Mets ST Game 5: Astros
Mets win two in a row in Florida. If they win one more, that’s called a “winning streak.”
Curtis Granderson flashed the power that convinced the Mets to offer him a Jason Bay-like contract in the offseason, as he hit two laser beams over the right field fence.
Zack Wheeler hurled three shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. He threw a few decent change-ups and a few good-looking curveballs, which was nice to see. What wasn’t nice to see was that his motion slowed a bit when throwing the curve — to my eyes, anyway — and his arm remains behind with his forearm parallel to the ground (not good) when his front foot strikes the ground. He looked like he was over-striding, and during an interview afterward, he admitted to over-striding, but at the same time, that over-stride gave his arm a little more time to get to the right spot, so it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He needs to find a way to get his hand to what might be called a “launch” position when his front foot hits the ground — this will both take pressure off of his arm as well as increase velocity by better integrating his lower half.
Erik Goeddel didn’t have a great outing, neither did Vic Black, who after getting a quick third out in the sixth, had trouble finding the plate in the seventh. Kyle Farnsworth allowed one hit and no runs in an inning of work, but was unable to crack 90 MPH. I’m not sure Farnsworth has the command to consistently get away with 87-89 MPH velocity.
Not too much else to report, though I admit to fast-forwarding through most of the Mets hitters and focusing primarily on the pitchers. It’s hard to make any kind of analysis on offense / hitting in the spring, since one or two at-bats are too random and inconclusive. Pitching isn’t exactly easy to analyze, either, but I feel like more can be seen by a pitcher throwing 20-50 pitches than a batter taking 4-6 swings.
What did you see? Answer in the comments.
That’s not to say Marshall is wrong, but, rather, that currently, he has few if any supporters in the world of science (he’ll never get any in the alter world of baseball).
Scientists HAVE, however, agreed on a number of points and issues related to pitching — many of which we talk about here, regularly. Unfortunately, most of baseball is only paying attention to half of the science — the quantitative part. There’s another, just as important half — qualitative — that no one is accepting. The qualitative analysis and troubleshooting is what can save pitchers from injury.
Black looks like he has potential to be a decent bullpen arm, but anointing him the 8th inning guy and expecting him to be a lights-out reliever — after seeing him pitch all of 13 September innings? Too much.
If Lannan can stay healthy he should be a valuable asset, as a starter or reliever.