Guts And Glory (And Pitching And Defense)

The Mets needed to use “silly baseball” for the second time in one day. And boy, was it silly.

So we get to the 10th inning … again … after Max Scherzer struck out 11 in 6 and 1/3 and gave up two runs while the Mets could only get two across vs. Drew Smyly and the Cubs bullpen in nine innings. So we get to the 10th with Ghost Runner Nimmo on second. Starling Marte reaches on an infielder bleeder to put runners on first and third, then he steals second to force David Ross to make the decision to walk Francisco Lindor to get Pete Alonso an at-bat with the bases loaded. Mychal Givens got to 0-2 on him and then, in the first mistake the Cubs made in the inning, came up and in and ticked Alonso in the elbow to bring home a run to make it 3-2.

Mark Canha then did something very un-Canha like, and swung at the first pitch … a fastball from Givens. He grounded into a 1-2-3 double play and take the Cubs off the hook. Until the end, it hung as a key misstep for the Mets. But the Cubs gave it back. Daniel Norris was then brought in to pitch to pinch hitter Luis Guillorme and walked him on five balls (one of those balls being called a strike for some dumb reason). Then up came Eduardo Escobar, and Norris wasn’t close on his first two pitches.

It was then that Norris decided to try to pick off Alonso at second base with the bases loaded to … and this is the only thing I can think of as to why he would do this … try to settle himself down and give himself a breath after missing at progressive stages of bad to worse to Guillorme and Escobar. But he threw the pick off to center field to basically give the Mets a free run and make it 4-2. As you know in the times we live in, scoring two with the ghost runner is like scoring one without the ghost runner in extra innings. It’s the Manfred Exchange Rate. And it would wind up being the difference in the game.

Yoan Lopez, the 27th man for the doubleheader, pitched the 10th in his second inning of work. It was apparent that Buck Showalter was not going to any of the big boys to pitch twice in one day, and with the Cubs bringing up a bunch of righties it kind of eliminated Joely Rodriguez, so it was either Lopez for a second inning or Tommy Hunter, and I can’t really fault Buck’s decision to let Lopez ride. He struck out Nelson Velazquez to start the inning, but Christopher Morel singled to bring him the Cubs’ G.R., and then Seiya Suzuki made hard contact to single up the middle to put runners on first and third. Then the bases were loaded after Suzuki stole second as Lopez went to 2-0 on Nico Hoerner, so it was Lopez vs. Frank Schwindel for the game.

Lopez went to 2-2 on him and threw an uncompetitive slider to make it 3-2. It was then I told my buddy that Lopez just had to throw a slider down the pipe and hope for the best. He threw two of them. The first one was fouled off. The second …

DOUBLE PLAY!!!!

METS SWEEP THE DOUBLEHEADER!!! pic.twitter.com/r0nxejqpKV

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 17, 2022

First off, the guts on Lopez to get through that inning when it would have been so easy to say “well, we tried”. Second, the defense has been incredible in this doubleheader. Between Escobar’s two plays at third base in the first game, J.D.’s scoop, Pete Alonso’s scoops in Game 2 along with his over the shoulder catch, and Escobar’s play to end the second game … the pitching (don’t overlook Colin Holderman’s work either) and defense (it’s worth noting that Scherzer compared Tomas Nido to freakin’ Yadier Molina defensively which clearly means that Nido is going to hit a big home run against Aaron Heilman in the playoffs) has really been incredible and it shouldn’t go overlooked that you need pitching and defense to go far in the playoffs.

You also need a little help from Daniel Norris throwing a pickoff for no good reason.

Today’s Game Two Hate List

1. The other home plate umpire’s strike zone
2. Rafael Ortega
3. Ian Happ
4. Christopher Morel
5. Drew Smyly