There I sat, an unaffiliated baseball fan, watching the game because it was the only game that was on, the final game that would be on, Game Seven of the World Series, October 29, 2014, the Royals playing the Giants for the championship of the sport I loved. Those teams and that circumstance had nothing to do with my team and where it sat that year and the several years before it.
If you had told me what the next two Octobers had in store for my team, and that those two teams on the television would transform from admirable strangers to final obstacles, I would have suggested, depending on my mood of the moment, that you have another drink or perhaps put down the booze. You’re drunk, you’re nuts, stop saying silly things.
You weren’t silly, hypothetical you. You knew what I couldn’t have conceived. Twenty-four months ago, I straight up lacked the imagination to believe that in 2015 the Mets would play in the World Series and in 2016 return to the postseason. I did not look at the Royals and Giants in that Game Seven and see a scintilla of the Mets’ future.
Yet that future came without warning — not so much as a push notification appeared in 2014 to indicate how 2015 and 2016 would unfold. One season led us into ultimate conflict with the Kansas City Royals, the next, an urgent entanglement with the San Francisco Giants. Two teams I had nothing against have come to represent bitter ends to otherwise beautiful stories surrounding our New York Mets.
Had I bothered to set my preferences, I assure you I would have tapped on a better conclusion.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
Still, I’ll take it. Or, should I say, I took it and I shall be back for more. Less bitter, more better, I hope. I was back for more in 2015 when all I was doing was doing what I always did. I came back for more Mets and to hope they’d get better. I had no concrete expectations. I generally hoped blindly before 2015. A year later, after a thrill ride dropped the National League pennant off on our porch, my hopes and expectations were heightened. Then lowered. Then raised. Then crushed. Now they’re gone for 2016.
But, oh boy, will they be back in 2017, and not just because I’ll be doing what I always do. I will come back for more Mets and I will come back to hope. Technically, I will be activating what is always there. It was there, lying dormant, when teams like the Royals and Giants were playing on a plane far above ours, and it was there, crackling through every last pitch and missed opportunity, when we rooted against the Royals and then the Giants because the games and the circumstances in October had everything to do with us and our team.
The 2016 postseason party goes on without the New York Mets now, our invitation to this grand autumnal festival quietly rescinded. It was fun while it lasted. Well, it was fun for eight innings, then it turned into the stuff of “I’ll get the coats, you bring the car around, let’s get out of here before anybody notices we’re gone” in the ninth. Pretty soon, everybody else still at the ball won’t remember we were honored guests when the gala began. It used to be they’d let you stick around, get used to your surroundings, make a nuisance of yourself before showing you the door. This Wild Card RSVP didn’t work like that.
Instinct tells us that after losing an entrancing Game One, we’re gonna be fine, it’s a long series, we’ll go get ’em in Game Two. But, of course, it’s not a long series. It wasn’t a series at all. It was one-shot, a one-off, a one-and-done. Appropriate to how we classify it, we were shot, off and done in one night.
The nihilistic and tempting view the morning after is we went to a lot of trouble to lose 3-0 and go home. Had the Mets, who flailed helplessly through so much of the summer, floundered just a little longer and not recovered their mojo in late August, we could have been spared the ceremonial execution of our hope. It would have continued to fizzle and eventually evaporated like it always used to, privately, with only a relative few of us serving as witnesses. Our winter would have arrived on what was its usual schedule, same as it did in 2014 and 2013 and 2012 and so on. We could have dismissed 2015 as an aberration and watched a new episode of Modern Family or whatever else was airing Wednesday night.
Happily — yes, happily — 2015 was not an aberration. It did alter our expectations. We did enter 2016 conceiving that the new season would somehow outdo the last season. “World Series or bust” was a phrase thrown around with a straight face, as if the options following almost winning it all were limited to going one step further or failing completely.
How droll.
Perhaps you remember the sharpest zinger from the film version of Moneyball. GM Billy Beane and coach Ron Washington visit Scott Hatteberg in the offseason to convince him to sign with the A’s and play first base for them. Thing is, Hatteberg’s been a catcher his entire major league career. Brad Pitt’s Beane assures Chris Pratt’s Hatteberg, “It’s not that hard, Scott,” and then turns confidently to his stonefaced coach (Brent Jennings) for backup.
“Tell ’em, Wash.”
“It’s incredibly hard.”
That’s just first base in the movies. Now consider trying to approximate one year’s unexpected success the very next year, yet with the burden of expectations, but without the participation of all kinds of key contributors from the year before. Imagine you’re asked to make the playoffs twice in two years when making the playoffs just once in a while is a historical rarity in your organization. Imagine you fall almost hopelessly out of the race remarkably late in that second season. Then go and do what you set out to do when the season commenced, when your goal was no mean feat to begin with.
Yeah, it’s incredibly hard. But the New York Mets just did it. They were postseason qualifiers for the second time in two years, busting past the 162nd-game barrier just as they did in 2015, yet nothing at all like they did in 2015. They made it, though. Not as division champions, and not with ninety victories, and not on the glittering arms of a golden rotation, but they made it just the same.
Somehow, the portion of the journey that defined this season felt even more Amazin’ than the season that preceded it. This wasn’t 2015 2.0, which is not to say that wouldn’t have been splendid had such a reproduction been available to us. This was 2016, its very own chapter in our ongoing family history and a worthy descendant of a season we’ve been invoking for decades every time summer was down to a wisp and the contemporary campaign was circling the drain.
We had to believe, we’d been telling each other since 1973. This year, 43 years after the seminal surge that confirmed faith doesn’t have to be futile, we saw again what can happen when we consent to believe. That year faith carried us almost all the way. This year it got us only so far, but certainly further than could have been rationally projected a blink ago. As play began on August 20, our Mets were 60-62 and five-and-a-half games out of a playoff spot (those are coordinates we will be repeating as long as we root, which is to say as long as we live). As play continued on October 5, so did we. In between, the Mets did everything they had to in order to deliver us to the doorstep of possibility, a place we had to squint to see from where we seemed stranded less than seven weeks before.
The Mets won 27 games from August 20 to October 1. Almost every one of them felt like The Game of the Year until it was supplanted by a victory even more astounding. Whenever faith threatened to revert to folly, something we needed to happen would happen. A home run was hit. A strike was thrown. A catch was made. A player we’d barely heard of or thought of before this season took up residence in our hearts. In the middle of 2016, the Mets were comprised to an alarming extent by guys who essentially wandered in off the street. How were we supposed to get behind them if we could barely remember who they were?
When it came to selecting retreads and promoting obscurities, Sandy Alderson proved himself, à la Hatteberg in the movies, a pickin’ machine. We know who these Gsellmans and Lugos and Loneys and Riveras and Kellys are now, and if they listen closely, they can hear us do our best impression of Gerry and the Pacemakers, regardless that their ferry didn’t cross all the way into the NLDS:
We don’t care what your name is, boy
We’ll never turn you away
Not after a finish to the regular season like they and their teammates gave us, not even after the lone postseason night that ended their trip sooner than we’d hoped.
In the only Wild Card Game the National League had to offer us, we couldn’t furnish our ferryman, Noah Syndergaard, with nearly enough offense to get us to the other side. Syndergaard was brilliant. Ten strikeouts, two hits, three walks, one stolen base, one not so stolen base (thanks, replay) and one gargantuan Grandersonian grab at the wall added up to a shutout in progress. The Giants did nothing against him for seven innings and never appeared on the verge of doing anything irreversible against him. The only way Noah’s night would go for naught is if there happened to be on the Citi Field premises somebody in a San Francisco uniform matching him pitch for pitch.
That could be a problem. It was. The Giants brought Madison Bumgarner to Queens; why the TSA didn’t detect this deadly weapon I don’t know. Bumgarner owned that seventh game versus the Royals in 2014. He’s excelled in game after game versus everybody in every postseason he’s pitched in since 2010. He’s been in a lot of them and never been rousted from any of them.
That track record holds. Whereas Thor was epic over seven, Bumgarner was Bumgarner for nine. The Mets put six baserunners on across nine innings. None neared home plate. Once or twice the “Mad” in Madison appeared poised to overtake the visiting starter — the strike zone was not a constant by Mike Winters’s reckoning — but there is, unfortunately, no bum in Bumgarner, not in October. (Not that I didn’t hurl far worse epithets at his televised image over the course of the Wild Card evening.)
Bumgarner barely bent and didn’t come close to breaking. Syndergaard departed and left the Mets’ chances of outlasting his counterpart to the best of his bullpen. Addison Reed wriggled from a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, making it 26 consecutive innings of the Giants not scoring against the Mets in postseason play, a string that dated back to October 7, 2000. Maybe, just maybe, the ghosts of Benny Agbayani and Bobby Jones would be kind enough to kindle some friendly spirits for us.
Instead, Jeurys Familia turned the ninth inning into a haunted house. A double to Brandon Crawford. A one-out walk to Joe Panik. A three-run home run to Conor Gillaspie. A three-nothing Giant lead. When these SOBs break a scoreless streak, they don’t mess around.
Familia, who saved 51 games in 2016 on top of 43 in 2015, but was charged with three blown saves in last year’s World Series and now has this loss emblazoned on his ledger forever, was booed as he left the mound after completing the rest of the ninth inning to Mrs. Lincoln’s satisfaction. I thought the reaction was tacky. I also thought it was a helluva spot to give up a three-run home run to Conor Gillaspie, only the second home run Jeurys allowed this entire year.
The last three Met batters of 2016 were Yoenis Cespedes (flied to right), Curtis Granderson (flied to left) and T.J. Rivera (flied to center). The Mets’ final out was recorded at 11:21 PM. When the projected time of first pitch is announced for Opening Day 2017, I’ll be back around to let you know when we’ll be reaching the Baseball Equinox, that instant after which we will be closer to the coming season than we are to the last one. Until then, we drift involuntarily away from the Mets, at least in the active sense. They will stay with us without playing as they tend to do, ever more so in this era, a period that commenced in 2015, endured with challenge in 2016 and, because pessimism is as big a bummer as Bumgarner, has every chance of going forward in the foreseeable future…if there is such a creature.
We foresaw a 2016 fronted by more than Thor. We foresaw Harvey and deGrom and Matz and Wheeler. Have you seen them lately? We foresaw Neil Walker holding down second and Wilmer Flores coming off the bench. We foresaw Lucas Duda socking long balls, Juan Lagares tracking down most other balls and, if physically handled wisely, David Wright dispensing captainly wisdom and the occasional double into the gap. We foresaw a quantum leap ahead for Michael Conforto. We foresaw the necessary last step in the development of Travis d’Arnaud.
Tell me more about foreseeable futures. We foresaw the Mets as a contender and a playoff team when we were foreseeing all of the above, before actually seeing no more than a fraction of it. Yet we wound up contending and in the playoffs. We got there, as noted, via a team made up of Gsellmans and Lugos and Loneys and Riveras and Kellys (both Johnson and Ty), but also Granderson in his indispensable mode for a month; and Cabrera as invaluable all year; and Cespedes as explosive in indelible bursts; and Reyes as the prodigal infielder you grudgingly gave a chance and weren’t sorry you did; and Colon as Colon, which needs little delineation but inspires a mountain of appreciation; and De Aza and Reynolds and Ruggiano and Nimmo and Jay Bruce of all people filling vital roles; and Blevins and Edgin and Robles and Smoker and Salas, not to mention Reed, to say nothing (not that you’d want to at present) of Familia, providing relief.
And stirring together this unlikely goop mélange until it qualified as postseason pudding, Terry Collins. They don’t always supply him with the freshest or most appetizing ingredients, yet somehow he whips up a feast and manages to come up with something Amazin’ for dessert. Our second consecutive trip to the Viennese Table didn’t last long, but just getting us a seat at that table took some fancy doing.
We could have danced all month, but we won’t. Nevertheless, 2016 will stand forever as an affair to remember. Thanks to all who joined me in taking part. I hope you had as wonderful a time as I did.
Perfect–PERFECT–title for this post.
It was a helluva season. It’s a shame we had to run into Bumgarner, but I’d rather lose to him than some Cardinal schmo (I’m looking at you Jeff Suppan). We went toe-to-toe with one of the all-time greats for 8 rounds before succumbing to the KO in the 9th. Not a happy ending but I’m proud of the team nonetheless.
Last night also provided nice balance to our do-or-die 9th inning in Game 7, 2006. 10 years ago we kept our closer in the pen, this year we didn’t. Made no difference. Buck Schowalter must have grinned just a bit.
My sentiments exactly Kevin! Bumgarner is a modern day Koufax……I’m sure he will do the same thing to the Cubs in the next round. Extremely proud of this team and providing again another fun season of winning baseball. I only ask for them to be in the mix for the playoffs every season, and with everyone healthy next year, there is no reason this team can’t be excellent. LGM in 2017!!!!
I am inexorably reminded of a particularly good line from “The Seventh Game” by Barry Levenson (in a chapter regarding, of all things, the 1973 World Series): “That kind of pitching tends to squeeze the life out of miracles.” What can I do but tip my cap to Mr. Bumgarner, just as I tipped my cap to the 2015 Royals — worthy opponents who beat us on their own merits.
Addison Reed, the only Met booed on opening day this year, pitched one of the toughest, grittiest innings I’ve ever seen. He truly is the gunslinger.
The Bum was great. Tip the cap and get ready for 2017. Our team has a load of talent. Lets hope for a healthy 2017 season.
Thanks to the two best Mets writers I know of. It was a great 2016 for F&F.
We’ll be back!
LGM!
Loved Thor. Loved the gunslinger. Cabrera our best ss in ages. Grandy continues to amaze in clutch moments. Reyes the prodigal reborn. Lugo and Gsellman add depth, talent and insurance to an ever fragile staff. TJ Rivera,a new Murph in the making? Looking forward to hot stove and next spring. Thank you F&F for sustained excellence and commitment to literate coverage. LGM!
Reed was much better this season than the Reed the Mets picked up last season. He was as good a set-up man this season as Familia was closing games last season.
Moved me to tears. A beautiful eulogy to the season. Thank you to FAFIF for always putting my emotions into words.
Should not overlook, however, the issue of not trying to work count on Bum in first three innings when the only strategy going into game had to be–try to get him out by 8th inning because 1) he best postseason pitcher in decades 2) the Giants have a weak pen that has absolutely collapsed in recent weeks. Yet the team went up their swinging.
Now, I know,it’s easier said than none. Players will say, the guy throws strikes and it does you no good to be down 0-2 in count. Hit a good pitch if you see one. Valid. But the 21 pitches in 3 innings was off the charts. I turned to my friend at the game right then and there that Bum was going 9 and it would be 1-0 win or lose. And we’d miss the horrid Giants pen. And we did.
So, as someone asked here earlier: Did Terry ask them to try to work count, or did they ignore, or did they try and we didn’t recognize it?
Grasping around for context, it turns out that 2016 was the season Alderson indirectly promised for 2015; the World Series appearance last year was supposed to happen this year, based on Alderson’s Marshall Plan upon arriving in the 2010-11 offseason.
More recently, my scorebook reminds me that I watched the Giants at Citi Field on Sunday, August 3, 2014, on Toy Truck giveaway day. Expectations for the Mets were low and seats in the Excelsior level were plentiful. That summer day, Madison Bumgarner thoroughly shut down our Mets, 9-0, on a two-hitter. Hordes of twenty-something invaders squealed with delight, shaking their collective Panda-styled headgear.
Fast-forward to last Saturday, when the Wild Card game picture came into focus: it dawned on me that our opponent would likely be the SF Giants, and their weapon of choice would be that assassin Bumgarner. I hoped for the best last night, but expected….well, what I anticipated is exactly what transpired. I don’t own a crystal ball, but that Bumgarner is a beast.
Sigh. I’m kinda/sorta now rooting for the Cubs to win it all, and also looking forward to pitchers and catchers in Port St. Lucie next March. Keep the Faith, manage your Fear, everyone.
Sandy Alderson is going to have a very busy off-season.
I look forward to Gsellman and Lugo returning. And more use of TJ, Ty, Conforto, Reynolds and Nimmo. A little more seasoning of Ynoa.
Sign Colon, Sandy ! Rene Rivera is the indispensable “back-up” catcher.
Wilmer, Graderson, Reyes and Asdrubal will be back (and Ruggiano ?). Make the QO to Walker. Bruce ? Cespedes ? Will the young guns return locked and loaded?
Stay tuned…,
A decision needs to be made on d’Arnaud. I believe his hitting was sapped this year by his shoulder injury. If d’Arnaud’s not hitting, he’s not good enough of a defender, his superior pitch framing notwithstanding, to stay on the field.
He hit well last season. (Remember the bandage on the apple?) I’d like to see d’Arnaud given a chance to recover his offense with a healed shoulder. He’s been constantly hurt with something or other his whole professional career, though.
You hit the conflict there–even if power sapped by injury–he is extremely injury prone–so very, very bad bet for future. Sadly. Also sadly: Plawecki was supposed to be ready now and he has regressed.
First of all a big thank you to you, Greg, for providing us fellow Mets fans all around the world with your thoughts and tales about yet another great baseball season.
And what a great ride it has been, sadly , as last year, without happy ending. I watched the game together with my son, like me a Mets fan. Being a baseball fan in Germany can be pretty hard on your sleeping hours if you want to watch the live coverage, with games starting most of the time around 2 am German time. At least I will get some sleep in October, now that the Mets are out of playoff picture. But here is the bright side: there will be a next season, another year full of hope and excitment !
And maybe, just maybe I finaly will get the chance to visit NY and watch the Mets live at Citi Field.
Thanks for all that you do. You guys are the best.
Till spring!
If th4e Mets could’ve gotten a run, I think they would have won. Familia would have held them if he had a lead to protect. When there’s no lead to protect is when he seems to get in trouble. Anyway, he got us here, he gets a pass.
Plus, any team that has to use Soup Campbell as a pinch hitter against Madison Bumgarner in a Wild Card Game probably isn’t destined to win no matter what.
When Soup came to the plate I said to my friend, “Boy, that’s gambling putting an inexperienced first baseman out there in 0-0 game but they really want his big .173 bat up there now.”
If he can’t be an effective reliever without a lead to protect, then he can’t be an effective reliever. I’m sure Jeurys will be back next year, and heaven knows we need those 40-50 saves, but his value seems significantly tarnished.
No doubt in my mind Familia just wasn’t as good this year as he was last year. Just goes to show what an incredibly contrived and meaningless stat saves are. He had eight more this year and I don’t think any reasonable Met fan would disagree with my first sentence above. Way too many walks and lack of command in general. In fact, his walk of Panik was where the game was lost. If he gets him out in that spot, Gilaspie is walked intentionally and the Giants either pinch hit for Bumgarner or send him to the plate with the winning run on second.
But to boo him?? No way and totally classless.
I blame Mejia.
Well, Greg, that was the cherry on top of a luscious, messy, exciting Mets season. Thanks to you and Jason for shepherding us through it. We’ve enjoyed your narrative very much.
Speaking of narratives, I guess our boys just couldn’t pull out enough magic to upset the Bum/Giants even year crap. Oh well. Still they have so much to be proud of and build upon for 2017.
And this was Noah’s big statement game. A bit more effective than the All Star game he had to sit out. Notice has been served on the world, much, much more to come.
I’m heartbroken, but I can’t bring myself to be angry or assess blame. This 2016 team will always have my heart. And, yeah, as tough as it was to watch it all go up in flames like that, it beats a quiet slog through a miserable September and a wimpering game 162 any time. The future is bright for the Mets and we’ll be sure to enjoy it every moment along the way. LGM!
Sorry to tell you, but we actually did have a wimpering game 162 this year. :-)
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m rooting for the Giants, but I’m curious to see how the Giants’ even-year mojo plays against the regular-season run-differential dominance of the Cubs, more so since Bumgarner may only pitch 1 game in their DS.
Having only commented once or twice during the season, I wanted to thank FAFIF for the top notch writing day in and day out that served as an invaluable backdrop to the season. From my perspective, in terms of yesterday’s game, the headlines about Familia irked me. As a previous poster has commented, easier said than done, but hardly his fault that counts had not been worked better earlier and the few opportunities not taken. In terms of the season as a whole, I have mixed feelings. The bottom line is I had high expectations and, while clearly injuries did not help, the Mets were so hard to watch for such a part of the summer. I feel the injuries became something of a smokescreen for a clearly flawed roster. The boom or bust swinging for the fences does not feel like a way to win and only by accident in, for example, bringing back Reyes and trying a contact hitter in TJ has anything different been tried.
I too was disturbed by the booing of Familia, although it seemed like it was a fairly small minority of the crowd. He just didn’t have it last night. But he was very, very good this year.
Thanks to Greg for this wonderful piece on the last game of our season, and to both him and Jason for their fantastic posts all season long. I feel like I’m reading the work of an apostle of Roger Angell when I read these posts. They have become an integral part of my Mets fan existence.
It was a wonderful season, and as always a wonderful season of reading your analysis and insights. Win or lose, I’m always looking for the FAFIF update!
Well, here’s hoping that Familia eventually gets a chance to redeem himself, as it’d be a real shame if crushing post-season HRs ended up defining his Mets legacy. While last night is definitely up there on the list of traumatic Mets defeats, let’s face it, nursing that patchwork roster all the way back to the WS was highly unlikely regardless of how last night turned out. We got to play with house money there for a while and the Mets salvaged what could have been another dreary trudge to the finish line. If you consider how so many other Mets seasons have gone hey, they at least gave us our money’s worth. It’s not much of a consolation but it is something and it was a hell of a ride while it lasted.
It was a helluva season and thank you again for documenting it.
Bumgarner is clutch, something that is missing from the current squad.
Bottom of the eighth: What if Caberera’s liner to MadBaum with two outs and Kelly on second had between three (or even two) feet higher?
The above was inspired by the two Peanuts comic scripts from the 1962-1963 offseason, in which Charlie Brown laments about the end of the 1962 World Series vs. the Yankees. Giants (ironically per this thread) had runners on 2nd and 3rd, two outs down 1-0 in Game Seven. McCovey hit a line drive that might have gone through for the game, and series winner, but the ball was hit at 2B Bobby Richardson.
Months later, Charlie Brown had not gotten over it…
https://giantspologrounds.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/browncrop.jpg
On TV, Cabrera’s liner looked pretty soft. I don’t know the infield alignment, but if they were shaded up the middle, the ball might not have made it past Crawford or Panik anyway. On the other hand, if the infielders were positioned right, the ball was hit hard enough for a seeing eye hit.
Thank you for winning the World Series of blogging yet again, Greg. You seem to never go into a slump.
I can’t deny it was an exciting end to the season. But the season didn’t start on Aug 20, so you have to look at the entire year as an entity. On that level, it was pretty disappointing. Much of it was due to injuries, which arguably can’t be avoided or predicted. But it hurts to think that another 8 or 9 wins would probably have won us the division — I can certainly remember at least that many losses that could have gone the Mets’ way.
OK, that’s baseball. I just can’t easily put so much of the frustration and anguish from this season behind me. What will keep me warm this winter? That performance from Noah… :-)
Greg, you and Jason have something in common with John Milner…you are both The Hammer, because you hit nails right on the head (not Nails as in Dykstra, although he clearly could have used a few good swats upside the head along the way). You hit on everything I was feeling as CitiField went from intensely manic for 8+ innings to funeral home-level silence. I was downright furious with those who booed Familia, who was one of the most valuable players on the team this year and last. Yeah, this made for two very painful and ill-timed postseason home runs allowed, but it is what it is. Nobody said going into this game “I sure am glad we’re facing Bumgarner,” and he was the real difference-maker in this game.
And no Giant is looking forward to their next game against Thor either. At the age of 24 he is already well on his way to establishing himself as one of the best big game starters in franchise history, and I can’t wait until he’s an established enough star to get such an elastic strike zone.
This land – the Mets and Citi and FAFIF and the whole Mets fan community – is the place I love, and here I’ll stay.
Thanks for everything FAFIF! Great blog.
I was on the road last night and the only way I could keep track of the game was by checking game updates on my phone. The first red flag was when I got in the car and checked the game the first time. Bumgarner was pitching in the bottom of the 4th and was on 31 pitches. You didn’t need to be Albert Einstein to see that this was trouble.
Very interesting season. So many obstacles overcome and they never quit on things. And Lugo and Gsellman are now on the radar. I can’t bring myself to think that we’ll ever have the five flamethrowers healthy at the same time but we’re in better shape there than I thought.
Here’s to a healthy 2017. If we get even a normal injury year, no reason we can’t make the playoffs 3 years running. I have quite a wish list concerning players (who is that guy behind the mask and what did he do with the real TDA?) but there’s nearly 6 months to talk about that.
Since I was at the game, couldn’t judge balls and strikes calls. Did ump miss as many for Mets as Giants? Did Bum seem to intimidate ump? Were bad calls pretty much in line of what often happens or worse than usual?
The umpire was inconsistent on calling low strikes, which affected the Mets much more than Bumgarner. The inning Reed pitched it’s like he wasn’t even watching. When Reed walked Belt, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hitter get the call on three consecutive pitches that close with two strikes on him. And the passed ball crossed up Rivera, but it was a strike! The inning Familia pitched there were no borderline pitches. You could tell right away he didn’t have any command…can’t blame the ump for any of the scoring.
When Bumgarner got upset at the called third strike when he was at bat, and then got a little flustered when he went out to pitch in the sixth and walked Cabrera, I thought they had a chance to rattle him. But Cespedes struck out and let him off the hook (he and Reyes had awful at bats).
Terry Pendleton
Kirk Gibson
Mike Scioscia
Brian Jordan (twice)
Molina
Gillaspie
Here is the crazy thing, I think all but one of Jordan’s was in queens……
132 days ’til pitchers and catchers.
Thanks again lads for another great ride via your blog.There is no shame in reaching the Wild Card battered and bruised and getting beat by one of the deadliest pitchers around. I hope that Granderson’s catch gets the recognition it deserves over the long haul! It would be on all the “greatest catches” reels if we had produced some runs in the ninth and won.
Campbell subbing for Loney in the field or at bat might not have changed the result of the game but Loney should have stayed in there.
I was surprised at how many Giants fans were in attendance last night.
The maestro killed the Anthem.Pure class!
Having Michael Fahy Junior throwing out the first pitch was absolutely heart wrenching. Kudos to the Mets for having the Fahy family.
Thank you Greg and Jason for another great year of the best blog about the best team in the best city. LET’S GO METS!
Bring back Bartolo!
Bring back Bartolo!
The one thing I take from the way the season ended is don’t celebrate “winning” the wild card. You just bought a 50-50 chance to get your heart ripped out. It makes no sense for baseball to have a one game elimination, but I heard an MLB exec say it gets a lot of ratings and will not be changed. Next time the Mets win a wildcard, just shake hands and go home. No celebration is warranted.
It does make Saturday’s celebration ring a bit hollow… but in fairness, this format is kind of new for all of us.
Both wild card games were heart-stopping pitcher’s duels (mostly), so I doubt MLB would change anything at this point.
I think the idea of the second wild card and the one-game wildcard is to punish the wildcard teams for not winning the division and award the division winners. The second punishment, of course, is that they have to use their best pitcher. I didn’t like Wednesday’s outcome, but I think the one-game wildcard playoff is completely fair. If a team doesn’t like it, win the divison.
The WC game is essentially a play-in game while technically a play-off game, except the 2 teams don’t need to tie their season record like the Giants and Mets did to play into the play-offs.
I’m fine with the WC game. A WC team is necessary because of the 3 divisions. While a WC team is necessary, I prefer on principle that there’s a penalty for entering the play-offs without winning the division.
Since a WC team is necessary, if you agree there should be an extra hurdle for WC team to qualify for a DS, should the WC game be extended to a 3-game WC series?
Familia choked and he deserved to be booed. Set aside the wildness of the inning – Familia’s been wild often this season and powered (and lucked) his way through it. But the pitch he gave up the home run to Gillaspie looked like the more hittable offspring of the pitch that gave up the 2015 WS game 1 Gordon HR. There’s no tip of the cap to Gillaspie; that pitch was going to be hit hard somewhere.
The Mets were helpless against Bumgarner but Syndergaard and Reed matched him 0-0. If Familia hadn’t dropped the baton, the game would have been a battle of the bullpens starting in the 10th if not the 9th, advantage Mets. No guarantees, but it would have been easier to accept a Salas or even a Colon losing the game than Familia, who’s as much an ace at closer as Syndergaard, deGrom, or Harvey.
That being said, I want Familia on the mound in the 2017 post-season in as just as big a spot for redemption.
I was there for Scioscia and I didn’t boo. If I were there last night, I would not have booed. However, I don’t trust Familia in a big spot anymore and that is a problem. That could be the difference in getting a championship in the next 3 years or having to go another few decades.
Familia’s my favorite current Met. I think he’s at least as important to the team and shined at least as brightly as any of the thoroughbred starters, Syndergaard included. I feel awful for him, and I hope he restores the Familia from the 2015 DS and NLCS and redeems himself in the play-offs next year.
But had I been in the stands last night, I would have booed him. Syndergaard and Reed matched Bumgarner 0 for 0 for 8, and they deserved better than Bumgarner winning the WC game with a CG shutout in 9. After Reed held up in the 8th, that wasn’t Posey and Pence hitting Familia hard in the 9th. The 3-run HR by the Giants’ 8th place hitter on a grooved belt-high flat fastball was a big-time screw-up. Familia earned the boos.
Thanks to Greg and Jason for a truly great season. Your writing keeps us all enthralled on a daily basis
You could tell JF didn’t have it right from the start, and I’ll bet that fans were booing the situation more than him. We needed every one of those saves just to get there, and I do not think that just anyone can do it.
If this organization was really based on merit, I would say Noah might be a little busy come Opening Day 2017.
Greg (& Jason)–Most Excellent writing to end the ride for 2016.THANK YOU!
Our Mets went further than I thought.
Odin is pleased with Thor’s great 7 innings–huge game for Thor!
Wrong pitcher for Mets to run into in Oct–gotta tip the cap–as they say…..sigh…………..
Recall game 3 of 2000 Series @ Shea– had flown in from LA for that game and Armando was pitching the 9th. Thank the Baseball Gods he DID get the Save that night & we won game 3 over skanks!
had Benitez done what he did in Game 1 of that Series, I would have jumped off Whitestone Bridge!
Hope springs eternal for Mr. Familia in future Octs..
Let’s Go Mets!– forever & ever!
Met fan since Polo Grounds-1963
Question: was I the only one having certain undesirable flashbacks when Reyes was first-pitch hacking last night? The mere fact that Jose Reyes appeared in a Mets playoff game last night only emphasizes how deeply strange 2016 was.
Just a quick note that I appreciated the reminder that the Mets remain the Mets when Flores went from being able to return to the lineup a few days after being hurt to having surgery on a broken wrist. Ah, memories . . .
It would have been good to see Flores get the chance to face Bumgarner. We can imagine that Flores would have drawn upon the magic of his tears and managed a hit or two off Bumgarner, perhaps combined with Rivera’s double to produce a run. Chances are Flores would have been set down by Bumgarner, too.
Gents, my thanks to Gary Cohen for mentioning your blog on the air and thereby bringing a whole new element to my Mets-centric existence. And many thanks to you for your well-wrought prose.
What a performance by Noah–it was a beautifully-pitched game! A classic matchup of young gun going toe-to-toe with a seasoned veteran. It was like Frazier-Ali for 12 rounds (7 innings). The problem is the fight goes 15 rounds (9 innings). Their guy was there for the whole fight and we tag-teamed in with Reed, who staggered and took a standing 8-count, then Familia who leaned into an opponent’s jab and was down for the count. Fight over.
Since I’m using metaphors from other sports, may I posit that we have Tony Romo as our closer? Gets you to the playoffs but that’s where the train stops.
Finally there’s Bart–can’t imagine where the team (or our collective Mets psyche) would be without him. Bring back the elder statesman!!
every eliminating postseason loss in this millennium has taken place at home with the decisive runs scoring in the top of the 9th or later. if you feel like you’ve seen this before, it’s because you have.
it was a nice season. great job as always, greg and jason.
That’s a good point.
Greg — Through another season, you retain your title as Mets scribe and savant without peer. Thanks to you and Jason for guiding us through the ups and downs of 2016. I’m looking forward to the 2017 edition!
Thanks to the 2016 Mets for the memories! And, to FAFIF as well !! Let’s make it 3 years in a row to the postseason in ’17 !!
thanks greg and jason for making another season so much richer – with your insights, wisdom. and those incredible historical connections.
the games and the seasons fly by so fast.
the great writing you provide helps make each day of the season stand as a special event unto itself.
and down the stretch were they ever!
i’m only sorry it all had to end so soon…but as the poster above reminded us all:
132 days til pitchers and catchers.
here’s to a fruitful, healing, and restorative off-season for our mets, and for all of us who follow them.
Alright, enough genuflecting to the Mad Bummer. Fact is, the hitters did not show up, and had an awful approach for the first three innings, practically leaping into the air when swinging the bats. They played like they were defeated right after the National Anthem, when the players stood, but the bats took a knee —-Bat Lives Matter.
Also, the Mets had a very good roster, and many commenters here are portraying them as the Bad News Bears. No siree. It was tough to pick the roster because there was lots of talent to choose from.
A great base for next year no matter who leaves.
Fact is, just as it has been for the overwhelming majority of the last two seasons, we didn’t hit the mistakes with any type of consistently.
Bumgarner left MANY MANY pitches in the middle of the plate. The only ones we hit with any authority were 2 by Cabrera and one by R Rivera.
I believe he was outpitched by Thor.
…and one by TJ, but it’s easy to forget about that one!
yup couldn’t believe how the mets hitters replicated the failing
first-pitch swinging strategy during innings 2 and 3….and pretty much again in the 9th.
the all-or-nothing/HR heavy approach – not so good against elite, october pitching.
so many weak pop-ups…
hopefully a return to a more national league hitting philosopy from the mets before too long!
Yeah, was aware of TJ, but his was a blooper off the end of the bat. Hardly hit with authority.
The over-eager hitting approach might have been the coaching staff overthinking game strategy and being psyched out by facing Bumgarner.
In interviews before the game, Collins talked about Bumgarner challenging hitters in the zone and the need for Mets hitters to not miss pitches. It seemed the Mets hitters took that approach to heart and Bumgarner adjusted to it.
After the game, Collins said that they wanted to jump on Bumgarner early.
I think if the Mets went the other way and tried to be extra patient with Bumgarner, he would have adjusted and carved them up in the zone, like Collins discussed before the game. Maybe he would have left the game earlier. I don’t think so.
If Bumgarner is on his game in post-season mode, there’s just no good way to face him. Take a normal approach and hope for the best.
The Mets did change their approach after the first few innings, which really ratcheted up Bum’s pitch count. But it was too late — they weren’t able to get to the bullpen.
A reference point for the Mets adjusting to their approach to Bumgarner is David Schoenfeld’s write-up on the Red Sox approach to Kluber in game 2 of the Indians-Red Sox DS:
http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/74789/grading-the-performances-of-the-cy-young-winners-on-the-day-of-aces
“Though he put zeroes up on the scoreboard, Kluber didn’t dominate in the usual sense we might think of, as he actually had his second-lowest swing-and-miss rate of any start this season. What became clear was the Red Sox game plan: run up his pitch count and try and knock him out early to get to that Cleveland bullpen that might have been without Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, or at least with their limited availability. The Red Sox swung at only 37 pitches, the lowest swing rate Kluber saw all season. Kluber picked up on this and increased his fastball usage, throwing his third-highest percentage of fastballs in any start (62.5 percent). It was a great job of adjusting and hitting his spots with the fastball as the Red Sox went 2-for-14 against it.”
2016 regular season:
Kluber: 227 K in 215.0 IP with a 1.06 WHIP.
Bumgarner: 251 K in 226.2 IP with a 1.02 WHIP.
I believe Bumgarner would have adjusted to a different Mets approach like Kluber did against the Red Sox. On the other hand, Kluber pitched 7 innings. If the Mets were to be shut out either way by Bumgarner, better he leave the game as early as Syndergaard and Kluber did.
WC game loss means no sequel?
To crystallize my thoughts on booing Familia…I am far from averse to booing. However, booing Familia in that spot is too harsh IMO. He was great most of the year and very tough down the stretch. Boo guys for not hustling…for making a bonehead play…for weeks of poor at bats…but not for one isolated mistake.
Great point about the booing Steve. Sometimes players don’t come through…….doesn’t mean they weren’t trying. Mentally not being in the game, not hustling, bad attitude……then I say boo away.
The Giants have still yet to use a relief pitcher in their first two postseason games. Queto’s one mistake was a quick-pitch down the middle, flashes of Familia… I hope the Cubs finally do it this year.
It was super frustrating to lose such an otherwise well-pitched game on such an awful performance from our All-Star closer. After all the injuries, it was one of the few healthy stalwarts who blew it. Sucks.
Also frustrating that 2015 WS Cespedes showed up. Although Bumgarner and Posey did execute an effective game plan against him. Mixing elevated fastballs and breaking stuff in the dirt. He was over-swinging.
“…He was over-swinging.”
Like he ALWAYS does. For those who think giving this 31 year-old guy a 9 figure, long-term deal is a good idea, just think of what he’s gonna look like in a couple of years (or sooner) when his hitting skill begins to erode. We’ll have a .240 hitter who may hit 15-20 HRs and drive in 70 runs. Oh, and we’ll also have a lackadaisical fielder who NEVER hustles on defense and ALWAYS trots around the bases.
Letting Cespedes go would be easier if Conforto had settled into a full-time role like we hoped and expected.
I agree, in part–that part depending on what his salary demand would actually be. When he got him, the big deal was that he was not, at that time, a super slugger–see his career stats to that point–but super fast on bases and super range in OF. This year, like Lagares last year, he looked a little fat from day one, then had leg injury all year. So he turned into mainly a slugger–a good one–but with little speed and range. Based on this year’s HR totals, that’s not so special. So question is: do Mets think he will be injury prone, and/or inclined to weight gain, in future?
The injury-prone issue is my biggest concern. When Cespedes is 100% he’s a special player. When he’s less than 100% the drop-off can be quite steep.
The Dodgers win over the Nationals in their DS game 1 makes for an interesting comparison to the WC game.
On one side, the Dodgers successfully jumped on Scherzer early with the same hitting approach the Mets tried and failed against Bumgarner, ie, count on their ace to pitch in the zone and swing early.
On the other side, as we wish the Mets had done in hindsight, Kershaw’s pitch count was worked up (plus he gave up runs) and he got knocked out of the game early.
Difference is they hit the mistakes and we, as we have done so consistently for the past two years, didn’t.
Justin Turner playing well for the Dodgers across from Daniel Murphy for the Nationals doesn’t help ease the WC game.
Bottom line is that any major league baseball team can beat any other major league baseball team in any single game. And the looking at the forest rather than the trees is what makes baseball more enjoyable to me than football. Obsessing over a single stand alone game is contrary to everything that baseball is all about. I understand why they do it – if you’re a wild card team, you ought to face an extra hurdle that the guys who came through the front door don’t have to face. I accept that. But by the same token, we can’t over analyze what happened in that one game. It could so easily have gone the other way, even with both teams playing the same game and the same strategy. Enough. Time to tip our hats and move on.
Greg and Jason, not much I can add to everyone else’s accolades. Thanks for bestowing your literary gifts on our humble Metropolitans. You make the wins even sweeter, and the losses easier to bear. Thank you.
For now, I’m rooting for the Cubs to go all the way. Then they will have to stop talking about 1908 and billy goats once and for all. We’ll get ’em next year.
Mr. Prince:
This was a most eloquent summation of both this past year and our “one and done” Wild Card game. I had purchased your book Amazin’Again several months ago and felt that I relived the whole of last season while I was reading it. This post actually did the same thing for 2016 in just a few paragraphs. The only other person I thought ever came close to expressing my emotions as a Mets fan was Steve Somers of WFAN, and while I continue to enjoy his work, it is good to know there is another person out there to whom I can turn for perspective and understanding when it comes to the team I love.Thank you very much for this blog, and please keep writing.
Dr. Lou Verardo
I always felt there was far too much acceptance of our wild card defeat here on the basis of “superhuman-Bumgarner-is-just-too-great-in-the-postseaaon.” True, he has a great track record. On the other hand, he had pitched mediocre and appeared weary the last month of season. When I slammed Mets batters failing to take a pitch or two now and then to raise pitch count in first three innings, people said, impossible! He alway is too sharp!
So last night he gets smoked by Cubs (should have given up even more runs), and is out of there after 5 innings. And even before they scored any runs–they were working the pitch count. If he hadn’t given up the dinger to Arrieta (the pitcher who hit better than any Mets player) he still would have been out of there after 5 or 6 innings.
Yes, I recognize the Cubs hitters are better than the Mets. And yes, pitchers have good and bad nights. But Bumgarner was pitching at home vs. the discomfort of CitiField. And obviously the notion of Bumgarner as unbeatable was always wrong. The flailings of Reyes and Cespedes and some others stand out more. Yes, just one game and in that sense should not make too much of it. But still: we could have done better.
Long time reader, first time posting. We can sit here and say what we could’ve done and should’ve done. But the Bumgarner we faced last week compared to the one the Cubs just faced was not the same guy. He was def having a off night. The Mets could’ve worked the count and all that last week, chances are the results would’ve been the same. I’m proud of how far the Mets made it especially with the all the injuries and obstacles. 2017 is ours.
I re-watched the WC game. While I can’t say they were hitter’s pitches, the Mets were swinging at strikes from Bumgarner. They just kept popping up the balls.
Greg – say you’re right. And you probably are – Bumgarner ran a ridiculously low pitch count, got into the ninth barely breaking a sweat. Still, looking back at the season, the takeaway will be: practically 3/4 of the regulars were injured for much of the season, and the Mets still managed to crash the postseason party with a bunch of retreads and raw recruits. What happened the last game, now, is almost beside the point. Hopefully in 2017 the Mets get their regulars back, healed and well rested, and they can work on running opposing pitch counts during spring training. Me, I am more than satisfied with this season’s overall narrative. As another NY team used to say: just wait til next year.
All great points. I read there were 17 players on the DL this season (some obviously lost for the year), and they won only 3 games less than 2015 and still made the playoffs.
And if we’re still going to analyze the game, I’ll say this: It’s 0-0 in the ninth. If Familia does what he did all year, we’re in extra innings, Bumgarner’s out of the game (nobody pitches ten innings anymore, low pitch count notwithstanding), and then it’s our bullpen against theirs, and I like our chances. Or say we scratch out a run or two against Bum, then Familia comes in and gives up the 3 run bomb and we’re just as cooked. It wasn’t meant to be. Yes, the Mets have a lot of things to work out during spring training next year. I’m just thinking about the good stuff now.
I was rooting so hard for Murph to jack a walkoff last night. Nats were gonna be my team the rest of the way because of him (and Harper – I like the cut of his jib, rivalry notwithstanding). And because of the loathsome Chase Utley.
Now what? Not rooting for the Cubs because I’m already sick of the narrative. Toronto if R.A. was in the rotation but I don’t think he is anymore.
I’m pulling for the Indians……always liked Francona.
Still think managerial decisions don’t make a difference?
Case closed.
Who said they don’t?
Great piece. Thanks.
Everybody on here who idolizes TC. That’s who.