Keuchel and Braves Sweep Away Mets

BRAVES 2 - METS 1 

It was a lost opportunity.  After sweeping away the Cleveland Indians during the week, the New York Mets had a chance to make a major statement in both the NL East and the NL Wild Card race with a series victory against their arch rivals the Atlanta Braves.

Instead, the Braves proved they are better in almost all facets of the game then the Mets are right now, sweeping the Amazin’s, while sending them to 12 games out of the East, and two games out of the wild card.

Fortnuately for the Mets they didn’t lose too much ground in the Wild Card thanks to the Chicago Cubs getting swept by the Washington Nationals over the weekend. Oh, by the way, the Cubs come to Citi Field on Tuesday.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the Mets couldn’t get their bats going against Braves’ starter Dallas Keuchel, who completely befuddled the Mets hitters over seven shutout innings, holding New York to four hits, and not allowing a single runner to third base.

The best chance the Mets had to score on Keuchel came in the bottom of the sixth when Amed Rosario led off the inning with a single with Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto all due to bat behind him.

It turned out nothing came of that chance. McNeil grounded into a fielder’s choice, erasing Rosario at second base. Keuchel then struck out Alonso looking on a fastball outside, and came back to strike out Conforto on a slider low and inside.  That was it for the Mets.

Sure, New York had a few other chances against the bearded lefty, but with having the meat of the order up in the bottom of the sixth was their best shot, and they couldn’t capitalize.

Meanwhile, Josh Donaldson got all the runs the Braves needed. He connected on a solo homer to the left field corner in the top of the second inning off Steven Matz. Donaldson later crushed a Paul Sewald pitch into the 7 Line seats in center to give the Braves a 2-0 lead in the seventh.

While Matz struggled at times with his command, he did pitch well, allowing only the one run on two hits over six innings to take the loss.

Finally in the ninth inning, the Mets had something cooking. With closer Mark Melancon, Alonso led off with a double into the left field corner to open the inning. After Conforto grounded out to third, JD Davis singled to move Alonso to third. Todd Fraizer then hit a sharp grounder to shortstop, but the Braves couldn’t compete the double-play, scoring Alonso and keeping the Mets alive.

Pinch hitting for the light hitting Juan Lagares, Wilson Ramos singled through the hole between first and second putting everyone at the edge of their seats, but it was all for naught. Joe Panik couldn’t keep the rally going, grounding softly out to Freedie Freeman at first base, ending the game.

The loss puts the Mets at 67-63 on the year. They face the reeling Cubs on Tuesday at Citi Field. Even with the sweep at the hands of the Braves, the Mets still have a shot at the Wild Card if they can take care of their own business.

Yankees Win (Weekend) Series vs. Dodgers

In one of the most important series of the season, the New York Yankees made their biggest impression. Coming off a sweep at the hands of the Oakland A’s, the Yankees faced an even stiffer test in the National League leading Los Angeles Dodgers, and by weekends end, the Yankees passed with flying colors.

New York’s 5-1 win over the Dodgers captured the series two games to one, solidifying New York’s position as potentially the best team in Major League Baseball as we head toward September. Whether this is a preview of coming attractions come October is anyone’s guess at this point, but, boy, did the Yankees look good.

The Bombers blasted three homers Sunday night off Clayton Kershaw, sending the Dogers ace to his third loss of the season.

Getting the party started with D.J. LeMahieu, who has been at the center of attention for the Yankees so many times this year when he launched a solo homer to center to open the scoring in the top of the first inning.

And the barrage kept coming.

In the top of the third inning, Aaron Judge took a curveball off the outer half of the plate and planted it in the right field seats to give the Yanks a 2-1 lead; the homer being Judge’s 99^th of his illustrious career.

Three innings later it was Mike Ford’s turn to get into the action. The first baseman sent the first pitch he saw into the seats in right  for his sixth homer of the year. Two innings later, Ford was at it again, this time lining an RBI double to left to score leMahieu to give the Yanks a 4-1 lead.

By this point Kershaw was long gone, having surrendered three earned runs over seven innings, despite striking out 12 batters.

Meanwhile on the hill for the Yanks, Domingo German matched the Dodgers lefty pitch-for-pitch. German held the Dodgers to just a run on five hits over six innings to capture his 17^th victory of the season. German’s stellar effort comes two days after James Paxton twirled a gem against this same potent Dodgers lineup.

As we wrote on Friday, if the Yankees can get some decent to good starting pitching performances, this team has a chance at winning the ultimate prize. If this weekend was a showcase of future events, Yankees fans have a lot to get excited about.

Jets Look Sloppy In 28-13 Loss to Saints

SAINTS 28, JETS 13

If this was what we can expect from the New York Jets in 2019, this is going to be a nightmare of a season.

The third preseason game is considered the dress rehearsal for the regular season; where the starters play the longest in their last real final prep before the regular season beings. To say the least the Jets got a lot of issues.

Forget the score, because in the first half of this contest the Jets were exposed on the offensive line; exposed at middle linebacker, and exposed in the secondary. The Jets were playing without Kelechi Osemele and Brian Winters for the second straight game. Center Ryan Khalil was a late scratch, so Sam Darnold had to work behind an offensive line that was basically in taters.

The results showed as Darnold had a extremely difficult time setting his feet in the pocket as he was constantly under duress. At one point he was blasted by Trey Hendrickson who came in unblocked on the Jets quarterback.

On a night where Andrew Luck retired because of all the injuries he racked up while playing behind a bad offensive line, the Jets are playing with fire right now with this O-line. They looked awful and the Saints took full advantage; even the Saints second team defense was getting tremendous push against the Jets up front.  One would expect the Jets to be fully healthy come Week 1, but it isn't, and if this line isn't on the same page, all the potential the Jets possess could be wasted.

At the very least, Darnold managed to put together one great drive, a seven-play, 65-yard drive that included a 41-yard strike to Robby Anderson. Darnold capped off the drive hitting Ty Montgomery in the end zone for a touchdown to cut the Saints lead to 10-7. That was about the only good thing that happened to the Jets all night.

Defensively, the Jets were picked apart by Drew Brees. Not surprisingly Brees exposed the Jets leaky secondary and banged up linebacker corps to engineer a crisp 72-yard scoring drive to open the game. Alvin Kamara, and Michael Thomas each played a role in dissecting the Jets defense. Kamara caught a huge 25-yard pass when he was uncovered down the sideline, and Thomas went up and caught two big passes, including a touchdown. That was all Saints coach Sean Payton needed to see from his starters.

For the rest of the night they Jets watched Teddy Bridgewater and Taysum Hill tear their secondary to shreds as the Saints escaped 28-13 in a game that was marred by 31 penalties, six field goals and a safety.

The Jets have a lot to clean up in the next 15 days ... a lot.

Andrew Luck Stuns Football World By Retiring

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck couldn't take the pain anymore. The Colts quarterback retired Saturday sending shockwaves throughout the NFL.

As he described in a press conference Saturday night, the process of pain and rehab over the past few years has become too much of a grind on him and his life, so he decided the best thing to do was retire from the sport.

"I've been stuck in this process. I haven't been able to live the life I want to live. It has taken the joy out of the game...the only way forward is to remove myself from football."

Of course this decision is stunning for a multitude of reasons, 1) the timing. The 2019 regular season is set to begin in less than two weeks, and it has taken this long for Luck to make this choice at a critical juncture for his team. 2)  Luck was still in his prime. He was the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year last season after missing 26 games due to shoulder, kidney and rib injuries.

This year he was bothered by a calf strain. This injury was just too much to get over for the 30-year old quarterback.

Sadly, Luck was booed by Colts fans as he walked off the field. Most people didn't find out about it until most of the Saturday night games were already underway, including the Colts own preseason game. You can imagine how stunned the fans were sitting there finding "Luck Retires" blow up on their phones, while he is standing on the sideline.

The Colts now find themselves in a situation where they need a quarterback. Jacoby Brissett, who was acquired from New England two years ago is now the starter -- at least for now. Get ready to hear the conspiracy theories  that the team will sign just about anyone from Colin Kaepernick, to trading for Eli Manning. Hell some people on Twitter are saying the Colts should get Peyton Manning out of retirement.

Not happening people.

This is Brissett's team now. The Colts who were the favorites to win the AFC South this year, are now looking like a team on the rebuild.

Paxton & Yankees Make Major Statement in LA

YANKEES 10 - DODGERS 2 

After a lost series in Oakland where the Yankees starting rotation put the Bombers behind the eight ball early and often, it was James Paxton who came out and delivered easily the most important, if not most impressive outing of the season.

Over 6.2 innings, Paxton shut down the vaunted LA Dodgers lineup, holding them to just a run when he was out on the mound, while racking up 11 strikeouts. It was an impressive showing as he mixed and matched his off-speed stuff, relying heavily on a wicked curveball that kept fooling a Dodger lineup that feeds off the fastball.

If the Yankees get performances like this from Paxton from here on out, and in the playoffs, they will be in a great position to accomplish their mission.

Offensively, the Yankees did plenty of damage to Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu's Cy Young chances, tagging the righty for seven runs and three homers over 4.1 innings, and increasing his ERA from 1.64 to 2.00.

In fact the five homers the Yankees hit Friday night gave them 56 homers for the month of August, the most homers in a single month by any Yankees team ... ever.

And the power was flexed early and often by the Bombers. In the top of the third inning Aaron Judge crushed a pitch to left-center to open up the scoring. Two batters later, Gary Sanchez dropped to one knee while launching a Ryu fastball into the bleachers in left to give the Yanks a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth inning with the bases loaded with Yankees, Didi Gregorius joined the party with a grand slam homer to left-center to push the lead to 6-1, all but ending the competitive nature of the contest.

The Yankees were far from done of course. A homer by Gleyber Torres in the top of the sixth, and Gregorious' second homer of the night capped off the scoring for New York. Brett Gardner added a RBI double in the fifth, and Judge - a RBI single in the eighth rounded out the multitude of offense on display by the Yankees.

With the victory in hand, the Yankees have sent a stern message to the rest of the sport that they are defiantly the team to beat come October, especially if the pitching can pick it up like it did Friday.

Mistakes Doom Mets in Extras vs. Braves

BRAVES 2 - METS 1
14 Innings 

The New York Mets tied a major league record for strikeouts in a game by a pitching staff, and still managed to lose to the Atlanta Braves in 14-bizarre innings at Citi Field.

It was a game where Jacob deGrom dominated Atlanta, holding the Braves to just a run on four hits, while striking out 13 over seven superb innings of work. deGrom even provided the Mets only run of the game with a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth.

But as has become commonplace for the Mets when deGrom toes the rubber, he didn't get a win, nor factor into the decision.

Instead, the game became a battle of attritions as both bullpens traded zeros.

After Seth Lugo gave the Mets two shutout innings of relief, Edwin Diaz had his best moment as a Met, striking out both Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies swinging with the go-ahead run 90-feet away at third base.

Even the rare lift by Diaz wasn't enough to keep the Mets momentum moving. The Mets loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th against ex-Met Anthony Swarzak, but the veteran righty fooled Amed Rosario on a slider down low that would have been ball 3. Instead Rosario swung through it for the strikeout, and with it went the Mets best chance to win this game.

After both teams went back and forth on holding one another scoreless, the Braves finally struck gold in the 14th inning thanks in big part o deliver Jeurys Familia imploding once again.

He walked Tyler Flowers on five pitches to start the inning. Next Familia left a meatball over that plate to ex-Met Adeiny Hechavarria cracked into the right-center field gap that nearly won the game had the ball not gotten stuck in the padding forcing a ground rule double. Two batters later, Billy Hamilton delivered his signature moment in a Braves uniform, scooting a ball past a diving Joe Panik with the infield drawn in for the game winning single.

The Mets went quietly in the bottom of the 14th as Mark Melancon made quick work of New York's bottom of the order.

The loss drops the Mets to two games out of the wild card, and 10 games behind the Braves in the NL East.

Sweep at Hands of A's Exposes Yankees' Big Problem

This weekend the New York Yankees will play the Los Angeles Dodgers out in LA. For days, if not weeks, we have heard about this match-up being a potential World Series preview. Even the New York Post had the phrase "World Series Preview?" on its masthead.

Here's the problem. The series that has preceded this weekend's battle of baseball's titans, exposed a horrible truth about the Yankees: their pitching is down right awful.

I'm sorry to say it.  Calm down. Don't remind me how many championships the Yankees have won in the past. I know, 27 World titles, and 40 American League pennants. I know. Trust me, I know. But if the Yankees are going to change those numbers to 28 and 41 their pitching better improve, or it could be curtains for the Bombers early in the postseason.

Against the Oakland A's, the Yankees consistently found themselves behind the eight ball, down multiple runs before anyone could settle into their seats. In every game of this series in Oakland the Yankees were down four runs or more by the third inning.

Wednesday was no exception as the A's built a 5-0 lead using small ball rather than the mammoth homers the Yankees rely on it compete day in and day out.  Mashairo Tanaka, the teams' unquestioned ace, and outside of CC Sabathia, its only starter with any postseason experience, was shelled by the A's for five runs on eight hits over six innings. It was the sixth time in his last ten starts that Tanaka has given up four runs or more in an outing. His ERA which was once at 3.21 on June 22 is now at 4.68 two months later.

The others haven't been any better. J.A. Happ surrendered five runs to the A's over four innings on Tuesday, a 6-4 loss. He hasn't had a true quality outing since the Fourth of July in Tampa when he allowed a run over 5.1 innings of work.

How about Domingo German on Monday? Rinse and repeat. Six runs, five earned over 5.1 innings in a 6-2 loss to Oakland. German whose record fell to 16-3 with Monday's loss, has been the Yankees best pitcher, granted a lot of it has more to do with the Yankees offensive prowess than anything else.

Whats more the road ERA for the Yankees rotation is so ugly, it has to make you wonder how this team can win games in the postseason away from the Stadium. Tanaka's road ERA is 6.48. German, 5.82; Happ, 5.62; Paxton 5.21, and Sabathia 6.95.

This is the rotation Brian Cashman felt was good enough that he didn't give up top prospects for some starting pitching at the deadline? This is the rotation that didn't have room for Dallas Keuchel last offseason and Spring Training? When's Luis Severino coming back?

Now the Yankees are going to send inconsistent James Paxton to the hill in Game One in LA against Cy Young candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu. This could be tough. Saturday CC Sabathia and his aging 39-year old left arm toe the rubber for the Yankees. By the grace of divine intervention, he will go up against Tony Gonsolin. This should be a win for the Yanks, even if CC lasts only two or three innings.

Sunday the Yanks face Clayton Kershaw.  Something's gotta give there.

You want this to be a World Series preview? If the Yankees starting pitching can't improve now and moving forward into September, there won't be Yankees baseball come October 22.

Don't believe me still? Against Playoff caliber teams the A's, Indians, Astros, and Twins the Yankees are 7-13. Prelude of things to come? The Yankees hope it isn't.

Mets Walk It Off Against Tribe On Davis RBI Single

METS 4 - INDIANS 3 

There is something special brewing at Citi Field. For the second time in three weeks, the Metswalked it off in dramatic fashion, this time beating the Cleveland Indians 4-3 on a game-winning single by JD Davis. The victory hands New York its fourth straight win, and 26th 'W' in their last 36 games. The victory also comes off the heels of Tuesdays 9-2 thumping of the Indians, making last week's losses to Atlanta and Kansas City a distant memory. The Mets now trail the Cubs by only 1.5 games for the second wild card in the NL. 

Like we said, there is something special about watching a team that plays with a 'never say die' attitude.  And once again Citi Field was the place to be on a hot summer night. Since the Mets turned their season around after the All-Star Break, fans have been coming out in droves, and the cheers and chants get louder with each victory. 

Even when Indians first baseman Carlos Santana crushed a breaking ball by Luis Avilan, and deposited it over the left field wall, handing Cleveland a 3-2 lead, it didn't feel like the Mets were out of it. 

All they needed was a jolt, and they got exactly that when Amed Rosario lined a double to right center in the bottom of the 10th. Joe Panik laid down the perfect bunt in front of Indians closer Brad Hand to move Rosario over to third. After Pete Alonso was intentionally walked, the Indians botched a Michael Conforto ground ball when Francisco Lindor failed to complete a potential double-play as Rosario crossed home plate with the tying run.

Once Wilson Ramos reached on an infield single that Hand didn't see coming, you had to know that any minute now the Mets would win the game. 

Davis fell into an early 0-2 hole, before taking the next three pitches inside for balls, as Hand was trying to bust him inside. On 3-2, Davis had a fastball right where he wanted it, but swung a tad too soon and fouled it down the third base line. The next pitch, a slider, Davis fisted foul to keep the count going at 3-2. Finally, a slider from Hand floated outside that Davis could straighten up his swing and loft into left field for the game winner. 

Upon rounding first, Davis was swarmed by his teammates, and even got his jersey torn off by Pete Alonso -- an apparent tradition for the Polar Bear, who tore apart Michael Conforto's jersey two weeks ago. He even got the celebratory Gatorade bath. 

During his post-game comments with SNY's Steve Gelbs, grabbed the mic and said "Hey Mets fans, we did it again!" And boy did they ever! As Davis said later in the locker room afterwards, "This is our playoff time, we have to play well and we have to come out ready to play."

Yep, it’s playoff time. The Mets have been in a playoff mentality since July 12, and so far It shows no signs of stopping.

NOTES: Marcus Stroman left Wednesday’s game with hamstring tightness. Stroman gave up only a run on five hits over four innings before leaving. There was no update on his status. Wednesday was another solid outing from the Mets bullpen. Jeyrus Familia, Justin Wilson and Seth Lugo combined to toss four shutout innings in relief. Lugo was especially good, tossing two shutout innings to get the Mets into extra innings.

Mets Sink to New Lows in Loss to Royals

ROYALS 4 - METS 1

It's not 2015, but like that season, the Kansas City Royals are doing some serious damage to the Mets hopes and dreams. No the World Series isn't at stake this time, but the Mets playoff fate is.

After losing two of three to the Braves during the week, the Mets dropped the opener of a three-games series in Kansas City in a listless and frustrating 4-1 loss that drops the Mets to 62-60, two games out of a wild card. New York now trails the Brewers, Phillies, Cubs, and Nationals in the wild card race.

While a run to the postseason can still happen for the Mets, performances like Friday are not going to help.

For whatever reason the Mets couldn't touch Mike Montgomery who completely shut down a Mets offense that scored 10 runs the night before in Atlanta. Montgomery held New York to just an unearned run on five hits over six innings. It was his second best start for Kansas City since joining them earlier this season via trade from Chicago.

On the flip side this was an especially frustrating night for Mets starter Noah Syndergaard. He held a 1-0 lead through the first four innings of the game, but was visibly frustrated at the end of the fourth slamming his glove in the dugout. Manager Mickey Callaway said that Syndergaard was having a hard time gripping the baseball because of the sweat and humidity.

Whether that played a role in what would happen in the fifth inning is anyone's guess. After striking out Bubba Starling, Syndergaard gave up a single Ryan O'Hearn, and a RBI double by catcher Meibrys Viloria, tying the game at one. A throwing error allowed Viloria to reach third.

Next Nicky Lopez drove in Viloria with a double to right to push KC in front 2-1. Syndergaard would be done after battling through six innings of work.

Meanwhile the Mets couldn't touch Kansas City's pitching, managing only two hits over the next three innings as the Royals held onto a slender 2-1 advantage.

Then Mickey Callaway did what he does best, mismanage the bullpen. Brad Batch, who just joined the team recently after his release from the Cubs, gave up back-to-back singles to Alex Gordon and Hunter Dozier, and walked Jorge Soler. All of this with none out.

Why didn't the Mets go to Robert Gselleman to start this inning is another example of Callaway failing to understand the situation.

With the bases full and none out, Callaway went back to his bag of tricks and brought in Edwin Diaz, who has struggled all year with runners in scoring position. Of course it blew up in his face.

Diaz walked Brett Phillips to drive in Gordon, and surrendered a RBI single to Starling that scored Dozier to push the Royals in front 4-1.

Diaz was lucky that Ryan O'Hearn's near grand slam homer was called foul, or this defeat would have been even worse.

What made Friday's loss even more painful for Mets fans, New York had the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, but Amed Rosario grounded out to end the threat.

The Mets have now lost four of their last five games. While they are not out of Wild Card contention, losses like this one can't happen, especially against a rebuilding Royals team that is a shell of its former self.

Mixed Bag for Daniel Jones as Giants Blast Bears

GIANTS 32 
BEARS 13 

And so the beat goes on under the microscope for Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.

 A longer leash produced mixed results from the former Duke quarterback, as head coach Pat Schurmur continues to show signs that he would like to eventually move on from Eli Manning.

While the stats sheet looks great on paper, 11 completions in 14 attempts for 161 yards, it wasn't that pretty for the rookie.

His first three drives produced two costly fumbles and a three-and-out. The only time things really clicked for Jones, he engineered a five-play, 65-yard scoring drive that gave the Giants a 19-3 lead with 1:14 to go before the half.

On that drive, Jones was a perfect 4-for-4. He hit Paul Perkins out of the backfield for 26 yards to the Bears 39, then connected with TJ Jones for nine more to the Bears 30. After a seven yard run by Perkins, Daniel Jones hit TJ Jones again on a short eight yard slant, before finding the speedster once more up top in the left corner of the end zone for the touchdown.

Daniel Jones would not return again, Shurmur had seen enough. It was a nice mix of good and bad that the Giants can work with. Clearly Jones is developing, but there is certainly some talent there. When given time, he's gifted with a very strong arm, but he does have a tendency, like a lot of rookies, to stare down defenders and forget where the pass rush is. This will take time to develop.

As for Eli Manning, he looked good in his only series. Manning was 4-for-4 for 42 yards and a score. He hooked up with Cody Latimore for 20-yards down the seam on his first pass -- sending a message that even at 38-years old there is still something left in his Super Bowl winning right arm. HE completed the drive with a five yard screen to Golden Tate at the Bears eight-yard line, and the opening touchdown pass to Bennie Fowler that gave Big Blue a 7-0 advantage.

Other takeaways:
The Giants defense was ferocious Friday night. Big Blue recorded three sacks, five passes defended, five quarterback hits, and a safety as the combo of Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray spent most of their time running away from defenders. While it was the second team Bears offense out on the field, the fact the Giants looked great defensively is a great sign as we move toward the season.

Next:
The Giants are done with their preseason home games. They will hit the road to Cincinnati next Thursday to face off with the Bengals. The next time the Giants play at the Meadowlands it will be Week 2 of the regular season against the Buffalo Bills.