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June 1, 2014 Mets 2014 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 55: Win Over Phillies

Mets 5 Phillies 4

Another 14-inning game. Is this baseball or cricket?

Mets Game Notes

Boy am I embarrassed — I fell asleep not once but twice during this contest. No joke, two naps. And I still don’t feel like I missed much. From what I did see of the players on the field, most of them also looked like they needed a nap.

Ruben Tejada had a tremendous game, and has had a tremendous week. Bobby Abreu is right behind him as the Mets most effective hitter recently. How long will it last? We’ll see.

Jacob deGrom had another brilliant outing but came away with yet another no-decision. However, his hitting has tailed off — his recent slump has him down to .571.

Next Mets Game

Mets and Phillies play the halfway game on Sunday at 1:35 PM on Sunday. Jonathon Niese faces Cole Hamels.

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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  1. DaveSchneck June 1, 2014 at 10:05 am
    Joe, Lamar Johnson better be looking over his shoulder if he doesn’t get deGrom back in the groove. Not to pick on him but..Murph was the bad Murph yesterday in multiple ways. Hopefully Collins takes NormE’s advice and gets some guys a blow
    • Joe Janish June 1, 2014 at 10:24 am
      I did see some of the Murphy “lowlights” during the postgame wrap-up. But, I don’t want to get on him about those minor details, because his OWAR is still 1.8, and that’s really the value of a ballplayer. And the Mets won, so none of those mistakes matter!
  2. david June 1, 2014 at 7:18 pm
    Joe, you need to distinguish between test cricket which is played over a period of ‘up to’ 5 days and the newer version called ’20/20′ cricket. 20/20 cricket is an attempt to interest viewers by making the game faster paced and encouraging the batsman to swing for the fences, ie. make it more like baseball. In test cricket you can watch for 15 minutes and nothing happens. Makes a Mets game under the Hudgens era look exciting. Come to think of it, the Australian Cricket team mat have an opening? Funny enought, the national team’s fielding coach, I am pretty sure, is a baseball player. As for this game, it was nice to see them win. David Wright deserved a steak dinner from the whole team.
    • Joe Janish June 2, 2014 at 12:10 am
      I guess test cricket?
  3. crozier June 1, 2014 at 10:17 pm
    Okay Joe – I’m never one to hide when I’m wrong, so I’ll just say it.

    Murphy’s a blockhead.

    Happy now?

    • Joe Janish June 2, 2014 at 12:10 am
      Ha!

      No. I can’t be happy when there are Daniel Murphys all over MLB. Will MLB ever again value smart baseball? Will they ever go back to teaching fundamentals to players BEFORE they reach the bigs? Meh.

      • DaveSchneck June 2, 2014 at 8:20 am
        Joe,
        It’s not just teaching. As you well know from your years in the game and coaching, there are plenty of times that players, even “good” players, are taught correct actions. And, some of them even learn what they are taught, but not everyone is good at executing in a split second. Murphy’s play is often reckless, extremely reckless, for which there is no excuse. He seems to perform better on plays where there is no time to think. And, not to bash him, but for every reckless play that he makes that costs the team, he makes another two that he gets away with. Part of the problem is that the guy behind him can’t hit as well as him and doesn’t know the infield fly rule. I am trying to change my persepctive a little, and instead of geting so bothered by these guys, I try to appreciate the guys like Marlon Byrd (not the PED part) who seem to play hard and execute the proper play virtually all the time.
      • crozier June 2, 2014 at 9:51 am
        I know you always go back to fundamentals, but with Murphy I think something else is going on. Whether he loses focus or tries too hard to make something happen, I have no idea. But it’s worth paying attention when the Mets’ offense is firing on all cylinders (a relative thing, I know). I think you’ll find he plays better when the team is scoring runs, and gets stupid when they aren’t.

        I’m in no way making allowances for his poor play; but I honestly don’t believe fundamentals are lost on him.

        • argonbunnies June 3, 2014 at 12:49 am
          In general, I agree. In this past week, though, Murphy’s simply looked like he isn’t paying attention, like he hasn’t slept or something. The over-aggressiveness has been mixed with some unusual lack of hustle.

          If they’re willing to play Campbell in LF, they might as well give him a game at 2B and get Murph some rest. Honestly, Murphy deserves a benching after his awful play in this game — he almost single-handedly gave the game away five different times, including some unforgivably stupid plays. And he’s also making easy outs swinging at junk out of the zone.

          And this is arguably the Mets’ second best position player? AAARRRGH

          On the plus side, until not having it in the 7th, deGrom looked great. Getting more and more excited about this guy.