IGT, 7/19 STL@NYM: You're STILL New York Mets!

[Edgy MD]

Muh-oh.

[Frayed Knot]

The inning has been far too interesting for my tastes.

[Fman99]

It's my fault, I cruised once around the dial when it was 7-1 and it all went to hell. I'm back now.

[Frayed Knot]

Terry had to go to Reed here because if he went to Robles the game would have been tied after the first pitch.

[Frayed Knot]

Man, Matheny almost fell UP the stairs there.
He pulls three of his starters with 5 innings to go in the game and when the unlikely tying-run situation appears his power-hitter replacement is the guy coming up.

[Guest themetfairy]

[Fman99]

BOOOOOOOOKS

[G-Fafif]

Wonderful win but the first since 2014 that, when it was over, I didn't find myself placing it into the context of playoff position or preparation. From contending to contending with also-ran status. LGM anyway.

[seawolf17]

Beautiful night for baseball. Brought my dad, and we sat in LF, first row, right on the wall. Those first two innings were glorious -- EVERYTHING was hit hard, even the outs. Cardinals fan next to me from Texas who was actually a very good dude despite his MOLINA 4 jersey, complaining the whole time. "All season with Leake. All season."

He wasn't happy with Matheny emptying his bench in the fifth inning, either. When Voit came up in the eighth with the bases loaded, I said "much happier facing this guy than Carpenter" and he was like "EXACTLY."

Totally wanted to go up and see the SNY guys but didn't feel like making the hike all the way up there.

Also, Kase said he'd stop down but TOTALLY DIDN'T.

[Frayed Knot]

As I mentioned at the time, I was thinking the exact opposite concerning the Carpenter/Voit swap.
Not that Matheny planned it or anything but, just when the blow-out was chipped down to a four-run gap, the early switch brings up the guy most likely to 'run into one' as the tying run w/the bases loaded.
I mean, sure, Carpenter is more likely to keep the rally going than Voit, but at the time I was more worried about a dagger slam and was counting my blessings that it wasn't Robles out there.

In all though, Matheny [u:vsj17y4s]was[/u:vsj17y4s] quick with his player hooks which was odd in that he was slow to pull Leake who obviously didn't have it from the git-go. And that all looked especially worse in retrospect
as NYM bats did their usual disappearing act against place-holding middle relievers: 2 hits and 6 Ks over 5 innings vs the non-descript trio of John Brebbia, Kevin Seigrist, and Sam Packofvowels

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: As I mentioned at the time, I was thinking the exact opposite concerning the Carpenter/Voit swap. Not that Matheny planned it or anything but, just when the blow-out was chipped down to a four-run gap, the early switch brings up the guy most likely to 'run into one' as the tying run w/the bases loaded. I mean, sure, Carpenter is more likely to keep the rally going than Voit, but at the time I was more worried about a dagger slam and was counting my blessings that it wasn't Robles out there.

Yeah, that was where I was glad that Reed was in the game, because Terry might have been tempted to leave Blevins (my dad: "He kind of looks like an accountant.") in there for one more lefty.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Lefty-on-lefty crime is out of hand with this club. I think the plan was to get Reed work at any rate, but this was the kind of march toward disaster that early in the season triggered the crisis. That Terry could take a lesson from Matheny on bullpen use at least is sobering.

You can guarantee today will be that day where the pen is really needed. Write it down.

[Frayed Knot]

The question wasn't really Reed so much as whether it was necessary to go to Blevins with two on and lefty-lefty (Wong, Sierra) coming up followed by the pitcher's slot with no one left on the bench.
One could make a good argument that it was still a six-run game so why not leave Seawald in, although if he wanted to finish the inning he probably shouldn't have walked those two guys and if the
game had gotten out of hand with Seawald still in there pitching to the LHBs then we'd be killing Terry for that.

I don't think that Matheny managed his pen any better than Terry, it's just that his guys covered 7 innings giving up 0 runs, 3 hits, 0 walks while our guys were busy serving up 2, 3, 3 over just 2-1/3
Sucky pitching makes all decisions look bad.

[seawolf17]

You're up by six. If you're a major league pitcher, even with two runners on base, it's the bottom of the fucking order. Get the guys out, Sewald. This is why baseball games take six hours.

[Guest d'Kong76]

seawolf17 wrote: Also, Kase said he'd stop down but TOTALLY DIDN'T.

I'm totally unreliable! Actually, I was looking in your general area around
7 but the gestapo usher wouldn't let down the stairs to look around.

Had a good night being baseball ambassador to two couples visiting from Australia
who knew nothing about the game of baseball. They said cricket sucks, and not to
bother with it at all. Sorry, Spitter.

[Guest cooby]

Yay

[Benjamin Grimm]