The Mets collective asses remain in the jackpot.
As astonishingly terrible as things have been going for the Mets, what is equally shocking is just how long their complete offensive inadequacy has gone on. We’ve been watching this story for about six weeks now, and this team is just entirely incapable of getting out of their own way. Take Friday night for example.
Despite Seth Lugo surrendering a first inning home run to Paul Goldschmidt, the Mets were very much in this game early. The next few innings, though, perfectly exemplified why New York has been struggling so mightily to score. In the top of the second inning, Jose Bautista drew a leadoff walk against Diamondbacks’ starter Zack Godley and scooted to third with nobody out on a double from recently promoted Dom Smith. With the Mets in business, Kevin Plawecki grounded a ball to the left side of the infield for a 5-3 putout that kept the runners where they were. Up next was number eight hitter Amed Rosario who lofted a fly ball to shallow center field, and while it wasn’t a terrible send with the pitcher in the on-deck circle, Bautista was easily thrown out at the plate on the would-be sac fly.
The next inning was even more egregious, as after a Lugo single and a Michael Conforto hit batsman, Todd Frazier pulled one down the third base line to tie the game at one and again set the Mets up with two in scoring position and nobody out. Poised for big inning, New York instead watched Godley strike out Brandon Nimmo, Asdrubal Cabrera and Bautista all consecutively to keep the game tied.
Arizona tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame on RBIs from Jake Lamb and Daniel Descalso, and suddenly trailing 3-1 you already got the impression that this game was over. Smith tried to give the offense a jolt with a line drive homer off the foul pole to lead off the fourth, cutting the Arizona lead in half and injecting some short lived life into the road dugout. Unfortunately that would be all the Mets would be able to muster against Godley tonight; a fifth inning two-run homer by Descalso that put the Dbacks up 5-2 essentially signified the end.
Arizona added two tack-on runs in the later innings thanks to run scoring hits from both Jon Jay and Paul Goldschmidt, while the Mets offense looked lost in the middle innings. New York did try to muster some sort of a comeback in the ninth inning but it was far too little too late, as Arizona relievers Jorge De La Rosa and Brad Boxberger extinguished the threat without any real drama to complete the Diamondbacks’ 7-3 victory.
Tonight, Steven Matz will take the mound for the Mets opposite Patrick Corbin in a battle of southpaws, but with the Mets completely incapable of mustering anything offensively, things are likely to continue along this current trajectory.
Photo credit: Joe Camporeale – USA Today Sports