see a good performance from Baty, will that further prompt them to consider bringing up Alvarez?
Assumed this would be the topic and take before I logged on and lo and behold. Couldn’t agree more. There’s no reason Jake needs to come out of the game there. He owns Harris. Now, to be fair, Lugo made the pitch, got his ground ball and it was a bit fluky that it went through with the way the defense was set up. Nimmo’s throw was terrible. All of that. But chances are better than 50/50 that DeGrom gets the K and we push that tie game perhaps to extra innings. Plus then Lugo can start the 8th and try to get 6 outs. Oh well. 5-4 vs the Braves over the last 9 is nothing to sneeze at. Hopefully the Astros can handle them a bit while we show up in Philly. Need to keep it at 3.5 games until we hit our easy stretch in September.