The Mets have sunk from amazing to confounding to unwatchable.
Tuesday night’s one-run loss to the Guardians showcased everything about this team right now that no one sensible would put in a showcase: one bad inning from a starting pitcher who (once again) didn’t give his team much length, a bit of ill-timed bad luck, and an absolutely inert offense. The Mets scored their first run of the game without a hit, which feels like the punchline to a joke, their second run on a single, and that was the sum total of the scoring. In fact, Jeff McNeil‘s leadoff single in the fourth was their final hit of the night, with the last 14 Mets making outs without so much as a whimper.
The Guardians, for their part, took the lead in the seventh on a mildly absurd trio of two-out hits against Tyler Rogers: a grounder that bounced through the 5.5 hole into left, a little poke job over the infield on a pitch 18 inches outside, and finally a disgustingly Sojo-esque seeing-eye single up the middle.
After all that, Jeremy Hefner strolled out to the pitcher’s mound to talk to Rogers; we were in the car and wondered what a pitching coach possibly says in that situation.
“Hang with ’em?”
“Keep doing what you’re doing?”
But then Emily nailed it: “Sorry that you’re now on the Mets.”
The fans deserve better.
We’ve reached the point in the season where I say, “Hey, at least they’re not dousing reporters with bleach and throwing cherry bombs out of moving vehicles.”
In other words, low bar, they’re not the ‘93 Mets. They’re not The Worst Team Money Could Buy. Maybe the second worst.
C’mon guys. Prove me wrong. Please.
The season’s far enough along now that it’s obvious we’re a very average offensive team. Only reason we have a winning record is we pitched out of our minds in April and May. I’m hoping we can make the playoffs but not confident about it.
What’s with Nimmo staring at fastballs down the middle for strike 3?
Is Mendoza capable of being embarrassed?
They’ve come out of the trade deadline dead.
I am really torn…I retired a month ago so I can now watch day games, but I don’t want to watch today’s game. BUT – I would like to see Pete at least tie the record at home, and so my plan is to half-heartedly watch while doing paperwork ( in other words, not unlike following a day game at work, with Howie Rose keeping me up to date but tackling a pile of forms and signing things I had already approved). I feel like this is not progress for either the Mets or me, and once Pete is safely ensconced as the Mets HR King ( a place we all knew he would reach by May 2019), I may need to re-evaluate my life choices. Or maybe, just maybe, the Mets can rekindle a spark or two?
Mendoza is beginning to sound a lot like Boone. I am looking forward to the Yankee game today. A loss and they would be outside looking in.
The six playoff teams seem to be set, so panic has not yet set in. Still, there’s an uncomfortable miasma surrounding the season. A little bit like 2000, a year I do not look back on fondly despite making the World Series.