NL EAST 2021

[FredJacket]

Well, the Mets scored enough for deGrom to win last night. Although he did his part at the plate: 2-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI (the first run of the game). Brought his BA down. Currently hitting 0.545 with a 5 game hitting streak, if I'm not mistaken...

The quote that caught my attention though was this from ESPN's wrap up:

"It goes down to just one pitch at a time," deGrom said, reducing the most overwhelming game-by-game performance of any current pitcher in baseball to a simple formula. "That's how I concentrate on a game. Hit my spot. If you end up missing it, so what. You've got to make the next pitch. But it's that focus on that pitch that you're about to throw that you can control. The previous games, those are over with."

Many Georgia Tech pitchers can learn from that...

99.99999% of college kids aren't capable of this mental-ness

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

99.99999% of college kids aren't capable of this mental-ness

99.99999% of MLB pitchers aren't capable of this mental-ness

Fixed that for you Fred...

 

[Buzzbomb]

Mets in first place, 9-9...
Braves, 11-12(0.5 g.b)...
Nats., 8-12(only 2.0 games back).

 

[The Doddfather]

Watched the nats have a chance to beat the Yankees this afternoon after a great start by scherzer, but the yanks pulled it out. Braves finally break through in extras against the first place phils. Small things like this could be the difference toward the end of the season.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

Glad to see Acuna's HBP wasn't as bad as it could have been. Baseball is much better when the best players are playing.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Mets 4-12 vs. winning teams. Other 4 teams are sub .500…
any club can win this division.

N.L. West, loaded.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

Mets 4-12 vs. winning teams. Other 4 teams are sub .500…
any club can win this division.

N.L. West, loaded.

Come on Buzz, you better than most on this board know that you need to put some perspective behind stats and comments like that. I heard the same thing, but then looked into the why.

Do I believe that any NL East team can win the division this year at this point? Yes, most can if they get hot. The Marlins, no.

The Mets 4-12 record versus winning teams is a flawed and meaningless statistic at this point in the season. The Mets are actually now 6-12 vs. winning teams with our last 2 wins against San Diego (were apparently 2-12 before our last 4 wins against San Diego...) If Philadelphia wins tomorrow, we're 12-15! Unless we lose to San Diego, then we're 12-16. But if we beat San Diego, we're 13-15! If the Phillies win 1 game tomorrow...

If you want to know stats about the Mets, here they are:

The Mets are 17-5 at home. 15-19 on the road. Last I heard, we had the lowest percentage of games played at home in MLB (as well as the fewest games played due to the Nats COVID situation opening weekend, rain, snow, etc). Currently have played 60.7% of our games on the road, 39.3% at home. That will equalize to 50-50.

Mets record vs. >0.500 teams (team records in parentheses) are: 0-3 at Cubs (36-27); 0-2 vs Boston at home (39-26); 2-2 at St. Louis (32-31, so two wins and losses could be subtracted any day now); 0-3 at Tampa Bay (41-24); 4-2 at/vs San Diego (37-29).

The Mets are currently 13-8 against the NL East. The Mets are currently 14-5 against the "loaded" NL West. Granted all of those NL West games have been against the bottom 3 Padres, Rockies, and Diamondbacks, but I suspect the Giants and Dodgers have had their share of games against those 3 teams as well and are padding their records (btw, I don't think the Padres are a pushover and we've had 6 tough games against them so far, with one more tomorrow, but I included them in the bottom 3 because that's who we've played and that's where they currently are...)

At one point, the Mets had 17 players on IL, and were starting their 5th string center fielder. Now only down to 10-12 on IL and getting healthier, I hope.

So, a stat of 4-12 against winning teams? Meaningless without context at this point and could change significantly from day to day. NL West? Dodgers and Padres are expected to be great. Giants? Who knows. Playing well so far, but... Diamondbacks and Rockies, 2 of the worst teams in baseball. Any capable team that plays 36 games against 2 of the worst teams in baseball should look good.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Was just pointing out the division was still open. Yes, Mets & Braves have had debilitating injuries in the NL East. Mets probably have more. Soroka, Ynoa, are 2/5 of the staff.
Didn’t mean to offend. You are one of the most knowledgeable baseball posters on this site.

 

[FredJacket]

Was just pointing out the division was still open. Yes, Mets & Braves have had debilitating injuries in the NL East. Mets probably have more. Soroka, Ynoa, are 2/5 of the staff.
Didn’t mean to offend. You are one of the most knowledgeable baseball posters on this site.

I'm counting out the Nationals, gents. Scherzer had to depart the other night (groin) after 1 batter. He says MRI revealed a best case scenario... but best case in this case probably means missed starts & long time before he's right.

That's the pitching (Strasburg is hurt too). Then there's the offense... this is a summary of last 3 games.

 

[Buzzbomb]

The Braves lost 3 one run games in a row, so then they decided to lose by 2. Lol. Same result at the end of 162.
Just think Fred, if this were last season, both of our teams would be done. Out of our misery.
Then I could pull for CincyMetJacket and not eventhe Phillies would be a Wild Card.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

Was just pointing out the division was still open. Yes, Mets & Braves have had debilitating injuries in the NL East. Mets probably have more. Soroka, Ynoa, are 2/5 of the staff.
Didn’t mean to offend. You are one of the most knowledgeable baseball posters on this site.

I'm counting out the Nationals, gents. Scherzer had to depart the other night (groin) after 1 batter. He says MRI revealed a best case scenario... but best case in this case probably means missed starts & long time before he's right.

You didn't offend me Buzz. You are also one of the best baseball posters on this site, along with FredJacket. And Fred, your Nationals are not out of it. Not in this division. Not after what they pulled a few years ago.

Was just extremely drunk and was pointing out the uselessness of stats that are thrown out there by today's baseball "journalists". The Mets had 3 bad series against teams that are now over 0.500 to go 0-8 in that stat. Ironically, the Cubs were 6-9 when they swept us in Chicago and the Rays were 20-19 when they swept us in Tampa. Not really great teams to lose to at the time, but they seem to be now. We get another shot against the Cubbies this week in NY. We'll see what happens. They seem to be an extremely hot team at the moment.

Just seems like a lazy stat for some useless reporter to throw out there, to me. At this point, the Yankees are 33-32, the Angels are 32-32, the Phillies are 32-31, the Reds are 32-31, and the Cardinals are 32-32. So one win or loss by any of those teams could significantly change the >0.500 record of any of the teams that have played a substantial number of games against them. Realistically, I don't care if the Mets have a winning record against >0.500 teams until it's playoff time. Beat them then.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Have you gents. realized that the Braves farm system has been rated 15, 16 via two different sources? There is hope for Fred and his Nats. The Mets have a good system, too. Baseball is so cyclical.

Didn‘t mean to leave Fred out, with the complimentary talk. He knows the game as well as anyone I know. You guys do an incredible job over in the Beesball thread. I do pull for the East clubs, when the Braves are out. Spent my Summertimes in N.Y., where I was born. Lived in Miami, played ball there until 9 yo. Been in Atlanta since then. Relatives in Philly. You gotta love the starters with the Mets and Nats.

 

[FredJacket]

Have you gents. realized that the Braves farm system has been rated 15, 16 via two different sources? There is hope for Fred and his Nats. The Mets have a good system, too. Baseball is so cyclical.

Didn‘t mean to leave Fred out, with the complimentary talk. He knows the game as well as anyone I know. You guys do an incredible job over in the Beesball thread. I do pull for the East clubs, when the Braves are out. Spent my Summertimes in N.Y., where I was born. Lived in Miami, played ball there until 9 yo. Been in Atlanta since then. Relatives in Philly. You gotta love the starters with the Mets and Nats.

Aww shucks, Buzz. But I'm nowhere near the level of you & @CINCYMETJACKET.

I'll pull for Braves when Nationals are not impacted. ...I grew up a Braves fan listening to Skip & gang cover Murphy, Horner, Chambliss et al. The lean years.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Aww shucks, Buzz. But I'm nowhere near the level of you & @CINCYMETJACKET.

I'll pull for Braves when Nationals are not impacted. ...I grew up a Braves fan listening to Skip & gang cover Murphy, Horner, Chambliss et al. The lean years.

That's back when Murphy was the CF, before Butler. That '81 team is the only team in MLB history that I can name all the starters, starting pitchers, relievers, and top subs. Still can do it today.

 

[FredJacket]

I'm counting out the Nationals, gents. Scherzer had to depart the other night (groin) after 1 batter. He says MRI revealed a best case scenario... but best case in this case probably means missed starts & long time before he's right.

That's the pitching (Strasburg is hurt too). Then there's the offense... this is a summary of last 3 games.

Note the date on my post... corresponds to date referenced in this tweet.
[Credit to @CINCYMETJACKET ...he correctly corrected my negative "early call"... I'm a bit ashamed]

If you're not paying close attention... Kyle Schwarber's HR tear in really unreal. He's doing Bonds & Sosa minus the juice.

...he had ANOTHER leadoff HR tonight.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

Note the date on my post... corresponds to date referenced in this tweet.
[Credit to @CINCYMETJACKET ...he correctly corrected my negative "early call"... I'm a bit ashamed]

If you're not paying close attention... Kyle Schwarber's HR tear in really unreal. He's doing Bonds & Sosa minus the juice.

...he had ANOTHER leadoff HR tonight.

It's the NL East. The Nats (Kyle is the #1 perpetrator, especially against the Mets) have been on fire. The rest of the division have been wandering around like zombies. Should be an interesting summer!

 

[Buzzbomb]

Kyle did make the All-Star team. Really looking forward to it this year, and deGrom pitching vs. those AL hitters(yeah, he gets ‘em out during the regular season, no doubt). Max Scherzer got snubbed. Albies for Atlanta has been hot.

MLB All-Star Game rosters -- the biggest reaches, surprises and snubs

No Max Scherzer? Will Shohei Ohtani pitch and hit? Who was the biggest reach? Here's a breakdown of the full MLB All-Star Game rosters.

www.espn.com

 

[FredJacket]

It's sports. It's part of the deal. Still sucks.

The Nationals were hot & scraping by while making up ground without some key guys... but add injuries to Turner & now Schwarber. That was just too much. Dodgers sweep them (4 games) in DC. Now a long west coast road trip against more very good teams... with basically a mix of MLB & AAA guys on roster.

Only the NL EAST champ will make playoffs (it appears). Tough road ahead for my team.

 

[Buzzbomb]

No joke, the Mets continue in first place….

 

[Buzzbomb]

Rich Hill to the Mets.
Mets have talks going on for Whit Merrifield of K.C.(2B-OF).

Nats shut down Strasberg, for now.

Braves drop to 3rd place. Hope they get something for those veteran SP’s.

Fred, I noticed one of those recent evaluation sites had the Nats farm system at #30, with Atlanta in the middle around 15th. What’s happening to our teams??