Matt Harvey was dealing and he had held the Royals scoreless for the 1st 8 innings. The Mets were 3 outs away from taking it back to Kansas City for a game 6 and Citi Field was ready to explode.
The Dark Knight was in control but a decision needed to be made and that's when the drama starts to unfold. While the Mets were batting in the bottom 8th then FOX cameras focuses on the Mets dugout and catches pitching coach Dan Warthen telling Matt Harvey that his night was over, Harvey barks at the decision and then walks over to Terry Collins and is now pleading his case to stay in the game. Matt Harvey was having a Jack Morris moment and wouldn't you know it Jack Morris is in the house and of course FOX catches it all.
Oh the drama.
When the 9th inning came around Matt Harvey emerges from the Mets dugout and the crowd roars in a frenzy, Matt Harvey had won Terry Collins over and everyone including me was 100% behind it. The moment was here and this was going to be one for the ages.
But as we had come to see throughout this WS the KC Royals had a different plan and the script was about to change. With the Mets up 2-0 Harvey opens up the inning by walking the speedy Lorenzo Cain, moments later Cain was on 2nd as he wasted no time stealing 2nd. The Royals were applying the pressure on the Mets. Eric Hosmer was next and he doubled for the Royals 1st run and that was the end of the night for Harvey. The gut decision had backfired and now the Royals had the Mets right where they wanted them.
In came Juerys Familia and I held my breath for a Met miracle.
It was 2-1 Mets and the tying run was on 2nd with no outs as Familia was greeted by Mike Moustakas who grounded out to the right side moving Eric Hosmer to 3rd. The Mets needed a strikeout but these are the KC Royals. Salvador Perez was next and Familia got him to weakly ground towards short for what looks like the easy 2nd out but that's when the Mets fundamentals would do them in again.
David Wright got in front of Wilmer Flores picking him off instead of covering 3rd and when Wright made the throw too 1st for the out Eric Hosmer said fuck it and made a mad dash to home plate.
The Royals were making things happen again and Lucas Duda would be the next victim. Duda came home but his throw was no where near d'Arnaud as the Royals had tied it.
As the reply is replying the play it clearly shows that if Lucas Duda had made a half decent throw Eric Hosmer would had been out by a mile and the game would be over but Lucas Duda had goosed it. The Mets would get out of the inning tied but they would not score in the their bottom half and now the game was heading into extra innings.
The Mets would be having the last licks but you knew it was only a matter of time before the Royals would find another way to take another game away from the Mets.
I just could not see the Mets coming back from that and that's when Harold Reynolds said...
-if the Mets are to win this ballgame you just get the feeling that someone is going to have to hit a HR for them to win it, but with the Royals all they have to do is get someone on base..
It was exactly how I felt and that's exactly what happened in the 12th when the Royals would put the Mets out of their misery. Addison Reed is in and Salvador Perez singles to lead off the inning, Ned Yost then inserts the speedy Jarrod Dyson to pinch run and the whole ballpark knew what was coming next. Dyson stole 2nd and Alex Gordon moves him to 3rd, 1 out. Up next was the pitcher slot and Ned Yost goes to the bench for a pinch hitter calling for Cristian Colon who was about to get his 1st at-bat of the entire playoffs.
Reed had 2 strikes on Colon but he could not put him away, Colon fought some pitches off and stayed in the at bat until Addison Reed hung a slider and Colon did not miss. It was a Francisco Cabrera moment for Colon and the Royals would continue to pile it on for 4 more runs. It was over and the Kansas City Royals had won their 2nd World Series title ending their 30 year drought and now it was the Mets who hadn't won in 30 years.
A heartbreaker.
In the 5 World Series that the Mets have now participated in, this one will go down as the one they let get away. At the end of the day the NY Mets were not ready for prime time as the Kansas City Royals. The Royals had exposed the Mets on defense and they were clearly the better all around team.
Hopefully the Mets can learn something from this Royals team when building and preparing for next season and beyond. The Kansas City Royals came in and played that old school, NL ball, that we haven't seen since the early 90's and the Mets came in with that AL ball.
Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals the 2015 Champions of MLB.
After the game I went over to SNY, and as always Nelson Figueroa, Gary Cohen and Keith were brutally honest and did not miss a beat.
http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=527610683&topic_id=6479520
6 comments:
Well, at least I picked the 5 games right? I really thought that the Mets with their pitching would get it done, but I underestimated how gritty the Royals are. Royals exposed the Mets shaky defense and questionable bullpen, you really have to tip your cap to KC for the way they played. Its rare to see a team lose in the World Series one year and get back next year, I think its only the 5th time in the division era of MLB that its happened. This series reminded me of the 2014 Stanley Cup finals with the Rangers. The Rangers led after 7 regulation periods, were tied after 4 periods but still lost in 5. Teams that were good enough to be in the finals and hang in but just couldn't get by a gritty team.
So whats next for the NY Mets? I think its pretty safe to say that Cespedes and Murphy won't be back so it'll be interesting to see how the Mets replace that offense. Next few weeks should be fun following what teams make what moves to step up.
I also underestimated the Royals, at the beginning of the playoffs I picked the Jays and Mets to make it to the WS but about halfway through the playoffs my opinion had changed and I realize how I underestimated the Royals.
I know the Mets bullpen was questionable but when Duda messed up and you told me how this is when you appreciate the great Mariano, sure Mariano Rivera is the greatest but Familia had come in and done his job. If I'm not mistaken I think Familia goes down as the 1st to blow 3 games in a WS but in reality he really just blew game 1 with the HR. Famila did his job and the only reason he gets 2 other blown saves in the series has to do with the official scorer, just like when Cespedes botched the ball and they gave Escobar a HR instead of giving Cespedes the error. Not taking anything away from the Royals but it was the Mets mental mistakes that killed the Mets, they gave it away.
If I had to bet I say both Cespedes and Murphy wont be coming back, if the Mets keep one of them I say it would be Murphy but on a discount but then again this Murphy's chance for his only big contract. If the Mets keep Cespedes it will only be on a 3 to 4 year deal, no way do they give him the 6 years he is seeking and that's the way to go.
Yeah, the defense let Familia down in a couple of those games. The thing about Mariano is the air of invincibility that he brought to the game, always gave the Yankees a mental edge that when he was coming in you might as well pack it in. I'll be curious to see if Familia can keep it going next season or if this was a one year thing.
The Mets would be wise to let both of those guys walk away. Murphy is not a even a decent 2nd baseman and unless they plan on moving Duda and having Murphy play 1st I don't see why they would bring him back. Murphy is better suited to be in an AL team where he can play a couple of positions and DH. As for Cespedes, when he was tearing it up I told you that he's not a superstar, you found out why at the worst possible time. Cespedes is a decent player but not the type of player you build around. Mets front office is pretty smart, the holes in that team are pretty glaring; bullpen and defense but we'll see how those issues are addressed.
I think Familia will be fine, we both know that relievers change year to year but I believe in his stuff. I will be fine with letting both Murphy and Cespedes go, I agree that Murphy can be good to keep if he is to replace Duda, or as a 3B but we already stuck with Wright, the Mets already have a 2B with the kid Herrera or Flores. With that said Murphy is a goner.
As for Cespedes I like to keep him but for 3 years so that's not gonna happen. I love him as a player because he is a 5 tool guy, I call him a poor mans Mike Trout, but like you said not to build around, if Cespedes was 26 I would not mind giving him a 6 year deal but the guy is 30. I'm fine with Conforto, Lagares and Granderson in the OF next year. Sandy and the Mets will move on.
Yea the defense and the bullpen is what the Mets need to focus on, they need a lefty in the pen, get me Chapman from the Reds! On defense the Mets need a SS, that's were I would use Harvey and trade him to Boston for Bogaerts and Betts, heard it on WFAN, don't think Boston would go for it but maybe if you throw in someone like Flores. What you think?
We'll see about Familia, time will tell. The roads are littered with closers who had 1-2 good years and then fall apart.
Yeah, I wouldn't give Cespedes a long deal, we think he's 30 but with the Cuban guys you can't even be sure of that. Mets are better off with going with those 3 guys.
Defense and bullpen is key for the Mets. You can't have starting pitching that good and give away outs on the field or have a pen that you can't really trust. Yeah, I don't think the Red Sox would go for that trade, you would have to throw in more but if I'm the Mets I do that in a heartbeat.
Yea I don't think Boston goes for that, would love to have a player like Mookie Betts. All the Mets need to do is get another killer arm for the bullpen and a defensive SS, with Murphy out at 2B and Lagares back at CF the defense up the middle should get a lot better, obviously d'Arnaud needs to get a lot better defensively as well.
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