It’s good to see the Mets being more aggressive on the basepaths, and it certainly paid off tonight when Carlos Beltran stole third in the ninth inning to put himself in position to score the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Luis Castillo.
But if Beltran had been called out at third, and he looked out on the replay, the Mets’ baserunning for the game would look a lot different. In the seventh, David Wright was thrown out at home. In the eighth, Jose Reyes was out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. In the ninth, Fernando Tatis was picked off first.
So that is three Mets out on the basepaths in the seventh, eighth and ninth. And that does not include Beltran’s close play at third.
Tonight, the Mets’ baserunning helped them win the game. But it’s one thing to be aggressive – it’s another to so desperate to score with Carlos Delgado out of the lineup that you always try to take the extra base even when there’s little chance of it succeeding.
And now Jerry Manuel is talking about playing Daniel Murphy at first. Time will tell if that is agressive managing – or desperate managing.
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Johan Santana’s great start with no run support has sparked memories of Bob Gibson going 22-9 with an ERA of 1.12. in 1968. It also made me think of Tom Seaver going 20-10 in 1971 with an ERA of 1.76.
According to baseball-reference.com, Gibson ended May with a record of 3-5 and an ERA of 1.52. But he then won his next 15 starts in a row. 10 of the wins were shutouts. In the 15 games, Gibson gave up 11 runs.
All 15 of the wins were complete games. Gibson had complete games in 28 of his 34 starts.
Gibson ended up with 13 shutouts in 1968. That means that in games in which Gibson did not pitch a shutout, he only went 9-9!
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