The Devil’s In The Details

I don’t mean to pick on the Marlins. But I will anyway.

The Marlins made the playoffs in 2020 when there was a short season. And since then they’ve really tried to capitalize on that despite having limited funds to work with. Trust me as someone who rooted for a baseball teams with “limited funds”, I know how this works. But with the Mets, you see the difference between a team that does things half assed and a team that spends enough money to take care of the little things and the big things. And you certainly see the difference between the Mets of this year and a team like the Marlins. Under the Wilpons, the Mets would be in titanic death struggles with the Marlins for a lot of seasons, and lose a good amount of games. This season, so far, the Mets are 5-1 against the Marlins after today’s second straight 5-3 victory in Miami. Sometimes, it’s as simple as the Mets leaning on the Marlins simply by having a better roster. But today, just like yesterday, it’s been the little things. Yesterday it was a managerial challenge. Today, it was a curious decision by the Marlins that made the difference.

Let’s set the stage. It’s the bottom of the 4th with the score 3-0 Mets as they had just scored two runs to extend their lead. So here come the Marlins as Garrett Cooper singled to lead off the inning, and then with one out, Jesus Aguilar singles to right field. I see Garrett Cooper rounding second like he has an ice cream truck on his back, and for some reason he gets waived to third against Starling Marte’s arm. (This is the same Starling Marte who played for the Marlins, by the way.) Marte’s throw wasn’t even accurate, and they still got Cooper by a step for the second out. The next batter, Jesus Sanchez, homers to make it 3-2 when it could have been tied the game.

I’m sure people would have lauded the play for being “aggressive”, but aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean “smart”. It’s a little thing, but who knows what it changed the rest of the way. Bryan De La Cruz tied the game at 3-3 with a homer off the foul pole off Chris Bassitt (who gave up three runs in seven innings). Could it have been 4-3 instead? What would have changed after that? Who knows if it would have been Jimmy Yacabonis pitching in the 8th inning of a 4-3 game against Pete Alonso instead of a tie game in the 8th. (I think Jimmy Yacabonis was in on the Lufthansa heist.) But even if you don’t believe in the “wings of a butterfly” theory, that run they lost came back to bite them as Alonso’s second home run of the day which came off Yacabonis gave the Mets a 4-3 lead, and they wouldn’t look back. With the Mets having so much success in the details of the game this season, it makes it easier to spot those little things that another team might get wrong like sending a slow guy to third against a right fielder with a good arm. Or perhaps challenging a play at first that was too close to overturn at best.

Of course, the big things help too, like Bassitt keeping the Mets in the game, Seth Lugo’s scorless 8th (Lugo gets a lot of scrutiny when he has a bad inning so it’s only fair to put the spotlight on an important 8th inning only up by a run), and Edwin Diaz being Edwin Diaz, and dominating the Marlins in the 9th while reaching 102 on the gun. (That 102 mph pitch was a ball a foot inside, but still.) Alonso’s two home runs, Eduardo Escobar’s RBI single, and Brandon Nimmo’s insurance RBI in the 9th helped too. The Mets are now 12-9 in their last 21 starting with the Dodgers series, and have reached my threshold of 12-12 during the June stretch between the Dodgers series and the end of the month. They’re also 5.5 games back pending the Braves game against the Dodgers tonight. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve made it through their toughest stretch of the season to date without too much damage done to them. McCann is back, Jacob deGrom is throwing to live hitters, and Max Scherzer is contemplating embarrassing the Palm Beach Cardinals. If you’re not enjoying this, then you truly have no soul.

Today’s Hate List

1. Jesus Sanchez
2. Bryan de la Cruz
3. Pablo Lopez
4. Tanner Scott
5. Zach Pop