Something for Jacob
Mets belt five HRs to top Yanks and back deGrom at last
It was a win, a moral victory and a debate about what really defines a great pitcher all in one. In what was likely the last big game of the season for the Mets, Jacob deGrom bested Luis Severino and the Yankees to pick up an 8-5 victory at Yankee Stadium.
In front of a nationally televised audience, deGrom battled through 6.2 innings, holding the dangerous Yankees lineup to three runs (two earned). He struck out 12, marking the fourth time this season he has punched out a dozen. It slightly raised his ERA to 1.81, which is still the best in the majors. It was his major-league leading 16th quality start and the 21st straight start in which he has allowed three earned runs or fewer, the second most in franchise history behind Dwight Gooden.
And yet Monday night was just deGrom’s seventh win of the season, bringing his record to an underwhelming 7-7.
Severino struggled through just four innings, his shortest start of 2018, and was chased after giving up two home runs in his seventh straight questionable outing. He took his second loss to the Mets and his sixth loss of the season. It’s a small mark against his 15 wins, though.
“In deGrom’s case, we’re going against a guy who is having as good a year pitching-wise as anyone in the league, so obviously (wins are) not representative,” Aaron Boone said. “I think the fact Sevy has been able to rack up some wins, I think speaks to just how strong his season has been, but also he’s playing on a team that’s been largely able to support him from a run standpoint.
“So it is something that is a factor, something that you look at, also something that can be unpredictable year by year depending on different situations and circumstances. These are two cases of that.”
With the Mets 16 games below .500, their games are only meaningful every five days if they can give deGrom enough run support to build a case for the National League Cy Young. DeGrom has set his sights on the award voted on by the baseball writers at the end of the regular season.
“I want to win a Cy Young,” deGrom said. “I think that every starting pitcher, or pitcher in general, wants to win, as a personal goal. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it.”
But he knows there is only so much he can do about it alone. He has done his best, making 24 starts, pitching 159 innings this season and striking out an impressive 195. He has been dominant, but so has his main competition: Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer — who has more strikeouts and three Cy Youngs already — as well as the Phillies’ Aaron Nola.
While their numbers are all debatable, the bottom line is that they will likely have the edge over deGrom because their teams win for them.
And ultimately, that is what deGrom wants more than any award.
That is what has earned the respect of his current and former teammates, his drive not to just be the best, but to carry the Mets to wins.
“From a competitor standpoint, there is no one who wants to win more than he does,” deGrom’s former teammate and current Yankee Neil Walker said. “Every time, every fifth day when he took the ball, he was less concerned about what his numbers looked like than he was getting the ‘W’ at the end of the day.
“I am sure he’d like to have a Cy Young attached to his name, but at the same time his resume is so impressive from day one in the big leagues, I don’t think that he needs that to solidify himself mentally as a top pitcher in this league,” Walker continued “You’d have to ask him, but I know winning is important to him.”
For the second straight year, that’s certainly not happening for the Mets or deGrom.
That’s one reason deGrom and his agent made the public statements at the AllStar break that the Mets should pay him by extending his contract or trade him to a contender. Since the trade deadline has passed, the 30-year-old deGrom will now have to settle for pushing himself to try and win the award.
“I want to win,” deGrom said. “Every time I go out there, I want to win. Yeah, I want to win a Cy Young, that’s every starter’s goal, but ideally you are going for that award while playing for the playoffs.”