GDT 4/10/17: Mets (deGrom) @ Phillies (Eickhoff)

[DurhamBull]

Galvis Ks.

Nava up to PH.

[DurhamBull]

Single for Nava! Jay Bruce gets a nod of respect from LA for keeping Nava from getting to 2B.

[DurhamBull]

Hernandez hits a high FO to CF.

Kendrick is the last hope for the Phils.

[DurhamBull]

Kendrick Ks looking.

Phils make it close in the 9th, but fall to the Mets 4-3.

Congrats to Stassi for getting his first major league hit, RBI, and HR!

[LoneStarPhan]

Not sure I remember a game where a deliberate act by a Phillie player lead to a loss. It is very clear to me that Ramos is a long way from being ready to be a closer.

Sadly, they played tough against a great starting pitcher.

They fall from first place and fall below .500 again.

[Les229]

The maturation process is a painful one. I'm a little tired of the passed balls by Rupp.

[DurhamBull]

The Phils got pretty unlucky on the play where Kendrick got nailed off of first. It was a wild pitch that d’Arnaud managed to get leather on. His glove kicked it up into the air and he caught it barehanded on the way down. He spun and fired to second to try to get Hernandez who had started for third and then gone back to the bag. A good throw would have gotten him, but instead the ball would have ended up in CF were it not for a good grab by Cabrera. Kudos to Cabrera for saving d’Arnaud’s wild throw, and for realizing that Kendrick was hung out to dry and throwing accurately to first.

[LoneStarPhan]

Kendrick was almost at second and had no chance once Hernandez came back to second. Just seemed like things weren't going to go the Phillies way in this game. They had chances to score more runs early on. I hate seeing another good starting pitching performance wasted.

[zambonir]

Ryan Lawrence (ryanlawrence21)

[tom81]

Not sure I remember a game where a deliberate act by a Phillie player lead to a loss.

I don't agree with this assertion at all. I watch the game on tv and while the pitch was clearly a message pitch it was only one ball and only led to one base runner. It reminded me of the Randy Johnson pitch to Kruck in the all star game. Pete over acted and said an inappropriate "word to the ump" and got tossed. That didn't help Ramos with his command. Ramos looked good against Cespedis and should have been left in against Bruce. Bruce had done well against Rodriguez in the past and Rodrigues is not as good a pitcher as Ramos. Rodriguez has been terrible so far this year. It was a dumb switch by Bowa.

[BostonRoss]

Ramos did seem to be flustered pitching to Cabrera. Whether it was the brouhaha that followed the message pitch or the inability to concentrate on a hitter he was already mad at, Ramos didn't seem to be able to pitch to Cabrera. He did pitch Cespedes well, but regardless it was a stupid thing to throw the pitch over Cabrera's head. No good could come of it.

[Austinfan]

Rodriguez hung a slider, that was the game.

Good to see Stassi crush that ball, I think he was pressing, now he can relax.
Great AB, he's going to put pressure on Joseph all season, not to mention Hoskins off to a fine start.
But if you can't handle competition, you don't deserve the job.

[tom81]

He did pitch Cespedes well, but regardless it was a stupid thing to throw the pitch over Cabrera's head. No good could come of it.

If it generates fear in the batters in subsequent meetings a lot of good can come out of it. It might really open up the strike zone.

[BostonRoss]

Jay Bruce didn't seem too afraid.

[gmwannabe]

I wanted this game, even though deGrom was throwing i thought eichoff could beat him. tonight they don't have a prayer. i can see the mets teeing off on Clay and he won't last 4 innings. they won't hit Harvey either. hopefully wheeler is finding his way back for tomorrow's game and the phils can win that one. hate to be swept by the mets.
gm

[donaldorc]

i can see the mets teeing off on Clay and he won't last 4 innings. t

Yep. I have little to no faith in Buchholz. But the game of baseball is a funny game...

[EDmuch]

Having watched Buchholz in a late Spring Training game, I tend to agree that there is little hope tonite. Clay simply cannot seem to throw the ball over the plate with anything on it.

[Patchmk88]

Am I the only one who doesn't necessarily believe Ramos was throwing at Cabrera? I was watching the game and if I wanted to throw at someone I'd make it a lot closer than that.

[tom81]

I too think Ramos intentionally threw over and behind his head with no intention to hit him but to just send a message. As for Jay Bruce not having any fear maybe it was because he was not facing Ramos.

[zambonir]

I think Ramos got yanked purely because of "the book," which, yeah, isn't of any use if your lefty relievers aren't good. But, as with most managerial decisions, you get toasted or roasted either way. And Bruce already had a home run against a RHP in the game. If Ramos had stayed in and given up the HR we'd not only be complaining that he was rattled but questioning why Bowa didn't bring in the lefty.

And the main thing is, Ramos allowed the winning run. Arguably even starting Cabrera off 1-0 was costly, and certainly the whole distracted AB was. He lost the game (literally).