Jacob deGrom (Part Three) The 2021 & 2022 Seasons
Saturday April 10th, 2021: Jacob allowed just one run in 8 innings of work, where he struck out 14 Marlins. The Mets gave him no run support, as deGrom took another no decision.
The Mets were shut out by Miami's Trevor Rogers (six innings) & three other Marlin pitchers (Dylan Floro, Richard Bleier & Yimi Garcia) 3-0.
deGrom started the game with a 0.64 ERA, still looking for his first win. Finally on this afternoon, deGrom earned his first win, Although the Rockies did get three runs, none of them were earned. A Francisco Lindor error led to a three run Rockies 5th inning. deGrom repeated with another 14 strike out performance, while walking just one over six innings of work.
means you go up against other teams' best most often & everyone tries a little bit harder to beat you.
April 2022: deGrom ended the month of April at 2-2 with 59 strike outs & two walks in 35 innings pitched, with a league leading 0.51 ERA. This earned him April Pitcher of the Month honors.
Quotes- Jacob deGrom: "I want to be out there every fifth day. That helped make the decision easier because I didn't want it to result into turning into something more serious. Talking with trainers & Dr. Altchek this was the right call, because if you continue to go out there & that's aggravated & you do change your mechanics, then you could be looking at some serious time, not being able to repeat your delivery & being off".
Lucie Mets. In that game he dominated his opponents, striking out eight in three innings pitched, not allowing a ball to leave the infield. Afterwards he treated his entire team to Chic- Filet dinner.
After two weeks, he returned to the much-needed Mets rotation. The Mets were now 1.5 games in first place, clinging on.
Monday May 31st, 2021: deGrom took the hill in Arizona as the Mets started a series with the D-backs. deGrom was masterful, not allowing a hit through the first five innings.
Hitting Star: In the 4th inning, Arizona chose to walk Mason Williams intentionally to load the bases & get to deGrom.
Trivia: deGrom's0.71 ERA was the lowest of any qualified starter since 1964, when the Phillies, Chris Short had a 0.64 ERA entering June.
At this point Jacob deGrom was being called the best pitcher in baseball by many sources.
Saturday June 5th, 2021: at Petco Park, in San Diego, deGrom continued his domination, stopping the Mets two game skid in San Diego. Jacob led the first place Mets to a 4-0 win, to keep them 3.5 games in front.
deGrom struck out 11 Padres in the night, marking the 50th time in his career he has struck out 10 or more batters in a game.
He started out by striking out two batters in the 1st inning. In the 4th after striking out Manny Machado, the Padres collected two singles.
With two men on, deGrom struck out Will Myers & Tucupita Marcano to end any idea of a threat.
He had two more Ks in the 5th, one in the 6th & two more in the 7th.
Overall in seven innings, he allowed no runs on three hits, one walk & the 11 Ks.
Trivia: Jacob deGrom is now 4th on the Mets all time strike out list behind Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden & Jerry Koosman.
deGrom lowered his ERA to a MLB
best 0.62, which was now the lowest ERA for a starter through nine starts since ERA became a stat in 1912.Friday June 11th, 2021: As Citi Field expanded its seating, a crowd of 26,637 came out to see the history making deGrom.
The first place New York Mets (32-24) hosted the San Diego Padres. Chants of "MVP, MVP" came from the crowd as deGrom struck out Padre All star, Fernando Tatis Jr. twice.
In another degrominating performance, he shut out the Padres on one hit, with ten Ks in six innings of work.
At the Plate: Also in this game, he added a two-run single, which led the Mets to the 3-2 win. deGrom was now batting .400 with 5 RBIs.
Trivia: He bested his record to 6-2, with an incredible 0.56 ERA, the best in ten starts by any pitcher since the statistic was first kept tracked of in 1913. His WHIP is also a historical best.
He had the best strike out per nin innings rate, the best strike out to walk ratio, the lowest HR per nine innings & the lowest hits per nine innings, as well as walks per nine innings ratios in the league.
His 103 Ks were third best. After this game he became the favorite to win the NL MVP Award.
Tuesday June 16th, 2021: A crowd of 23,545 including centerfieldmaz & Don Joe Vella came out to see deGrom lead his first place Mets (36-25) who were eleven games over .500.
Tonight, they hosted the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs (38-30). The Mets had taken the first two games. deGrom started out in amazing fashion, once again.
In the top of the 1st inning, he struck out Joc Pederson to start out the game. Anthony Rizzo flew out to right field & would be the only batter not to strike out in the first three innings. In the 2nd, deGrom struck out the side, including an 11 pitch at bat to Rafael Ortega.
In the bottom of he 2nd, Billy McKinney walked & Kevin Pillar doubled to right field making it 1-0. Pillar advanced on Luis Guillorme's fly out.
It was his 11th hit in 26 at bats, good enough for an incredible .423 average. It was his sixth run driven in against just four earned runs allowed all year. Absolutely incredible.
But after the 3rd inning where he struck out the side, once again I received a text from my brother saying "deGrom is coming out of the game". As the 4th inning began, Sean Reid-Foley entered the game to pitch.
The word was deGrom left the game with a sore right shoulder. The Mets went on to a 6-3 win, but the deGrom injury loomed over the win. deGrom had lowered his ERA to 0.54 & now had 111 strike outs
Quotes- Jacob deGrom: 
"I don't even know what to say, I'm pretty aggravated with it". The next day an MRI showed nothing concerning, in the words of Mets manager Luis Rojas: "a normal shoulder from a pitcher".
The Mets did not see a need to shut him down or put him on the IL. He even was able to play a
light game of catch the next day.Saturday July 26th, 2021: In this afternoon game at Philadelphia, Jacob gave up two runs, on four hits in six innings of work, striking out five.
As July started, the Mets still has a two game lead in first place. In the 1st inning, deGrom gave up three hits including a triple & two run HR to Austin Riley. He would strike out 14 batters for the third time on the year.
Dom Smith would hit two HRs in the game to tie it, but Freddie Freeman collected the walk off RBI single off Seth Lugo for a Mets loss & deGrom getting no decision.
July 7th, 2021: he made what turned out to be his last start of 2021. In a no decision at Citi Field the Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3. deGrom gave up two runs on four hits, striking out ten to get to double figures once again. In that game he reached a career 1500 strike outs.
He was named to the All Star team but announced he would not participate.
July 18th: In a bullpen session, he felt tightness in his forearm. He was placed on the ten day IL. Later in the month he felt soreness in his elbow. An MRI revealed inflammation in the elbow with now structural damage. He was placed on the 60 day IL &did not pitch again the rest of the year.
He ended 2021 at 7-2 with a 1.08 ERA 146 strike outs 11 walks in 92 innings of work in 15 starts.
2022 Mets Wild Card Season: With the 2022 Mets in first place & a pitching staff now led by Max Scherzer, deGrom wasn't as missed as he would usually have been. All the off-season hype of deGrom & Scherzer in the same rotation would have to wait until August. deGrom did not make his first start of the season until August 2nd.On August 7th, deGrom made his Citi Field debut for 2022 in a game against the rival Atlanta Braves. deGrom struck out 12 batters, earning the win pitching into the 6th inning, giving up two runs on just one a hit, a HR to Dansby Swanson.
On August 13th, he beat another NL East rival, shutting out the Phillies at Citi Field over six innings, striking out ten batters to reach double figures in two straight starts. deGrom was 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA.On August 18th, he too his first loss coming to the Braves in Atlanta. On August 25th, he earned a win in Colorado beating Ryan Feltner 3-1. On August 31st, he & the Dodgers Tyler Anderson had a pitcher's duel for seven innings with deGrom coming out the winner in the 2-1 game. deGrom struck out nine 7 walked no one allowing just three hits.
In the off season he chose free agency & signed with the Texas Rangers.
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