On May 21, 1981 the Mets had an off day. A player’s strike was looming, and the Mets were on their way to a 41 – 62 record in the last season of Manager Joe Torre‘s regime in Queens.  But future Mets were active that day in what is now widely known as the greatest college game ever played.

To set the scene, the game was played at Yale Field in Connecticut. Built in 1927, before the Great Depression, Yale Field did not have a club house, so the opposing team, St. John’s had to come dressed on the team bus. The game was an NCAA Northeast Tournament game, the equivalent of the college playoffs. St. John’s came into the game with a 31-2 record, and led the Northeast in runs scored. On the mound for St. John’s was junior Frank Viola, who was 25-2 in his 3-year career and had led St. Johns to the 1980 College World Series.

Playing David against St. John’s Goliath that day was a right-handed college senior Ron Darling, who had come to Yale intending to play football for legendary coach Carm Cozza, but wound up playing only baseball.  Ron Darling made his decision look correct that day as he no-hit the Redmen for the first nine innings that day.

The game went to extra innings, although Yale was able to get some Elis on the basepaths with seven hits and four walks against Frank Viola, none came around to score. Viola struck out eight during his 11 innings of work. Darling no-hit St. Johns for an additional two innings, and struck out 16 Redmen during the game.

So after 11 full innings, both pitchers have shutouts going, and Darling has a no-hitter in place. Darling is used to pitching complete games, as he has 27 complete games in 27 starts for Yale during his college career coming into this game. This would be complete game 28.

In the 12th inning, St. John’s Steve Scafa had a bloop single with his aluminum bat to left field and subsequently stole both second and third.

Later in the inning with one out and runners at the corners, St John’s tried a double steal. Darling was supposed to intercept the throw from catcher Paterno, but he slipped as he broke off a slider and the ball went through to second baseman Israel Rosales. There was a brief rundown, and when first baseman Brien O’Connor threw home, Scafa slid under the tag and scored.

In the bottom of the inning, in what would become a great trivia question, it was Eric Stampfl who closed out Yale in the 12th to give St. Johns the 1-0 victory.  The Yale Bulldogs were eliminated the next day from the College playoffs by Central Michigan.

Snippets are available on YouTube.

Yale’s team that day featured two future NFL players, Joe Dufek and Rich Diana, and a future NHL player, Bobby Brooke. St. John’s had not only Viola, but future major league pitcher John Franco.

Darling was drafted in the first round (9th selection) of the 1981 draft by the Rangers about three weeks after this game was played, and was traded to the Mets in April of 1982 along with Walt Terrell in exchange for Lee Mazzilli.

Frank Viola was a second round draft choice by the Twins in the 1981 draft, and was traded to the Mets at the deadline in July of 1989 for Rick Aguilera, Tim Drummond, Kevin Tapani, David West and a PTBNL.  John Franco was also drafted in the 1981 draft, in the fifth round by the Dodgers. In 1989 Franco was traded by the Reds with minor leaguer Don Brown to the Mets for Kip Gross and Randy Myers.

Who was the most accomplished MLB pitcher present that day? While Viola (176 MLB wins, 1988 AL Cy Young Award winner, 3.31 ERA with the Mets), John Franco (2.89 ERA and 424 saves, including 276 saves with Mets) and Darling (136 MLB wins including 99 with the Mets and a victory in the 1986 World Series) were all present that day, the answer may be Smokey Joe Wood.

Joe Wood, was a former Yale coach and Red Sox star whose 1912 duel with Walter Johnson made baseball history, can be seen at the nine second mark in the clip above. Smoky Joe Wood‘s career record was 117-57 with a 2.03 ERA. Wood came to Yale ballpark that day with Hall of Fame writer Roger Angell.  The game, as seen through their eyes, lives on in the pages of “The Summer Game.”

LGM

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Good morning Mets fans! The New York Mets (10-8) received a day off on Thursday after concluding a seven-game road trip within the NL East. They are back in action on Friday as they finish their road trip by opening a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals (10-8) at Busch Stadium. 

Latest Mets News

Jason Vargas (1-0, 14.21 ERA) will get the nod in the first game of the series despite the fact that he has given up 10 runs in 6 1/3 innings to start the season. He will be opposed by Adam Wainwright (1-1, 3.94 ERA). The game can be viewed on SNY and heard on WCBS 880, with first pitch scheduled for 8:15 p.m. EDT.

When asked whether he would like to participate in the Home Run Derby, Pete Alonso indeed expressed his interest in doing so, per Tim Healey of Newsday.

Tim Britton of The Athletic promoted his account, @1969NYMets, which follows the 1969 Mets’ season in real time.

Mike Puma of the New York Post wrote a piece about Robinson Cano who is confident that he will turn things around as he feels that despite having hit the ball hard, the hits are simply not falling in at the moment. Once they do, Cano said “it’s going to be a bunch, like raining.”

Mike Lupica of MLB.com wrote a piece on Jeff McNeil, who he considers “a throwback contact hitter out of the past.”

Latest MLB News

Latest NL East News

On Thursday the Philadelphia Phillies (11-7) fell to the Colorado Rockies 6-2, the Washington Nationals (9-8) beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 and the Atlanta Braves (9-9) fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1. The Miami Marlins (4-15) had the day off.

Patrick Corbin pitched a gem for the Nationals on Thursday as he went 7 2/3 innings, struck out nine and allowed two hits, one walk and one run. Corbin brought a one-hit shutout into the eighth inning before giving up an RBI double to Erik Kratz.

Kris Willis of Talking Chop shared the results of their Week 4 SB Nation FanPulse survey which said that 79% of fans approve of manager Brian Snitker‘s performance in 2019. However, the voting was completed before the Braves got swept by the Diamondbacks.

Latest on MMO/MMN

Michael Mayer reviewed the Mets’ upper level bullpen arms and how they have fared thus far in 2019.

Mayer also analyzed Michael Conforto‘s strong start to the season.

Similarly, Matt Musico analyzed McNeil’s torrid start to the season.

John Sheridan continued his “3 Up, 3 Down” series by reflecting upon the Mets’ recent divisional road series.

Sheridan also made the case that Edwin Diaz should be pitching in highest leverage situations rather than always just the final three outs during a save opportunity.

Bob Colling recapped the Syracuse Mets’ recent tough road trip.

This Day in Mets History

1998: The Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 14-0 which equaled their largest margin of victory in a shutout.

2005: David Wright‘s seventh inning grand slam against the Phillies set a franchise record for home runs hit as a team in a single game, as they combined for seven in their 16-4 victory.

2013: Matt Harvey became the first pitcher in modern baseball history to win his first four games of the year while also holding his opponents to less than 10 hits total.

Birthdays: Ambiorix Burgos turns 35, Brent Mayne turns 51 and Frank Viola turns 59.

The post Morning Briefing: Mets Open Up Three-Game Set In St. Louis appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Photo Credit: John Gurzinski

For the last seven years, the New York Mets have had many of their young, talented arms under the tutelage of a former Cy Young Award winner and World Series MVP throughout their minor league system.

As many of the rising arms took shape, this two-time, twenty-game winner helped aid in critiquing, defining and preparing their physical and mental makeup for the major leagues.

Frank “Sweet Music” Viola has seen the accession and rise of such talented arms as Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo and Noah Syndergaard.

Beginning his Mets coaching career in Brooklyn with the Cyclones in 2011, Viola made a quick rise through the system. He spent two seasons (2012-13) with the Single-A Savannah Sand Gnats before being named the Triple-A Las Vegas pitching coach in 2014, a position he’s held ever since.

Even with the formidable array of talent that worked with Viola, you won’t find the 57-year-old former lefty ace taking credit for their success. With Viola’s humble nature and calming influence, he’s quick to remind of all the terrific coaching that goes on throughout these prospects’ minor league paths; though, it’s hard to deny the impact his message and teachings have had on these young arms over the years.

Best known as a stalwart of the Minnesota Twins starting rotation, Viola spent eight years with the club, including the 1987 championship season, helping to guide the club to its first World Series title in Minnesota (won in 1924 as the Washington Senators).

Viola made three starts in the ’87 World Series, including the deciding Game 7, where Viola went eight innings of two-run ball, on his way to earning World Series MVP.

Viola was dealt to the Mets prior to the 1989 deadline in a five-for-one package, with the team hoping to add the then-29-year-old to its staff after losing Dwight Gooden for most of the summer months due to a partially torn muscle in his right shoulder.

Viola, the Long Island-native and Mets fan, was back at home in Queens, where he last pitched at the collegiate level for St. John’s University from 1979-81.

His time in New York might be considered bittersweet, filled with several personal accomplishments such as winning 20 games for the second time in his career in ’90 (18th player to record 20-win seasons in both leagues), finishing third in the N.L. Cy Young voting that year, and being named on back-to-back All-Star teams from 1990-91.

Unfortunately, after back-to-back second-place finishes for the Mets in 1989-90, the team started to falter. They were 12 games above .500 at the break in ’91, however, finished a paltry 31-50 in the second half of the season, finishing fifth in the National League East and 20.5 games back of the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates.

Viola signed a free-agent deal with Boston in ’92, pitching parts of three seasons with the Red Sox before having Tommy John surgery in 1994. After making 15 starts from 1994-96, Viola retired, leaving with a lifetime record of 176-150 with a 3.73 ERA over 2,800-plus innings of work.

I had the privilege of speaking with Viola early last week, where we spoke on his successful playing career, time with the Mets in the early nineties and his past seven years as pitching coach in the Mets organization.

MMO: Who were some of your favorite players growing up?

Frank: Growing up on Long Island, it’s funny, my dad was a New York Giants fan. When the Giants moved out to San Francisco, the Mets came into existence, so we became Met fans. His favorites were Mel Ott and Willie Mays.

When the Giants went to San Francisco and the Mets came in, he had to find someone with the Mets, so Tom Seaver came along. When I grew up and started watching the game when I was six-years-old on up, it was Tom Seaver and the Mets.

I wasn’t really a pitcher; I liked hitting. So I guess my first favorite player with the Mets was Cleon Jones.

MMO: When did you start pitching?

Frank: I didn’t start pitching until my junior year in high school. I was a first baseman growing up. I loved playing; I didn’t like to sit at all. Pitching looked like fun, but it just wasn’t something that I wanted to do.

Then, junior year in high school, one of our pitchers got hurt. My coach said, “You’re left-handed, you’re a good athlete. Why don’t you get out there and try it?”

And the rest is history. He must’ve seen something in me.

MMO: I’d be remiss not to mention what’s considered the greatest college baseball game ever played between St. John’s and Yale back in 1981. You against Ron Darling. What are some of your memories from that day?

Frank: I’m 57-years-old now. I’ve been involved with baseball for forty-eight years, and I can honestly say, still to this day, it was the best-pitched game I have ever witnessed. And it wasn’t me; it was Ronnie [Darling].

When you sit there and watch a baseball game, you take it all in. People love high-scoring games; some people like 1-0 pitchers’ duels. We just sat there as a team, as a collective group of thirty guys, watching this guy put on just an amazing show.

The thing was, we were intrigued; we were enthralled, but we also knew that we were playing. We kept our heads in the game. Every inning I walked off it seemed like we were losing, but you looked up at the scoreboard [and] it still said 0-0.

It was just amazing, and I’ve seen some great individual games at the professional level. I was there when David Cone struck out 19 Phillies back in 1991. Just to see the total domination of a lineup that, in college baseball, was pretty special in our St. John’s lineup. To see what he did to us is just something that I was glad to be part of.

I’m glad that people won’t soon forget about it, and we’re talking thirty plus years now.

MMO: When and how did you earn your nickname “Sweet Music”?

Frank: Chris Berman. My first nickname when I broke into baseball, that’s when Chris was really big into the Bert “Be Home” Blyleven, and all of those. My first nickname that he gave to me was “101 Strings” Viola, you know Viola, viola.

Two old ladies in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, I want to say Minneapolis, called ESPN to talk to Chris. I guess I had pitched one of my rare, really good games, and the headline in the Minneapolis Tribune the following day after the game was, “Viola Plays Sweet Music Again” against somebody. And the ladies said, “My God, ‘Sweet Music’ Viola, what a perfect nickname!”

They called Chris and said, “We’d like to see if you’d be interested to changing his nickname from ‘101 Strings’ to ‘Sweet Music’?” This is before cell phones, mind you. Chris picked up the phone and called me via the Metrodome or wherever I was and goes, “What do you think?” I had the final say, and we decided with “Sweet Music.” That stuck with me ever since.

MMO: From 1984-93, you were tied with Roger Clemens for most wins (163), you had the most game starts (349), innings pitched (2424.2 IP), and were 5^th in fWAR (41.7). Those are some dominating numbers. What do you attribute your success in those years to most?

Frank: First and foremost, in the midst of that, it was the changeup that I found; my newfound changeup. A lot of credit goes to Johnny Podres, who was my pitching coach. Johnny had a history with the Dodgers, and so on and so forth. He actually helped Curt Schilling develop his changeup when he went to the Phillies.

Johnny had a lot to do with that; it really changed my career around and made me the perennial winner that I became for that short period of time. I guess the biggest thing was just I had a great bunch of teammates that made the plays defensively for me; they scored enough runs to make it happen for me.

My family had a lot to do with that. I was situated, I was settled, I was happy. I had a beautiful wife and three great kids, and you put that all together, and success is bound to happen if you work hard enough for it. Fortunately, I was able to do that. I loved doing it, going out to the baseball field every day, and I think that’s why a lot of it played out like it did.

MMO: How would you describe your time with the Mets from 1989-91?

Frank: Fantastic to start and absolutely horrendous to end. And by that, I mean it was great coming back to a team I rooted for as a kid, to be a part of that. I was fortunate as an individual to win 20 games with the Mets, which a lot of kids would just dream about and love to be able to do. The worst part about it was I ended up three and something in the second half of my last year with the club in ‘91. I was absolutely a horror show.

During the two and a half years-three years I was there, we had more talent than anybody in baseball, but we couldn’t win a division. I guess from a personal standpoint it was rewarding early and very frustrating at the end.

It would’ve been nice to be able to continue pitching there, but it was between Doc [Gooden] and myself, and they decided to stay with Doc after the ‘91 season. I also didn’t help myself by pitching as badly as I did at the end of that year because I didn’t have the numbers in front of me.

You talked about WAR and all this other stuff; you have to have numbers behind you, and I just didn’t finish as strong as I would’ve liked, and they made the decision they needed to make.

MMO: You’ve now been with the Mets’ organization for seven years as a pitching coach, as you worked up the ladder to Triple-A Las Vegas. How would you describe your coaching style and pitching philosophy?

Frank: That’s a good question. I guess my coaching philosophy is the same as it was as a player: you want to see these guys get the most out of their ability.

I guess first and foremost you want to make sure the biggest reason that they’re there is to make it to the major leagues. I think the smartest move I ever made getting back into professional baseball as a coach was starting at the lowest level, the New York Penn League, working from Brooklyn on up. Seeing how these kids and what these kids have to go through on a daily basis to get to the big leagues.

A lot of us major leaguers who spent fifteen years in the big leagues take a lot of things for granted. You watch the way baseball has been the last five to ten years; these kids have really got to bust it to have the best opportunity to even have a chance to break into the big leagues. From rookie ball, you have to go to so many different levels and classifications and travels. It is absolutely mind-boggling, and at pretty much no money! It’s mind-boggling to see what they have to go through on a daily basis, the grind they have to go through to succeed. I tip my hat to all of these kids because, as I said, if I didn’t have to go through it myself as a coach and see what they have to go through, I’d probably take a lot of things for granted.

Just as an example: Four years in the Pacific Coast League, you pitch in this Pacific Coast League, and you survive in the Pacific Coast League, you’re going to be successful. Seth Lugo was an example. Last year he got brought up to the big leagues in July of ‘16, and he had a six-plus ERA [with Triple-A]. The funny part was, a six-plus ERA in the Pacific Coast League with everything that it involves with the hitters’ ballparks, the altitude, the travel, to everything else is not as bad as people think if you’re there on an everyday basis. Because if you pound the strike zone, attack the strike zone, and you do what you need to do at the Pacific Coast League level, you’re going to get hit; you’re going to give up runs.

You can’t change the style of pitcher, who you are as a pitcher; otherwise, it’s going to dictate to the big leagues as well. What Seth did in the Pacific Coast League with the six-plus ERA, anybody who watched him pitch there knew that he was going to be successful in New York because he wasn’t afraid to attack the strike zone. He wasn’t afraid to get ahead strike one, he wasn’t afraid to say, “Hey, it’s 3-2; I’m going to throw my best pitch at you right now, hit it as good as you can.”

You get people out at Citi Field, where as in the Pacific Coast League, those balls are hit out of the ballpark. You can’t change the style of pitching. I guess my biggest comment would be, you can’t change the style of pitching from where you’re at. You have to know and pitch to your strengths and stick with that. That’s what’s going to make you successful when you get to the big leagues.

MMO: I was going to ask you about the Pacific Coast League, and the impact it has on developing pitchers. So more or less, you teach your pitcher to keep with their strengths, knowing that even if it’s not successful at that level, not to be deterred because it could/should translate in the majors?

Frank: Absolutely. To follow up on your previous question, too, the biggest thing that I have going for me is that I’ve been at the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. From the high school days to, I mean, I walked away from baseball at the ninth grade. I said, ‘I can’t do this.’

I had just had my first slump. I had never been through something bad, and I walked away. I walked home from school, and my dad tried following me in the car and said, “Get in the car and talk about it.”

I said, ‘Alright.’

[I] cleared my head out, and it took a little bit. But then you realize, Stop feeling sorry for yourself; you’re going to have good days and bad days. You’ve got to keep plugging away.

The biggest thing these kids have to understand is it’s a mental grind. Everybody’s physical tools are there; otherwise, they wouldn’t get to the levels they get to. What makes a great pitcher a great pitcher is that mental part of the game. You asked what my biggest strength is; that’s my biggest strength by far.

I could talk the game with these kids anytime, anywhere, and one thing that I have going for me is that I have that window of opportunity because of what I accomplished as a professional. These kids are going to go home and say, Wait a minute, Frank’s won twenty games, Frank’s a Cy Young Award winner, maybe he does have something that will help me.

I have that few extra minutes that someone else might not have to be able to make my point. The bottom line is if I don’t make my point and make that point to how it’s going to help him, the individual pitcher, not me, then I lose him.

I guess the biggest thing that I have going for me, and, ultimately, if I do get that opportunity as a big-league pitching coach, is I’ve been through everything. We could talk through anything if they’re able to work it out, and I think that’s the biggest strength that I have going for me, and I think that’s what will ultimately help me as far as clicking with these kids from here on forward, as long as I’m coaching.

MMO: Who were the two or three arms that impressed you the most for the 51s this past season?

Frank: This year was a very difficult year, as you know. I mean, thirty games under .500 is frustrating for anybody; you don’t want to lose at any level. But, to answer your question, after the ‘15 season, when we went for it and got to the World Series, we lost a lot of pitching depth. Most of those guys would’ve been at the Double-A or Triple-A level this year; that would’ve made a big, big difference. I think at one time we didn’t have a guy on the 40-man roster on our 13-man pitching staff, at one time during the season!

The most important thing for a coach is to make these kids – and this is a pitching coach, hitting coach, manager, coordinator – as good as they can possibly be. [You want to help them] be able to get up to the big leagues to help the big league club for as long as they can, but [also] just to be able to live out a dream.

To answer your question of the two or three guys that really came through this year that really opened up some eyes in the organization, one was Tyler Pill.

I think that Tyler was never able to break that wall between Double-A and Triple-A. This year, he not only broke through that wall, but he just shattered the wall! He pitched great with us at Triple-A when he got called up. He started at Double-A, got to Triple-A in a hurry, [and] did a great job with us. The Mets needed an arm up there, and he did a great job for the short period of time that they asked for.

Ultimately, he got hurt and had the surgery. But he was the guy, if you were to ask at the beginning of the season, would he have made a difference at the big league level? A lot of people would’ve said, Well, I don’t know. He was the one guy starting wise that really opened up a lot of eyes after everything was said and done.

The three relievers that blossomed this year, [one] was Paul Sewald. We’ve always known how good he was, but when you watch him on an everyday basis, that’s when the kid wins you over. From his work ethic to how he approaches every game to how meticulous he is on the mound; quick worker, strike thrower, does everything you could ask him. If I watched you pitch yesterday, Mathew, and then I don’t come back for three months to watch you again, you’re going to go, he doesn’t impress me; there’s nothing there that impresses me. But when you watch him on an everyday basis, you go, Hey, this kid’s got something; let’s give him an opportunity to see what he can do. He went up there, and he’s had a couple of bad games up there, but he’s a rookie; that’s going to happen.

Chasen Bradford has gotten an opportunity after seven years with this organization. I think everybody was finally in tune with the fact that he’s a sinker-ball pitcher; he will get ground ball after ground ball. He’s not going to be that prototypical 96-mile-per-hour strikeout reliever that baseball looks at today. It took him a while to get his opportunity, but he’s been called up there, and I’ve thought since he’s been up there that he’s done a very credible job.

I guess the one big sleeper for everybody in the organization, maybe not for everybody, but for a lot of them was Kevin McGowan. Kevin was a non-roster invitee in spring training. You looked at him, and his numbers never really spoke anything to you. But then he got to Triple-A and he pitched, and once again, I always throw the word work ethic out there. When I see a kid working hard, trying to do his dry work on the mound, and just trying to make himself better for better’s sake, those are the kids that will always give themselves the best chance possible to succeed.

Kevin worked his butt off this year; he got better as the season went on. August he got called up, and he came up and down a couple of times, but he went up and did a nice, credible job. And that’s what we do; that’s what makes us happy as coaches, giving these kids an opportunity to pitch and put a big-league uniform on and live out a dream.

All four of those kids had an opportunity this year, and they’ve made the most of it. I just hope they continue to get the opportunity going forward.

MMO: You’ve had the chance to coach most of the Mets’ young arms in deGrom, Syndergaard, and Matz. Can you give me a little info on each, and what you saw from them early on?

Frank: It’s not really difficult when you see the talent that they possessed. Some people have just God-given talent; some people have to work their tails off to get to the best of their ability. The three guys you just mentioned, not only did God give them talent and ability, but they gave them, and here I go again with that work ethic. That ‘it’ factor that you just can’t explain, it’s just there. I’ll start with Jacob.

I didn’t have Jacob in the Triple-A level because that’s when I was coming back from my heart surgery, so Tom Signore covered for me there. He really did a terrific job with Jacob at the Triple-A level to get him to the big leagues.

I had Jacob back in Savannah when he first came back off of his Tommy John surgery, and I’ll never forget the conversation with him. He got up there, and he just dominated right from the start. You knew he would; he just needed to be healthy.

He looked at me one day, and he goes, “I’m 23-years-old, Frank, and going nowhere. What should I do? Should I walk away from the game? Should I keep on plugging away?”

He was just questioning himself, his age and everything else.

I looked at him, and I said, ‘Do me a favor. When you get to the big leagues, I ask one thing of you: Leave me a ticket for that first game.’

We had more faith in him than he did at that time, as far as him being a big leaguer. And look what he’s done since! You’ve got to throw age out the window; he just needed to be healthy. He was a shortstop who transitioned to learning how to pitch. It just takes a little time, but look what he’s done since then. He’s a magnificent pitcher and one of the best in the game. Enough said about Jacob.

Steven Matz has always been one of my favorites. He’s a Long Island boy like me. He’s left-handed like me, so we had an attachment right from the beginning.

The biggest thing for Steven, and it’s still to this day, is just the injury woes. If he can stay healthy, being left-handed with the stuff that he possesses, he’s a perennial All-Star in my opinion. That’s the kind of stuff he possesses.

His fastball is devastating, his changeup is outstanding. I’d like to see him stick with one breaking ball. I like to see him throw the breaking ball, the curveball over the cutter, just for the fact that it’s very difficult to throw two tight breaking balls and be successful with both. I think that if he stuck with one pitch and stayed true to that pitch, I think that pitch would have more consistency than what I saw this year. But that’s not here nor there; the kid’s a winner.

The kid’s makeup is off the charts. I think the big thing now is he has to feel and know that he’s healthy, and hopefully with this last surgery, moving that ligament to the other side, he’ll have no problems going forward, and he’s finally going to be the pitcher that everyone expects him to be. If he stays healthy, he’s an All-Star every year.

Noah was probably the most intriguing of all the pitchers you just mentioned because he actually struggled in the minor leagues. And it was funny watching him struggle and seeing his daily emotions as to how to try to work his way out of the struggles.

Everything came pretty easy to him. Everything came pretty easy to all the guys I just mentioned, but you know, it’s how they get through the tough times that really let you see what type of makeup they have, and what kind of future they’re going to have.

Noah’s my favorite one because after I came back from heart surgery in June ’14, Noah was really struggling. He struggled pretty much for the remainder of that year, even when I got there. It was just the fact that he was so gung-ho and so locked into saying, “I have a 98 mph fastball. I’m going to blow it by you any time, and I will be successful with that pitch.”

Once again, I throw the Pacific Coast League at you because the Pacific Coast League has some of the best 4A hitters. You take a young kid who throws 98, they’re not going to be scared of a kid that throws 98 mph fastballs, especially one that didn’t have a lot of movement on it. Granted, Noah’s got one of the best arms in the game, but, at 98 coming at you pretty straight, these guys make adjustments and hit them.

The biggest adjustment for Noah was saying, Dude, you’ve got a changeup, you’ve got a curveball, you got this cutter that Dan Warthen taught you, you’ve got all these pitches that are plus pitches, and you have to understand when you’re behind in the count you have to show those pitches, you have to change things up. Once he understood that and once he went on the mound and started throwing a 2-1 changeup or a first-pitch curveball, all of a sudden now these hitters have these different looks on their faces going, oh my God, he’s starting to figure this out. Watch out! And then he’s taken off from there.

Trust me, this whole conversation, Mathew, I don’t want any of this credit. This is just stuff that we work on as coaches. I mean, you have that from every level up with the coaches he’s had. It’s the kids that take the advice and use it to help them become better.

There are so many coaches in my career that I took and listened to, and as I walked away, I just threw it out the other ear and said, The hell with that! That has nothing to do with me, who I am, what I am.

There’s other vital stuff that you might think is so minute that just the way you say it or how you say it or when you say it just might stick with that kid, and all of a sudden it clicks. Maybe not right then, but a couple of years later. Those are the kids that get it; those are the kids that pick things through. Noah is probably the most thought-worthy person; I mean, he takes everything you say literally. It was finally at the point where I said, ‘Hey, understand what we’re saying, but really take some things that apply to you. You don’t have to listen to everything said and try changing things because of that.’

Once he struggled, and wasn’t called up at the end of the ’14 year, he came back the following year and the four weeks into Triple-A he just killed it. You knew at that point on he got it. He would never forget it, and he was going to go up there and have an unbelievable career. Granted, the injuries will always occur, but I think he’s your bona fide number one, even Jacob. If you can keep those two together, and have a healthy Matz going forward, you have three unbelievable pitchers going forward.

You’re going to have ups and downs, but, I still take those three anytime on my staff and I take my chances.

MMO: With the time you’ve spent in the minors as a pitching coach, is the goal to now make it as one in the majors?

Frank: When I started seven years ago and got back in the game, I wanted to make a difference. I thought at the time the minor leagues, working at the minor league level with the younger kids, would be able to be that fulfillment for me, and it did. I’ve gone along, and I’ve seen the way the game is, where it’s at and how I can help even at the big league level.

Yeah, to answer your question, I’d love to be a big-league coach; [to] bring my expertise and be able to help an organization.

I think that I’ve learned enough at the lower levels, at the lowest of levels on the way up this ladder of Minor League Baseball, which will help me apply anything at a given big league level and make a difference as far as words, thoughts and ideas, and stuff like that.

The big thing is, you have to throw in the analytics and all of that stuff, and it’s been very helpful being down here and seeing TrackMan, how it applies to pitchers, to all of these shifts baseball has been putting on. It’s been very helpful in getting the knowledge because I’m old school. This is all new stuff to me, which is absolutely great to be part of because you can take some of that stuff and really use it to your advantage.

To take all of that and take all my years of being a pitcher and, as I mentioned earlier, the mental part of the game and apply all that, yeah, I’d like to give it a shot and see how it plays out.

Follow Frank Viola on Twitter, @FrankViola16

The post MMO Exclusive: A Chat With Las Vegas 51s’ Pitching Coach, Frank Viola appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Tonight, the Mets are off before heading to Cincinnati to take on the Reds.

Yesterday, the Mets split a double header in Washington. They won game one after roughing up young Nationals prospect Erik Fedde. The Mets led 5-0 before coughing up the lead but in the eighth, Amed Rosario homered to put the Mets up for good. AJ Ramos earned a six-out save and wrapped the game up for New York.

The game had a wild ending as with two outs in the ninth, Daniel Murphy singled and the ball got past Travis Taijeron before Juan Lagares heaved it in to Amed Rosario who got it home to nail pinch-runner Edwin Jackson at the plate.

In game two, Seth Lugo started off well but struggled in the fourth. He only had 70 pitches at his disposal and was pulled in the fourth. The tired Mets bullpen was unable to maintain the rest of the game and despite a late comeback attempt, the Mets lost 5-4.

Latest Mets News

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Matt Harvey will pitch on Friday against the Astros.

Latest NL East News

Byron Kerr of MASN talks about Erik Fedde’s struggles.

Joe Frisaro of MLB.com writes about the exciting slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com write about the future of the Braves infield.

Matt Gelb of Philly.com writes about the growing legend of Rhys Hoskins who has now hit 11 home runs in his first 18 games, a Major League record.

Latest on MMO

Rob Piersall predicts potential call up candidates for the month of September.

This Day in Mets History

1989: For the first time in Major League history two reigning Cy Young Award winners face off in a regular season matchup. Frank Viola‘s Mets beat Orel Hershiser 1-0.

Birthdays: Joel Youngblood turns 66, Mike Torrez turns 71, Billy Cowan turns 79

The post Morning Briefing: Off Day After Twin Bill Split appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Left-handed pitcher Josh Edgin and right-handed pitcher Tyler Pill are seeing doctors in New York per Betsy Helfand of the Review Journal. She says that pitching coach Frank Viola reported that Edgin has a meniscus tear while Pill has bone chips and spurs in his pitching elbow.

There is no report on how long these pitchers have been injured or how their ailments have affected their pitching.

Edgin, 30, had a 3.65 ERA and 4.60 FIP in 37.0 innings for the Mets this season. He struck out 27 and walked 18 in his 46 appearances.

The 27-year-old Pill has not pitched particularly well in his brief Major League career, going 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA in 22.0 innings. He had a 3.08 ERA in 90.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season.

The post Edgin Has Torn Meniscus, Pill Has Bone Chips In Elbow appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Photo: Ed Delany, MMO

Tonight I am joined by Russ Langer, the Las Vegas 51s play-by-play voice, to talk about the development of Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith.

Russ also gives me some sleepers for the Mets bullpen, how Pedro Lopez has fared his first year managing in Triple-A and why Frank Viola makes such an impact on the 51s pitchers.

I think you will find Russ’ comments very interesting, especially when it comes to Rosario, Smith and Viola. He also gives me a surprise name of who can help the Mets bullpen.

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Think of any of the Mets’ all-time great players.

Chances are you probably thought of someone like Tom Seaver, Darryl Strawberry, David Wright or maybe one of the team’s current young aces. All of these players– and pretty much anyone typically considered to be in the Mets’ pantheon of greats– played in the postseason.

But for a team that has missed the playoffs 45 times in 54 postseasons, acknowledging only stars for playoff teams while leaving out the Mets who never got to October leaves out a lot of history. The Mets have had a strange existence in that they don’t make the playoffs very often, but they make them often enough that any decent player who’s on the team for a couple of years of time will probably get there at least once. For example, the Mets’ top 19 hit leaders have all played in the postseason for the team, as have their 12 winningest pitchers.

So making a list of top Mets players without postseason experience is kind of a difficult task. With this being the case, this list is going to be defined as players who played a minimum of three seasons with the Mets and how they performed did during their time with the team– no matter how short of a time that was. So here are the 11 best Mets who never played in the postseason:

Honorable mention: Lance Johnson

Johnson only played a year-and-a-half with the Mets, but his 1996 season was one of the best in club history. That year, he set Mets team records for hits (227) and triples (21) in a season while batting .333/.362/.479. He was traded to the Cubs in 1997, and never really replicated that success after that.

11. Dave Kingman

“Kong” was like a worse version of Adam Dunn. He hit 154 homers in 664 games with the team, but batted just .219/.287/.453. He had his most Kingman season ever in 1982, when he led the NL with 37 homers but batted just .204.

10. Steve Henderson

Henderson is probably best remembered for being a part of the “Midnight Massacre” that sent Tom Seaver to the Reds, but he was actually very good for the Mets. He owned a .287/.360/.423 slash and a 120 OPS+ from 1977-1980. Henderson was one of the few bright spots of the worst trade and era in Mets history.

9. Bernard Gilkey

Gilkey’s most memorable moment in a Mets jersey was his cameo in “Men In Black.” But perhaps it should be his 1996 season.

That year, Gilkey batted .317/.393/.562 with a .955 OPS, 155 OPS+, not to mention the fact that he hit 30 homers and drove in 117 runs. He never replicated this success, however, and was traded away in 1998.

8. Ron Hunt

Hunt was the first star in Mets history. He batted .282/.344/.379 from 1963-66, and was the first Met to start in an All-Star game. He did this in 1964, when Shea Stadium hosted its only Midsummer Classic.

7. John Stearns

Stearns set the NL catcher’s single-season steals record in 1978 with 25 stolen bases. He also has more hits than any Met who did not play in the postseason with the team, although he did eventualy appear as the Mets’ bench coach in 2000.

6. Frank Viola

The Mets acquired the 1988 AL Cy Young winner from the Twins at the trade deadline in 1989. He would stay with the Mets until 1991, and made two All-Star teams. Viola had his best season in Flushing in 1990, when he went 20-12 with a 2.67 ERA. No Met would win 20 games for another 22 years after Viola accomplished this feat.

5. Bret Saberhagen

Saberhagen is one of the few guys from “The Worst Team Money Could Buy” who was as good as advertised. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner with the Royals went 29-21 with a 3.16 ERA with the Mets from 1992-95. His best season came in 1994, when he went 14-4 with a 2.74 ERA and an eye-popping 11.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. It’s too bad fellow big-ticket acquisitions Bobby Bonilla and Vince Coleman didn’t live up to the hype like Saberhagen did.

4. Craig Swan

Swan did pitch in three games for the Mets at the end of the 1973 season, but did not pitch in the postseason. So he makes the list.

Swan played with the Mets from 1973-1984, and was their best player in the dark ages of Mets history– the late-70s and early-80s. From 1978-82, Swan went 39-37– which is even more impressive considering that the Mets had a .402 winning percentage during that stretch. He also posted a 3.12 ERA, and led the NL in ERA in 1978 with a 2.43 mark. So Swan can take the claim as the best player during the worst period in Mets history.

3. Todd Hundley

A lot of people forget how great Todd Hundley was at his best, especially since the guy who played catcher after him got a little bit more attention.

Hundley was the Mets’ starting catcher from 1992-1998, and kept getting gradually better until he exploded onto the scene in 1996. That year, he set a franchise single-season record with 41 home runs, a record that still stands. He followed that season up with a 30-homer campaign in 1997. He hit for elite power over these two years all while posting a .265/.373/.550 slash line and a 144 OPS+.

But an injury in 1998 made him expendable, which led to the Mike Piazza trade. He was then traded to the Dodgers the following offseason for Roger Cedeno and Charles Johnson, ending one of the more forgotten Mets greats’ time in New York.

2. Johan Santana

Santana was supposed to be the final piece that made the Mets a legitimate World Series contender. He wasn’t, but he provided the Mets with two of their most memorable moments in recent memory: A three-hit shutout of the Marlins on short rest to keep the Mets alive in 2008, and the team’s first no-hitter. That no-hitter alone makes the trade and his contract worth it.

Santana’s time in New York was derailed by injuries and collapsing Mets teams, but he was actually as good as advertised through his first three seasons in New York. He went 40-25 with a 2.85 ERA from 2008-2010, and finished third in Cy Young voting in 2008. Then came the injuries, which forced him out of the 2011 and 2013 seasons and hampered his play in 2012. These injuries also helped keep the Mets out of the playoffs during Santana’s time in the Orange and Blue.

1. R.A. Dickey

Dickey came to the Mets as just another Triple-A pitcher, but left them as one of the most beloved players in team history.

Despite playing just three seasons in Flushing, Dickey’s name makes several entries into the Mets’ record books. R.A. has the fourth-best ERA among qualifying Mets pitchers, the fifth-best WHIP, and the fifth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio.

And his 2012 season is one of the best by a pitcher in Mets history. He went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA that year, becoming the first Met since Frank Viola in 1990 to win 20 games. Dickey also took home the NL Cy Young Award that year, making him just the third Mets pitcher to win the award. The other two are Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden, so yeah. That’s pretty good company.

While Dickey shined with the Mets, the team never finished within more than 12 games of a playoff spot. This must not have been fun while he was with the Mets, but it does make him the best Mets player who never played in the postseason.

The post 11 Best Mets Who Didn’t Play in the Postseason appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Mets right-hander Matt Harvey is still frustrated over his recent pitching struggles, but told ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin that he can solve his issues on the mound rather than skipping a start.

“For me, taking time off isn’t going to do anything. It’s finding it on the mound,” Harvey said.

“I’m not a quitter. I’m not going to just quit and put the ball down. It’s a fight. I understand and I know how poorly I’m doing.”

2.2 innings pitched. 6 earned runs on 8 hits. A 5.77 ERA. In a word, ugly. Matt heard it from the boo birds as he exited the mound last Thursday night. This is rock bottom for our former ace. I am not here to tell you that his next start we will see him magically return to Cy Young form, but there will be a turnaround and it will occur sooner rather than later. It is not in his DNA to succumb to failure or even mediocrity.

As I posted recently, Mets Triple-A pitching coach Frank Viola believes in Harvey and points to a confidence issue.

“He’s falling behind guys and throwing a lot of pitches to get through five or six innings,” Viola said Tuesday. “That’s not who he is. That tells me he’s not 100 percent confident in what he’s throwing. And when you’re not pitching with confidence, that affects everything.” ( NY Post)

This was extremely evident on Thursday night. Harvey admitted that he hasn’t felt comfortable on the mound this season. You can see it. He simply looks like a shell of his former self, lacking the swagger that we’ve come to expect from him. But it was very encouraging to see him fight to stay in the rotation and make this start against the Washington Nationals tonight.

All it takes is one start to get that confidence restored. His location has been troublesome, but I would attribute that to his lack of confidence as well. Everyone from Dan Warthen on down say that it’s not a mechanical issue and Harvey has made it clear his arm feels great and he’s perfectly fine physically.

Matt Harvey has not shied away from his shortcomings this season.

“So for me it’s frustrating,” Harvey said after his start in Colorado. ” It wasn’t the ballpark or anything like that. It was me. I’m just not feeling comfortable throwing the baseball right now. It’s frustrating. Something I’ve obviously done my whole life is gone on the mound and thrown a baseball. And right now it’s not an easy task. I’ve got to keep my head down and keep focused and keep pushing to figure it out.” (ESPN New York)

I’m encouraged by how Harvey is taking responsibility and not making excuses. He takes all the blame for his issues which is admirable and points to someone who is trying to get to the root of the problem.

Now is not the time to boo Harvey. Now is the time to support him and remember how he put it all on the line last season, pitching over 200 innings in his first year back from Tommy John surgery. He gave it his all last season, right down to that final start of the 2015 post season.

Harvey gave us hope in 2013 and was the first vital piece in what was the new Mets resurgence. Now it is up to us to give him some hope – and our vocal support.

Overall, it has been tough to watch Matt Harvey struggle the way he has this season. But no one is more disappointed about it than Matt himself. He’s not giving up and in turn, we shouldn’t give up on him. I for one believe that the Dark Knight will rise again, and perhaps tonight we’ll see the first step toward that end.

The post The Dark Knight Will Rise Again appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

In a recent article by Dan Martin of the New York Post, Triple-A pitching coach Frank Viola commented on the recent struggles of Matt Harvey and the steady rise of Rafael Montero.

Montero and Harvey’s professional careers have been polar opposites to this point. Matt has enjoyed immediate success, while Montero’s career has been an uphill climb. However, Viola sees some similarities between the two starting pitchers.

“He’s just pounding the strike zone again,” Viola said of the difference in Montero’s performance. “He was picking at the corners and nibbling and, like with Matt, that’s not who he is.”

Montero, who was recently named the PCL Pitcher of the Week after back-to-back scoreless outings, still has work to do.

“He’s not where we’ve seen him before,” Viola said. “For him to need 90 pitches to get through five innings, something’s still not right. But he’s establishing his fastball and he’s a good learner, so we’ll get him back.”

Viola added that he is not too worried about Matt Harvey, and that he expects him to return to his old self in the near future. The most important thing for Matt’s success is his health and his confidence. This is simply a learning curve that Matt will pull himself out of in the near future.

“Every pitcher goes through a period where they doubt there stuff, so I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Viola said. “It’s a short term thing. He’s healthy, so he’ll be fine. He just needs one outing where he puts it all together.”

As far as Matt Harvey is concerned, he is not only a talented starter, but he is also a cerebral pitcher. He simply knows how to get guys out without throwing too many pitches. His ability to throw strikes on the inside and outside corners consistently have made him a phenomenal starter.

However, this season has been a different narrative for Harvey since his command has been uncharacteristically erratic. Harvey has never really experienced a slump like he has now, but he is only 27 years old with his best baseball in front of him.

It is nice to see that Viola has confidence in Montero. Once Montero can figure out a way to locate his pitches consistently, he will become a viable asset for the big league team. Hopefully his last two starts suggest that he’s almost there.

The post Frank Viola Weighs In On Rafael Montero And Matt Harvey appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Long Island native, Steven Matz looks to get his first full major league season under his belt this coming year. In his brief appearance last season, we saw glimpses of how great of a pitcher he can truly be.

Marc Carig of Newsday spoke with Frank Viola and discussed the possibilities for Matz, and what the coming season may hold for him. The prediction is quite strong, as Viola believes the 23-year old lefty could bring home this season’s Rookie of the Year honors. Many analysts currently tab Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop, Corey Seager to win the award in 2016, but not Frank Viola.

“You heard me the other night, didn’t you?” said Viola. “I’m going to stick with it. I think Corey Seager is a hell of a ballplayer. But this kid Matz has the tools. The last thing I want to do is put pressure on a kid. But he’s got the tools and the makeup to win that award.”

The two have shared quite a bond, both being from Long Island and Viola coaching him in Class-A Savannah and then later on with Triple-A, Las Vegas. He believes Matz has everything needed to conquer the majors.

“His makeup is incredible, off the charts,” Viola said. “You challenge him and he’ll be up to it. Other kids you say that to and they’ll shut down, or they’ll try to do more than they’re capable of doing. He knows how I feel about him.”

Steven Matz himself isn’t too shocked that his mentor believes he will have quite a season in 2016.

“I think he’s a little biased,” Matz said. “But hey, I’m glad he’s got confidence in me. He always has. And that’s what he’s kind of instilled in me is having confidence in myself as well. It’s a great compliment.”

Steven Matz went 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA in six major league starts. He also showed great grit in his postseason appearances, performing to a 3.60 ERA in those 3 starts. 2016 can really be a breakout season for the southpaw.

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