None of them can even be considered in the same galaxy as Jacob deGrom’s 2018 season.

This wasn’t just one of those seasons that Mets fans will remember in a few years and look back on fondly like we do with Harvey and Syndergaard. This is one of those seasons that baseball fans everywhere will still be talking about in 25 years. This is peak Doc Gooden territory. Hell, Ron Darling, who pitched in the same rotation as Gooden, said deGrom’s year was the best pitching season he’s ever seen.

There has been a parade of stats thrown around about deGrom’s season and how historic it has been. For me, though, one stat in particular tells the story of Jake’s season quite well. FIP, for what it’s worth, is far from an all-encompassing stat. It is flawed, and is very far from being any sort of end-all be-all indicator of anything. That said, I think it provides a great context for what we just witnessed:

deGrom finished the season with a FIP of 1.98. Since 2000, only two other qualified starting pitchers have finished with a FIP below 2.00, and both of their names are Clayton Kershaw. Only one of Kershaw’s seasons was better than 1.98.

Going back even further to when they lowered the mound in 1969, deGrom’s FIP this season is outdone by only four other pitchers:

1999 Pedro Martinez (1.39)
1984 Dwight Gooden (1.69)
2014 Clayton Kershaw (1.81)
1971 Tom Seaver (1.93)

Yes, he was that good.

As far as league-adjusted FIP goes, well, deGrom’s FIP- going into last night’s game was 50, and it dropped to 49. That means deGrom’s FIP- this season is bested only by guys named Pedro and Randy since 1969.

This was truly one of the best pitching seasons any of us will probably ever see. There may never be another one like it.

And last night, deGrom capped it all off with one of the most poetic, poignant, storybook endings anyone could have hoped for in this lost season. Commanding his mound, deGrom fired eight shutout innings, racking up 10 strikeouts while allowing no walks and two hits in front of a sparse-but-raucous home crowd.

deGrom looked at least quasi-human in the first two innings, allowing leadoff hits in both of them. But after the leadoff single in the second, deGrom grabbed ahold of this game and took ownership of it. He retired the last 20 batters he faced in order. Half of those batters were retired on strikeouts. The only time a runner secured first base against him after the second inning was when Ronald Acuña reached first on a dropped third strike, but was then tagged out after rounding first. That’s it.

As far as deGrom’s run support goes, he predictably didn’t get much, but he got enough this time. The game was scoreless until the sixth inning, when the Mets finally broke through for their “Ace of Aces.” Dom Smith punched an RBI single up the middle to get the Mets on the board. After deGrom had left the game in the eighth, they added some insurance. Michael Conforto hit a solo shot all the way to to Ike Davis territory on the Shea Bridge to make it 2-0, and then Smith added a solo homer of his own to extend the lead to 3-0.

Before deGrom left, though, his final two innings were particularly electrifying, as everyone in the ballpark sensed that he was nearing the completion of his masterpiece campaign. This was possibly the most exciting any Mets game has been all season. The fans in the ballpark grasped the moment, those at home felt it and of course Gary Cohen could sense it as well.  Words can’t really describe how captivating this night became, so I’ll leave it to the video:

1⃣,0⃣0⃣0⃣ career strikeouts for @JdeGrom19. The fastest #Mets pitcher to get there.

News flash: This guy's good. pic.twitter.com/NeeMHtbdOe

— New York Mets (@Mets) September 27, 2018

deGrom struck out 1,000th batter of his career to cap off his legendary season. He walked off the mound to a rousing ovation, smiling and proud, with a palpable sense of accomplishment. He was met in the dugout by a giddy Captain, and the two shared embrace that has already been immortalized and will live forever.

Back in July, I wrote this:

“..whenever deGrom starts next…don’t think about the trade rumors. Don’t think about how bad the team is. If that means you have to stay off social media, then so be it. But just sit down and watch one of the best pitchers in the world on the top of his game, mastering his craft. And just enjoy it. You’ll be so much happier.”

I hope you enjoyed it. And I hope it made you happy.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

David Wright said he’d “love” to be a part of the front office next year.

WHAT’S NEXT

The series finale between the Mets and Braves takes place tonight at 7:10. Jason Vargas does battle against Juilo Teheran.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA TODAY Sports

Once every few years, though, a player comes through Flushing and connects with this fanbase in a very special, personal way that completely transcends baseball. It doesn’t even really matter how good the player is — though it does help if they produce — but skill is not always the paramount attribute that gets you in the good graces of Mets fans. Wilmer Flores, for example, is barely a starting-caliber player, but is an icon in Mets lore just because he was accidentally human once. Bartolo Colon was a league-average pitcher. Sometimes, a player just needs to have something about him that simply clicks with people: a certain charm, or a certain smile, or certain characteristics that people gravitate towards.

In 2005, I was just starting to get interested in baseball. I was 8 years old (please save your wise cracks about my youth) and I was still learning the ropes. I didn’t know every player on the Mets, but I knew Mike Piazza — because he was my dad’s favorite for years — and I had also heard of this new guy named David Wright. I didn’t know much about him, but everyone was talking about him, and some of the Mets fans in my fourth grade class had his jersey, so surely he must’ve been cool. One of my friends gave me a David Wright baseball card. Sure, okay. I could go with this.

I started watching games down the stretch that season and went to a few in August and September. I saw him play. He hit home runs in two of the three games I went to. And it just clicked. I got it. I saw what everyone was talking about. Now, maybe it was just because he hit a few dingers while I was watching and I was still very impressionable. Or maybe it was because we share the same first name, which probably means something to an 8-year-old. But mostly, there was just something about him. It was something that set him apart from Carlos Beltran or Paul Lo Duca or Tom Glavine or even Jose Reyes. Whatever it was, it was tough to put your finger on, but I saw it, and I bought in. I was all aboard the David Wright train.

With Piazza gone the next year, Wright became my first-ever favorite player. The first jersey I ever got was a No. 5.

In the days since Wright announced his retirement, I’ve watched copious amounts of videos. I’ve seen tons of highlight videos, tribute videos, clips of his milestone moments, clips of him with kids, clips of him arguing with umpires, low-quality videos of RBI singles from 2005 and many of the interviews he has done. Some of these interviews were from when he was young, while some were more recent, and the significance of them ranged anywhere from “The Tonight Show with David Letterman” to an amateurishly-done story that some obscure media outlet did on him granting a wish.

Watching these interviews of Wright — always articulating and conducting himself in a manner that was usually way more professional than necessary — one sentiment he repeatedly expressed was that, from an early age, he knew he wasn’t the most talented player on the field. He didn’t have the God-given gifts that the other players around him did. He did, however, have an undying love for the sport, and a promise he made to himself to outwork everyone else around him.

Of course, it’s not like Wright exactly lacked in latent talent either. Even the best coaches in the sport couldn’t dream of teaching the innate bat speed he once possessed, or the elite strike zone judgement he had since he was a prospect, or the natural opposite-field power he constantly displayed. That stuff comes naturally.

That said, I don’t think anyone who watched him play for 13 seasons or followed his repeated comeback attempts the last few years could ever deny Wright’s work ethic, or the desire and the drive he had not only to play this game, but excel at every single aspect of it.

David was correct; he wasn’t gifted the blazing speed or the prodigious power or the big throwing arm. He never led the league in anything. He was just good at everything, and he was good at everything because he made himself good at everything; because he refused to have deficiencies. That palpable desire to be perfect and the transparent, ubiquitous passion for this game that Wright possessed is really the “something” that instantly drew us all in to him. Fans can really keen in on and appreciate that kind of stuff. That’s what really sparked this remarkable relationship Wright holds with this fanbase.

And that is a relationship that has only been strengthened by Wright’s actions off the field since then. He has gone to unprecedented lengths in order to be accessible to fans and has spent a significant portion of his life making sure he gave back to this fanbase, which we never deserved and he never owed to us. He still did it anyway, though, because our relationship with him is just as important to him as it is to us.

That’s what makes David Wright so authentic. He is genuine, earnest and sincere. He is as real as they come. He was a perfect player and remains seemingly a perfect person. That is why a sellout crowd will make its way out to Citi Field on Saturday just to say goodbye. He has given his life to this game, his body to this team and his heart to its fans. Now it’s our turn to give back to Wright. Saturday night is our chance to say thank you.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

This was a very listless September game. For losing teams, games in the month of September have a knack for being, um, not exactly must-see television. And look, it’s probably my job to spice up bad games and find narratives to talk about somewhere. It’s probably poor form for me to just tell you this game was boring and sucked and leave it at that.

But this game was boring and sucked.

Noah Syndergaard wasn’t his best self. He was out of sync from the start, and only last four innings after throwing 89 pitches, walking three and allowing three runs on four hits and two home runs. He struck out six, but that was about the only positive for Syndergaard last night.

On offense, the Mets couldn’t figure out Zack Eflin, or any of five relievers Gabe Kapler sent out there after he was done. The team mustered six hits all night, and three of them came from Amed Rosario, who raised his wRC+ to a respectable 88 on the season and has already turned into a very useful player.

Jerry Blevins gave up a run in an inning of relief, and he was followed by Paul Sewald and Tim Peterson, who both handled the last three innings and did not allow any more damage.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

The Mets announced that Zack Wheeler will be shut down, which is probably for the best. At 182.1 innings for the season, Wheeler has thrown 96 more innings than he did last year, and obviously has not thrown this many innings since his 2014 season. Pumping the breaks is probably a good decision.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets will try to help Jacob deGrom’s Cy Young case when they head to DC to take on Max Scherzer and the Nationals on Friday night. Scherzer gets the ball against Jason Vargas at 7:10 p.m.

What’s more, a few dozen of those human beings, all of whom presumably have families and people who care about them, not only stayed the entire delay, but then also stayed for the duration of the game, just to witness the awesome spectacle of two losing teams playing each other in September. These sick people die-hard fans then saw the Mets put up 13 runs and the game become a complete formality, devout of any drama, and still decided that, yes, it was worth it to stay past midnight to witness the undramatic, irrelevant ending to this game.

And I would like to know why. In fact, I would like to get to know all of these people. What are their goals and ambitions in life? What are the choices that led them to where they were last night: standing in an empty, humid, damp Citi Field on a weeknight in September for the payoff of getting to watch Paul Sewald strike out Peter O’Brien to finish a sporting event that affected nobody and will not make a difference in anything, anywhere. Hell, this game could barely be considered a “sporting event,” because that term presupposes a winner and a loser, and some sort of competition between the two sides. But there were no winners and losers last night. The two teams did not appear in competition. Instead, they formed more of a coexistence, combining forces to get the game over with as soon as possible and go home. The Mets, of course, couldn’t even do this right, because they accidentally scored 13 runs.

The Marlins, on the other hand, were clearly not there to compete, and did not appear the least bit interested or motivated at any point during the entire affair. Even Zack Wheeler, who fired eight shutout innings and threw only 89 pitches to do so, was not very interested in playing baseball:

Mickey Callaway said coming out after eight innings and 89 pitches was essentially Zack Wheeler's call.

"When we talked to him, he was just kind of like, 'I'm done,'" Callaway said.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) September 13, 2018

So why did the few fans who were there care? Or did they care? What exactly did they get out of this endeavor, anyway? There are so many questions.

But then again, I’m the one spending the time to write the recap here. I guess I care? It doesn’t feel like I do. And, hey, you’re the one reading it. Why did you care enough about this game to read a recap of it?

Maybe we’re all a little crazy.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

There will be a press conference today to announce the plan for David Wright going forward. I’m calm. Don’t worry. Are you worried? Why are you worrying? I’m totally okay.

WHAT’S NEXT:

The straight doubleheader that was supposed to be yesterday will now occur this afternoon, with the first game starting at 3:10 p.m. Jason Vargas and Steven Matz will be the pitchers who get the ball for the Mets today.

Well…..

At least six of the Mets’ hits were bloopers. And I don’t mean lightly-hit base hits that fell in front of the outfielders, either. I mean legitimate duck snorts. You know, the pop-ups with awful launch angles and even worse exit velos that just found grass. The Mets scored a run on a sac fly where the throw home beat the runner by 10 feet, but Yasmani Grandal dropped the ball. They scored a run on a ball deflected off the pitcher into no-man’s land. They scored a run on a wild pitch. They hit no home runs, and only one extra base hit the entire game.

The Mets aren’t usually associated with good fortune, but sometimes, the BABIP Fairy is just smiling down upon you.

But seriously what the hell was that?

Anyway, Zack Wheeler had another solid outing, tossing seven innings of three-run ball while walking two and striking out nine. The gopher ball was Wheeler’s main enemy tonight, as he only yielded the runs via the long ball. Max Muncy got him in the fourth inning for a two-run home run, and Cody Bellinger hit a towering solo shot to right in the seventh, his fourth home run off Wheeler in his career.

Nobody on offense really stood out much since the Mets were just hitting 145-foot Texas-Leaguers the whole game and somehow kept scoring runs. It was something out of Little League. Anyway, Jeff McNeil got two more hits, as did Michael Conforto. Kevin Plawecki had the only double in the game, before he was removed from the game after a hit-by-pitch.

After Wheeler, Relief Ace Seth Lugo locked down the last two innings with nary an issue, and the Mets won 7-3 to suprisingly take the series from the Dodgers. This is probably the best team the Mets have taken a series from all season long.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

Both Wheeler and Plawecki will undergo CT scans for injuries suffered in last night’s affair. Wheeler took a ball off his chest, while Plawecki had the aforementioned hit-by-pitch to the ribs.

WHAT’S NEXT

The still-David-Wrightless Mets return home to take on the Phillies tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. Cy-Young runner-up Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies against Steven Matz for the Mets.

Photo credit: Kelvin Kuo – USA Today Sports

But the offense broke out immediately in this one, with Todd Frazier blasting a grand slam into the left field bleachers in the first inning. And, amazingly, it was basically all over but the shouting from there. Vargas continued his run of actually pitching well, reaching the sixth inning in his fourth consecutive start, while only allowing one run on four hits and two walks, with six strikeouts. The outing lowered Vargas’s ERA to a shiny 6.56 on the year.

Hey look, I’m trying not to be too snarky, okay? I’m trying not to turn wins into negatives. That said, though, the success of Vargas comes with a side of malaise and dread for Mets fans who have been paying attention, because we know what it means. With this team, and Vargas’s salary, it’s almost depressingly easy to expect the team to use his late-season competency as a reason to justify handing the struggling veteran a rotation spot next season. Guaranteeing anything to Vargas is, of course, a terrible idea, because even if he pitches well over the last handful of starts here, under no circumstances is he a viable rotation option on any team hoping to compete next season; he will be 36 years old next year, and coming into this game, he had a 6.36 ERA over his last 30 starts dating back to July 17, 2017. Don’t be fooled; he’s still not good.

Anyway, the Mets led 4-1 going into the seventh when they struck for four more runs. Singles by Amed Rosario and Austin Jackson drove in two, and then Jose Reyes tripled in two more [snarky comment redacted]. The lead was now 8-1.

But they still weren’t done. Frazier added his fifth RBI of the game in the ninth inning on an RBI single, and Brandon Nimmo got in on the fun with an RBI single of his own a few pitches later. The Mets led 10-1 at the time, and even though Jacob Rhame did his best Jacob Rhame impression and served up a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, the Mets held on to win 10-3.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

Whether or not David Wright plays for the New York Mets in 2018 is apparently his call, and he seems pretty damn intent on playing Major League Baseball in 2018.

The Mets released their 2019 Spring Training Schedule, in case you want to try pinpointing the exact day you talk yourself into Jay Bruce, full-time first baseman.

WHAT’S NEXT

Off day today, but the Mets finish off August by traveling to the Bay Area to take on the Giants in AT&T Park. Zack Wheeler takes the hill against Andrew Suarez at 10:15 p.m..

Photo credit: Jim Young – USA Today Sports

McNeil’s two hits last night were in his first two at-bats of the game, which extended his consecutive hits streak to eight straight plate appearances, which was only one shy of a franchise record.

And yes, it’s probably not fair to go crazy over McNeil so early in his career; perspective is necessary here, too. But at this point, he is the biggest talking point on the team — at least on the days when Jacob deGrom doesn’t pitch. You never want to do the rest of the team a disservice by understating their contributions to the game as well, but McNeil looking like an actual star right now is probably the most important non-deGrom thing going on with the Mets, so it deserves to be highlighted and discussed as such.

And sure, Dom Smith homered last night too, and that’s cool! But everyone knows he almost certainly has no future on the team at this point. In fact, with Jay Bruce set to come off the DL as soon as this weekend, Smith’s roster spot may not even last the week. Todd Frazier homered and doubled in a run as well, which is also cool, but he’s probably locked into third base going into next year no matter what and him raising his season wRC+ from 94 to 98 isn’t particularly notable. He is what he is.

And Noah Syndergaard also is what he is, and that’s what he has been for a while: A very good, top-end pitcher with wipeout stuff, who is seemingly only ever undone by his defense and his own inability to hold runners. Last night, though, was more about the defense than anything else. Syndergard tossed six very solid innings while striking out six and walking only one. His velocity was back to around 100 mph and his sinker was looking very good. He allowed two runs, both of which came in the third inning, and both of which probably could have been avoided with better defense. He yielded two singles to start the frame, which then allowed the pitcher to bunt them over. The next hitter, Steven Duggar, hit a sharp ground ball to third, and the runner broke from third. There was a clear play at the plate, but Frazier couldn’t get the ball out of his glove. So he went to first, and the run scored. Then a seeing-eye single by the next hitter bounced just past a diving McNeil and scored another run. McNeil isn’t exactly known for his range, so you’d be inclined to think a plus defensive second baseman would get to that ball.

And that’s the story of Noah Syndergaard. His 3.38 ERA on the year is fine, but that’s it; just fine. It always feels like he should pitch better than he actually does. And it’s not just because of his stuff, but because it feels like all of the BABIP luck goes against him (his .340 BABIP backs up that feeling). It’s truly an odd thing.

In the end, the Mets won the game last night, 5-3. Paul Sewald got the save. The Mets now have a winning record (24-23) since the beginning of July, which pretty much serves as a reminder that there was the framework for a decent team this year; the pieces were there. But when you give 600 plate appearances to Jay Bruce, Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Reyes in the Year of Our Lord 2018, this is what happens. And given that the NL East is not exactly a dogfight right now, this was a team that could have easily competed for the division if it was correctly built and properly utilized.

Oh well.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets finish off this series with the Giants with a getaway day matinee this afternoon. Jacob deGrom and Madison Bumgarner face off in what should be a great pitcher’s duel at 1:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

Last night’s game started out innocently enough. Zack Wheeler looked as bad as he has in a while, struggling to make it through the first two innings while working through tons of traffic on the bases and needing over 50 pitches just to get through the first six outs. He struggled to put guys away and didn’t have much command of his secondaries; ultimately looking a lot like the Zack Wheeler of last season. But because the Orioles are bad, he was able to make it through those two innings with only one run given up.

Wheeler settled down in the third, though, and was able to get through five innings having only allowed the one run. Luckily for him, the Mets were able to build him a 5-1 lead by that point. The team had scored two in the first inning on a Wilmer Flores sac fly and a Todd Frazier single, two more in the fourth on an RBI single by Jose Bautista and a double by Brandon Nimmo, and Frazier added a solo shot in the fifth.

But they were just getting started. The Mets came to bat in the top of the sixth inning. Here’s how that inning went:

Out
Hit by pitch
Double
Triple
Walk
Out
Walk
Double
Walk
Grand Slam
Out.

Nine runs later, the Mets led 14-1. They wound up scoring 16 runs on the night, when Flores cranked a two-run homer in the ninth.

The Orioles are quite bad.

The grand slam was, of course, hit by Kevin Plawecki. He was also the player hit by the pitch earlier in the frame, meaning he was the only Met who actually reached base twice that inning. Now, the entire offensive showing here is far too extensive to give any more of a blow-by-blow, so perhaps we should just highlight these offensive standouts for the night:

Brandon Nimmo: 5-for-5, 3 runs scored, 2 doubles, 3 RBI - He was a home run short of the cycle. After the game, he said he was honored to even have the chance to complete the cycle, because of course he did.

Wilmer Flores: 2-for-5, 1 run scored, HR, 3 RBI,  – Wilmer continues to be a steady offensive contributer with consistent playing time. Who the heck would have thunk it?

Todd Frazier: 3-for-6, 2 runs scored, double, HR, 4 RBI – Yeah that’s a nice line and all, but why exactly was he DHing?

Jose Reyes: 2-for-5, 2 runs scored, triple, double – Hey cool sure whatever.

The Orioles are really not a good team.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

David Wright went 0-for-3 with a walk and played seven innings at third base, while Jay Bruce went 2-for-4 in their rehab assignments with Port St. Lucie.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets go to the City of Brotherly Love to do battle with the Phillies in what will be a five-game series this weekend, beginning with a straight doubleheader today. Corey Oswalt will get the ball in game one at 4:05, while Steven Matz will toe the rubber in Game 2. The Phillies have not announced their starters for the doubleheader as of yet.

Photo credit: Evan Habeeb – USA Today Sports

Well, he didn’t. It took him until yesterday, Aug. 8, to finally earn win No. 6. Since that night in Colorado, deGrom had gone 0-5 in seven starts despite a 2.47 ERA across 51 innings — an average of roughly 7.1 innings per start.

Of course, it’s basically self-evident these days that pitcher wins are pointless and stupid. It is a common rhetoric shared by even the most casual baseball fans, because following baseball for any discernable amount of time will quickly lead you to the conclusion that pitcher wins are an illegitimate and deceptive measure to value a pitcher, even in the broadest sense. And you don’t have to look any further than Jacob deGrom to see the walking example of why that is.

But we live in a world so backwards, so through-the-looking-glass, that meaningless pitcher wins are still the primary driving force behind who wins the Cy Young voting. And I’d bet that even the oldest, most out-of-touch voters in the BBWAA would fully admit that pitcher wins aren’t the best way to value a pitcher’s season. But they still care about them, and they still value them, because it’s just intuitive. Pitcher wins unintentionally remain the first thing so many people look at because that’s how we learned the game. We learned wins are good and losses are bad. So a pitcher who wins a lot must be good. We weren’t taught the caveats of it or the reasons that pitcher wins were stupid; it’s too complex to grab at first. We had to learn it ourselves, over time. So even though we all know better, it’s still hard for so many to break the natural habit of caring a pitcher’s record — particularly for older fans and writers who didn’t have any other stats to look at for a long time.

So that deGrom is now 6-7 on the season should objectively have absolutely no bearing on his Cy Young chances, but it does. It just does. And because of that, he’s probably more of a long shot to win the award than the favorite, despite having an MLB-best 1.77 ERA, an NL-best 2.71 FIP, the second-best xFIP in the NL (2.78) and a top-10 in strikeout rate along with a top-15 walk rate. None of that matters. Right now, it seems that the only way deGrom can seriously make a bid for the Cy Young is for the Mets to get him a run of wins from here on out.

And yesterday’s game was, if nothing else, a good start to that. The Mets scored eight runs for deGrom, which was more than they had scored in his last four starts combined. They plated one run in the first on an Austin Jackson double, two in the fourth off a bases-loaded walk and a sacrfice fly by Amed Rosario, two more in the fifth on a double by Brandon Nimmo double and a Jackson single, and three in the eighth off doubles by both Nimmo and Jackson again.

Nimmo and Jackson were obviously the star performers of the game, both recording three hits. Nimmo’s three hits were all doubles, as he continues to bust out of his slump and prove that he is, indeed, a borderline-elite outfield bat. Jackson, on the other hand, raised his wRC+ to 95, which is 27 points higher than it was when he signed here. If he can continue to hit well, the Mets may look to bring him back on the cheap next year, and I’m not sure I can actually complain about that. Imagine that.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets will go to Miami tomorrow to face the Marlins in the battle for last place. Zack Wheeler gets the ball against Jose Urena at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

This series, however, was only two games, so only two of those types of games could fit into this series. And since the Mets are not good enough to even hold a lead over Washington, let alone beat them in an inspiring manner, that means these two games could only reflect the first two types of games mentioned there: the blowout and the frustrating loss. Tuesday night was the blowout, and yesterday, Gio Gonzalez didn’t pitch, but the Mets were still frustratingly shut-down by *checks notes* Tommy Milone.

Yes, that Tommy Milone.

The Mets mustered just one run on three hits in seven innings against literally Tommy Milone. He somehow struck out nine, which was the most batters he had struck out in a game since May 1, 2013. His game score of 76 was also his best since July 19, 2016.

And that one run the Mets scored against him was, of course, a solo home run hit by new Staff Ace Jose Reyes. It was his first of two homers on the day, raising his OPS all the way up to .549. His .191 batting average is now the closest it’s been to the Mendoza line all season, and I wish I was kidding. I’m not. This is the highest that both his OPS and average have been all season.

On the mound, Noah Syndergaard returned from hand, foot and mouth disease and struggled out of the gate, giving up a run in the bottom of the first, and then two more in the third on an Anthony Rendon homer. But Syndergaard settled down from there, retiring the next 12 hitters he faced and getting through the seventh without allowing any more runs to cross. The strikeout stuff wasn’t there — he only fanned four — but the velocity was back, which is a great sign that everything is back to normal and Syndergaard is free of the gross kiddie germs.

Not much else happened in this game worth discussing. Seth Lugo is still the only good reliever left on the team. Juan Soto aided Wilmer Flores into a home run. Austin Jackson looks like a waste.

It’s not gonna get any prettier, folks.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

Steven Matz is experiencing the proverbial “forearm tightness.” Whooaa boy.

Tim Peterson was optioned for Noah Syndergaard’s spot on the roster.

WHAT’S NEXT

If you still care, the Mets return home and welcome in the Braves tonight for a four-game set at 7:10 p.m. ET. Jason Vargas goes against Mike Foltynewicz. Hey, both guys have been All-Stars in the last two years.

Photo credit: Brad Mills – USA Today Sports