Braves 11, Mets 0
The Mets were not no-hit yesterday; when you’re in this kind of organizational drift, the avoidance of abject humiliation is a victory of sorts. And when you’re the Mets, an 11-0 drubbing is not going to be the most humiliating part of your day. The dog days of May are here, four days in. Strap in; we’re in for quite the summer.
The Mets dropped their third in a row as Atlanta came into town a promising young team and left in sole possession of first place in the NL East, but no elbows or diamond chains were broken in the course of the game. It’s a process.
But this wasn’t the plan. They are lost. They are so, so lost, friends.
Atlanta’s Julio Teheran no-hit the Mets for six and two thirds innings until Asdrubal Cabrera broke it up with a two-out double in the seventh. By then, the Mets were down eleven runs, but it was fine. The Mets would load the bases but not score in that frame. Everything’s fine.
When the team signed Jason Vargas to a two-year, $16 million contract in February, the suggestion that Matt Harvey would be mopping up behind him in the fifth on the wrong side of a six-run deficit, only to add another five himself, would have been — not laughable, but if it was even plausible, surely some infrastructure around Citi Field would have been a better destination for that cash. A revamp of the subway staircase. Maybe some additional parking.
“I thought I had until at least the All-Star break,” a fellow traveler texted in the sixth inning.
Vargas lasted four and two thirds, surrendering eleven hits, three home runs and six earned runs. Harvey went two innings, surrendering five more. Jerry Blevins and Jeurys Familia covered the eighth and ninth and surrendered no runs. Everything’s fine.
Perhaps Vargas is still knocking the rust off after an interrupted spring training. But that can’t explain why the Mets have scored two runs in three games.
The Mets take on Colorado tonight at Citi Field at 7.10 p.m. Zack Wheeler (2-1, 4.09) will face German Marquez (1-3, 5.14).
Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports