Game Thread World Series Game 5 Royals vs. Mets Sunday 11/1/15

...Royals were simply the better team.

 

Let me give you all a Mets fans take.

First off you HAVE to give the Royals full credit for battling back time and time again. That team kept coming time and time again and deserve to win the series for sure.

With that said, the Mets KILLED themselves in this series time and time again. Throw out games 2 & 3, each team getting a blow out win.

Game 1 - Cesp awful play on the 1st pitch in the bottom of the 1st inning. Should have been an out...instead inside the park HR...1-0 Royals. Wright makes an error to start the bottom of the 14th...and that run turns out to be the game winner.

Game 4 - Up 3-2 top of the 8th, Clippard walks back to back hitters...the 2nd one he was up 0-2 on. WHY did Collins leave Clippard in to face the 2nd guy after walking the 1st guy? THEN the awful error by Murphy that allows the tying run to score. Trust me, when that happened everything was out of the players. Does Familia get Moose out with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two outs and a 3-2 lead still...no clue...but it would have been a totally different situation if Murphy makes that play. Oh and then to end it perfectly Cesp gets doubled off as the tying run to end the game.

Game 5 - Bases loaded no out in the 6th. Mets score only 1 run to make it 2-0. Head to the 9th. I don't have an issue with leaving Harvey in to start the 9th, but he should have been pulled the second he walked the leadoff hitter. Once again Collins leaves the pitcher in too long. BUT even with two men on Familia did his job IMO getting an easy grounder to 3rd (after getting the 1st out)...BUT again the Mets awful D rears its ugly head as Duda makes a terrible throw home...game tied. A good throw and Hos is out. AND then another error in the 12th by Murphy to cap off a terribly played WS in the field by the Mets.

Mets had 3-1 leads into the 6th in games 1 and 4. Mets had a 4-3 lead into the 9th in game 1. Had a 3-2 lead into the 8th in game 4. Had a 2-0 lead into the 9th in game 5.

So to me where the Royals deserve ALL their credit is the way they play. I was DEAD wrong in the ALCS. I wanted the Royals to win and I wanted to play them over the Jays...I was DEAD wrong. The Royals are the perfect team to beat the Mets. They play great fundamental baseball. They do not beat themselves. They make the right plays. They have 8 or 9 (DH or no DH) professional hitters who do not beat themselves. Put the ball in play. Force you to get them out, they do not get themselves out. And that was the worst situation for the Mets.

The Mets are sloppy. The Mets struggled on D a lot this season. They are not a great fundamental team, and when you play a team like the Royals you cannot make as many mistakes as the Mets did game after game.

So sure the Royals were the better team...you cannot win a series 4-1 and not be the better team...but I disagree with anyone who says the Royals showed they were much better...not the case. The Royals showed they were much better at executing and playing smart clean baseball. The Mets made mistakes game after game late. And for that I give the Royals 100% credit for forcing the Mets into making plays time and time again by putting the ball in play and not beating themselves. They gave the Mets the rope...and the Mets hung themselves.

So full credit to the Royals. They earned this WS with their smart fundamentally sound play game after game. Good for them. Hopefully the Mets young team learns a very valuable lesson from this series...you cannot play sloppy mistake filled baseball and win the WS. It should be a good series to grow off of. As a Mets fan I hope they can do what the Royals did this season. We'll see.

 

As for individual players, Cesp is gone. He was terrible all playoffs outside of 1 or 2 games. He was awful all WS in the field, at the plate, and on the bases. He was awesome in the regular season, and carried us for long stretches, but no shot I bring him back for 160 mill +.

I think Murphy is gone also. Thank you for the memories, but we cannot pay him 15 mill a year. Time to move on.

We'll see if they think about dealing Harvey for a big bat. It is possible with Noah, Matz, DeGrom, and Wheeler (back in June) on the staff. At the end of the day I think he stays though.

I also want to say what happened to Familia in this series is a darn shame. He goes down as blowing 3 saves in the WS, and that is so misleading.

Game 1 is on him. Let up a huge tying HR to Gordon in the 9th. YES he did an awesome job getting out of another Clippard mess in the 8th, but that is 100% on Familia...he was 2 outs away.

Games 4 & 5 no shot I blame Familia. Collins left his pitchers in for one too many batters in both cases. Familia comes in with the tying run on 2nd both times. Both times less than 2 outs. BOTH times he could have gotten out of it. Should have been 2nd and 3rd 2 outs with Moose up in game 4...BUT Murphy error killed that. Should have been game over in game 5...BUT the Duda throw killed that.

So I do not get on Familia except for game 1, and even there he saved their butts in the 8th.

Collins did him no favors in this series. The Mets D KILLED him in this series.

He is way down the list of players to blame in this series. Start with Wright, Murphy, Cesp, Travis, Clippard, Collins, and maybe Flores before you look at Familia IMO.

Again...3-1 into the 6th in game 1. 4-3 into the 9th in game 1. 3-1 into the 6th in game 4. 3-2 into the 8th in game 4. 2-0 into the 9th in game 5.

Then a bunch of errors and bad managing killed them. And the Royals battled and battled and deserve full credit IMO.

 

Very nice insight, Chuck.

 

All well said Chuck.

 

One other comment. Again throw out games 2 & 3 as blowout wins one for each side.

I count SEVEN Mets mistakes in games 1, 4, and 5. Two for the Royals.

Game 1 - Cesp boot inside the park HR. Hosmer error in the 8th. Wright error in the 14th.
Game 4 - Cesp another kick in the OF. Murphy awful error. Cesp doubled off to end game. And I am not even counting back to back walks in the 8th by awful Clippard OR Collins leaving Clip in for too long.
Game 5 - Hosmer error. Duda throwing error. Murphy another error.

7-2 in the three games that decided the series. Not much else to say.

And BTW no excuses. I am giving the Royals credit for forcing the Mets to make plays. Forcing Duda to make that throw home. Putting balls in play to give the Mets a chance to make mistakes. Taking the extra base or stealing a base whenever they could. They made the Mets uncomfortable with their constant pressure and playing the game right...so credit to the Royals.

The Cesp plays...what a terrible mess he was this series...maybe those are on him not the Royals...LOL.

 

Cespedes looking for a multi year contract of 17-20 per & Murphy also looking long term for 12-15 per will not be back IMO.

 

^^^personally, I don't see either player get that kind of money.

...Murphy predictably turned back into a pumpkin. He's a good but not great hitter and as a 2Bman, he has a negative career WAR. He'll be 31 before the 2016 season begins and so I don't think he'll get more than 4 years.
...Cespedes is a very streaky player, at bat and in the field. I'd be surprised if he gets more than $15 Mil per year.

 

Both are gone IMO. Some team will give them close to what they want. Just remember it only takes one team to do it, and one team will. Cespedes will get a big deal. He is a 5 tool guy, and when he is on he is a monster. He'll go 15-20 mill per.

Murphy will get 10-12 per I'd think. I can't see the Mets giving him that.

Out of the two I would say it is more likely that Cesp gets his money than Murphy. We'll see though.

 

BTW...wouldn't shock me if the Yanks looked at Murphy. He'd hit close to 20 HR's in Yankee stadium and hit .280 or better I bet.

 

^^^ Chuck honestly I'd like to see a kid like Refsnyder get a fair shot.

 

I don't disagree with you there, but you never know what the Yanks will do with name players out there. I know they are different these days, but not making the playoffs/losing in a WC game the past 3 years could mean they make some bigger adds this winter.

Who knows...

 

Good stuff Chuck,

You just earned the "War and Peace" - Tolstoy Trophy from off my trophy case.....

 

After watching this WS, I'd pass on both Murphy and
Cespedes. Each has shown his wares and has had
his moments; yet, somebody will overpay for their
services.

 

...^^^

:

:
ditto........

 

Buster Olney has a pretty good slant on Cespedes;

 

...^^^

indeed, Olney hit the nail (Cespedes) on the head.....!

 

Yeah, Cesp will move on and I am fine with it. He was a monster when he first came on board, but struggled big time the last handful of games, and all playoffs outside of 1 or 2 games. He really came up small when it counted most. If we are going to spend on a big hitter I think we can do better than 30 year old Cespedes.

BUT with that said I do thank him for what he did for the team when he first got here. Without him I don't think we win the NL East...so I thank him for that. He was great for us when he first got here.

 

Hot or Cold, that seems to be Cespedes life in MLB in a nutshell......

I'm curious how his pre-and post Season play, work either against Him, or For Him, as a FA with those offers.....

I agree with 59, I don't foresee Yoenis being worth more than 15 Mil. His Series failures, both defensively and offensively, may just of cost him another 5 Mil.....

unless some ignorant Owner, like the Bums group throws excessive $$$ , & perhaps a 10 yr contract, at Him, as if he's Superman.....

I am so tired of watching these excessive over priced, long term contracts being handed out...!

 

I thought it was an entertaining and interesting WS despite it lasting just five games.
There was only one save recorded in the series.
KC hit two HRs in the series, both in game one.
Mets lead going into the 9th in two of their losses.
Couple of extra inning games as a result of late inning rallies.
First WS complete game victory (Cueto) by A.L. SP in 24 years.

KC played their "game" and showed a lot of balls.
They continued to hit well w/risp as they did in the reg season, bullpen was as good as advertised, 7/7 in SB att.
Cueto and Volquez were a bit of a surprise to me in games 1,2,5.
21 IP, 2.14 ERA

Virtually all the Mets with the exceptions of Grandy, Conforto and Harvey had a "bad" series.
Very costly late inning errors and defense (Wright, Murphy, Duda) and a baserunning blunder to end the game. (Cespedes).
d'Arnaud was exposed as being very weak vs SB att...mostly non competive in his attempts at throwing out base stealers.
Just wondering, how often a team (KC) had as many as 7 SB in a WS without getting caught? (vs the same catcher?)

KC proved to be the better team hands down while the Mets looked like an "average" team dropped into a World Series on late notice.
....too often playing shabby ball - yet it still was (imo) an exciting entertaining kinda weird WS.


You can say KC has proven to be the most consistent best team for the last two seasons.
And the Mets were haunted just in time for Halloween.