Mets

[Amazin69]

Brandon Sproat is a very promising pitcher. One day he'll be on a team that deserves him, as they say in Bavaria.

Had to know the Mets were in danger when they couldn't do anything of substance against Patrick Corbin. I mean, Patrick Corbin. (Search the thread for "Patrick Corbin" for further details.)

Seven years of Edwin Díaz. As we near the end of the 2019 team (Nimmo, now 32, was already there, but it was the first full season for Squirrel, now 33, and even Pete, then a rookie, has reached a certain age), I can't help but think what they might have accomplished if Brodie von Hunchback had found a better "solution" for the bullpen than the one Seattle generously offered. This could have been a Golden Age. Sigh.

Congratulations to Wilmer, Dom, Butto and Ding-Dong Drew Gilbert. Now Gary can shut tf up about Sixth Place. Phillies' Magic Number stands at 1.

And only 9 further losses to reach 82. Go, team, go!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

One day he'll be on a team that deserves him, as they say in Bavaria.

Pete walks it off with a 3-run thumper in the 10th after I thought for a while that I was trapped in a rerun of Saturday's game. Rookie starter goes six shutout innings, pen immediately blows 2-0 lead, yada yada...

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I thought for a while that I was trapped in a rerun of Saturday's game. Rookie starter goes six shutout innings, pen immediately blows 2-0 lead, yada yada...

As Gary said in the top of the 8th, "In case you just tuned in, this is not a repeat of yesterday's game."

As Gary said later in said half-inning, "Edwin Díaz threw 25 pitches in yesterday's game, but the Mets have him up and throwing in the bullpen." Strangely, that did not reassure me. But, hey…sometimes the line drives go right to Lindor and everything is fine.

And with the Giants (who were ever only percentage points ahead) failing to capitalize on their opportunities, The Blitz for Six is back on! Woo-hoo!

(In more pertinent news, the Mets now must go 3-9 down the stretch if they are to reach 80-82.)

[Amazin69]

Our resident Pete-capper seems distracted, so if I may intervene, Sunday's game winner freed Polar Pete from being tied with Crud Unbearable at 259 and brought him to much more pleasant company such as 3-time MVP and inspiration to us all Roy Campanella, Tim Wallach (the guy who took that Montreal 3B job away from the recently-bypassed Larry Parrish), Javy Lopez who spent FIFTEEN seasons tormenting us in Atlanta, and his own batting coach, Eric Chavez.

Oh, and that guy who owns the Marlins, somehow.

And today's bop pulled Pete clear of all of them, and left him exactly 100 behind Our Beloved Ralph.

[Westheim]

I was just gonna come in here and announce that Pete tied Old New York icon Roy Campanella while partaking in the deposition of Michael King, with another Old New York icon just three homers up the road (Bobby Thomson).

Unfathomably, Wikipedia has Campanella at 261 homers, while bb-ref says 260.

This will bother me ALL DAY LONG.

[Amazin69]

Given that Campanella only hit 242 National League home runs and the rest is mere guesswork about the Negro Leagues, I'm not going to let it trouble me overmuch.

(My faith Negro League statistics was severely shaken when I discovered that Josh Gibson's NEL stats had him only hitting 165 or so "official" blasts, which is almost 700 short of what's been claimed for him, and which, you'll recall, Whompin' Wilmer Flores has now passed.

Whompin' Wilmer hit #169 in a losing effort at Arizona last night, bringing him level with HoF Enos "Country" Slaughter and ex-Met Ty Wigginton, among others. )

***************

One hopes that Cedric Mullins's struggles at the plate may be ending, given his HR last night, but it's too soon to tell. Certainly Mendoza didn't do a great job of excuse-making, when Cedy was in that 0-fer last week. He was quoted by the NY Post thusly:

“I think missing fastballs. Late at times. Fouling them off. Not being able to square them up. Controls the strike zone, but I think he’s missing a lot of good pitches to hit.”

Yeah, if you're getting around too late on the #1, well…I wouldn't buy a house, just saying.

Still, as disappointing as Mullins has been, let's at least note that he's an African-American, and I'd been decrying the absence of such on the Mets. (I welcome black Dominicans such as Marte and Mauricio and Brazoban and Gregory Soto, and black Venezuelans such as Our Acuna and Azocar, but I consider them outside the story of Jackie Robinson and how he changed both baseball and America.) So that's good.

Previously, I'd reported that Tyrone Taylor's father has Jamaican ancestry, but that appears to be an error. There is a Jamaican musician named "Tyrone Taylor" and one of those biographical sites conflated the two.

(Tyrone Taylor has 298 ABs this season. With the way he's hitting, I'm tempted to deport him…even if he is from Torrance CA)

[Westheim]

I conflated Tyrone Taylor with briefly-a-Met Travis Taijeron (which sounded just like Tyrone) for a good while.

Yeah, I also looked at the stat sheet a bit more this morning and saw that the difference was up to Rob Numbfred intentionally ruining the statistics.

And then I saw that I was late to leave for the office and better put pants on NOW.

[Westheim]

Man, I would have hated to see Manny Machado flip a tie-breaking slam off recent re-admission to the pumpkin brigade, David "What's a Strike?" Peterson.

Pete flicked another one out, though. Ties him for 231st, with 262 home runs, with Danilo Tartabull Mora, who at least didn't play in any league that should never have counted, and also according to his father Jose (career output: 2 HR) got his power from Mrs. Mora, his mother.

Snakes, Reds, Giants, all remain tartabu- ... tantalizingly close for the sixth participation trophy.

[Amazin69]

Four solo shots can't beat one grand slam. Peterson has now been useless for two whole months. (He's well above his previous high in IP [128], but he really aught to be able to handle a mature workload by now, his ninth season as a pro.)

Who on earth is "Hamel"? Cole Hamels's illegitimate son? Alan Hamel? Veronica Hamel? Ben Gamel, adopting a Spanish pronunciation for no discernable reason? I thought the Mystery Bullpen was supposed to settle down in September.

Jose Tartabull was the epitome of why Baseball nearly died in the 1960s. Didn't hit for average, didn't hit for power, didn't draw walks. Bill James probably wrote something about him, given that both he and Danny played in KC.

Playoff rotation:

Manaea
McLean
Sproat
Dial-a-Prayer

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Playoff rotation:

Manaea
McLean
Sproat
Dial-a-Prayer

No need for prayers. It's not like they're gonna get more than two games out of the Fudgers.

[Westheim]

Pete's done with Tartabull cuddles after one inning and is now tied with White Sox ... legend...? Surely part of the White Sox dynasty that absolutely never, ever was: Jose Abreu.

37 on the year, 263 in total!

[Amazin69]

BTW, you probably missed this on Tuesday, since you could see GK, rather than following R over to TBS, as I had to.

Lowest ERA through the first five starts of career, NY Mets:

Nolan McLean, 1.19

Dillon Gee, 2.09

Tylor Megill, 2.10

(somebody modern whom you wouldn't guess), 2.27

Ronald Maurice Darling, Jr., 2.40

Huh.

[Amazin69]

Dom Hamel is the Mets 3rd round pick from 2021. He's currently 26 years old, and he's been DFA'd to make room for the returning Bra's Open and Devenski. (Garrett is injured.)

Congrats on your big-league career, Dom! Enjoy the pension plan!!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Lowest ERA through the first five starts of career, NY Mets:

Huh.

Peterson in #4? I remember him getting going really well in 2020.

[Amazin69]

Peterson was 3-1 in his first five starts (Mets were 4-1 in those games), with an ERA of 3.51

[Westheim]

Ron Marinaccio is from Toms River, New Jersey.

He must know Todd Frazier.