Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City

[SWC75]

I think the Mets may have gone about as far as they can go. Their great strength is sending one power pitcher after another to the mound to start games. The Royals neutralize power pitching with their ability to hit fastballs and their aggressiveness in going after them. So the Mets pitcher shave to go to their second or third best pitch. Harvey and DeGrom are our most complete pitchers and they couldn't beat the Royals. Now we'll have our fastest pitcher, Sondergaard, who relies purely on velocity, followed by Matz, who is the least experienced of the four. One wonders if Collins will try to go with Harvey on short rest instead.

The Royals just seem to be a team built to beat the Mets. In fact they are built to beat pretty much everybody else, which is why they had the biggest lead in baseball all summer.

 

[brandokc]

Everything is up to date in my beautiful adopted hometown.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Best team in baseball really probably the past two years. Sometime's hitting beats pitching. I think the Met's phenoms all need to work on there secondary pitches in order to truly reach their potential. Good hitters can hit the straight stuff no matter how hard it is. The Royals have a better lineup and position players across the diamond.

 

[OttoMets]

It wasn't just fastballs that Kansas City was able to hit in the 5th last night. Jake pitched reasonably well; for the first time in months, it looked like we just got beat by a better team.

Hopefully the fortunes turn around tomorrow night.

 

[MSOrange]

Everything is up to date in my beautiful adopted hometown.

I've mentioned before that I'm a fellow Kansas Citian. I'm cheering like crazy for the Royals but does it seem to you like the fans and even local sports radio has a bit of an inferiority complex? It just seems like they take it personal if any media personality compliments the Mets. I heard complaints from co-workers that the announcers were gushing over Harvey and not being fair to Volquez, they were gushing over Familia when Wade Davis is just as good. On 810 this morning, Steven St John was whining about everybody hyping De Grom instead of Cueto before the game last night. Cueto was awesome last night but de Grom was better the whole second half. Bottom line - who cares what anyone says? The Royals are winning the dang series. That's what important.

 

[brandokc]

I've mentioned before that I'm a fellow Kansas Citian. I'm cheering like crazy for the Royals but does it seem to you like the fans and even local sports radio has a bit of an inferiority complex? It just seems like they take it personal if any media personality compliments the Mets. I heard complaints from co-workers that the announcers were gushing over Harvey and not being fair to Volquez, they were gushing over Familia when Wade Davis is just as good. On 810 this morning, Steven St John was whining about everybody hyping De Grom instead of Cueto before the game last night. Cueto was awesome last night but de Grom was better the whole second half. Bottom line - who cares what anyone says? The Royals are winning the dang series. That's what important.

I have to agree, Satellite radio was the best thing that ever happened to me.

 

[Briancuse]

Probably, this is just the beginning for the mets though, we are going to be good for a long time to come.

 

[SWC75]

Probably, this is just the beginning for the mets though, we are going to be good for a long time to come.

But it's hard to get back to this position. Just ask the Nationals, who are supposed to have a dynasty. Even the Braves, through all their years of dominant pitching, just won the WS once.

 

[Briancuse]

But it's hard to get back to this position. Just ask the Nationals, who are supposed to have a dynasty. Even the Braves, through all their years of dominant pitching, just won the WS once.

The nationals don't have the pitching that we do, the braves had some pretty bad bullpens. The playoffs are a crapshoot, but I am very confident with the pitching we have going forward.

 

[upperdeck]

the mets got B efforts from both pitchers and had game 1 won. if they dont hit they wont win no matter how they pitch

 

[OrangeFoo]

The nationals don't have the pitching that we do, the braves had some pretty bad bullpens. The playoffs are a crapshoot, but I am very confident with the pitching we have going forward.

This series has really exposed the Mets hitters. I don't like Long's approach of trying to pull everything. Outside of Grandy and Murph the Mets hitters just seem fundamentally not sound and you can't trust them to take good at bats. In Game 1 after the 9th you just knew that KC was going to win eventually because the Mets didn't challenge the KC pitchers at all. Game 2 seemed to be just a continuation of Game 1... terrible at bat after terrible at bat.

Moving forward I think Wright is going to be a serious problem for the Mets... Murph should be the starting 3rd baseman with Herrera or Flores at 2nd and Tejada at short and Duda at 1st. But you can't do that as long as Wright owns 3rd... I think we lose Murph because of this.

The other big problem is Cuddyer... he is toast and we're committing a lot of money to him which is going to cost us Cespedes.

Cespedes is also slumping big time but I think he's more hurt than he's letting on. I would love to re-sign him but I suspect that we'll let him go and Lagares will get his spot back.

I like Conforto but he's definitely been overmatched during the playoffs. We need him to develop next year.

I dunno, I want to agree that this team is set up for 3/4 years of dominance but I don't think there are enough bats to get us past the being the .500 no-hit team we were in July. Some of the kids really need to start proving that they can hit consistently... I'm looking at you Mr. Herrera.

 

[SWC75]

This series has really exposed the Mets hitters. I don't like Long's approach of trying to pull everything. Outside of Grandy and Murph the Mets hitters just seem fundamentally not sound and you can't trust them to take good at bats. In Game 1 after the 9th you just knew that KC was going to win eventually because the Mets didn't challenge the KC pitchers at all. Game 2 seemed to be just a continuation of Game 1... terrible at bat after terrible at bat.

Moving forward I think Wright is going to be a serious problem for the Mets... Murph should be the starting 3rd baseman with Herrera or Flores at 2nd and Tejada at short and Duda at 1st. But you can't do that as long as Wright owns 3rd... I think we lose Murph because of this.

The other big problem is Cuddyer... he is toast and we're committing a lot of money to him which is going to cost us Cespedes.

Cespedes is also slumping big time but I think he's more hurt than he's letting on. I would love to re-sign him but I suspect that we'll let him go and Lagares will get his spot back.

I like Conforto but he's definitely been overmatched during the playoffs. We need him to develop next year.

I dunno, I want to agree that this team is set up for 3/4 years of dominance but I don't think there are enough bats to get us past the being the .500 no-hit team we were in July. Some of the kids really need to start proving that they can hit consistently... I'm looking at you Mr. Herrera.

I agree that the met's hitters have been as big and maybe a bigger problem than the Mets hitters. Maybe that will change as we get farther into their starting rotation.

Right now I'm in full 'turtle' mode- hiding in my shell, preparing for a possible blow-out loss to FSU sandwiched around what turn out to be the Met's last two games of the season.

 

[OrangeFoo]

I agree that the met's hitters have been as big and maybe a bigger problem than the Mets hitters. Maybe that will change as we get farther into their starting rotation.

Right now I'm in full 'turtle' mode- hiding in my shell, preparing for a possible blow-out loss to FSU sandwiched around what turn out to be the Met's last two games of the season.

Same here... but I don't feel too bad about it. Both our football team and the Mets are facing what seem to be superior opponent. Not much yo can do but tip your hat. If I keep typing I'm going to end up typing the Mets eulogy for the season and I'm not ready to do that yet so I'll stop.

The weekend of the 11th was still the worst from a sporting perspective... SU loses to USF, Mets lose to Dodgers in game 2 on that ridiculous Utley call, USMNT loses to Mexico, USMT - u23 doesn't qualify to olympics because they lost to Honduras of all teams. Bad all around.

 

[SWC75]

Same here... but I don't feel too bad about it. Both our football team and the Mets are facing what seem to be superior opponent. Not much yo can do but tip your hat. If I keep typing I'm going to end up typing the Mets eulogy for the season and I'm not ready to do that yet so I'll stop.

The weekend of the 11th was still the worst from a sporting perspective... SU loses to USF, Mets lose to Dodgers in game 2 on that ridiculous Utley call, USMNT loses to Mexico, USMT - u23 doesn't qualify to olympics because they lost to Honduras of all teams. Bad all around.

Years ago I had a football weekend where SU lost, my high school lost. The pro teams I have rooted for over the years all lost. Hawaii, where my bother teaches lost. My parents lived in Durham but near the UNC campus. Duke and UNC both lost. My mother's family comes from Arkansas. Arkansas lost. My brother went to Hamilton College. They lost. The total score was something like 50-300. I pulled a good book out of the bookcase, drew a nice warm bath and read the book. Players have to live with it. fans don't.

 

[Briancuse]

This series has really exposed the Mets hitters. I don't like Long's approach of trying to pull everything. Outside of Grandy and Murph the Mets hitters just seem fundamentally not sound and you can't trust them to take good at bats. In Game 1 after the 9th you just knew that KC was going to win eventually because the Mets didn't challenge the KC pitchers at all. Game 2 seemed to be just a continuation of Game 1... terrible at bat after terrible at bat.

Moving forward I think Wright is going to be a serious problem for the Mets... Murph should be the starting 3rd baseman with Herrera or Flores at 2nd and Tejada at short and Duda at 1st. But you can't do that as long as Wright owns 3rd... I think we lose Murph because of this.

The other big problem is Cuddyer... he is toast and we're committing a lot of money to him which is going to cost us Cespedes.

Cespedes is also slumping big time but I think he's more hurt than he's letting on. I would love to re-sign him but I suspect that we'll let him go and Lagares will get his spot back.

I like Conforto but he's definitely been overmatched during the playoffs. We need him to develop next year.

I dunno, I want to agree that this team is set up for 3/4 years of dominance but I don't think there are enough bats to get us past the being the .500 no-hit team we were in July. Some of the kids really need to start proving that they can hit consistently... I'm looking at you Mr. Herrera.

We scored enough runs to win game 1, our closer who has been lights out all year, gave up a hr. I think we will be fine going forward, I am with you on Wright, I don't think he has much left in the tank. I am not expecting to sign Cespedes, but if we re-sign Murphy, sign another bat in free agency, we should be ok. I happen to think that Conforto is going to be a stud, and I also expect Darnaud to keep getting better.

 

[MSOrange]

Years ago I had a football weekend where SU lost, my high school lost. The pro teams I have rooted for over the years all lost. Hawaii, where my bother teahes lost. My parents lived in Durham but near the UNC campus. Duke and UNC both lost. My mother's family comes from Arkansas. Arkansas lost. My bother went to Hamilton College. They lost. The total score was something like 50-300. I pulled a good book out of the bookcase, drew anice wamr bath and read the book. Players have to live with it. fans don't.

I've had weekends like that where SU lost, Mom's alma mater Wyoming lost, Dad's alma mater Iowa lost, my alma mater Mercer lost and the Bills lost. I hate 0-5 weekends!

 

[CuseCPT]

Even when Syndergaard gets a strike out the umps give the Royals a pass. Bullshit. Two strikeouts so far Royals got a pass on, both lead to runs.

 

[SWC75]

And what is it with these weird plays? Two guys try to cover first at the same time?

 

[SWC75]

Friday night's win, SU's good first half vs. FSU and leading most of Saturday night got me to peak out of the turtle shell so it still hurt when I got poked in the eye twice on Saturday. Back in the shell.

 

[Briancuse]

Harvey is carrying us back to Kansas City.

 

[rrlbees]

That's why you let coaches coach and the players play.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Any team with a 1st base coach named Rusty Kuntz can't be all bad.

 

[Shark58]

Any team with a 1st base coach named Rusty Kuntz can't be all bad.

easily one of the greatest sports names ever

as for the series, I was kinda rooting for the mutts. I have no reason to pull for KC. that said, too many mets fans would have been insufferable. I'm sure a couple of guys from my office are crying now. oh well...

btw, I think the Mets open next year in KC. maybe watching them open as champs will spur them on like I hope is will do for the Rangers this year.4

LGR!!!

 

[SWC75]

1) The best team won. Kansas City, as Joe Buck said was "tenacious and relentless". My biggest memory of this series is all the time the Mets got 0-2 or 1-2 counts and just could not get that third strike. They were the better fundamental and more opportunistic team by a good margin.

2) The Mets have decisions to make about Murphy, Cespedes and Wright with his spinal stenosis. They need to improve their infield defense and get some offensive speed on the team. They also need to improve their bullpen, (I like Niese out there). But as long as they keep the four "young guns together, (and don't forget they'll get Wheeler back next season), they will be perennial contenders.

3) Those games were titanic struggles. A series doesn't need to go 7 games to be a great series.

4) The Mets led in every game. Their failure to add to their leads meant even more than the Royal's late game heroics.

5) After playing like an MVP down the stretch of the regular season, he became a liability in this series. He misplayed the first pitch of the series into an inside the park home run. He booted a ball in game 4 and then committed an unforgivable base running error to win the game. And he contributed nothing with his bat.

6) My issue is not with leaving Harvey in: it's with leaving Cespedes in. What was he going to do? He could barely stand there. He couldn't run. He couldn't play center field. Even getting a good swing seemed unlikely. Collins should have put in Legares at that point, not in the next inning.

7) Keith Hernandez just said something that should have been stressed by the Fox crew: Wright should have been at third base, holding Hosmer on. he wouldn't have gone anywhere if he was there. That was Flores ball.

8) I'm baseballed out. I love the game but the tremendous tension that builds up during a game is wearing. So is the sherr number of games. I like the fact that when you have a disappointing loss, there's almost always a game the next night: win that and you're OK. But I've been watching Mets games night after night really since Flores's crying jag. I want to wait a week before the next game, like in football. I want to see the low-stress start of the SU basketball season. I want to watch the old movies and old TV shows I love. TCM, here I come!

 

[STEVEHOLT]

This series has really exposed the Mets hitters. I don't like Long's approach of trying to pull everything. Outside of Grandy and Murph the Mets hitters just seem fundamentally not sound and you can't trust them to take good at bats. In Game 1 after the 9th you just knew that KC was going to win eventually because the Mets didn't challenge the KC pitchers at all. Game 2 seemed to be just a continuation of Game 1... terrible at bat after terrible at bat.

Moving forward I think Wright is going to be a serious problem for the Mets... Murph should be the starting 3rd baseman with Herrera or Flores at 2nd and Tejada at short and Duda at 1st. But you can't do that as long as Wright owns 3rd... I think we lose Murph because of this.

The other big problem is Cuddyer... he is toast and we're committing a lot of money to him which is going to cost us Cespedes.

Cespedes is also slumping big time but I think he's more hurt than he's letting on. I would love to re-sign him but I suspect that we'll let him go and Lagares will get his spot back.

I like Conforto but he's definitely been overmatched during the playoffs. We need him to develop next year.

I dunno, I want to agree that this team is set up for 3/4 years of dominance but I don't think there are enough bats to get us past the being the .500 no-hit team we were in July. Some of the kids really need to start proving that they can hit consistently... I'm looking at you Mr. Herrera.

If getting to the world series is when something is "exposed" then I don't think that really was a thing at all now was it.

With better bullpen management and a little less flukey KC BABIP, the Mets would be ahead in the series instead of finished.