Like so many of the seasons that have preceded it, 2018 limps into the dark with a whimper. It’s been a lost season for so long, it’s hard to know whether nights like last night — a tight game where the Mets matched an elite team inning after inning before exploding with some timely hitting — are heartening or even more devastating, given the brutal summer that preceded it. But here we are. Again.

Jason Vargas held the National League East champions scoreless, allowing only three hits and striking out six; he went into the seventh inning for the first (and last) time this season, and in his last start finally pitched like the player the Mets had paid for in the offseason. He will finish the year 7-9. His effort was helped by two great stops by Amed Rosario at short, and Robert Gsellman pitched into and out of trouble in the ninth for his 13th save.

All of the Mets four runs came off homers by catchers, a Kevin Plawecki solo shot in the third off Atlanta starter Julio Teheran (six innings, one run, five strikeouts), and a Devin Mesoraco three-run pinch-hit home run in the seventh off reliever Brad Brach.

The Mets host the Marlins for the final games of the season, with Corey Oswalt (3-3, 6.08) facing Jose Urena (8-12, 4.07). First pitch is 7.10 p.m.

Marlins 2, Mets 5 [Game 2]

It was a day where the games mattered even less than usual; Mets captain David Wright announced that this season would be his last, and the collective wail from Mets fans meant the doubleheader sweep of the Marlins was a joyless one.

On any other day, Game One would have been a thriller, ending on back-to-back home runs for the first time in franchise history, with Michael Conforto homering to tie the game with two outs in the ninth, his 25th, and Todd Frazier following with a walk-off home run, his 18th. Steven Matz surrendered two home runs (three runs overall) and hit a two-run homer himself in the second inning. Jerry Blevins, who had come in in the ninth, got the win, his third.

In the nightcap, a makeup, Jason Vargas pitched six innings for his sixth win of the year, and Robert Gsellman picked up his 11th save. Tomas Nido homered, and Conforto continued his heroics, driving in three of the Mets runs, which was the winning difference.

But it was all an afterthought, as the 2018 season, long a lost cause, managed to find a new, devastating way to break our hearts.

The Mets travel to Boston to face the Red Sox tonight. Noah Syndergaard (11-3, 3.44) will take on Hector Velasquez (7-2 3.29); first pitch is at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

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

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

Vargas held the free-falling Washington Nationals scoreless over six impressive frames on Friday night, allowing only three hits and punching out a season high eight hitters as the Mets took the series opener from their D.C. rivals, 3-0.

After Vargas had retired the Nats’ in order in the top of the first, the Mets offense got off to a fast start against Gio Gonzalez in the bottom half of the frame. Amed Rosario led off with a single and then stole second base, and two batters later the speedy shortstop scored on a Wilmer Flores single. In the second, Vargas got himself into immediate trouble when Ryan Zimmerman and Juan Soto singled to start the inning, but the southpaw wiggled out of the jam by retiring the next three Washington hitters.

New York threatened in the home 2nd but couldn’t push a run across, and after an uneventful third inning, the game went to the fourth with the Mets still up 1-0. It was here where Vargas delivered arguably his most impressive frame of 2018, striking out Bryce Harper, Zimmerman and Soto consecutively. The Mets got a two-out rally started in the bottom of the inning when Jose Bautista was hit by a pitch and Kevin Plawecki doubled, but Vargas himself struck out to end the frame.

In the fifth and sixth innings, Vargas retired six of seven hitters to end his outing, but New York was unable to extend their lead against Gonzalez despite getting runners in almost every frame all night.

The Mets turned the game over to Seth Lugo in the seventh, and Amazins’ dynamic bullpen weapon retired all six hitters he faced over two frames, striking out three. In the bottom of the eighth, with Gonzalez out of the game, New York was finally able to push across some insurance runs to put the game out of reach. Cult hero Jeff McNeil led off with a walk and reached second on a stolen base. The next two New York hitters were retired by righty Koda Glover, but Nationals manager Davey Martinez then summoned southpaw Tim Collins into the ballgame to face fresh-from-the-DL Jay Bruce. The left-handed slugger promptly deposited a fly ball over the right center field fence to extend the Mets’ lead to 3-0, which felt like an insurmountable sum with the lifelessness of the Washington offense.

Robert Gsellman came on to record the final three outs of the game to close out his eighth save of the season, and the home team was officially back in the New York groove.

Tonight Zack Wheeler will take the ball for New York opposing Washington righty Tanner Roark.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

The Mets! Another series! Rejoice!

WHAT HAPPENED, VARGY DOES HIS THING:

It’s no secret that Jason “Vargy” Vargas has faced his share of struggles. Entering Sunday as one of the worst starters of the year, the lefty managed to look just good enough to hold the Phillies for five innings. Sure, the only NL teams below the Phillies in OPS against left-handed pitchers are the Mets and Marlins, but for five innings, Vargas looked like he might actually be fine. After all, five innings of scoreless baseball isn’t a small feat.

Yes, balls were hit hard. The clock struck midnight when we entered the sixth frame, but it was a fine start overall. Vargas has now allowed just four earned runs in his last 11.1 inning, striking out just as many over that span. He isn’t blowing guys away, but his change-up worked for him  last night and, more importantly, so did the gloves of his defenders.

Of course, we’re past the point of convincing, but it leads one to believe that Vargas might have something left to give. Some area left where he can succeed. Surely, it’s not against righties. Oh God no. He’s one of the worst in the league there. And, well, he’s not great against lefties either. Not as a taker of meaningful innings, that’s for sure. Maybe it’s somewhere more remote. Against offenses that don’t hit lefties well. Or, generally, well at all. Maybe it is on Sundays, when The Lord has commanded opposing hitters to rest. Somewhere around this area seems to make the most sense.

WHAT HAPPENED, THE METS MAKE AN ALBUM:

At the plate, the Mets had a very unique outburst. You look at the linescore, and one thing sticks out. The Mets scored a ton of runs (8) on a ton of hits (14). When you look at the boxscore, it looks even better. Jeff “JT” McNeil, Jose “JoeyBats” Bautista and Kevin “Plaw Dawg” Plawecki recorded two hits apiece, Amed “El Niño” Rosario recorded three. That’s a lot of hits, but here is the kicker: they were all singles. Only one (1) of the Mets’ 14 hits on Sunday netted extra-bases — a pinch-hit, RBI double from Dominic Smith in the eighth inning.

It’s certainly one of the wilder things I’ve ever seen, and was most apparent in how the Mets got to Nick Pivetta early on. In the top of the second inning, the Mets put up four runs on five singles. Singles to left, center, right. The Mets were hitting the ball everywhere, and everywhere it was earning the Mets exactly one base. It was an effective tactic, as it bounced Pivetta in the fourth inning after throwing 79 pitches. It wasn’t your usual outburst, but it was an outburst nonetheless. It only left one question to be answered: will the Mets go platinum with this album?

WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:

Vargas and the pen finished strong against the Phillies. The lineup singled the Phillies to death. Overall, the Mets have officially spent the last two weeks…not losing? It’s a wild concept, I know, but the Mets have played better ball against mostly subpar opponents. Who knows if it will last, and I’m sure you’ve stopped caring, but it’s fine. Everything is fine.

WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:

The Mets head back home to start a seven-game homestand, which starts with the San Francisco Giants. Derek Holland with face the scorching-hot Zack Wheeler, who owns a 1.41 ERA over the last month. It’ll be interesting to see if the Mets can keep up their improved play to wrap up the month of August, despite the competition getting a little tougher.

Photo credit: Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports

The Orioles are one of the few teams that are having an even more depressing season than the Mets, sitting at 35-84. Jason Vargas is on the mound against the much-better-but-still-boring-and-bad Andrew Cashner. As a cherry on top of this shitty game sundae, Gary Cohen is on vacation for this series, with Wayne Randazzo taking over play-by-play duties.

At this point, the Mets should be paying us for watching this crap.

Game Recap

At the same time, maybe not, because baseball is a wonderful, weird, wacky game that you can’t predict. So of course, Andrew Cashner vs Jason Vargas turned into a pitcher’s duel. Vargas gave up singles to the first two batters he faced, but Jonathan Villar was thrown out stretching for two and Renato Nunez was erased on a double play. Cashner, meanwhile, set the first nine Mets down in order. Both teams faced the minimum through three innings, locked in a scoreless tie.

Jeff McNeil got the Mets’ first hit with one out in the fourth, but was stranded at first. In the bottom half, the Orioles also broke through, with a walk, double, and sacrifice fly giving them a 1-0 lead. The Mets replied right away, however, putting the first two men on in the top of the fifth and ultimately scoring runs on RBI singles from Kevin Plawecki and Amed Rosario to take a 2-1 lead.

Vargas worked around a single in the bottom of the fifth to preserve his new lead, which was significant as it gave him a chance to record an out in the sixth inning for the first time this year. He got that out, but then immediately surrendered a game-tying home run to Adam Jones. A walk and a double play ended the inning and gave Vargas his first quality start of the year, but the game was once again tied.

Ironically, with Jacob deGrom getting run support, Vargas was now receiving the deGrom treatment. The offense failed to provide him any help (two runs against Andrew Cashner and the Orioles is pretty pathetic), and the bullpen immediately imploded once Vargas was out of the game. Bobby Wahl gave up a home run to Chris Davis in the seventh and set the Orioles up for another run with two walks. Paul Sewald followed that up by giving up a two-run home run to Tim Beckham in the eighth. The Mets headed to the ninth down 6-2.

This is the Orioles, of course, so the game wouldn’t end without at least a bit of dysfunction. Miguel Castro entered and allowed a leadoff triple to Brandon Nimmo, then threw the ball away on an infield single by Todd Frazier that allowed Nimmo to score and put the game-tying run on deck. Buck Showalter had seen enough, and he brought in Mychal Givens, who promptly shut down the Mets rally with a strikeout, pop out and check-swing groundout.

The 6-3 loss drops the Mets to 50-67, putting them on an extremely nice 69-win pace. Zack Wheeler takes the mound against the Baltimore ace, Dylan Bundy (owner of a 4.70 ERA), this evening to conclude the two-game set.

Thoughts from the Game

The only real takeaway from this game is that the Mets bullpen is still Bad. The pile of right-handed relievers they traded for over the past two years along with the handful they developed internally are largely unimpressive. Further exacerbating this, the team still hasn’t promoted the other potential relievers still in the minors – most notably, Eric Hanhold, Adonis Uceta and Stephen Villines. Don’t expect the team to spend to fix this issue in the offseason, however. Instead, prepare for a full season of Bobby Wahl, Jacob Rhame and Paul Sewald running ERAs in the 4s on a very bad Mets team.

Boring game aside, bear with me for a personal anecdote. My building on the Columbia campus has a door man named Jay. Jay is generally a cool dude. We all like Jay. Today I found out his last name is Vargas. My building is literally staffed by Jason Vargas. I don’t know how to look him in the eyes anymore.

Other Mets News

Jay Bruce began a rehab assignment with St. Lucie, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout. He’s expected to split time between first and the outfield during his rehab and do the same if and when he returns to the major leagues. That’s time that should be going to Peter Alonso of course, but the Mets are never not going to play the struggling veteran with a $13 million per year contract.

Photo credit: Tommy Gilligan – USA Today Sports

It’s a Jason Vargas start. Don’t think much more really needs to be said.

At least the greatest second baseman of all time – Jeff McNeil – is still in the lineup.

Game Recap

Mercifully, Jason Vargas wasn’t in the game for long. After recording only one out and giving up three hits, an almost two-hour rain delay chased the struggling left-hander from the game. Paul Sewald replaced Vargas and allowed the two runners he inherited to score, closing the book on Vargas after 0.1 innings and three runs. By the time the top of the first ended at 9:10, the Mets trailed 3-0.

Sal Romano, meanwhile, continued with his regularly scheduled start after the rain delay, and he dominated the Mets. Brandon Nimmo and Jose Bautista managed their only two hits off the righty, both of which came in the second inning and led to the Mets’ only run. Romano also walked three, including two starting the seventh inning before he was pulled. Jared Hughes relieved Romano and worked out of that jam with little trouble, recording a strikeout, fly out and ground out to strand two.

The Mets, meanwhile, had to patch together a game from their bullpen. Sewald got through the second inning and was replaced by Bobby Wahl, who gave up two more runs in the third. Tyler Bashlor kept the Reds off the board in the fourth and fifth, and Drew Smith did the same in the sixth and seventh. Jacob Rhame kept that trend going in the eighth, but gave up a home run to former Met Dilson Herrera (traded for Jay Bruce in 2016) that stretched the Reds’ lead to 6-1.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets had one last chance, with singles from Nimmo and Todd Frazier putting two men on with one out. That chance was squandered too, of course, as Bautista and Kevin Plawecki both popped up to end the game. The loss drops the Mets to 46-65.

Thoughts from the Game

It’s a little sad and entirely unsurprising that most of us were hoping the rain would just cancel the game rather than delay it. More importantly, the fact that the Mets’ win expectancy probably went up with Vargas out of the game is a problem, and it’s one that will, in all likelihood, not go addressed in the offseason. There’s no reason for Vargas to be on the Opening Day roster next season, but the Mets front office literally doesn’t know the meaning of the term “sunk cost,” so expect him to be pencilled in as the third starter from the first day of spring training.

As a more uplifting tidbit, enjoy this pregame Jeff McNeil factoid:

Jeff McNeil is 8-for-12 in his last three games. The last Mets rookie with 8 or more hits over a 3-game span was David Wright in 2004.#Mets host #Reds
7 pm on @SNYtv

— Elias Sports Bureau (@EliasSports) August 7, 2018

Other Met News

Chris Flexen underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee, which will end his season. The 24-year-old was in the midst of a disastrous season, recording an ERA of 12.79 in the majors and putting up an unimpressive 4.40 in Triple-A to go with unremarkable peripherals. Hopefully some of his struggles can be explained away by his injury and he he can hit the ground running next year as viable starting pitcher depth.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

On a humid and miserable night that ended with rain dampening whatever was left of the spirits of whatever was left of the Flushing faithful, the Mets limply lurched to another loss, while Atlanta played for a share of first place.

It wasn’t until the third when the Mets remembered they were the Mets, and Atlanta scored three runs to obliterate a a 1-1 tie.

Brandon Nimmo hit his 14th home run in the first inning (his third lead off home run of the year), and a pinch-hitting Luis Guillorme driving in Jose Reyes in the fifth accounted for all the Mets runs.

The closest the Mets came to changing the momentum came in the sixth, after Michael Conforto walked with one out; Wilmer Flores knocked a single into center that Ronald Acuña Jr. overran. Atlanta won their appeal of the tag play at second, and instead of the tying runs on base with one out, Todd Frazier popped out on the very next pitch.

Ozzie Albies and Johan Camargo drove in one and two runs, respectively, cementing their status as Mets killers. Usual suspect Freddie Freeman drove a run in as well.

Jason Vargas went five innings, surrendered four runs (all earned) and struck out seven. The Wilpons are paying $8 million a year for this.

Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz went six innings, holding the Mets to two runs and striking out five. Atlanta is paying him $2.2 million a year, for what it’s worth. A.J. Minter collected his seventh save on the year.

These two teams face each other again tonight, with Anibal Sanchez (5-3, 3.00) taking on human embodiment of pathos Jacob deGrom (5-6, 1.82). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Adam Hunger – USA Today Sports

The night couldn’t have started much better for the Mets, as following a Brandon Nimmo walk and a Wilmer Flores single, suddenly hot Michael Conforto deposited a 2-2 pitch from Ivan Nova into the right field seats to quickly put the visitors up 3-0.

Lefty Jason Vargas, making his first start in six weeks, took the mound in the bottom of the first and encouragingly retired the top of the Pittsburgh line-up in order. But after the Mets went quietly in the second, Vargas’ follow-up inning of work did not quite go as swimmingly.

Elias Diaz led off the frame with a hit, and Freese then contributed his first dose of damage, blasting a two-run shot to left to cut the New York lead to 3-2.

After the bumpy first inning, Nova was able to settle in and navigate through the middle innings with minimal difficulty, and while Vargas tossed a 1-2-3 third, he ran into significant trouble after that. In the fourth, he gave up a single to Diaz and a pair of walks before getting Jordy Mercer to fly out to left to strand the bases loaded. But in the fifth, Vargas wasn’t as lucky. A one-out walk to Jordan Luplow chased the southpaw from the game, but relief ace Seth Lugo was not in top form. After getting his first batter, Josh Harrison, to fly to right, Lugo allowed a hit and a walk that brought Freese to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. Predictably, he ripped one right up the middle for a two-run single that flipped the game and put Pittsburgh up 4-3.

The Mets quickly responded in the next half inning, but they did so in strange fashion.

Conforto and Jose Bautista both walked to start the road sixth, which prompted Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle to replace Nova with hard-throwing righty Edgar Santana. Mets’ new everyday second baseman, (more on that later) Jeff McNeil, was then asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, and he did even better than that. McNeil dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line, causing Santana to rush the throw to first without setting his feet and, after the throwing error, New York had the bases loaded with nobody out. Kevin Plawecki then struck out for the first out, but then things got weird. Jose Reyes hit a hard line drive to left field that Luplow caught on the run, and while the ball was clearly not deep enough to score Conforto from third base, Luplow unleashed a downright terrible throw to the plate that sailed to the backstop and allowed the Mets to tie the game on the throwing error.

New York got scoreless relief work from all of Tyler Bashlor, Jacob Rhame, Jerry Blevins and Anthony Swarzak, while Pittsburgh’s Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez were close to untouchable, and thus this game headed to the bottom of the ninth still tied at four apiece. On came Tim Peterson, the Mets’ seventh pitcher of the evening, and he was not quite as fortunate as the previous relievers.

Harrison led off the Pirates’ ninth with an infield hit, and when Gregory Polanco pulled a hit of his own through the hole, the Mets’ chances of getting this game to extra innings suddenly looked exceedingly bleak. New York intentionally walked Diaz to load the bases and set up a force at every base, but in doing so they brought Freese to the plate, whom they hadn’t retired all night. On the first pitch Peterson threw him, Freese crushed a line drive to the right center field fence to walk off the game and send the home fans home happy.

Tonight, New York will send ace right hander Jacob deGrom to the hill against the Pirates Trevor Williams, a game that looks like a pitcher’s dual on paper.

***

Roughly an hour before this game started news surfaced that the Mets had traded second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera to the division rival Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Double-A right-hander Franklyn Kilome. It doesn’t mean much in the Mets organization, but our own Jeffrey Paternostro estimated that Kilome, who has shown some inconsistency throughout his career and is likely to end up as a reliever, could jump right into the top 5 in the system. Considering the fact that Cabrera is a rental, Kilome could easily end up being a great deal for the Mets.

Originally in the starting lineup, Cabrera was scratched and McNeil moved to second base with Reyes joining the the starting lineup at third. With the late transaction, the Mets were obviously unable to get a roster replacement to Pittsburgh in time to be active for the game, and thus played a man short on Friday night. One man who did make it in time was new Met Austin Jackson, who is either going to replace Jose Bautista or fit in as a fourth outfielder or maybe be the new closer.

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire – USA Today Sports