Mets Game 130: Win Over Phillies
Mets 5 Phillies 0
Mets finally on the right side of a shutout.
Mets Game Notes
I’m not gonna lie — I zipped through this game on the DVR after the fact. The only reason did that much was because I was intrigued by the fact they scored five runs without David Wright, Marlon Byrd, and John Buck. Luckily, they had Jonathon Niese in the lineup, who did a great impersonation of Cody Webster.
Niese was brilliant on the mound, hurling a three-hit shutout, and drove in three runs to help his own cause. Something tells me that for the Mets to win more than they lose going forward, the pitchers will need to step up similarly.
That’s all I have. Please post your notes in the comments.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Phillies do it again at 7:10 PM on Wednesday night. Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the ball against Cole Hamels.
Next Mets Game
About the Author
Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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With Wright & Harvey disabled, and Byrd & Buck traded, the Mets were clearly in need of new leadership.
Neise filled that leadership void, at least for one night, with an awesome performance:
3-hit complete game shutout while driving in 3 of the 5 runs.
Reminiscent of Santana’s performance in game 161 of 2008, except Santana’s game actually meant something, albeit all for naught.
It’s fine to say the Mets “did” something. It’s another thing to put value on it, because its value is theoretical in a way that, say, Beltran-for-Wheeler was not. Sure, I hope it proves beneficial. Guess we can discuss in 2016.
Best Alderson comment: “I don’t think this deal changes anything.” I don’t know how to parse that. I’ll leave that for someone else to figure out.
Of course, we can just assume Alderson is lying, and that there was good return possible last year too.
Also of note regarding Niese’s offensive outburst is that he ran through a stop sign by Tuefel to score the first run of the game in the bottom of the 3rd. The catcher gave up on the play but well could have been out by a mile. Luckily the catcher was lame, no way the Mets needed Niese in a collision that injured another starter. Looking at that lineup, I’m sure Niese was thinking this may his only chance to get a run. Anyhow, anytime a guy throws a complete game shutout in the show it is an accomplishment, and Niese also gave TDA a lot of kudos after the game, which is a good sign even if Travis isn’t hitting all that much yet.
d’Arnaud seems to have an excellent idea of what pitches to swing at, but his swing is long and he’s not hitting anything squarely. I’m hoping he and Flores are merely cold at the moment, but it sure looks like another bunch of not-quite-good-enough Mets hitting prospects a la Duda.
Speaking of Duda, he’s probably better than what the Rays and O’s are running out there at DH; time for another trade? Rays have minor league pitching to spare.
Mets are shedding money still. I wouldn’t be surprised if Flores replaces Murphy & Duda/Satin replace Ike because of money.
It looks to be another rebuilding year next year.