Last night Jeurys Familia converted his 41st save of the season and is now 41-46 in save opportunities.
Familia becomes only the third Mets closer to save 40 games in a season joining Armando Benitez who did it twice in 2000 and 2001, and Billy Wagner who did it once in 2006.
What’s remarkable about what Familia has accomplished is that he didn’t even begin the season as the Mets closer as the Mets turned to him only after Jenrry Mejia was suspended for performance enhancing drugs.
Since July 31, Familia has only allowed one run over his last 23.0 innings. The splitter that he has developed has been near unhittable and continues to confound players night in and night out when he comes in to close the door.
“Right now I have a lot of confidence in my splitter. I’ve been working on that for a long time. Now I think it’s the time to trust a third pitch. I see the result and I get more confident to throw it in the game.”
“It helps me a lot. I just had two pitches — a sinker and a slider. Always they know I’m going to throw a sinker or a slider. Right now I have a third pitch — my splitter — and it’s more difficult for hitters.”
Familia is now within reach of breaking the Mets single season record for saves held by Benitez when he notched 43 in 2001. Based on how filthy Jeurys has been since his little hiccup after the all-star break this seems quite attainable.
“Familia, man, blowing a split at 95 miles per hour? Are you crazy? Nobody is going to hit that..” – David Ortiz was quoted as saying to Newsday’s Marc Craig.
The man with the high-octane splitter and plus-sinker has been blowing away opposing hitters all year and will be such a big part of this team for years to come.
