Mets

[Amazin69]

Look at Westheim! Hanging in there until 04.03 CET to catch this live! (Is tomorrow another off-day?) Well done!

Meanwhile, I took a pre-dinner nap after the top of the 1st (because I need that sort of thing at my age), pausing the TV to let the resumed game wake me after the 90 minute buffer expires.

Except that when I awoke, it was the bottom of the 5th, and I sat through two nervous innings, and after the top of the 7th tried fast-forwarding the ads to catch up…only to discover I was actually live. Apparently, the game started playing almost immediately (for whatever reason), and I was just too zonked/the game was too dull to awaken me for about an hour. Huh.

So I had dinner and went back to the 3rd to see what I had missed (nothing consequential), then went back to the middle of the 7th and quite nearly lost my lunch. How does Butto give up a pinch-dinger to a guy hitting .199, exactly? And then Free Licks goes back to back , and doubles the trouble, considering we had exactly two hits at that point.

(Should we question whether Mendoza should have kept Quintana in for one more inning, given that he clearly didn't trust anybody but Boom-Boom in the pen, for whatever reason? Quintana had only thrown 94 pitches, after all.)

And we go through the 8th without a hint of life. And then the 9th. And then Pete does something rather better than the game-ending, series-ending, Mets-career-ending GiDP I was dreading. Thanks, Pete!

(ESPn later says that this is only the 3rd time ever a team has rallied to win in the 9th inning from more than one run down in a post-season final game. It would be nice if they'd mention the other two, since I'm stumped. The "Shot Heard Around the World" Bobby Thomson 1951 HR isn't it, since that was a playoff to decide the regular season. And they specified that Pete is the first to hit a go-ahead HR in these circumstances.)

Y'know, I get that Jesse Winker makes "friends" wherever he goes, but booing a guy who's checking for a concussion seems a little bit low, Milwaukee. Just saying.

David Peterson enters in relief, and ends things promptly, aided by what Sciambi properly calls a "6-3 double play". Take notes, Gary Cohen! It always makes me want to break the set when Gary calls that a "6-6-3" DP. Scoring lists the players involved, not what they did. If Lindor had bobbled the ball, retrieved it, stepped on 2b and then thrown to 1st, would Gary call it a "6-6-6-3" double-play? [/pet peeve]

And home are the heroes! (For a day, then it's down to Philly. But that's such an easy trip [Giants fans made it by horse and buggy during the 1908 pennant race] that I barely count it as such.)

*************************
In the postgame presser, Brewer skipper Pat Murphy gave credit to those star Mets players who led the rally for the winning runs, saying that "Lindor, Nemo, and Alonso" are on another level. Mr. Pointy may need to ascend a few more levels, if Murphy literally doesn't know how to pronounce his name (he did it repeatedly), but we'll take the compliment, anyhow.

[CONN CHRIS]

Great victory! Old Pete sure would look nice with an old english D on his cap next season!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Great victory! Old Pete sure would look nice with an old english D on his cap next season!

Maybe! But you can't have him. Because - (clings to Pete's leg) ... I'm not gonna let go!

[Amazin69]

Sciambi mentioned Pete's upcoming free agency a bit often, I thought. Perhaps he's dreaming of a big red C there?

I'm not opposed to a deal, CHRIS, but it would take more than Tork, obviously. How about this Screwball kid? Y'all don't seem to like the idea of starting pitchers, anyway.

[Amazin69]

Game time tomorrow is 4PM ET (22.00 CET). Which happens to land squarely on Mississippi-South Carolina for me, but so it goes. (With luck I can stay spoiler free until the SEC Network replay, Sunday 8 PM.)

Also happening that afternoon is Donald Trump holding a rally in Butler PA (site of the attempted assassination on July 13) at 6PM. I hope nothing similar happens…but if it does, FOX is likely to give it far more coverage than any other network would, so we might need to shift to FS1 or wherever.

[Amazin69]

I wasn't watching last season, so I didn't know that Our Guy Kodai has a "ghost fork" on the webbing of his glove. Cute.

[Westheim]

Mets get ghost forked on a pickoff challenge. Pete OBVIOUSLY tags Trea Turner just beneath Trea's tush. Nope. Denied.

Also, obligatory "**** Kyle Schwarber" post.

[Westheim]

After seven innings of giving their best impression of a guy with a plastic bag over his head and running out of little oxygen molecules, the Mets finally game up against the Phillies pen? And they got five on it!

So of course they do what every irrational franchise does, and they give the ball to Phil Spat-on, who in Beefstake Town is known lovingly as "Nick's brother".

(braces for impact)

[Westheim]

Ten to go for an obnoxiously ghastly ring!

[Amazin69]

That sounds…premature. But still.

And to be fair, we did get that base call back when there was that "Stott failed to complete the catch" nonsense in the 9th. So I guess we're even there…but I did not like Andy Fletcher's strike calls (and Wain-o seemed to agree) so I hope he's better in Game 5 (if necessary).

Nice to see Nimmo with the clutch hits. And to see the bullpen finish it off without needing Boom-Boom to "contribute".

Of course, I paused it so much, I missed the first half of Royals-Yankees. (Also, it took an ungodly time to find a Leicester-Bournemouth download in English. I don't even speak Russian, despite my studies. Ukrainian is right out, okay?) But even with Costas and Ronnie on the call, half of a Yankees game is plenty, methinks. Go Royals!

And on to the morrow!

[Westheim]

I would have raged about the absurdly mushy strike zone more if the Mets had lost in the end. And I felt like in the later innings the Mets also got some calls go more their way than at the start. Frustrating to watch nevertheless.

With the 6-man crew in a 5-game series, Fletcher should not rotate anywhere but the foul line lawn chair, shouldn't he?

Anyway, task for today is to have a 2-hour nap in the afternoon so that I can then watch a 10pm (my time) start of a 3-hour (at least) ballgame, finish all the necessary crying, and then still get a decently-sized cup of zzz before the alarm cries at 6am in the morning, and then not fall asleep in the office.

And that's before we get into Games 3+4, which are on an hour later (and it could get worse for Game 4). I'm too old for this ****.

[Westheim]

Between three relievers allergic to throwing a strike and Vientos' "Gold Glove defense" and him adding injury to insult by trampling Nimmo it's kinda hard to win a game, even while peppering four homers.

At this point you kinda want the other team to score first, because somehow we tend to win THOSE games.

There's no way I'm finishing crying before the alarm goes off...

[Amazin69]

Dear Carlos,

1) with 7 outs left to get, there was a darn good chance that Schwarber would bat again, in the 9th inning, given that it would only take 2 Phllly baserunners to flip the lineup, and you were probably walking Harper. Why not let Megill take this time through the order, allowing our hitters an opportunity to battle back if necessary, and then bring in Edlose when he's most accustomed to?

(I would write "most effective", but I've been watching Mr. Diaz for a bit longer than you have, and I know that "effective" is oft a stretch.)

2) I know that Stanek and Garrett and Maton all pitched yesterday, so they might be a bit winded, but OTOH 33 pitches in an inning is a lot to ask of TylOR. MOR than he can handle, I was (futilely) telling you.

Dear Westie,

Yes, Vientos had a fluff in the field (on a ball where I doubt he could have gotten the runner at home, regardless). But his game at the bat (accounting for 66% of our offense) IMO makes up for his not being Brooks Robinson in the field.

(Especially as Brooksie is dead and so probably can't get around on the #1 these days.)

Also, if you get a chance to tell Francisco Lindor that by now he should really know that Vientos isn't the best at diving stops in the hole and therefore it might be best if he stopped cheating towards 2B for possible stolen base attempts/DP chances and just played his ****ing position, I would deeply appreciate it.

Thank you.

[Westheim]

I know Vientos bopped a pair. I squeaked for them. The only reason I am not crusading harder right now is that Jeff McNeil doesn't have two legs to stand on and thus we can't go Squirrel second, Iglesias third, and Vientos fake position. Given that J.D. Martinez' body seems to have given as much as it can towards being the designated by-stander for three hours a night.

A forbidden thought, for a second, if I may.

My, how easily the ball flops out of Rival City Bank Field! If Pete played there for 81 games a year, he'd flick 50 again!

Hhh!! No!! Stop it!! (hits himself on the snout) Shoo!! Wash your mouth with soap!!

[Amazin69]

So, as the Mariners blew a 10-game lead this season, I put my "Greatest Chokes" list up in the Seattle Sports thread, and in doing so, realized there were still a few others missing.

So here is the latest revision of a list originally created to "honor" Schmuck Bowalter's 2022 Flopperinos:

Largest leads ever blown

(For pennant or division; whether the team achieved a wild-card is irrelevant for this list. Lead expressed relative to the team that eventually caught the chokers; other teams may been closer at one point, but proved irrelevant to the final result):

1914 NY Giants, led by 15 games on July 5. (They were 40-24, the Boston Braves were 26-40. The Braves were last in an 8-team NL; the nearest team to the lead was the Cubs, 3.5 games back.) The Giants went 44-46 the rest of the year, while the Braves went 68-19, winning by 10.5 games. The 25.5 games gained is a record, AFAIK.

Some attributed the success of the "Miracle" Braves to the Native American luck symbol they wore on their caps on opening day. But the Swastika (which is not the Nazi Hakenkreuz ["hooked cross"] although it is now soiled by the imitation) hardly worked its magic overnight: the Braves started 3-16, then stabilized with a 23-24 stretch before having that incredible finishing kick.

1978 Red Sox, led by 14 games on July 19. (Sox were 62-28, Yanks 48-42. Yankees were fourth, Boston led Milwaukee by 9 games.) Boston went 37-35, Yankees went 51-21. Yanks won 1-game playoff.

1951 Dodgers, led by 13 games on August 11. (70-35, Giants were 59-50.). They went 26-23 while the Giants were going 37-8, and lost a 3-game playoff.

2012 Rangers, led by 13 games on June 30. (They were 50-29, Oakland was 37-42. The Angels were 6.5 behind Texas.) Rangers muddle their way to a 43-40 record for the second half, while the Athletics catch fire, go 57-26 and win by one game. Both teams flop in the post-season.

New entry:

1973 Cubs, led by 12.5 games on July 8. (They were 50-37, the Mets were 34-46. The Mets were last in the Eastern Division; St. Louis was closest to Chicago, 5 games behind.) Cubs melt down like Three Mile Island, going 27-47 after this and finishing 5th, while the Mets have a moderately hot 48-33 close to edge the Cardinals by 1.5 games.

1995 Angels, led by 11.5 games on August 16. (They were 64-39, Seattle was 52-50. The Rangers were 10.5 behind California.). Complete flop, going 14-27 while the Mariners went 26-16 to close the 144 game season, and then won a 1-game playoff.

New entries:

1964 Phillies, led by 11 games on August 23. (They were 76-47, St. Louis was 65-58. The Cardinals were in 4th place; the Reds and Giants were 7.5 games behind Philadelphia.) The "Philly Phold" saw them go 16-23 down the stretch, while the Cards closed with a 28-11 kick.

1987 Brewers, led by 11 games on May 5. (They were 20-5, propelled by a 13-0 start, Detroit was 9-16. The Tigers were in 6th place; the Blow Jays, I mean Blue Jays, and the Yankees were 4.5 behind Milwaukee.) Brew Crew trudges home in 71-66, finishing 3rd while Detroit goes 89-48, beating out Toronto by 2 games. (Toronto led by 3.5 games at the start of the final week, but lost their last 7 games in a row.)

2022 Mets, led by 10.5 on June 1st. (Mets were 35-17, Braves were 24-27.) Mets went 66-44 the rest of the way, while Atlanta went 77-34 and won the division on…a tiebreak, Lorde help us.

1942 Dodgers, led by 10 games on August 5. (Dodgers were 74-30, Cardinals were 63-39.) Dodgers go 30-20, Cards go 43-9, win by 2.

1969 Cubs, led by 10 games on August 14. (Chicago was 74-43, Mets were 62-51, in third place [Cardinals were 9 back]). The Cubs tanked completely, going 18-27 (worse than the Pirates and Cards, and 4 NL West teams, too) while the Mets went 38-11, winning by 8 games. Bill "Froggy" Hands went 4-3 in September, and Ferguson Jenkins was 3-4; the rest of the team was 1-10.

New entries:

1989 Orioles, led by 10 games on July 5th. (The Birds, trying to atone for that 0-21 star the year before, were 47-34 for the first half, whereas Toronto [trying to recover from the 12-24 start that got Jimy Williams the axe] was 38-45. The Blue Jays were 6th; the Yankees were 6.5 games behind Baltimore.) Orioles flutter home with a 40-41 second half, while Toronto goes 51-28, winning by 2.

1993 Giants, led by 10 games on July 22. (San Francisco was 65-32; Atlanta was 55-42.) The Giants went a functional 38-27 down the stretch, but started Salomon Torres on the final day. The Braves got white hot, finishing 49-16 and started Tom Glavine on the last day. Tom Glavine is in the Hall of Fame. Salomon Torres is not. Braves win by 1 game.

2002 Mariners, led by 10 games on May 24. (Trying to make up for flopping after a 116-win season the previous year, Seattle started 31-16; Oakland was 21-26, only percentage points ahead of last place Texas [the Angels were 5 back of Seattle]) Mariners can only manage 62-53 after this, finishing 3rd while the A's (energized by the Moneyball 20-game win streak) surge to an 82-33 finish, 20 games better than Seattle, and beat out California by 4 games.

(Of course, the Wild Card makes this all moot, as the Angels go on to win the World Series anyhow, but even so.)

And now, our newest entry…

2024 Mariners, led by 10 games on June 18. (Ms were 44-31; both Texas teams were 33-40.) Mariners muck home at 41-46, while the Asstros go 55-33, winning by 3.5 games.

So, welcome back to the club, Mariners, but that choke only ties for 10th on the List. Buck's Brigade is in 9th, one place worse than you.

[Westheim]

No list is complete without the Mets bobbling it!

This makes me feel a lot better about the Raccoons leading the Crusaders by 10 1/2 games on June 26, 2007 (or 2008?) and coming up with a snoutful of dirt in the end.

[Amazin69]

To be fair, we were on the better end of two separate Cubbie chokes, in both 1969 and 1973. But it is a lot more enjoyable to be hearing "Ya Gotta BE-lieve!" than "Ah well, if we finish #4, we get to host all three games in the extra round." (Thanks, Gary!)

To paraphrase Bethenny Frankel, "nothing tastes as good as winning feels". I'm pro-champagne. (In nearly every situation, but specifically here.)

[Westheim]

Pre-slept two hours or so, now bring on the game! And then I'll sleep another so-and-so many hours. Because that's totally advised at my age if you want to look like an actual raccoon the next day in the office.

[Westheim]

Through five, Manaea does the Severino.

Now would be a good time to diverge from the path, though.

[Amazin69]

Never in doubt. That's three games with Edlose Diaz contributing exactly zero to the effort.

As one would expect.

Hope Quintana brings it tomorrow. And the "first team to score loses" curse is broken, so that's good.