Centerfield

Ceetar wrote: G-Fafif wrote: Centerfield wrote: This thread title is misleading. Tonight is pretty brutal. Yeah, go figure. well, most of this thread happened before the brutality. Maybe we're past it and up to a 10-2 stretch now. That's where you're wrong. The Marlins' rally in the 9th was painful, but the brutality is scoring 4 runs total in 3 games against the Marlins.

There was definitely a healthy contingent of Mets fans booing Piazza at the time. It was infuriating. For years, we clamored about wanting a star player. We were lucky enough to finally land one and then these morons got up and booed him at every opportunity. There are times I'm convinced Mets fans are too stupid to appreciate greatness. That early season treatment of Piazza was an embarrassment. I think it was largely fueled by the unrealistic expectation of fans (that somehow Piazza would get a hit every time the game was on the line), a couple of outs in key situations, and Piazza's general demeanor, which is laid back and seemingly disinterested. Most of those guys booing were convinced Mike would leave at the end of the year. So stupid. If entitlement is the ugliest part of being a Yankee fan, for Mets fans, it's an undying need to be miserable. Booing Piazza. Booing Beltran. How Benitez is unjustly vilified. I don't understand why a fan base would choose to punish their best players.

Let’s not let the offense off the hook. 1 run against these Marlins is inexcusable.

This thread title is misleading. Tonight is pretty brutal.

So the question is, if all of these guys have great numbers against Familia, why is he in?

I heart Nimmo.

Yeah. You might be right.

We win this one in a laugher. 14-0.

Mike Baxter was released by the Padres in July of 2011. The next May, he made quite the impact, literally and figuratively. In this picture, you can actually see the site of the impact.

Frayed Knot wrote: - Wheeler pitched well, the only problem being that the one inning where he got himself into trouble (couple of hard hits on top of a couple of loud outs) was the same inning where he also had shit luck (error plus a couple of seeing-eye hits). He could have survived one or the other but not both. His final line will be 6 innings, and because of that error, 1 ER. But this is the worst offense in baseball. Gotta get out of that inning. Frayed Knot wrote: They're making too many mediocre pitchers look like Grover Jason Alexander. Every young and/or journeyman pitcher is seemingly having their best day of the season at CitiField Miami has the 28th best ERA in MLB. They have held the Mets to 3 runs over 2 games in this series. Frayed Knot wrote: Y'know who'd be a good replacement for Reyes? ... TJ Rivera I think so too. If he were performing at his career .780 OPS, he'd be 4th on this team behind Cabrera, Nimmo and Cespedes.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Mets were dead, crowd was dead, damp and a little too chilly. We were basically thanking Bruce for first-pitch half-assing it in the 9th to get us out of there. We were there Sunday. Even with great weather and Syndergaard on the mound, the crowd was dead for most of the game. 1-0 felt nearly insurmountable. The fact of the matter is that the Mets just don't have enough offense. There is no point in the lineup where you look at the 3 due up and think "Ok, we're set up to score next inning".

bmfc1 wrote: He's here! Was he waiting in his car? Seriously right? His agent: "Jose, I'm never going to tell you what to do, but I feel like if you're already standing outside their clubhouse with your spikes on, that takes away some of the leverage I have here."

This year, it's a small sample size. But last year he had a .674 OPS throughout 157 games. I mean like, are we sure he's better than Phil Evans?

Was our best player in the second half of 2016 when he had very little help beyond Ces and Reyes. Good defense. Plays with fire. Really, really like Asdrubal Cabrera. I've been wrong about player moves too many times to count, but few are as egregious as Asdrubal. If I remember correctly, when the Walker trade went down, I think I posted something along the lines of "One of the best parts of this trade is that we don't have to hear the name Asdrubal Cabrera anymore." Only to be shocked when they signed him later that same night. I felt like he was money poorly spent, and that we could have gotten the same production from Wilmer Flores. Even this past winter I advocated Walker over Cabrera. And in the interest of consistency, I feel like Walker will be better for the rest of 2018 from this point on. But I'm happy to keep being wrong about him.

Edgy MD wrote: We're in a very tanky era. Which is why it's kinda surprising no? I would expect in this tank and rebuild era, we'd have a lot more crap teams. In the NL, we have 3 crap teams and 12 teams going for it.

Part of that this schedule demonstrates is how strange things are in MLB. The AL has probably the best three teams in baseball. Astros, Red Sox, Yankees, but also tons of bad teams. Out of the 15 AL teams, 9 are under .500, including the entire AL Central. Two teams are playing under .300 baseball. Meanwhile, in the NL, no one team is on track to win over 100 games, but you have 11 teams playing .500 or better. If you figure that the Dodgers will eventually figure things out, that's 12 teams realistically competing for a playoff spot. Only the three last place teams are really out of it. I don't know that I've ever seen anything like that before.

The Mets better make the most of these games against the Marlins. I took a peek at the Mets upcoming schedule. Absolutely brutal. 4 Games: Against the first place Brewers 4 Games: Against the first place Braves, including a doubleheader Monday. 4 Games: Against the Cubs. Not in first place, but playing at a .568 pace. 2 Games: Against the lowly Orioles. Then... 3 Games: Against the first place Yankees. 3 Games: Against the first place Braves 4 Games: Against the second place D-Backs 4 Games: Against the first place Rockies 26 of the next 28 games against teams with winning records. Our next three game series against a bad team? July 22-24 when we play the Dodgers at home.

For the second straight game, the pitching matchup will favor the Marlins. Last night, we got lucky with Vargas. Maybe we get lucky tonight. In his first start of the year, Zack pitched 7 innings and allowed 1 run against the Marlins. Maybe he can do that again.

Getting HBP counts toward OBP no? That requires even less skill than the aforementioned methods. In fact, it might even suggest an inability (or unwillingness) to get out of the way. Reaching on an error should unquestionably count toward OBP. Putting a ball in play matters. Having the heart to run out a ball matters. That effort is the difference between a harmless bobble and an actual error. Plus some players have the speed to make any slight bobble fatal, which in turn, could theoretically cause more bobbles. I read that during one of Ichiro's prime seasons he was lapping the field in reaching on errors. That makes perfect sense. I'm less convinced about the dropped third strike. I can see the rationale behind an actual dropped strike 3. That's an error on the catcher. But what about a devastating splitter in the dirt? The pitcher did his job, got the batter to swing and miss. The catcher, let's assume, blocks the pitch and scoops it. Should he have to tag the batter or throw to first? Both pitcher and catcher did their job. Why should they have to throw to first because the ball happened to hit the dirt? Maybe it would make sense that you can run to first if it gets past the catcher. I think I am actually arguing against the dropped third strike rule, more than whether or not it should count toward OBP.

As an emergency option in LV? Sure. But I don't see any room for him on the active roster.

This is a shit lineup.

Got it. I didn’t realize he already had a 2 strike count. That makes sense. Then yes, Matz has to make him chase one there.

And Dyson was absolutely fucking out.

A few notes. Pitch to Murphy the first time, I get it. The second time, that mistake is on Callaway. Stupid. Don’t see why they pulled Matz. Seemed like a bit of a panic move. Amazing what a little production from the catcher makes. Let’s never play Reyes again.

Justine Ward is cuter than Steve Gelbs.