In the last ten games, which have been against the Rangers, Reds and Marlins, the Mets have scored 42 runs. That’s 4.2 runs a game which, for reference, the Reds have averaged so far this season, and they are 13th in the National League in runs per game.
The Mets went 6-4 in that stretch. Of course, you would want the Mets to have gone better than 6-4 against those three teams. But to go 6-4 in a stretch where you’re averaging as many runs as the Cincinnati Reds has to say something good about the Mets. Now, it’s a little skewed because there were games where they scored 7. 8, and 10 runs, and yet they were also shut out in two games and scored one run in a third game. But even with those three games in the equation, a 6-4 stretch considering all that is pretty good. Now, I didn’t have getting shut out in Cincinnati on my bingo card, and not winning, or scoring in, today’s extra inning game was the killer, as a 7-3 stretch would have looked a lot better, and would have put the Mets in lockstep with the Braves and Phillies over the last ten.
Everyone likes to send out the hounds of doom on this, with the Mets headed to Atlanta for three huge games. And I know I’ve become what I hate, which is the overly positive “hey, season is still young” guy. I get it. I get that many of you lived through 2007 and 2008. I lived through them to. I was miserable for years because of those two teams. I get it. But let me let all of you in on some little secrets: We have a new owner. We have a new GM. We have a new head coach. And everyone on the 2008 Mets has retired, even if they don’t know it yet. Nothing that has to do with 2008 exists in the present. So it can still make you mad while you let it go, because it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life, and truth be told, I’m feeling good.
I’m feeling good because even though the Mets are going to be missing James McCann with an oblique injury, Starling Marte with a tight groin, and Jeff McNeil with an obligation to welcome a new soul into the world, the Mets have Max Scherzer going Monday night, and the Mets got Max Scherzer for games like this. The Braves, meanwhile, just acquired Robinson Cano, and I’m not sure why they acquired him except for maybe to psych out the Mets and their fans by bringing back the ghost of general managers past.
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We tend to judge players in moments. We certainly did in the past. What did Player X when the lights shone brightest? We have learned so much about what a player’s actual worth is outside of these fleeting big moments. But because you have guys like Chris Russo screaming all the time about “IF YOU HAD AN AT-BAT TO SAVE YOUR LIFE WOULD YOU CHOOSE FRANCISCO LINDOR???” Or “IS HE JOE MORGAN??? BECAUSE HE’S NO JOE MORGAN!!!” People will still continue to judge by fleeting moments in time.
The final at-bat of Sunday’s loss was a fleeting moment in time. After a great pitching duel between Sandy Alcantara and Taijuan Walker, Tomas Nido’s throw to Guam allowed ghost runner Billy Hamilton to score the first run of the game, and Luke Williams drove home a second tenth inning run with a single. But in the bottom of the inning, Tanner Scott left the door open a bit. He struck out Tomas Nido and got Brandon Nimmo to fly out on a ball that looked like it had a chance to leave the yard and tie the game. But Scott lost his feel for the strike zone and walked Mark Canha to set up that fleeting moment starring Francisco Lindor.
Scott’s first two pitches were uncompetitive, and Lindor had a 2-0 count. This is where we kinda sorta go old school vs new school. Old school will tell you that you take until the pitcher throws a strike. New school will tell you to swing if you see something you like. Now also take this into account: Lindor on a 2-0 count: OBP of .286, SLG of .692, and an OPS of .978 (batting average of .308, oddly enough.). Now, Lindor has reached a 3-0 count only 7 times this season, and he’s walked every time. So let’s look at Lindor with a 2-1 count: .353/.588/.941 … not bad, right?
So Lindor is probably thinking that 2-0 is his count, and if it doesn’t work out, he’s got 2-1 to play with as he has had success on that count. So he’s loaded for bear on 2-0, and probably a little too much so. Scott, perhaps knowing this and perhaps not, threw a slider on 2-0. Now, looking at it from the generic center field camera, it looked like a non-competitive pitch. But seeing the replay on the camera from behind home, I can kinda see Lindor offering at that, as it was at his knees. And if he’s expecting fastball, then he’s not expecting that pitch to move. In fact, the ball was headed right at the spot where he likes it. From Fangraphs:
So it’s 2-1 and Lindor thinks he’s got another good shot at this. But in hindsight, he was already dead because Scott now had the confidence to keep throwing that slider, The 2-1 pitch was a much better pitch than 2-0, and Lindor had no shot at it. So now it’s 2-2, and Lindor’s numbers with a 2-2 count: 179/.286/.464. Sure enough, Lindor waved at another good slider and that was it for the game.
Now, what I have laid out for you is probably just a very rudimentary outlay of the “game within the game”, because in reality there is probably way more to it than any of us know. But it also goes to show that there’s a lot more to it than “IS FRANCISCO LINDOR JOE MORGAN??!?!??!? BECAUSE I DON’T THINK HE’S JOE MORGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!” The fact of the matter is that the Mets lost their chance to win this game well before it even got to that point. And that there’s more to fleeing moments than you think.
Today’s Hate List
1. Bob Raissman
2. Jon Berti
3. Luke Williams
4. Richard Bleier
5. Rocky Bleier
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