If there’s one thing we’ve learned from covering Collins over the last two seasons, it’s that he doesn’t change his ingrained habits. Nori Aoki, Jose Reyes, and Asdrubal Cabrera led off for the Mets. Cabrera is the youngest of those players at 31. Meanwhile, Dom Smith and Amed Rosario are “protected” from getting an additional developmental at-bat by hitting in the bottom of the order. Gavin Cecchini may not fit in the Mets’ future, but Collins won’t even give him a chance. Just like we saw with Michael Conforto, Collins is unwilling to play the rookies. Ironically, the one thing Collins did well his last year in Anaheim was play 22-year old Troy Glaus every day.

Seth Lugo pitched four innings and 76 pitches before getting pulled for a pinch hitter. Lugo had some command issues, but he didn’t walk anybody and only gave up two runs. Then we saw Collins’ typical bullpen management. Chasen Bradford came in for the fifth. Josh Smoker got two outs, hit a batter, and Collins turned to Paul Sewald to get a righty. Sewald struck out Makiel Franco, sat down for half an inning, then came back for the seventh. Naturally he wasn’t as sharp, getting a strikeout then walking the next three batters. Collins has developed a bad habit of using a second reliever for part of an inning, sitting that pitcher down, then calling that pitcher back up for more work.

At a certain point, most Mets fans probably just want the season to end, Unfortunately, the Mets couldn’t even get that right on Saturday, Rookie callup Jamie Callahan came in for Sewald with the bases loaded, one out and a 4-2 lead. He gave up a sacrifice fly to Aaron Altherr and then a hard single to Rhys Hoskins, trying the game at four. Both the Mets and Phillies went to some of their best relievers, and A.J. Ramos was actually able to throw a 1-2-3 inning. Hoskins drove a ball to deep left-center in the tenth but couldn’t get it out of the park with the wind blowing in. Reyes came up with two on in the 11th but swung at every 3-2 pitch out of the zone until he missed one. Finally Cabrera, hit a three-run homer to put more runs on the board and Jeurys Familia threw a 1-2-3 inning for the save.

Media Meltdown, Continued

Sandy Alderson met with reporters before Saturday’s game to take responsibility for what he called a breakdown of the team’s professional culture, saying, “I’m the leader of this group. I feel responsible for every aspect of this operation, particularly in those areas where they fall short.” However, Alderson did not deny Marc Carig’s reporting that owner Fred Wilpon prevented the front office from firing Collins. Alderson was probably smart to avoid directly commenting on Collins’ bullpen use, since Collins continued to make the same mistakes against yesterday. More than anything else, Alderson seemed upset that someone would talk to a beat reporter about the club’s many obvious problems.

The Mets will play their last game of the season today. Noah Syndergaard will throw 20-25 pitches. Then the Mets’ taxed bullpen will go one final game and every Mets fan will wait on Twitter to see if (when) Collins is officially told he won’t get a new contract.

Photo credit: Eric Hartline – USA Today Sports

Game 1

The Good

Frankly, there wasn’t much good to talk about from Monday’s first game. Juan Lagares gave us a pleasant surprise with a perfect day at the plate, going three for three with a run scored. The former Gold Glove center fielder seems to be finishing 2017 strong, with seven hits in 15 at-bats over his last four games. Any signs of life from Lagares are a welcomed sight, as there is still a fair amount of uncertainty regarding how this outfield is going to look in 2018. Other than Yoenis Cespedes, the rest is up for grabs thanks to Michael Conforto’s injury and subsequent surgery. Many are still holding out hope that Lagares can be the player he was in 2014, although I wouldn’t put too much stock in a guy who tends to wind up on the disabled list as often as he does.

The entirety of the Mets offense was fueled by Tomas Nido in this contest. Nido, the 23-year-old catcher from Puerto Rico, cracked a double in the bottom of the seventh to drive in Phil Evans and Lagares. The extra-base hit was the first of Nido’s career and the RBIs were his second and third. Given the inconsistency the Mets have shouldered at the catcher position, it’s safe to assume that the job is open in 2018 and with a strong finish over the last week of regular season play, Nido may just do enough to toss his name in the ring and be a dark horse candidate to win the job next spring.

The Bad

Receiving the spot start for this afternoon’s game was Chris Flexen, who last started on Sept. 3. The 23-year-old started well, limiting the Braves to one run (an Ozzie Albies solo home run) over his first five innings, but eventually ran into trouble in the sixth. After loading the bases, Flexen was pulled in favor of Josh Smoker, who allowed all three runners to score. Flexen finished with an unimpressive line of three hits, three walks, four strikeouts, and four earned runs.

The Ugly

Yesterday was just one of those games where the performance of the bullpen left you with nauseous feeling. Josh Smoker’s box score line looks pretty clean, but he was fortunate in that the three runs he allowed were charged to the starter. Every reliever who followed surrendered at least one hit and earned run. In total, Erik Goeddel, Kevin McGowan, and Jacob Rhame surrendered six hits, five earned runs, and three walks. It’s hard to blame the bullpen for the loss today given the lack of offense and rough effort from Flexen, but they certainly ensured the Mets wouldn’t fight their way back into this one.

If reading this hasn’t caused you enough pain already, every player in the Braves starting lineup recorded a hit, including their starting pitcher, Lucas Sims. Sims, a rookie from Lawrenceville, Georgia, shut the Mets out through the first six innings of this afternoon’s game, so feel free to add him to the list of no-name pitchers to dominate the Mets.

Game 2

The Good

As demoralizing as Game 1 of this doubleheader was, the Amazins rallied back in the second game, avoiding becoming a season-worst 25 games under .500. Seth Lugo put forth one of his best efforts of 2017 and notched his seventh win on the season, a sentiment that is even more impressive when you recall the fact that he has been battling a partially torn UCL in his pitching elbow. Lugo shut the Braves out over his six innings, allowing only two hits and no walks while striking out seven.

Jerry Blevins and Chasen Bradford contributed accordingly, keeping the Braves off the board for a combined two innings. Under normal circumstances their effort may seem a bit pedestrian, but when you contrast them to how awful the bullpen was yesterday afternoon, it’s nice to see the relievers do their jobs correctly.

Travis d’Arnaud had a night to remember (only because there are not too many to be had these days), knocking two hits in three trips to the plate and walking once. Following Asdrubal Cabrera’s RBI groundout in the third, d’Arnaud was able to extend the lead to 2-0 when he singled to center field to score Lagares. Facing Jose Ramirez (not to be confused with Cleveland’s MVP candidate), d’Arnaud launched one over the left-center field fence to extend the Amazins’ lead to 3-0. This would prove to be the deciding run after the Braves etched across two runs in the ninth. Monday night’s effort is a momentary sigh of relief for d’Arnaud in the midst of another disappointing season. Sit back and smell the roses, Travis, because you very well may not be a starter anymore come spring training.

Brandon Nimmo and Matt Reynolds each had a solid night at the plate. Nimmo cracked two doubles and a single in four plate appearances and Reynolds singled twice. While Reynolds ultimately has cemented his fate as a utility-man, Brandon Nimmo is starting to open some eyes on whether he can be an everyday player. Last night’s effort raised his batting average to .274 and his OBP to a .393 clip. Numbers like that are at least worth the discussion of whether Nimmo could have a starting job in 2018.

The Bad

2017 is just not Jeurys Familia’s year. Between the blood clot issue and his struggles on the mound, you can count on the fact that he’s eager to start the 2018 season and wipe the slate clean. Monday night’s outing was a textbook example, as he came very close to blowing a three-run lead. Despite surrendering an RBI single to Jace Peterson and an RBI groundout to Matt Kemp, Familia avoided a complete meltdown en route to his fifth save of the season.

Despite a measured level of success with the Las Vegas 51s, Travis Taijeron has failed to get it going at the Major League level. An 0-3 effort tonight lowered his batting average to a crisp .159. Not that Taijeron factored into the Mets’ long term plans at all, but his September cup of coffee put him in a position where he had more to gain than to lose. Unfortunately, some players are just stuck in the purgatory that is being too good for Triple-A, not good enough for the MLB.

What’s Next

The Mets take on a familiar face in R.A. Dickey tonight with a resurgent Rafael Montero toeing the rubber at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

In the latest installment of Mets-ian injury luck, Jacob deGrom was pushed back from his Friday night start against the Nationals with a stomach ailment. Instead, Robert Gsellman took the mound against the NL East champions. Gsellman had a great start in Atlanta his last time out, but has been very disappointing after a promising rookie cameo at the end of 2016. For the Nationals, Edwin Jackson and his 6.38 FIP took the mound. They also left literally every position player of note on the bench, running out what was very clearly a post-clinching lineup as they coast into a matchup with the Cubs in the NLDS.

Suffice to say that this series is far from what we all expected and hoped for at the start of the season. This could’ve been a high stakes, tension filled fight for the division late in the season, with both sides matching aces (think back to that three-game series where this happened on Sunday Night Baseball) as they attempt to lock up the division. Instead, rather than struggling to keep our heads on straight and our hearts in our chest for three games, we’ll have to struggle for reasons to watch.

2015 feels so far away, doesn’t it?

Game Recap

Gsellman got off to a good start against the Nationals’ reserve lineup, setting them down in order in the first inning with a strikeout. He lost his control in the second however, as two walks and a HBP (with a wild pitch mixed in) loaded the bases with nobody out. In one of the better displays of composure we’ve seen from a Mets pitcher of late, Gsellman bounced back to work out of it, inducing pop ups from Adrian Sanchez and Pedro Severino before striking out Edwin Jackson to leave the bases loaded.

Perhaps encouraged by their starter’s effort, the Mets got on the board immediately afterwards. Travis d’Arnaud lead off with the bottom of the second by yanking a fastball up around his shoulders down the left field line for a solo home run. Dom Smith followed with a single, but the bottom third of the Mets’ order couldn’t do anything with that baserunner. Nevertheless, the Mets had a 1-0 going to the third.

Unfortunately, Gsellman’s troubles returned in the third. With one out, former Met Alejandro de Aza lined a ball to center field that Juan Lagares misjudged, and it rolled to the wall for a triple. Gsellman then hit Howie Kendrick to put two runners on for Adam Lind, who launched a down-and-in fastball over the right-center field wall for a three-run home run. In a flash, a 1-0 lead was a 3-1 deficit.

The Mets put together a small rally in the bottom of the third as they were seemingly ready to respond. Nori Aoki singled on a bunt ground ball and stole second, and a walk to Asdrubal Cabrera two batters late put runners on first and second with one out. This is the 2017 Mets though, so of course Brandon Nimmo hit a ball hard to de Aza that was caught on the fly and turned into an inning-ending double play.

Gsellman bounced back after the home run, striking out two in a 1-2-3 top of the fourth. He pitched well in the fifth as well, but was undone by some poor defense and worse umpiring. de Aza reached on a fielding error by Amed Rosario with one out, and after a blatantly missed strike three call to Howie Kendrick, the Washington second baseman drove an RBI double to right-center field to stretch the lead to 4-1. Adam Lind was walked intentionally to give a righty-righty matchup against Victor Robles, but he launched a two run triple to left-center, increasing the deficit to 6-1. In an inning that should have been over in three batters, the Nationals scored three runs.

After this rally by the Nats, the Mets managed to answer. Lagares laid down a very nice bunt single, stole second, then scored on a single from Aoki. Jose Reyes and Cabrera followed with singles of their own, pushing another run across the plate and putting men at first and second with one out. Brandon Nimmo worked a six pitch at bat (shocking) but struck out, bringing Travis d’Arnaud to the plate. d’Arnaud got another fastball up in the zone from Jackson that he liked, and he lined a three-run home run to left-center to tie the game at six.

Chasen Bradford replaced Gsellman in the sixth and struck out one in a scoreless inning. In the bottom half, the Mets took the lead against Joe Blanton. Juan Lagares doubled to left with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch. Nori Aoki drove him in with a double to deep right-center over Victor Robles, who was playing quite shallow against the typically slappy outfielder. Lagares’s run gave the Mets a 7-6 advantage at the end of the sixth.

Paul Sewald replaced Chasen Bradford with 1.2 scoreless innings of work (with some help from Lagares on a diving catch), striking out one, and Jerry Blevins finished the eighth by inducing a fly out from Daniel Murphy. That set the stage for A.J. Ramos, making his first appearance since blowing a three-run lead in Miami on Tuesday. This outing didn’t start much better, as Ramos walked Wilmer Difo and gave up a hard line drive to de Aza. Aoki made his latest impressive contribution to the Mets to help out, making a fantastic diving catch to turn that line drive into an out.

Ramos wasn’t as lucky to Howie Kenrick, who dinked a single in front of Aoki to put runners on first and third with one out. That led Terry Collins to yank his struggling closer for Josh Smoker. Smoker did his job, inducing a pop up from Adam Lind for the second out, setting the stage for Jeurys Familia’s first save opportunity since returning from the disabled list. Familia did his job, striking out the only batter he faced to secure the win.

Thoughts from the Game

Victor Robles is really, really fast. Like, Billy Hamilton fast. I know that last tidbit is probably not true, but it certainly feels like it watching him fly around the bases.

I remain confident that the A.J. Ramos trade is a move the Mets will regret. Ramos is in line for about $10 million dollars next season, and he simply isn’t worth that much. His consistent issues with control have prevented him from registering an elite or even particularly good cFIP as a reliever over the last couple seasons, and his ERA has risen to match. Add in that the Mets gave up a pitcher who was probably better than any player they received in their “hard sell” and things look even worse.

The clear benefit to Ramos is that he is a one-year commitment, amtching the current front office’s long standing disdain for handing out long term contracts to relievers. When building a team for the long haul, this is a good strategy, as relievers are volatile and unreliable in addition to not being a huge chunk of value compared to other spots on the roster. This Mets team is headed for a downturn, however, and the Mets should be doling out big contracts to actually elite relievers, since the long term consequences don’t matter – the team is going to be bad in two or three years anyway.

But no, the Mets will continue to be cheap and delusional about their place on the win curve, and we’ll be stuck having a heart attack anytime Ramos enters the game.

Other Met News

Whisperings from Jon Heyman and elsewhere over the past week have hinted heavily that Terry Collins will not be back next season. Some with the team are convinced he wants to retire, while others simply won’t make any comments about his job security (never a good sign for any manager, let alone one with an expiring contract).

Needless to say, every Met fans should have Handel’s Messiah going off at 120 decibels in their head. Collins has managed the most games of any Mets manager and won the second most games, leading the team to two consecutive playoff appearances in 2015 and 2016 for only the second time in team history. Despite those credentials, Collins has been a detriment to the team more often than not, constructing questionable lineups, refusing to play young players, and making horrendous decisions with his pitchers. Any comments with regard to his ability to manage a clubhouse well seems moot as well given some of the issue the Mets have had (such as with Asdrubal Cabrera).

Where the Mets turn for their next manager is an open question. Smart money is with the usual suspects that have long been rumored to be next in line, such as Bob Geren, Chip Hale, and Dick Scott. Recent reports have suggested the front office wants to bring in someone more familiar with analytics, though bringing up Mike Matheny as an example of such a manager is concerning (Matheny consistently makes many of the same mistakes Terry does). Pedro Lopez has long been considered another internal candidate as a coach who has done well with Mets prospects at multiple levels of the minor leagues. Unfortunately, those of us hoping for a more new age, out-of-the-box hire (oh what I would do to make John Baker the manager for 2018) are probably not going to get our wish, but at the very least we should get an upgrade over Terry Collins’ particular brand of ineptitude.

In other news that I have less to rant about, Noah Syndergaard is scheduled to make a one inning start today, after which Matt Harvey will take over. It’ll be Thor’s first appearance since tearing his lat on April 30. Throwing him out there for an inning is about as low risk as things can get, so if it has a positive psychological impact, there’s very limited drawback.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

It can’t get any worse than last night, that’s for sure.

A day after Matt Harvey (with some help from the bullpen) got slapped around by the Marlins en route to a 13-1 loss, the Mets went back to work in Miami. Seth Lugo and his barely intact UCL faced off against Odrisamer Despaigne, a pitcher with a K/BB of less than one this season who has nevertheless given the Mets fits in the past (he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning while with the Padres in 2014). Phil Evans made his first MLB start at second base, and that that’s a highlight for the primer of this game tells you just how far we’ve sunk.

Game Recap

Jose Reyes got the Mets off to a fast start, dropping a solo home run into the right center field seats with one out in the first. That would be all the offense they managed for the first five innings, as Dom Smith left two men on in the third and the Mets went in order in the second, fourth, and fifth.

Seth Lugo made that lead stand up at first. He worked around a walk to Giancarlo Stanton in the first (one of many unintentional-intentional free passes the Mets have doled out to the prodigious slugger this season) by inducing a reviewed double play from Christian Yelich. He induced another double play in the second, working around a single from Justin Bour and a double from Derek Dietrich. Things were quieter in the third, when Lugo set the Marlins down in order.

Miami finally broke through in the fourth, when Yelich launched his 18th homer of the season to left center. J.T. Realmuto followed with a two out double, but Lugo struck out Dietrich to keep the game tied at one. Lugo bounced back in the fifth with another 1-2-3 inning, but that would end his evening. The right-hander tossed five innings of one run ball, striking out three and walking one. The outing lowered his ERA to 5.03.

Though Lugo departed a tie game, the Mets worked to get him in line for the win. In the top of the sixth, Reyes led off with a single before both Asdrubal Cabrera and Dom Smith lined out. With two outs, Travis d’Arnaud stepped to the plate, and he blasted a two-run home run to center field to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. Brandon Nimmo followed that up by lining a first-pitch single (a very uncharacteristic move) to left, but he was stranded when Juan Lagares flew out to end the inning.

Josh Smoker entered for the bottom of the sixth and worked a scoreless inning, working around yet another walk to Giancarlo Stanton as well as a wild pitch. After a quiet top of the seventh, Jeurys Familia relieved Smoker, striking out two and walking one in a scoreless inning. It was one of Familia’s better outings since returning from the disabled list with blood clots in his throwing shoulder, as he looks to work himself back into closer shape going into the 2018 season.

The Mets put together another threat in the top of the eighth, when Cabrera singled with one out. Smith followed with a strikeout before d’Arnaud singled and Nimmo walked to load the bases with two outs. Lagares then had a ten-pitch battle with Junichi Tazawa, including five straight foul balls. Unfortunately, when Lagares finally got around on a ball, he lined it directly to second baseman Derek Dietrich to end the threat.

After working around yet another walk to Giancarlo Stanton in the bottom of the eighth, the Mets managed to push across an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Phil Evans lead off with a line drive single to center, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Matt Reynolds, then to third on a ground out from Nori Aoki. Reyes drove him in with a single, stretching the lead to 4-1.

That run would prove to be important, as A.J. Ramos made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Justin Bour lead off the inning by golfing a pitching that was practically lying on home plate for a solo home run. J.T. Realmuto then singled on a slow ground ball to short, and Brian Anderson made things even dicier with a single to put runners on first and third with one out two batters later. Ramos pulled within one out of the save before A.J. Ellis pushed a ground ball through the right side of the infield to cut the Marlins deficit to one run. Ichiro Suzuki followed with a line drive single just over the glove of Reyes, driving in Anderson to tie the game at four.

At this point, most of us were probably just rooting for the Mets to complete the implosion and lose the game. Instead, Paul Sewald entered (after Ramos walked Stanton for the fourth time this game) and struck out Christian Yelich, forcing the game into extra innings. Mercifully, things ended quickly. A leadoff single from Smith was wasted, and J.T. Realmuto lined a walkoff solo home run off of Sewald in the bottom of the 10th.

The loss drops the Mets to 65-86, keeping them in the fifth spot in the reverse standings. Another painful loss, but at least they didn’t drag things out too long.

Thoughts from the Game

I’d use this game as an excuse to bring up my doubts about A.J. Ramos (and my corresponding dislike of the trade to acquire him), but judging relievers on a one-game sample is silly and pointless. This could also be a chance to rant about Terry Collins failing to recognize when a reliever has nothing, but basically every major league manager does this with his closer. Perhaps another chance to complain about Jose Reyes still being on this team, but he went 4-for-5 with a home run.

No, there’s just nothing worth mustering up the energy to complain about at this juncture in the season. We’re just playing out the string here folks, even in the recap section.

Other Met News

Amed Rosario missed a second straight game with gastroenteritis, with the Mets describing him as violently sick. Rosario had a bout of the stomach flu earlier this season, missing a week or so of action while with Las Vegas. The young shortstop visited the hospital but spent the night in the team hotel, and has been instructed to stay there while resting up in order to get back to game shape. With the Mets season already long over and Rosario having received a decent sampling of MLB pitching, there’s no reason to rush him back at this point.

Photo credit: Jason Vinlove – USA Today Sports

In the bottom of the seventh inning of last night’s shellacking, Phil Evans took the field at third and Matt Reynolds replaced Jose Reyes at short — Reyes had himself replaced Amed Rosario, who left the game in the fifth with a tight hip flexor. As the few hopeful signs of the future began to succumb to the injury bug (just which Greek God have the Wilpons angered, exactly?), and the lineup turned over from exciting prospects to players who had fans and broadcasters alike scrambling for the media guide, it became abundantly clear that the Mets, unsatisfied with ruining the present, were intent on putting a cloud over the future. Robbed of joy, robbed of hope; it must be the Mets.

Jen-Ho Tseng, making his major league debut starting for the Cubs, initially struggled, hitting both Reyes and Dom Smith with pitches, but emerged from the first only surrendering one run. The Mets grabbed another couple of runs in the second, with Reyes driving in Rosario and Brandon Nimmo doubling in Reyes. The teams began trading home runs, with Smith and Travis d’Arnaud hitting back-to-back dingers in the top of the third to put the Mets up again, and Anthony Rizzo answering in the bottom of the frame to close the gap to one run. The Cubs would take the lead for good in the fourth, scoring five runs and knocking Seth Lugo out of the game.

Lugo went three innings, allowing eight runs (seven earned) and striking out four. I wish I could say it only feels like yesterday that we were watching Lugo pitch in the World Baseball Classic, but I can’t. It was an eternity ago, long before this hellish summer that refuses to end and will no doubt become a milestone in Mets fans’ mythology of suffering. Lugo was replaced by Josh Smoker, Jerry Blevins, Paul Sewald, Chris Flexen, and Jeurys Familia out of the pen. (In case anyone was wondering how the Jason Heyward swing reconstruction project was going, it’s going just fine, thanks.)

Rosario would be lifted in the bottom of the fifth with a tight hip flexor. Before replacing him at short, Reyes played a nimble at second base, for what it’s worth. (Nothing. It’s worth nothing.) Rosario had a great series at Wrigley, going 6 for 9 and stealing two bases last night alone. This being the Mets summer of discontent, that meant he was ripe to be struck down by the gods. d’Arnaud twisted his right knee in the same inning. Seemed a fitting cap to the day that it was reported the Mets would be sticking with their strength and conditioning coach.

Tomas Nido got his first major league hit and first run batted in with a ninth inning RBI single. Then he tried to score from second on a ground ball squibbed in front of the plate to end the game. For almost any other team, that would be an unbelievable end to an execrable game. Met fans can believe it all too well.

Tonight, the Mets head to Atlanta, where Rafael Montero (5-9, 5.05) will face Sean Newcomb (2-8, 4.38); first pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.

Photo credit: Kamil Krzaczynski – USA Today Sports

I could hit you with the numbers (again), but the shock value that contextualizing it in numbers once had no longer even really exists; it’s mostly just numbing at this point. For example, I could say that seven of the 12 Mets pitchers with the most innings pitched this year have ERAs over five. But that’s not really surprising at this point. I could also mention that as of Tuesday, the team’s 117 ERA- is the fourth-worst in franchise history. But that’s whatever by now. I could even bring up the fact that if you remove Jacob deGrom’s stats, the team ERA, even before last night’s game, would be 5.08, which would be the worst team ERA in franchise history—six points worse than the 1962 Mets. Okay, that one still stings a little bit.

And last night, we saw another disheartening performance from a pitcher who not only had a positive outlook coming into the year, but who was, and still could be, a huge part of this team’s future. It has been a completely lost season for Robert Gsellman—who BP ranked as the #2 prospect in the Mets system pre-season—and it took another saddening turn last night in Chicago. Gsellman worked through the first three innings without allowing a run, but was walking the tightrope the entire time and completely lacking command. He finally cracked in the fourth inning, when he allowed a four-spot to the Cubs, with three of those runs coming on a home run by Kris Bryant. Gsellman walked four on the night and gave up five hits in just four innings of work.

Next year, the Mets will have a cornucopia of pitchers bidding for spots in the rotation. Only two spots are guarenteed: deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Everyone else will need to earn a spot. This month of September is crucial for guys like Gsellman and Seth Lugo to build their case for a rotation spot next season, and Gsellman’s outing last night did not help, as his stock continues to plummet after a wonderful 2016 debut campaign.

The game was pretty much over from there. Tommy Milone, Jacob Rhame, Josh Smoker, and Chris Flexen all pitched the subsequent innings in that order, and every single one of them gave up one run. Milone is a guy who probably shouldn’t even be pitching for the Mets anymore, Rhame is still working out the kinks at the MLB level, and Smoker and Flexen haven’t looked like MLB-caliber pitchers all season.

The Mets lost the game 8-3, which ultimately doesn’t matter. What does matter, though, is that they were able to find innings for Rhame and get some more evaluation on Gsellman and Smoker. In addition, Amed Rosario had a productive day, going 2-for-4 and making a nice leaping grab in the field. Rosario’s yet to light the world on fire, but it absolutely looks like being a competent MLB shortstop is his floor right now. Dom Smith’s struggles continued, however, as he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. Gavin Cecchini and Brandon Nimmo were both benched again last night, which is good. Very prudent.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY:

Reliever Eric Hanhold was announced as the PTNBL in the Neil Walker trade. Honhold is a 23-year-old reviever in A+ ball who became a full-time reliever this year, and has substantially improved as a result. His K-BB numbers have increased, and he’s had his best professional year in run prevention so far. So he’s mildly interesting. (Editor’s note: Go Gators)

The Mets also called up catching prospect Tomas Nido to the big leagues yesterday. The 23-year-old posted a 74 wRC+ for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies this season.

TODAY

The Mets play game two of their series against the Cubs in Wrigley Field. Matt Harvey takes on Jon Lester in a rematch of Game 1 of the 2015 NLCS, except both pitchers are discernably worse now. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m.

Photo credit: Patrick Gorski – USA Today Sports

On a night Noah Syndergaard pitched a rehab assignment with the Brooklyn Cyclones in the final game of their dismal season (two innings, three runs allowed on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts), Mets fans will be forgiven for thinking the most compelling baseball in the Mets universe was not being played in Flushing. And when Ron Darling starts waxing about US Open results not even a third of the way through the game, you know that no matter how professional broadcasters can be, there is very little for anyone to care for in the remains of this season, even when a paycheck is involved.

The Mets returned to their winning ways against the Reds, with a solid offensive showing behind the undoubted star of the game Brandon Nimmo having a night, with two home runs and a double, driving in three runs. He also made a terrific running catch in left field to lead off the ninth inning.

A weird moment came in the bottom of the third with two outs, as Asdrubal Cabrera hit a ball that caromed pretty clearly off the top of the wall but was called a home run by rookie third base umpire Shane Livensparger; while an umpire review quickly called it back to a double, Terry Collins forced a needless video replay. Cabrera would leave the game early after tweaking what appeared to be his back while making a nifty barehand play.

Trailing by a run, the Mets took the lead for good in the fourth; after a leadoff walk to Dominic Smith, Kevin Plawecki doubled to right field, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs; Reds rookie Tyler Mahle struck out Matt Reynolds and Matt Harvey, but Jose Reyes poked a ground ball through the right side to score both runners and put the Mets ahead, 3-2. In the fifth, Brandon Nimmo and Juan Lagares led off with back-to-back home runs.

Matt Harvey lasted five innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs with one strikeout after 74 pitches. Josh Smoker entered the game in relief in the bottom of the fifth, and promptly struck out the side. Jeurys Familia pitched an uneventful seventh and eighth and A.J. Ramos finished off the ninth.

The Mets and Reds face off again tonight at 7:10 p.m., with Seth Lugo (5-4, 5.00) facing Amir Garrett (3-6, 7.41).

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

Tuesday was a night to forget for the Amazins’, especially coming off their Monday night offensive explosion. After losing last night, the Mets have lost eight of their last 11 and 12 of their last 16 games at Citi Field. Overall, the game was just a disappointing mess. Here’s how it all shook out:

Not So deGrominant

Following the win last night, I think we all felt a series victory was imminent with Jacob deGrom on the hill. Prior to tonight’s effort, deGrom was 6-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his 10 career starts against the Phillies. Not to mention, the Mets won all 10 of those games. Well, with expectations high, the team received one of the worst outings of deGrom’s career. The de facto ace of this depleted Mets pitching staff surrendered a career high nine runs, six of which were earned, and 10 hits. deGrom got the hook after only 3.2 innings, making this the second shortest outing of the year. Putting aside deGrom’s prior success against Philadelphia, this all came as a surprise after the right-hander cruised through the first inning, striking out the side. However, the real knife twisting moment was when deGrom surrendered a two-run blast to Philly’s starting pitcher Ben Lively. Simply put, deGrom did not have his best stuff last night.

Ben Lively: The Latest in a Long Line of Met Killers

Imagine that I didn’t watch an inning of this game. If you asked me who the catalyst was behind last night’s impressive offensive performance, I probably would have guessed Odubel Herrera, Cesar Hernandez, Freddy Galvis, or maybe even top prospect J.P. Crawford, who debuted Tuesday. Never in a million years would I have predicted what came off the bat of Ben Lively. Lively broke a 1-1 tie in the second after singling home Hyun Soo Kim and J.P. Crawford on a single to center and then cemented himself as the next great Met killer after slugging a two-run bomb off of deGrom in the fourth. If that’s not enough for you, Lively also went out and tossed seven innings of one-run ball. Talk about a complete player. Last night, Ben Lively joined a prestigious fraternity of players who perform at superhuman levels against the Mets. I wish him nothing but injury-free bad luck and struggles on the mound.

Another Day Another Dom Struggle

With a playoff run essentially lost all season, the promotions of Amed Rosario and Dom Smith gave fans something to look forward to. These two would hopefully come to anchor the franchise the way David Wright and Jose Reyes did back in 2006. Granted, there’s no need to hit the panic button since these games are meaningless anyways, but it is always disconcerting to see a top prospect like Smith struggle early on. The first baseman lowered his batting average to .182 Tuesday after going 0-4 with a strikeout. To make matters worse, he committed a throwing error in the second that allowed the tying run to score. The good news is that Smith is in no danger of being sent down to the minors. The bad news is that it’s only because the minor league season is over.

Man I’m Glad I Called That Guy

Due to the entire outfield spontaneously combusting via trade or injury, the Mets were in need of a major league caliber outfielder to come in and fill the void. In a serendipitous turn of events, the team was able to sign Nori Aoki and slot him right into the lineup in Houston. In only four games with the Amazins’, Aoki is 6-for-17 with three RBIs and four run scored. I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, but Aoki could be an interesting piece among the 2018 Mets, providing major league proficient outfield depth. When you consider the uncertainty regarding the return of Michael Conforto, Aoki could become a low-risk/high-reward value chip to keep around the organization.

At Least the Bullpen Was Immaculate

deGrom may have been awful tonight, but his compatriots certainly weren’t. Josh Smoker, Jacob Rhame, Kevin McGowan, Erik Goeddel, and Jamie Callahan combined for an impressive bullpen effort, striking out seven in 6.1 scoreless frames. It’s especially encouraging to see success out of two of the arms acquired at the trade deadline in Rhame and Callahan.

Everything Else

Asdrubal Cabrera continued to swing the bat well out of the three hole, notching a single and a double in four at-bats. Travis d’Arnaud also recorded two hits last night, a single and an RBI double, scoring the Mets’ only run in the game. Brandon Nimmo drew two more walks, giving him eight in his last five games, a sign that is especially encouraging when considering that a major hole in Nimmo’s game was his plate discipline.

What’s Next

The Mets will cap off their series against the Phillies at Citi Field on Wednesday at 7 p.m. After Matt Harvey was pushed back, Nick Pivetta’s rubber game matchup will be…who knows.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

The Miami not-Mets

WHAT HAPPENED, A WEIRD START:

Weird is the best way to describe Jacob deGrom’s start on Sunday afternoon. With eight strikeouts and no walks in 6.1 innings, you might think he shined – except there’s more to this story. deGrom gave up 10 hits and allowed five earned runs, three of which scored on a Giancarlo Stanton homer to right. But everyone has starts like that, what makes it weird is just how large of a role his defense played.

The Marlins brought a run across in the first and third innings, and both came off the bat of Christian Yelich. Oddly enough, both were hard hit grounders to Wilmer Flores at third that kicked away following his diving effort. They weren’t routine plays, by any means, but they were eerily alike. Another similar play came in the seventh inning after a Miguel Rojas blooper to right field led to an Adam Conley sacrifice bunt. With Rojas on second, Dee Gordon grounded a ball to Amed Rosario at shortstop. Maybe Rosario thought he had more time than he actually did, as the one pump the rookie shortstop did was enough for Gordon to stretch out an infield single. The very next batter happened to be Stanton, who promptly allowed the men on the corners to jog homeward while bouncing deGrom from the game.

Are both of Yelich’s RBI’s, as well as Gordon’s run, the fault of shoddy defense? No, they were tough plays. Very close ones, but tough nonetheless. Had they all turned into outs, maybe the Mets win. The same can be said for a dropped Yoenis Cespedes pop-up in shallow left during Josh Smoker’s first batter out of the bullpen. The batter, Yelich, was able to advance to second base, and was later hit in by Marcell Ozuna to push the score to 6-1 in favor of the Marlins.

At the end of the day, deGrom struggled with the top-half of the Marlins lineup, but four runs came about because of some weird defensive plays. They weren’t all bad but, had they been converted, up to four runs could’ve come off the board. But, alas, who knows what would’ve happened. All we know is that deGrom didn’t have his best, but oddly enough it might’ve been enough to win on any other day. The dreaded Sunday game strikes again.

WHAT HAPPENED, AT THE PLATE:

On offense, the Mets were just as weird. The Marlins starter, Adam Conley, struck out 11 batters in seven innings of work. He allowed three hits, two walks, and one earned run. If you look at it that way, the Mets weren’t all that productive — which is a fair assessment. Cespedes blasted a solo homer in the first inning, while Rosario and Gavin Cecchini reached base in the second inning.  That was about the extent of the comeback attempts by the Mets offense. In the fourth, Flores was hit by a pitch, and Travis d’Arnaud walked, but a Rosario flyout and Dom Smith double play ball ended that effort right as it had begun. Conley rolled through the middle innings, striking out five batters after a solid fifth, sixth, and seventh inning. Then came the eighth inning, when Conley was replaced by Odrisamer Despaigne.

Brandon Nimmo led off the inning with a double, and two batters later Michael Conforto walked. With two runners on, Cespedes blasted a liner to left-center field that kicked off the glove of Christian Yelich and rolled to the wall. It was ruled a double, Nimmo scored, and Flores knocked in Conforto from third on a sacrifice fly to left field against the newly-entered Kyle Barraclough. The next batter, d’Arnaud, singled to left to bring home Cespedes. Suddenly it was a 6-4 game, and it looked like the Mets had life.

That, however, would be as close as they would get. Cecchini singled with one out in the ninth, and Asdrubal Cabrera came on to pinch hit for Paul Sewald. Representing the tying run, Cabrera grounded into a game-ending double play. Comeback ended, hopes crushed.

WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:

The Mets couldn’t get anything going against Adam Conley, and Jacob deGrom couldn’t keep the Marlins off the board. As a writer for the Mets Baseball Prospectus team site, those things don’t mix well. Oh well, at least we know our friend from afar, Curtis Granderson, blasted his first homer as a Dodger on Sunday. Sigh.

WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:

Dogs and cats will live together, up will be down, all computer systems will shut down. I actually don’t know how you’re reading this. If you made it this far, send help. The apocalypse is neigh; the four horsemen will appear.

…But enough about the four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks featuring such starting pitchers as Robert Gsellman, Steven Matz, Chris Flexen, and Rafael Montero.

Anyway, the sun will be wholly and completely devoured by the moon. As if you need another reminder apart from the daily good idea of not starring directly into the sun, don’t stare directly into the sun no matter what part of the country you view the eclipse. Please, for my sake. You need your eyesight to keep watching Mets games!

Photo credit: Wendell Cruz – USA Today Sports

Watching Met games is hard these days. Writing detailed accounts of the happenings of those games is even more dreary. If I were a quarter as talented as someone like Grant Brisbee, perhaps these recaps would be more enjoyable to write and read, despite the Mets’ consistently poor performance. Unfortunately for you and me, I’m a computational biologist, not a creative writing genius, so we’ll just have to muddle through.

Anyway, the Marlins were coming into town. Giancarlo Stanton is coming off a streak of six straight games with a home run and is on pace for more than 50. To counter the best pure slugger in the game, the Mets sent out Chris Flexen, who continues to struggle to miss bats and keep the ball in the strike zone as he works through his premature promotion to the big leagues. The Marlins sent out Justin Nicolino, a former member of the Blue Jays big trio of prospects with Aaron Sanchez and Noah Syndergaard. Nicolino has certainly been the most disappointing, as he’s running a K/9 under six, a BB/9 over four, and FIP in the high fives.

Game Recap

Flexen’s first inning wasn’t terrible, as he worked around an unintentional intentional walk to Stanton with a double play ball off the bat of Christian Yelich. His second inning didn’t go as well, as he walked Marcell Ozuna to lead off the inning and then hung a curveball to J.T. Realmuto, who deposited it into the left field bleachers for a two-run home run. Flexen gave up another single in the inning, but held the Marlins to just the two runs.

The Marlins would tack on an insurance run in the third. Flexen pitched just as carefully to Stanton in his second at-bat, again walking him on five pitches. Christian Yelich followed with an opposite field double on a pretty decent fastball on the outside part of the plate. With runners on second and third, Miami seemed primed for a big inning, but Flexen managed to escape again. Ozuna lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to stretch the lead to 3-0, but that’s the only run the Marlins would get.

In the bottom of the third, the Mets got one of those runs back. Juan Lagares and Asdrubal Cabrera lined back-to-back singles with one out, and Lagares came around to score two batters later on a single from Wilmer Flores. Travis d’Arnaud flew out to end the threat, but the Marlin’s lead was cut to two runs.

Flexen actually settled in a bit in the fourth and fifth. He didn’t strike anyone out, but avoided walking any batters and induced soft contact from most of the seven Marlins he faced. The control problems returned in the sixth, however, as Ozuna walked to lead off the inning. Flexen got J.T. Realmuto to fly out, but Derek Dietrich followed with a hard hit single to right field to put runners on first and third with one out. With Flexen’s pitch count approaching 100, Terry Collins pulled the plug in favor of Josh Smoker.

While he only allowed three runs, Flexen’s performance was far from impressive. He walked four and only struck out one, inducing only two swinging strikes. The young right hander posted gaudy numbers in Double-A, but his early results indicate that he needs more seasoning. If the Mets weren’t so beat up at the moment, he’d probably still be refining his craft with Binghamton. For now, we just have to hope that his being rushed to the big leagues does not hinder his long term development.

Smoker made quick work of the next two Marlins to escape the threat, and there really wasn’t much else to talk about for the rest of the game. The Mets managed only one run off of Nicolino, one of the worst pitchers in baseball, with all six of their hits going for singles. Dustin McGowan entered for the sixth and allowed a hit and a walk, but the Mets couldn’t make anything of that opportunity either.

Neither side managed a hit in the final three innings. Smoker, Paul Sewald, and Jerry Blevins combined to allow no Marlins baserunners, and struck out three, while Drew Streckenreider, Kyle Barraclough, and Brad Ziegler struck out four over three perfect innings of relief. The final 10 Mets to come to the plate were retired in order to close out a very boring 3-1 loss.

The loss is the Mets’ fifth in a row, dropping their record to a season worst 53-67. That should keep the Mets firmly in the seventh spot in the reverse standings.

Thoughts from the Game

I’ll preface this section by saying I’m not a fan of Dom Smith. I don’t find his profile particularly interesting, I don’t find his minor league performance particularly impressive, and I think the Mets should keep their options at first open next season (if they have the money). That being said, there’s absolutely no reason why Smith should not be in the lineup against Justin Nicolino. Nicolino is a left-handed pitcher, but he’s been smashed by lefties this season and hasn’t exhibited any sort of major platoon split throughout his career.

Sitting a top, left-handed hitter prospect against a guy like Madison Bumgarner or Clayton Kershaw is justifiable, but an opportunity against a pitcher like Nicolino (who is bad) is a great chance to expose a young hitter to a major league southpaw. Instead, Terry has Matt Reynolds in the lineup, a player who is out of options and has basically established that he isn’t a major leaguer at this point, probably heading for a DFA this offseason when the Mets need to clear 40 spots.

This is Terry Collins and the Mets at their worst. Whoever is calling these shots refuses to churn the margins of the roster, but for some reason clings to random, bad players at the cost of much more important pieces. Evaluating Dom Smith is critical right now, and if you’re insisting on benching him at least get a guy like Gavin Cecchini into the lineup. Not at all surprising though, given that Jose Reyes might wind up with the most plate appearances on the 2017 Mets.

Other Met News

Curtis Granderson was traded to the Dodgers for a PTBNL or cash (which is baseball speak for the Mets are getting next to nothing in return) just after the last out Friday. It’s a shame to see Granderson go, as he’s one of the real great people in the game today, in addition to still being a solid contributor. Hopefully he can ride the Dodger’s insane season to a ring.

Meanwhile, Rene Rivera is likely to move soon in a separate deal.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports