IGT World Series Game 2 Mets @ Royals Wed 10-28-15

[Benjamin Grimm]

At least I can go to bed at a decent hour tonight. I still have some sleep to catch up on.

Definitely the worst game of the postseason so far. Back at it on Friday, from Citi Field.

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

lol@those you thought the Royals were the easier opponent.

[batmagadanleadoff]

[fimg=404:3p9xp6hb]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5629/22694172661_f93ab90649_o.jpg[/fimg:3p9xp6hb]

Edited October 28, 2015 by Guest

[Elster88]

El Segundo Escupidor wrote: lol@those you thought the Royals were the easier opponent.

If Familia shuts them down we win in 5

[Elster88]

This shit hurts. But it's not over

[nymr83]

fuckity fuck fuck fuck fuckkkkkkkk.

this feels just like 2000, blowing game 1 and losing the series

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Ugh. Feeling the just-happy-to-be-here leaching out of me, leaving a two-day-wide void.

I'm currently filling the void with banana and brownie. Then some crunches. Maybe some dishes. Basically, I'm throwing a lot of stimuli at the void, and hoping something works.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

El Segundo Escupidor wrote: lol@those you thought the Royals were the easier opponent.

Yeah, I don't know where people got that idea. At least the Blue Jays seem human.

[MFS62]

They are like counterpunchers in boxing. They take what you hit them with, then exploit your weaknesses. Its death by a thousand cuts.
Actually, they play good old fashioned National League style baseball. They hit, pitch, field and run. The only tool at which they don't excel is hitting for power, and because they do the others well, power isn't missed much.

Fuck.

Later

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

Elster88 wrote: El Segundo Escupidor wrote: lol@those you thought the Royals were the easier opponent. If Familia shuts them down we win in 5

If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a trolley car.

[Edgy MD]

Nego majorem, man. She'd probably just be a granny on roller skates.

[Zvon]

I've gone from extremely confident to DON"T BE SWEPT! Not only because it's the Mets in the series, but because then that's it, no more baseball.

Gotta take all 3 in NY.

deGrom not excelling, disappointing. But it was a lot of grounder hits and a few misplaced walks..he wasn't shelled. Disappointing.In any case, we have to find our bats again. Please don't let it be a sweep! That should be easy. Just win one game ASAP.

[Guest cooby classic]

Not what I wanted to see

[Lefty Specialist]

Royals were on everything deGrom threw. It was kind of weird; even most of the outs were hit hard. And impossible-to-hit pitches were getting fouled back so they could live for another pitch. He simply couldn't put them away. He had a game like that against the Cubs this summer where he punched the Gatorade cooler on the way out. This game felt like that one.

[metirish]

Not over but incredibly frustrating to only get two hits, not going to dog Cueto , he was masterful , Mets hitters woeful

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Royals were on everything deGrom threw. It was kind of weird; even most of the outs were hit hard. And impossible-to-hit pitches were getting fouled back so they could live for another pitch. He simply couldn't put them away.

The stat about only 3 swing and misses all game was telling.

The 5th inning in a nutshell:
- Gordon walks on 3-2 count
- Rios singles on 1-1
- Escobar RBI single on an 0-2 pitch (this one was a killer)
- Zobrist grounds out on 0-1 (but not in a way that would result in a GiDP so both runners moved up - they did that twice last night)
- Cain lines out on 1-2 (I was surprised they didn't send the runner from 3rd)
- Hosmer 2-RBI Single on 0-1
- Morales singles on 0-1
- Moustakas RBI single on 3-2 count (8 pitches)
- Perez grounds out on 0-2

35 pitches

[HahnSolo]

Frayed Knot wrote: - Escobar RBI single on an 0-2 pitch (this one was a killer)

To me, this was the Budweiser Turning Point. They were giving up an out, makes two horrible sacrifice attempts, then the 0-2 is a meatball up in the zone. This angered me more than any sequence last night.

[Lefty Specialist]

Well, with the way they were hitting Cueto, they weren't winning anyway.

But I'd like to know, was he that bad (location) or were they that good (able to hit anything).

[seawolf17]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Well, with the way they were hitting Cueto, they weren't winning anyway. But I'd like to know, was he that bad (location) or were they that good (able to hit anything).

I think it was more the second. He looked really good in the first four.

I hadn't realized how much last night's game potentially swung my morning-after emotions. With a win last night, I'm ecstatic because we've stolen home field advantage AND that means there's a Game 5 AND it could be Mets clincher. With the loss, there's no home-field, no guaranteed Game 5 until Friday night, and even when there is, we still have to go back and win it in KC.

Bleh.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: The stat about only 3 swing and misses all game was telling. The 5th inning in a nutshell: - Gordon walks on 3-2 count - Rios singles on 1-1 - Escobar RBI single on an 0-2 pitch (this one was a killer) - Zobrist grounds out on 0-1 (but not in a way that would result in a GiDP so both runners moved up - they did that twice last night) - Cain lines out on 1-2 (I was surprised they didn't send the runner from 3rd) - Hosmer 2-RBI Single on 0-1 - Morales singles on 0-1 - Moustakas RBI single on 3-2 count (8 pitches) - Perez grounds out on 0-2 35 pitches

Was Terry asked after the game if he considered intentionally walking Hosmer? First base was open and Hosmer has been a run producing machine is the playoffs. If he was asked, what was his response?

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Dunno if anyone asked Terry but I had no problem pitching to Hosmer.
There were already 2 outs so 'setting up a force' is of little concern, both swing lefty (Morales switch-hits), and statistically the two are pretty much equal except that Morales has a bit more power.
The part about someone having good playoff numbers or 'w/RiSP' stats is mostly small sample variation that shouldn't be the basis for a decision IMO. Focus on who's the better overall hitter which, in this case, was pretty much a coin flip.

And not that it means it would have happened the same way but Morales singled right after Hosmer did.

[Benjamin Grimm]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ugh. Feeling the just-happy-to-be-here leaching out of me, leaving a two-day-wide void. I'm currently filling the void with banana and brownie. Then some crunches. Maybe some dishes. Basically, I'm throwing a lot of stimuli at the void, and hoping something works.

Maybe an A.M. Crunchwrap?

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Well, with the way they were hitting Cueto, they weren't winning anyway. But I'd like to know, was he that bad (location) or were they that good (able to hit anything).

The 0-2 pitch to Escobar that Hahn talked about above was a bad pitch.
For all the talk about not throwing that guy a fastball, deGrom threw him a slider but it was one that was up and barely moved. Mainly you just can't throw him a strike there.

In general though, putting the bat on the ball is just who they are. We talked pre-series here about them having the 2nd highest BA in the AL (just .001 behind 1st) with the fewest Ks so this kind of thing is hardly out of character for them.
If they go on to win this thing there's going to be a lot of talk (hell, it's already started) about how their method should be the blueprint for how to build an offense. And while I do think there's something to that in the sense that, in this high-K and shifting defense era, all-field hitting guys with low-K rates might be today's 'Moneyball' type of undervalued skill-set, the fact that their runs scored over the course of the entire season was just a shade above average indicates that this approach is hardly the one true shining path.

[Edgy MD]

It's funny. The grace of our pitching staff is how they pound the strike zone. And the big swinging teams that are looking for walks and homers are overwhelmed by it. But they're facing a different kind of team. Maybe this is a squad they need to tease more with pitches out of the strike zone.

[Ceetar]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-mets-werent-throwing-swing-and-miss-pitches/

Pretty much nails it. deGrom wasn't good and the Royals being a high-contact team were perfectly situated to take advantage of it.