Colorado fans did not need the weed they can legally buy to get a buzz this weekend because the Rockies gave them a natural high in the form of a three game sweep over the New York Mets.
On an afternoon when the Mets could have picked up some precious ground, Ryan Raburn delivered a painful pinch-hit two run homer to ruin Jacob deGrom’s glorious day.
In that fateful 7th inning, deGrom’s 12-pitch walk put a runner on base hastening his exit from the game. In came the usually highly effective reliever Jim Henderson, but a 2-0 pitch on the corner of the plate put the ball out of the park, resulting in an unfavorable 4-3 Rockies win.
“Down 2-0, I definitely wasn’t thinking about grooving one and getting back in the count,” Henderson later said. “I was thinking about down on the corner and in to him. It just caught too much of the plate. You don’t want to get beat on the pull side and he got his hands through and got the barrel to it.”
A rally in the top of the 8th proved fruitless when another controversial call gave Terry Collins a consecutive day of agony.
Juan Lagares came off the bench, and clocked a double to deep left. After Yoenis Cespedes was given a free pass, Lucas Duda hit a double play ball, but Lagares avoided the tag, and was ruled safe at third.
But the ruling was reversed as Lagares was called for running out of the base path, which to me looked like Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, just gave up on the tag, and threw to first for the sure out.
“I was really surprised,” Lagares said. “The guy in front of me said safe. When I looked back, they said out. I have no idea what happened, but I never thought that was going to be an out. I just avoided the tag. What am I supposed to do? Hold him? I just tried to avoid the tag. I don’t know how that play can be an out.”
Of course Lagares has a good gripe, he never even touched the grass. The rules say a runner has to veer off the baseline by three feet or more to be ruled out, and Lagares was barely a half-foot off kilter. Yet another botched call against the Mets.
In taking something positive out of an unfortunate 3 days in May, deGrom pitched well, Eric Campbell went 2-for-3 playing in place of David Wright, catcher Kevin Plawecki got another hit, Yoenis Cespedes homered for the 12th time this season, and the Nationals and Phillies took a dive to keep the Mets only a game and a half back.
So with a bit of carnage left on Coors Field, the mighty Thor will be brought in for damage control in D.C. when the Mets face the nasty Nats, and their newly crowned 20 strike out pitching maven, Max Scherzer.
The good news, Syndergaard is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in three career starts against the boys from Capitol Hill.
(Photos: USA Today Sports Images)
