One newbie was carefully managed, while another was thrown into the thick of the action. It’s simple to think of several ways the New York Mets could use Christian Scott. The most difficult element is determining what is correct.
He exited too early in the series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. In his previous start, he was left in for too long. With the benefit of hindsight, it is simple to identify and address criticisms. The contradiction with the other youngster they utilized is the most interesting aspect.
But Scott was not the only one who was mismanaged in the loss. Carlos Mendoza went to the bullpen in a 2-2 contest in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs. Scott was slated to throw approximately 75 pitches because this was his first time on “regular rest” with four days between starts. Mendoza asked Eric Orze to face Bryan Reynold. Then Oneil Cruz. Then Rowdy Tellez. A walk and two singles resulted in a run. Then he was replaced by Adrian Houser, who obviously believed he was the starting in this game. The Pirates added four more before the final out was recorded.
There’s feeding the wolves and then there’s what the Mets did with Eric Orze. Orze is a right-handed pitcher that the Mets hope will be useful against lefties. This year in Syracuse, he kept lefties to a.182 hitting average, compared to.233 for righties. There is a distinction between lefties in Triple-A and major leaguers. Orze had to figure this out the hard way. On the one hand, it is encouraging to see Orze being tested so swiftly. On the other hand, why not let him ease into the game while you have Houser available? You’ve already decided to limit Scott. Find a medium ground and let him go after Reynolds to finish the inning.
The choice to elevate Scott was not the contradiction to be outraged about. It was the decision to ask a guy making his MLB debut after two days of hanging around waiting to find out when it was going to happen.
Mendoza has recently garnered a lot of criticism for how he handles the bullpen. In some circumstances, pitchers are responsible for making the pitches. This rule applies to veterans more than it does to a rookie entrusted with facing three batters on the opposite side of his pitching motion.
We observe the final score of 8-2, and one decision does not appear to justify the loss. But that is exactly what it came down to.
Yes, the Mets did not score again after Brandon Nimmo’s two-run homer in the top of the inning. The fact that the team did not hit Mitch Keller may have made it irrelevant who pitched. We’ve seen it twice recently with the Mets. Their Fourth of July slump against Jake Irvin of the Washington Nationals is still fresh in many of our minds. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s the one set to start when they return to Citi Field today.
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