I’ve blogged about the Mets for 17 years now. I’ll admit that I’ve had fun blogging about the bad losses and the horrible decisions and the impotent ownership. Nothing gets your creative juices flowing than when you’re mad about something. But there were stretches where it just became impossible to find different ways to say “this team stinks.”
The 2022 season has been the first stretch where it’s become a challenge to find different ways to tell you how this team has my heart, and I love it. If this is the team that gives me the ultimate case of writer’s block and shuts me the hell up for good, so be it. Friday’s 7-6 victory over the Rockies, while I’m sure frustrated some of you because “Eppler needs to be fired”, this was yet another gutsy performance by a team that refuses to let rough spots define them, even when everyone around them wants to do so.
Brett Baty, looking stylish in some sort of black sequin necklace which has elevated the Joc Pederson pearls, got it started with a home run to make it 1-0, and Starling Marte followed with a two run single on a pitch that was supposed to be a waste pitch but backed up inside. Chris Bassitt spun five shutout innings, but the Rockies tied it on hits by Brendan Rodgers and C.J. Cron in the 6th. But the Mets do what they do, which is respond swiftly, as Mark Canha doubled off the wall to bring home a run in the bottom of the 6th to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Bassitt stayed in the game and threw a quick 7th, and started the 8th inning with a ground out to Rodgers. But he was pulled after giving up a single to Charlie Blackmon, and then all hell broke loose.
With Seth Lugo and Adam Ottavino having pitched the previous night, Buck Showalter gave Mychal Givens a shot to get out of trouble. Okay, he was the deadline day acquisition, and his best moments have been in the tightest spots. So let’s see what he’s got right? So he gives up a ground single to left to Cron, and then hit Jose Iglesias with the next pitch to load the bases. But he struck out Randal Grichuk on 97 mph heat for the second out. He seemed to throw a lot of changeups in previous outings, so to see him go to 97 on the gun was great.
The problem, however, was that he stayed at 97, and kept going to that well against Elias Diaz. He got to a 2-2 count, all on fastballs. The fifth fastball to Diaz was lined into the right field gap for a three run double to give the Rockies a 6-4 lead. It was his 8th straight fastball, and 13th out of 14th as the only slider he threw hit Iglesias. I don’t know why Givens seems to go to one pitch when he’s in the game, but this was certainly the most extreme case of sticking with one pitch. Unless you have a 102 mph fastball like Edwin Diaz, then you can’t throw the same pitch over and over again. But Diaz mixes in a slider or two even if he feels it isn’t working. Most pitchers will not get away with throwing 13 out of 14 fastballs in a big spot like that. Even if you think Givens is awful, you have to think he has a better chance with better pitch selection.
Pete Alonso took note after the game to mention Canha’s consistency. Alonso might not know the half of it. When you get a chance, check out Canha’s game logs on Baseball Reference and just look at his on base percentage. Coming into tonight, it was .373. When you look at his game logs since about June 1st, he has not strayed too far from that .373 number. Through changes in playing time and the rigors of a season, Canha has been Steady Eddie for this team. In the 8th inning, he had a chance to continue to display his clutch gene. In the 6th he drove in the 4-3 run on a double and it took a fantastic relay to nail Jeff McNeil at the plate by inches. Unbelieveably (or believeably if you’ve been watching this team all season), Canha again had a chance to drive in two runs including McNeil from first. But this time, they really needed it as they were down by two runs.
MARK CANHA CLUTCH AGAIN!!! pic.twitter.com/lMKjDnlyFS
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 27, 2022
Mama. There goes that man. Mark Mother F***ing Canha.
And this time, Squirrel didn’t even have to slide …
Jeff McNeil scoring the tying run was a whole mood 🔥 pic.twitter.com/352jpxeGcq
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 27, 2022
Diaz came in for the ninth and if you looked at the game log you’d see “McMahon doubled to pitcher”, which lacks nuance like everything else in this society. But it was also the only thing Diaz gave up to the Rockies, which set up the 9th inning. Josh Bard came into the game and I got a message that said something to the effect of “we need 2013’s Daniel Bard to make an appearance. Appear he did, like a genie granting wishes to 60’s era astronauts. With one out, he walked Brandon Nimmo on four pitches, then hit Starling Marte with the pitch after that, which caused Buck to curse for about the billionth time after hit by pitches this season.Francisco Lindor was robbed of a hit by a dynamite diving catch by Sam Hilliard, then Bard got Pete Alonso down 0-2 and it looked like we were headed to silly baseball. Diaz then wanted a waste pitch from Bard. He also wanted a waste pitch to Marte back in the 5th, but it bled inside for Marte for a two run triple. The 0-2 to Alonso bled inside for him too. Maybe if this was last week, Alonso would have popped it up. But it’s amazing what a day of rest can do for a person.
PETE ALONSO WINS IT FOR THE METS!!! pic.twitter.com/a6LTHU69si
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 27, 2022
The word count tells me that I’m almost at 1,000. And yet, they all escape me. Every last one.
Today’s Hate List
The Cardinals are useless
— Kevin (@Kpower90) August 27, 2022
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