Mets Test Yankees’ Ace, and Ace a Critical Test

Interesting.............

Cespedes OPS: .879
D'Arnaud OPS: 894
Conforto OPS: .911

We have a lot to look forward to next year (not only pitching).

The acquisition of Cespedes at the trading deadline is up there with the Astros' acquisition of Randy Johnson at the trade deadline in 1998. Both Cespedes and Johnson put up MVP numbers and both helped turn their teams around. The Astros eventually lost to the Padres in the playoffs when Johnson went 0-2 and Kevin Brown stepped up. Any team is vulnerable to hot pitching. But I think Johnson's problems speak volumes. Getting traded mid-season and carrying your new team can take a lot out of a player. The Mets cannot count on a superhuman Cespedes in the playoffs. And just maybe, instead of resting Harvey, they should be thinking of resting Cespedes.

The chemistry on this Mets team is exceptional this season. The best since the Amazing Mets of '86. Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins have been masterful.

This is exactly the kind of sports journalism that makes the Times good in that department. Numbers. Player personality nuance, and some heady quotes from people that matter.

Me? I never saw the Mets resurgence coming. A contract for Cuddyer in the offseason? Really? Alderson looked small ball to me all last winter. Not that interested or perhaps resource rich enough to put a competitive team on the field.

I did think it was fascinating that after the A's traded Cespedes, who arguably was nothing better than a top 25 outfielder, their team went into a tailspin. One which they frankly never recovered from.

Cespedes didn't do all that much in his next two AL stops, but suddenly he comes to NYC and, to quote Gomer Pyle, "Shazam, shazam, shazam!"

The Mets and Cespedes are one of the great baseball stories this season.

Lets go Mets should be the slogan of the year. Yankees were happy with Jeter and he deserved the accolades, now it's time for the Mets to honor our David Wright. Seems like a good guy and was he Mets so called big player. Now after all the hard times Wright is showing what he is all about.

Going into the playoffs, having a young excellent starter nobody knows (Michael Wacha in 2013, Lance Lynne in 2011 and who can forget Adam Wainwright in 2006, all of the team The Mets will probably have to ultimately beat to reach the WS ), might just be the difference for the Mets come playoff time. Matz might just be our ace in the hole.

The Yankees are not going to win 100 games, so why are they being treated as the better team? Both the Mets and the Yankees are good teams, with a chance to get into the playoffs. The Mets have better pitching, and a better record than the Yankees. The Yankees owe a lot of their success this year to A-Rod, one of the more disgraceful players of all time, yet they are still treated as doing things the "right way" and the Mets are this "joke" who play bad teams?

The Mets have a commanding lead in the standings as we get towards October and all Mr. Kepner can say is "It is startling how easy their schedule has been." Over the course of 162 games the schedule balances out for every team. For goodness sakes, give the Mets credit for what they've done.! They're playing a full NL schedule like everyone else. No asterisks and no excuses. Give credit where credit is due.

"Even so, the Yankees, at 80-66, are most likely headed to the playoffs"
Not so fast Kepner...
It's a long shot....
They finish the season against Boston and @ Baltimore
Both we do their best to ensure your beloved Yankees miss the playoff for the 3rd straight year.

Even when they're in first place by 8 games, the Mets cannot escape snarky insults and endless bashing of Kepner and the Times. Simple logic says that if they are playing weak teams now, then they played strong teams earlier in the year. And Mr Kepner, while worshipping at the altar of his beloved Yankees, overlooked the fact the Mets trailed the Nats by only three games prior to the late July acquisitions of Cespedes, Uribe, and Johnson.

How did that happen, Mr Kepner? Perhaps the much-maligned Terry Collins isn't such a bad manager after all, despite predictions by Kepner and his colleagues at the time of his hiring that Collins was a hothead who would alienate the players and lose control of the team.

And what about those acquisitions? Kepner continually mocked Sandy Alderson's approach to rebuilding the team, not to mention accusing ownership of being unable or unwilling to spend what was needed to improve the team. But the Wilpons readily okayed the acquisition of "rental" Cespedes and seem to have a decent chance of re-signing him.

Kepner's cheap shots seem to be an attempt to justify his errant and unfair coverage of the Mets. I used to expect more of the Times, but those days are as gone as the Yankee "dynasty. "

Giradrdi blew this game by not pinch hitting A-Rod against the gasping for air Matz. In a pitcher's battle, you have to err on the side of taking the chance to get a run in. Could have moved Drew to second and if they walked A-Rod, he still had McCann plus others. Nice game by the Mets, though. They deserved to win.

Don't dismiss the Marlins. They beat the Mets 4 of 6 in the last two series. They are 3-2 against the Gnats, with two to play. And Papelbum blew the save and the Marlins took the Gnats to extra innings before falling tonight.
The popgun Mets also ended Zach Greinke's scoreless innings streak in LA.

In with a chance...all a Mets fan is looking for right now.

So very proud of this team, how ever far they go this season, the best is yet to come for this club. Next year, is this year, next year is now!!!

The Mets will miss Daniel Murphy. Great hitter. The Met I'd want at the plate with a man on 3rd an less than 2 out.

PS: This article on Beltran is hilarious because of the presence of a certain Presidential frontrunner 'presiding' over the final out ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/sports/baseball/carlos-beltran-once-ce...