The game started out well for the Mets, as after Corey Oswalt hurled a scoreless top of the first, Amed Rosario gave the Mets the early lead in the bottom of the frame, singling home Jeff McNeil with an opposite field hit. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the ballgame for the New York offense.

Oswalt did his part to keep the game on track in the final start of his rookie campaign, keeping the Fish off the board for the first three, but he ran into a patch of difficulty in the fourth. After allowing a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases with one out, Oswalt got the ground ball he needed from Magneuris Sierra, but unfortunately the speedy Marlins right fielder beat the return throw to first to allow the tying run to score. It became clear following that inning that Oswalt was done, and that was when the only real drama of the night unfolded.

It was already known Wright would be the first man off the bench tonight, and with Oswalt due up fifth in the bottom of the fourth inning, the stage was set. The Marlins however, delayed the moment, retiring No. 8 hitter Kevin Plawecki to end the frame and leave the captain in the on deck circle. Temporarily.

Paul Sewald entered for the Mets in the fifth and was unimpressive, surrendering two runs on three hits to the middle of Miami’s lineup, but all the crowd really cared about was the next half inning. Wright emerged from the dugout to a chorus of cheers, and the longtime face of the Mets’ franchise looked visibly nervous as he dug in. His at-bat was short lived, when he hit the first pitch he saw from José Ureña directly on the ground to third, but making an out was far from enough to wipe the smile off No. 5’s face.

After that, the rest of the night went downhill fast for the home team. Drew Gagnon entered for New York in the sixth, and while he only allowed one earned run in what  ultimately amounted to 1.2 innings of work, thanks to errors from Todd Frazier and Rosario, the Marlins were able to push five runs across against him, establishing an 8-1 lead that would be the eventual final score.

Tim Peterson pitched very well in the eighth and ninth innings to maybe provide a slimmer of a silver lining at the end, but it’s clear that everyone associated with this team began looking forward to tonight’s contest the minute Wright’s at-bat tonight concluded.

This evening, left hander Steven Matz will make his final start of 2018, but more importantly, Wright will take third base for the final start of his memorable Major League career, and it will be fascinating to see what kind of final moment he can give us.

Photo credit: Wendell Cruz – USA Today Sports

A day after they were forced to start Corey Oswalt, the Mets turned to 28-year-old Drew Gagnon to make his major league debut against the Phillies. Meanwhile, the Phillies debuted top prospect Enyel De Los Santos, a 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic. That matchup seems like a pretty good snapshot of where these two teams are and how they got here.

Game Recap

Shockingly, Gagnon’s major league debut did not go particularly well. He set the Phillies down in order in the first inning, but allowed an infield single and a hit batter in the second before giving up a three-run home run to Maikel Franco in the second. The Phillies struck again in the third, loading the bases on two singles and a walk and cashing in two of those runners on a single from Nick Williams. Very quickly, the Mets were in a 5-0 hole.

Gagnon managed to help himself a little bit in the bottom of the third. After Amed Rosario tripled to left (a play where Rhys Hoskins face-planted spectacularly into the left field wall), Gagnon became the first Mets pitcher to register a sacrifice fly in his major league debut. He was just the third to register an RBI, the other two being Dillon Gee and, famously, Steven Matz. The Mets couldn’t get anything else done, and the deficit stayed at four runs.

The Phillies struck one more time in the fifth, when Gagnon grooved a fastball to Odubel Herrera that was deposited in the bullpens in right-center field to stretch the Phillie lead to 6-1. After a strikeout and another single, Gagnon’s night was done. He finished his major league debut after 4.2 innings, allowing six runs and striking out three. About the sort of performance you’d expect from a filler arm on a bad team.

Tyler Bashlor entered and got the last out of the fifth. He started the sixth inning by allowing a booming double to Scott Kingery, who would come around to score two batters later on a soft single from Maikel Franco. Bashlor stopped the bleeding there, however, and worked around another jam in the seventh by inducing a long fly ball from Kingery.

In the seventh, the Mets finally put together something of a rally against Enyel De Los Santos. Jose Reyes walked, and Rosario followed with his second triple of the game, once again hit to left field. That finished De Los Santos’s outing, as he became the third rookie pitcher of the season to come out and dominate the Mets. Mark Leiter entered, inducing an RBI groundout from Michael Conforto that cut the lead to 7-3.

That was as close as the Mets would get. Singles from Dominic Smith and Reyes in the eighth and ninth were wasted, and the Mets lost 7-3. It’s the 15th straight series the Mets have not won, with the last series win coming in May when they swept the Diamondbacks. Their record is now 36-53, a pace that would put them below 70 wins.

Thoughts from the Game

While GKR keep talking about Conforto and missing the point – that he suffered a major shoulder injury and recovery from shoulder injuries for hitters typically take a whole season – they have mentioned that Conforto is still taking his walks. This is important, as it adds more evidence that Conforto simply isn’t physically there, getting under pitches often despite still having a good approach. Suffice to say, sending MIchael Conforto to the minors is an incredible waste of time, and that it is even being discussed is just another sign of the dysfunction throughout the Met organization.

I won’t add any other rants here. Instead, you should check out our trade roundtable from Tuesday. You can get the dose of bitterness and pessimism that I usually offer there this week, since I don’t want to drive our editor any more insane.

Other Met News

Very quickly, here’s the net result of the many roster moves the Mets have made in recent days with their pitchers:

• Jerry Blevins activated from the bereavement list
• PJ Conlon recalled
• Paul Sewald optioned
• Chris Beck DFAed

Additionally, Noah Syndergaard is expected to start Friday, assuming his bullpen session on Wednesday goes off without a hitch. Jason Vargas may need another rehab start, but isn’t far behind. In less encouraging injury news, Jay Bruce suffered a setback with his injured hip and will be shut down for another 10 days.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports