NLDS G3 IGT 10/8/2024: PHI@NYM — Homecoming Game

[Frayed Knot]

Open book, insert game!

[Edgy MD]

Going for the clincher at home!

[Fman99]

Padded the lead. Shut the door. Gave Diaz a second day of rest. Everything coming up Milhouse

[Batty31]

Just checking in. Doing my part by not watching lol

[Benjamin Grimm]

[Gwreck]

Outstanding win. Great crowd. Introduced the entire taxi squad (McNeil, Baty, Reyes, Kranick, Senger, A. Young) and the injured guys (Scott, Smith, Raley). Nice cheers for McNeil.

I too wanted Ottavino. Diaz was inexplicably up in the 8th.

[Edgy MD]

I too wanted Ottavino.

Good man.

[Fman99]

Went back and watched the 6 minute 'game recap' on the Mets' web site this morning (as I do the morning after most victories).

Clearly the sixth inning was the pivot point - the top of the 6th, where Manaea got Harper swinging and Castellanos to line into the DP, and then the bottom, where Marte got the key two out hit to double the lead from 2-0 to 4-0. Game swung right there.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's a funny thing to know that from 5 p.m to about 8, 8:15, I'll be feeling nothing but pure stress, and following that I'll either be elated or despondent and nothing in between.

So, which was it?

[Centerfield]

Elated! But my description doesn’t do justice to the many hills and valleys along the way.

[Benjamin Grimm]

This was the least stressful game of the postseason so far, but yeah, that doesn't mean there wasn't tension. I hope the Mets jump out to a big lead tonight and that the Phillies never threaten. We can use a game like that.

[Edgy MD]

It's the playoffs. Nothing's gonna come easy. Even the occasional blowout is gonna make the advocates of the winning team sweat, because the visitors are still going to throw everything at it.

And by the way, this is totally unfair to the guy, but how gratifying is it to end a post-season game by retiring Kody Clemens?

[Gwreck]

The Phillies’ family section was nearby where I was sitting. There were a few jokes amongst the crowd about daddy not wanting to show up/not being welcome.

[batmagadanleadoff]

It's the playoffs. Nothing's gonna come easy. Even the occasional blowout ....

It's the same game that they play in May and June, but hyped up to the rafters so that the owners could get double and triple the price for the same game-ticket. Pitchers are trying their best to get batters out and batters are trying to hit the ball as well as possible, just the same as always. If anything, playoff baseball is diminished baseball because everybody's hurt and the pitchers are worn out from throwing innings all season long. Some of these players are, no doubt, harboring minor injuries that nobody but themselves know about. You're as likely to see a blowout now as you are in April.

[Edgy MD]

I don't see what you see.

I see relief aces used in the middle innings to desperately claw back into a game that would have gotten a bullpen backender by the fifth in July. I see alternate-day starters getting up and getting used for late-inning relief.

Buck Showalter had an expression about something he avoided he called "chasing the win." He didn't want to upend his bullpen burning guys for two or three days down the road trying to climb back into a game when his team was down multiple runs. He was going to pitch Denyi Reyes or Edwin Uceta and if Nimmo or Lindor or someone was getting a day off, Buck wasn't going to throw him into the game. If those backenders shut down the opposition and his hitters hit their way back into the game, great, he would manage for the win, but otherwise, he was looking ahead to conserve his resources.

That's not what you get in the playoffs. Regulars don't get rest days. Injured guys don't take it easy. Roger McDowell gets four-inning relief spots. Randy Johnson comes out of the pen the day after a start.

I don't think we're as likely to get Kody Clemens on the mound as we were two weeks ago. And so a four- or five-run lead is that much less secure, because nobody's throwing up a white flag.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Yes. Also. you're unlikely to see the 5th starter get a start. Teams can even get by, for the most part, with a three man rotation.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I don't see what you see.

I see relief aces used in the middle innings to desperately claw back into a game that would have gotten a bullpen backender by the fifth in July. I see alternate-day starters getting up and getting used for late-inning relief.

Buck Showalter had an expression about something he avoided he called "chasing the win." He didn't want to upend his bullpen burning guys for two or three days down the road trying to climb back into a game when his team was down multiple runs. He was going to pitch Denyi Reyes or Edwin Uceta and if Nimmo or Lindor or someone was getting a day off, Buck wasn't going to throw him into the game. If those backenders shut down the opposition and his hitters hit their way back into the game, great, he would manage for the win, but otherwise, he was looking ahead to conserve his resources.

That's not what you get in the playoffs. Regulars don't get rest days. Injured guys don't take it easy. Roger McDowell gets four-inning relief spots. Randy Johnson comes out of the pen the day after a start.

I don't think we're as likely to get Kody Clemens on the mound as we were two weeks ago. And so a four- or five-run lead is that much less secure, because nobody's throwing up a white flag.

I wasn't referring to the tactics so much, but to the level of play. It's the same game as in May and June from that perspective. I just can't stand to hear the idea that in the playoffs, certain players "clutch up" as if they have some secret magic switch that enables them to play better than they usually do because it's the playoffs. I also can't stand to hear talk about playoff experience, which I think is utter nonsense. Sure, there's more at stake. But when a batter steps in the box, it's all the same as if it were June. He's trying to hit the ball as well as and as efficiently as possible.

[batmagadanleadoff]

If anything, playoff baseball is diminished baseball because everybody's hurt and the pitchers are worn out from throwing innings all season long. Some of these players are, no doubt, harboring minor injuries that nobody but themselves know about.

Players are worn down and attrition has set in. The Mets sure could use Dedniel Nunez on their roster. (Jeff McNeil, too.). And the Phillies pitching staff definitely looks worn down some. But who knows? It's only two Mets wins we're talking about. It could just the same be randomness.

[Edgy MD]

I didn't write anything about "clutching up."

I've never seen or heard anyone but you use that term.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I didn't write anything about "clutching up."

I know. I simply expanded on the main point about blowouts in the playoffs to go on about how playoff baseball is covered. I think it's the same game. I think that this notion of playoff experience is an old wive's tale. I don't think it's any harder to catch a pop-up or to hit a home run in the playoffs than it is is in May and if a line drive were to be hit in the direction of Luisangel Acuna, I'm not gonna start to worry more than I'd normally worry just because Acuna is a rookie.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm not so sure about that. These players are human beings and it's entirely possible that under certain pressure situations they may not be at their best.

Did Bill Bucker fumble that grounder just as he would have in a game in May, or was he wanting TOO much to field it and end the inning? We'll never know for sure, but I don't; think we can dismiss the possibility.

[batmagadanleadoff]

If anything, playoff baseball is diminished baseball because everybody's hurt and the pitchers are worn out from throwing innings all season long. Some of these players are, no doubt, harboring minor injuries that nobody but themselves know about.

Players are worn down and attrition has set in. The Mets sure could use Dedniel Nunez on their roster. (Jeff McNeil, too.). And the Phillies pitching staff definitely looks worn down some. But who knows? It's only two Mets wins we're talking about. It could just the same be randomness.

Freddie Freeman looks like a gimp and the secret's now out: Brandon Nimmo is dealing with plantar fascitis.

Brandon Nimmo revealed to The Athletic after Sunday night’s Game 1 loss in the National League Championship Series that he has been dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot since May. He said he irritated the injury in Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

That’s why Nimmo could be seen limping throughout the New York Mets’ 9-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Right now it hurts pretty good,” Nimmo said after going 0-for-3 Sunday. He was pinch hit for in the ninth inning. “The second-to-last game against Philadelphia, I did something on the field and made it quite a bit worse. … When it gets inflamed and flares up, it’s a harder thing to calm down.”

Nimmo believed he aggravated the injury in the sixth inning of Game 3 last Tuesday, either while faking down the third-base line to distract Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering or when scoring on Starling Marte’s two-run single.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/584178 ... itis-nlcs/

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I detected where Zimmo was compromised a few months ago