Mets Game 62: Loss to Cubs
Cubs 6 Mets 3
Shaun Marcum loses his eighth without a win as the Mets fall for the ninth time in their last eleven contests.
Mets Game Notes
This time, Marcum was not a hard-luck loser. For Marcum to succeed, he must have pinpoint control, and in this game, command escaped him. In fact he was way off target, which makes me wonder if his elbow is barking again.
Curious — did you think the Mets had any chance to win after David DeJesus hit the three-run triple?
Daniel Murphy slapped two RBI singles to provide 66% of the Mets runs. With a runner on third, Murphy is lethal, because all he does is try to make contact and swat the ball toward a hole or just over the infield; in that way, he reminds me very much of Rod Carew (I’m sure I’ve written this before). I wish more MLB hitters would take that approach with a man on third — especially with two outs. Why guys are swinging from their heels with two outs and men in scoring position makes no sense to me.
Very strange to see the Cubs play the infield in with a man on third and a five-run lead in the bottom of the third inning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that, at any level of baseball. I suppose that’s indicative of how little faith Chicago manager Dale Sveum has in Edwin Jackson and/or his bullpen.
Bad baserunning by David Wright, who pulled a Daniel Murphy and was thrown out at 3B by Alfronso Soriano while attempting to go first-to-third on a RBI single by Lucas Duda in the 7th. It would have been a decent gamble if the Mets were winning, but while behind that late in the game, every out is precious and one must be conservative. Keith Hernandez suggested that Wright was “trying to take advantage of Soriano’s popgun arm.” Hmm … except, the one “plus” that Soriano has in the field has is an above-average arm. He’s no Ellis Valentine out there, but it’s erroneous to characterize his arm as “pop-gun” — as he proved by making a strong throw to nail Wright by about eight feet. My feeling is that Soriano “tricked” Wright by going toward the ball to his left, then following his momentum and spinning completely around to make the throw. Though, had he picked up the ball and tried to change direction without spinning (keeping the play in front of him), I still think he would’ve thrown out Wright — though it would’ve been much closer.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Cubs do it again at 1:10 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Jonathon Niese will take the mound against Scott Feldman.
I mean do the Reds have these issues? the Nationals? the Padres? Anybody?
I was going to write earlier this afternoon that maybe they can keep Mitchell in the MLB bullpen and send Hawkins away. At least Mitchell did ok in AAA and can pitch everyday…
Just the thought that a starting pitcher on six days rest may hurt himself throwing 105 pitches in the 78-83 mph range is amazing, and shows the mindset towards this collection of arms.
I know Alderson thinks he will trade him, but just what you said will make Marcum being moved for anything worth much a long shot because 29 other GMs are thinking that also. I wouldn’t baby any of these guys. Nolan Ryan says that if they cannot go seven innings, he doesn’t want him on his team. That’s winning; we have Goodwill.
Now not everyone is RA Dickey, and thats the point. Most washed up guys are…washed up, and they will prove that to you again. But you can’t find that out until you give them a shot. I have no problem with the thought process of trying out Marcum this season. Whats the downside?, we stink anyway with or without him.
The point is, mets have nothing to lose by going to the scrap heap and seeing if they can turn nothing into an asset–it hasn’t worked out, and thats no surprise, no need to blame anyone for anything here.
Duda may not know any other way, and Byrd has hit that way his whole career. However, Davis and Ankiel were the same way, so check out how many players in the everyday lineup (until last weekend) were all or nothing.