22 New York Mets (Bassitt) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Nola Aa)

zambonir 2022-08-20 15:57:09 UTC #101

Yeah to me that one is still on the offense. The Mets are good. And the first run of the game was really on Bohm.

Whether Nola is a "#2" or not doesn't really matter. He's the 2nd-best pitcher on the Phillies. If that's not good enough - or if he's also not as good as Bassitt (never mind Degrom and Scherzer) than that really isn't on Nola, it's on Dombrowski.

xogfog 2022-08-20 16:10:54 UTC #102

Well at least the Padres have lost two straight to the Nationals and the Brewers lost to the Cubs.

EDmuch 2022-08-20 16:17:22 UTC #103

Thank you Julio, that is kind of my point.

EDmuch 2022-08-20 16:18:52 UTC #104

Z, the first run of the game is not the issue. It is the other four over the next four innings.

allentown 2022-08-20 16:29:03 UTC #105

Honestly, I've been (I guess very) critical of the Castellanos signing which created an unbalanced roster, but don't see how this is on Dombrowski. First, I definitely see Nola as a legit #2. Second, even after this poor start, Nola's ERA is still a nidge below Bassitt's. Third, I think we have a generally good rotation, with Suarez a good home-grown addition, and both Gibson and Syndergaard being respectable SP additions made by DD. Fourth, DD saddled with some bad contracts, but did convince owner to go above lux cap to compensate. Fifth, the Phillies are poised to win more games than my top estimate for this season, despite missing a lot of Harper time. So, I think it wrong to say "that is on Dombrowski". A GM isn't a magician and the Phillies woes are primarily from past amateur selection/development failures. DD seems to have made some improvements in this area, but given the past, it's still wait-and-see for me.

Overall, plus job by DD this year. Yes, the Mets are definitely a better team. We spent record for us this year. The Mets really spent. Without Harper the Phillies have a weak lineup. Our hitter got zero walks last night.

andyb 2022-08-20 16:32:02 UTC #106

But at the same time we are 0.37 better than the league in pitching and only 0.20 better in hitting. Clearly losing Harper has hurt us relative to both the league and the Mets. It feels weird to say our pitching is better than our hitting (and our bullpen is actually above average too), but it is.

The other side is that the Mets are really good however.

zambonir 2022-08-20 16:37:27 UTC #107

It's on Dombrowski if you are Ed, who is ripping Nola and suggesting he's not good enough. If you accept Ed's premise that he's not good enough than the GM didn't assemble a good enough rotation. I do not accept this premise. Dude had a bad start and still wasn't the worst thing about the team yesterday. It happens.

Our #2 starter around this time in 2009

zambonir 2022-08-20 17:05:00 UTC #108

Scoring first is not insignificant. It puts more pressure on both the pitcher and the offense. And the team that scores first usually wins between 60 and 70% of the time. That's not to say Nola had a good start but the offense was worse. Being down 5-0 certainly did them no favors but they also maybe lost that game 3-2 or 3-2 if he'd been better.

Listen, if he has another disappointing September or comes up small in a playoff game maybe they don't want to re-sign him after next year. But he's having a great season, and it's the whole team that is struggling to be anything other than average or mediocre against the Mets (where they are terrible) or other good teams (where they are about .500 caliber).

EDmuch 2022-08-20 17:47:27 UTC #109

Z, I understand, But scoring first five times rather than just one run is also significant. To me Alonzo's homer meant the game was over.

But I also agree that we have to watch what Nola does for the rest of the year and in the playoffs (If they occur). That is my point. I think we need to maintain a critical review of Nola's September and playoff performance. He has a very mixed record when the heat is on. That needs to be looked at in determining whether to extend him after next year. So I think we are really using different words to say the same thing.

EDmuch 2022-08-20 17:48:27 UTC #110

Dombrowski did not sign Nola.

zambonir 2022-08-20 18:17:05 UTC #111

No he didn't sign Nola but he made decisions about the rotation in the off-season based on Nola being a #2, and doubled down on that (with good reason) at the deadline. A lot of us thought the Castellanos money would be better spent on a pitcher and given the way his defense and the line-up construction has remained problematic (completely separate from his struggles at the plate) that still seems like it would have been a good idea. If you don't think Nola is an "ace" (wink-wink) even more so.

And same thing at the deadline. If we get the Nola of Septembers pasts (even in October) the Phillies will lose and either Dombrowski will have erred in not getting a better pitcher than Thor to truly upgrade the rotation (instead of just adding depth). Or we can just say, oh well, this team wasn't that good anyway. Which also might be true (even if Nola is great).