Word to the National League: stop hitting the Mets. It’s not helping your cause. You’re getting them angry. And you’re getting yourselves beat.
The Mets have taken pitches to the body more than any other NL team. The Mets have also piled up more wins than any other NL team. Perhaps there’s a connection. If you’re trying to impede the Mets’ winning ways by hitting them before they can achieve another victory, it’s not working.
Even if this is all one big non-conspiratorial coincidence, you’re only making the Mets more determined to do damage to you.
On Tuesday night in St. Louis, Cardinal pitchers let three get away, including one toward the face of Pete Alonso, fortunately deflected by his helmet’s C-Flap, and one into the ribs of Starling Marte. Marte’s came with the bases loaded, automatically driving in a run. Obviously not intentional, we assume.
Both times, the Met batter in question took exception, as did the Met manager and those populating the Met dugout. The Mets are fuming at being dinged. They occasionally emerge onto the field to make their feelings known. They express themselves best on the scoreboard.
The Cardinals riled the Mets twice? The Mets defeated the Cardinals a second night in a row, 3-0. Chris Bassitt shut out the Redbirds for six innings, three relievers took care of the rest of business. Two runs were driven in by conventional methods of bat hitting ball, not ball hitting body. Throwing near if not necessarily at Mets isn’t working for the opposition. The Mets might be stopped by better pitching, better hitting, better deployment of traditional tools. They’re not being stopped by HBPs. A little bruised, not at all battered. Competitively, they’re splendid. Physically, they’re fine. But baseballs thrown at high speeds are not benign projectiles.
Somebody needs to determine if there’s something about the balls used when the Mets are hitting that lets them go so askew. Meanwhile, get a grip, pitchers in other uniforms. Figure out why your throws are so errant. Work with your catchers on direction. We don’t mind your putting Mets on base. We have a problem with how you’ve done it a few too many instances. As do the Mets, apparently.
Nineteen games in, the Mets are 14-5. No, hitting them isn’t working. Try something else if you dare.
Quote:
“If the Mets go 7-3 fifteen more times (105-45) and they’ll be 112-48 with two games to go — and I probably won’t sweat the final two games too much.”
Well, they promptly went 7-2, so I’d say they’re on track. Fourteen rounds left to go! :-)
I am really enjoying what Chris Bassitt is bringing to the team and enjoyed how plainspoken he was last night about the ball. That said, I think they have veered in the right direction overall on the balance of offense/defense and some course correction is all that may be needed.
In any event, this is as solid as this team as looked since 2006-2008, though the run they went on in 2015 was pretty damn compelling.
At this point, shouldn’t MLB put into place a “If You Hit A Batter Above The Shoulders, You Get Immediately Ejected, Regardless of Intent or Non-Intent” policy? It’s getting ridiculous. The team being hit should get more out of it than a free base.
What was the point of issuing warnings last night, when they weren’t acted upon??
SNY’s super-sub color man Todd Zeile made the important point last night that, when a player gets hit, it hurts, and there is an instinctual, emotional reaction to get mad. It’s not rational; no one believes an HBP with the bases loaded is intentional.
I’m not really sure why other people (including the hit batsman’s teammates) get so mad, though. Second-hand emotion, maybe.
Personally, as a fan, I love it when a Met gets plunked (as long as it’s not a Kevin Pillar-type horror show), because it means he didn’t make an out.
Of course you love it; Surly only looks out for one guy…Surly!
Jeff McNeill is playing like a star because he knows that Buck loves this type of player, and he knows that he is appreciated. The last guy was just a robot with no emotion, who could not get the team to play better than they were capable of (dangling participle nothwithstanding).
Gotta love Bassitt, Marte, and even Jankowski. Oh, and of course, Cahna. These guys are bulldogs who know what they are doing.
Just like Buck does (oops, did it again).
Well, it didn’t work tonight. Having said that it’s pretty weird. It’s not like these are the ’86 Mets that the whole league loved to hate. Heck, half this team weren’t even Mets until like five minutes ago.
Oh, and by the way, yet another reason that I hate the DH. One of the best deterrants for headhunting pitchers was the knowledge that they would eventually be hitting also.
Come to think of it, they’re making so many new rules in baseball, maybe they should do this too: any time a pitcher hits an opposing batter, he should be forced to hit for himself the next time his team is up at bat. That accomplishes two things: it punishes the team, which is forced to double-switch out one of their regulars and have a pitcher batting, and it makes the pitcher face the consequences of his actions. It’ll never happen, of course, but I like it.
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