New York Post, Tuesday, August 13, 2019nypost.com47J
EURYS Familia delivered his
most dominant performance
this season onSunday—a
13-pitch, three-strikeout eighth
inning against theNationals.
Ed win Diazfo llo we d in the ninth
with more Edwin Diaz, circa 2019
—awalk, a homer and more Citi
Field boos.
The Mets mustkeep sending
both out in big spots and hope
Familia has beenrevived and Diaz
could stillfind his 2018 form.
Because if not them,who?
And because this is the major
leagues this season.
Mets fans should not suffer
baseball myopia— short-man
nearsightedness. As theNationals
emphasizedover theweekendat
Citi Field, theMets are not alone
when itco mesto untrustworthy
bullpens.
A variety of modernfactors,
notably pens beingoverstressed
and theball flying, have mani-
fested in thewo rst collective pen
ERA (4.58) since 2000 (think:a
Steroid Era peak).Relievers are
yieldinga record 1.35 homers per
nine innings.It is therareteam
now that gets consistently strong
penwork. The Ya nkees’group
has helped themrescuea rota-
tion that strugglesto provide
quality innings.The Indians’
group has helped Cleve-
landovercomewhat was an
11 ¹/₂-game ALCentral defi-
cit in early June.
The Mets, meanwhile,
are like just about every
NLcontender— under-
minedby their pen.Even the clear-
ly league-best Dodgers have a mid-
pack pen anda declining closer,
Ke nley Jansen,who provides their
Ac hilles arm. Los Angeles tried
to address it at the trade deadline
by addinga pedigreed closer, but
failed on, among others,Pitts-
burgh’s FelipeVazquez andeven
Diaz.
The Dodgers’ interest should
encourage Mets fans. Diaz and
Familia are pedigreed re lie v-
ers.There is ability withwhich
to work, withwhichto upgrade,
especially since Augusttrades are
now banned.At
this point it is
not about their
whole season.
If Diaz/Familia
could pitchwell
the last quarter
of a season, the
Mets’ playoff
chances soar.
The Mets were oneof seven non-
DodgerNational League squads
over .500 to complete theweekend
— all from the NL East orCentral.
With apologiesto theReds,
Diamondbacks and Giants—all
hanging around the fringesof the
race but noneover .500 enter-
ing Monday—alookat how
these other sixcontend-
ers’ pens look with
just less than seven
weeks left in theregu-
lar season:
Cardinals:The rareNL
team ingood relief shape, in
part becausewhat initially
looked likeadebacle.
The Luke Voit trade
to theYa nkeesgave
St. Louis Giovanny
Gallegos, whohas been among the majors’ best
relievers. He haswhiffed 37.3 per-
cent of the hittershe had faced
(third in the NL amongrelievers)
to gowitha 1.96 ERA.
John Brebbia, drafted bythe
Ya nkees in2011 andreleased in
2013, has beenterrific (2.95 ERA),
as hasJohn Gant (8-0, 2.80),whom
theMets traded to Atlanta in 2015
to get Kelly Johnson andJuan
Uribe. AndrewMiller is not vin-
tage, but since July2, opponents
are hitting just.174 against him.
Converted starterCarlos Marti-
nez has ably replaced closerJo r-
dan Hicks (Tommy
John surgery).
Braves :If they
fail to hold ontoa
big NL East lead,
the culprit prob-
ably will be the
pen.Their second-
halfre lief ERA is
6.90. Six of their
next 12games, beginningTuesday
in Atlanta, are against theMe ts.
Shane Greene, Chris Martin and
Mark Melanconwere addedat
the deadline, and in15 combined
outings are 0-2 witha
10.50 ERA, allowing
23 hits and
14 runs in
12 innings.
Greene
already has
lost his closer’s
role, and may-
beMelancon
has too,
since Luke
Jackson
closedSun-
day. Atlanta’s
6.90 second-half
pen ERA was
second-wors t
in the majors
(forwhat it is
worth, theMe ts’ 3.46 is best from the NL
East).
Nationals:Becauseof Wash-
ington’s rotation strength, its pen
ha d thr ow n 17 ¹/₃ fewer innings
than any otherteam’s heading into
Monday night’s game against the
Reds,yet the least-taxed penof
2019 hada6.00ERA,15th-worst in
history, togo witha 16-28 record,
indicative of how many games
were beingblown late. Plus, all
this malfeasance hascome with
closer Sean Doolittle— Friday
night’s implosion aside— join-
ing SethLugo as the best NL East
re lie ve rs this season.Ne w setup
acquisitions Daniel Hudson and
HunterStrickland have so far been
good.
Phillies:Victor Arano, David
Robertson andTommy Hunter are
out for the season, and thesame
may be true about Seranthony
Dominguez andAdamMorgan,
withEdubray Ramos sidelined
until later this monthat least.
And itwa sn’t like thefirs t wa ve
gavePhiladelphiaa strong pen.
The Phils have triedto plug with
relievers designated elsewhere
(Mike Morin and Blake Parker),
much as theMets are doing with
Brad Brach, without much success.
Cubs:Craig Kimbrel has not
beengr eat, but ha d helped st a-
bilize theback end.Now he is on
the IL witha knee injury. This for
a Cubs squad that hasnever had
BrandonMorrow, hasSteve Cishek
now joining Brandon Kintzler on
the IL, and endured implosionsby
Brach,Carl Edwards Jr. (since trad-
ed to San Diego) andPedro Strop.
Small pickups DerekHolland and
David Phelps are helping, as is
call-upRowan Wick.The Cubs
believe that the IL stintsfor Kim-
brel and Kintzler should be brief.
Brewer s:Milwaukee had argu-
ably the NL’s best pen lastyear
behind the trioof Josh Hader,
Corey Knebel andJeremy Jef-
fress. But Knebel (Tommy
John surgery) has missed
thewhole season, and
Jeff ress hasbattled inju-
ry and ineffectiveness
all season.Noteam has
relied more on onereliever
than the Brewers with Hader,
whosefive second-half homers
allowed suggests theworkload is
wearing him out. Which iswhy the
recent strongwork of Matt Albers
andJunior Guerra is so instrumen-
ta l because an alreadyace-less
rotation has itstwo best starters,
Zach Davies and BrandonWood-
ruff, on the IL.The Brewers have
the NL’s fewest startsof five and
six innings.
[email protected]Mets hardly alone when
it comes to pen problems
Joel ShermanJoelSherman
TUESDAY—7:20
RHPZack Wheeler
(9-6, 4.20)vs.
LHP MaxFried
(13-4, 4.11)
WEDNESDAY—7:20
LHP Steven Matz
(7-7, 4.49)vs.
LHP DallasKeuchel
(3-5, 4.83)
THURSDAY—7:20
RHP Marcus Stroman
(6-11, 3.20)vs.
RHP JulioTeheran
(7-7, 3.35)
All games on SNY,
WCBS (880 AM)METS:Jacob deGrom
owns the majors’ best
career daytime ERA
since at least 1913
witha mark of 1.84 in
53 starts. This season
he is 3-0 witha 0.93
ERA in five starts
after giving up no
runs in five innings
Sunday against the
Nationals.BRAVES:Ronald
Acuna Jr. is two
stolenbases aw ay
from putting up the
fifth 30/30 season in
Braves history, and
becoming the second
player in MLB history
to do it before his
22nd birthday. Mike
Trout had 30 home
runs and 49 stolen
bases asa 20-year-
old in 2012.ON DECK
AT BRAVES
STAT SO?
INSIDE THE MATCHUPS
METS:Since the Mets
decided not to trade
him at the July 31
deadline, Wheeler
has ripped off 15
consecutive scoreless
inningsover two
starts. He has been
particularly effective
out of the stretch
in those games,
allowinga .038
battingaverage with
runners onbase.BRAVES:Fried
enters havingwon
four straight starts,
compilinga 3.32 ERA
during that stretch.
He allowed two runs
over six innings in
a victoryover the
Mets on June 19 at
SunTrustPark.hangingaroundthefringesofthe
racebutnoneover.5 00 enter-
ingMonday—alookathow
theseothersixcontend-
ers’penslookwith
justlessthanseven
weekslefleflefttintheregu-
larseason:
Cardinals:TherareNL
teamingoodreliefshape,in
partbecausewhatinitially
lookedlikeadebacle.
TheLukeVoittrade
totheYankeesgave
St.LouisGiovanny
Gallegos, who10 .5 0 ERA,allowing
23 hits and
14 runs in
12 innings.
Greene
already has
losthiscloser’s
role,andmay-
beMelancon
has too,
since Luke
Jackson
closedSun-
day.Atlanta’s- 90 second-half
pen ERA was
second-worst
inthemajors
(f(f(fororwhatitis
worth, the
muchasthe
BradBrach,
Cubs:Cr
beengreat,
bilizetheba
theILwith
aCubssqua
BrandonMo
nowjoining
theIL,and
Brach,Carl
edtoSanDieg
Smallpickups
DavidPhelps
call-upRo
believetha
brelandKintzler
Brewers:
ablytheNL
behindthe
Corey
fress.
Jo
the
Je
ry
all
relied
thanthe
whosefive
allowedsugg
wearinghim
recentstrong
andJunior
talbecause
rotationhas
ZachDavies
rufrufruff,f,onthe
theNL’sfew
sixinnings.