Pitches Were Made, Lessons Were Learned

I’m really just paying attention to Ronny Mauricio at this point. So let’s get this out of the way:

Chaosball ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/Zw7ST8Raeo

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 16, 2023

It’s easy to blame Mauricio for that for covering late. But Francisco Alvarez did throw that awfully quick to someone who ne knew hadn’t played the position for any length of time. So I would be inclined to hang it on both of them and call it a growing pain. Hey, it’s what we wanted, right?

Mauricio did have a good night. He went 2-for-4 and came up with this gem later in the game:

Ronny Mauricio makes the diving stop! pic.twitter.com/4pgPXZDgL9

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 17, 2023

So the whole game was a good step forward. The Mets lost, but we’re not paying so much attention to that, right? I guess we’ll talk about it a little bit though.

Tylor Megill had a weird night. He only gave up three runs in 5 and 2/3’s bringing him to within a whisper of a quaality start. But he only had two strikeouts, both in the 6th inning, and he threw 97 pitches which is really high for 5 adn 2/3’s and two strikeouts. Megill took a step forward tonight, but still has a long way to go.

The Reds bullpen took over for rookie Andrew Abbott in the 4th and threw 4 and 1/3 hitless innings after Alvarez brought the Mets to within 3-2 with a single. Not merely scoreless, but hitless. Nothing until the ninth. The Mets offense has gotten a jolt from D.J. Stewart, but man … sometimes this season you just get the feeling that if it’s the right night, Rockhurst High School in Kansas City could send their pitching staff to Citi Field and shut down the heart of the order for an inning.

With Alexis Diaz unavailable after his 5 out save last night, Derek Law came in for his first save since April 3rd. He gave up a couple of hits to Vogelbach and Alvarez and had to face Pete Alonso with two outs and the winning runs on base. Last night, David Bell left Hunter Greene in to face Alonso, and Greene missed location on a fastball badly and Alonso crunched it to the second deck.

If you look at what Law did, he got out in front 0-2, and when he wanted to waste a pitch, it was either on the edges or way otu of the zone. All Law really had to do was keep it away from the middle of the plate, and that’s what he did in getting Alonso to ground out to end the game. We’re all just happy at this point that lessons were learned by the young players, and everyone’s tendons are intact.

Today’s Hate List

1. T.J. Friedl
2. Christian Encarnacion-Strand
3. Derek Law
4. Sam Moll
5. Francisco Cruz