Clutch-Tron: Mets 5, Marlins 4

by Eric Simon on Aug 30, 2008 10:45 AM EDT

That. Was. Awesome! It doesn't even matter that Luis Ayala almost blew the whole thing in the bottom of the ninth. This is what you live for. Last at-bat, two outs, nobody on. A couple of singles and a scrappy HBP load the bases. Carlos Beltran strolls to the plate, the import of a tight pennant race and a season's worth of non-clutch blog comments weighing heavily on his mind. Does the patient Beltran take a few pitches to work the count into his favor? No. He doesn't. The count is already in his favor, he remarks to himself. A first-pitch offering from Kevin Gregg is en route, and Beltran shifts his weight and calmly crushes the pitch into the right-field stands. Mets 5, Marlins 2 3 4.

Big winners: Carlos Beltran, +78.1% WPA, Oliver Perez, +7.7% WPA
Big losers: David Wright, -12.4% WPA, Endy Chavez, -12.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Clutch-Tron!, +72.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Cantu double in 9th, -14.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +19.9%
Total batter WPA: +30.1%
GWRBI: Carlos Beltran

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by BobbyV_Incognito; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Name	# of Posts
BobbyV_Incognito	76
Shomov	29
Simons	26
IanB in MD	16
DoctorK16	16
Greenpoint Ian	15
mmxii	12
anonymous	12
itsmetsforme	11
Prince	8
Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright	6
The Beef	4
cjmulrain	4
future	3
johnnyapple	3
LOUtheMETfan	2
kingcritical	2
Fucilli5	2
JoshNY	1

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that game

It deserves the Bob Murphy memorial “They win the damn thing!” award for giving me about 5 heart attacks by the time it ended.

Also, Gary did the rare double “outta here!” call as Beltran’s bomb was leaving orbit. That’s about as excited as I’ve ever heard him.

Vote change: DePodesta/Acta in 2009!!!

by Greenpoint Ian on Aug 30, 2008 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

the marlins announcers

who, by the way, are probably the best announcing team in baseball, said it was a hanging splitter. pitch f/x says changeup, but i guess a hanging splitter would look like a changeup.

by gogomets on Aug 30, 2008 11:22 AM EDT reply actions

it was a split

Gregg confirmed this after the game and all the papers’ recaps agree on it. I didn’t even realize Gregg threw a splitter, but it makes a lot more sense than starting Beltran off with the change (that confused me on Gameday, too).

by anonymous on Aug 30, 2008 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions

i don't know that throwing the splitter with less than 2 strikes makes any sense

guy on third, 1 run lead…why risk choking it into the dirt through the catcher’s legs? beltran likes to watch a couple of pitches…why not throw him a get-me-over breaking ball or a low and away fastball?

but thank you for confirming that. when i watched the replay it just looked weird

by gogomets on Aug 30, 2008 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Actually

Gregg doesn’t, as far as I know, throw a straight change. According to BIS, he’s thrown 0.7% changeups this year, which is so few that I’d wager they’re actually splitters that just didn’t dive. All the scouting reports I can find say split.

PITCHf/x often has trouble distinguishing the two.

by Alex Nelson on Aug 30, 2008 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions