Game 135: METS @ CARDINALS — Look Out, St Louis! The Mets Are Coming and They’re on a Legitimate Roll!

By Blazing Fastball

Ten days ago, the Mets had plunged to a season-low 12 games under .500 and were spiraling out of control. Terry Collins was forced to confront ugly whispers from all corners of the Metsiverse (media and fans alike) that his Mets had quit on him and were heading for a miserable last place finish. Collins was visibly incensed by those insinuations and insisted that his team would not lie down in September.

Well, don’t look now Mets fans, but the same team that was being humiliated on a daily basis by the likes of the Rockies and Astros Triple-A rosters just rattled off 7 of 8, including 5 of 6 against their NL East rival Philthies and Marlins, to creep back to within six games of .500 and reclaim a share of third place.

Today’s Labor Day matinee features returning hero, Collin McHugh (0-0, 0.00) vs. righty Joe Kelly (4-6, 3.61).

For Mets fans who just couldn’t bear to watch anymore and missed McHugh’s dazzling major league debut on August 23, that all-zero stat line probably looks odd. Here’s the unabridged version — 7 innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts, 0.00ERA, and a no decision. According to Elias, that was only the fifth time since 1900 a major leaguer threw seven or more scoreless, allowed two or fewer hits and struck out at least nine in his debut.

Here’s the full lineup looking to make McHugh a first-time big league winner today:

Ruben Tejada, SS
Daniel Murphy, 2B
David Wright, 3B
Ike Davis, 1B
Lucas Duda, LF
Mike Baxter, RF
Shoppach, C
Andres Torres, CF
McHugh, P

Amazin’ly, Jason Bay is NOT out there today against the righty, even after yesterday’s shocking (can you think of a better word?) first inning, ultimately game-winning, grand slam and team-first play in left field. Maybe Mets management is finally coming around.

Another positive sign comes from Adam Rubin at ESPN, who notes, “Kelly Shoppach starts against the right-handed Kelly. With the Mets facing left-hander Jaime Garcia on Tuesday and Shoppach again likely to start, it’s clear he is the primary catcher at this point.” Josh Thole now joins Mike Nickeas on the bench (where he belongs). Relieved squeals of delight are heard from deep within the MetCave psych ward.

Tomorrow night at 8:15pm, surging Matt Harvey (3-3, 2.76) hopes to push his W-L record back into positive territory against lefty Jaime Garcia (3-6, 4.52).

The marquee matchup of the series will be Wednesday afternoon’s slightly earlier getaway-day matinee (1:45pm ET), when R.A. Dickey (17-4, 2.63) tries to become MLB’s first 18-game winner over Cards ace Adam Wainwright (13-11, 3.90).

Jenrry Mejia has yet to be recalled from Buffalo, but is expected to slide into the rotation in September for a couple of starts down the stretch, most likely taking Harvey’s spot when he gets shut down after reaching his innings limit (probably three more outings).

ESPN also confirms that Wally Backman will join Collins on the Mets bench on Sunday in Atlanta.

By the way, after a raging hot start and an MVP-caliber first half, our old pal Carlos Beltran has taken a sharp downturn. Since July 2, he’s batting only .206/8HR/25RBI (199AB). Yesterday, he suffered a knee injury and tried to play through it, but eventually came out; his status for the Mets series is day-to-day.

Game time: 2:15pm ET
Let’s Go Mets!

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29 thoughts on “Game 135: METS @ CARDINALS — Look Out, St Louis! The Mets Are Coming and They’re on a Legitimate Roll!”

  1. McHero is laboring on Labor Day.
    Nah, not so much. But the Mets are losing, early though it may be.

    When Shoppach came to bat for the first time, Ronnie said there has been a big change in how Mets are pitching since he arrived, citing examples such as more inside, Francisco throwing way more splitters than he has all season …
    Ronnie took great pains to emphasize that he was only talking about Shoppach (and, implied, not making a statement about Thole’s game-calling).
    But the conversation, started by Gary Cohen, essentially came down to the two of them wondering what kind of future Thole really has, whether Shoppach signs on or not during the offseason.
    Not a game that Thole is going to want to go back and watch on his DVR.

  3. Oh, and a Salt of the Earth (Stones song) reference.
    Nice.
    Maybe Goats Head Soup will soon make its MetCave debut. … Well, I suppose it just did.

    • And a fine debut it was.

      I was hanging a ceiling fan when Ronnie went all rock n roll, so I’ll need my DVR to figure out the baseball connnection,
      but, personally, I’da been perfectly OK with some London Calling or Big Audio Dynamite between innings.

  4. I don’t know what we’ll get out of our boy McHero today. Seems a lot to expect anything approaching what he did in his debut last month.
    But whatever he gives us, the Mets ought to be able to do some damage against this Kelly kid.

  8. Hey, MBGirl.. Hope you’re not laboring on this Labor Day.
    Unfortunately, as you know, our No. 36 is laboring.
    We have plenty of time, but let’s at least start chipping away at this deficit next inning.

    • No labor here. I’ve got one eye on the blue Pacific and the other on the game.

      And, forget about that “plenty of time” stuff … there’s no time like the PRESENT.

      • Good for you. Sounds nice. Not much of a beach day for this ocean way over here.
        And I am all for the Mets scoring immediately! And often!

  9. When I suggested it was time for the Mets to start “chipping away at this deficit,” I must admit I had more in mind than a 10-pitch inning. I suppose I really wasn’t specific, but I assumed the Mets would know what I meant.

  15. The Mets bring Bobby Suck into a 4-2 game and Bobby Suck promptly engineers a tag on run for the Redbirds. Their 5-2 lead, courtesy of Bobby Suck, ultimately turns into a 5-4 final. Murphy’s 2 run homer in the 8th goes for naught. Mets screwed again by the Screws in blue in the 9th, when the rookie 1st base Screw caves in to Redbird whining about an earlier call on Holiday at first and rules that Andres Torres’ lead off double in the ninth is an out for not touching the bag. Replays seem to show that Andres’ heel touched the corner of the bag. Instead of a man on 2nd with no outs and the Redbird closer wheezing on the mound, the threat is erased and the Cards win. TC musters some 46 mph grief AFTER the game, letting the SCREWS know they can shaft us whenever they wish, we’ll just bend over and grab our ankles. Way to put up a fight, TC. For a guy who says he is sick of the SCREWS screwing us, you certainly don’t make them think twice about sticking it to us.

    Josh T-hole’s battery mate on the All Sucking Vortex of Losing Team is (drumroll please)…..none other than Bobby Suck, a man who can choke on jello. Trapper, whatever makes you think this gutless, vapid empty shirt can be a closer? I’m sure I am as wrong on this as Neville Chamberlain was on Hitler’s peaceful intentions.

    While were on the subject of the Mets not quitting – notice how the team’s play turned around after TC had his team meeting with the boys reiterating what he considers acceptable play. There were some on here who derided my repeated calls for TC to awake from his coma and to let the inmates know that management was watching, but fortunately, TC responded to salvage what will be a disappointing season from a disaster. 15 games earlier, we might have still been playing meaningful games. But, who am I to quibble with the Captain of the Titanic on such a successful second voyage. Well done,TC……..TC? …….TC?….. ZZZZZZZ……TC!!!!!

    BTW, Shoppach’s 3rd homer as a Met today shows the folly of him playing the majority of games instead of TC’s beloved Josh T-hole. Not only are we getting offensive production out of the catchers spot but the bullpen had been virtually spotless since he came aboard (with the exception of Ramirez’s 1 run and Bobby Suck’s game losing run today). No let’s stay with T-hole for most of the games to perpetuate the sucking vortex of losing, right TC? No sense teaching the new kids that winning baseball leads to more winning baseball, just as the converse is true. We must be showcasing Josh for an MLB team looking for a bullpen catcher.

  16. I’ve been too busy in the salt mines to comment on the ninth-inning play, but I ask you this:
    Did Andres Torres miss the bag or his calling?

    I’ll be here all week. Please don’t forget your wait staff.

    • Replays from angles better than what the 1st base had appear to show that Torres’ heel hit the bag, although it can’t be stated with 100% certainty. To rule him out based on a call from a bad angle (without checking with the HP umpire) with the game on this line shows this guys inexperience. He is a rookie. For those that watched the game, he was taking heat from the Cards on an out call he made on Holliday at first which appears to be wrong. I guess he used this opportunity to make it up to the Cards. The difference was that the Holliday play happened in the absence of a scoring situation – no one was on base – and the game wasn’t on the line, as in the case of Torres.
      Would this call have been made if the manager was Bobby Cox or Ozzie? I doubt it. This is where the manager can actually win his club a couple of games. Managers who are in the face of the umps on a constant basis like Cox and Ozzie have more calls go in their favor than against because the umpires dread dealing with their tirades. TC needs to learn that. If you are a good guy manager, the umps will screw you constantly. It’s like being a good prostitute – the better you are, the more you get screwed!

    • I couldn’t begin to say whether he hit the bag or not based on that angle, Pass.
      I hope he did hit it and it’s just a bad call (as bad as that would be).
      It’s even worse if a veteran didn’t touch the bag in that situation.
      Whether he did or not, it’s a lousy ninth inning that could have been a whole lot more than that.
      A real shame whether the umps blew the call or Torres missed the bag.

      • Franchise,
        That replay had a better angle than the ump had who was directly ACROSS from the play and shielded by the bag. YET, he could see sand under Torres’ heel? Why have an X-ray when you can bring this guy into the room. “I see tumors”!

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