The Mets dropped the first two games to St. Louis, an extension of an unwanted streak that saw the team lose five of its last six after previously winning four straight series.

With a second consecutive series loss already confirmed, the bats struggled to get hot again on Sunday until the returning Mark Vientos thrilled Citi Field with a stunning walk-off home run to salvage the series finale.

And, in doing so, we were once again reminded that this year will be full of crushing lows and exhilarating highs in equal measure.

By the way, the Mets are 18-7 in extra-inning games since 2022 – the best mark in the majors in that span. Their 25 walk-off wins since 2021 are tied with the Rockies for the seventh-most in the big leagues.

On that note, let’s dive into a packed edition of 3 Up, 3 Down…

3 Up

Apr 27, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) hits a two run home run, his career 200th home run, during the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

REDEMPTION TIME

It is time to give Mark Vientos all the flowers. The young DH hasn’t exactly had it easy in his quest to become an everyday major league player for the Mets. Following the addition of proven slugger J.D. Martinez, Vientos was banished back to the minors with a bad taste in his mouth. However, he raked at Triple-A Syracuse and with Starling Marte placed on the bereavement list, Vientos earned a trip back to the big leagues.

This all set the stage for Sunday. Thanks to some sublime hitting from Harrison Bader with two outs in the 11th inning, Vientos got his chance to remind everyone of what he’s capable of. And, boy, did he take his chance. Facing a 1-2 count, Vientos absolutely destroyed a fastball in the top of the zone, sending it over the centerfield fence for a two-run bomb that won the game for the Mets in walk-off fashion. It was a beautiful moment for Vientos, who wasn’t afraid to show how much that breakout moment meant to him. Talk about sweet redemption.

MAKING HISTORY

Pete Alonso continues to etch his name in the history books for the Mets. The All-Star slugger blasted his 200th career home run on Saturday. In doing so, he became the fourth-fastest player to reach that milestone in MLB history. Alonso needed just 710 career games to hit 200 homers. He trails only Ralph Kiner (706), Aaron Judge (671) and Ryan Howard (658). Alonso, who walked three times in Sunday’s game, continues to underline his importance to this organization. Should he re-sign with the team next offseason, it is becoming increasingly likely that Alonso will be the best power hitter in franchise history.

GOING LONG

Sunday was just an encouraging day all around for the Mets. Sure, the offense struggled again until Mark Vientos’ heroics in extra-innings. But the team did get great starting pitching and, more importantly, length from José Quintana. The lefty tossed an absolute gem, allowing just one run on three hits with one walk while striking out three. More significantly, though, Quintana became the first Mets starter this season to pitch into the eighth inning. As a result, the bullpen got a much-needed breather, and Quintana flashed the upside he has when he’s really locked in on the mound.

3 DOWN

Adrian Houser. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports

STRANDED

If there was a recurring theme in the series against the Cardinals, it would be the offense failing to come up in big spots. The lineup went 2-for-11 with RISP on Friday, 1-for-7 on Saturday and 1-for-16 in Sunday’s finale. A ton of runners were left stranded on base all weekend long, making it too easy for St. Louis. Until Harrison Bader kept the game alive in the 11th inning on Sunday, the Mets had failed to record a single hit in 15 at-bats with runners in scoring position. That simply won’t get the job done. The offense needs to carry the blame for the recent slump in form. Otherwise, it is a trend that will only continue if the bats don’t start coming up clutch with runners on.

HURTING

This Mets bullpen is stellar. There is no denying that. However, cracks are starting to appear. Due to the incredible workload the pen has been asked to shoulder, bodies are falling. Brooks Raley was the first to go on the IL with elbow inflammation. Drew Smith has now joined Raley on the 15-day IL with shoulder soreness. Those are two big blows for an already overworked bullpen, and it remains to be seen how many knocks it can take before regression starts to hit.

NOT WORKING OUT

Adrian Houser continues to implode for the Mets. In his latest start, the righty was shelled again, allowing six runs on nine hits. Houser didn’t get out of the fourth inning and now owns an ugly 8.37 ERA. That isn’t exactly what you want. More worrying is the fact that Houser has issued more walks (16) than strikeouts (14) in his five starts this year. At this point, what do the Mets have to lose by bumping Houser out of the rotation and calling up highly-vaunted prospect Christian Scott? It just doesn’t make sense to allow Houser to keep getting battered on the mound.

The post 3 Up, 3 Down: Mets’ Walk-Off Heroics Highlight Of Series Loss To Cardinals appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Pete Alonso‘s strong season continued on Friday night as he helped lead the Mets to a 10-4 win over the Marlins. The big first baseman went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, all of which came on one swing.

Alonso drew a walk in the fourth inning and hit a single in the fifth inning, though he was thrown out trying to take second after the ball briefly got away from Avisaíl García.

In the sixth inning though, Alonso punctuated a seven-run rally by hitting the first pitch he saw from Tommy Nance just over the orange line in left field for a grand slam. The slam was Alonso’s second of the season and brings him up to an NL-leading 19 homers and 63 RBIs, one more than José Ramírez for the MLB lead.

Alonso’s homer was also the 125th of his career in his 435th game, which makes him the second-fastest player ever to reach that mark. Only Ryan Howard reached 125 homers faster.

Alonso said he wasn’t aware of that stat.

“That’s pretty cool,” he said. “I just want to keep working hard and helping my team win.”

It also tied him with Lucas Duda for eighth on the Mets’ all-time home run list. The grand slam was met with chants of “MVP” at Citi Field and a curtain call by the Mets faithful. It broke the game open to 10-1.

“That was a really fun moment,” Alonso said. “I’m glad other people think that. That’s really cool. That was really, really special.”

Alonso continues to excel this season with runners in scoring position, as he’s now 22-for-61 (.361) with 10 homers in those situations. He’s made the most of his bases-loaded opportunities as well, having hit two homers in just four at-bats. After a sluggish month of April, the Polar Bear has hit 15 homers and driven in 46 runs in 43 games. Overall, Alonso is now hitting .284/.365/.556 in 282 plate appearances this year.

“Oh my God. This guy’s unbelievable, man,” said Carlos Carrasco, who got the win on the mound in the Mets’ romping of Miami.

The post Pete Alonso Reaches Milestones With Grand Slam Against Marlins appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

It’s not often that a player like David Wright rolls around. Not just in regards to on field talent, but being a consummate professional off the field as well.

But when they do, it comes with this overwhelming sense of comfort, security and excitement. Mets fans knew Wright was going to be special after his steady rise through the Mets’ system that plateaued with his Major League debut on July 21, 2004 against the since relocated Montreal Expos, but we will get to that later.

Wright’s path to the Mets was an interesting one.

Most Mets’ fans — and fans around baseball for that matter — know July 1 as Bobby Bonilla day. This is the annual tradition where the Mets hand Bobby Bonilla a $1 million paycheck.

The Mets released Bonilla after a dismal 1999 season, but still owed the washed up slugger $5.9 million. Bonilla’s agent posed a deal to former owner Fred Wilpon, that would defer the money 10 years, but instead, they would owe Bonilla over $1 million every year, starting in 2011 and ending in 2035.

While absolutely ridiculous, the money they saved in ’99 allowed them to sign Mike Hampton that winter, who was a stalwart in the team’s rotation that year, posting a 3.14 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 0.4 HR/9 and punched out 151 batters across 33 starts.

The southpaw Hampton also secured the Mets lone win in the 2000 World Series.

In free agency that winter, Hampton spurned the Mets, citing the Colorado school system as his reason for taking his talents to the Rockies out west.

The Mets were awarded a compensatory draft pick in the 2001 MLB draft, No. 38 overall, where they selected Wright, a lifelong Mets fan from Virginia.

After spending two and a half years in the farm after being drafted, Wright was called up to the show in the summer of ’04, and the rest was history.

Wright went on to become a seven-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove recipient, two-time Silver Slugger, New York’s team captain and the heart of the franchise for over a decade, the Face of MLB, and go on to hold numerous team records.

In honor of Wright’s birthday, here are 15 can’t miss moments from his career.

MLB debut

Wednesday, July 21, 2004 was probably an ordinary day to the rest of the world, but to the Mets it sparked a new era in Queens.

Wright made the start at the hot corner and shined defensively, but wore the collar at the plate. However, the next day after getting his feet wet, the then 21-year-old went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

The Mets went on to finish the ’04 campaign with a 71-91 record, and shipped off their top pitching prospect Scott Kazmir to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano, but brighter days were still on the horizon in Flushing.

The iconic catch

Showing off his defensive prowess, Wright made headlines and highlight reels for years to come with an incredible over the shoulder catch on Aug. 9, 2005 at Petco Park in San Diego against the Friars.

With outfielder Brian Giles at the plate against Dae-Sung Koo, Giles punched a ball the opposite way and sawed off his bat. It was no sweat for Wright, who backtracked, stuck his bare right hand in the air over his shoulder and made the grab.

Even the Padres fans were applauding the terrific play!

Home Run Derby against division rival Ryan Howard

After signing outfielder Carlos Beltran and ace Pedro Martinez in free agency that winter, combined with adding catcher Paul Lo Duca, first baseman Carlos Delgado, closer Billy Wagner among other supplementary pieces the following offseason, the new look Mets went into the 2006 season like a bunch of superheroes.

That year, they touted six All-Stars, including Wright, who went on to square off against Philadelphia Phillies bopper Ryan Howard in the Home Run Derby at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Howard just edged out David Wright with the former having 23 overall and five in the final round, compared to Wright’s 22 overall and four in the finals.

While Wright would come up short in the Derby, what he did the next day was special.

Wright homers in first All-Star Game at-bat

At the All-Star Game one day later, Wright got the starting nod at the hot corner and took his first cuts at the plate in the bottom of the second inning.

With former Met Kenny Rogers, now of the Detroit Tigers on the hill, Wright took the lefty deep to left field to knot the game up at one apiece.

Wright went 1-for-3 at the plate, while fellow Met Carlos Beltran went 2-for-4 with a double and stolen base, though ultimately the National League All-Stars lost 3-2.

Wright holds the distinction, along with Lee Mazzilli as the only two Mets to ever homer in an All-Star Game. The latter did it in 1979 coming off the bench for the first pinch hit long ball in All-Star Game history.

Wright walks off Mariano Rivera and Yankees

This actually took place two months before Wright’s Home Run Derby excursion and subsequent All-Star Game dinger, but it is one that is forever engrained in the minds of Mets fans.

What could be better? A clutch late inning performance at home against the cross town rival Yankees to send fans home happy. Wright did just that.

With the game locked at a 6-6 stalemate going into the bottom of the ninth, Paul Lo Duca doubled off Yankees lockdown closer Mariano Rivera, which set the table for the Mets budding young third baseman.

Wright then launched a ball to dead central that just evaded Johnny Damon‘s glove and gave the Mets a 7-6 victory.

Mets win National League East in 2006

While a collective effort, there will be nothing like seeing these guys celebrate on the field after their no sweat win against the Marlins to send them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

Seeing Wright and Jose Reyes pop bottles of champagne and smoke cigars after the win made everyone think a dynasty was ahead with the young studs. While it wasn’t, the ’06 season will always be memorable.

Wright walks off Heath Bell and Padres

It would be an understatement to say how crushing the Mets’ loss in the 2006 NLCS was, followed by catastrophic collapses in 2007 and 2008, but there were some fun moments along the way.

On Aug. 7, 2008, Wright sent Mets fans home smiling from ear to ear with a walk off home run against former Met Heath Bell and the San Diego Padres.

Wright’s World Baseball Classic heroics

Wright had two iconic moments for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, the first of which came in 2009 with a walk-off hit against Puerto Rico to advance to the championship bracket:

And the second came with a grand slam in the 2013 World Baseball Classic against Italy:

Contract extension

After the 2007 and 2008 collapses to end the era of Shea Stadium on a sour note, the 2009 Mets had renewed hope in their pristine new home Citi Field, but were plagued with injuries and limped to a 70-92 finish as their near miss in 2006 drifted further away.

General manager Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel were canned after the 2010 season and replaced by the savvy Sandy Alderson and baseball lifer Terry Collins. However, some rough years were ahead as the Mets decided to rebuild amidst some tough financial times from the Wilpons who were caught up in a ponzi scheme with Bernie Madoff.

Carlos Beltran was traded away before the trade deadline in 2011 and stud shortstop Jose Reyes left via free agency for the division rival Miami Marlins that winter.

Wright was set to hit free agency the next winter, but instead signed a seven-year, $138 million deal to stay in Queens.

Wright acknowledged both the good and the bad times in Flushing, but put his faith in the team that they could build a winner and took a leap of faith to stay put.

O Captain, My Captain!

Shortly thereafter, at the conclusion of a Spring Training game the following March, Wright was announced as the captain of the Mets.

Wright became the fourth captain in team history, after Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez and John Franco, and the first since Franco left after the 2004 season. Since Wright’s retirement. the Mets have not named another captain.

Unlike captains before him, Wright did not wear the capital “C” on his uniform.

“Let me just say, this is one of the proudest days of my career so far,” Wright said in the press conference below.

Wright becomes all-time Mets hits leader

Let’s backup just a moment to right before his contract extension and captaincy.

At the end of the 2012 season, Wright stood alone as the team’s all-time hits leader, after he singled in a September game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, surpassing Ed Kranepool.

Wright would go on to become the Mets leader in plate appearances (6872), hits (1777), doubles (390), RBI (970) walks (762) and position player fWAR (52.0). (H/T Mathew Brownstein of MetsMerized).

Wright returns to Mets lineup with thunder

Unfortunately for Wright, the longevity of the deal didn’t carry over to the longevity of his body.

After 134 games played in 2014, Wright was diagnosed with a degenerative back disorder, spinal stenosis, early on in the 2015 campaign.

Wright missed a majority of the season, but worked his way back to return in late August in the midst of a pennant race.

In what would turn out to be an offensive explosion and the Mets cranking eight taters overall en route to a 16-7 beatdown over the Philadelphia Phillies, Wright started it all off with a no doubt home run in the second inning in his first at bat since April.

Wright’s World Series homer

From the trade deadline on, the Mets powered to a division title, and ultimately a World Series appearance, thanks to some great pitching and offensive breakouts from Daniel Murphy and newly minted Met Yoenis Cespedes.

But to see Wright gear up to appear in his first World Series ever was special. Through slogging through years of heartache, near misses and a rebuild, Wright finally got to be see the bright lights of the Fall Classic.

While the Mets lost in five games, Wright’s home run and four RBI in their lone win in Game 3 made Citi Field erupt in a way that was reminiscent of the Shea days.

Wright’s farewell

Well, the injuries ended up getting the best of David Wright, and after trying to work his way back after injury shortened ’15 and ’16 seasons and a completely sidelined ’17 season, Wright was able to suit up for a final weekend send off at the end of the 2018 season.

I was lucky enough to soak in the festivities in person, and wrote an article that night to document what I had just experienced. Please read the full write up, here.

Wright proclaimed that it was love between him and the fans and his time with the organization after a 1-0 extra innings win.

The tears flowed as Wright and Reyes took the field on the left side of the infield one last time, and again when he was removed midgame for a standing ovation.

The tribute videos and speech after the victory were enough to elicit a wide range of emotions, from happiness, excitement and nostalgia, to sadness and disappointment that such a wonderful human being and player didn’t get to ride down the Canyon of Heroes.

Happy 38th birthday to David Wright and thank you for all the beloved memories!

The post An Ode to the Captain: Fifteen Can’t Miss David Wright Moments appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

From 2009 through the 2012 season, left-handed reliever Eric O’Flaherty was one of the most effective and heavily used pitchers in the game.

O’Flaherty, 35, appeared in 276 games in that stretch, good for a four-way tie for the seventh-most appearances in baseball. Among qualified relievers, O’Flaherty’s 1.95 ERA was the fourth-lowest behind Craig Kimbrel, Mariano Rivera and Mike Adams.

A groundball pitcher, O’Flaherty’s 58.3% groundball rate was the 14th-highest among 211 qualified relief pitchers.

The 2011 season was O’Flaherty’s finest, one in which the Washington state native posted a minuscule 0.98 ERA in 78 appearances. He became the first pitcher in major league history to post a sub-1.00 ERA in 70 or more games pitched.

O’Flaherty made up a third of the Braves’ vaunted backend of the pen in 2011, joining Jonny Venters and the aforementioned Kimbrel. All three relievers appeared in at least 78 games and posted an ERA no higher than 2.10 that season.

It was only the second time that three relievers on the same team appeared in 75 or more games while posting an ERA no greater than 2.10, joining the 2003 Los Angeles Dodgers (Eric Gagne, Guillermo Mota and Paul Quantrill).

After his successful four-year run, O’Flaherty appeared in only 19 games with the Braves in 2013 before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery.

In late January 2014, the Oakland Athletics signed O’Flaherty to a two-year, $7 million deal. He made his season debut on July 4 and posted a 2.25 ERA in 21 games in ’14 before regressing in his second season with Oakland, appearing in 25 games and recording a 5.91 ERA.

Control issues plagued O’Flaherty in ’15, as his walk percentage spiked to 11.3% after never exceeding 8.3% the previous four seasons. He also appeared to run into some poor luck in ’15, as his .388 BABIP was the second-highest among relievers with a minimum 30 innings pitched. The highest BABIP O’Flaherty had during his peak dominance from 2009-12 was .292.

When asked about his struggles post-Tommy John surgery, O’Flaherty recalls expecting to have the same endurance and ability to recover post-surgery. Instead, O’Flaherty wore his arm out.

On August 4, 2015, O’Flaherty was on the move, being dealt with cash to the New York Mets for a player to be named later (Dawrin Frias). Unfortunately, the results weren’t much better heading back to the N.L. East, as O’Flaherty allowed 13 earned runs in 8.2 innings pitched and didn’t fare well against left-handed hitters in a small sample size (.419 wOBA, 2.47 WHIP). He did not make any of their postseason rosters.

Following the ’15 season, O’Flaherty inked a minor league deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates before reuniting with the Braves in a trade before the start of the 2016 season. He spent his final two major league seasons with the team he had the most success with, appearing in a total of 61 games and faring better against left-handed hitters (3.04 FIP, 1.06 WHIP, 20.0% strikeout rate).

O’Flaherty has kept himself involved in the game post-retirement, as he co-hosts a podcast on The Athletic’s website called 755 Is Real with writer David O’Brien. The pair records multiple episodes each month on various topics going on in Major League Baseball, with a specific focus on Braves-related matters. Special guests like Chipper Jones, Dale Murphy and Ken Rosenthal have also appeared with the duo.

I had the privilege of speaking with O’Flaherty, where we discussed the culture of not wanting to disclose injuries as a young player, his incredible 2011 season with the Braves and the trade that sent him to the Mets as they made their playoff push in 2015.

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

O’Flaherty: Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson. I grew up in Washington State, so it was mainly all Mariners, like A-Rod. That was kind of my generation of players I was looking up to. And Sandy Koufax, too.

MMO: At what point during your development did you start to think that baseball might be a serious career to pursue?

O’Flaherty: It would’ve been my junior year. I talked to Oregon State a little bit, but didn’t really get much attention past high school at that point.

I went and pitched in a tournament in Arizona, and wound up throwing 92-93 mph for a few innings. It was a scouting tournament; I was playing for a team called Baseball Northwest and we went out to this tournament in Arizona. After I did that, it was basically non-stop attention from scouts and colleges. That kind of made it like there was a legit shot there.

MMO: During a podcast interview, you spoke about the vast differences in culture between the Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves. Can you expand a bit on those differences, and how going to the Braves organization was a boon for your career?

O’Flaherty: Mainly, it was just that there were some characters in Atlanta that just went out of their way to let you know that you belonged and really tried to pump you up, like Bobby Cox, Brian McCann and David Ross.

Playing for Bobby was just kind of a game-changer for me. He had this way of any time he knew that you needed a pick-me-up, he’d give it to you in a subtle way that would make you think, Man, maybe I’m not as bad as I think right now.

The big thing for me was I was pretty immature when I was with Seattle, so I kind of built not the best reputation for myself. Sometimes going to a new organization gives you a chance to leave some of your bad habits in the past. It’s a clean slate, and nobody really has any assumptions of who you’re going to be or who you are or anything about you really. They just know that you’re left-handed and have a good arm.

It’s the same kind of concept with when you struggle in front of a fanbase or in front of coaches and stuff like that; it’s really easy to get wrapped up in that “here we go again” mindset. Even if it’s not you thinking it, you can sense it with people around you.

So, you get less time to struggle before those thoughts and feelings kick in. And sometimes just going to a new organization gives you that clean slate and fresh start, and that’s a big thing for a lot of guys, and it was for me for sure.

MMO: You also expressed in that podcast how going from Kenji Johjima in Seattle to Brian McCann and David Ross as your catchers was crucial in your development. What was it about McCann and Ross that made things click for you?

O’Flaherty: There was a language barrier with Johjima. He had to use a translator, and I don’t know if it’s a knock on him as much as the way McCann and Ross could communicate. These guys were just masterminds of getting the most out of their pitchers and making you feel confident, showing you all of the scouting reports and all the different stuff.

Being a rookie in Seattle, you’re not ready to call your own pitches and do all these things yourself, so once I got to Atlanta, I had these two guys that were basically quarterbacks back there. I could just hit my spot, and I was good.

They really simplified things for me to not have to second guess or think about anything. I just threw whatever they called.

MMO: You hurt your back during Spring Training in 2008, and on the Baseball America podcast “From Phenom to the Farm,” you talked about how the culture back then was a younger player shouldn’t be in the trainer’s room or speaking up about injuries. I remember you saying that a doctor told your wife that it’s possible that you’d never pitch again.

What was it like working back from that injury while trying to navigate that culture in the clubhouse?

O’Flaherty: Yeah, that’s just the way it was back in the day. I think a good thing that’s happened in the game is that it has really come a long way in that aspect of if guys are having any kind of minor injuries, the training staff wants to address it before it turns into something big.

It wasn’t necessarily a training staff thing back then, but it was just a culture of if you’re a young guy, you shouldn’t be in the training room. So, if that’s the deal, I wasn’t going to be in there.

What wound up happening was I hurt my back – I think I was squatting or doing something one day – and I irritated it, and I just kept pushing it and pushing it and not really saying anything. I didn’t want to be a young guy that was hurt, and the main motivation for me was I was looking at my first Opening Day roster. That’s just a special thing to get to do.

So, not calling it greedy, but really just wanting to be on that roster so bad, I kind of masked it and didn’t really say anything and just kept pitching.

It gradually just got worse and worse and worse until the point where I just couldn’t throw. And obviously, I wasn’t throwing very effectively at the time, so I shouldn’t have pitched in the first place.

It’s one of those things that now teams really encourage guys if there’s anything wrong to get into the training room. And not a lot of the vets will give you too much crap because they’ve been through it too. Back then, it was just a different culture.

MMO: And what was the process of rehabbing like for you?

O’Flaherty: I spent most of the summer just waiting for it to get better. Finally, Dr. Herring, a really good Seattle doctor, said, “You can’t just sit. It’s not going to get better if you sit. There’s this rehab facility in downtown Seattle that I want you to go try.”

It was called Olympic Physical Therapy, and they had a side of it that was called Athletic Engineering, and they were all about working on your transverse abdominis and getting the right muscles firing to support your back, activating your glutes, doing all this little stuff.

It started out just standing on one foot and looking at one wall and then looking at another direction at another wall and just doing basic stuff like that. Kind of training your body on how you should be stabilizing and things like that.

I was doing that, and I had already been told that I had two herniated disks and a cyst growing into my spine, and I’m spending all these days standing on one foot looking around, and I was like, Well, this is a wrap, but I’ll keep doing it. [Laughs.]

You’re at the point where you’re limited to just standing on one foot and looking around, and it wasn’t looking too bright. But I stuck with the program, and it eventually, by around November of that year – I got shut down in early June – was throwing again off the mound. And that’s when I got claimed by the Braves.

MMO: It’s pretty incredible to think about that injury and rehab when you consider that from 2009-2012 you appeared in 276 games with the Braves. You were in a four-way tie for the seventh-most appearances by a reliever in that stretch.

O’Flaherty: I really think being young and dumb helped with that a lot. If you get told something like this at 28 or 30, and you understand odds and understand how certain comebacks are and things like that, but I just didn’t know any better. I didn’t have anything else to do.

My wife and I look back on that summer all the time and we weren’t worried about our future at all; we just enjoyed the summer. It’s kind of crazy to think that anything could’ve happened with that injury. I just think being young and dumb and kind of naïve that my career was on the line, and understanding how the world works and that you need a job and you’ve got to make money, just being naïve to all of that I think was a huge benefit for me.

MMO: Your 2011 season was one for the ages. You made 78 appearances and posted an ERA of 0.98 with a 1.086 WHIP. You became the first pitcher ever to post a sub-1.00 ERA in 70 or more appearances. Was there anything you changed or altered mechanically or physically that season?

O’Flaherty: No, I was just locked in. I started training with my trainer in Seattle, and he got me healthy at that Athletic Engineering place. I just kind of took his program each year and we advanced it athletically and added more and more dynamic stuff to it. And really, my body was functioning so well because I was so scared to hurt my back, I just did his program religiously.

It was a forty-minute warm-up every day that I did, and then I had about an hour workout after every game. It wasn’t heavy stuff; it wasn’t crazy weights or anything, but it was mentally challenging because you had to really focus on where you were in space and stuff.

My body control was just really, really good so I could repeat my delivery and hit spots. It was just one of those freak years, man. I caught some lucky breaks too, and everything just kind of came together.

MMO: What were your initial reactions to getting traded to the Mets back in August 2015?

O’Flaherty: Man, I was jumping for joy. I got designated for assignment, and I packed up my apartment in San Francisco and drove home. It was just the easiest way to get out of there and get all of our stuff back to Seattle because I didn’t know where I was going.

We drove twelve or thirteen hours home up to Seattle and kind of started unpacking. The next day I was like, Shoot, I’ve got to go throw and get some work in. We had gotten in at like six in the morning because it took a while to pack up and whatnot. But I got in at around six, and at five o’clock I was getting a workout in and throwing. I just finished my workout, and I was leaving the gym, and I got a call from Sandy Alderson saying, “Hey, you’re a Met now.”

I knew they were in the playoff hunt, and I just was jumping for joy in the parking lot! I got in my car, drove home and started sorting through all of those bags that were in my garage from the other apartment, trying to pack for a couple of months to go be a Met. And then the next morning I had a six a.m. flight to Miami.

MMO: Fans will often overlook the impact of getting released or designated for assignment on a player, his psyche, and family. Can you talk about going through that and not knowing where you were heading to next?

O’Flaherty: I mean it hurts. It hurts your ego, obviously. I kind of knew it was coming because I was struggling with Oakland for months. I was just having a terrible year as it was, and I knew something would probably happen soon.

When the trade deadline passed, I kind of thought that I was going to stay there. I figured if they wanted to trade any kind of pending free agents that had – I didn’t have much value, honestly – but maybe unload some of the salaries or whatever [at the deadline]. I was kind of prepared for something to happen, and nothing did.

Then about three or four days later, I got called into Bob Melvin’s office, and he let me know what they were doing and that they were calling up a starting pitcher and needed the spot. And no hard feelings there; I was terrible. I was kind of expecting it.

It hurts your pride; it hurts your ego even if you know it’s coming. It’s not fun to deal with, but you try to be a pro about it, and I packed all of my stuff up, told everyone goodbye, and that’s when my wife was home in Seattle. We had a one-year-old and she was getting him out of the house for a little while, and she flew out to San Francisco and we drove home.

I was just trying to stay ready, but you don’t really know what’s going to happen next, but you need to be ready. I just tried to have a positive outlook and figured if anyone was going to pick me up, it was obviously going to be a playoff contender. I kind of looked at it like this will be a positive because nobody is going to bother with my skillset unless they need someone to get lefties out in the playoff stretch.

I didn’t think it was that hard mentally, not really knowing where I was going, but physically it was pretty exhausting driving home from San Francisco, which no one made me do, and then flying across country to Miami to be ready for a game that night.

MMO: Even though you only made 16 regular-season appearances with the Mets, did you like pitching in New York?

O’Flaherty: Man, I loved it! Honestly, as crazy as that sounds, because I was the worst pitcher for us, I actually really enjoyed the experience a lot. The way that the organization treated me, the way that the fans treated me – especially at first before I started sucking – and just getting to go through that experience of being a New York ballplayer. It’s just one of those things that I’m really glad it happened in my career.

Even though the circumstances didn’t go how I drew it up, it was still just a really cool experience to get to be a Met for a little while, and just see how crazy and into it New York fans are.

MMO: If I remember correctly, Terry Collins didn’t just utilize you as a lefty specialist. You faced 19 right-handed hitters and they posted a slash of .400/.526/.800 against you.

O’Flaherty: Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s what they wanted me to be was just a lefty specialist. But I also wasn’t pitching in close games by the time he was using me against righties, and that’s kind of one of the things: If you want to be a lefty specialist, you’ve got to get the big outs against the lefties in the tie games.

I think towards the end of it he was just trying to find any way to get me in the game and see if I could maybe get it going for the playoffs because they wanted me to be able to get lefties out. But I was doing so bad that I think he was just trying to try anything at the end there. [Laughs.]

MMO: You underwent Tommy John surgery in 2013. Did any of that play a role in your struggles?

O’Flaherty: It was weird because the first year back I was protected; they wouldn’t throw me in back-to-back games. If I got up two days in a row, I was going to be down, so they were really careful with me.

I think the big mistake I made was I expected to have the same endurance and recovery abilities that I had before Tommy John surgery. I expected going into 2015 to just take the ball every single day; I wasn’t going to ask for a day off.

I really didn’t adjust well, and part of it was aging obviously, but also having a surgically repaired elbow that just wasn’t the same. I didn’t adjust very well to having to maintain it and give it sufficient recovery time. I struggled in ’15 because I was just wearing my arm out and not even really knowing it. I was doing what I always did, but that had led me to have Tommy John in the first place.

MMO: It has to be difficult to readjust your training regimen and overall mindset after an injury when you’re so used to performing in a certain way, and your body isn’t necessarily responding.

O’Flaherty: For sure. And like I said, I wanted to long toss, and I was always trying to build up arm strength and throw lots of bullpens to find it and get it back. What I really needed was probably just rest and a mental break.

Probably the hardest thing was I was trying to make a lot of mechanical changes in the middle of a playoff run, and you can’t be thinking about mechanics on the mound. I got into the habit of doing that since I came back from Tommy John, trying to feel like I felt before the surgery instead of just moving on and focusing on the game.

It probably wasn’t the best timing career-wise to be there, and I tried to make those adjustments in a playoff run. But I got to see some really cool stuff. I’ve never seen a player do what Yoenis Céspedes did those two months that I was there. I’ve never seen a player hotter than that, and that was incredible to see!

MMO: For your career was there a batter that sticks out to you that gave you fits? Conversely, was there a batter that you felt you owned? Ryan Howard immediately comes to my mind (3-for-23, 9 SO).

O’Flaherty: Yeah, the thing about Ryan Howard was, even when I sucked, he would line out. Even when I faced him, when I was with the Mets and couldn’t get a four-year-old out, he would crush a ball and it would be right at somebody. It would just find a glove somehow.

The opposite was Joey Votto; I hated facing him! He’s just so good at staying on the breaking ball from a lefty, and you have to pitch him inside, but he won’t chase in there. He’s definitely the toughest lefty I’ve faced.

MMO: Were you someone that embraced and utilized analytics during your career?

O’Flaherty: Yeah, I’ll be honest, man, I kind of went on cruise control when I was with Atlanta because McCann and Ross were so prepared. I think that’s one of the reasons I did so well. Those guys were so prepared back there that you just threw whatever they called. I think I shook once my entire five years in Atlanta.

But I think the Rapsodo and a lot of these other analytical tools that they’re using are awesome because it gives you your spin angles, the break, everything that’s going on. It shows you how to kind of tunnel your breaking ball off your fastball better. Years where I couldn’t strike anyone out with my slider, I might’ve been able to fix that in two or three games versus months at a time.

A lot of times you feel like you’re doing something in baseball but you’re not. Having some kind of tool to measure, I think, is really valuable and can be pretty effective. It can also go the other way where you lose your feel because you’re so worried about how something looks on video or how a machine says the ball is spinning, or hey, congrats, you’ve got way more spin on the ball but you’re casting your breaking ball and it’s not as effective against hitters.

That type of stuff can happen too, but I think there’s a ton of value in analytics, and obviously, you can see that because so many teams are getting on board if they’re not already.

MMO: You co-host a podcast on The Athletic called 755 Is Real. How did that come about for you?

O’Flaherty: I was just hanging out one day, and I got a text from David O’Brien, who’s an AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) writer. He’s been doing the Braves for quite a while, and I always liked working with him, and he just texted me and asked if I wanted to co-host a podcast with him.

I had been retired for a year and not really doing anything too crazy, and it’s only a couple of times a week, and I said, ‘Why not? Let’s try it.’

It’s been fun! We hit on some issues around the league some days, and somedays it’ll just be purely Braves, but it’s always a lot of Braves stuff.

MMO: Have you given any thought to pursuing a career in sports media, or would you want to work in baseball as a coach or instructor in some capacity?

O’Flaherty: I ask myself those questions every day. [Laughs.] The tough thing about coaching is you’ve got to travel, and I’ve got two boys, so I don’t want to drag my family around. If they start school, you have to be away from them so they can finish and you’re kind of living like a divorced family or like you’re living two separate lives.

I don’t really see myself wanting to do that unless the boys were just obsessed with it and wanted to be around the game. Maybe some kind of instructor or something like that.

On the media side, I would never want to do anything on TV because I feel like you have to be kind of fake, and it’s not my style. Some guys it fits their personalities and they’re great at it, but for me, I feel like I’m too laid back to be all amped up and giggle at 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

MMO: What’s your take on the three-batter minimum rule?

O’Flaherty: That’s something I get asked about quite a bit, and the LOOGY has pretty much been dead for a few years anyway. I think the change that happened was once teams started trying to protect their relievers, meaning they wouldn’t throw them three or four days in a row. The only way you can have value as a LOOGY is if you’re doing what I did sometimes, but also what Pedro Feliciano did for the Mets, where you’re available for 85 games.

You can’t have a guy be down and only get one out anyway. You can’t have a guy like that in your bullpen, especially with starters going shorter outings now. The way the game changed was they don’t want starters facing the lineup the third time through; it led to you can’t have a guy in your pen that’s only getting one out at a time because you need more relievers available. And unless you’re going to let a guy throw 80-85 games, he really doesn’t have value. It’s a wasted roster spot.

I don’t know if it was necessary to do the three-batter minimum because I think a lot of teams were leaning toward getting away from it anyway. But for me, it’s whatever.

People ask me now if I would’ve had a career, but in my best years, I was facing guys from both sides of the plate nonstop. From 2010, ’11, ’12, I was facing an entire lineup, and I always did better against lefties, but I could get righties out. I’d go through a spurt where I’d give up eight hits in a row to a righty, and then I’d be back to normal in getting them out.

I think it’s something that’s not really a big deal, but it wasn’t necessary either. It’s just kind of another one of those gimmicky changes to the game that we’re seeing that I don’t think are necessary.

If you’re a lefty and you want to stay in the game now, you’ve got to figure out how to get righties out, and that’s what I think would’ve happened to me if I was just forced to have learned a changeup. I could kind of get away without one before because I could get favorable matchups, and maybe some of the righties I would face would be bottom of the order guys. But I don’t feel bad for anybody; it’s the game now, so you’ve got to adjust and figure out a way to stick around.

MMO: And what would be your advice to lefty relievers now?

O’Flaherty: It’s different for everybody. You’ve got to figure it out, it’s on you. The game doesn’t stop, and nobody is going to wait for you to figure it out; you can either do it or you can’t.

Usually, it’s a changeup or something going away from that opposite-handed hitter. For me, the sinker was a pretty good neutralizer, and the best years that I had, the sinker worked in my favor because righties would see a lefty reliever that was throwing 70-80 percent fastballs, and then their swing would get big. They’d come up and think this is my moment and I’m going to do some damage, and I’d throw a sinker that started middle first pitch, and they’d get a little pull happy and pull it right to the shortstop on the ground.

That really worked in my favor, but you definitely need something going down and away from righties as a lefty, and you’ve got to pitch inside, too. You see a lot of righties that struggle against lefties; it’s usually the changeup that’s the neutralizer, but you can throw a cutter. It’s all a formula of your arm action, the angles you’re throwing at, velocity, things like that.

And it’s a confidence thing, too. The more you face, the better you’re going to do and kind of get comfortable against that other side. That’s probably the hardest part about it is when you don’t face righties, then how are you going to get them out? It takes some practice and work against them, and that’s one of the hard parts about being a manager is finding a way to get a guy to face some righties, and you can’t do it with the game on the line and when it matters.

It’s just a different formula for every player but you’ve got to figure out that if you want to stay in the game now.

MMO: And that’s certainly where the technology and advanced metrics can come into play in aiding pitchers with learning a new pitch, changing grips, arm angles, etc.

O’Flaherty: Big time!

MMO: When you look back on your career, what are you most proud of?

O’Flaherty: Probably just the memories, man, and the friendships. Honestly, that 2011 season was awesome, but those five years with the Braves, I just learned so much about life. I made a ton of really good friends that I’m going to keep for the rest of my life. It’s really just about the experiences, memories, and getting to travel around.

Getting to ten years of service, I don’t know what the numbers are on it, but not a lot of people have done that. My career really didn’t end the way I wanted it to, so it took some time to just kind of get away from it and be able to look back and be like, Man, that was a pretty good career. It takes time to get that taste out of your mouth after you struggle for two or three years, and kind of getting older and staying at home.

It took probably until early 2019 for me to really be able to look back and be proud of my career.

MMO: Thanks so much for some time today, Eric.

O’Flaherty: Thanks very much.

Follow Eric O’Flaherty on Twitter: @EOF34

Check out Eric’s podcast, 755 is Real, here.

The post MMO Exclusive: Former Reliever, Eric O’Flaherty appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The Mets went almost entirely with home grown talent this weekend against the Phillies as clubhouse veterans such as Daniel Murphy, David Wright and Curtis Granderson saw their playing diminished for various reasons.  The results?  The Amazins’ added another series W to this year’s resume.  Below are the usual 3 Up/3 Down takeaways.

3 Up

1.  Sunday was an interesting sight as the Mets trotted out three former center field prospects in Matt den Dekker (LF), Juan Lagares (CF) and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (RF) to defend the outfield.  As a unit, they also accounted for half of the offensive production yesterday, scoring 3 runs, stealing 3 bases while putting up a slash line of .333/.500/.833.  Defensively, Matt den Dekker played some great defense all series, making a web gem catch in Saturday’s loss to rob Ryan Howard of an extra base hit.  He also put in a great bid to gun down Freddy Galvis at home plate off of a sharp single by Jimmy Rollins, but Anthony Recker was unable to hold on to the one hop toss from Matt, despite on a dime.

2.  Jacob deGrom resumed his campaign for ROTY by having an excellent outing on Friday.  The former Stetson standout went 7 innings, allowing only 4 hits, 1 unearned run and 2 walks while punching out 5.  The 26 year old rookie has some outstanding numbers at home this season, posting a 1.68 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, a 3.06 strikeout to walk ratio, 0.50 home runs per 9 innings while opponents bat a meager .215 against him at Citi Field.

3.  Wilmer Flores had an outstanding series.  The 24 year old Venezuelan turned a great performance at the plate and with the glove.  Flores had a triple slash line of .500/.545/1.145, scored 2 runs, plated an RBI and even swiped a base.  On defense, Wilmer helped turn four separate double plays while also flashing some nice range, robbing Ben Revere of a base hit with a diving snag in yesterday’s win.

4. A bonus “UP” for Dilson Herrera who made his major league debut and earned his first hit, walk and RBI during the three game set. The beginning of what should be a fantastic career for the 20-year old second baseman.

3 Down

1. Curtis Granderson is spiraling downward rapidly since the All-Star break.  The struggling slugger only played two games in the series, getting a day to “clear his head” (a.k.a. benched) on Sunday.  Granderson went 0-8 with 2 strikeouts and despite one spectacular catch on Saturday night, his defense is extremely conservative and overall a liability.  It doesn’t help his cause that Lagares and den Dekker are spectacular within their respective regions, but there were several outfield hits that either of Granderson’s counterparts would have made and these hits ended up being the majority difference in the Amazins’ lone loss from the series.  Terry Collins disregarded the hits as more luck than anything else, but Curtis has lost a step in his speed to the ball and his bat isn’t hot enough to make up for the lack of defense.

2.  Lucas Duda is slumping hard recently and carried this trend into the Phillies series.  The Hulk went 1 for 12 in the series with no extra base hits, walks or RBI’s.  Duda even contributed a rare throwing error in Friday’s win, although his defense has remained solid overall.  The emergence of Duda was sure to come with some downward movement, but the upcoming series against Miami will be a true test for him and his future.  He is batting 0.87 with two singles in his last two series.  If Lucas is able to break out of his woes and get back to laying the barrel on the ball, it will go a long way towards quieting his critics who do not see his 2014 performance as proof that he is a lock at 1st base for the future.

3. Terry Collins continues to look like a lock in 2015, despite Wally Backman putting up tremendous numbers on the farm and garnering the support of nearly the entire fan base.  News broke during this series that there’s no chance the front office will consider the former World Series champ as a candidate to unseat the current manager and Collins’ remaining contract has little to do with it.  Had something to do with Wally thinking on his own, managing winning ball clubs with constantly fluctuating rosters, just winning in general…I don’t know, something along those lines.

*Side Note*- Condolences to Bartolo Colon for the loss of his mother, whom he buried Thursday prior to the start of this series.  Big ‘tolo didn’t have the best outing on Saturday, but it took incredible guts for him to get on the mound after such a devastating experience.  Thoughts and prayers are with Colon and his whole family.

The post 3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Phil Up on Momentum For Miami appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The Mets (56-62) lost to the Phillies (53-65) by a score of 7-6 in walk-off fashion on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

The Mets scored 6 runs in the first 5 innings to jump out to a 6-1 lead. David Wright drove in an unearned run with a base-hit in the 1st. In the 2nd, Daniel Murphy drove in a run on a sacrifice fly which became a double-play when Wilmer Flores was caught trying to sneak to 3rd base. Juan Lagares drove in a pair with a triple in the 3rd, before Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud went back-to-back with a couple solo shots in the 5th.

Zack Wheeler did a pretty good job with the Philadelphia lineup, but gave up a solo shot to Chase Utley in the 1st and a 2-run double to Domonic Brown in the 6th. Wheeler finished his outing with 3 runs allowed on 3 hits and 3 walks, striking out 5 and throwing 112 pitches.

Vic Black came in for the 7th and got 2 quick outs, but when Wilmer Flores failed to make a play on a grounder from Ben Revere, the inning was prolonged and the Phillies ended up scoring 2 runs on a Chase Utley triple to cut the Met lead to 6-5. Josh Edgin came in to strike out Ryan Howard with the tying run 90 feet away (despite Howard being given the call on an 0-2 pitch down the middle). Edgin came back out for the 8th and struck out the side, sending the teams to the 9th with the Mets up 6-5.

Jenrry Mejia came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th, looking to close things out for the Mets. Cody Asche led off by hitting a hard shot down the 1st-base line for a double. It was unclear whether the ball was fair or foul, but Terry Collins could not challenge the call with replay because the play was right in front of the umpire (don’t worry, I don’t understand this rule either). Asche came in to score when Marlon Byrd lined a base-hit up the middle, and the game was tied at 6.

“Ball 3”

Mejia bounced back and struck out Revere, and Jimmy Rollins‘ hard shot into right field found Granderson’s glove for the 2nd out. With 2 outs and Utley at the plate, Byrd broke for 2nd on Mejia’s 2-2 pitch. The pitch was practically down the middle for strike 3 (see the picture), but d’Arnaud caught the ball and came up throwing in an attempt to nab Byrd, which might have distracted the home-plate umpire from… you know… doing his job. The pitch was ruled a ball, and Byrd made it in to 2nd base safely. With the count full and 1st base now vacant, Terry Collins decided to have Mejia throw an intentional ball to Utley to bring Ryan Howard to the plate. Mejia got ahead of Howard 1-2, but after missing with a couple pitches, served up a hanging slider to Howard, who smacked it into right field for the game-winner.

Well, that was infuriating. Wheeler did pretty well, although his pitch counts still get too high, too quickly. Black was victimized by Flores’ misplay (which should have been ruled an error), and Mejia just didn’t have it in the 9th (although the game would have gone to extras if not for the umpire). We had no business losing that game.

Mejia has been HORRIBLE lately, and he’s pitching hurt. I will say it again: I do not believe for one second that this is a coincidence. The Mets need to give him a break, and maybe put him on the DL. If he pitches hurt, he’ll change his mechanics, and he’ll be terrible. And he’ll probably injure his arm while trying to compensate for his injured leg, or back, or whatever it is right now.

I don’t like the intentional ball to Utley with a 3-2 count. Even if you don’t want to give him anything to hit, why not just throw him a breaking ball off the plate and hope he chases (no pun intended)?

On the bright side, the offense was pretty good today. d’Arnaud has had a great series, Wright is really getting it together (2 more hits today, 9 game hitting streak), Duda went yard, Lagares got himself a triple, and Granderson reached base 4 times. When the Mets score 6 runs, they’re usually going to win. So it stinks that they didn’t today…

Let’s bounce back and get the series win tomorrow.

Up Next: The Mets will wrap up their 4-game set with the Phillies in a Monday matinee at Citizens Bank Park. Jon Niese (5-8, 3.51 ERA) will face David Buchanan (6-5, 4.39 ERA).

The post MMO Game Recap: Phillies 7, Mets 6 appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

On a day that saw one prospect sent packing, another one lived another day.  Jacob deGrom started his fourth career major league game on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Learning the news that his teammate Rafael Montero was heading back to Las Vegas before the first pitch, deGrom went out and pitched as if his days in the majors depended on it.

DeGrom was overpowering hitters in the early going, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning. Chase Utley broke up the no-no with a two-out single.  Up to that point deGrom had set down every batter he faced in order striking out six through the first 3.2 innings.

Things would change a bit in the bottom of the fifth, when deGrom appeared to have possibly injured himself after a pitch.  The cavalry came out to check on him and deemed him good enough to continue and a collective sigh was heard throughout New York.

In the seventh inning, with a one-hitter still in hand, a weary deGrom got himself into trouble which ultimately led to his exit.  A lead-off single by Jimmy Rollins and a walk to Chase Utley, allowed Ryan Howard to do what Ryan Howard so often does. With the Mets up 4-0, Howard took the deGrom offering and sent it into the stands to pull the Phillies within one.  DeGrom was allowed one more batter after that which brought him to 101 pitches and into the clubhouse.

Still, this was another solid effort by deGrom and perhaps a sign of even better things to come for the young righty. He now has a 2.42 ERA and 1.077 WHIP through his first four starts all averaging more than six innings..

Jacob deGrom’s final line for Saturday: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 11 K

His next scheduled start is on Thursday, June 5th against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The post Despite No Wins To Show For It, deGrom Has Pitched Impressively appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The Mets (17-19) beat the Phillies (17-19) by a score of 5-4 in 11 innings on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, snapping a 5-game losing streak and salvaging the final game of their 3-game series with Philadelphia.

Jon Niese got the start for the Mets and pitched well, going 6 innings and striking out 6 Phillies, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits and a walk. Niese was better than the numbers indicated, but would be victimized by some bad luck and some bad defense (more on that in a bit).

The Mets jumped out to a lead in the 1st inning against Cole Hamels. Eric Young led off with a single, stole 2nd, and advanced to 3rd on a bad throw. After Daniel Murphy walked, David Wright singld to left to score EY and put runners on the corners with no outs. However, the Mets would fail to capitalize further on this opportunity. Chris Young struck out, Eric Campbell grounded out to the pitcher, and Juan Lagares whiffed to end the inning.

After the Mets let them off the hook in the bottom of the 1st, the Phillies quickly struck back in the top of the 2nd. Will Nieves and Cody Asche each hit 2-out doubles to tie it up at 1-1.

Niese struck out the side in the top of the 3rd, but the Mets wasted another chance to score in the bottom of the frame. Daniel Murphy doubled down the line in left, but Wright flew out and Chris Young struck out to get Hamels out of the inning.

Niese ran into some tough luck in the top of the fourth. Ryan Howard hit a weak grounder to short, which would have been a routine play if the Mets had not had the shift on against the big lefty. Marlon Byrd followed him up with a double to the wall in center, bringing Dominic Brown to the plate with runners on 2nd and 3rd and none out. Brown hit an easy grounder to 1st, and Campbell, after a brief hesitation, decided to gun for the slow-footed Howard at the plate. The throw was well on time, but off line. Anthony Recker caught the ball, but was in bad position, and was unable to put the tag on an inexplicably evasive Ryan Howard, who scored to make it 2-1. Will Nieves hit a soft grounder to short to bring home Byrd and make it 3-1 Phillies, but Niese was able to escape the inning before things got truly out of hand.

The Mets “Mets-d” (is that a verb yet?) away another chance to score in the bottom of the 4th. Eric Campbell led off with a single (his first major league hit) and Lagares singled through the hole at short to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 0 outs. Anthony Recker got ahead on Hamels 3-0, and, with the green light, hit a deep fly ball to left field. However, the ball died just before it got to the wall, in typically agonizing fashion. After Ruben Tejada worked a walk, Jon Niese struck out and Eric Young grounded out to end the inning.

Niese worked in and out of trouble in the 6th to end his afternoon, and the Mets had a chance to get him off the hook in the bottom half. Soup (I may refer to Campbell as Soup once in awhile, so be on your toes) led the inning off with a walk, and with 2 outs, Ruben Tejada doubled into the gap to put runners at 2nd and third. Curtis Granderson pinch-hit for Niese and fulfilled his daily strikeout quota to end the inning.

Daisuke Matsuzaka came in to replace Niese in the top of the 7th and cruised through the inning with a Jimmy Rollins walk as the lone blemish. Eric Young led off the bottom of the 7th with a routine grounder to 3rd, but after Cody Asche took his time (for some reason) it turned into a bang-bang play at the bag with EY flying down the line. Young was called out, but Terry Collins immediately ran out of the dugout to challenge the call. After a lengthy review in which replays showed that Young appeared to be safe, the umps upheld the original call, presumably on the grounds that there was not sufficient evidence to reverse the ruling. The next hitter, Daniel Murphy, hit a ball into the gap in right field which would have probably scored EY, but alas, the Mets would once again come away without a run as Wright struck out and Young flied out to center.

After Matsuzaka worked another hitless inning in the top of the 8th, the Mets threatened again in the bottom of the inning when Recker singled and Tejada walked with 2 outs against Mario Hollands. Terry brought in Travis d’Arnaud (a day after pulling him in a huge spot), who took a called strike three down the middle to send it to the 9th with the Phillies up 3-1.

Jose Valverde came in for the top of the 9th and got 2 quick outs, but then allowed a walk to Jimmy Rollins and a triple to Chase Utley to give Philadelphia a huge insurance run.

The Mets would make that insurance run one of great significance by rallying in the bottom of the 9th. Eric Young led off against Antonio Bastardo with a double down the left-field line and Daniel Murphy killed the rally made it a 1-run game by hitting a bomb over the wall in right. After Wright struck out, Chris Young snapped an 0-for-18 skid by doubling off the wall in left. Roberto Hernandez (Fausto Carmona), who had started game 1 of the series, came in to face pinch-hitter Bobby Abreu, who lined one to the hole on the right side. A diving Utley put a glove on it, holding CY at 3rd, but was unable to reel it in, and Abreu reached with a single. The next hitter, Lagares, tied it up by hitting a grounder to short which was too slow for the Phillies to turn 2. With the winning run on 2nd, Recker struck out to send the game to extras.

Jeurys Familia worked a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 10th, and the Mets almost won it in the bottom half. Eric Young hit a 2-out single against Jeff Manship and promptly swiped his 2nd bag of the ballgame. After Manship walked Murphy to get to Wright, Manship got the captain to roll one over to short to end the inning.

Familia got 2 quick outs in the top of the 11th, but was pulled after walking Rollins. Scott Rice came in and hit Utley before retiring Reid Brignac to send it to the bottom of the 11th.

Chris Young got the Mets’ turn at-bat started with a single and moved to 2nd on a pinch-hit sac-bunt by Zack Wheeler. Manship walked Lagares to get to Recker, who hit one towards the hole on the left side which seemed destined for the outfield. A diving Brignac pounced on the ball to keep CY from scoring, but was unable to make the play on Recker. With the bases loaded and 1 out, Ruben Tejada lined one into left field to send the Mets home with a win.

The Mets really needed this win, and they got it, but they made it as hard on themselves as they possibly could. The Mets can’t afford to keep leaving so many guys on base. The Mets have been the victims of some bad luck and bad officiating lately, but their planning and execution have been poor as well. Hopefully the Mets can ride the emotional wave of this victory into the Bronx tomorrow night.

David Wright had an RBI today, but came up empty in some big spots. Still, he has been hitting the ball pretty well recently, and he made a great play in the field in extras to help out Familia, so overall, I’m not worried about our franchise player.

Chris Young struggled early in the game, but he redeemed himself with big hits in the 9th and in the 11th. He also ran into some tough luck in the middle innings when a rocket off of his bat ended up in Dominic Brown’s glove. It was good to see CY snap his skid today; let’s hope he can get some more big hits against the Yankees.

Ruben Tejada had a nice game, especially at the plate. I can’t believe I just wrote that. But anyway, Ruben hit a couple balls hard, had some long at-bats, and, of course, had the game-winner in the 11th. Maybe he felt the heat from Wilmer Flores…

Niese has been great this season, and he was solid once again today, despite the fact that his line in the box score will only look decent in the papers tomorrow (if anybody still reads the papers instead of MMO). With the bullpen and offense both performing inconsistently, the Mets need their starting pitching to be as steady as possible.

Familia has looked solid lately, and it looks like getting regular work is working wonders for the hard-throwing righty. Hopefully Terry keeps getting him action, but avoids running him into the ground…

The Mets wasted opportunities all game long, but got the big hits when their backs were against the wall. A win is a win, and we were in desperate need of one, so in the end, the Mets made it a Happy Mother’s Day for all of us.

Up next: The Mets will head to Yankee Stadium to kick off the Subway Series tomorrow night. Bartolo Colon (2-5, 5.36 ERA) will face off against Hiroki Kuroda (2-3, 4.43 ERA). Gametime is 7:05 PM.

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The New York Mets, Major League Baseball and MLB Advanced Media today announced that David Wright was named the club’s nominee for the 2013 Hank Aaron Award.  Fans can vote exclusively online at Mets.com and MLB.com.

Wright, who was named to his seventh All-Star team (fifth as starter), led the Mets with a .307 batting average.  The third baseman hit 18 home runs with 58 runs batted in, despite missing six weeks with a right hamstring injury.  Wright homered in three straight games twice, and also passed Mike Piazza to move in to second on the Mets all-time home run list with 222. On June 23^rd, Wright collected four extra base hits (two doubles, one triple and one home run) to tie the franchise record. Wright was named the fourth captain in club history by his teammates in March.

For the fourth straight year, a special panel of Hall of Fame players led by Hank Aaron will join fans in voting for the award, which is officially sanctioned by Major League Baseball and has recognized the most outstanding offensive performer in each League since it was established in 1999.

The Hall of Fame panel led by Aaron includes some of the greatest offensive players of all-time –Roberto Alomar, Johnny Bench, Tony Gwynn, Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray and Robin Yount.  These Hall of Famers – who combined for 15,581 hits, 6,902 RBI and 1,334 home runs – have all been personally selected by Hank Aaron to lend their expertise to select the best offensive performer in each League.

Through October 10, fans will have the opportunity to select one American League and one National League winner from a list comprising of one finalist per Club. The winners of the 2013 Hank Aaron Award will be announced during the 2013 World Series.

“It is a great honor that Major League Baseball recognizes the most outstanding offensive performer in each League with an award in my name,” said Hank Aaron. “The game is full of so many talented players today that I am thankful my fellow Hall of Famers and the fans assist in selecting the much deserving winners.”

Past winners of the Hank Aaron Award include: Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey (2012), Jose Bautista and Matt Kemp (2011), Bautista and Joey Votto (2010); Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols (2009); Aramis Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis (2008); Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder (2007); Jeter and Ryan Howard (2006); David Ortiz and Andruw Jones (2005); Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds (2004); Rodriguez and Pujols (2003); Rodriguez and Bonds (2001-02); Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton (2000) and Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa (1999).

The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, and, at that time, was the first major award introduced by Major League Baseball in more than 25 years.

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Andy Martino of the Daily News, spoke to a person with direct knowledge of the team’s thinking who said that the Mets are more likely to keep Marlon Byrd this summer, rather than trade him before the Trade Deadline on July 31.

We can debate the pros and cons of that, but I want to discuss Byrd in a different context for now.

When you think about a player that deserves to be MLB Comeback Player of the year, you think about an athlete that was once touted as the next big thing, or has had a string of good years and then something happened, either he just lost it, it was mental or just his mechanics.  This player can’t find what it is that caused his sudden decline,  so he struggles for a season or maybe even two, or maybe it is so bad that he never recovers and his career is never the same.

In my knowledge only one player has fit that bill and I can remember Phillies Closer Mitch Williams being greatly affected by the 1993 Series-clinching three-run home run that he gave up to Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter that propelled the Jays to World Champs.  After that game Mitch was never the same and his career spiraled in the wrong direction. In 1993, Williams saved 43 games but the years to follow he never recovered from that home run and he would never find his dominance again. If Williams would have come back even in 1995 and been somewhat as dominant as he was in 1993, he definitely would have won the award.

Experts and critics always look at what propelled a player not to be able perform at a level he had been accustomed to. Bleacher Report ran an article by MLB Lead Writer Jason Martinez on March 20, 2013 that listed the Top Candidates for the 2013 MLB Comeback Player of the year. Lance Berkman, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ryan Howard, Ubaldo Jimenez, Tim Lincecum, Victor Martinez and Troy Tulowitzki all made the cut.

All these players are certainly worthy candidates heading into this season. The one who stands out to me is Red Sox outfielder Jacob Ellsbury who in 2012 and only 74 games,  batted .271 with 4 home runs, 26 RBI’s and 14 stolen bases. The sudden decline from his 2011 stats when he posted a .321 batting average, with 32 home runs, 105 runs batted in, and 36 stolen bases, was because of shoulder issues that forced him to the disabled list.  Now in the first half of 2013, he is batting .306, 7 triples, 36 stolen bases and 57 runs scored. He has helped propel the Red Sox into first place in the American League East.  If he continues this trend, he can be a viable consideration for Comeback Player of the Year.

One player that no one seemed to have on their radar is our very own, Marlon Byrd. Yes, even in the first month or so of this season, Mets fans were not impressed with his production and were basically calling for him to be traded or even waived.  He wasn’t the power hitter that the fans hoped the organization would have picked up in the off-season.  Byrd’s best year was in 2009 while playing for the Texas Rangers when he batted .283 with 20 home runs and 89 RBI’s.  Since then he has not come any where near those numbers and even served a 50 game suspension in 2012 for testing positive for Tamoxifen, which is a medicine that blocks the effects of the estrogen hormone in the body.

As reported on ESPN.com on June 25, 2012, Byrd issued a statement through the MLB Players association when he stated:

“I am mortified by my carelessness and I apologize to everyone who loves this game as I do. I will serve my suspension, continue to work hard and hope that I am given an opportunity to help a club win later this season.”

Well Byrd was given that chance but it came with the 2013 Mets and if his play of late is any indication that he is ready to make a comeback, it is with a team that desperately needs this type of player.  Byrd is batting .268, with 15 home runs, 49 RBI’s and 14 doubles.  He leads the Mets in home runs and RBI’s and as of late has become the go to guy when a big hit is needed.  Byrd is the sudden surprise to a team that only a month ago was looking for answers as to who can they put in the outfield that can stay and make a difference, well Byrd has stepped up and assumed that role.  He is on pace to smash his 2009 stats with the Rangers and hopefully help the Mets to save a lost season.

I chose Byrd as my candidate for MLB Comeback Player of the Year, because of where his career had been heading and how it all came crashing down after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.  But he worked hard to build up his reputation in the game and especially with the fans.

People will never forget what he did and he will never live down what he did, but because he loves this game, he put the work in that was needed to save his career, even if it is just for one season.

Byrd is what the Mets might have hoped he would be and even better.  If he finishes as strong as he is ending the first half of 2013, then he should be given the award. Baseball awards are not handed out based on half-seasons, but from what we have seen so far, Marlon Byrd is a great candidate for the award.

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