The Mets have had a rash of underperformance in their starting rotation lately. And last night, they turned to Tyler Pill against the Dodgers in hopes he could turn things around for them. But Pill was not effective, because he’s not a very good pitcher. Starting not-very-good pitchers is fine once in a while, but it’s a problem when they’re a part of the regular rotation. Basically, Pill is fine in moderation, but too much Pill can have negative effects on you, like headaches, nausea, and getting hit hard for (nearly) four hours.
Do you get it they’re pill jokes because his name is Pill wait where are you going okay I’ll talk about the game now.
Coming off a thorough thrashing Tuesday night, the Mets actually held a lead(!) early in the game. Curtis Granderson went deep in the first at bat of the game for his eighth homer of the season to put the Mets out early. Granderson has really come around at the plate since May and should probably start getting more praise.
Pitching with a 1-0 lead at that point, Tyler Pill carried a perfect game all the way into the third inning before giving up a walk, an error, and a sacrfice fly to tie the game at 1-1. He then promptly lost his no-hit bid in the fourth inning on a Cody Bellinger double. And that double was the start of a big inning for the Dodgers, who wound up putting up a four-spot in that fourth inning, capped off by a three-run dinger by Yasiel Puig that he pimped so hard it made Wilmer Flores become an angry old man.
It was pretty much over after that. The Dodgers added a run in the sixth and two more in the eighth off Neil Ramirez, whose ERA now sits at 6.66, which is probably a sign for something. The Mets did not get a hit with a runner in scoring position until the ninth inning, when Curtis Granderson hit a garbage time RBI double to make it 8-2.
The Mets have now dropped six of their last seven and sit at a paltry 31-40. This is a bad season.
OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY
Zack Wheeler was placed on the 10-day disabled list with biceps tendinitis. Apparently, Wheeler had pitched through the injury in his last two starts, which had seen him throw a combined 3.2 innings and allow 15 runs.
As humans, we are gifted with the ability to learn, adapt, and change based on our experiences. But most of the basic human instinct we learn is actually taught to us at a young age. We’re taught not to touch hot things or put dirt in our mouths. But imagine what it must’ve been like to be some of the first humans on Earth and not know those things? Imagine having to learn that sharp things hurt through a process of trial and error? I mean, we had to learn somehow that gasoline is bad to ingest or that you shouldn’t try to eat a fire. It must’ve been awful to learn that stuff the hard way. But these humans did learn these things, adapted, took lessons from their experiences, and passed them on to others for their collective benefit.
Apparently, the folks in charge of the Mets must not believe in the process of intellectual evolution, because they do none of those things. Despite repeatedly expecting players to perform through obvious injury or malady of some sort and never once having it work out well—including this pitcher in discussion, who lost two years of his career by pitching through injury himself—they still have not learned that injured players should not play baseball. There is no learning from mistakes here. There is no process of trial and error; there is only error. Constant, incessant error.
Matt Reynolds was also demoted in favor of Erik Goeddel. I am never not shocked to find out Matt Reynolds is or was on the MLB roster.
TODAY
The Mets look to avoid a clean sweep as they face the Dodgers at 10:10 p.m. in Chavez Ravine. Steven Matz gets the start against Hyun-Jin Ryu.
Photo credit: Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports