World Series Games 1 and 2 Discussion
Per the suggestion of Argonbunnies, let’s have some discussion about the first two games.
I’ll open with a few conversation starters …
Game 1:
– We’ve discussed here time and again that defense and fundamentals — i.e., “the little things” — are just as important as hitting for a championship club. That said, when Yoenis Cespedes blows the first ball hit to him, and doesn’t make up for it with his bat, well …
– Speaking of that first pitch of the initial inning, what was most surprising and/or detrimental: a) the fact Matt Harvey threw a fastball over the heart of the plate to a batter who swings at the first pitch of every at-bat; b) the fact that a fairly routine fly ball was misplayed into an inside-the-park homerun; c) the fact that the play was scored as a homer instead of a four-base error?
– Kelly Johnson is the best DH option?
– Why wasn’t Jonathon Niese brought out for a third inning of relief?
Game 2:
– If Jacob deGrom nor Harvey can stop the KC offense, who can?
Overall / In General:
– Why hasn’t Steven Matz been given the ball yet? What are the Mets waiting for?
– What’s up with Daniel Murphy‘s visible complaints about the strike zone? Does he have a legitimate beef, or is he not seeing the ball as well as he did previously in the postseason and is that why he’s suddenly cold?
– Can the Mets win if Cespedes doesn’t hit?
Again, these are merely conversation starters. Feel free to respond or start your own topic.
I like the next 2 pitching matchups, if the Mets can win both its a best of three series with Harvey, deGrom and Thor.
Found it very interesting to see him flash signs during Game 1 with an extreme head-tilt, eyes focused on them……as he’s never visibly done this to such an extent.
Not odd that FOX never mentioned anything, since their coverage sucks arse through a straw —- but was wondering if there’s any real “angle” on the Royals stealing signs/picking up something the Met pitchers have been tipping.
Noticed this long before any of the hooplah being made of the “Royals seem to know what’s coming” —- around the time Flores visited the mound, and they decided to go to no signs for a bit.
Any thoughts on what’s going on there, Joe?
Granted, this goes on at every level of the game —- but are we seeing THAT tough a Royal lineup, where no one’s going to swing through a fastball…..or will we possibly see a different story start to unfold away from Kaufman?
No doubt, these guys are hitting unprecedented amounts of innings now – and throw in the extra hitter during the AL games…….vs. a balanced lineup – and anything starts to become a tougher task.
Especially when no one’s looking to hit the ball, at all – throughout our lineup. Could be a short series soon.
This is their real test, they could not put that behind them for game 2. Can they put it behind them for game 3? Hopefully the day off and playing at home helps. Real mets fans, this is probably one of the few moments you can actually impact your team’s success—they are mentally not in the right place and need your support on friday. I see a lot of people jumping ship after losing 2 games—don’t be that guy/gal!
I’m honestly not sure if they can turn it around, but I’m hopeful that they can, and it will say a lot about their character if they can win a couple in NY, regardless of how the series ends.
LGM!
1. While it only matters for the record books, that was no inside the park HR, it was a 4 base error. First pitch FB was fine but location certainly could have been better.
2. Royals certainly have a “put the ball in play” approach, but hitting popups and weak grounders is more than welcome. Last night, after the first time through the order, they were hitting everything hard
3. Agree that Familia’s BS is a bigger factor right now than the Royals ability to hit Mets top SP (since it would be 1-1 even with Royals’ dominance), but if the Mets can hit the lesser Royal SP nothing else will matter.
4. It certainly looked like the Royals hitters knew what was coming last night, somehow.
5. FWIW, when Fox lost power and MLB network was put up, there was a noticeable improvement in the coverage.
6. I do think the total innings thrown by Harvey and deGrom is impacting them. Not an excuse, this is the WS, just unchartered waters.
7. It’s now a big uphill climb, but hopefully they can make a series out of it.
New York crowd should play a part in rattling the youngster.
Tip of the cap to KC. They took the win right out of our pocket in game 1 and they raked yesterday. But tomorrow is a new day. This ain’t over. lets get hot against these two.
LETS GO METS!
After beating the Dodgers, I was doing a pretty good job of looking at the next two rounds as a pure bonus. But then Harvey got us within 3 outs of a spectacular story and a chance to leave the home crowd feeling great (not to mention a chance to send deGrom and possibly Syndergaard out there one more time to try to win it all), and I really, really wanted tonight’s game.
And then Harvey shat the bed. I’ll remember d’Arnaud setting up on the corner for a 3-2 slider to Cain, leading off the 9th with a 2-run lead, every bit as long as I’ll remember Wainwright’s curveball to Beltran. Magic turned into tragedy right there. Do I deserve this for continuing to be a Mets fan?
Maybe Duda’s bad throw on Hosmer’s dash counts too, but I was 100% sure the Royals were going to tie it after Hosmer got to second with no outs, so I didn’t actually feel any extra deflation there. I just figured the Royals would hit three ground balls and one of them would find a hole due to our infielders’ lack of range. Three ground balls and one of them resulting in a bad throw is pretty similar.
First of all, the playoffs are a crapshoot, and with 8 playoff teams after the wild card game, there’s basically a 1-in-8 shot that any given team goes all the way. So, if the Mets make another SEVEN postseason appearances, odds are that they’ll claim a ring! Do you think we’re so stacked that we’re making the postseason the next 7 years? Of course not. NO team can safely expect that, except maybe the ones that simply don’t stop spending until they’re so loaded they can’t fail.
Secondly, the Mets pushed their pitchers hard this year. Rightly so! A title shot is worth it! But chances are good that some of our best guys were pitching through fatigue, and pitching through fatigue is when guys get hurt. If NONE of the following guys suffers some sort of impairment after all this, I will be STUNNED: Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Familia, Niese, Reed, Matz. DeGrom probably showed the most warning signs, followed by Familia (who got grounders, but completely stopped striking people out).
Third, the Mets are losing some players who will create major voids. Colon and Murphy and Clippard didn’t put up All-Star seasons, but they were significantly better than replacement players. Cespedes carried us for a month. Uribe and Johnson changed the team by giving us dangerous subs/bench. All are free agents. A bunch of guys who didn’t contribute this year but might have going forward are also FAs — Parnell, Blevins, O’Flaherty and probably Mejia. That’s a lot to replace!
Fourth, the cost of simply paying the guys we still have goes way up. Duda, Reed, Tejada, Torres, Familia and Harvey are all due for arbitration raises, some of them huge. The price of Cuddyer, Niese and Lagares goes up by a combined $8 mil.
Fifth, the finances for maintaining, replacing, and upgrading the roster are unclear. Some view Alderson’s trade deadline activity as a new direction for a franchise finally willing to spend; others view it as a result of Wright’s injury and Mejia’s suspension saving the team money. The Wilpons’ Willets Point development plans were rejected a few months back; I’m sad to say I find the pessimists more credible than the optimists on this one. Don’t expect payroll to jump up, especially since “be merely decent for 4 months” worked out so well in 2015.
Sixth, although our old-young balance is solid overall, we are losing some ground due to age. Wright hasn’t been David Wright since 2013, and managing his back sounds like sort of battle you rarely win. Granderson was our best player from April to November and will be 35 next March. Lagares isn’t quite the athlete he was in 2014.
Seventh, we’ve already met all our minor league reinforcements. If there’s anyone who might help us in 2016, we just watched them this week. The one possible addition is Dilson Herrera, who wasn’t bad this year, but certainly didn’t make anyone think he’s ready to be a big MLB asset now. Then there’s Zack Wheeler and Josh Edgin, who might return at midseason, or not, and might be decent pitchers, or not.
Add it all up, and you’ve got to wonder, who’s going to get hurt, and who will we be unable to replace, and how many John Mayberrys will we field due to budget restrictions, and what are the odds the Nats declare themselves done after the Scherzer contract and roll over for us again? A lot has to go right just for us to be one of those teams with a 12% shot in October. And then, suppose Kershaw has TWO good games against us instead of just one? Suppose we don’t have one guy mount a record HR barrage? Getting as far as we just did is always tough to bet on, and 2016 is no exception.
Beyond that, our good young guys just get more expensive, and we just traded Meisner and Fulmer, and we gave away our 2015 pick for Cuddyer, and none of our remaining farmhands project as difference-makers anytime soon. Unless Matz and Syndergaard turn into aces AND d’Arnaud finds a new way to stay healthy AND Conforto fulfills his best-case projection AND Alderson wins the bidding and the lottery on some free agents, our best-case scenario is to be a team like the Angels, who have bounced around the playoff periphery 3 out of the last 4 years, actually making it once. Which, with average luck, should get us a title in… 2043.
Then, I awoke to read Argon’s manifesto above. Nothing like starting this offseason with that reality check.
Sometime hopefully soon, I will come to appreciate 2015 as a good season, one that moves the franchise into the group of teams expected to compete for a championship for the next 3 or so seasons. But, unlike Argon, that Duda throw was a stake through my baseball heart, and one that I will never forget. It was my Waterloo, or Buckner grounder, even surpassing Murph’s miscue from the night before.
That said, I may differ from Argon in believing there is more good than bad ahead. Sure, DW’s back and the overtaxed arms on the young guns is of concern, but they do have a solid core and should clearly have the resources to properly address the holes, even those left by Murphy and Cespedes departures. This hot stove should be interesting and more fun that those of recent seasons, because even I think it will be hard to fudge up this squad before opening day 2016.
I appreciate your more balanced take.
It was tongue and cheek. After that game 5 I felt exactly like you did when you wrote it.
Next time the Mets get to an LCS, let’s root for at least 6 games.