Sad Mets Fan

OK, the Royals won.  Great.  Good for them.

I'm a Mets fan, but I actually mean that sincerely.  If they hadn't just made me hate them with the white hot intensity of 1,000 kidney stones, I'd really love them.  They just play the right way.  I don't know if I've ever watched a team that the word "relentless" was a better fit for.  Props to them.

But I do need to vent off a little of my feelings about my Mets. 


First of all, good job getting me to watch baseball again for the first time in four or five years.  I didn't even know they were good until a game against (I think?) the Giants showed up on ESPN sometime in September.  And they put the standings on the screen and they made me go "Really?  Son of a bitch." 

So I got into it.  And I remembered just what it is about well-played postseason baseball that makes it so compelling.  And it certainly was that.

Which is why I felt like my guts got ripped out in game 5.

So let me give my take on the way it went down.  First, I'm going to defend my fearless leader Terry Collins a bit here.  For you non-baseballers out there, his ace, Matt Harvey had been dominating all night.  He made it through the eighth inning allowing no runs, and only four hits.  He had issued only one walk, and struck out nine.

The decision had been made to go to closer Jeurys Familia in the ninth rather than staying with a tiring Harvey.  Harvey, however, wasn't having it.  He lobbied with the pitching coach AND with manager Collins to stay in the game.  Collins ultimately relented, allowing his ace to start the ninth.

The Mets had a 2-0 lead at the time.  Familia, for what it's worth, had already blown two saves in the Series.  That may have contributed to Collins' mind-changing.

Either way, the Royals would have needed a terrific rally to come back to win.  Otherwise, it's back to KC for a game 6.  Ultimately, I'm OK with the decision to stay with the guy who's been throwing gas all night. 

Lorenzo Cain worked a lead-off walk.  Uh oh.

At that point, Collins should have yanked his starter and gone with his closer.  Give your closer a little wiggle room to work with, now that it's clear your starter has lost command.  In fact, he should have been on his way to the mound before the umpire finished the "R" sound at the end of "Ball Four."  Instead, he left Harvey in.  Who promptly gave up an RBI double to Eric Hosmer, cutting the advantage to 2-1 with no one out.

At that point, the switch was made.  In comes Familia.  Who retired the first batter he faced.  With one out and the winning run now on third, Salvador Perez grounded out to Mets 3B David Wright, who made the play.  Two out.  No problem, right?  Except that while Wright was throwing to 1st, Hosmer was taking off for home plate.  After recording out #2, Mets 1B Lucas Duda fired to home plate.  Or somewhere in the general vicinity of home plate -- if by, "general vicinity," you mean nowhere close.  Hosmer scored, the game was tied, and the Mets were put out of their misery in extra innings.

It should be noted that Familia didn't allow a baserunner in the inning.  Every batter he faced was retired.  It should also be noted that a good throw from Duda would have ended the game.  Not even a great throw -- just a good one.  So even with the tactical error of leaving Harvey in for one (or arguable two) batters too long, the Mets still should have handled their business. 

It should also be noted that the Mets loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6th with no one out, and went 0-for-3, only scratching out one run on a sacrifice fly.  One base hit would have made the whole ninth-inning disaster moot.

I don't even know what point I'm trying to make here.  I guess I'm saying that Collins isn't as much to blame as people want to say -- there's blame enough to go around.  Harvey, while fatiguing, had had great stuff all night.  And barring an all-hands-on-deck situation in a game 7, there was nothing left to save him for.  Familia, on the other hand, may or may NOT have his best stuff on any given night.  There's no way to know until he's on the mound.  So I understand the decision to go with the guy who's blowing people away on the night over the guy who hasn't pitched yet.  But once the lead-off walk happened, anyone not on the ShortBus should have been able to figure out "yeah, he really IS that tired."

Anyway, thanks for making me interested in baseball again, guys.  It's been real. And to the Cubs fans who I can now empathize with a little more now... yeah, suck it. We still kicked your asses.