Target Unblemished

First thing I want to say is that you should really read our game previews. If you read the following:

Johan Santana has recently implored Perez (who like Santana relies on his changeup) to keep throwing his fastball inside, and to not mess with these hitters.

Then you wouldn’t have been surprised to see Perez try to come in with a fastball to Amed Rosario … only to have Rosario tie the game with a solo home run off Perez to tie the game 1-1.

And also, if you have read our game preview, you would have seen this:

• Nelson Cruz has knocked Jason Vargas around, hitting a career .353 off Vargas in 34 at-bats with five HR’s, ten RBI, and an OPS of 1.330.

And you would have been prepared to see Nelson Cruz hit the sixth home run of his career against Vargas in the bottom of the third to make the score 2-1 Minnesota. See? You may think the game previews are just filler, but we give you gold.

Now to the meat of the game: Dominic Smith had the big blast of the game: a three run pinch hit HR off Trevor May in the seventh to make it 5-3, and it was Smith’s first post All-Star break hit, which is a little bit surprising. But it was a huge, huge, huge home run. Whatever Smith is asked to do, he excels at.

[protected-iframe id=”55215d4766c4ac21faeebbf48d04e5b2-142507471-13745575″ info=”https://streamable.com/m/dominic-smith-homers-9-on-a-fly-ball-to-right-field-amed-rosario-scores-adeiny-h” width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″]

And it shouldn’t go unnoticed what Jeurys Familia did. He pitched the seventh inning and after a leadoff hit by Marwin Gonzalez, he struck out Miguel Sano and got Luis Arraez to hit into an inning ending double play. The big stat to me was 14 pitches, 11 strikes. He was averaging about 61% strikes so when you see 11 out of 14, it’s exciting. When you find the strike zone you can throw your pitches more confidently. Familia did that, perhaps because of a slight mechanical change in his set position where his front foot was closed a little bit, as Ronnie pointed out. Familia, who I had lost all hope for this season, might have found himself a little bit today.

The Twins should have gotten out of the eighth inning as a fly ball by Adeiny Hechavarria should have been caught by Eddie Rosario with his eyes closed. The game would have gone to the bottom of the eighth with the Mets up by two. However …

Love you Eddie Rosario pic.twitter.com/mGdqIwRpX6

— Julian (@AmedRosario1) July 17, 2019

The play allowed two runs to score, it led to four more runs scoring before the inning ended, but most importantly it saved Seth Lugo some stressful pitches as the Mets were able to bring in Chris Mazza for the final two blowout innings.

Oh, and about those last two runs in the eighth …

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At 474 feet, that was longer than any of his home run derby shots. Scary part: Alonso said post game that that wasn’t the home run he felt he got his best contact on.

I think it’s pretty clear that the #MNTwins don’t discriminate: they see any “NY” logo on the front of an opponents’ cap and immediately start looking like they’re sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds. #Mets #Yankees

— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) July 17, 2019

True fact: The Mets are undefeated at Target Field.

So it’s a four game winning streak for the Mets, who still have to jump the entire National League except Miami to get back into the playoff hunt. That includes the Giants, who are steaming towards 11-2 in July and have their own hallucinations about playoff chances (at least until they trade Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith.) So don’t doubt the appearance of some wacky, fun and slightly heartbreaking developments over the next four days at Oracle Park. (Is that what they call it now?)

Mickey Callaway still has his sights set on the playoffs: "Look, we're getting closer. We're inching closer and closer, it's not out of the realm of possibility. And that's what we're focusing our sights on is getting to the postseason this year." pic.twitter.com/RbGpQGObvP

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 17, 2019

Mickey obviously high off the rosin from Jason Vargas’ cap.

Today’s Hate List

1. Jeff Kent
2. Jeff Kent
3. Jeff Kent
4. Jeff Kent
5. Jeff Kent