Holy Hansel Robles!!!

Even when the Mets were down 3-2 in the ninth inning, it had been a very good ballgame up until that point. Noah Syndergaard wasn’t Thor but he gave the Mets a chance to win, and then after Jose Bautista waited on a curveball and tied the game, this game really could have turned into something special.

(And that Bautista hit just looked weird. Corey Knebel’s curve looked like it was going to go to the backstop, then Bautista swung and it was like “what are you throw … WHY ARE YOU SWINGING!!!” But somehow it turned into the tying hit and I give Bautista a lot of credit for that. I can’t believe he’s going to keep this up but I’ll gladly be wrong if it means he’s really going to raise his career from the dead for four months.)

Then the tenth came and it exposed some major problems in this bullpen. The first may have been a managerial mistake, as Jerry Blevins was brought in to face Christian Yelich, who wound up hitting a double to set up second and third. Robert Gsellman had thrown an inning and 2/3’s, so I guess it had more to do with Gsellman being gassed than any lefty/lefty matchup, as Gsellman has been great against lefties this season and Blevins hasn’t been great against anybody. But Blevins gives up a hit and that was that, and A.J. Ramos was brought in.

Ramos, who I think I’ve said on every blog after he’s pitched that watching him is like experiencing an acid trip, didn’t disappoint tonight in that regard. He just disappointed in every other measurable regard, as he walked not only Hernan Perez, but Travis Shaw for the Double Kenny Rogers (and that has nothing to do with chicken), and ended the game on a pitch that bounced before the plate that caused Gary Cohen to scream “Holy Hansel Robles”. Now, if your outing goes down in the annals of history with a comparison to Hansel Robles, you’re screwed.

But you can complain all you want about Mickey Callaway. Sometimes the players that are employed have to get outs and it’s on them. And sometimes it’s on the general manager who not only put this team together, but traded a whole slew of guys for minor league relievers with 2018 in mind. The only one we’ve seen is Jacob Rhame, and he’s only been a part timer. So when do we take Sandy to task for this bullpen? And when do we take the guys in the bullpen to task for not getting it done? Sometimes, they’re responsible too.

Today’s Hate List

1. Josh Hader
2. Jeremy Jeffress
3. Guillermo Mota
4. CC Sabathia
5. John Jaha