Edgy MD

Hey! Baty's back!

This streak comes to mind in light of the last few weeks, in which Buck Showalter has seemingly rationed his pitching carefully — making only a modest effort to use his best weapons in the highest-leverage spots, and paying more attention to rest schedules. This, of course, relates to the fact that they have only a small arsenal of "best weapons" since the trade deadline, the implied surrender that the trade deadline represented, and Showalter probably aligning his philosophy with that of the suits. But it's been frustrating to see the Mets remain about eight games out for what seems like six weeks, in almost every game in the late innings, but going with the guy whose turn it is with the game on the line. Nobody needs to pull a Wendell, but Turk's '98 streak is largely forgotten, when it should stand out like Carlton '72 compared to contemporary usage patterns.

Peterson, Megill, and Lucchesi should all be out of options in 2024. It's possible that, going into spring, they keep open one rotation spot for the three to compete over, with Butto as the dark horse. But they won't keep open two. And I guess the competition is happening right now. If they add two starters, that would knock Butto back to eighth, but they could well move or shed from among the Peterson-Megill-Lucchesi trio, moving him a little closer. And then injuries will speak.

That time the Mets were in a pennant race with a dozen games to go, and Turk Wendell decided, fuck it, if we're going to lose this, I don't want to be sitting on the bench. Bobby Valentine ended up using him in nine games in a row. [th]Game #[/th][th]Date[/th][th]Opp [/th][th]Rslt [/th][th]Inngs [/th][th]Dec [/th][th]DR [/th][th]IP [/th][th]H [/th][th]R [/th][th]ER [/th][th]BB [/th][th]SO [/th][th]HR [/th][th]HBP [/th][th]ERA[/th][th]BF [/th][th]Pit [/th][th]Str [/th][th]SB [/th][th]CS [/th][th]GDP [/th][th]aLI[/th][th]WPA [/th][th]Entered [/th][th]Exited[/th] 15114-Sep@HOUW,7-49–1012.0020002000.00834220002.6427.5%b9 | □□□ | 0 out | tieb10 | 3 out | tie 152Sep 15(1)@HOUL,5-69–1001.6710002000.00518130012.1327.2%b9 | ■□□ | 1 out | tieb10 | 3 out | tie 153Sep 15(2)@HOUW,8-48-GFS(3)-12.0010010000.00730200001.9933.3%b8 | □■□ | 0 out | ahead 1b9 | end | ahead 4 15416-Sep@HOUW,4-311-GF(11)S(4)01.0000003000.00316100002.6420.0%b11 | □□□ | 0 out | ahead 1b11 | end | ahead 1 15518-Sepvs. FLAL,6-78–8H(10)10.6700001000.0021170002.4812.8%t8 | ■□□ | 1 out | ahead 1t8 | 3 out | ahead 1 15619-Sepvs. FLAW,4-37–8H(11)01.6700011010.00729180002.0917.3%t7 | □□□ | 1 out | ahead 1t8 | 3 out | ahead 1 15720-Sepvs. FLAW,5-09-GF01.0000001000.00313100000.080.6%t9 | □□□ | 0 out | ahead 5t9 | end | ahead 5 15822-Sepvs. MONL,3-58–811.0000002000.0031490000.382.9%t8 | □□□ | 0 out | down 2t8 | 3 out | down 2 15923-Sepvs. MONL,0-38-GF02.0021112004.50936200000.43-0.4%t8 | □□□ | 0 out | down 2t9 | end | down 3 [th][/th][th][/th][th]Totals[/th][th]5 w, 4 l[/th][th][/th][th]2 H, 2 Sv[/th][th]2[/th][th]13.00[/th][th]6[/th][th]1[/th][th]1[/th][th]3[/th][th]14[/th][th]0[/th][th]1[/th][th]0.69[/th][th]47[/th][th]201[/th][th]129[/th][th]0[/th][th]0[/th][th]1[/th][th]1.65[/th][th]141.2%[/th][th][/th][th][/th] Notes: aLI = "average leverage index" per batter. An aLI of 1.00 is the mean across all situations. In addition to these nine games in a row, Wendell pitched two games before the streak, and two games after, so he had exactly one game rest on either end. His total pitches does not include any throws he made to bases or spiked rosin bags. WPA is the percentage of win likelihood he added to the game by his performance. His bottom line of 141.2% suggests he added the likelihood of 1.412 wins to the Mets total for the year by himself — over nine games. Those little base icons don't exist in the "Exited" column because he never over the course of the streak exited in the middle of an inning, much less with any runners on base. [fimg=600]https://www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2022/01/14/OF24QJB4IVFADP3XUJKHFYIEUA.jpg[/fimg]

I typed "Joe Jackson" in several times as today's 200-hit White Sock, and nobody came up until I realized I had to submit him as "Shoeless Joe Jackson." Now I know I have to type "Mopey" if I ever want to submit Mike Piazza. Also, holy crap! Ken Griffey, Jr. was a White Sock!

Oh-and-two meatball.

Gott.

Pretty impressive that the Mets pulled off that rally despite two really impressive defensive plays by Miami.

BEAUTY!!!

Pinch-run for D.J. ... with Guillorme?

Pinch-run for Vientos!

-ish. I mean, if the way to get the ball past the infield is to bunt it and let the pitcher throw it into the outfield, then yeah. Although the Mets pulled something like the same trick.

Oh, Lucchesi!!

A pair of two-out doubles ends the shutout. That puts the five-hit game back in play.

Marlins are pressing. That's a Met advantage, and it's given them a run.

Alonso only kept from oversliding on that double because he wasn't wearing the oven mitt.

There's an out by Mauricio. I guess it's the shutout.

I'm not sure if this is the night Mauricio gets five hits or the night Lucchesi throws a complete-game shutout.

More September surging from Mets starters: [th]W [/th][th]L [/th][th]W-L% [/th][th]ERA [/th][th]GS [/th][th]IP [/th][th]H [/th][th]R [/th][th]ER [/th][th]HR [/th][th]BB [/th][th]IBB [/th][th]SO [/th][th]HBP [/th][th]BK [/th][th]WP [/th][th]BF[/th][th]ERA+ [/th][th]FIP [/th][th]WHIP [/th][th]H9 [/th][th]HR9 [/th][th]BB9 [/th][th]SO9 [/th][th]SO/W [/th]62.7503.761693 2/38229268310903053822043.541.217.90.83.08.62.90

It didn't even have to go to review. The umps convened and the other three told the third-base ump he got it wrong. The crew chief then sent it to Chelsea for review without either manager having to burn a challenge. The video evidence (at least on the Mets side) was the very definition of "inconclusive," so the call on the field stood. Fortunately for the Mets, the call on the field at the time of review was "foul." From where it landed, foul certainly seemed to be the correct conclusion to my eyes, but there was no clear shot of the ball passing in front of or behind the pole. Foul was most likely the correct call, but there is still some ambiguity. I disagree with Gary that it cleared the fence higher than the pole. I don't know why (a) there aren't cameras positioned at the base of the poles pointed upward, just to help make these calls, or ( the Stat-Cast ball-tracking technology can't be configured to make these calls for them.

San Diego winning four in a row and hosting Colorado, making a last-ditch run at sneaking into the picture.

Good call on Dykstra. Ass totally flew out. After the Mets grind out a win over a hot Marlins team, beating the top reliever of the second half in a lefty-on-lefty matchup, I take the dogs out and get poos out of both of them at the same house. I feel crazy lucky. I need to go get some scratch cards.

"We just swept the Braves. But the Mets? Their shit is too hot to handle." — Marlins

Frayed Knot wrote: =metirish post_id=137758 time=1695085249 user_id=72] Good call by Gary saying it was a Kurt Gibson HR I was thinking the exact same thing just before he said it.

Jeff knows full well that was some unlikely contact.