Wings Of A Blue Jay

This was a crushing loss. I understand sometimes you lose games on special occasions. The Giants retired Lawrence Taylor’s number and lost 173-0 (if I remember correctly.) The Mets lost on Saturday, a day when they inducted Howard Johnson, Al Leiter, and beloved broadcasters Gary Cohen and Howie Rose into the team’s Hall of Fame. It wasn’t by 173 runs, but it was no less disappointing. (Just not devastating.)

The main focus today was a managerial decision. With the score tied 1-1 and George Springer on second, Vladimir Guerrero was up with first base open and two outs in the 9th. The easy decision is to walk Guerrero right away with pinch runner Cavan Biggio on deck hitting a buck eighty. Instead, Showalter decided to give David Robertson a shot to pitch to him, and it backfired. But there was a bit of dumb luck involved, and I want to tackle this from that perspective.

The first pitch to Guerrero was a cutter that bore inside and clearly missed the plate. Charlie Ramos, the home plate ump who gave Tylor Megill a generous strike call on a 2-1 pitch to Matt Chapman with the bases loaded before Megill struck him out and then another generous strike call on a 2-2 pitch which struck out Kevin Kiermaier in the second, called that first pitch a strike. It was Ramos’ most egregious call of the day, and considering what his day looked like, that’s saying something. It’s no wonder that John Schneider got himself ejected after that. (But to the best of my knowledge, he did not call Ramos “fat boy“.)

Robertson’s next pitch is a knuckle curve way out of the zone, and the count is 1-1 instead of 2-0, as it should have been. And if the count is indeed 2-0, does Buck make the decision to walk Guerrero at that point? I definitely think he does there. You can argue that Buck probably never should have pitched to him there at all. But pitching around a good hitter happens all the time, and even Ron Darling said at the head of the at-bat that he thought that Robertson would pitch to him, but very carefully.

Buck Showalter said he chose to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a base open in the ninth because he “trusted” David Robertson in that spot. He also mentioned how it would have set things up in the 10th inning, had the Mets made it that far.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) June 3, 2023

Now talking about setting up the 10th before you get past the 9th, that’s the part I wonder about. But on David Robertson’s third pitch, he challenges Vladdy with a fastball and he swings and misses. So now the count is 1-2 and Robertson can do anything he wants here. What he did was throw a knuckle curve about six inches above the ground that nobody had any business hitting except for Vladdy’s father. Junior isn’t really a free swinger like his dad was. But give him credit: he picked the right time to use his bloodlines and expand the strike zone.

It was too close to take 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/jokxGjxVyF

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 3, 2023

That was the crusher as the Mets could not score in the ninth to bail Robertson and Buck out. But the people who they really would have bailed out would have been themselves. More specifically, 2-5 in the order who went 1-for-14 with two walks. Francisco Lindor was the two hitter in that group, and his 0-for-4 sent him to 0-or-his-last-15. His struggles are coming more into focus, mainly because he’s the one that makes the most money and he’s the leader of the team. But Lindor should not be benched or moved down in the lineup because he’s 0-forhis-last-15.

He should be benched or moved down in the lineup because it makes sense. Lindor wants to play every day, and it’s to his detriment. I think he was physically worn down when the season ended. (Notice I said “I think”, and not “I know”, because I don’t know. But I’m taking a guess at this. I think Pete Alonso was worn down as well.) Giving him a blow now just makes sense to give him a two day breather leading into the Atlanta series.

And he should be moved down in the order because he’s an aggressive hitter who would do better with multiple runners on base where the pitcher has nowhere to go. I’m not the guy who puts together mock lineups with a real knowledge of how it’s going to work out (I leave that to Twitter), But I’d love to see Nimmo/Alonso/McNeil/Lindor for a little bit to see how it clicks. Flip Alonso and McNeil if you’d like. I’d like to see Lindor get a stretch where he comes up with multiple runners on where the pitcher has to throw him a fastball.

Of course it would take Lindor altering his approach a little bit to be a little more selective. But if Javy Baez can stop swinging at sliders three feet outside the plate for a month during a contract drive, Lindor can be a little more patient at the plate. But in the four hole, he wouldn’t need to be that much more patient. He could be himself and have more of a chance to produce.

But both options have to come from the manager. If Buck were to somehow agree with this, and he laid it out for Lindor as a strategy that would benefit himself and the team, I’d bet money he’d go for it. The thing about Buck is whether we agree or disagree with his moves, he always has a good explanation for it and, given his experience in the game, he can sell it to you in a way you’d accept it. He could sell sand to a camel, water to a sailor, and extra commercial endorsements to Peyton Manning.

I don’t know if he could sell pitching to Vladdy Jr. in the 9th to set up the 10th, but that’s a media session for another time.

Today’s Hate List

1. Charlie Ramos
2. Jackson Mahomes
3. Joe Mazzulla
4. Josh Donaldson
5. Trea Turner