Mets

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Goodies to be taken away from Saturday's split with the Pirates, both courtesy of Gary Cohen:

Yeah, Recker was OK, he could probably get a regular job with another team given how terrible so many of those squads are. Much better than Nelson Figueroa for sure.


And how about Dr. Edwin Jekyll and the perfect inning!?!?! I can't think of a pitcher I've ever seen who can be so lights out and then throw so many pumpkins the next time he pitches. He'll probably get an inning today in the Johnny Wholestaff Show, hope they get the FAA to re-route the LaGuardia traffic so the airspace over Flushing Bay is clear!

[Westheim]

And they say *I* am the pessimist.

[Westheim]

There is no comfortable win with this team, is there? Scored five in the first, now have fumbled away 80% of it...

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

There is no comfortable win with this team, is there? Scored five in the first, now have fumbled away 80% of it...

Don't spoil it for me, I was glad they went up big early so I could switch to watch the Italian National Nap Team. I figured if the Metsies can throw away a 5 run lead I can just read about it later and not risk smashing anything.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

Don't spoil it for me, I was glad they went up big early so I could switch to watch the Italian National Nap Team. I figured if the Metsies can throw away a 5 run lead I can just read about it later and not risk smashing anything.

Okay, you know that it was 5-4 at *some* point. I will say no more.

(has jaws wedged around the desk and bushels of hair in both paws)

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

(has jaws wedged around the desk and bushels of hair in both paws)

You think you feel bad, with jaws wedged and paws full of hair? See the Yankees thread.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

You think you feel bad, with jaws wedged and paws full of hair? See the Yankees thread.

I do feel bad. Doesn't mean you can't also feel bad.

If it consoles you, you play in a stronger division.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I do feel bad. Doesn't mean you can't also feel bad.

Actually, I apologize. I just learned from a local sportscast that you guys endured a somewhat similar fate today.

EDIT: I should have read your earlier posts before opening my mouth here. As it was, I only read about the jaws and paws.

[Amazin69]

Sunday was so utterly pathetic.

So glad that Rojas felt the need to stretch his relievers on Johnny Wholestaff Day. FFS, why do we have 19 guys in the pen if not to keep Diaz from trying to get five outs on no rest?

Way to go, offense, just putting it in "park" after the first, too.

MLB: Here, have seven games with a team that literally can't find first base. Even you can't screw this up.

ROJAS: Hold my beer.

Sigh.

[Déjà Bru]

Come on, Westheim. Despite your cynicism, your little furry chest must be expanding with pride over Alonso winning the Home Run Derby again.

[Déjà Bru]

Follow up: Wow, this opened my eyes although it really should not have; it's just that I needed to be reminded of how young Alonso is:

Alonso, the Mets’ irrepressible first baseman, repeated as the Home Run Derby champion on Monday at Coors Field, winning the $1 million prize. He also won in Cleveland in 2019, before the pandemic canceled last year’s event ... The Home Run Derby did not have a cash prize back then. That incentive started in 2019, and with each victory, Alonso nearly doubled his salary in one night of epic slugging. In baseball’s pay structure, which is based largely on service time, Alonso made the $555,000 minimum as a rookie in 2019, and his salary now is just $676,775.

So if you discount the season-shortened 2020, Alonso is still like a sophomore. It seems like he's been around longer than that.

Well, we may disparage the Home Run Derby but winning it again has only raised Alonso's value on the market. The Mets are going to find it difficult — and expensive — to hold onto him in 2025.

[Westheim]

2025 is so far away that I refuse to think about that yet. That would even be too far away to grow wrinkles over it in OOTP, whee I'll go through a season in 6-8 weeks.

Also, good on Pete for getting that extra paycheck. We all know how hard it is to live off just 600 grand a year.

[BBGiovanni]

Math isn't my strong suit, but I'mgoing out on a limb to say: 11 hits to the Pie rats is too many.

[Amazin69]

But gee, if Tylor Megill gets a win today, we MIGHT manage 4-3 against a joke team if deGrom experiences a miracle of healing. FFS.

And of course Lindor is hurt now. Gee, overpaying for an AL All-Star and it's a complete bomb…who could have foreseen that?

(paging Carlos Baerga, Roberto Alomar, Jason Bay…)

[Westheim]

That game was no bueno, top to bottom, first to ninth...

Except for Pete! Pete was heroically forsaken as always ...!

[Amazin69]

Now that's the Edlose Diaz I know and loathe! Stick that in your trumpet, Timmy!

I honestly can't remember seeing a less-impressive first place team. Buccos celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 championship team by clinching the season series against us…with one game left to go. (I hear the D'backs are petitioning the league for a fresh crack at this flop show.)

And yes, part of it was Seth Lugo pitching like Seth Rollins. But we got Diaz the ball and a two-run lead. Somebody might want to tell him that's his job, no matter how we get there. Sigh.

Oh, and deGrom is out indefinitely. Because, of course he is.

ETA: Someone on Reddit points out that Edlose prospered with the arrival of Jeremy Hefner from Minnesota after 2019, and has only reverted to form recently. What could be causing such a, er, substantial difference in his performances?

"…Spider-Tac, Spider-Tac, Edlose Diaz can lick my crack", perhaps?

[Westheim]

And once again, I feel much better about having Nick Lester pitch the 10th inning of the tie-breaker against the Loggers in 2020.

**** Boom-Boom Diaz. ******* loser. ******* loser. ******* piece of ********** ****.

Also, because he hasn't been talked about much recently, **** Brodie van Hunchback, too. That's his ******* mess.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

And once again, I feel much better about having Nick Lester pitch the 10th inning of the tie-breaker against the Loggers in 2020.

**** Boom-Boom Diaz. ******* loser. ******* loser. ******* piece of ********** ****.

Also, because he hasn't been talked about much recently, **** Brodie van Hunchback, too. That's his ******* mess.

But but but... he's converted X of Y "save opportunities" this year!!!

I think they could, in theory, survive losing deGrom if the offense worked and the bullpen didn't shoot itself in the face regularly. But, if they didn't replace Diaz as closer in 2019, when just avoiding his blown saves would have been enough to get a wild card flag to fly in the outfield, I don't think they're going to do it this year. Plus, is Lugo broken or bad now too? Does that make Familia the closer? They won't be able to score enough runs for that.

I think at this point they should peddle Conforto for whatever prospects/suspects they can get, maybe find a mediocre SP somewhere, and see if they can back into the postseason. They'd at least probably draw the Brewers or whoever survives the Central, as the Giants/Dodgers/Padres sort of have their own mini-tournament depending on who wins that division.

[Westheim]

This team needs putting down.

All of them.

[Amazin69]

Mets load the bases with 1 out in top of 1st.

Dom Smith strikes out. Conforto goes down. Mets fail to score.

Seriously, if we lose this game, too, I would fire Rojas. This "we're still in 1st place, let's stay calm" stuff is for the birds. This team should be FURIOUS right now. We'll see.

(To be fair, it took a week after Terry's beautiful "…in Las Vegas, there's a roomful of guys who want to be here and I'll find them!" rant for the team to get going in '16, but still. Enough.)

Difo doubles off of All-Star Taijuan Walker. Ryan Reynolds, whom I've always hated, singles him in to give Pittsburgh the lead. Gary Thorne tells us that the current Pirate three-game winning streak is their longest of the year. And the Pirates haven't swept a series all year.

Ben "the Camel" Gamel (ex-Yankee) walks. John Nogowski, the new Paul De Jong, doubles into the LF corner. Dom overthrows Villar on the cutoff (Keith says Villar isn't out deep enough, anyhow), McNeil backs him up but his throw home is too late to get Gamel, Nido drops the ball, and Walker's throw to 3B is too late to get Nogowski. Oh, and apparently Nogowski never touched 2B, but Pete Alonso (who was covering there) was watching the relay follies and missed that part.

Walker walks Gregory Polanco. Polanco steals second. Walker walks Michael Perez. Kevin Newman hits a swinging bunt up the 3B line. Walker rushes to scoop the ball up and get the force at home, but he muffs it and knocks it over to the Mets' dugout. He then channels the spirit of David Cone, not by masturbating in the bullpen, but by screaming at the ump when they call the ball "fair". (It was, it had been foul but it rolled onto the line just before Walker smacked it.)

All three runs score. 6-0 Buccos. Rojas argues and is thrown out. And is immediately fired, at least I hope. (I'm on delay, have to catch up.) JT Brubaker, the opposing pitcher, draws the fourth walk of the inning, and that's it for Walker.

Reminder: the Mets currently have a THREE-man starting rotation (Stroman, Walker, Megill, God Knows, and Your Name Here). Nice to get such good work from our All-Star.

Drew Smith easily gets two outs. So, from the bottom of the 8th last night onwards, the Mets have been outscored 15-1. In less than 3 innings (remember, the Pirates didn't use any outs in the 9th last night) by the worst offense in MLB.

Sigh.