The AL East-leading Red Sox were the latest team to take advantage of an inefficient Oswalt, who recorded just five outs despite throwing 61 pitches on the afternoon. Trouble found the 25-year-old immediately, as he hit Mookie Betts to lead off the game. It struck again during the very next at-bat, though Dom Smith’s throwing error was no fault of Oswalt. Betts came around to score on a Xander Bogaerts single to center two batters later, the only run charged to Oswalt, who wasn’t a factor in the decision.

Mets skipper Mickey Callaway turned to Daniel Zamora to secure the final out of the third inning against the left-handed hitting Jackie Bradley Jr., who struck out swinging. Zamora struck out the side in the fourth in what was clearly his best outing as a major leaguer thus far. He’s a prime candidate to replace Jerry Blevins as the LOOGY in the 2019 bullpen, althought that says more about the Mets than it does about Zamora.

Brandon Nimmo did Brandon Nimmo things, launching a three-run home run off Rick Porcello in the fourth, which was good for one of the Mets two hits on the day. It’s perplexing to even try and begin to construe why the Mets — I’m looking at you, Mickey Callaway — continue to bat Nimmo in the bottom of the order. There isn’t a single good reason he’s stuck behind Jay Bruce or Todd Frazier every night. Nimmo’s AVG (.267) and OBP (.392) are tops on the Metropolitans, and his 17 home runs and nine stolen bases rank him second. Please, please stop batting him sixth.

It seemed as if the Mets had things under control until mop-up man Paul Sewald entered in the home half of the fifth. The Red Sox pieced together a two-out rally to tie things at three via a Bradley Jr. two-RBI double. That would be the end of Sewald’s night but the damage wasn’t done, as Drew Smith entered and allowed another two-RBI double, this time to pinch-hitter Brock Holt. Sewald was charged with all four earned runs, raising his season ERA to 6.15 in 42 appearances. He was also charged with the loss, his sixth of the season, as neither team scored again in the ballgame.

I’d be remiss not to mention Jeff McNeil’s spectacular diving catch to rob J.D Martinez of a base hit in the sixth inning. McNeil’s finally getting an opportunity to show everyone what he’s truly capable of and let me tell you, it’s a beautiful thing to watch. That’s Jeff McNeil, 2019 starting second baseman to you, folks.

Monday night was a frustrating but still enjoyable experience, because we had the pleasure of watching Jacob deGrom. Watching the best of the Mets’ three-ish homegrown aces is a reminder of the sort of potential this team had and still has. Tuesday, we got Jason Vargas, a reminder of why that potential has been and will continue to be squandered. At least Brandon Nimmo was in the lineup – batting eighth.

Game Recap

This episode of the Jason Vargas experience got off to a pretty good start, as the left-hander was perfect through the first two innings. Because his name isn’t Jacob deGrom, the Mets offense scored for him too, with Jay Bruce hitting a two-run home run in the second, and Michael Conforto adding a two-run bomb of his own in the third. Entering the bottom of the third, the Mets had a 4-0 lead.

Then, the cracks started to appear. Vargas walked Chris Taylor leading off the inning, then allowed a two-run home run to Austin Barnes. He worked around another two singles from Rich Hill (the pitcher) and Manny Machado, but the Met lead was cut to two. A home run from David Freese leading off the bottom of the fourth cut that lead to one, and the Dodgers followed that with a single and a double to put the go-ahead run in scoring position.

At this point, the New York defense wanted to prove to deGrom that they’re not just terrible behind him, they’re terrible behind every pitcher. Todd Frazier botched a ground ball off the bat of Austin Barnes, allowing Enrique Hernandez to score and tie the game. Two batters later, Tyler Bashlor replaced Jason Vargas, and he allowed the Dodgers to take the lead with a steal of third and an RBI groundout from Brian Dozier. L.A. led 5-4.

Eric Hanhold worked around some serious traffic in the fifth in his first major league appearance, and he and Daniel Zamora combined for a perfect sixth. Corey Oswalt took over for the seventh, and the Dodgers proceeded to blow the doors off. Three doubles, a wild pitch that allowed Manny Machado to score from second and a handful of walks and singles put the Mets in an 11-4 hole. They managed to load the bases in the top of the ninth with no outs, but amphibious ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte shut down the rally, and the Mets failed to score.

The loss drops the Mets to 62-76, snaps their three-game win streak and ends a recent string of successful starts from Jason Vargas (real shocker on that last one). Zack Wheeler takes on Hyun-Jin Ryu this evening in the series finale.

Thoughts from the Game

Austin Jackson is really, really bad. Everyone except Met management knew this when he was signed, but at this point he’s batting second everyday while Jeff McNeil and/or Brandon Nimmo bat eighth or ride the bench. It’s patently absurd, and an insult to the younger players who are clearly superior and are a core part of the team’s future. Even a barely above-average OPS+ isn’t worth forfeiting the development of players who actually need it, and there’s no justification whatsoever for his place on the team at this point, let alone his prominence on it.

Jason Vargas is also bad, but that’s less revelatory. Hopefully the Mets get creative with him next year (hoping for a cut is wishing for a miracle), perhaps as a bullpen arm or in some sort of pseudo-Rays arrangement at the back of the rotation. He’ll probably just get shoehorned into a starting spot, however, simply because he’s a veteran making real money.

Other Mets News

No major happenings for the Mets today. Still maybe committing pseudo-insurance fraud with David Wright. Still not planning to end their service time farce with Peter Alonso. So it goes.

Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea – USA Today Sports

For most of the evening, Wheeler found himself locked in a tight pitcher’s duel with Giants’ lefty Andrew Suarez as both hurlers left the opposing offense befuddled basically all night. Both men tossed seven innings, and of the 14 combined frames the starters pitched, eight were 1-2-3 innings.

The Mets’ first real threat came in the seventh when Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Austin Jackson followed with a single. After a Wilmer Flores fly out scooted McNeil to third, up stepped Jay Bruce with a golden opportunity to break the ice in this one and push the game’s first run across. Instead, the veteran bounced into an inning-ending 3-6-3 double play to send the momentum back to the home dugout. And San Francisco would take advantage.

Brandon Belt pulled the first pitch of the home seventh down the right field line for a lead-off double, and he advanced to third base on a groundout. Young Chris Shaw, playing in his first Major League game, then got just enough of a fly ball to center to put the Giants up 1-0.

The Mets briefly threatened in the eighth when Brandon Nimmo doubled with one out against San Francisco’s Tony Watson, but the veteran southpaw was able to get Jose Reyes and Michael Conforto out to end the threat. And in the bottom of that inning, the Giants were able to easily put the game out of reach.

Young catcher Aramis Garcia crushed his first big league bomb to lead off the inning and, before the frame was over, Robert Gsellman, Daniel Zamora, Drew Smith and Jacob Rhame would combine to allow six Giants to score and put the Mets down 7-0. New York went down 1-2-3 in the ninth against Ty Blach to end a disappointing series opener for New York.

Up next, the Mets will send Steven Matz to the bump against fellow left hander Derek Holland later this afternoon.

 Photo credit: Stan Szeto – USA Today Sports

Jacob deGrom versus a red-hot, newly-acquired, long-time Met rival Cole Hamels is a pretty juicy matchup. It’s too bad one of these teams is competently run and has maintained its status as a National League powerhouse since ascending in 2015 while the other has crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. So it goes.

Brandon Nimmo is back off the DL and in the lineup. Jeff McNeil is also out there, and Jay Bruce is starting at first.

Game Recap

If you watched the top of the first inning, you got a pretty good idea of what the Mets offense was going to do in this game. Amed Rosario led off with a double and moved to third on a groundout, and an Austin Jackson walk put runners at the corners with one out. The prime scoring chance was squandered, as both Michael Conforto and Todd Frazier struck out swinging to get Cole Hamels out of the first inning unharmed.

It was the first of what seemed like an endless number of missed opportunities for the Mets, who put three more runners on in the third with a single, error and a walk, but a caught stealing and another strikeout by Conforto ended the threat. Two singles, one a hussle infield single from deGrom, along with a walk loaded the bases in the fifth, but Conforto struck out once again. Consistently, Hamels put runners on base for the Mets, and every time they were wasted.

Of course, this is par for the course with deGrom, and the most deserving Cy Young candidate did his part to keep his team in the game. Over the first five innings, deGrom was brilliant, striking out seven and holding a potent Cubs offense off the board. There was a scary moment in the fourth when deGrom seemed to tweak something after slipping while trying to field an infield dribbler off the bat of Javier Baez, but he showed no ill effects, escaping the inning and promptly beating out the aforementioned infield single in his next at bat.

Sick of his teammates failing him, deGrom took offensive matters into his own hands in the top of the sixth. Former National Brandon Kintzler replaced Cole Hamels, and the first two Mets reached on an infield single and a walk. The next two batters couldn’t push a run across, and a walk to Brandon Nimmo loaded the bases for deGrom with two out. deGrom came through, as he always seems to, placing a groundball perfectly on the left side of the infield for his second hit of the day and his fourth RBI of the year, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.

After navigating an leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth, the Mets had a chance to add some insurance in the seventh after McNeil led off with a triple. Predictably, they failed to do even that, with two hard line outs and a strike out stranding McNeil at third. The Cubs immediately made the Mets pay for their failure, rallying with two singles and a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one in the bottom of the seventh. The run should arguably have been unearned, as Bruce missed a relatively routine play at first base to give the Cubs their second hit of the game, but so it goes for deGrom.

A visibly pissed off deGrom worked around a leadoff single and a walk in the bottom of the eighth, finishing his outing with a strikeout and a double play. The Mets then failed to score for him in the top of the ninth, dooming the best pitcher in baseball to yet another no decision. Some quick stats on deGrom’s season after this latest gem, an eight-inning, 10-strikeout, one-walk, one-run performance:

• 24th consecutive start with three or fewer runs, tying Doc Gooden’s major league record
• 6th start allowing one run or less in which deGrom has received a no decision
• 9th time the Met offense has scored one run or less with deGrom on the mound
• 8th time deGom has gone seven or more innings and allowed one or zero runs but did not earn a win, tying a live-ball era record by Roger Craig on the 1963 Mets

Seth Lugo replaced deGrom and tossed a scoreless ninth, sending the game to extra innings. Mother Earth had other plans, and after Steve Cishek threw two balls to Conforto, the game was suspended. Thirteen hours later, the at-bat resumed, and Conforto worked a leadoff walk. He was erased on a double play when Bruce struck out two batters later, and Nimmo was doubled off on a line drive to waste another potential baserunner in the 11th, continuing the Mets’ absolute refusal to score runs for deGrom, even with the ace out of the game.

Mercifully, the Cubs ended things in the 11th before the Met offense could embarrass themselves any further. Paul Sewald continued to be bad, walking Javier Baez to lead off the inning, then throwing the ball away on a bunt to put runner son second and third with no outs. Kyle Schwarber was intentionally walked, Sewald struck out Albert Almora, and Daniel Zamora entered to face Ben Zobrist. Zamora got the ground ball he needed, but Zobrist placed it perfectly up the middle, and Rosario couldn’t get to it. The Cubs walked off with a 2-1 victory.

Thoughts from the Game

Watching pissed off deGrom’s body language on the mound is always fun, because it’s so clear he’s tired of everyone’s bullshit. At this point, he literally cannot carry this team any more than he already is, and it has to be beyond frustrating to see the team still fail so miserably. More relevantly at this point, if there is any writer or analyst who professes to be a baseball expert and doesn’t vote for deGrom in the Cy Young because of pitcher wins, that should be grounds for immediate firing. He’s the best pitcher in the National League, and it isn’t particularly close.

Other Mets News

There are two infuriating bits of Met news to discuss, so let’s start with the more common one. The Mets say they will not call up Peter Alonso this season, despite him racking up 33 home runs and 111 RBI this season between Double-A and Triple-A. Supposedly, this is because the Mets are still concerned about his defense and limited playing time with Jay Bruce, Wilmer Flores and Dominic Smith on the roster. That’s nonsense, of course — all of those options are somewhere between terrible and mediocre, and none of them are particularly good defenders. This is a very obvious service time manipulation ploy, a ridiculous tactic to claw back the age-31 season of a R/R first baseman in a totally lost season.

At least that’s a wrong the rest of baseball commits as well, however. The other bit of Mets news could originate only from an organization as deeply defined by dysfunction an ineptitude as this one; the Mets want insurance to continue to pay David Wright’s salary. As a refresher, the Mets get 75% of Wright’s salary back in insurance while he’s on the disabled list. Of course, they don’t reinvest this money, counting Wright’s full salary AND the premium on the insurance against club payroll. If Wright is activated and later needs to go back on the DL, the team does not receive payments until 60 days after the DL stint begins (likely combined between 2018 and 2019), and they can save roughly $2.4 million of Wright’s $3.2 million due over the rest of the season by keeping him on the disabled list.

This latest news takes things to a whole new level of scummy, deplorable and disgusting, even for the Mets. Wright is the greatest Met position player in history. He stuck with this team through some dark years, toiling away in his prime on teams that couldn’t even crack .500. He’s now spent two years working his hardest to overcome a debilitating, chronic back injury, one that has spawned shoulder and neck problems to boot. And now that he finally, finally has a chance to step onto a major league field for the first time since 2016, the team seems to be angling to classify him as permanently disabled against his wishes.

For full disclosure, I’ve never been as much of a fan of Wright as some others. Jose Reyes was always my favorite player when I was little (which has aged….not well), and I thought he should have been shipped out when the Mets started their rebuild. Nevertheless, Wright was on track for a first-ballot HOF career, and I struggle to find words to describe the depths the Mets have sunk to here. Disrespectful, abjectly cruel and disgraceful come to mind.

Photo credit: Patrick Gorski – USA Today Sports

Wheeler allowed six hits and walked three but wasn’t fazed by the traffic on the basepaths, keeping the Nationals at bay in his seven innings of work. He’s now thrown six or more innings in 19 of his 25 starts this season, a remarkable number somehow bested by Cy Young frontrunner and teammate Jacob deGrom, who’s gone six or more in 23 of 26 starts this season.

Though deGrom has taken his performance to another level this season, that number isn’t terribly surprising, as he’s been a fixture at the top of the rotation since 2014. On the contrary, Wheeler was left off the Opening Day roster and began the 2018 season in Las Vegas.

On the offensive side of the ball, Amed Rosario’s looked a whole lot better at the dis since the All-Star break. He got the scoring started Saturday with a solo homer to center in the sixth and filled up the scorebook with two hits, two runs, and the RBI. Jeff McNeil’s hot start to his MLB career continued with a base hit in the first that extended his current hit streak to 10 games. He’s now up to a .337/.395/.481 triple-slash in his first 31 career games.

Actually good free agent signing Todd Frazier launched a 401-foot shot to left for his 15th home run of the season. He’s battled injuries and inconsistent performance all season, but you’d be surprised to know that he’s now at 3.1 WARP for the year. The bulk of that comes from publicly available defensive metrics, which are not nearly as reliable as publicly available offensive metrics, but still, Frazier’s been solid, if unspectacular, and the two-year pact was a worthy gamble.

In the bullpen, Mickey Callaway finally let the kids get a chance, using Daniel Zamora and Drew Smith for a change. Zamora struck out the only batter he faced, Bryce Harper, while Smith worked a scoreless eighth. Zamora probably takes over the Jerry Blevins role if the Mets decide to move on this offseason, while Smith should be penciled in for high leverage work in 2019.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

Matched up against Philadelphia ace Aaron Nola it was clear Syndergaard would have to be at his best, as Nola easily struck out the side in the road first to open the game. Trouble unfortunately found Syndergaard from the outset of his outing.

Cesar Hernandez led off the Philly first with a single and advanced to second base when Rhys Hoskins walked. Up stepped our old friend Asdrubal Cabrera, who sent a sinking line drive past a diving Jack Reinheimer into the left field corner to open the scoring and put two more Phillies in scoring position. Nick Williams then lined a shot up the middle to plate Hoskins and chase Cabrera to third, giving the home team a 2-0 lead. Syndergaard was fortunate to get a double play ground ball from Carlos Santana for his first two outs of the night, but Cabrera was able to walk home on the play to put the Phillies ahead 3-0.

That score would hold into the fourth, when the Mets used hits from Jeff McNeil and Austin Jackson to set up a sacrifice fly off the bat of Todd Frazier to get on the board. Philadelphia would immediately answer in their half of the frame though, as Roman Quinn led off with a triple and scored on a hit from Jorge Alfaro. Alfaro then stole second base which further exacerbated a main storyline in this game.

Syndergaard had shown flashes of getting better at limiting the running game earlier this season, but since returning from his brief bout with hand, foot and mouth disease, opposing teams have been running wild on him. Last night, Alfaro swiped the first two bases of his career, and slow footed runners like Santana and Maikel Franco were able to steal bases. All told, Philadelphia successfully stole five bases in 5.2 innings against Syndergaard, a trend that just can’t continue.

Following Syndergaard’s departure the Mets were able to get 1.1 scoreless innings from Daniel Zamora in his Major League debut, but on the other side of the field, Nola was showing no signs of letting New York get back in the game. Leaving after successfully registering a 1-2-3 seventh inning, Nola finished his outing with only one run and three hits allowed, while punching out 11 Mets batters.

In the eighth, New York was able to get one back against the Philly bullpen when the white hot Jackson scored McNeil with a two-out RBI hit. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Mets would come to making this a competitive contest.

Up next the Mets will send their Cy Young and MVP candidate Jacob deGrom to the mound this afternoon against Philadelphia’s Jake Arrieta.

Photo credit: Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports