One final late night West Coast start for 2026 awaited. Its contents were a mystery at its beginning, but you couldn’t be blamed if you sensed in advance something would go awry. Escaping the Metsian temporal cul-de-sac is rarely a breeze.
Saturday. San Diego. After dark. You don’t have to be Joe Piscopo to report that trouble likely lurks. Petco Park houses Turner Field, Pac Bell Park, and Miller Park energy, cited for venues gone or since rechristened that unleashed recurring stretches of bad Metsian energy over long periods of time. Dodger Stadium has been like that in the past decade, though that may be more about the Dodgers being the home team. Petco has traditionally sheltered a walkoff doggo just out of sight ready to bite. Billy Wagner knew it. Francisco Rodriguez knew it. Edwin Diaz discovered it. Devin Williams didn’t have to, because Austin Warren got to the mound first. He didn’t even wait until the eighth, let alone the ninth. The game wasn’t over as Austin sought a third out in his first inning of work, but it might as well have been.
In the bottom of the seventh, with the Mets ahead by a slender run, Warren gave up a two-run homer that can be described as plump to Padres catcher Freddy Fermin. I know it can be described as plump, because I went to Merriam-Webster’s website and searched antonyms for slender. My whole life I’ve been hearing about slender one-run leads, yet no obvious opposite to “slender” that came to mind seemed appropriate. I don’t know that “plump” does, either. I do know that once Fermin, who is now batting .133, got hold of what Warren served up, the Mets’ lead had turned from slender to non-existent. Therefore, with Fermin taking Warren uncomfortably deep and no effective Met response in the offing, it was time to prepare our good nights.
Good night, Nolan McLean’s six gritty innings of one-run ball.
Good night, standoff with Old Friend™ Griffin Canning, who went five and gave up just one run.
Good night, highlight reel play from special teams All-Pro Luis Torrens, yet again executing one of his core backup catcher competencies, quashing a double-steal attempt by turning a runner (Sung Mun-Song) breaking for home back toward third, transforming the whole thing into a 2-5-1 putout to end the fifth.
Good night, Marcus Semien in the role of something approximating hero for the solo homer he delivered in the top of the seventh off Bradgley Rodriguez to make the score Mets 2 Padres 1. It was Semien’s seventh dinger of the season, which is many as his trade partner Brandon Nimmo has accumulated for Texas. Marcus outpoints Brandon in RBIs, 24 to 22. Brandon has scored one more run than Marcus, 26 to 25. So the trade to date is a draw, right? Nimmo’s WAR, per Baseball-Reference, is 1.5. Semien’s? Despite our being reminded regularly of his defensive wizardry (usually when he misses another ball he supposedly gets to 99 times out of 100), Marcus’s bWAR wallows at -0.3. Also, Nimmo’s Texas team has clawed its way into playoff position. The Mets’ participation in the postseason stakes remains purely hypothetical. Marcus Semien may not be the mature differencemaker he was portrayed as, but he does have seven home runs.
Incidentally, Marcus Semien used to play for a team in the American League West, which means he faced pitchers who pitched for teams in the American League West more often in the course of those seasons than he did pitchers who pitched for teams from other divisions. This seems to come up on TV and radio every time Marcus bats against a longstanding Mariner or former Angel. On Saturday night, Keith Raad mentioned Semien is no stranger to facing Canning the erstwhile Halo. I believe I heard something similar mentioned when Marcus stepped in versus George Kirby in Seattle. The same basic thing gets said regarding our myriad former Brewers vis-à-vis anybody who’s hung around the Cardinals or Pirates for a couple of years. I’ve decided to let this factoid invocation get on my baseball nerves if not my real ones, for it doesn’t really unlock untold insight about this player or that. Marcus Semien does not possess the key to eternal understanding of the universe because he is 10-for-31 lifetime versus Canning, nor is his inner morality suspect because he is 4-for-29 in his career when batting against Kirby. It all sounds revealing. I’m not convinced it shows much
Brandon Nimmo had more plate appearances (70) against Aaron Nola — a modern NL East mound stalwart if ever there was one — than any other pitcher he faced as a Met. Yet he was traded out of Nola’s division to face an array of Mariners, Angels, and So Forths. Semien left behind all that experience taking on Astros and Athletics. And?
And Freddy Fermin is 1-for-2 lifetime against Austin Warren. Warren got Fermin on a flyout in 2023 when Austin was an Angel and Fermin was a Royal. Had that outcome been a true template for their most recent encounter, the Mets might not have lost to the Padres, 3-2, on Saturday night in San Diego, and I wouldn’t have minded staying awake for one last late night West Coast start in 2026.
Hey, I saw Mendoza’s mindless comments on SNY. When do the playoffs start, and who do we play?
Everyone was absolutely *thrilled* that McLean went 6 innings. When do we throw him his parade?
Opposite of slender is pulchritudinous, though its use here would be inappropriate, as it is only meant to be used to describe people.
Someone please tell Gary.
Got it.
Losses like that, 2nd time this week the Mets lost a late 2-1 lead with a high leverage reliever giving up a home run, are frustrating and tell me the Mets aren’t coming back this year, not even for a 6th place wildcard. Contenders win those 2-1 games.