The old Earl Weaver maxim was pitching, defense and the three-run homer. The Mets had two of those things Friday night but the missing three-run blast was the difference, as the Mets fell to the Marlins, 2-1.
David Peterson wasn’t especially sharp but was the beneficiary of three fine defensive play. Pete Alonso made a nice catch to start a double play, Francisco Lindor made a leaping play that saved a run and Jeff McNeil made a heads-up play, running down a ball that hit off Alonso’s glove and throwing out a runner at the plate.
When it mattered, Peterson made some good pitches and he finished the night with 1 ER in 5 IP. The only run was a homer by Jorge Soler. And Soler made a couple of nice defensive plays of his own.
Tommy Hunter came on to give two scoreless innings. But John Curtiss gave up a solo homer in the eighth inning, which proved to be a huge insurance run, as Alonso hit a solo homer in the ninth for the Mets’ only run.
The Mets had all sorts of trouble versus Jesus Luzardo, until the Marlins’ starter ran out of gas in the sixth inning. It’s a new world where pitchers are coming out because their legs are shot, not their arms. It’s an unintended result of the new pitch clock, as hurlers have to move faster than they’re accustomed to and their legs just aren’t in the necessary shape.
Guys who the Mets need to get … some … offense from – Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar and Tommy Pham – went a combined 0-8. But they had plenty of company, as the Mets had just four hits, two by Starling Marte.
Gut Reaction: great defense, good pitching, heads up game play but not enough offense to win. McNeil had a heads up play gunning down a run. Vogelbak had a Hustle double, also. Jazz Chisholm is a shaky centerfielder. Pearson did his job with the help of the defense. Hunter pitched two scoreless innings. It was surprising that Hunter pitched two innings. Unfortunately John Curtis gave up the deciding home run. I’m enjoying the tempo of the game with the new rules.
Peterson did a good job keeping us in the game as did our defense. Can’t win them all and hats off to the Marlin’s hurlers who mostly kept us off the board. Seems only Marte got the memo to keep hitting. McNeil throwing out the runner and Lindor’s acrobatics were certainly highlights. Sure, Pete getting a hit with the bags loaded was what we all hoped for but with Canha batting behind him, it’s not like he was going to get a pitch in his sweet spot. Yes, it’s only game 2 and not time to panic but Pham adds nothing to this team and you can’t win getting nothing out of the bottom third of the order. Tylor Megill steps in today after being bitter about initially being sent down. Time for him to step up as Peterson did. I am not impressed with a 2:09 game. You don’t even have time to grab a drink between innings. I see pitchers throwing far less pitches and the bullpen being more important than ever as the starters will run out of gas as their legs fade.
I’m kind of liking the quicker pace but I wasn’t happy when SNY came back from commercial to show a Marlins HR just leaving the park. The networks need to get their timing right with the new rules.
I agree.
BTW – this comment didn’t hit the site immediately because there was a typo in your email addy.
Yes sorry. I realized that after I posted it and that’s why the comment showed up again.
I’m kind of liking the quicker pace but I wasn’t happy when SNY came back from commercial to show a Marlins HR just leaving the park. The networks need to get their timing right with the new rules.
The commercial breaks are the same length as before, aren’t they?.
They are. But batters are getting in the box quicker and there’s just not the lag time that apparently the networks were counting on before the first pitch is thrown.
While I wanted to see Curtiss in action, I did wonder why Buck was bringing him in to a 1-0 game instead of Ottavino.
Escobar still looks bad against RH pitchers and signing Pham was a mistake, I fear. Could Vientos be worse than him?
Love the Marte signing though.
And Alonso may be on track now.
My guess is that Buck was holding Ottavino for the save in the ninth.