The Mets used 14 hits to come from behind three separate times and defeat the Dodgers, 8-6, Monday night in L.A. It was the fifth straight win for the Mets, who are now 11-6 on the season.
It was a night of unexpected offensive performances for the Mets. Daniel Vogelbach drives in three runs, two of which came on his first homer of the year. Tomas Nido starts the winning rally in the 7th with a ball with a 107.7 exit value. And Jeff McNeil, who had a terrible series in Oakland, has a three-hit game with two doubles.
The team needed all of that offense because David Peterson served up three gopher balls, two to long-time nemesis Freddie Freeman. The other homer was also to a lefty, which has to raise at least some eyebrows. Mets pitchers have now allowed 25 HR in 17 games.
Brooks Raley relieved Peterson and kept the ball in the park. But he gave up hits to lefties, too, and had to be bailed out by Drew Smith, who entered with two runners on in the eighth inning. Smith struck out his only batter, setting up Adam Ottavino for a 1-2-3 ninth.
Ottavino set down the side in order but he was saved by another fine catch by Brandon Nimmo. It hasn’t reached Juan Lagares love-fest level yet but Gary Cohen is marveling about Nimmo’s defense here the past two games. And Nimmo contributed with the bat, too, as he had three hits, two of the infield variety and a booming double.
Eight different Mets had hits and eight different Mets scored a run. The only player not to record a hit was Francisco Lindor but he both scored and drove in a run on the night and made some nice plays in the field. The only starter not to score a run was Brett Baty but he had an RBI single in the fourth and went 1-4 in his first game for the Mets in 2023.
Nice to see Baty contribute right off the bat and while I am not a fan of Vogelbach as our readers will see later today, he finally came through with a big night at the right time. And Nido gave us offense from the catcher’s spot. Last year these two positions were batting disappointments. Nimmo seems to reward the team on an ongoing basis for that big contract and his plays in the field are inspiring, not to mention game changing. Always love a win at Dodger stadium and it sets us up for a series in just splitting the next two games. Alonso is nearing .300 and really coming into his own. Got to love this win streak.
Nido has a slash of 107/161/107/268 -24 OPS+ which is a negative OPS+. ???? Am I missing something?
OPS+ is calculated so that the average hitter, across all positions, scores 100. It’s also scaled so that a player with a 110 OPS+ is 10% better than the average hitter and a guy with a 90 OPS+ is 10% worse. If a player has a negative OPS+, it means they are performing over 100% below the average hitter. Nido’s -17 OPS+ means he’s 117% worse than the average hitter.
I know what OPS+ means. I was referring to the previous comment “and Nido gave gave us offense from the catchers spot. Last year these were two positions were batting disappointments.” That statement is what I’m questioning. I’m sorry that I didn’t make it clear. Nido is a batting disappointment still.
I read somewhere that pitchers no longer hit in the NL. Perhaps the Mets should DH for the catcher and let the pitchers hit.
Very nice win, by the way. You can’t do it this way every night, but here and there makes a difference. They’ll need to see more of the bats covering for the starting pitching if they are to hang near the top of the division.
Don’t look now, but Brooks Raley has not been impressive in 2023.
We are saved, somewhat, because Robertson handles lefties well.