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Recklessly Late Recap: 10/18/15 Cubs 1/Mets 4 "Arrieta's Not Bad"

by Boutros Boutros Ghali

Sorry about the late recap, but like many of you, I was not really in the mood to be thinking about Sunday night's game yesterday. It is possible that I did not want to think about it for different reasons than you. So here's the recap and this loss really had very little to do with the way Arrieta pitched. 

The Mets bet that if they threw a ton of strikes the first time around, they could catch the Handsome Youngsters looking early, which puts them in bad counts, which leads to strike outs. The Cubs watch a lot of pitches (most in the league), strike out a lot, (most in the league), and have a hard time making contact (worst in the league). 

They won that bet. Fabiogaard got six of the first nine to look at the first strike. Only three of the first nine actually saw a ball in the first pitch and nobody made it to through the second pitch without having at least a 1-1 count. Between getting down early in counts and the Mets defense, the offense struggled. 

In the bottom of the inning, Arrieta was not putting the ball exactly where he wanted it, but that's not what hurt him. It was bad defense and an improbable home run that did the damage.

Granderson got an early single off of Jake was able to score on a double by Wright. Fowler completely misplayed a hit by Wright that allowed the first run to score. 

If Dexter Fowler had been playing his position deep instead of shallow, as I have been bitching about all year long, he probably would have been able to catch that ball instead of it being an RBI double. 

That was a warning track shot and Dexter should be able to get to the warning track on every ball or he's playing too shallow. Arrieta gave up that hit, but Fowler is the one that made it a double and an RBI.

The killer was the Murphy's Law homer. That homer came off of what should have been a curve ball in the dirt for a ball at Murphy's feet. Murphy somehow got the bat on the ball and golfed it up in the air for the two run homer. 

Watch this StatCast of Murphy's homer and you will see the ball comes off the bat at 90.7 mph. Only 1% of all balls hit that slowly ever make it over the fence. It basically has to find the shortest part of the field (usually right down the line) which it did and probably needs a little wind. The wind was registered at 18 mph traveling left to right, so that was the final ingredient. 

The Mets had three hits and three runs in the first inning. Arrieta only gave up one more hit. That hit came after Arrieta walked Granderson and then intentionally walked Murphy to put Granderson in scoring position.

Granderson stole third and then scored on the grounder to Baez that he could not handle. I don't know if Baez is able to make a play if he fields it properly, but it still looked horrible. 

The Cubs did make some good contact against Syndergaard, but the Mets defense was too much. The one great hit was a homer by Big Boss Cogg that Granderson went over the fence and stole in the second inning. (I won't subject you to it again by posting a link.) 

The Cubs did eventually score. Fowler came in for their first run of the game in the sixth. 

Fowler singled in the sixth, moved to second on a wild pitch, and Bryant was able to bring him home with an RBI double. Then the Mets went to their bullpen where they began pounding the strike zone with the three run lead. Cubs 1-Mets 4. 

That's how it ended. Arrieta was actually pretty good, the defense was bad, and the Mets put together the perfect strategy against the offense. 

That's your reckless recap. 

 

 

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