{"id":324785,"date":"2021-08-15T09:47:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T06:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/mets-taijuan-walker-deserved-a-better-fate-in-this-one\/"},"modified":"2021-08-15T09:47:28","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T06:47:28","slug":"mets-taijuan-walker-deserved-a-better-fate-in-this-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/mets-taijuan-walker-deserved-a-better-fate-in-this-one\/","title":{"rendered":"#Mets&#8217; Taijuan Walker deserved a better fate in this one"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Mets&#8217; Taijuan Walker deserved a better fate in this one<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"76\" height=\"69\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=76&amp;h=69&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-nyp_columnist size-nyp_columnist\" alt=\"Ian O'Connor\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png 152w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=114 114w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=76 76w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=38 38w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 76px) 100vw, 76px\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Taijuan Walker deserved better. On most nights, against most teams and most pitchers, he would have gotten better.<\/p>\n<p>But he was facing the defending champion Dodgers, and a starter, Walker Buehler, whom Mets manager Luis Rojas had described as \u201celectric.\u201d So, Walker did not leave Citi Field a winner on Saturday night. No, he left the ballpark just as frustrated as the rest of his teammates, who had lost a second straight 10th-inning <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>, this one by the score of 2-1.<\/p>\n<p>Walker had deployed a devastating splitter to keep the Dodgers hitless over 6 \u00b9\/\u2083 innings. For a while, everyone was dreaming the improbable dream. Could Walker become the second Met ever \u2014 and the first since Johan Santana in 2012 \u2014 to throw a no-hitter?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMan, he was nasty,\u201d Michael Conforto said.<\/p>\n<p>Nasty enough for Walker to start thinking about his shot at greatness in the fifth inning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou see the scoreboard and stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to keep going out there doing what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Santana, Walker was not hired by the Mets to be some historic figure. He arrived in February with a career record of 35-34. He was a good pitcher, not a great one, a veteran who could give you an honest day\u2019s work and a fair-and-square chance to win a ballgame. He made his first All-Star team this year, in his ninth season, and at $23 million over two years, he looked like one of the best signings in the sport.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"705\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Taijua-Walker-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Taijuan Walker reacts to being taken out of the game in the seventh inning of the Mets' 2-1 loss to the Dodgers.\" class=\"wp-image-19136520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Taijua-Walker-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Taijua-Walker-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Taijua-Walker-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Taijuan Walker reacts to being taken out of the game in the seventh inning of the Mets\u2019 2-1 loss to the Dodgers. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Robert Sabo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But Walker had lost his past four decisions, falling from 7-3 to 7-7. In fact, he hadn\u2019t won a game since July 3. His fade was best defined by his bizarre fielding decision against the Pirates last month, when he turned Kevin Newman\u2019s swinging bunt with the bases loaded into a misadventure of epic proportions.<\/p>\n<p>That tragicomedy was not on Walker\u2019s mind Saturday night. On Friday, word came down that his teammate, Jacob deGrom, would be shut down for at least another two weeks. DeGrom hasn\u2019t pitched since July 7, and it\u2019s conceivable he won\u2019t pitch again in the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>Walker knew his team needed not just an emotional lift, but a physical one, too. The Mets had lost a tough one Friday, and the Phillies and Braves both won Saturday, securing their shared claim to first place. Walker knew he had to be the Walker of the first three months of the season, and not the diminished starter he\u2019d been for the better part of six weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, we\u2019ve got to step up every single start now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough hearing that [deGrom] <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>, just in the clubhouse and everywhere. But we\u2019ve got to do our job and go out there and try to go deep into games and just pick him up while he recovers. And I hope he comes back soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He responded with a vengeance, too, in front of the biggest Citi Field crowd of the year. The Dodgers kept swinging over that splitter, and people everywhere who care about the Mets kept thinking that maybe, just maybe, this night would be one for the books.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>Walker engaged his former teammate, Billy McKinney, in a spirited battle to open the sixth, with the Mets holding a 1-0 lead on Conforto\u2019s homer in the fourth. The count was 2-2 when McKinney fouled off four straight pitches (two splitters and two four-seamers) and inspired the Mets\u2019 starter and his catcher, Tomas Nido, to give him a different look. Walker ripped off a back-door slider, and McKinney didn\u2019t have a prayer.<\/p>\n<p>After Walker walked Walker Buehler (say that quickly five times), he got Trea Turner to bounce into a double play. Nine outs out to go. Max Muncy lifted a harmless fly to open the seventh. Eight outs to go. Will Smith stepped in, just as he had in the 10th the previous night, right before he sent a Jeurys Familia sinker sailing over the left-field wall.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers catcher took the first pitch, a fastball for a strike. He didn\u2019t take the second pitch. \u201cJust a bad slider,\u201d Walker said. Smith crushed it 444 feet to left center, and that was that. The no-hitter and the shutout were going, going, gone.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Walker was a bit deflated. What human being in that situation wouldn\u2019t be? He surrendered a hard double to Corey Seager, buckled down to beat AJ Pollock for his eighth and final strikeout, then walked Chris Taylor before Rojas came out to get him.<\/p>\n<p>Walker headed for the dugout to a loud ovation. The fans were acknowledging the obvious in a world without a healthy deGrom:<\/p>\n<p>If the Mets are to stay in this NL East race, Walker must keep pitching as he did on a lost Saturday night that could have been remembered forever.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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On most nights, against most teams and most pitchers, he would have gotten better. But he was facing the defending champion Dodgers, and a starter, Walker Buehler, whom Mets manager Luis Rojas had described as \u201celectric.\u201d So, Walker did not leave&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Taijua-Walker-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[114280,71122,37192,94397],"class_list":["post-324785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-15-21","tag-luis-rojas","tag-new-york-mets","tag-taijuan-walker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}