Wednesday, September 23, 2015 headlines: Verrett stumbles in the fifth as Mets lose to Braves 6-2
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- Savannah manager Jose Leger joins Mets
- Mets Juan Uribe remains unavailable; Travis dArnaud sits
- Mets skipping Jacob deGroms start ahead of playoffs is the right move
- Mets vs. Braves, Game 151: As Mets plan champagne shindig, Nats set to hold Yoga party
- Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez shills for Mets Terry Collins
- Why the Mets won’t let Michael Conforto hit against lefties
- Terry Collins learns to change with the times
- Sadness vs. Euphoria: Fans Script Endings to Mets’ Season
Other Mets News: Morning Briefing: Magic number down to six ADAM RUBIN, ESPN NEW YORK NEW YORK -- FIRST PITCH: And now it's Bartolo Colon's turn to try to get the New York Mets back on track … with his arm and maybe even his bat. The Mets wrap up their first losing homestand of the season when Colon (14-12, 4.15 ERA) opposes right-hander Williams Perez (6-6, 5.16) in the 7:10 p.m. ET rubber game against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday at Citi Field. WEDNESDAY'S NEWS REPORTS: Subbing for Jacob deGrom, Logan Verrett allowed a pair of fifth-inning homers and the Mets went on to lose to the Braves, 6-2, on Tuesday. The Mets nonetheless maintained a 6½-game division lead over the Washington Nationals, who lost to the Baltimore Orioles. The Amazin's magic number is down to six. After the loss to Atlanta, manager Terry Collins said the Mets look “tight” during this homestand. Meanwhile, Tyler Clippard's struggles continued, although Collins insisted that the reliever's recently tight back is not a factor. Clippard allowed a two-run double to Adonis Garcia in the ninth that capped the scoring. Read game recaps in the Post, Daily News, Times, Newsday, Record and at MLB.com. The Mets confirmed their rotation for the final road trip, and essentially for the remainder of the regular season. Matt Harvey's next abbreviated outing comes Saturday in Cincinnati. DeGrom pitches the following day. Yoenis Cespedes failed to run to first base after striking out on a pitch that eluded catcher AJ Pierzynski on Tuesday. Read more on Cespedes' recent shortcomings in the Post. Juan Uribe remained unavailable Tuesday with a deep chest bruise. Tim Brown at Yahoo! suggests Collins has been the best manager in the National League this season, ahead of Joe Maddon, Clint Hurdle, Mike Matheny and Don Mattingly. Read more on Collins' reaction to Manager of the Year talk at MLB.com. Columnist Mark Herrmann in Newsday writes that Collins has changed with the times. Savannah manager Jose Leger joined the Mets staff for the remainder of the regular season. Former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone is not a fan of the handling of Harvey. “I think the thing is totally asinine,” Mazzone told Bob Nightengale in USA Today. “Come on, you want him to go five innings, and maybe even less in his next starts, and then you want him to go seven, eight or nine innings in the playoffs. That's totally ridiculous. You're going to blow out your bullpen before the playoffs even start.” Columnist Kevin Kernan in the Post is fine with Harvey going three innings against the Reds on Saturday as long as he is ready to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Division Series when it matters. Joe Posnanski at NBCSports.com weighs in on Harvey's late-season usage. Michael Conforto will continue to sit against left-handed pitching for the remainder of this year. Of course, Collins only expects the Mets will see one more southpaw starter the rest of the regular season. Read more at MLB.com. Fans use their imagination and write the opening to the final game story of the Mets' 2015 season in the Times. From the bloggers … Mets Report addresses who are the targets of Collins' anger. … The Kings of Queens looks ahead to facing Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in the NLDS. BIRTHDAYS: Pete Harnisch turns 49. ... Gonzalez Germen is 28. TWEET OF THE DAY: YOU'RE UP: Are you having any second thoughts about whether the Mets should aggressively bid for Cespedes? Savannah manager Jose Leger joins Mets ADAM RUBIN, ESPN NEW YORK NEW YORK -- The New York Mets typically call up a manager or coach from the organization once minor league seasons end. This year's honor goes to Jose Leger, who managed low-A Savannah to an 84-53 record this season in the South Atlantic League, albeit with a first-round playoff exit. The Gnats won 18 straight games in August -- the longest winning streak in the majors or minors in 10 years. Leger, 33, will be with the Mets for the remainder of the regular season. He previously managed short-season Kingsport for three years. Leger played professionally in the Minnesota Twins organization as a third baseman and catcher. Mets' Juan Uribe remains unavailable; Travis d'Arnaud sits ADAM RUBIN, ESPN NEW YORK NEW YORK -- New York Mets infielder Juan Uribe, who was diagnosed with a deep chest bruise, likely remains unavailable for Tuesday's game against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. Uribe originally was injured diving for a grounder on Sunday and departed that game. Also on the medical front: Reliever Carlos Torres may not be available for Tuesday's game. Torres returned from a strained left calf on Sunday but was not available for Monday's series opener against the Braves because the injury apparently lingered. In other Mets news: • Catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who is hitless in 17 at-bats, will sit Tuesday in favor of Kevin Plawecki. Mets manager Terry Collins pledged that d'Arnaud would return to the lineup Wednesday and would not sit for multiple days because of his struggles. • Collins suggested that Jacob deGrom, who is being skipped Tuesday in favor of Logan Verrett, will return to the rotation in five days. So figure deGrom faces the Cincinnati Reds in the series finale Sunday at Great American Ball Park. Mets skipping Jacob deGrom's start ahead of playoffs is the right move ANDY MARTINO, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS The most important Met this October is Jacob deGrom, and the most important event at Citi Field on Tuesday night was a total non-event: deGrom did not pitch on his rotation turn. And that was the right move, despite the 6-2 loss to Atlanta. The Mets’ decision to skip deGrom and start Logan Verrett was wise, even after Verrett struggled — not only because the All-Star has shown signs of fatigue as he pushes deeper into a season than he ever has before, but because the Mets will need him to be their October horse. If deGrom is unable to make multiple effective starts per round, it is hard to imagine the Mets taking a serious shot at a championship. Matt Harvey is one of the most talented pitchers in the league, a true ace. But this year, with Harvey's post-Tommy John innings restrictions limiting his availability, deGrom is the starter who will have to carry this pitching-rich club. This is a sketch of how a divison series rotation would go (delivered with the caveat that it is highly subject to change): deGrom in Game 1 — he is being lined up for that, sources told the Daily News. Noah Syndergaard in Game 2. Harvey in Game 3. Steven Matz in Game 4. deGrom again in Game 5. From there, a team does what it can to set up a rotation, at the mercy of the previous series' length. But of all those pitchers, deGrom is the one who will need to be the sharpest, best and most durable. As with the controversial plan to shorten Harvey’s Sunday start against the Yankees, skipping deGrom meant that the Mets were less likely to win an individual game. Indeed, Verrett allowed four runs in the fifth inning, and was done. But a large NL East lead allows the team to turn one eye toward the next phase. And despite deGrom’s protestations, he has appeared in need of a timeout. It wasn’t merely the 5.50 ERA in his previous three starts, it was imprecise location and an inconsistent release point, according to the coaching staff. So Sandy Alderson issued the order to skip deGrom, with the hope that five more days of rest will restore his better self. DeGrom will start on Sunday in Cincinnati, and then again on the final day of the regular season. If the Mets have clinched by then, deGrom would only last a few innings to tune up for the Dodgers; if they have not clinched by then, Citi Field will be on fire, and mass hysteria will render the streets around it unsafe. “I just think the extra rest is going to help him,” Terry Collins said. “In five days, we’re going to bring him back and see how he is, but I think it’s going to make a big difference.” If it does, the Mets will have a substitute ace who inspires full confidence in the clubhouse. You can’t even finish a question about deGrom to David Wright, before the captain interrupts to begin raving. “He’s awesome,” Wright says. “He’s awesome. I mean, he’s awesome. He is phenomenal. ... He doesn’t express a ton of emotion, but he’s got that ‘it factor’ where you see the confidence.” Wright can go on. “It’s fun to watch. You see him get so upset when he throws a bad bullpen. Other pitchers see that, and it’s like, ‘Wow, that’s what it takes to be Rookie of the Year. That’s what it takes to be an All-Star. That’s what it takes to, for a while, be in the Cy Young talk.’ That guy is very underrated. He’s excellent.” That long answer came in response to a query about the idea of having deGrom in Game 1 (and 4 or 5 or 7). Clearly, Wright feels good about it. That’s why deGrom needs his rest now, to carry the team later. That’s the only way this can work. Mets vs. Braves, Game 151: As Mets plan champagne shindig, Nats set to hold Yoga party BILL PRICE, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS I have to say I don't know much about Yoga. I knew this girl in college who was going to try it, but read in some book you can die doing it, so she forgot about it. (I think that was extreme Yoga). I know there are some sights on the web that feature pictures of women wearing Yoga pants and NYDN Back Page guy lost a bunch of weight doing Yoga a few years ago and you need a mat to do it. We bought that Wii Fit board a few years ago, and now that is where my kids stack up their video games. If I had to sum it up, I would say Yoga is a way of relaxing and exercising/toning at the same time and it has something to do with your balance and core. What I do know is that Sunday, our friends in DC will be hosting a post-game Yoga party. It's something called Yoga in the Outfield, where Nationals fans - with a special ticket purchase - will have to chance to have a 45-minute Yoga class on the outfield grass after the game. You even get a little Yoga mat with the Nats logo on it. Maybe, just maybe, after being a complete and utter disappointment all season, the Nats are offering their fans - with a special purpose - a chance to relax and let all their troubles vanish into thin air with a few upward facing dog poses. They can forget about Matt Williams being a buffoon or Max Scherzer being a $30M waste of money or that they are stuck with Papelbum for a fwe minutes. And hopefully, if things go right, this Yogafest will be going on around the same time the Mets are celebrating the NL East title. The Mets have six games between now and the big Yoga fest, so if they can go 5-1, all we need are two Nats losses to make that happen. Now, these are the Mets, so even if they are going to clinch the division, there is no way they will do it the same day Nats fans are oooming and ummmming on the outfield grass. And knowing our Mets, we may be the ones in need of some serious relaxation by Sunday, but I think we should be ok. Maybe a few Yoga sessions before the playoffs would help, but let's get there first. So enjoy the Yoga party Nats fans, I'll go with the bubbly instead. It's Logan Verrett in place of deGrom Tuesday at Citi Field. I wasn't crazy about Collins taking Niese out after six innings, but clearly TC is trying to get this 7-8-9 inning punch lined up. It worked Monday. Braves' manager Fredi Gonzalez shills for Mets' Terry Collins KRISTIE ACKERT, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Terry Collins doesn’t care about awards, but Fredi Gonzalez thinks the Mets manager should be rewarded by the team for the work he has done this season. “Do the right thing for TC,” the Braves manager told reporters before Tuesday night’s game. Gonzalez has already been extended for next season by Atlanta and when asked about Collins, he made it clear that he feels the Mets should be working on a contract extension with their manager. “Do the right thing.” FOLLOW THE DAILY NEWS SPORTS ON FACEBOOK. "LIKE" US HERE Collins has told those close to him that he would like to be back for 2016. Mets GM Sandy Alderson has repeatedly said he would not discuss an extension for Collins until after the season. Collins, 67, is in his fifth season with the Mets and in his 11th overall as a big league manager. He is pushing for his first division crown and playoff appearance, so everything else, including a possible NL manager of the year award, doesn’t mean that much to him right now. “It’s always nice to get an award, but I am going to tell you what, it’s all the players,” Collins said. “I have talked to a lot of great managers in the game who have won these awards hundreds of times and I will tell you what, very few of them have ever said ‘I tell ya what I managed my ass off.’ CLEANING UP Collins shook up his lineup Tuesday night, putting David Wright back in the No. 2 spot and moving Yoenis Cespedes down to the clean-up spot. “One of the things we were seeing, even though Yoenis was so hot, hitting homers we didn’t have a lot of guys on ahead of him,” Collins explained. “By putting him there, the way David gets on base, and Dan (Murphy) even though he has had some games he hasn’t had many hits, he’s a guy who is on base, so to have Yo hit behind him and protected by Lucas (Duda) , against right-handed pitching is a nice way to look at the lineup.” It was the 15th time Wright, who responded with a solo home run and a 2-for-4 night, hit second. Cespedes went 0-for-3 with a walk, hitting fourth for the second time for the Mets this season. NO START FOR D’ARNAUD After going 0-for-his last 17, Travis d’Arnaud was out of the starting lineup, but popped up to first base as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. Collins said he would probably be back in the lineup Wednesday, but there is concern the catcher is slumping at the wrong time... Juan Uribe (chest bruise) was listed as day to day. “He’s still pretty sore.” Why the Mets won’t let Michael Conforto hit against lefties BRIAN LEWIS, NEW YORK POST The rookie wall clearly hasn’t slowed Michael Conforto in the regular-season. But will a dearth of right-handed pitching to rake stop him in the postseason? It’s increasingly likely the Mets will not only make the playoffs but face the Dodgers, who are capable of throwing three lefties in the NLDS — Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood and Brett Anderson, begging the question of whether there’s anything Conforto can do to break out of his platoon with Michael Cuddyer? “I don’t think at this particular moment there’s a lot he can do to change it,” manager Terry Collins said before the Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Braves on Tuesday night at Citi Field. “Everything can change, but we’re looking at one lefty in the next seven days, maybe even the next 10 days. “His opportunities to face left-handed pitching are going to be pretty thin. There’s some people here whose job it is to hit left-handed pitching. … Down the road this kid will be one of them. But right now I think we’ll stick with what we’ve done.’’ Conforto — who is hitting .284 after going 1-for-4 — entered Tuesday hitting .294 and slugging .571 against righties, but just .182 (2-for-11) in limited action against lefties. “Not a lot you can do except go out there and keep performing and playing well against the guys you do face,’’ Conforto said. “That’s not my call, whether I’m in there or not. But we’ve been having success, we’ve been winning games and we’re in a good spot right now. “The situation where I’m not hitting against lefties has worked, so until that stops working I don’t see a reason why we should change it. … For me, for whatever Terry and the rest of the coaches think is best for the team, I’m all in.” Conforto’s had a nifty outfield assist in the sixth inning, alertly picking up A.J. Pierzynski’s bloop single that dropped between himself, shortstop Luis Flores and third baseman David Wright, and throwing the catcher out at second trying to stretch a single into a double. Conforto’s sixth outfield assist tied Washington’s Michael Taylor for most by an NL rookie. Then he robbed Pierzynski again, this one a divining catch to end the eighth. Daniel Murphy’s two doubles gave him 36 for the year and 226 for his career, passing Ed Kranepool for second on the Mets’ all-time list. David Wright, who hit a solo homer, has the team record at 381. Travis d’Arnaud was held out of the starting lineup in favor of Kevin Plawecki after going 0-for-his-last-17, and 0-for-10 with men in scoring position since Sept. 15. Collins said he likely would start d’Arnaud Wednesday. Plawecki went 0-for-3 while d’Arnaud flied out to end the game as a pinch hitter. Another Met being rested was Jacob deGrom, who was skipped Tuesday in favor of Logan Verrett. Collins said deGrom will resume his spot on the next turn, which would have him facing the Reds next weekend in Cincinnati. Verrett struggled in his spot start, allowing four runs in five innings. Collins said the rotation in Cincinnati will be: Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey and deGrom, with Jon Niese, Bartolo Colon and Matz pitching against the Phillies. Terry Collins learns to change with the times MARK HERRMANN, NEWSDAY When Terry Collins broke into professional baseball in 1971, there was no such thing as a designated hitter. There were no pitch counts or innings limits. Tommy John was a pitcher, not a surgery. John appeared in 38 games for the White Sox that season, without an inkling that he would be operated upon three years later in a procedure that would bear his name -- and become an epidemic among young pitchers such as Matt Harvey. It all fits. The white-haired, 66-year-old Collins is the perfect guy to deal with Harvey and the rest of the Mets' stellar, young, handle-with-care rotation. He has been around long enough to let them know that this is going to work out, and that you never stop learning in this game, even after 44 years. Tuesday night was another new episode. Collins had to start Logan Verrett rather than Jacob deGrom -- his best pitcher all year -- in the heart of a pennant race because deGrom had seemed fatigued lately. The manager has learned the value of sacrificing today for a bunch of tomorrows. A sacrifice it was, a lackluster 6-2 loss to the Braves. Still, the Mets made progress, what with the Nationals losing. Collins has rolled with that kind of punch so well this season that there is talk he might be considered for National League Manager of the Year. He scoffed at that, saying that he knows guys who have won such awards and they seldom say, "Boy, I managed my [butt] off." He believes it is all about the players, as it was in 1971. He comes from an era when "cripes" was an expletive. He broke in long, long before Tom Hanks' character in "A League of Their Own" said the immortal line, "There's no crying in baseball." The baseball lifer could not have dreamed that he would be around long enough to see Wilmer Flores break that rule. Nothing in the 1970s prepared Collins to deal with having a player on the field who was sobbing over Twitter reports that he had been traded. There is no handbook for suddenly having to deal with the Harvey Rules, which, of course, are no rules at all, only a fluid set of guidelines that are hastily hammered out between management and an agent at the worst possible time. As Collins said Monday, "This is a different era and a different age . . . Things change and you have to change with them." So there he was, having to watch Verrett allow four runs in the fifth. That was two days after Collins had to lift his ace, Harvey, after five dominant scoreless innings. Things change. Who would have thought ballclubs would have mental strength coaches? "It's easy for us old guys to say, 'Suck it up, go out there and throw strikes, change speeds,' '' he said. "But there is a different mentality." Collins is more pragmatic and patient than he was in previous stints. Still, he refers to himself as "old school." You know it pained him to remove Jose Reyes from a game in the first inning four years ago so that Reyes could clinch a batting title. But it did reinforce his image as somebody who will go to bat for his players. And these Mets do play hard for Collins. They didn't give up early in the summer, when the offense was lifeless and the season looked hopeless. So maybe he did manage his butt off. Maybe not -- his decision to intentionally walk Nick Markakis in the fifth backfired. "I'm going to get home and my wife is going to call me an idiot," Collins said. Maybe he will be an award- winner. Maybe it's not a huge deal. "Our players are playing good. That makes me a lot happier than anything else," he said, adding that five years of struggle in Queens will all be worthwhile "if we can finish this off." He always adds an "if" because 44 years tell him it all can change tomorrow. For today, though, he is the right man at the right time. Sadness vs. Euphoria: Fans Script Endings to Mets’ Season READERS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES Mets Win, and the World Is a Better Place And so it happened. The cosmos shifted. Children slept contentedly in their beds. Doors were held open for the sick and elderly. All were kinder to animals. It was as if an amnesty for all the long-suffering innocents and an amnesia for those who had long held pain in their memory swept across our fair city. Yes, yes, yes. It happened last night. The New York Mets won the Word Series. A Tough Loss for Manager Boras Matt Harvey was brilliant in his Game 7 matchup with the former Met R. A. Dickey and the Toronto Blue Jays. However, Harvey was pulled from the game in the third inning by the new Mets manager, Scott Boras, in an effort to conserve innings. The Mets’ offense sputtered, but Yoenis Cespedes hit four home runs to leave the Mets a run shy of the Jays going into the final inning. With two outs in the ninth, Bartolo Colon hit a pinch-hit, game-tying home run, but he missed third base on his trip home. The Mets lost, 5-4. Minutes later, Cespedes signed a seven-year contract with the Yankees. Mets Are Champs. Honest. It’s real. It happened. The Mets are the 2015 World Series champions. To a generation of fans that endured 2000’s Subway World Series letdown, followed by more than a decade of institutionalized mediocrity, interrupted repeatedly — and thus all the more teasingly — by the cruel kind of irony that only the baseball gods can conceive (see: Endy Chavez’s Mr. Fantastical catch in a losing pennant battle; two consecutive playoff races cut short by nosedive-from-grace-styled collapses; and a Cy Young Award season from R. A. Dickey that earned him a spot on the trading block), that sentence bears repeating. The Mets are the 2015 World Series champions. It’s real. It happened. New York’s perpetual underdogs have done it, and all’s right in the world of sport. Relief in a Bottle We’re cursed. It’s a cliché, I know, but this proves it. We just could not duck the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Strong young arms and timely hitting just could not overcome the relievers who turned the bullpen into a chicken coop. How could we possibly blow a lead like that in the last two innings? How? Where was Gil Hodges when we needed him? Such elation for seven great innings flushed in Flushing by relievers who gave us more grief than relief. I’m going home now to sit with my friends Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam and Bud Weiser. They never let me down. See you in April! Free Baseball! But a Cap Is 20 Bucks. David Wright hit a home run in the bottom of the 25th inning to break the tie, and orphans and puppies ran down the steps of Citi Field. While fireworks lighted the sky overhead, Mayor Bill de Blasio presented the team (but mostly Yoenis Cespedes) with the keys to the city and his choice of the puppies. Finally, stores are offering Mets merchandise. Colon’s Three Homers Aren’t Enough (Hey, It’s Snowing) Perhaps the ancient gods of Shea Stadium actually followed the Mets to Citi Field. Or perhaps it was the curse of Donald Trump, watching stone-faced from behind home plate, in a “Groundhog Day”-like recreation of Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series. Despite three homers by pitcher Bartolo Colon, the Mets lost the final game of an epic World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays by 4-3, on Daniel Murphy’s fourth error of the snowy evening. Yadier Molina Goes All Reg-gie “Well, at least we beat the Dodgers — that made a lot of New York fans happy,” a glum Terry Collins said after the Mets’ 2-0 loss to St. Louis in Game 7 of the N.L.C.S. It was a bitter end to the Cinderella story Mets fans had been weaving in their dreams since their team took over first place in the N.L. East in August. “Hey, my guys gave it all they had, but those four homers in the last two games really shocked us,” Collins added, referring to the four surprising blasts by Yadier Molina, which equaled his regular-season output. Tears of Joy The tears flowed down David Wright’s face as he fulfilled his dream of winning a championship with the Mets. A hit by Wright scored Curtis Granderson and Wilmer Flores in the top of the ninth of Game 7 to give the Mets a 6-5 win over Texas. Flores cried, too, as he hugged Wright — the second time Flores had cried on the field this year. The first was back in July, after he thought he had been traded. Now he shared tears of joy with the Mets’ captain. The Mets are your 2015 World Series champions. A Sweep by the Dodgers, a Cameo by Beltran The dying embers of a Carlos Beltran effigy are all that remain on the field of the Mets’ 2015 campaign. Swept by the Dodgers in a division series, in part because of the tired arms of their young pitching superstars and the silencing of August’s mighty bats. Fans of the team fought off Citi Field security long enough to hurl a burning replica of Beltran’s Mets jersey onto the grass in left-center. Harvey in Game 7 Turns Into a Laugher In the end, for fans used to tears, it was a laugher. The hand-wringing about wringing the last few innings out of Matt Harvey’s apparently but disputedly healed right arm turned out to be a footnote. In the seventh game against the Blue Jays, the Mets didn’t really need even the five innings from Harvey that they used, after an offensive outburst in which they batted around twice in the first two innings and scored nine runs. A New Mr. November On a brisk November evening, in Game 7 of the World Series, the Mets won the championship on the back of their stellar pitching and Mr. November, Michael Conforto. What a playoff run this kid had; what a bright future he has. An incredible season — one for the ages. Cespedes Makes Them Remember Beltran The hearts of Mets fans were broken last night as the Mets lost, 3-2, in Game 7 of the N.L.C.S., sending the Cardinals to the World Series. Yoenis Cespedes struck out on a nasty 3-2 curveball with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning, bringing back painful memories for Mets fans of the 2006 N.L.C.S., when the same thing happened to Carlos Beltran. Nationals Celebrate at Citi Field Life repeats itself. There is no joy in Mudville. In an epic collapse, the Mets again broke the hearts of their fans by losing their eighth straight game. The Nationals completed a sweep of the Mets, giving Washington a playoff spot. Tears rolled down the eyes of all the Mets fans, young and old, as they watched Bryce Harper and his teammates celebrate at Citi Field. All of a sudden it started to rain, obviously because the heavens were crying, too. Being a Mets fan is a lifelong promise to feel the kind of pain that was felt tonight. This collapse, after the Mets were up eight games on the Nationals with 16 left, will be talked about forever. Call it fate or a jinx, but at the end of the day, it was just bad baseball. And who will not remember the ghost of Carlos Beltran when David Wright took a called third strike to end the game with the tying run on second? Mr. Met, how can you show your head in public? Déjà Vu All Over Again Second verse same as the first. Alex Rodriguez capped a stellar World Series with two homers as the silver-spoon Yankees completed an improbable run from wild cards to world champions by dashing the hopes of baseball’s feel-good story this year. The Yankees crushed the Mets, 9-1, in Game 5 of the second go-round of the modern Subway Series. Dodgers Show Harvey His Innings Limit In the end, the Los Angeles Dodgers had the final say on Matt Harvey’s innings limit. With the Mets’ ace taking the mound at Citi Field in a must-win Game 3, he was able to register only two outs. After Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke hit a three-run homer off Harvey in the top of the first inning to put the Dodgers ahead, 7-0, Harvey’s and the Mets’ seasons effectively ended at the same time. Dodgers’ Two Aces Are Too Much The No. 7 train was reduced to silence, kind of like the Mets’ bats, as it made its way along the tracks from Citi Field after the Mets’ exit from the 2015 N.L. playoffs. David Wright did all he could to keep the Mets’ miracle season alive by providing some spark to the lineup, but in the end it just wasn’t enough to propel the Mets past the Dodgers in their first-round series. The Dodgers’ pitching staff, led by the aces Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, proved to be too much for the rest of the Mets’ bats to handle, as they cooled off the red-hot Yoenis Cespedes on their way to back-to-back shutouts and a 3-1 series victory. Is This Heaven? No, It’s Citi Field Last night at Citi Field, Terry Collins watched Wilmer Flores approach the batter’s box with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Nationals leading, 2-1, and Mets standing on second and third. With a win, the Mets would clinch the N.L. East. A loss would flush the season. As Flores stepped in, the fans began their age-old chant. Flores stared down Jonathan Papelbon, fresh from the bullpen. Flores then winked at the pitcher, trying to make him think he knew something Papelbon did not. Apparently enraged, Papelbon let go with a 96-mile-per-hour fastball right down the pipe, and Flores sent it into the left-field seats. Somewhere, in an Iowa cornfield, Moonlight Graham grinned from ear to ear. A March to October Romance While the Mets’ season ended with no new trophies to put on display or World Series rings for players to wear, suffice to say that last March, any Mets fan would have gladly signed up for ending 2015 one win short of reaching the Series. For one of the youngest teams in baseball, that’s a lot to grow on. And having witnessed memorable October heroics from players like Michael Conforto, Steven Matz and perhaps the new face of the franchise, Wilmer Flores — already mentioned as a 2016 M.V.P. candidate — fans at least enter the winter feeling good about their team for the first time in years. But imagine how much better they’ll feel upon learning that Yoenis Cespedes will be buying some Manhattan real estate with part of his new nine-figure contract. A Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream The Mets came out onto the field to a large choir singing “Blank Space” by Taylor Swift. They all forgot how to play baseball. So did the other team. They had to go home. The crowd was very understanding. Objects Block the Mets Players’ Airways They choked. Again. Mets fans should be used to this kind of disappointment. A Grand Finale for Colon Bartolo Colon was the unlikely hero in Game 7. The 42-year-old right-hander came in to pinch-hit for an injured Yoenis Cespedes with the bases loaded in the top of the 26th inning in a scoreless Game 7 of the World Series in Toronto and homered off the former Met and Cy Young Award winner R. A. Dickey. Colon then stayed in to pitch and surrendered three runs in the bottom half of the inning before striking out Troy Tulowitzki with the bases loaded, and the Mets won their first World Series since 1986. A Repeat (No, Not That Kind) In what came close to being an eerie repeat of their last postseason series, the Mets lost Game 7 of the N.L.C.S. to the Cardinals last night by a score of 3-1. The Cardinals, who will face the Blue Jays in the World Series, won the game on a two-run, walk-off homer by Yadier Molina off Tyler Clippard with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. A Mets Pitcher Who Knows No Limits The Mets’ 1-0 World Series Game 7 win took a bizarre turn in the bottom of the 20th when Terry Collins summoned his sole remaining pitcher, Matt Harvey, to protect the lead. A spectator ran onto the field, carrying off Harvey and screaming, “No more innings!” Harvey seemed to be responding, “Scott, get away from me.” But with Harvey gone, Collins turned to left fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who struck out the side with nine 105-mile-an-hour fastballs for his first major league save. The Sweetest Vintage Tonight in the Mets’ locker room, Wilmer Flores’s tears were mixed with Champagne. A Pitching Collapse In spectacular fashion, the Mets’ season ended in tragedy, as their pitching collapsed even as their hitting continued to astound their long-suffering fans. 1969, 1986, 2015 ... The New York Mets have proven the creators of “Futurama” wrong. No longer can the view from the Year 3000 be limited to declaring this city’s long benighted baseball team World Series Champions for 1969 and 1986. That’s right, wiseguys: Add 2015. And who knows, maybe more — though what Mets fan would dare tempt the fates by being so greedy? There’s No Crying in — Wait, This Just In It began with tears. On July 29, the Mets’ 24-year-old shortstop, Wilmer Flores, broke baseball’s cardinal rule (according to Tom Hanks) and cried on the field. This was the shift, the demarcation for what was yet to come. There were tears again in Flushing last night: joyous tears from the famously oft-heartbroken fan base. Last night the Mets defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-3, and stunned the baseball world by winning the World Series in five games in front of a rhapsodic home crowd. The season was as unlikely, memorable and miraculous as the franchise’s two previous championship efforts, in 1969 and 1986. The eyes of the Mets’ third baseman and captain, David Wright, glistened as the Fox reporter Ken Rosenthal awaited for the reply to the traditional inquiry to describe what this felt like. Wright surveyed the still surging crowd and responded, “I’ve waited my whole life for this moment.” Mets Enter Season’s Final Day, Ambulances Standing By The Mets set a record today. Not for runs scored, or scoreless innings pitched, or any other baseball-related feat. No, the Mets set a record today for the most emergency medical technicians present at a regular-season game. In what was described by Mets officials as “merely being cautious,” there were more than 1,500 E.M.T.s at Citi Field to tend to fans who might be overcome by the stress of watching their beloved and historically beleaguered team should they again lose an insurmountable lead on the last day of the season as they had done twice before in this century. Fortunately, they were playing the Nationals, a team which, if this were a Broadway matinee, would be announced as “playing the role of the N.Y. Mets today will be the Washington Nationals.” And so the Mets will head to the playoffs for the first time since 2006, memories of Carlos Beltran gazing at Adam Wainwright’s final pitch dancing in their heads like sugar plum fairies on Christmas Eve. A Painful End to the Season The sports world’s largest, stickiest Band-Aid finally yanked the last painful hairs from a sellout crowd of cringing, flinching Mets fans Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, as the Washington Nationals completed their agonizing September comeback and won the National League East, defeating New York, 7-4. The post-Labor Day collapse might be called unprecedented except Mets fans can point to identical Band-Aid-shaped hairless patches from 2007 and 2008. Whether the skin of Mets fans or the arms of Mets starters suffer from soreness more can be debated all off-season, along with such pressing questions as the value of Yoenis Cespedes’s parakeet arm and golden bat. The Mets, once again, will not be in the playoffs. Win One for Norse Mythology Noah Syndergaard felt for his curveball grip, as Altuve, the terrifying bearer of the tying run, danced off first. Syndergaard pondered Odin’s ravens Huginn and Muninn, as his visual field condensed into Travis d’Arnaud’s glove. These hawks, pushing off the Norse god’s left and right shoulders, soaring and bending across Midgard like Pedro Martinez’s breaking balls, represented thought (Huginn) and memory (Muninn). Syndegaard knew he would need the knowledge of grips and wrist snaps from the latter, the spontaneity to blow past Gattis and knee-buckle Gomez from the former. He knew that this was on him now, because he had sensed the predatory glee in Kazmir. Despite a mistake-turned-souvenir in the second inning, the phoenixlike southpaw had figured out the Mets, and it was likely they would not score any more runs. Syndergaard didn’t trust his own chicanery farther than his stuff could take it — not against Springer’s coordination or even the harsh side of Carter’s three potential outcomes. He would need a rare mode he called ginnheilagr (mighty), which he usually called on only for one pitch per game. He would need this revelrous flow-state to be with him for the season’s handful of remaining outs. “From there,” he recalled, touching the brim of his “World Series Champion” cap, his face betraying his extreme youth, “I kind of just hoped for the best.” Forget Whodunit; Whowunit? An inexplicably charred baseball, 13 dead fish, a twerking mascot and a befuddled umpire grasping to comprehend what had just taken place at home plate. Police and league officials continue to investigate exactly what occurred last night to finish the Mets season in circumstances that can genuinely be called bizarre. Directory: documents documents -> Concept stage documents -> Concept stage documents -> The great global switch-off documents -> Nonprofit grant application documents -> The Truth about the Rwandan Genocide documents -> Annual InStructional unit plan documents -> Chaos equipment included Download 270.29 Kb. Share with your friends:
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