If you’re going to have an eight winning streak snapped, the preferable way to do it is to lose to a pitcher who during many stretches over the last four years has been the best pitcher in baseball. So I’m not going to cry in my beer about it.
It isn’t as if the Mets couldn’t get runners on against Madison Bumgarner, who gave up six hits and three walks in six innings, but the Mets couldn’t get that big hit to knock Bumgarner out and get back in the game. Part of that could be attributed to an awful call made by Ron Kulpa as Bumgarner struck out Asdrubal Cabrera with the sacks full and down four runs on a pitch which, if it was any further inside it would have hit him. But the bats weren’t consistent enough to pull this out, bad call or no bad call.
Noah Syndergaard wasn’t too much worse than Bumgarner, as he went 5 and 2/3’s while giving up five hits and two walks while striking out six. But the Giants ran all over Syndergaard and got a key home run from Hunter Pence, who if the signs are correct still uses MySpace, in the fourth inning. It was a fourth inning which would have been over had Buster Posey not been running on the pitch on a Brandon Belt RBI grounder. Much was made of the Giants running all over Syndergaard, which means he’ll probably have to tweak his stretch mechanics to fix this, or at least have him be more aware of runners. I hope there isn’t too much tinkering with his mechanics, though. Doc Gooden wasn’t the same pitcher after Mel Stottlemyre tried to alter Doc’s delivery for him to hold runners on better. Let Noah be Noah and don’t send him down that wormhole or give him too much to think about. He’s fine being himself.
The Mets are now 0-2 in the 1986 jerseys, for those looking for a reason in the supernatural realm to explain today’s loss.
Today’s Hate List
- Ron Kulpa
- Buster Posey
- Hunter Pence
- Kelby Tomlinson
- Josh Osich
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