Chaos Ball! Chaos Ball! Chaos Ball!
1. **Jose Butto** is proof that all you need to be a quality pitcher for the 2023 New York Mets is to have the first name Jose. Jose Quintana? Great. Jose Butto? Great. Jose Reyes? Could probably pitch 5 scoreless too! Butto continues to show that AAA pitching numbers in 2023 are fake while he fights for a 2024 roster spot. Over 6 innings he allowed 4 hits, 1 earned runs, walked 1, and struck out 6. While a small sample size, he currently has a 3.09 ERA over his 7 games. He earned the first star with a lack of offensive production.
2. **Jeff McNeil** is a squirrely bastard. He was the only Met to have more than 1 hit with a single and [the home run to take the lead](https://twitter.com/Mets/status/1703936574482756053)! With 10 home runs, this is his second sluggiest (sluggerest, slugfestest?) season of his career. That’s honestly about it. Second star!
3. **Adam Ottavino** is back to true Doc Oc form! The most impressive of our bullpen arms last night, he closed down the 9th – while we only held a one run lead – with 2 Ks and allowed no baserunners. In the second half of this season he has pitched an impressive 1.54 ERA and only allowed 2 HRs over 23.1 innings in 24 games. He has struck out 21 batters and only walked 9. His redemption arc earns him a third star.
4. **Honorable Mention: Professor Hartwig & Whil Wickford** pitched shutdown innings in the 7th and 8th innings. **Mark Vientos** continues to make contact and knocked in our first run in the bottom of the 5th.
I don’t quite know if I would classify this game as a pitchers’ duel or just a lackadaisical day for offense. While the Mets accrued 8 hits, there was a lack of ability to produce runs with baserunners on the path. We have returned to form going 1 for 7 with RISP and 8 LOB.
As mentioned in the honorable mentions, we had a surprising lack of 2023 New York Mets Bullpen Experience as our relievers kept the game locked down with three scoreless innings.
No batter hit more than once other than McNeil with our 9-hole being the only batters not to reach the basepath. But that is where our fortunes turned; while we have been doing a better job manufacturing runs as of late that only happened once in the fifth. Ronny Freakin’ Mauricio stole second base because he gives no fucks then Vientos hit a beautiful line drive to Center Field and that baby deer trotted home. Naturally, Guillorme followed that up by grounding into a double play ending our rally.
Defensively this game was a shitshow, especially in the hot corner. While Ronny did not get charged an error, surprisingly, he had a few bad plays. Jake Burger fared no better for the Marlins being charged two errors. Ronny also had a bad throw to Guillorme that prevented a double play.
The exciting part of this game is that September NL East Chaos Ball continues as we have the chance to spoil the Marlins’ playoff dreams. It is time we truly take our revenge for 2007.
2 comments
I love that Butto is showing some great value. I like him as a swing man option for next year with the opportunity to steal a 5 man rotation spot if we sign Yamamoto and start with a 6-man and eventually transition to 5 man.
I know the Jose Reyes mention is a joke, but he actually did pitch once for the Mets and has an ERA of 54.00 lol