Game 59 of 162
Blue Jays 2 Mets 1 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 30-29
Mets streak: Lost 2
WP - Nate Pearson (2-0)
LP - David Robertson (2-1)
SV - Erik Swanson (1)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s RBI single in the 9th inning put the Blue Jays in front, and Toronto has taken the first two in this weekend series agianst the Mets.
Need to Know
Today was induction day for the Mets Hall of Fame, as former players Howard Johnson and Al Leiter were inducted, along with current broadcasters Gary Cohen and Howie Rose. Mets PR Emeritus Jay Horwitz was also honored.
Daniel Vogelbach drove in the only Mets run with a double in the third inning to drive in Starling Marte. It was Vogelbach's first extra base hit since May 7th.
Francisco Lindor was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and is now 0-for-his last 15. Pete Alonso was also 0-for-4 while Brett Baty was 0-for 3 with a walk. Put in Jeff McNeil's 1-for-3 day and you have spots two through five in the order going 1-for-14 with two walks for the game.
The Mets lineup as a whole was 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Turning Point
Tylor Megill had been weaving in and out of trouble all day long because of the walks, and he had another jam in the top of the 6th with a 1-0 lead,as Brandon Belt doubled to lead off the inning. That was followed by a walk to Matt Chapman to put runners on first and second. After Megill got Whit Merrifield to fly out for the first out, Buck Showalter brought in Brooks Raley to face the lefty Daulton Varsho, and Raley got him to fly out. But Raley had to stay in to face righty Alejandro Kirk, and it did not end well.
Along with Lindor's struggles at the plate, he had a couple of balls just elude him for base hits, including Kirk's hard hit single above.
Three Keys
Lindor: The struggles of Francisco Lindor are starting to come into focus for the Mets these days. Buck Showalter was asked about Lindor's struggles, and he said that if you bench Lindor, who is going to replace him.
But Buck can always move Lindor down in the lineup. To me, it wouldn't even be as a punishment. Even at Lindor's best, he's a very aggressive hitter. That doesn't lend itself to the two hole. He may be better suited to being aggressive in the four hole with a couple of runners on base with nowhere for the pitcher to go.
There's also the possibility of sitting Lindor for a day, which is another good idea whether Lindor is hitting or not because you don't want to wear him down for later in the season. But now might be a good time to get him some time to breathe.
Megill: Ron Darling mentioned at the top that this was a big game for Tylor to have a big game. He only gave up one run in 5 and 1/3. But he walked five along with the five hits he gave up. It could have been worse as Megill was helped out in the first inning on a 2-1 pitch to Matt Chapman with the bases loaded which was called a strike even though it was below the plate. He was also helped in the second inning on a 2-2 pitch that struck out Kevin Kiermaier even though it looked clearly outside.
Walking five with an umpire who was calling everything strikes (we'll get to Charlie Ramos later), is certainly a feat. It shows you how important it is to get good starting pitching, and it's worth it to watch how Megill responds to this.
The 9th: David Roberston had a runner on second with two outs in the 9th with Guerrero up. Cavan Biggio, who had pinch run for Brandon Belt and was hitting about .180, was on deck. Might have been the perfect time for Buck to put the four fingers up and let Guerrero go to first and dare Biggio to beat you.
But Robertson's strategy looked to be to pitch carefully to him, which isn't necessarily a bad strategy. The first pitch was a cutter that ran inside and low. A careful pitch. But Charlie Ramos called it a strike and John Schneider got himself ejected as it was probably Ramos' worst call of the game (and that's saying something because he struggled.)
So the second pitch was another careful pitch that landed for ball one, and perhaps if Ramos calls the first strike a ball the count is 2-0. So does Guerrero get walked at that point? Instead at 1-1, Robertson threw a fastball by Guerrero to bring the count to 1-2, then he threw a knuckle curve near the dirt that was meant to be a careful pitch. But Vladdy Jr's briefly borrowed his father's swing and went down and got it to give the Jays the lead.
That pitch that Ramos gave to Robertson and got Schneider ejected might have, in the long run, ended up hurting Robertson and the Mets.
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