Mets

[low]

Billion dollar team losing to the "B" team Brewers...

C'mon, New York isn't serious.

[Amazin69]

What's the point of de-frocking Quinn Priester if Manaearhea and everyone else get undressed all game long?

(Okay, I believe Brooks Raley, Scourge of the Homosexuals, made it through without being touched by the Brewers, which will please him, naturally. But still.)

I believe a certain Mr dsvitak had some words of caution about Ryan Hellish. Y'all couldn't have mentioned those to David Stearns? Sigh.

I almost don't blame Edlose for this one. We weren't winning it at that point. At least he made sure the bus could make a quick getaway.

(The ballpark in MKE is west of the river, a bit of a ways out, but the airport is right under where they hold SummerFest, near the lake. It's a bit of a jaunt. So thanks for the head start, Boom Boom!)

Keep Polar Pete, Super Squirrel, Mr Pointy, DP23, GKR and maybe Gelbs. Everybody else is negotiable

(Manaea+Senga+Edlose+Mownass = $82 million a year, is that it? Value for money!)

[Amazin69]

Good news! I get to see the entire next series! Since I'm "local" to Atlanta, a mere 193.6 miles away!

(The grotesque amount of development going on here has me desperately considering pulling up stakes and heading for Mississippi…would I still be "local" there?)

So three games of Brandon Gaudin and (desperate anti-Frenchy hope) CJ Nitkowski lie ahead. About the best I can hope for is news of Wiley Ballard being able to find a better restaurant option in Manhattan than Chipotle, given this second chance, but still…

ETA: Apparently there was a double-shooting like five blocks away from me today; this "quiet" neighborhood is losing that label in all sorts of ways. Magnolias, here I come? (Or possibly St. Lou, for the bus system. But all the affordable houses there are so old they remember Rogers Hornsby…)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Keep Polar Pete, Super Squirrel, Mr Pointy, DP23, GKR and maybe Gelbs. Everybody else is negotiable

(Manaea+Senga+Edlose+Mownass = $82 million a year, is that it? Value for money!)

I like the "maybe" up there. Gelbsie is fine. It's not like Gary Cohen is replaceable by anybody, ever.

Apart from that... before bed last night I stumbled over this on Insta when I actually scrolled further than what I actually follow, which is usually not a great idea. Anyway; maybe we should let this guy make shopping decisions about pitching from here on out, because apparently we never have enough:

[Amazin69]

Shockingly, nobody has been fired as yet. So let's have a round-up of Mets news, shall we?

(All of these are easily-searchable; I'm not in a linking mood.)

• Francisco Alvarez called for a fastball to Isaac Collins, but Boom-Boom shook him off and went with the slider instead. Mind you, I think pitchers should be the one to make those decisions (I remember a story from The Perfect Game: Tom Seaver and the Mets where the young future Franchise stood up to Jerry Grote on this question) and I think we weren't winning the game, period, at that point…but if you wanna blame Edlose for Edlosing it, here is more ammo.

• The Mets now rank 27th of 30 MLB teams in innings thrown by SP

• Much though I find it hard to care about clinging on to the damn #6 spot, the fact that we're in danger of being passed by Stinkinnati (1.5 gb) is really embarrassing. Who's next, the Fish?

• Speaking of minor league teams (yswidt?), the Mets have promoted an entire coach-and-four of Rumble Ponies to the bright lights of Onondaga County, moving Jett Williams, Jonah Tong, Carson Benge, and Ryan "no, I'm Bevis…the Butthole was the other guy, honest!" Clifford to Syracuse.

You'd think that Syracuse would worry about roster space, given how many of our "major leaguers" could use a quick trip to the 315, themselves…

• Speaking of that, how's Huascar Brazoban doing trying to get himself right down there? Not well. 14.54 ERA in 41 innings as an S-Met.

You'll love Binghamton, Braz. I went to college there, trust me!

• With Polar Pete about to pass Awesome Strawsome for the club HR record, Tyrone Taylor and David Peterson campaigned to the press, talking about how much the players love Peeeeeeeeete, and the fans love Peeeeeeeete and that David "Wild Turkey" Stearns should definitely re-sign him if Pete uses his opt-out at season's end.

Errrr, thanks for the kind thoughts, Tyrone, but…what, exactly, makes you think you're coming back next year? Read the Mullins on the wall, kid.

[Westheim]

My stance on Tyrone Taylor is that if you can't hit a damn lick, at least make your glove worth the poor cow that had to die to make it. A glove-first centerfielder is probably the least problem on the team.

Looking at you, Alvarez.

And Baty.

And Vientos.

And this weekend for sure, Lindor.

Heck, Lindor has probably killed a whole herd of cattle on his own for all the different colored shoes and gloves and crap he lugs across the nation.

[Amazin69]

From a certain James Smyth on BlueSky (the "waaaah! We don't want to share an app with those people" imitation of X):

Best MLB records as of June 12:

Mets 45-24
Tigers 45-25
Yankees 42-25

Worst Since Friday, June 13

Nationals 16-32
Rockies 17-31
Mets 18-31
Yankees 20-31

Yep, two months of being a half-game better than the Rockies. Ker-rash!

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Apart from that... before bed last night I stumbled over this on Insta when I actually scrolled further than what I actually follow, which is usually not a great idea. Anyway; maybe we should let this guy make shopping decisions about pitching from here on out, because apparently we never have enough:

I thought about commandeering this for my "Dumbest thing that I read about recently" off-topic thread, but it actually gets more exposure here. This would be under the category of "honest mistakes" that anyone could make, as opposed to the contributions of truly egregious and chronic dummies.

[Westheim]

I found that picture really charming, with the key word in the post being "adorable".

Nothing adorable 'bout those Mets though...

[Amazin69]

Pre-game update…

…on the Braves' pregame, Peter Moylan says "the Mets are already Mets-ing", which earns him a hearty "**** you, Peter" from me. In case you forgot, you losers are 51-67 and there's talk of the Noc-a-Homas outright releasing Rasiel Iglesias as a salary dump

…yes, it is Gaudin and CJ, thankfully. No Frenchy in sight!

…Frankie Mown-ass is getting sent to the pen, which I suppose is kinder than my suggestion of dropping him down a well. He'll be available on Thursday. As for who takes his start on Saturday, there is speculation about calling up either Sproat or McLean, but nobody has any real idea as yet. Possibly not even David Stearns

…Stearns has actually fled the country! Okay, so he's gone to Tokyo to scout a big 1B/3B prospect in the Unmentionable League. Rumor hath it Stearns is considering Random Fellow as a possible replacement for Polar Pete, should Peeeeeete opt to opt-out of his option.

(I hope Stearns's passport has time to run… because he might have to!)

[Westheim]

I see the Mets dropped Spencer Strider, who I remember for being good, and some guy named Cox for six homers, two of them by Big Pete! So that Strawberry's been eaten, and now we can focus on current affairs again in Metsland.

Like Pete not only jumping HOF'er Joe Gordon and some guy Andre Thornton I have never heard of on the all-time homer list, but also Todd Zeile and this morning sitting alone in 245th with 254 dingers.

Oh, yes, the Mets won. Holmes appears to have been absolutely useless again, blowing a 5-1 lead, but sometimes six homers are enough to win even for them.

[Westheim]

DiComo opines that Nolan McLean will debut on Saturday against the Evergreen Pitchforks, "struggling veteran Frankie Montas" being banished to garbage detail.

Boy, they're all struggling!!

Excluding Peterson.

Apparently "pitches six with regularity" is the new ******* gold standard.

[Amazin69]

Andre "Thunder" Thornton. Drafted by the Phillies, traded to Atlanta for Jim Nash (who had gone 12-1 as a rookie for the 1965 A's and spent the rest of his career proving that a fluke).

Passed on to the Cubs, who had (rightly) lost patience with Joe Pepitone, as so many had before them. (Entire books have been written about Joe Pep, from his featuring in Ball Four [where Bouton discusses Joe's "pick-off sign", his wig-care regimen, and the time Pepi claimed to have discovered a new venereal disease], I'm Glad You Didn't Take it Personally [where Joe reunites with Bouton in Houston], Leo Durocher's Nice Guys Finish Last [where Lip writes about Joe making him wonder how much longer he wanted to put up with this crap], and of course Pepitone's own Joe, You Could Have Done Us Proud, where Pepi discusses what it's like to be a constant problem).

So the Cubs won that one, especially with Thornton blasting a nice .944 OPS in 1974. Which naturally led the Scrubs to live down to their name, trading Andre to Montreal for two journeymen after he got off to a slow start in '75.

Andre struggled in Canada and Les Expos thought he would make a better DH, which was true. Swapped to Cleveland for Jackie Brown (not Pam Grier), Andre was a stabilizing force for the Tribe over next decade, being their primary source of power, making two all-star teams, gaining MVP votes in three seasons, and providing veteran support on the young Joe Carter-led surprise contenders of 1986.

Inspired to the Tribe's surge, Sports Illustrated made them the magazine's pick to win the 1987 World Series. Cleveland, being Cleveland, promptly went out and had the worst record in MLB in 1987, prompting the movie Major League, and Andre retired.

********

Highlight's of last night's Chop-cast included Brandon Gaudin saying he hoped Peeeeeeeete wouldn't hit #253 this series (which felt petty, IMO. Obviously, you don't want to yield any dingers, but…), right before the Polar Bear laced that double to LF in the 2nd, and Wiley Ballard noting that it had been [x] number of games since a Braves reliever had yielded a home run and promising to research how that stood in MLB history ("I'll get a graphic from the truck" was the precise phrase, IIRC) …only for Alvarez to take Austin Cox yard on the very next pitch, prompting a jovial "cancel that" from CJ Nitkowski, who as an ex-pitcher took all this pretty much in stride.

(And of course I then downloaded the Mets broadcast this morning and listened to GKR enjoy the moments.)

***************************
The rain delay means I don't have to delay my viewing of the show running against the game…but I will be sad if we don't get Cookie Crumbles: The Return because of this.

I mean…we've earned this.

[Westheim]

Cookie crumbled, but dear ******* goodness the Mets are a trainwreck that keeps piling up.

And now we have to wait for five other chumps to have a go before Peterson can have another whiff at going six.

That is, innings. Not: runs allowed.

When Mendoza went out to collect Peterson, he didn't look like he wouldn't welcome his divorce papers from the Mets at this point.

The Raccoons finished their season alongside with a steep 17-43 plunge from the lofty heights of 53-49. The Mets won't be able to fall quite that far until the end of the year, but they're sure trying their hardest to punch a losing record by September.

I am now 44-44 in my Mets watching this year. Looks like I only bring the Tigers luck (18-4 after the early game yesterday).

[Amazin69]

As you may recall, I periodically discuss the game of July 31, 2015, thusly:

Originally Posted by Amazin69

• The 2nd game, aka "The Justin Upton HR Game" or "God Cries for Wilmer Flores", saw the Mets blow a 7-1 lead, being the first time they had lost a game after having a 6-run (or greater) lead at home since August 26, 1970. This was not only the longest time without such a choke by any MLB team at that point, but had been for at least a decade.

(As you may recall, I can tell you about August 26, 1970, because I was a 7-year-old child at that game, fuming about Dad insisting we leave early to "beat the traffic" and leaving me to have to listen to the radio as Hank Aaron hit the game-winning 3-run HR off of Gary Gentry in the 9th, after Koosman, Frisella and Sadecki had turned 7-1 into 7-6 over the previous two innings.

The difference being, where it was nearly 45 seasons between the cited game of August 26, 1970 and the game of July 31st, 2015, I did not have to wait until 2060 or so to see this phenomenon for the third time in my life. A mere decade on from Weeping Wilmer, and there goes another 6-run home lead. No records this time. As Joe Schultz might have said if he was trying to dodge an auto-censor, "Ahhh, shiftuck".

CHOP-CAST: During the rain delay, plays the game earlier this season where Atlanta scored 8 runs in the 8th inning at Cincy, their biggest inning of the year.

METS: Hold my beer.

I think this is all my fault. I was so excited at the Mets getting to feast on Cookie Crumbles, I forgot that each serving of Carrasco comes with a side order of Carrasco-vintage David Peterson. I should have read that fine print. My bad.

[Westheim]

Pre-game guy on Sportsnet just dropped a casual "and after today's [Blue Jays] game against the Cubs, Sportsnet will bring you the game between the Braves and the fading Mets."

On a Canadian scale that grades as a sick burn.

[Amazin69]

Atlanta sends up the same line-up as on Tuesday, with Michael Harris hitting 5th. Of the Braves' 5 through 9 batters, Harris has the best OPS, at a rousing .669.

FFS. We shouldn't give up 11 runs to this team in a week.

ETA: But apparently they can beat us with Harris and Ozzie Albies alone…

[Amazin69]

I know, it's ridiculous to even comment any more, but just for the record…

(For posteriority, one might say, since apparently Cal Raleigh's silly Winker-given nickname really is about his second-rate glutes…)

• In their 14 most recent games, the Mets have won 2, lost 3 outright, and lost after blowing leads in 9 others.

• The Mariners' 9 doubles were a franchise record, one short of the 10 doubles the Mets yielded in the classic 26-7 loss to Philadelphia in 1985, aka The Von Hayes Game or Gorfax Gets to Show his Stuff!

• The loss ended a 36-game streak where the Mets were guaranteed a victory if they scored 9 runs or more.

• The Mets' most-effective pitcher was Frankie Mown-ass (a bargain at $17 million per, I tell ya!) in mop-up duty, after Manaearrhea, Toiler Rogers, Brooks Raley, Ryan Hellish and Ryne Stank all had their asses mown

• With his 2-run HR, Cal Jesse-Winker-Likes-His-Butt beat Polar Pete to becoming the first player this season to reach 100 RBI. Pete contributed an 0-for-5 at bat

• Ronnie Mauricio is hitting under .100 from the right side. Might be time to give up on switch-hitting, kid

•. Nolan McLean debuts today. To quote John McClane (no relation), "Welcome to the party, pal!'

• Today's game begins at 4:10 Eastern Time. However, MLB won't begin televising it until 5 pm. i believe that's what's known as "harm reduction." Or perhaps self-defense.

Yippee-kai-yay, Mutha-****a!

[Amazin69]

The Mets are currently 2-11 in August. Here are the worst Mets Months of the past decade:

June, 2018: 5-21
June, 2023: 7-19
August, 2021: 9-19
May, 2024: 9-19
August, 2017: 10-20
June, 2019: 10-18 (hey, compared to Mickey Callaway's previous June, it was a triumph!)

Place yer bets, place yer bets…

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

•. Nolan McLean debuts to day. To quote John McClane (no relation), "Welcome to the party, pal!'

• Today's game begins at 4:10 Eastern Time. However, MLB won't begin televising it until 5 pm. i believe that's what's known as "harm reduction." Or perhaps self-defense.

So you won't see him since he is either obliterated on sight as all Mets tossers always are, or taken out after 45 pitches anyway for some BS pitcher-babying "reason".

Originally Posted by Amazin69

The Mets are currently 2-11 in August. Here are the worst Mets Months of the past decade:

June, 2018: 5-21
June, 2023: 7-19
August, 2021: 9-19
May, 2024: 9-19
August, 2017: 10-20
June, 2019: 10-18

I have sat through all that, and yet, I have survived.