One-Man Show

Matt Harvey, for the first half of this season, has pitched for the most part like a guy coming back from major elbow surgery. That's not really any kind of news. There's days where he's looked great, there's days where he's looked sweaty and uncomfortable, and days where he's been somewhere in between. Not great, not awful, but not anything particularly special. For someone who's set a rather lofty bar for himself where he expects to dominate every time out, and where everyone watching him expects him to dominate every time out, this can appear somewhat frustrating. But, this is how it's going to be this season. We just have to accept it. Or, more appropriately, he just has to accept it.

Harvey finished his first half with one of his better outings on Saturday; a 7-inning effort against Arizona where he found himself in a quick 2-run hole but got angry, got tough and fought back. It wasn't his cleanest effort, as he gave up 5 hits and 4 walks, but he did register 9 strikeouts, most of which was accomplished as he was breathing fire. This seemed to carry over to his plate appearances, as he also stole the show with his first career Home Run off of Patrick Corbin in the 5th inning, a 2-run shot that put the Mets on top for good as they registered their second consecutive 4-2 win over Arizona.

Usually, when a pitcher pitches well and that's the story of the game, there's not much more to write that could be construed as really interesting and insightful beyond "[the pitcher] pitched well and the [team] won the game." Enough games over the course of a 162-game schedule could be described as such that it makes you wonder how columnists and bloggers can fill their shingle for 6 months. But we always find ways. On a day like this, everyone only wants to talk about Matt Harvey's hitting and how the Mets pitchers, who for so long have been a mostly useless unit, are now a strength. Harvey's Home Run was the second by a Mets pitcher this season, following Syndergaard's Home Run way back in May.

Think about this. Syndergaard and Harvey each have Home Runs. deGrom and Matz have also proven themselves difficult outs. Even Jon Niese can knock a single when he needs to. Of course, nobody has turned hitting into an Art Form quite the way Bartolo Colon has, but that's another story entirely. But after years of doing nothing, and starting the season 0-for-64 last year, these Met pitchers are now not to be slept on when they come to bat.

A Home Run from a Mets Pitcher used to be a rare and celebrated occurrence. Harvey's yesterday was but the 50th in team history, and prior to this season, Home Runs had come from Jeremy Hefner in 2012, Johan Santana in 2010, and before that John Maine way back in 2007. I've seen my share of Mets Pitcher Home Runs, in addition to being present for Hefner's and Santana's shots, I also have seen Dwight Gooden, Armando Reynoso and Mark Clark hit it out. I also once saw Dontrelle Willis hit a Grand Slam off Jose Lima in a scene I'd rather forget. But usually when this happens, there's this rather unique roar that comes from the crowd, less a emphatic roar and more of a "Holy Shit!" kind of scream. You don't see Pitchers do things like this very often, but now that Mets pitchers have registered multiple Home Runs in a season for the first time since 1997, maybe this might become a bit more of a regular occurrence. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to sock one out, but it might start happening more often than you'd think.

Smackdowndergaard

I wasn't technically supposed to be at Citi Field on tonight. I only say that because it wasn't one of the games on my plan. But through the magic of the plan holder benefits and some rearranged schedules, here I was, for my 13th (or perhaps 14th) game of the season, and the 3rd time in my last 5 games that Noah Syndergaard was on the mound for the Mets, which perhaps qualifies him as my Pitcher du Jour for 2015.

I was uncharacteristically early for this game, so much so that I miscalculated when the gates to Citi Field actually open and somehow ended up stuck waiting outside the stadium. It seems that there are plenty of people that will show up at 4-4:30pm and wait. I was under the impression that the gates opened at 4:40, but it seems this has been changed to 5:10. I'm not sure why. But people do wait, probably because there's just nothing else to do out there, except watch the security guys have a pow-wow, get their metal wands and then at 5:10, their leader yells "OPEN UP!" and everyone springs into action. I got my Free Shirt Friday shirt, I got a Dunkin' Donuts card (which you can surprisingly get a decent return for on the open market), and an opportunity to actually walk around the parts of Citi Field I don't often get to visit since I'm usually making a mad dash to get to my seat before 1st pitch.

Syndergaard has gotten better and better each time I've seen him, which makes sense because he's gotten better and better each time out. At first, he'd been markedly better at home, but his last start, in Los Angeles was great, that on the heels of an outstanding game against Cincinnati (the game I was supposed to be at, but wasn't). This followed a game in Atlanta when he wasn't so hot and got pulled early. Then, the two games I attended, one of which came against Toronto, where he was excellent, but threw too many pitches too early in the game and only lasted 6 innings, and, of course, the night where he ended up on the wrong side of History. He's gotten better as he's gone along; this culminated in his outing tonight, in which he took a very good Diamondbacks lineup and basically crumpled them up like he'd stepped on a beer can and stuck it in his back pocket.

This was the kind of game that really makes you excited about the future of the Mets, at least as far as the pitching is concerned. Syndergaard is obviously one of the guys that the Mets are planning on hanging their hats on going forward, so you want to see how he handles himself when the Big Boys come to town, and although Arizona's record might not indicate as such, their lineup tonight featured 3 or 4 guys hitting over .300, among them hulking slugger Paul Goldschmidt, who's among the league leaders in HR, RBI and eyebrows. But Syndergaard simply overpowered Goldschmidt, striking him out twice and generally making him look silly. Noah treated the rest of the Arizona lineup with similar regard. A.J. Pollock reached him for a leadoff double, stole second and scored on a sac fly in the 1st inning. From there, Syndergaard put on his Matt Harvey pants, got angry and spent the rest of the night lighting the D'Backs on fire to the tune of 4 hits, 2 walks and 13 strikeouts over an 8-inning, 116-pitch effort to finish out his first half with panache.

The Mets bats, who bear but an honorable mention when measured against Syndergaard, gave him the support he needed for once. After breaking their 9-game homerless streak on Wednesday in San Francisco, the Mets continued their longball resurgence by hitting 2 in the 1st inning off Chase Anderson. Lucas Duda, who's gotten himself into some bad habits over the last month, didn't swing at a pair of bad pitches with 2 men on base, got himself into a 2-0 count, and then hit the 2-0 pitch clear to the Apple for his first Home Run in close to a month, giving the Mets a 3-1 lead. Michael Cuddyer followed by working himself into a similar count before basically one-arming a pitch just over the Left Field wall for his first Home Run in about as long. This, of course, upped my personal Home Run total for the season from 3 to 5 and also represented all the scoring the Mets would do on the night. This a far cry from most nights, when the Mets were hard pressed to score 1 or 2 runs, but when you give these pitchers 4 runs to work with, usually they can run with it. Syndergaard got his 4 runs early, was able to settle down and basically took the game from there.

Syndergaard's strength, perhaps, is that he seems to get better as the game progresses. After allowing Pollock's double and a Yasmany Tomas single in the 1st, Syndergaard then allowed Arizona 2 hits for the following 7 innings, a 3rd inning double to Peralta and a 5th inning single by Anderson, but that was about it. After the 5th, though his pitch count was up because he again threw too many pitches in the 1st inning, Syndergaard basically looked like he was toying with the D'back hitters. They weren't catching up with his fastball, and then he would lull them to sleep with his curve and changeup. In the 6th inning, Goldschmidt led off by watching a curve, fouling off a pitch, taking a slider off the plate, and then was completely frozen when Syndergaard zipped a fastball by him for strike 3. The following two batters met similar fates, giving him 10 strikeouts on the night.

In the 7th, Syndergaard struck out two more, giving him a career high 12 strikeouts and earning him a standing ovation as he came off the mound. Certainly, with Mejia and Parnell warming up, he was done, particularly after he'd gone over the magic 100-pitch number. But, then, he's got a week to rest with the All Star Game coming up, and this 6-man rotation seems designed to squeeze an extra inning out of these guys. So, back he came for the 8th, as I started thinking about high-strikeout games I'd attended. I couldn't quite figure out what my best was (and, of course, I had to consult UltimateMets.com for assistance), only that I knew I'd seen Dwight Gooden strike out 14 once, and I know I saw Randy Johnson strike out 13 at one point. The answer was that Gooden does hold my personal best with 14 back in 1991. I did see Randy Johnson K 13 in 2000, in the same game that Joe McEwing raked him all over Shea Stadium. After that, there was Matt Harvey's imperfect game in 2013, when he struck out 12, and then a quartet of 11-K games, one of which was authored by Syndergaard himself.

Syndergaard cruised through the 8th with little drama, save for a 1-out walk that went nowhere, and picked up his 13th strikeout in the process, putting him tied with Johnson for #2 on my strikeout list, and of course providing his own bridge to Jeurys Familia. Familia was reached for one run, if only because Tomas squeaked out an ill-advised triple and scored on a Welington Castillo single, but that was it for Arizona, and the Mets were able to close out a 4-2 victory.

The Brightest Spot

The Mets are sending but one player to the All Star Game in 2015, at least at the moment, and said All Star celebrated his selection by delivering perhaps his best outing of the season, pimp-slapping the Giants over 8 innings to the tune of no runs, 2 hits, 1 walk and 10 Strikeouts.

Yes, Jacob deGrom certainly proved himself worthy of the selection.

deGrom has, at least since early May, been the most consistent pitcher in a very good Mets rotation. Any thoughts that he might regress following his out-of-nowhere Rookie of the Year campaign in 2014, or that he might suffer from the fabled Sophomore Jinx can, I believe, be thrown out the window. Yes, deGrom's record sits at a mere 9-6—the same record he posted last season—but considering how often the Mets offense has backed him with no runs or 1 run, 9 wins is pretty good by itself. Imagine if this team actually could hit? He could be 12-3, 13-3?

But I digress. The offensive woes of this team are nothing new. Eric Campbell started in Left Field for the Mets on Wednesday afternoon and at this point we're so used to the mediocrity that we barely bat an eyelash. Michael Cuddyer's knee is still bothering him, so given that Terry Collins was assumedly advised by Cortisone Shot Ramirez that he just needs a few days, I think we can assume Cuddyer's season is done. You would think, then, that a move should be made but it's becoming more and more obvious that one or two bats, with what the Mets are likely to give on their end, isn't going to fix the problem. We're just going to have to suck up the rest of this season and hope for the best with what we've got. It's been pretty bad. But then again, sometimes it's been OK. But just OK. Like today, when Eric Campbell started in Left Field. He hit a Home Run. It was the first time a Mets player hit a Home Run since May 19th June 27th. Campbell's Home Run helped to extend a 2-0 Mets lead into a 4-0 Mets lead (Giants errors conspired to plate the first two Met runs) and spared everyone from a Bobby Parnell-induced Heart Attack in the last of the 9th. Parnell, who very quietly hadn't allowed a run since returning to the bullpen, finally got a taste of life without teeth on his fastball and the Giants reached him for a run on 3 hits, before Jeurys Familia rescued him.

Familia, like deGrom, has been one of the main reasons the Mets have made it to this point still afloat. He deserves to be an All-Star, like deGrom. Unfortunately, he wasn't elected, in spite of 24 Saves in 26 opportunities and a 1.12 ERA, and was instead relegated to the "Final Five" ballot, where he's currently going down in flames, in spite of the Mets and Twins forming an alliance to get both he and Brian Dozier elected. Familia's problem here is simply the poor fortune of being on a ballot with players named Kershaw, Cueto and Tulowitzki...and what's the use. Maybe one of the relievers on the squad will sprain a giblet this weekend and he'll make it anyway. Or maybe he'll get 4 much-needed days off.

So, yeah. Not much to report about the game; as an oddly-placed 3:45pm start prevented me from seeing anything. But for all their foibles, the Mets actually won both series on this road trip and return home 4-2. A week ago, we might have been happy with 1-5. At this point, you take what you can get.

The Exact Opposite

After the Mets played what was for them a veritable thriller on Monday night, where they played a good sound game and got wonderful pitching and defense, they came back the next night and played an abject snoozer of a ballgame on Tuesday. Daniel Murphy had one of his trademark Daniel Murphy Tics, made an error that led to a pair of Giants runs, and ended up sinking Bartolo Colon and his teammates, who could make no particular comeback effort against Matt Cain and a quadruped of Giants relievers as they fell 3-0.

The 3rd inning of this game pretty much typified everything that's wrong with Daniel Murphy as a ballplayer. Not surprisingly, it's also the inning that decided the game so there's not much point in discussing anything else. After being set down in order by Cain in the first two innings, the Mets strung together a little rally. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who mysteriously was starting again, struck out to start the inning to nobody's surprise, but then Kevin Plawecki doubled. Colon followed by flying out but he did get a good piece of the ball, or at least he did by his own standards. Granderson and Tejada then both walked and all of a sudden the Mets have the Bases loaded and Cain on the ropes...and then Daniel Murphy struck out to end the inning. No runs, no score for the game.

Last of the 3rd, and Gregor Blanco turned the Mets into a bug by reaching on a bunt, and then moved up on a Joe Panik (and by the way, it may be time to start tossing Panik in among noted Mets killers like Chipper Jones, Wilson Ramos, Greg Dobbs and others) hit. This brought up Matt Duffy, who hit an infield chopper towards Daniel Murphy at 3rd. Murphy gloved the ball and I guess he decided he'd go for the Grand Slam right there and turned to throw the ball to second, except he wasn't in anything resembling a good position to do that. So, instead, he did what was, I suppose, the most natural thing for him to do and juggle the ball in the air, then catch it and throw to 1st, too late to get Duffy. Then Hunter Pence drove in a run, and then Brandon Crawford drove in another run and that was pretty much the game right there.

So, you can't really pin this one on anyone other than Murphy. Colon pitched fine for his 6 innings, the Mets as usual didn't hit so how worked up can you get about that, and Daniel Murphy had a case of himself. That all together adds up to a Mets disaster.

Believe What You See

If you stayed up past midnight here in New York to watch the opener of the Mets series in San Francisco, you probably saw enough odd things to make you think you might have fallen asleep and woken up in some weird alternate dimension, but it's true. These things actually happened.

First, Jon Niese, who's been at or near the top of The Ballclub's shitlist all season for his general lack of consistency, his constant moping around and his inability to perform to the level of his talent, had what was easily his best outing of the season. Niese worked 8 innings against the Giants and basically tied them up in knots all night. I know that the Giants were featured on The Biggest Game In The Galaxy last night and then had to fly cross country and play tonight, but you still have to go out there and make good pitches, and Niese did that. Sure, he had his moments, the Giants had him on the ropes in the 6th inning, but he was able to worm his way out of a bases loaded jam (no thanks to Daniel Murphy, who lollipopped a throw to 1st on Posey's 2-out ground ball that Posey nearly beat out, and if I were Niese, or basically anyone on the Mets roster, I might have had to restrain myself from choking Murphy at that particular moment) to keep his shutout intact. For the night, Niese threw 8 innings, gave up 3 hits, 2 walks and struck out 4, and as strange as it seems, for as lousy as Niese has looked at times, his ERA sits at a reasonable 3.58. So perhaps he'll pull a Lucas Duda in the second half and shut me up.

This was all well and good, but the Mets still were unable to solve Chris Heston. At least this time around, the Mets managed to get a hit off of him, which Ruben Tejada took care of with a 1st inning single. So there's that. But when it came down to a key hit, the Mets did nothing. The Giants even handed the Mets three Errors, two of which were by Heston, but the Mets wouldn't take the bait. Johnny Monell hit into a Double Play, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who mysteriously resurfaced on the roster, also did nothing of note, and Juan Lagares misjudged a Granderson pop fly that was misjudged by the entire left side of the Giants defense and was thrown out at 2nd base in a key spot.

But then, in the 9th inning of this 0-0 game, something really weird happened. First, Michael Cuddyer got a hit off of Sergio Romo after falling behind in the count 0-2. Kirk Nieuwenhuis followed, and he attempted to bunt and didn't look very good in doing so, and after falling behind 0-2, did not attempt any more bunts. But Romo couldn't throw a strike and on a 3-2 pitch, with Cuddyer running, Nieuwenhuis slapped a double past B Belt at 1st and down the right field line, giving the Mets runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. This was good, but then again the Mets seem to always managed to screw up in this situation. The next man up was Johnny Monell, who's done nothing of particular consequence in the opportunities he's had. He fell behind 0-2 against Santiago Casilla. But then he connected for a double to right to score both runs and give the Mets the lead. Two batters later, Juan Lagares singled home Monell and the Mets somehow had plated 3 in the 9th. This, in Jeurys Familia's hands was pretty much a done deal and the Mets somehow not only won this game 3-0, but also assured themselves of no worse than a .500 record on this West Coast trip.

Cuddyer! Nieuwenhuis! Monell! How do you explain that? The Mets win a game thanks to a stick in the mud, a 4-A spare part and a backup's backup. Sometimes, it's hard to believe it when the Mets pull a game out of their ass like this, but this actually did happen.