Mets Game 131: Loss To Phillies
Phillies 6 Mets 2
Mets come away on the short end in a battle of ineptitude.
Mets Game Notes
Daisuke Matsuzaka was the Mets starter in this game. I’m not sure what else to say about him. I had forgotten what it was about him that drove me out of my mind, and was reminded very quickly after a laborious, 15-minute top half of the first inning — an inning that was fairly breezy. He makes Steve Trachsel seem like a fast worker. Watching paint dry is more exciting. It took him 110 pitches to get 13 outs / finish 4 1/3 frames.
Robert Carson continues to prove his niche as an MLBer is an unusually remarkable ability to serve up gopher balls. He gave up homerun #9 on the season. Nine homers in 19 innings pitched. Maybe David Wright should have brought him to All-Star Weekend to be his Home Run Derby pitcher.
The Phillies offense is so inept, it almost makes the Mets’ look adequate. Philadelphia was 4-for-18 with RISP, leaving 14 runners on base. The Mets were 2-for-11 with 8 LOB.
What — in … the … WORLD … is Daniel Murphy doing stealing third with one out, down by four, in the 7th inning? He made it (though he nearly was tagged out after over-sliding), but as you know by now, this blog does not believe in “ends justify the means.” That was just flat-out, stupid baseball. Stupid. Ridiculous. Unnecessary. It doesn’t matter if Murphy ever gets back to hitting .300, and ever becomes a remotely adequate fielding second baseman — his complete lack of baseball intelligence makes him a liability. He’d have to hit 30 HR and bat .320 to make it worth sending him out there on an everyday basis. I’ll go so far as to say that Angel Pagan has more baseball smarts. Knucklehead.
Yet, Murphy wasn’t the only mentally challenged ballplayer in this game. The game was filled with head-shaking flubs. Jimmy Rollins making the third out at third base trying to stretch a double into a triple while driving in a run to tie the game in the fourth. Cole Hamels rushing a throw to 2B on a comebacker and nearly missing out on an easy out. Rollins hanging out in la-la land on an infield fly with Eric Young on 2B, leaving 3B uncovered. Ryne Sandberg putting Roger Bernadina in the leadoff spot. Young getting credit for a “sacrifice” after attempting to bunt for a hit in the 7th with a man on and down by four (yes, even managers and the official scorer get lumped into this diatribe). Young bunting in the first place, when he owns Hamels. I suppose this is a) why these two teams are fighting for third place; and b) a clear sign that players know the season is effectively over, and are going through the motions. Whatever the reason, it’s bad baseball. Kids, you can’t learn watching this crap — move on and start paying attention to the Jets and Giants.
Even the SNY production crew seems to be “mailing it in,” based on their lame trivia question of “what was Keith’s career batting average.” C’mon guys, come up with something that can’t be looked up on Baseball-Reference in 3 seconds. That was followed up with “Who is the Mets’ all-time leader in HBP?” C’mon now — the man who claimed he gave his body to baseball rather than science? Maybe I’m just too old and know dumb things like this too well; don’t ask me what I had for breakfast, because I can’t remember.
With John Buck gone, Ike Davis takes over as team drama queen. Though Josh Satin may give him a fight for the title if he steps it up a little. Could these kids whine any more? Do they realize it makes them look bad, and does nothing to curry favor with umpires?
On a positive note, I’m liking what I’m seeing from Travis d’Arnaud behind the plate. He looks fairly mobile, with good footwork, gets rid of the ball quickly on throws to second, and has an above-average arm. He’ll hit eventually, I’m sure, but it may take some time for him to get comfortable — catching in the big leagues, with pitchers he’s never before caught on a regular basis, is enough to weigh on his mind. I’m sticking to my original feeling that he’ll turn out to be a young Paul LoDuca / young Russell Martin type, which is pretty good. I’m still waiting for Ike Davis to turn into Adam LaRoche, and for all the rabid Mets fans who thought I was being harsh and/or underestimating, to apologize.
The most interesting part of the game may have been Keith Hernandez relaying stories about Coors near-beer. Thank goodness for the little things in life.
Next Mets Game
The final game of the series between these two putrid clubs begins at 1:10 PM on Thursday afternoon. The scheduled pitchers are Carlos Torres and Ethan Martin.
I’m used to the bash Daniel Murphy deal. The team played lousy in various ways today, but hey, I know, let’s focus on his stupid attempt there. But, this stands out for me.
Are you actually saying John Buck was more of a drama queen than Ike “wah that wasn’t a strike” Davis? And, Josh Satin, who most of the time is about as emotional as Lucas Duda, doesn’t warrant a potshot because he is upset at a call or two.
And yes, Satin is on the cusp. The guy cries about called strikes constantly. If he were a 10-year veteran I might be able to understand it, but he’s lucky to be in the bigs and so his outbursts are both damaging and glaring — and therefore open to a “potshot.” But I’m betting that his outward displays of disaffection are at least in part due to the negative example that Buck set.
Terry Collins should be stepping in and nipping this in the bud.
Would a Showalter-type manager have made a difference with this year’s club? Maybe; he wouldn’t have made it a contender, certainly. But I’d like to think we’d have more respect for the team overall.
I believe sincerely that the Mets need a Showalter-type to completely change the culture of the organization. But does that person exist, and is he available? Further, would Jeffy give up enough of his toy to let someone else make the necessary culture changes? Many thought that Sandy Alderson would be the one to change things, but so far, he hasn’t really been anything more than a figurehead.
Maybe Mike Scioscia, if the Angels give up on him?
Maybe you should start watching jai-alai.
bail me out later in the year..If the mets were a broadway play they would have closed a long time ago.
As far as making the team competitive next year, it’s going to take more than 3-4 moves — unless those moves include adding Buster Posey, Joey Votto, Robinson Cano, and Clayton Kershaw.
I liked how they showed the Brady Bunch-like cut-away shots of each infielder, during his ridiculous breaks between pitches.
At one point, they brought in the Dice-K clock – and on first appearance, it took him about 44 seconds to deliver the next offering. (Hernandez really went into “huff and puff” mode, which is always great.)
As unbearable as Dice-K was to sit through, Robert Carson is about as bad. I, like you, marveled over the possibility that he’d given up his 9th HR in less than 20 IP.
It’s said in jest all the time, but I’m fairly (almost supremely, given the absence of anabolic steroids in most hitters now) confident that some of us would even have a hard time accomplishing that feat.
And whooooo could forrgetttt Dannnnnyyyy Henderrrrson — spoken in my best, “Gee, Whiz!” Bob Murphy voiceover……
Stealing 3rd base, down 4 runs w/1 out in the 7th inning. Attaboy, Dan.
………at least Eric Young figured he could beat the fully-equipped, fat catcher to a vacated 3rd Base, when he aggressively decided to take the extra bag on a ball in play.
Murphy’s always genuinely felt he’s Rickey Henderson – and that’s pretty scary to think, provided the Mets ever play an important ballgame in years to come.
He “made it”, but in the process – was nearly tagged out when he overslid the bag. Needless to say, coupled with his horrendous “D” and ~.300-ish OBP% – I’m actively rooting for him to be traded this winter.
LET’S GO METS…….F-A-N, DA-NAH-NAH!!
Oh well. At least Mets Today still brings the laughs.
Not sure how I muffed that — maybe it was too much wine, or disinterest dominating after the fifth inning. Or a combination. Or maybe it was ironic karma for pointing out all the mistakes of others.