Meet the Mets (For Mets Fans Only!)

Soul_29 said:

mfpark said:
They optioned Phillip who to Las Vegas?  

 Roth. 
Phillip Roth was optioned. 

No wonder. He already had two L’s.

Unsolicited plug here for “The Great American Novel,” Roth’s pastiche about baseball.

DaveSchmidt said:

Soul_29 said:

mfpark said:
They optioned Phillip who to Las Vegas?  

 Roth. 
Phillip Roth was optioned. 

No wonder. He already had two L’s.
Unsolicited plug here for “The Great American Novel,” Roth’s pastiche about baseball.

Unsolicited counterplug: my favorite baseball book...If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock.

Train_of_Thought said:

DaveSchmidt said:

Soul_29 said:

mfpark said:
They optioned Phillip who to Las Vegas?  

 Roth. 
Phillip Roth was optioned. 

No wonder. He already had two L’s.
Unsolicited plug here for “The Great American Novel,” Roth’s pastiche about baseball.

Unsolicited counterplug: my favorite baseball book...If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock.

 A third plug and second unsolicited counterplug for my favorite baseball book:

Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy

Edited to add that based on the above, I've put the above recommendations on my need to read list.

Train_of_Thought said:

Unsolicited counterplug: my favorite baseball book...If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock.

 My counter just sprang a leak. Will that book really work?

DaveSchmidt said:

Train_of_Thought said:

Unsolicited counterplug: my favorite baseball book...If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock.

 My counter just sprang a leak. Will that book really work?

 Just as it will remedy your uneven-legged kitchen chair. It's that good a book.

wendy said:

Train_of_Thought said:

DaveSchmidt said:

Soul_29 said:

mfpark said:
They optioned Phillip who to Las Vegas?  

 Roth. 
Phillip Roth was optioned. 

No wonder. He already had two L’s.
Unsolicited plug here for “The Great American Novel,” Roth’s pastiche about baseball.

Unsolicited counterplug: my favorite baseball book...If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock.

 A third plug and second unsolicited counterplug for my favorite baseball book:
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy


Edited to add that based on the above, I've put the above recommendations on my need to read list.

 Gonna have to put together a list of Top Ten baseball books... Ball Four by Jim "Roth" Bouton would be on the list. 

Not to change the subject, but when and how did Lagares hurt his toe badly enough to be out for the season?  He had so much promise, but he just can't get going.

in the blowout loss to Toronto he ran into the wall making a catch and tore ligaments in his big toe.  It's shame he got hurt in a game they lost so badly, but you like to see that he was still giving full-out effort.

ml1 said:
in the blowout loss to Toronto he ran into the wall making a catch and tore ligaments in his big toe.  It's shame he got hurt in a game they lost so badly, but you like to see that he was still giving full-out effort.

 I dunno, is it really that smart to go all out in a blowout?  What was the score and inning?

I think it was 14-0 in the 8th. But how can you tell guys to shut down their competitiveness? Especially a guy who is vying for playing time. 

I hear ya. The second point is probably more salient.

Great game against the 1st place Brew Crew!   Keep it going!

Why is Reyes on this team?  They pitch hit for Syndegaard with a guy hitting 145.  Just release him. 

IMHO, there are clearly times when you can tell that a reliever "doesn't have it" on a certain night. No shame in that...it happens. I find that's often the case with Familia -- first batter or two, how's he's throwing, all arm no lower body...you can just feel it's not gonna be a great appearance. Last night we see Ramos walk his first batter on 4 bad pitches to load the bases. When he started Shaw with ball one low again, the whole cavalry rushed to the mound. Eiland, the infielders...it was obvious to all that Ramos was flat out off and the game was getting away. So my question is, after the concerned visit, when the next pitch was again badly low, why not just take him out? This isn't some high-paid closer with whom you live and die. I know he then finally threw one strike to make it 2-1, but was there anyone watching who didn't feel in their gut that the game-ending walk was inevitable? With no room for error, ball four was his worst pitch of all. Again, there should be no shame in recognizing the reality of a given night, and then you hope for better from Ramos next time and you send him out there with confidence. But on THIS night, at 2-0 after six straight balls and a mass mound visit, he should've been pulled mid-batter. Again just IMHO.

(Sidenote: after ball four, I kinda enjoyed Gary Cohen's call that Ramos "channeled his inner Robles.")

clever line. But we've seen enough of Ramos to know he was channeling his inner Ramos. 

They should have let Syndegaard bat for himself instead of pinch hitting a 145 hitter, and left Gsellman in regardless of the righty/lefty thing.  He had it going on.  It doesn't matter how Vargas does today if this is the team we have.

No worries about dropping a close one today.

FilmCarp said:
No worries about dropping a close one today.

 They could score ten more runs still

mrincredible said:

FilmCarp said:
No worries about dropping a close one today.

 They could score ten more runs still

 Just reinforces letting the prior game get away.

Serenity now.

I think we can merge this thread with the celebrity death thread.

They just talked about how the reliever in for the Mets began this year with the Somerset Patriots. I wanna think of this as a feel good story. I really do. And yet I can't shake it: the reliever in for the Mets began this year with the Somerset Patriots. Ugh...

Well, first I read this and was very sad:

 "About two hours prior to game time on Thursday, a line of relievers filed out of a back room in the Mets' clubhouse, where they had conducted their routine pre-series meeting. They may as well have brought nametags with them. Four of those pitchers were not on the roster just two days earlier. Two had never before set foot in Citi Field as Mets. One was pitching for an independent league team just five weeks ago.

Anonymous no more, many of them went on to play central roles in a 5-1 loss to the Cubs, which exposed the underside of their patchwork bullpen. The first three Mets pitchers to enter in relief of Seth Lugo all allowed runs. True to form, two of them weren't on the team last weekend."

But then I read this, and life was sunny and bright again.  Nimmo and Trout and Judge and Betts all in the same sentence--who woulda thunk it?  Gotta find joy wherever you can with this team that is now at .500 and muddling along.

"Nimmo's home run pushed his slugging percentage to .574, its highest point in over a month. He is one of seven players with at least 100 at-bats, an on-base percentage of .400 or better and a slugging mark of .500 or better. The others are Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado and Brandon Belt."

The guy from the Patriots was the only reliever not to give up a run. I'll take anybody over Robles. 

The relievers are not consistent enough to bash any one of them.  Robles sucks, but gave three good innings a few days ago.  Blevins is good one day and blows the game the next.  Same with almost all of the others.  Only Gsellman seems to have read the tea leaves and figured out his path to money, and he's not perfect.

Hopefully Swarzak comes back and can stay healthy. I don't recall ever seeing two starting pitchers straining their fingers within a week of each other. They would have a stellar lineup at the moment if it was 2012.  

the bullpen has blown a few over the past week.  But I place a lot of the blame on the lack of scoring.  The bullpen has had little to no margin for error.  The only game that was really the fault of the bullpen alone was the game against the Braves where they blew a 6-2 lead.  In most of the others, they've been asked to protect a 1-run lead for multiple innings, or keep the game tied.  That's tough for any bullpen.

That was an embarrassing series punctuated by the steal of home by Baez.

The only consolation is that the Phillies also stunk up the last 10 games.  But they are still 5 games over .500 and at least their star pitcher gives a damn.

mfpark said:

The only consolation is that the Phillies also stunk up the last 10 games.  But they are still 5 games over .500 and at least their star pitcher gives a damn.

What did Aaron Nola say?   

you watch a Mets game lately and it feels like they're never going to score another run.