Mets Game 101: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 5 Mets 4
Sunk below .500 by the Fish.
Mets Game Notes
Dillon Gee struggled from the beginning, allowing the leadoff batter to reach base in all five frames he pitched. His fastball was flat, his curveball had no break, and he couldn’t throw his change-up for a strike. It’s generally difficult to retire MLB hitters when none of your secondary stuff is working and they can wait on an average fastball. It was actually remarkable that Gee managed to go as long as he did; if there was a positive, it was his ability to work out of jams — though, he did get some help from the defense.
Meanwhile, Marlins starter Anibal Sanchez had the exact opposite kind of day — all four of his pitches were working, and he had the Mets’ number. His curveball was especially effective, with good downward bite. Interestingly, he gave up 11 hits in 7 innings, but it didn’t seem like that many for whatever reason.
Gaby Sanchez didn’t do anything against the Mets in this game, but he didn’t have to — not with sluggers Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton hitting moon shots. Well, at least the Mets stopped Sanchez.
Good news: David Wright is on a rampage. He had another three hits including a homer and a double.
Manny Acosta may have had his most effective and impressive performance as a Met. He threw two perfect innings, striking out three, and was in line for a victory before Bobby Parnell came in and blew the ballgame.
Next Mets Game
The Mets move on to Cincinnati on Monday to face the Reds for four games. First game begins at 7:10 PM and pits R.A. Dickey against Mike Leake.
But as for the leg kick – ABSOLUTELY, and good catch on your part.
I have been befuddled by the leg kick — it never made any sense to me. When you are hitting 25-30 HR a year while also hitting .300+, why change anything? The leg kick causes a number of issues that maybe I’ll get into at a future date.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14117969
and here’s the rbi single he hit saturday night
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17204961
in addition to the fact that i think he’s somewhat closer to the plate (which should in theory help him hit outside pitches like the hr he hit today) he also appears to be more crouched in his stance. your thoughts?
since I came from Germany to the US, I am still kind of new to Baseball. Yet, I think I understand enough of the basic rules to enjoy games. – and I do enjoy your blog a lot, since it gives me good background info.
I was actually hopping mad, when they changed Acosta against Parnell. Acosta had thrown so well – is there any reason why they would not let him go on?
However, Acosta rarely pitches more than one inning at a time. In fact, he often pitches less than an inning. So the fact he threw as many as two innings was unusual for him, and he’s not conditioned to go much further. He threw about 25 pitches, and that’s about his limit for one day.
So, that’s why he didn’t stay in the game — he isn’t conditioned to throw much more at one time.
So that Acosta was finished after 25 pitches explains it.
Wasn’t really aware of that, although after seeing some slow-motion videos of some Major League pitchers I can see how 25 pitches is already a lot. I’d probably be done after trying to throw one or two pitches for the week… 😉
And Parnell isn’t that bad this season?, so today it was just tough luck. This game truly breaks your heart.
Your comments reminded of when I was trying to explain the game of baseball to my European cousins.
The one thing they could never understand was how a pitcher could be so good one day, and terrible another day. They were convinced that the pitcher was fixing the game.
The concept of a pitcher “not having his good stuff” is still hard to explain.
Agreed, Florian — this game breaks your heart! I think that’s why it is so enjoyed — it pulls you in emotionally and can change dramatically in a very short amount of time.
Thanks for visiting, please continue to do so in the future and please ask more questions — we’re happy to help you learn and understand the game.
The fact we played the fish pretty evenly is somewhat encouraging. I would have put pelfrey alongside sanchez in that his critique is always ‘ he threw well’ but the box score screams otherwise.
As for dillon, he needs to get thru these times and the fact the mets were in the game bodes well.
So to logan morrison and gabby sanchez! Why are everyone elses commodities so great but a vaunted future hall of famer and pennant changer cant net ONE grade prospect….pardon my french but that bull. Beltran for mike minor should be a do it now! Frankly put beltran on the braves he changes that series, on the brewers likewise. Upton is not carlos beltran.
I don’t know enough about those games to say, but enough types of people are “on” one day, “off” another for me to find the confusion to the degree of belief that the person is fixing the game a bit strange.
Gee gutting it out is one reason I and others like the guy. The team will always have starters who will be back-end guys. The gutting it out gives you a chance to win plus makes them more fun. Parnell picked a lousy time to finally fall off the high wire act he balanced on repeatedly of late. But, as I said, the Mets year in, year out play the Marlins and Nats like this. Still, that game stung a tad.
game. While the others have a more constant flow, baseball
becomes more static as the individual duel between a pitcher and hitter takes center stage. The athleticism and nuances of this encounter are more difficult for the unfamiliar to grasp. My late father, an immigrant, could never understand why every pitch wasn’t a curve. To him that had to be the most difficult pitch to hit since it wasn’t going straight.
Funny about the curveball; reminds me of the story of why Sparky Lyle decided to throw a slider every single pitch. Lyle said, “it was the one pitch Ted Williams told me he couldn’t hit” – http://www.onbaseball.com/pitching/the-slider/
I’d say, as I understand, and to add to Norm’s comment here, that one could maybe compare a pitcher to a tennis player who has to constantly hit aces into the corner of his opponents field. To win one game with 3 aces (equivalent to one strikeout) is pretty tough already, and players who do that consistantly until a set or the match is won are extremely rare.
Beato: Hasnt he been a starter in the minors? What are the Mets needs?
Personally I hope he is a starter in the future. I like he cappy, Johan and Gee/RA Dickey going into next year. Parnell isnt the closer, and he looks like he is 2 yrs away. I want to see, Brad Holt and Jenry in a future pen. Then Jenry and Matt Harvey as the top candidates to crack the rotation.
Bobby Parnell two years away? By then he’ll be 29 years old; I should hope he figures it out by the end of this year or early next year.
I want to see Jenrry stay healthy for 6 months before thinking about him as part of the Mets future — in any role. If he doesn’t make adjustments to his mechanics, he will have chronic shoulder issues and will lose his velocity — which right now is his only tool.
Harvey and Holt have yet to be adequate at the AA level. Let’s see them do something in Binghamton before getting excited.
I know, I’m a pessimist. But it’s a cloudy day as I write this.