That’s right folks. An eight game winning streak and its the first time that confidence is starting to burst from the seams.
– Jon Niese’s line: 7 IP, 107 pitches, 70 strikes (65%). Gave up 1 ER, struck out 7 and was absolutely in command after the third inning. He retired the final 17 of 18 to finish the day. He seemed to get a lot of strikeouts with that big sweeping curveball that was his forte before he found that cutter. I love how his cutter boars in on righties and gives him a really useful weapon against righties. Then there’s that big sweeping curve which is really helpful against guys like Ryan Howard who love seeing fastballs and sometimes get lost on breaking balls that change his eyesight. Met pitchers have been having a problem with keeping pitch counts down so seeing a Met pitcher in the 7th inning is a beautiful thing. Niese just seemed to be relaxed as he got comfortable setting down Philly batters one after another with his new weapons. This was huge for Niese’s confidence and for the confidence of Met fans who seem to be bursting with pride.
– After scoring 10 the night before, the Mets get 9 in their first visit to Philadelphia. In past years, the understanding has been that Citizen’s Bank Park is a hitters park which of course is just like saying Citi Field is a pitchers park and swallows home runs. Of course that’s not true. That’s a myth. Opposing teams seem to have no problem hitting home runs in Citi Field and the Mets can’t seem to generate enough offense in Citizens Bank. There’s no excuse. The Mets have begun to see the ball better and made adjustments as the game goes on and gotten to the starting pitcher mid game and then beating up bullpens which is a good game plan. But let’s consider that since Reyes got switched to the 3 hole, the Mets have not lost yet. Bay has heated up and Wright has begun to heat up as well and it can’t just be a coincidence. Suddenly the Mets line up makes sense and starts generating runs but its more so what the effect of having Jose Reyes in that spot does for other hitters. Bay is seeing a lot more fastballs and he’s just killing them. Wright is still a tad bit wild with his swings, but he’s starting to catch up on fastballs at least.
– Big props goes to Jeff Francouer last night. He made a huge catch to save a run in the second and hurt his knee in the process. That was an inning after he hit a solo HR.* During that inning he made some strong arm throws to limit guys from getting that extra base. The Phillies like most of the good teams are teams that hustle. So when you see a guy get a single, the players on those teams use those lull moments to try and swipe an extra bag and usually do. Heads up baseball always wins. Well the Mets have been doing that in their recent winning streak and its shown how effective they can be when they are hustling every ground ball. The biggest example has been Angel Pagan who I’ll get to later. French though also got plunked later on which set up a pivotal moment in the Mets transformation which again I’ll get to later. But French stayed in the game partly due to his pride** and partly because he wants to sustain this continuity the Mets have built up and be a presence on this team. The guys brought up a good point about his football mentality. He was a two sport star in Atlanta and widely recruited because of his build and they referenced that as his natural ability to turn around on the fly and whip it to second base with no hops. He throws darts and can gun out just about anybody on the basepaths trying to steal some extra bases. That is the one tool that most people point to. He seems slow on the initial run to the ball, he looks bowlegged when he runs, but once he gets a head of steam he can pick it up and get it to the lead base to stop the advance without much of a stop in motion whereas most guys will get the ball and then just hold it without the attempt. He’s just a great athlete and is also ultra tough; an element sorely being missed on the Mets. We won’t even get into how vital he’s been to the Mets in the clubhouse though Mike Lupica did do a good job of documenting that in his most recent Met article. ***
*= Gary made a funny error that just shows how beloved Frenchy is in the Met universe. He hit a homer two batters after Wright did and Gary immediately without thinking in full euphoria said back to back….with a batter in between. Throughout the game they would refer to French’s influence in the clubhouse even remarking that while being treated he was making people smile. During the preseason the guys made a case for Nelson Figueroa talking about how personable he was and how great a guy he was and suddenly Met fans were clamoring for this heartwarming tale of Nelson Figueroa to make the team, but he didn’t and this entire winning streak has somehow made it on to the lap of Francouer and I agree in someways about that. He’s the perfect guy for this clubhouse to break up what was quite possibly the worst one in all of baseball. No doubt he’s the most likeable guy a person who keeps everyone loose and after starting off the way they did, was about as vital to the team as anyone.
**= After all he’s a football player. He asked to stay in the game and I’m sure he is the type to not complain about injuries. He’s always laughing, smiling, cracking jokes. The legend of Jeff Francouer grows.
***= What’s going on in this world that I’m giving Mike Lupica a compliment?
– I mentioned transformation earlier and I gave Angel Pagan as an example. Last year, his baseball IQ was brought into question by Lou Piniella and he had some boneheaded mistakes on the field that just made you shake your head and think that old Lou was on to something but this year has been a different story. His athleticism gives the Mets a fourth outfielder once Beltran comes back to spell guys and gives them depth and he’s a luxury. When Beltran went down we only hoped as Mets fans that Pagan wouldn’t get in the way and when Reyes got put in the 3rd spot in the line up and Pagan got the coveted leadoff position we hoped he wouldn’t be overwhelmed but he seems to understand that his job is to get on base and put the ball in play. He’s hit a few triples and they’ve been legitemate line drives and he has got a motor that I just love. He plays the game hard and I love that. Is he going to misjudge a few fly balls off the wall? Yes. Is he going to look like he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing up there from time to time? Yes. But all this team needs is some athleticism and some smarts and they will be fine.
– Continuing on the transformation theme, I think one of the best parts of last night’s game was when Francouer got plunked in the 7th by Danys Baez. The sound of the ball hitting him in the forearm was so loud I thought it might have hit off the bat, but it didn’t. Yeah. That loud. But the next inning, on clear instruction from Razor Shines, Jenrry Mejia plunked Chase Utley which was a good sign. I know its a stupid unwritten code in baseball but most people dont understand the objective. Its not supposed to start a fight, in fact the only people who do get into a fight are people who disagree with the unwritten code and thus act surprised when they get plunked in retaliation. But yesterday Utley just gave Mejia a look, and took his base knowing that he might face some retribution. Agree with it or not, its meant to show that regardless of how innocent an offense it was, it may have injured the player and thus revenge must be sought to show that the team is not weak and won’t lay down. Its male, macho chauvinism but then again why else do we watch sports?
– Mets only used to tag on runs back in 06 and 07 with regularity and they are beginning to take advantage of every small mistake and its so key to the team’s confidence when they keep adding runs to the scoreboard. Shows that this team plays with an edge and looseness and pedal to the metal attitude sorely lacking these last few years. Toughness is what separates the Mets and the Phillies. The Phillies are just a tougher team mentally and thus win the close games and get the key hits. The Mets need to build that toughness up and blowing out teams that are down and out are how you do it.
SEASON: 14-9
MY PREDICTION: 13-10
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