What Happened, In a Sentence
The Mets overpowered Philadelphia’s weak pitchers, hitting four home runs in a 12-1 win.
Top Hitters Beat Predictable Pitching
If I were trying to teach a young pitcher why you can’t just stay away, away, away, I would show them Jeremy Hellickson’s performance against the Mets last night. Hellickson is a notorious “nibbler.” He compounds this problem by generally refusing to go inside against left-handed batters:
Asdrubal Cabrera singled in the first and Neil Walker drew a walk after an 0-2 count, but James Loney grounded out to end the threat. By the second trip through the lineup, the Mets best hitters knew exactly what to expect. Jose Reyes reached out to Hellickson’s favorite spot and flipped a single to left. Cabrera got the same pitch and drove it over the fence. Yoenis Cespedes and Walker both walked but were stranded.
In the bottom of the fourth, Noah Syndergaard hit a one out double and advanced on a Reyes single. Hellickson finally altered his pitch selection and got Cabrera to pop out for the second out. He got Cespedes to swing at multiple pitches out of the zone, but couldn’t put one past the Mets’ slugger to end the threat. On the eighth pitch he finally made a mistake, which Cespedes put in the second deck to give the Mets a 5-1 lead.
Syndergaard Dominates
With the Mets’ suddenly uncertain rotation, they needed another strong performance from Noah Syndergaard. The hard-throwing righty gave everything you could ask for over seven innings of two-hit ball. After giving up a home run on a hanging curveball to Freddy Galvis, Syndergaard put the curveball away. He only needed his fastball, slider and occasional changeup to handle one of the worst lineups in baseball. Syndergaard went in to cruise control once he got the lead, retiring 11 in a row before allowing a single in the seventh.
Saturday Night Blowout
On Friday night, the Mets turned a 9-1 lead in to a surprisingly tense ninth inning. On Saturday, the Mets tacked on enough runs to quell any doubts (for a day). Borderline major leaguer Michael Mariot came in for the seventh but forgot how to find the strike zone. He loaded the bases before Loney fished for a ball well out of the zone. Alejandro De Aza then lined a ball over the head of Odubel Herrera, who tracked the ball, jumped and somehow missed the catch. Cabrera and Cespedes scored while Herrera looked up at the Jumbotron in disbelief. Kelly Johnson capped the inning with a pinch hit grand slam to give the Mets an 11-1 lead.
Terry Collins got to make a managerial move he wishes he could do more often: remove Cabrera and Cespedes thanks to a double-digit lead. An inning later Walker joined in the fun, hitting a solo homer then getting a defensive substitute.
Too Many Homers?
The Mets set a Citi Field record with 87 home runs, surpassing the 85 they hit at home last year. Walker tied a career high with his 23rd home run.
What’s Next?
The Mets look to sweep the series. Every Met fan on Twitter looks up how to spell Gsellman since we can’t refer to him as the starting pitcher with the long hair.
Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports