Even the wins were hard

[Frayed Knot]

Deciding not to wait for the June Swoon this year, the Mets had a 9-19 May Decay.

And while we all know about the load of gut punch losses, it's not like the wins were void of drama. Or, as in the words of the

great English Philosopher Richard Starkey: Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, and you know it don't come easy'[/i]



The nine wins for the just completed month.





May 2: Cubs 6 - Mets 7 (11)

After a scoreless 10th, Cubs double in a run with the first batter of the 11th but add no more off Broadway Danny Young.

In the bottom half, Bader gets hit by the first pitch then Lindor ends it with a 2R double



May 6: Mets 4 - Cards 3

Cards score 3 in the 6th to tie the game, then Nimmo HR's in top 7.

Diekman (1-hit), Ottavino (1 hit), and Diaz (perfect) close out the game.



May 7: Mets 7 - Cards 5

Mets lead by three heading into bottom 9. But Otto gives up HR, 1B, BB before K'ing Goldschmidt and Burleson with

tying runs on and winning runs at the plate.



May 12: Braves 3 - Mets 4

Braves take a one run lead in the 8th but here Nimmo hits a 2R walk-off in front of a national audience on SNB



May 16: Mets 6 - Phils 5 (11)

Mets/Diaz blow a one run 9th inning lead. A scoreless 10th is followed by a 2R NYM 11th.

Diekman allows the free runner to score before K'ing Schwarber to end the game w/runners on 2nd & 3rd



May 19: Mets 7 - Marlins 3

Mets pad a 1-run lead with 3 in top 9. Reed Garrett gets an uneventful close



May 26: Giants 3 - Mets 4

Down 3-1 heading into the 9th. A 2R Bader double is followed by a walk-off RBI single from Narvaez



May 30: DBacks 2 - Mets 3

JD's HR breaks a 2-2 tie with one out in the 8th. Reed Garrett closes it out.



May 31: DBacks 9 - Mets 10

What looked like a cruiser ends with the tying run on base following two ARZ HRs





So while the frustration level was high as a substantial numbers of May's losses were winnable, eight of

the nine wins were easily losable. And even the four run win was a one run lead as the 9th opened.



- Two games went 11 innings.

- There was a two-run 9th inning walk-off win, a three-run walk-off 9th inning win, and an 11th inning one-run walk-off

- Every road win (except the 7-3 MIA win) ended with the tying and/or winning runs on base or at bat, and even two

of the home wins ended that way as well.

[MFS62]

Those wins would have been a lot easier if Diaz had been his own self.

Ottavino reminds me of Ron Piche, about whom Howard Cosell said, "Looks like the Braves have given up on this game. Ron Piche is pitching".

Ottavino should not be used in any game when they're tied or ahead. The good (or is it bad?) news is, those don't happen very often.



Later

[Frayed Knot]

Picking out designated villains for the last month is a fool's exercise.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: Picking out designated villains for the last month is a fool's exercise.

I've been saying that since they got him f rom the MFYs, and wasn't thrilled when they re-signed him - he's not dependable.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: Picking out designated villains for the last month is a fool's exercise. I've been saying that since they got him f rom the MFYs, and wasn't thrilled when they re-signed him - he's not dependable.

The subject was the rough month of May both in the games they won and in the ones they lost. You boiled it down to Diaz (if only he was

right) and Ottavino (if only he was elsewhere).

You know who else was responsible? The offense, the defense, the starters, and all the rest of the bullpen as well.

So I'll repeat, picking out designated villains is a fool's errand and particularly when you do so in advance.



Ottavino, like almost everyone else in the pen, had a terrific April and a lousy May. He also has a 14 year track record of being pretty darn good

(a lifetime 3.48 ERA) including a 3.00 ERA/1.12 WHiP in two plus seasons as a Met even with the recent blowups. If you think this all makes

him the equivalent of a "give up" pitcher who should never be used except as mop-up duty during blowouts then you simply haven't been paying

attention and sound more like you're hunting ammo so as to prove your long ago animus towards him correct whether it fits the facts or not.

And nice work linking him to a guy no one heard of with pieces of six seasons six decades ago for three teams including the Milwaukee Fucking Braves.

Yeah, good comp.

[MFS62]

I've been wanting to say how his performance has been deteriorating for a while and picked this thread.

I use Piche not as a direct comp but as a metaphor. Sorry if it ruined what you were saying.

You are right, he is not the only villain in their putrid performance by any means.



Later

[Centerfield]

Again. Great work. I was saying the other day that I can't remember the last time the Mets won a game where they scored early and then tacked on to win a laugher.



Seems like there hasn't been one in at least a month. Even the Florida win was close until late. And if I remember correctly, came the day after blowing a big lead. So even with the insurance runs I didn't feel very insured.

[Frayed Knot]

I've been wanting to say how his performance has been deteriorating for a while and picked this thread.

But the larger point remains: that with 155 games as a Met under his belt Ottavino has pitched to a 3.01 ERA, a 1.12 WHIP,

6.9 H/9, 10.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, and 1.0 HR/9 ... and keep in mind that this rough month means that his numbers have just

inflated to those levels.



If this is your definition of a reliever who's "not dependable", who needs to be chained to the bench in any game with a

lead or is tied, and gets compared to someone you use only after "giving up", then we might as well pre-reject any

reliever they come up with because 80-90% of them are going to fall short.



What it sounds like is that you long ago chose him as your designated whipping boy and are jumping on this recent stretch

as a way to claim that the 9.28 ERA we saw in May -- not his career norms, not the above stats, and not the 1.69 ERA in

April -- is the real him and you saw it coming all along.



His performance doesn't merit anything close to that assessment, recent weeks notwithstanding.

[Centerfield]

I think you were saying something about the wins being hard.

[Frayed Knot]

You mean just because they held leads of 1-0, 3-1, 7-4, and then 8-5 going into the 9th inning and ended it at 8-7 with the tying and winning runs on base?

[metirish]

This is a great thread, nothing seems easy

[Centerfield]

I think this thread title is the motto for the year.

[Frayed Knot]

Doing some catch up work here as even in the three game sweep v Washington there were late inning issues and maybe some tissues as well.



Game 1, 8-7 final

Mets enter the 9th with a three run lead, but the Nats send seven batters to the plate, score twice, and end the game

with the tying run on 3rd and winning run(s) on 1st and at the plate.



Game 2, 6-3 final

A run in top 9 gives the Mets a three run lead. But here six Nat batters notch one run and the game ends with tying

runs on 1st & 2nd



Game 3, 9-1

Finally a breather as a six-run NYM 6th puts the game into cruise control

[Frayed Knot]

Tonight (6/12) was, I believe, the third comfortable win since sometime in April.

[Frayed Knot]

In addition to the monumental change in the W/L record, over half of our wins since June 5th have come to us with some degree of ease.

Of the 10 wins since June 6th six have come with scores of 9-1, 10-4, 5-1, 11-6, 14-2, and 11-1

[Frayed Knot]

And sometimes even the easy ones are hard.

[Frayed Knot]

7/1

After being gifted two unearned runs to take the lead in the 6th, a misplay of our own gives back the tying run in the 8th

In top 10, a ghost-runner-HBP-3R HR starts out the inning and then three more seemingly unnecessary runs get tacked on for a six run lead. And after

all that WE STILL wound up facing one AB with the tying run at the plate followed by one where the tying runs were on and the winning run was at bat!!





In the words of Robert Earl Keen: The road goes on forever and the party never ends

[Frayed Knot]

We hit five HRs and it was still a nail-biter!!

[MFS62]

Who has nails left?

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Do I even have to list the messy details for this one?



Three run lead, Marlins get a run in and leave the tying runs in scoring position and the walk-off run at the plate with a hot power hitter up.

And all that despite getting just one ball out of the infield all inning: K, 1B, BB, IF-1B/Brain-Fart, RBI GO, Pop-up