Your team here your excitement from home. Alonso hit by the pitch, hes at first. Nobody out in the home eighth inning, the red sox three, mets two, 20 count to jeff mcneil. John hes frustrated that he had a shoot top curve ball. A nasty pitch, a lot of people swing over the top of it. Kevin 22, mcneil chopper its going to be fouled. John theres certain guys who have greater handeye coordination and the ability to keep their head on the ball. A lot of other hitters keep their head on the ball, watch the ball hit the bat. I dont think thats physically possible unless your ted williams or tony gwynn. But the longer you can stay in there, the better chance you have of making contact. He does that about anybody. Kevin good atbat, 22. You have to think at first you dont want to face pete alonso because he will headed to the third deck but this guy hes so tough as a reliever because you throw your good pitches and he keeps spoiling them. John he makes action happen quick. He hunts base hits but when he works you deep in the count and hes just taking three of your best offspeed pitches, you would be so tempted now to heat him up with a fastball and it might be doing him a favor. Kevin again it will be 22 to mcneil, he stays alive and how did he even get a piece of that . John thats what im saying, those are really good pitches. These are strikeout type pitch pitches. Kevin good time to tell you if you havent checked it out yet a brandnew fox sports app and website debuted this week. This is a moment in this game, jeff mcneil battling matt barnes. Nobody out, tying run on. This one to left and caught by benintendi. First out of a nine pitch atb atbat. So now its j. D. Davis, 0 for 2 with a walk in the sixth inning. He will put the shift on for davis just a little bit. John youve got to make him hit th high fastball. One of the better lowball hitters, power hitters last ye year. Kevin comes upstairs and got a piece of the bat, strike strike one. John what i miss most about not pitching is the catandmouse game with the execution, knowing what the other guy can and cant do. Kevin got it by him from 95. Diaz has already warmed for the mets in the bullpen, you would think getting ready if the mets take the lead but who knows . Maybe he comes in anyway. Familia through 13 pitches and it certainly was sharp, 02 the davis. Something you didnt know about davis given the scouting report, outside of mets fans, probably not a household name nationally. Since the allstar game last year, hes got the seventh best batting average in the majors. Just behind anthony rendon. Looking to deliver here. Curveball, davis drops one in there for a base hit. Alonso trying to stretch the third, here comes the throw, alonso is safe. Its runners at the corners for new york with one out. John i wil bet you they woud like to have this pitch selection back. I think alonso caught mr. Pillar off balance thinking hes not going to third on me. Rumbling, tumbling, stumbling, and diving in. I know the fans are not there but thats what they come to see, a guy like that who gives everything he has every single time. Kevin its a huge play for alonso with one out because now i fly ball can get him home. By the way, ryan cordell is a pinch runner for j. D. Davis at first base. Kevin so, 32 boston. Runners in the corners, one out, alonso the tying run at third and its Michael Conforto who will be the third hitter. John infield playing in, trying to cut down and read the ball off the bat. Kevin 11. There is no barnes right now. The mets just 2 of 14 with runners on base. Alonso hit by the pitch. There is cordell over at first, 11 to conforto. John good pitch right there, hes driving in a lot of runs late in late innings as barns and vazquez are hoping to get that call. Kevin tried to sneak one in. 21 the count and he did not go around. 31 to conforto. John the last two pitches were as good a pitches as you could make on the bottom of the strike zone and the top of the strike zone, neither one got called. Now the atbat is 31. That pitch split the plate, right down the middle. Must have called it low, now barnes has to wiggle out of a tough situation here. Kevin conforto waves at it, the count goes full. John by throwing out 31 breaking ball and conforto not being committed and half swinging, he might be a little confused as to what pitch is going to come, 32. Sitting there going his signature pitch is the curveball but i know hes got 96. Kevin discussion on the red sox infield trying to set up here. 32 to Michael Conforto. I wonder, do you have any inclination if hes lucky enough to get one in the gap to try and take the lead . John yeah, typically he would have stolen a base already but they want him there so he can get the whole, keeping the first baseman tight. The infield is playing in, they would give up the stolen base typically. Kevin payoff pitch, he got him. Fastball he got by conforto and a huge out for barnes. John these are the things that will haunt you in a short season, they will haunt you in a long season when you dont get contact with runners on third and less than two outs. He lulled him to sleep with all the breaking balls and 32, through a fastball by him. Conforto knows, hes now hoping his teammate cespedes can tighten him up with a two out hit. Kevin its even more impressive, mightve had a now it is cespedes. Needing a timely hit. Alonso hit by a pitch, mcneil after a lengthy atbat flew out, davis had a base hit and cordell the pinch runner at first and he struck out conforto. John these are the kinds of games that can swing a team into a funk or a nice stretch, boston needs to win this game. If the mets rally they feel like theyve stolen one and they can get on a roll while boston has to head into the yankees which is no bargain. I do believe this is where it hurts the home team. The crowd and the adrenaline and everything that you play and feed off of in a close game is just not there. So youre manufacturing it yourself. You know its a big moment. Kevin 11. Cespedes gave it a look and laid it off, 21. Barnes working hard, about to throw his 29th pitch. 22. He doesnt appear to want to throw a fastball to cespedes. John hes one of the best fastball hitting power hitters. Hes walking his eyes further and further down with that breaking ball. Each one thats been a ball cespedes has gone after, i almost think you could do it again and make this one more outside the strike zone. Kevin 22. Thats when you have confidence in your catcher as cordell takes second base, hes the goahead run. Its 32 to cespedes, gutsy pitch here. John similar to what he did to conforto, he slowed down cespedes with breaking balls, the problem is you cant make this fastball down. Will this just be the atbat . Kevin jiminez came in to pinch runner. 32 to you on a cespedes. John you know his curveball must be really good, the more they get to recognize it. That hasnt caused a change he here. Kevin 32, another curveball, another foul. Ken what we are seeing here is not surprising giving that cespedes the injury because of the shutdown. Since coming back, he has not been good with his timing against breaking balls. Normally a good breaking ball hitter but so far its been an issue for him. Kevin barnes has a great breaking ball and through the most of anyone in the league, and he homered to. All those things are in play in this fascinating atbat. Alonso with the tying run. Cordell the goahead run. Two down in the eighth. Eighth pitch of the atbat. He went fastball upstairs and it just missed, first fastball of the atbat, cespedes laid off and the bases are loaded. John what a take right here on a pitch that is on the top of the strike zone and just misses. Wow. Kevin how about this . Its all up to 21yearold andres jimenez, two hits, rbi triple, nothing bigger than this for him just yet. Bases loaded and a base hit puts his team in front. John the biggest thing in this situation for not having been in many of them is the anxiousness to want to do things. Right there, fastball up and he was ready to attack. He has to remind himself to slow it down. See the ball, hit the ball. Kevin a called strike. Maybe barnes gets that back from earlier in this inning. The count is 11. John that one looked like it went around the plate. Delayed call. Kevin talk about the anxiousness, laid off pretty tough pitches. John sometimes they fool you so much, couldnt swing. You throw such a great pitch, it can look like a great take but the hitter in his heart knows. Kevin 21 do jiminez, nowhere to put him. To the right side, inning over, wow. Barnes got through it somehow, he keeps the red sox in front. Conforto, a wasted opportunity and mcneil along atbat and flew out, boston remains in front. With tmobiles supercharged network, you can say goodbye to annoying scam calls, and feel free to answer your phone again. Hello puts cash back in your wallet. Were gonna need some blue food coloring. Earn 5 cash back on everything you buy at walmart. Com, including things for the science fair. An air pump and an led light, please. Wait, wait, wait. A what . When you want all that, you need the capital one walmart rewards card. Earn 5 cash back at walmart. Com. Mom paper towels it works whats in your wallet . [ind mom ct radio chatter] come on, hurry up all systems go . Mission Control 5 4 3 2. And liftoff. vo audi etron. The next frontier of electric. Get audi at your door Remote Services through participating dealers. Kevin we go to the ninth and edwin diaz coming into a situation with the mets are behind and he hasnt pitched since saturday. That could be part of it but still something you dont see every time. Brandon nimmo moves over to left field. Ryan cordell who we saw come on and pinch runner will go to center field. Here is diaz and he gets verdugo. John diaz is nasty but hes had a release point issue that has caused the slider to not be as tight. Hes given up a lot of home runs last year. Thats the pitcher right there, they hope they have figured a couple things out but when you lose command of that pitch even though you throw 98, 99 miles per hour, you need the equaliz equalizer. Kevin diaz has pitch twice this year, he got a save against the braves and he blew a save against the braves. Talked to luis rojas, you felt that was a good pitch on the outside part of the plate and he feels like his stuff has looked good in camp, so well see. Traded away a lot to get he and robbie ca, star prospects. John he has a low three quarters type delivery and sometimes he can get up hill and underneath, even at that angle, you can get on top of the baseball and it creates that extra life. On the side of the baseball when you throw that slider and it spins like what we call a cement mixer, thats not good. So you always want to tilt. Theres that little dock that youre aiming to get when you throw a slider, the hitter cannot see that spin. But they can see a big circle and that slider spins and it doesnt have break, the seams form a quarter sized circle and the hitters eyes just light up. Kevin meanwhile, Brandon Workman gets up in the boston pen. Was curious if we would see him tonight, because he had a tough inning and held on to finish it off for boston, 30 pitches last night. Looks like hes ready to come on and try and save it. John that wouldve been a nightmare for bobby cox and a 60 game schedule. I would have, i wouldve been like i want to pitch every four days, theres not that many starts, im ready for it, if i was closing, there would be no rules for it. I wouldve been a nightmare. Tonights game, kevin the most popular pick among the users, super six, we had on tap. Theyre going to need some help in the bottom of the ninth if they are going to pick up some cash. That wouldve been the rules in a 60game season. John youve got to throw out some of the socalled dos and donts for 162 because they dont apply. You dont want to use your believer three times in a row, but that shouldnt apply to 60. Should be more modified, three in a row is fine. A starter is only going to make 11 starts. I just find it interesting that we look the other way when we get to the end of the postseason, what to the last three World Series Champions have in common . What are they asking their starters to do . Pitch relief, start, pitch relief, start, at the end of the season. Now you have a fresh season and what i maintain is going to happen is that in those last two weeks of those season, the team with the best starting pitching is going to have a huge advantage. Youre going to have a guy come back on three days rest a couple of times in my opinion that gives that team the best chance to move on. Kevin its a really good point, different thinking altogether. John i would get my starters through two starts and they should be ready to go for whatever they need to do, whether its nine innings, eight innings caught pitch limit is off and as long as they are smart about it, they arent going out there with bad mechanics. Youre going to see a lot of relievers with high usage. Like for the red sox, they are using their a formula out of the pen. They have to win this game. If they lose this game, they dont have it for tomorrow against the yankees and they are really going to ask other people to set up. Kevin i think theres a flip side to that too. There are a lot of teams that had the analytic belief of the win probability. Certain point of the game, percentages or whatever, they arent going to use your high end leverage guys because youre going to essentially concede defeat. The idea if you save some of the guys, you really cant do that. John thats why im saying the analytics of 162 have proven theres a value and how you go about, that is not going to be the value that 60 games, theres no way thats the same. You may still get the Minnesota Twins and the new york yankees slug 150 home runs, whatever. I still think that formula is going to be flawed when it comes to the postseason form. Kevin chavis puts it in play with a runner on the move, its going to be runners on the corners for boston and diaz in some trouble with nobody out in the ninth. John thats not exit velocity that we will ever talk about but what did it do . The runner is going, 32 count, he put it in play and nobody there. First and third, nobody out and a cushion for the red sox for workman when he comes in. I believe the mets twice tonight had runners on third with less than two outs and didnt get the runner income of those things add up. Kevin now its been a onerun lead for a long time, since the fourth inning, but a real opportunity to add on and benintendi at the plate. John he is going side to side with his mechanics, hes getting underneath in his shoulder is not catching up. He had to pull it. You dont want to pull that pitch, you want natural action of a two seem to move and be able to spin the breaking ball off of it. It just seems uncomfortable with his body going too fast for his arm. Kevin hes close to walking the bases loaded here as benintendi taking there. Hes going to bring up one of his bigtime guns right now. Benintendi walks, this was supposed to be arauz instead its going to be rafael demers with the bases loaded. In a lot of trouble. Its dangerous right now because rafael who got the night off with a lefty on the mound comes up as a pinch hitter. Hes gotten off to a slow start offensively but tied for fourth in the American League in hitting last year, he stands in and takes a rip, fouls it off, strike one. John not a good match up. If this is when youre struggling on the mound. No room for error and you got a hitter appear that likes hitting in certain areas that you like throwing in. Kevin 02. John the best two sliders hes thrown, he kept them on the inner part of the plate. He can get the ball up, up and away. Dont have to make this pitch, the tendency is to over correct and spike it. Kevin he got him fastball away, devers chased and one big strikeout for diaz, one down. John c and 99 up and away. Kevin back to the top of the order, its jose 1 for 4 on the night. And its strike one. John his hands are way below the belt, the timing of the hand coming out of the glove is not quite fast enough. Couple pitches hes made him a better adjustment. His leg goes up in his arms got to be ready, it takes just a tilt off with the glove or a conscious effort to say im going to take the ball out of the glove a little quicker on the backside. Kevin this is the guy who had the second most saves in the history of the game a couple of years ago. 11 here, he missed outside. Its 21. It took matt barnes 37 pitches to get to the bottom of the eighth, diaz already at 28 here and got a little help as peraza went around and fouled it off. John stinger or something in his wrist. Never mind, thats not a stinger. Thats a hit by pitch that doesnt qualify because he swu swung. Kevin that one looked like it was right on the farm. Remember before you were having conversations about showing people at home, you want to be a big league hitter, stand in and take 99 off your hands. John or foul one off your foot that looks a little bit harmless at times. Youre hopping around like you broke a big toe, those hurt a lot. Kevin looks like hes going to be able to shake it off. Bases loaded for boston. Walk to verdugo and single by chavchavis. John now that you mentioned im still mad at my teammates back in the day, i got drilled in the back and i turned away, it was such it looked really bad, like i got hit my kidney is what it felt like you. I melted to the ground. They didnt even wait to see if i was okay, they were in the dugout laughing, i could hear them laughing and im struggling for breath. Im still having a hard time getting over tha that. The point is it hurt and when youre a pitcher and youre on the mound and youre in the National League and you got to bat, you better know where the ball is going when youre on the mound or youre going to wear one. Kevin i know the game has gone on for a while, i didnt know if you slipped into an old therapy session for a moment, i just want to make sure youre okay. John to be honest i did drift there. Kevin 22 again, foul ball again. Its been a theme. John well played game but a game of opportunities has come to a halt because neither team has been able to push across the big blow. Youve had the two big home runs out of vasquez, now the red sox have a chance to break it open. Kevin he waits and takes down low, the count goes full. You talk about the opportunities, the mets have left eight, the red sox have left five. Christian vazquez, two home runs, jeff mcneil with two rbis for the mets, that has been it. 32, bases loaded. Seems like the higher and tighter you get to peraza, he keeps on swinging. Staying alive. John really is the wrong guy in this situation. If he was right he would be throwing a 3two slider, nohitter would have a chance. Still trying to fight off 99, 98. Kevin comes in and he hits him and in comes a run for boston. John that just tells you where his release point is, that was a slider that he threw in and backed up. Thats the difference between being locked in and a closer, not only a huge market but a team thats expecting to win. This is a slider, see how its the side of the ball . Kevin diaz is done, 35 pitches and a load of trouble. Mets go to the pen. The waterfall . Nope a new volkswagen. A volkswagen . I think were having a br