Five home runs and 13 strikeouts from Mets pitching and the lineup Monday night at Yankee Stadium. In this disappointing season for the Mets, Jacob deGrom continued to state his case as the best pitcher in baseball with the lowest ERA. And those home runs from Amed Rosario, Jose Bautista, Todd Frazier, Brandon Nimmo, and Michael Conforto were hit in the right place at Yankee Stadium,
And for the Mets, this makeup game against the Yankees was their high water mark of a disappointing season. Their 8-5 win of home runs and the strikeouts at best describes the 2018 baseball season.
Just envision how more important this win would have meant for the Mets? Instead it was the Yankees who needed this more as their division title aspirations continued to diminish and their AL wild card lead is more of the focus.
A tale of two New York baseball teams, the Yankees with more to play for, have those concerns. The concern is their ace Luis Severino who continues to struggle since the All-Star break and they are team that does not look as dominate as they did in the first half.
And the Yankees have concerns with CC Sabathia who was placed on the 10-day disabled list with knee inflamation. But the issues with Severino are the mechanics with a fastball and slider that can’t locate.
Those home runs in the first inning off Severino, the leadoff one from Amed Rosario and in the fourth inning of the bat of Jose Bautista, showed again that Severino is not that dominant pitcher that would be capable of getting the start in an eventual AL Wild card game with Oakland or Seattle.
“We got to help him and get to the bottom of it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Physically, I think he’s sound but we’ve got to get this righted. And that’s on all of us because he’s so important.”
And with Severino struggling, and the latest issues with Sabathia, what will the Yankees do as their pitching once again seems to be their weak link? Boone said the Yankees will go with Luis Cessa again to replace CC. J.A. Happ will be moved up in the rotation and get his third start as a Yankee Tuesday night in the Bronx against Tampa Bay.
But the Mets, with nothing to play for with exception of pride and looking at next year, this was their game of building. If things would have been different, and with Michael Conforto, who seems to slowly getting that swing back, the Mets may have been in a different position.
And that was not a typical Yankee Stadium home run hit to the opposite field in left field on a 1-1 pitch off A,J. Cole. It was Conforto’s fifth opposite field long ball of the season that was back-to-back after Brandon Nimmo went to right with a Yankee Stadium home run.
“Everybody pitched in a little bit tonight,” Confroto said. “It was a great team win. Jake was great, just like he is every night and we put up some runs for him. It was a big thing we jumped on Severino early and we chased him out of there a little earlier than usual.”
Todd Frazier had one of those Yankee Stadium home runs of Cole in the sixth inning. The Mets set a record in this series with the Yankees with those five home runs and Frazier got around a question about how nice it would be if the Mets had similar conditions at Citi Field.
Regardless, this was about Severino and his shortest outing of the season. And for Jacob deGrom, back-to-back wins and run support again in that quest for a NL CY Young Award which manager Mickey Callaway says is deGrom’s race and should be his.
“I’ve said before that I want to win a CY Young,” said deGrom. “I think that’s what every starting pitcher or pitcher in general wants to win as a personal goal. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it.”
He added to his cause and allowed three runs of which two were earned. It was deGrom’s 21st consecutive start of three or fewer runs on 114 pitches. There were 12 strikeouts, his seventh double digit game of the season. And, yeah the ERA continues to lead MLB at 1.81.
And let it be known, a 7-7 record does not reflect the season for Jacob deGrom. The Yankees were talking about CY Young material when the evening was over and the Mets are glad that he is finally getting run support.
“This whole year he’s been an angel,” Frazier said. “Basically for what we put him through. We want to get him over the top.”
This win Monday night may have put Jacob deGrom further to that CY Young Award. As for the Yankees and Luis Severino, that awaits another day. It could be mechanics or a tied arm for their ace but the stretch run is not the time to figure out the issues.
“Things are not going my way right now, but I will work and try and fix it,” Severino said. “I’m missing with my fastball and I need to be in more control.”
So a win for the Mets that may be meaningless in the standings but a win against the Yankees is always a highlight in this series. The Yankees, it’s finding how to get Luis Severino back to form and with not much time to get it straight.
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