The Gray and Blue Hatted Mets

What Happened, A Tale of Two Innings:

Did you watch the first two innings of this one? Good, then you’ve already gotten the basic gist of how Game 11 went. It felt as if the Mets had decided to go golfing on this fine Sunday. By that, I mean the Mets offense pulled out a club from their golf bag as they walked to the tee, carefully prepared their shot, then Happy Gilmore-style drove a ball that played the green perfectly and turned into a hole-in-one. I can then only imagine Mr. Met nonchalantly putting up his club and moving onto the next hole as if nothing interesting had just occurred.

OK, so that last part might be a bit of a stretch—imagine playing golf in the Mr. Met mascot outfit—but my initial point still stands. The Mets’ offense jumped on former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber early, putting up 3 runs in the first inning and again in the second inning. Both outburst were spurred by Curtis Granderson, who led off yesterday’s game with a homerun, as the Grandy man walked to open up today’s action and tripled* with two outs in the second. In case you’re wondering why I added an asterisk, it’s because, in normal circumstances, the ball that he hit would’ve been caught. Normal circumstances were not what occurred in Cleveland today, as the sun wreaked havoc on the home nine—mainly Rajai Davis. Making sure to capitalize on their opportunities, the triple was followed up by a bold and daring Asdrubal Cabrera bunt single (still in shock) that was thrown over first base by Kluber, which would advance Cabrera to second base. You think that would be where the Mets’ fortune stops, but you would be wrong. The next batter, Michael Conforto, would send a ball down the right field line that looked to be en route to Mike Napoli’s glove, however a slight nudge from the first base bag would be the subtle change-in-direction it needed to become a double down the right field line. But wait, there’s more! While the Sun of Anarchy was a factor in Granderson’s triple, it also played a role in a Yoenis Cespedes double the very next at bat that, otherwise, would’ve been nothing more than a routine fly out. It happens, it’s a part of baseball, but all were fortunate breaks for the Metropolitans which were capitalized to create a six-run lead in the rubber match of the series.

What Happened, A Matz-erful Matz-erpiece:

Coming off a less-than-desirable start against the Miami Marlins, Steven Matz was looking to bounce back—and that is exactly what he did. Matz never got into any real danger during his seven innings of work on Sunday. The only potential charge the Indians put up against him occurred in the 2^nd inning when Yan Gomes and Marlon Byrd reached base, however that was quickly quelled. In fact, only two runners—Yan Gomes (2^nd inning) and Francisco Lindor (4^th)—would get past first base all day. A fair amount of Matz’s success came from getting ahead of hitters, which then allowed him to deal from his arsenal of offspeed pitches to finish the job. Out of the 25 batters he faced, the southpaw went up 0-2 an impressive 11 times—a big reason as to how he struck out nine batters.

Stuff-wise, according to Brooks Baseball, Matz’ fastball sat around 95 mph and topped out at 96 mph, which is pretty much in-line velocity-wise with how he pitched during his first outing. The difference between the two outings can be seen in his ability to garner whiffs on his offspeed pitches. In both of the lefty’s starts, 37 percent of his pitches have been of the off-speed variety, yet they have had vastly different results. Against the Marlins, he only received one whiff out of the 14 times Miami swung at his offspeed stuff (7.14 percent whiff/swing%), while the Indians whiffed eight times out of their 21 swings (38.1 percent whiff/swing%). Clearly he missed more bats than before with his secondary pitches, and it played a crucial role in his lights-out seven-inning performance.

What Happened, Other Notables:

I don’t know if I’m on record yet saying that Michael Conforto is really really really good, but Michael Conforto is really really really good. He went 2-3 with two doubles on Sunday, and the one at-bat in which he did not record a hit wasn’t too shabby either—flying out to the warning track in leftfield. Watching him this season will, no doubt, be exciting.

I talked a bit about how Matz dominated the Indians, but let’s not gloss over the job that the bullpen came in and did. Hansel Robles was the first one in out of the pen and recorded a quick 1-2-3 inning, striking out two in an effective 8^th inning. How would that performance be followed? Oh, you know, by striking out four batters in the final frame—two by Jerry Blevins and two by Addison Reed. In fact, out of the 21 pitches that the bullpen threw in this game, only one was a ball—an 0-1 pitch to Rajai Davis by Robles. Looking at just the pen specifically, the Mets finished the game by striking out six of the last seven Indians’ batters—and eight of the last 10 if you want to include Matz’ 7^th inning.

What Happened, Yesterday:

It was an all-around great performance for the Mets. They hit well, pitched well, and avoided being devastated by the sun well. The Mets put up 17 runs over the course of their last 3 games against Cleveland, and if the offense can keep producing, with this pitching staff, the sky is the limit.

What Happens, Today:

After finishing up another interleague series, Noah Syndergaard gets the ball against Jerad Eickhoff as the Mets now head to Philadelphia to play the Phillies. Although it’s still extremely early, a series win would push the Mets back to .500, so look for Thor to set the tone in the midst of this 10-day road trip.

Photo credit: David Richard-USA Today Sports

Both Colon and Indians starter Cody Anderson got into and wiggled out of trouble through the second, third and fourth innings. Neil Walker tried to score from first on a double from Asdrubal Cabrera in the second, but was ruled out on review. The Indians, meanwhile, had a Carlos Santana  home run overturned and consistently had men on base, but could not score.

Alejandro De Aza led off the fifth inning and started the breakout we’ve all been waiting for from the Met offense. De Aza took a 2-1 fastball on the outer part of the plate over the high left field wall for his first hit as a Met, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead. Curtis Granderson and David Wright would fly out and strike out before Michael Conforto beat the shift with a swinging bunt single down the left field line to extend the inning. Yoenis Cespedes then showed off his prodigious strength, blasting a curveball down and out of the zone out to right center field, his second home run of the season.

Now with a 4-1 lead, the Mets weren’t done. Lucas Duda hit a hard ground ball through the left side of the infield to chase Cody Anderson from the game. Former National lefty Ross Detwiler entered and promptly surrendered a long  home run  to Neil Walker, Walker’s first right handed homer since 2014. It was also  the Mets first three home run inning on the road since 2006.  By the time Travis d’Arnaud struck out to finally end the frame, the Mets were leading 6-1.

Colon would immediately give one of those runs back, as Rajai Davis led off with a single and Jason Kipnis smoked a double over the head of De Aza in center field. Colon wouldn’t let the Indians get any closer, however, striking out Mike Napoli and Francisco Lindor and inducing a fly out from Carlos Santana to strand Kipnis at second and keep the Met lead at four runs.

De Aza added another hit with a leadoff double in the top of the sixth, but was stranded at third. In the bottom of the sixth, a throwing error from David Wright put Yan Gomes at first with nobody out. Juan Uribe would follow with a double two batters later to put runners at second and third and chase Colon from the game. Much to everyone’s surprise, Terry Collins did not call for Jim Henderson, instead bringing in Antonio Bastardo, who wiggled out of the jam with a strike out and a fly out.

The Mets had another leadoff double in the seventh when Cespedes lined a ball into the right center field gap, but were once again unable to score a run. Bastardo would return for the bottom half of the frame and induced a ground out from Jason Kipnis before striking out Francisco Lindor. Hansel Robles then entered, and surrendered a double and a walk before ending the inning with a strikeout of Gomes.

In the eighth, the Mets would again have a runner thrown out at the plate. De Aza singled to start the inning ahead of Curtis Granderson, who singled on a soft line drive to right-center. De Aza was running on the pitch and Tim Teufel, perhaps hoping to catch the Indians napping, waved him in. Jason Kipnis was wide awake and gunned him out at the plate for his second assist on a relay of the game. The Mets weren’t finished in the inning, putting runners on second and third with one out, but they once again failed to score.

The bottom of the eighth was quiet, as Addison Reed worked around a two out single to send the game to the ninth with the Mets still leading by four. Likewise in the top of the ninth, when Dan Otero retired the Mets in order. Again to the surprise of Mets fans, Collins chose not to abuse Jeurys Familia even further and left Addison Reed in for the ninth. Jason Kipnis hit a leadoff single, but Reed got the next two batters with some help from De Aza on a diving play in left field. But the Indians refused to go quietly, and Carlos Santana squeaked a two-run home run out to center field  to trim the Mets’ lead to two and prompt Collins to bring in Familia.

Appearing in his fourth straight game, Familia’s velocty was a couple ticks lower than usual, sitting 93 or 94 mph, though he was able to touch 97. Gomes singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Marlon Byrd muscled a broken bat hit into right center to score Gomes  from second and cut the lead to one. Juan Uribe followed with a walk, and suddenly the tying run was at second for the Indians. Mercifully, Jose Ramirez flew out to left field, and the Mets escaped with a 6-5 game.

The offensive  breakout is definitely a positive sign, as was Bartolo Colon notching his 219th  win, tied with Pedro Martinez for second most among Dominican born pitchers. It is more than a bit worrying, however, that the Mets bullpen has been so overworked early in the season. Why Rafael Montero has not been used since his call up is a mystery, though perhaps those familiar with Terry Collins’s incompetence with regard to bullpen management are probably unsurprised. Regardless, a win is a win, so we can only complain so much.

Photo credit: Ken Blaze-USA Today Sports