Games #66 & #67: Mets 4-6, Braves 3-1

Mets fans have been waiting 23 months for this day, and its two main actors did not disappoint.

(NYDailyNews.com)

Matt Harvey took a third no-hit bid into the 7th inning and the Mets held on to give him a 4-3 win over the Braves in the first game of the doubleheader. In the second game, late offense propped up Zack Wheeler's stellar big league debut in a 6-1 Mets victory.

The Good Stuff:

(NYDailyNews.com)

• Matt Harvey technically finished up statistically worse than his last start in which he lost his first game of the year, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks in seven-plus innings. But no one would argue that this start was an electric one: he struck out a career-high 13 batters and took his third no-hit bid of the season into the 7th inning, only to see it lost on a Jayson Heyward infield single that Lucas Duda failed to cover first base for.
• The major difference for Harvey in this one was that he actually got run support: John Buck's solo home run in the 4th highlighted a day in which the Mets scored four runs, or double what they had put behind Harvey in his past two starts combined.
• After LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Rice almost spoiled another decision for Harvey, Bobby Parnell came on for a clutch four-out save, his 10th of the season. The victory was Harvey's sixth and first in a month.
• Following a stellar opening act, the baseball world watched the pilot of The Zack Wheeler Show. And call it a hunch, but I think it's gonna get picked up. Wheeler dazzled the hometown faithful (Smyrna, GA is 16 miles outside Atlanta) with six scoreless innings and seven strikeouts in his big-league debut. He was far from perfect, issuing five walks to go along with his four hits, but he showed veteran poise by getting out of jams in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th frames.
• Like Mets veterans already know, Wheeler had to be as perfect as possible, as he was still locked in a scoreless tie after the 6th. But Josh Satin led off the 7th with a single, and Anthony Recker blasted a two-run homer to put some runs behind his battery mate. Brandon Lyon ran into some trouble in the bottom of the 7th but eventually got out of it with a one-run New York lead in tact.
• With two other one-run games in the rear view mirror from the same calendar day, the midsection of the Mets order decided it was time to relieve their fans of any potential heart palpitations. Marlon Byrd started things with a two-out double and then scored on a pickoff attempt-turned-double error. Then after a walk by Satin and single by Recker, Juan Lagares laced a single to left to score one. Omar Quintanilla followed with a hard grounder into right to plate two more runs, making it a much-more comfortable 6-1 lead for Wheeler and company.
• And just like that, with a Josh Edgin strikeout of Freddie Freeman, Queens's newest hope had his first major league W.

The Bad Stuff:

• The injury bug bit again: hours after Justin Turner landed on the DL with a strained left side, Scott Atchison appears to be headed back there too. Atchison left during his warmup in the 7th inning with a sore right groin, not even throwing a pitch before being replaced by Brandon Lyon.

Final Analysis:
In the words of my dad, who messaged me after the final out: "We've seen the future of the New York Mets, and its names are Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler." I know it's bad luck to look so far ahead, but can you blame me? Mets fans have been wallowing through five years of mediocre baseball, and now we finally have some rays of hope for the long-term future. Should all go according to The Plan, we'll look back on this day, June 18, 2013, as the day it all started.

MM

P.S. The Mets may finally have a leadoff man, as they have acquired outfielder Eric Young, Jr. from the Rockies in exchange for Collin McHugh. Good news all around today!

(MetsBlog.com)

Game #65: Braves 2, Mets 1

As we already know, the walk-off home run is a two-way street.

Dillon Gee's shutout and win were lost with one swing of Freddie Freeman's bat, as the Braves knocked off the Mets in the wee hours of the morning, 2-1.

The Bad Stuff:

• Gee started the 9th inning off right by getting Jason Heyward to ground out to second. And that was all she wrote for Gee, whose next eight pitches resulted in a Justin Upton single and Freddie Freeman home run. Just like that, a 1-0 nailbiter became a disappointing 2-1 decision.
• It shouldn't have come down to that walk-off, but New York managed only seven hits off Tim Hudson and the Atlanta bullpen, going 1-6 with RISP and stranding eight.

The Good Stuff:

• Despite not getting the final two outs, Gee was phenomenal on the mound, allowing three hits in the previous eight shutout innings with one walk and six strikeouts. At the very least, he registered his first complete game of the season.
• Dillon's bat also came up big in the 7th, as he poked a single through the left side of the infield to plate John Buck and get the Mets on the board.
• Lucas Duda went 4-4 with a double, collecting more than half the team's hits on the late night.

Final Analysis:
Wins and losses are moot at this point, so let's talk about Dillon Gee, who has finally settled back into good form. Did you know he's 3-1 with a 1.53 ERA in his last four starts? Or that he's struck out 32 and walked a mere four batters in 29.1 innings over those starts? Or that all four of those outings came against legitimate contenders (Yankees, Nationals, Cardinals, Braves) instead of cupcakes?

Suffice it to say, Dillon Gee is back, and he looks unlikely to lose his spot in the rotation. With Zack Wheeler primed to eventually replace Shaun Marcum in the rotation, the Mets finally have one piece of the puzzle completed in that they have a starting rotation that will keep them in the game much more often than not. The offense being able to reward the starters' efforts with wins, however, is an entirely different situation...

MM

Game #64: Mets 4, Cubs 3

Um...did that just happen?

(NYDailyNews.com)

After getting nothing going for eight innings, the Amazin's woke up with a vengeance in the 9th against Carlos Marmol, as Kirk Nieuwenhuis's walk-off three-run home run propelled the Mets to a stunning, blink-of-an-eye 4-3 comeback win over the Cubs.

The Good Stuff:

• A 3-0 loss was a given as the game headed into the bottom of the 9th inning. The Mets, after all, had only managed three hits the entire afternoon against Matt Garza and company. But Chicago was about to do something that would give New York their best option: they went with embattled closer Carlos Marmol to sing a lullaby to the sleepwalking hosts. What the hosts got was the most effective alarm clock in recorded human history.
• It started innocently enough with a 1-1 fastball to ex-Cub Marlon Byrd. That fastball turned into a long, long, long home run that landed well into the second deck of left field. The Mets were in business, and no one knew it better than Cubs fans who have seen Marmol implode over and over and over again.
• After Lucas Duda drew a full-count walk, John Buck took a 2-2 fastball and lined it into right field to put two runners on.
• Omar Quintanilla executed the perfect sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position, allowing the home team to play for the tie and the chance to win it in extras.
• They wouldn't need extras: Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who need a base hit yesterday just to get on the Interstate, took Marmol's 1-0 fastball and sent a rocket off the Pepsi Porch in right field.
• Nieuwenhuis rounded the bases after his walk-off heroics as Marmol dejectedly descended into the freshly-branded losers' dugout. He and the rest of his teammates an ecstatic Justin Turner take not just whipped cream but a full-fledged apple pie to Kirk's face. What any of the 30,000+ in attendance at Citi field wouldn't give for a taste of that Father's Day treat.
• Meanwhile, Jeremy Hefner was taken off the hook for what would have been yet another tough loss, as he gave up three runs (one earned) on six hits in five innings, walking one and striking out five on 87 pitches.
• David Wright and Lucas Duda each had doubles to the right field corner during failed rallies in earlier frames.

The Bad Stuff:

• Nieuwenhuis's blast became the picture of the game, saving the Mets from a much more embarrassing one in the top of the 5th: down 1-0 with two on and two out, David Wright took a hard groundball from Alfonso Soriano, double clutched his throw, and watched it sail over Daniel Murphy's head at first. The Cubs' second run came around to score, thanks in part to a throw from Murphy that sailed past John Buck at the plate. A third run came in on another errant throw, this time one from Omar Quintanilla that also sailed past Buck.
• On a play straight from Angels in the Outfield, the Mets seemed to signify their entire 2013 season. Now that we won the game, we can fortunately laugh about it.

Final Analysis:
Even with Carlos Marmol on the mound I didn't think the Mets could pull that off. Even after Byrd's home run I figured, "Well at least we weren't shut out." But that's the nature of baseball: a loss can turn into a win in the blink of an eye. Sure, New York hasn't done much winning in the last few weeks, but we'll remember this one for the rest of the season. Kirk Nieuwenhuis's heroics have enough fuel will carry us through another few weeks of losing. We're Mets fans. We know how to make due.

MM

(NYDailyNews.com)

Game #63: Cubs 5, Mets 2

Behold a game recap that took almost as long to write as the game itself.

Scott Rice and Brandon Lyon imploded in the 8th inning to allow the Cubs three insurance runs as the Mets offense failed to find traction in an agonizingly slow 5-2 loss.

The Bad Stuff:

• With a more capable offense, a 2-1 deficit may have been surmountable. But 5-1? No chance, and that's what Scott Rice and Brandon Lyon combined to create in an 8th inning that put Chicago up for good.
• After Jordany Valdespin drove in a run in the bottom of the 8th to put two runners on, New York had their best chance to get back into the game with their only two major-league hitters. But Daniel Murphy could only muster a productive groundout, and David Wright chased a slider in the dirt to doom the team's final rally.

The Good Stuff:

• Jonathon Niese was stuck with the loss after allowing two runs in 5.2 innings, including six hits, four walks, and five strikeouts.
• Murphy and Wright did combine for the team's first run, knocking back-to-back doubles in the 4th inning.

Final Analysis:
The least they could do at this point is get the game over with in less than three hours and thirty-two ticking minutes.

MM

Game #62: Cubs 6, Mets 3

Not even a Foreigner concert would have made it worth it tonight. (Although let's be honest, could they have done any better in their prime?)

Shaun Marcum was hit hard and guys not named David Wright and Daniel Murphy were unable to hit as the Mets dropped the series opener to the Cubs 6-3.

The Bad Stuff:

• Hard-luck Shaun Marcum has yet to win a game in 2013. The winlessness itself isn't anything he could control, but tonight at least he definitely deserved the L. Marcum surrendered six runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings, walking one and striking out four on 82 pitches en route to an 0-8 record.
• New York as a whole hit decently with RISP (3-10), but leaving eight men on base counterbalanced the clutch hitting. The unclutch moments of the night belong to Lucas Duda, Juan Lagares, Shaun Marcum, and Marlon Byrd, who each failed to produce with two runners on in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings.

The Good Stuff:

• David Wright continues to shine at the plate as he accomplished the rare feat of back-to-back three-hit, no run games. His 3-3 night at the plate brings his average back up to a very respectable .297.
• Daniel Murphy was moved back to the two-slot for the night and responded by going 2-5 with a run and two RBIs.
• Juan Lagares and Collin Cowgill (remember him?) each had extra-base hits: Lagares scored in the 3rd after a triple and Cowgill came in following a 7th-inning double.

Final Analysis:
As if it weren't obvious already, the five hits out of nine tonight should tell you that David Wright and Daniel Murphy carry this team offensively. Take them away and Mets fans would be lucky to see their nightly lineup scrape together one run, let alone three. It's a good thing starting pitching is being taken care of through the farm system (see you on Tuesday, Zack Wheeler, and hopefully you soon, Rafael Montero) because the answers to these Amazin' offensive woes are not going to come internally.

MM