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

It was…not the Mets

WHAT HAPPENED, ONE MISTAKE:

Sunday was one of those typical Jacob deGrom starts. He did about everything he could to put the Mets in a position to win, but it just didn’t happen when everything was said and done. After opening the action with five strikeouts in two innings, deGrom ran into trouble. Jose Lobaton kicked off the third inning with a liner up the middle before Max Scherzer traded places with him on a bunt-turned fielders’ choice. It wouldn’t matter who was on first, though, as the next man to the plate, Trea Turner, planted a ball in the left field seats to give the Nats a 2-1 lead.
A quick fourth was followed by an inning of unfortunate breaks, led off with a Michael A. Taylor swinging bunt down the third-base line. Two pitches later, Taylor broke for second, which turned into an even better decision once the Travis d’Arnaud-throw found its way into shallow centerfield. Now with a runner on third, Lobaton blooped a ball into left field. Of course, in true Sunday Mets fashion, it was too shallow for Brandon Nimmo to grab, yet too deep for him to throw out Taylor. Suddenly a leadoff infield single snowballed into a 3-1 deficit.
As per usual, deGrom did a great job at limiting contact to weak, at best. When you sport 11 strikeouts in six innings, no walks, three runs (two earned), and five hits, you’ve basically done all you can to keep your club in it. But, in the end, it just wasn’t enough. One mistake pitch to Trea Turner made all the difference. In terms of non-deGrom pitching, Hansel Robles and Paul Sewald came out of the bullpen to combine for three shutout innings. That is, of course, always fantastic to see as we enter into the last week of the regular season.

WHAT HAPPENED, THEY DID FACE MAX SCHERZER:

Game 155 had an optimistic start. Jose Reyes nearly smacked a 93-mph fastball over the fence his first time up. Victor Robles played the ball well, but it couldn’t have been more than a foot or two away from a first-inning homerun. The very next batter, Brandon Nimmo, didn’t make the same mistake. He hit the ball much, much farther. Just like that, the Mets had a quick 1-0 lead on a Scherzer-led Washington Nationals.
Though it looked like they were poised to strike early, strike often against the probable National League Cy Young-winning, that would be all the Mets could muster. Two more hits and a walk would be scattered across five more Scherzer-thrown innings, but none came in the same frame. The Mets didn’t get multiple runners on base, or even multiple hits, until the eighth inning rolled around.
A Juan Lagares leadoff single against Ryan Madson kicked off the rally attempt, as two batters later Nori Aoki placed a grounder perfectly with a hit-and-run to place runners at the corners with one away. Reyes then singled into center to cut the Nats lead in half, and a two-out walk to d’Arnaud would load the bases for Kevin Plawecki to pinch hit for Dom Smith. That would be as close as the Mets got, however, as Sammy Solis came on to record a punch-out of Plawecki and keep the Nats 3-2 lead in tact. Though Amed Rosario and Lagares singled with one out in the ninth, Brandon Kintzler was able to work his way out of trouble against Matt Reynolds and the aforementioned Aoki. In the end, the Mets made it close, but they were ultimately not able to overcome the recently-turned Good Nationals Bullpen.

WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:

Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer were quite the spectacle, as they struck out a combined 21 hitters in 12 innings. In the end, deGrom was stung by some unfortunately placed hits, and one unfortunately placed pitch. Though they tried their hand at a comeback attempt once they got Scherzer out of the game, the bats just couldn’t seem to scratch across that elusive third run.

WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:

Well, if you must know, it is the last week of the regular season. The Mets have four games left against the Atlanta Braves, and three against the Philadelphia Phillies. With a current record of 66-89, there is a decent chance that the Mets will finish with under 70 wins for the first time since 2003. At the same time, they are just a half-game up on the 66-90 Cincinnati Reds. In the race for a better draft position, they could be doing well. That said, man, what a drop off it has been. With injuries and all, the Mets are a week away from completing their fall from ‘potential playoff team’ to ‘worse than the Reds’. The fifth-worst record in major league baseball. It’s just…damn.

Photo credit: Wendell Cruz – 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

Any time a pitcher is among the league leaders in walks, we probably imagine they are a “Wild Thing” like Ricky Vaughn from Major League. Some pitchers can be pretty effective even if they don’t quite know where the ball is going. When it comes to real life wild things, we expect inconsistency. Sometimes the pitcher knows exactly where the pitch is going and they get a strikeout. Sometimes they throw it to the backstop. Montero stands out because his walks are so consistent and predictable. He has the walks, but rarely flashes the upside and potential of other young starters with high walk rates.

Montero’s last batter sums up his approach pretty well. The Mets led 2-1 in the top of the fifth. Montero must have known he needed to be more efficient to go beyond the fifth, but he didn’t change his approach. With one on and two outs, he threw four straight changeups to Scott Schebler. Three of the changeups were out of the zone. Montero wanted to end his outing on a “perfect” pitch and kept nibbling out of the strike zone. Down 3-1, he threw a slider and managed to get a ground ball to end the inning.

That’s what we get in a relatively good Montero outing. He didn’t leave any mistakes over the middle of the plate. He didn’t hang any breaking balls. Montero seemed to be going out of his way to avoid the strike zone. He carried himself like a pitcher who was executing his game plan. His game plan was just so risk averse that Reds’ hitters could stare at ball four and take their free base.

We’ve all seen young pitchers who were wild to start their big league careers, then learn some command. Randy Johnson started his career with so little command that the Expos gave up on him before he blossomed into a Hall of Famer (editor’s note: This is not to imply that Rafael Montero is a future Hall of Famer). Montero had a few good starts, but for the most part he looks like the exact same pitcher he was when he got called up in 2014. He seems so afraid of big league hitters that he refuses to enter the strike zone any more than possible.

When I watched Robert Gsellman earlier this season, I didn’t get the same feeling. Gsellman was clearly trying to throw a sinker with more downwards break than lateral break. However, he couldn’t get that pitch to move like it did in 2016. The sinker was always flat. He either hung his slider or missed well out of the zone. Watching Gsellman, it was clear that the ball was not going where he intended it to go. That’s a mechanical issue that some pitchers can fix. Watching Montero last night, it felt clear that there is no obvious mechanical fix to improve his command.

Kevin Plawecki gave the Mets all the offense they would need with a two-run homer in the second. Dom Smith added a clutch two-out run in the sixth, and the Mets tacked on three more in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Phil Evans, who won the AA Eastern League batting title in 2016, got his first big league hit with a hustle double down the third base line.

It wouldn’t be a Mets game without some bizarre managing, and Terry Collins gave us another head-scratcher in the seventh. Matt Reynolds was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Travis Taijeron was on deck, but Collins pulled him back and asked Jacob deGrom to pinch bunt. A day after Milwaukee’s Jimmy Nelson hurt his rotator cuff running the bases, I can’t see why the Mets would risk deGrom with additional play in the field. If Taijeron isn’t good enough to play on a depleted roster, why is he on the 40-man roster? Then again, this is the team that keeps starting Jose Reyes instead of seeing if Gavin Cecchini can play. deGrom ended up walking and Amed Rosario came in as a pinch runner.

What’s Next?

The Mets look for a sweep against the Reds. Tanking is harder than it looks.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – 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

You could say none of the Mets’ games really matter at this point, since there’s no way the team can make the playoffs. All we’d really hope for is avoiding injuries that could carry over into next season, like Michael Conforto’s shoulder injury. Cespedes has had issues with both legs, but it was his left hamstring that kept him out earlier this season. After the game, Sandy Alderson said the hamstring injuries are comparable in location and severity, so Cespedes is headed to the disabled list.

In some ways, Friday’s 4-2 win against the Nationals feels beside the point. The Nationals have such a big league in the division that they could afford to play a B lineup after arriving in Washington at 5 a.m. The Mets played all their healthy players and it still looked like a spring training game in August. Brandon Nimmo, Juan Lagares, and Matt Reynolds patrolled the outfield, batting 1-2-3. Asdrubal Cabrera hit cleanup.

Once Cespedes got hurt, he immediately limped to the dugout. You know it’s bad when he doesn’t talk his way in to staying in the game. Cole had allowed four of the first five runners to reach base, so he got to have a nice long chat with his catcher and pitching coach. From this point, Cole dominated the depleted Mets, allowing only three more baserunners while striking out seven.

Jacob deGrom probably knew he’d have to carry more of the load. Early on he was throwing 99 mph – more velocity than he’d shown at any other point this year. He went right after Washington’s less than intimidating lineup, with first pitch strikes to 21 of 29 batters. The Mets’ ace got two outs in the eighth with a 3-0 lead before giving up a double to Andrew Stevenson and an RBI single to Adrian Sanchez. Jerry Blevins came in to strike out Daniel Murphy as the potential tying run. In the top of the ninth, Nimmo singled with two outs, stole second and came around to score an insurance run on a Lagares single. Then Lagares caught Jose Lobaton napping, stealing two more bases but ending stranded at third.

Jeurys Familia came off the disabled list today, but Terry Collins called on newly established closer A.J. Ramos for the save. Ramos pitched like he doesn’t want to be the Mets closer next year. Adam Lind homered on the first pitch. Wilmer Difo doubled. Michael Taylor made the first out, but then Anthony Rendon and Matt Wieters pinch walked to load the bases. Howie Kendrick hit a sharp liner to right, but Nimmo was able to come up with a game-saving grab. Then Ramos finally got a bit of command, striking out Stevenson to end the game.

Roster Updates:

The Mets entered Friday’s game with only 11 position players on the 25 man roster. Familia took Conforto’s spot. Reynolds had to fill in for Cespedes since there was no outfielder on the bench. The only minor league outfielder on the 40-man roster is Wuilmer Becerra, a 22-year-old struggling in his second season at high-A ball. They will probably have to add someone to the roster.

With Seth Lugo and Tommy Milone scheduled to pitch two of the three games over the weekend, it’s understandable that the Mets may want to carry an extra pitcher. However, only having 11 bats is pushing it and 10 certainly doesn’t work. Let’s see if anyone can fly from Las Vegas to Washington for an early afternoon start.

Photo credit: Brad Mills – USA Today Sports

If this were football or basketball, I think we’d hear a lot more fans chanting “tank tank tank!” But the Mets play six or seven times a week. None of us wants to watch a loser every single day. Even if losing may be better for the long term future of the franchise, it’s harder to sit through when the game is on every day. A few games like Saturday’s 8-1 win over the Marlins can make the depressing outlook for the rest of 2017 a bit more tolerable.

The matchup of Rafael Montero and Vance Worley hardly screamed pitchers duel. Montero has been a smidge below replacement this year and he was the more successful starter. But when you have a matchup of two below .500 teams in late August, weird things can happen. Montero threw more fastballs inside and challenged everyone but Giancarlo Stanton. Maybe someone told him if he keeps nibbling he won’t have a job next year. Maybe Montero looked behind him and saw the sure-handed Rosario at shortstop instead of Jose Reyes. The Mets’ new infield tied a club record with five double plays. Even the Mets seemed baffled by their improved defense.

Worley pitched in the high 80s, but he was able to keep the Mets off balance with his fastball movement until the sixth inning. Matt Reynolds opened with a pinch hit walk on a borderline pitch. Brandon Nimmo singled and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one. Yoenis Cespedes singled, then both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Miami brought the infield in with runners at second and third, but shortstop Miguel Rojas let a ball get under his glove and both runs scored. Wilmer Flores followed up with a home run to make it 5-1 Mets and the rout was on. Rojas made another error, Kevin Plawecki hit his first big league home run of the year, and Dom Smith homered in the eighth to make it an 8-1 final.

Roster Moves:

Plawecki was called up from Triple-A because the Cubs claimed backup catcher Rene Rivera off waivers earlier on Saturday. Players get claimed on waivers all the time in August. Usually teams pull the player back from waivers or try to make a trade, but there is no indication that the Mets tried to get anything from the Cubs in exchange for Rivera. They didn’t even ask for a bag of chips. Of course, the Wilpons can use the cash savings from shedding Rivera’s contract to buy a bag of chips. I doubt the market for Rivera was that strong at this point in the season, but it still feels odd to write transaction analysis where one team didn’t get anything in return but minor salary relief. I guess the main thing the Mets get is one last chance to see whether Plawecki can hit enough at the major league level to be worth a roster spot in 2018.

As Lukas Vlahos mentioned yesterday, the Mets traded Curtis Granderson to the Dodgers for a player to be named later or cash. Granderson has done so much for the Mets and for the community that it doesn’t feel right to analyze this move in a strict “what did the Mets get in return?” analysis. Granderson signed with the Mets after suffering a major injury with the Yankees. Most analysts – including me – thought it was an overpay for a declining player. He provided 13.2 wins above replacement and his humanitarian work meant far more than any measure can quantify. If anyone deserves a token move to get one last good shot at a championship, it’s Curtis Granderson.

Now that Granderson has been traded, Jacob deGrom and Jerry Blevins are the only players who have been on the active 25-man roster the entire season. Everyone else has been injured at some point, called up from Triple-A, or dealt to another team. Ironically, Asdrubal Cabrera is the one impending free agent who hasn’t been traded. After the Mets had to press Travis d’Arnaud in to service as an emergency infielder on Wednesday, the Mets may be afraid to deal any more infielders?

What’s Next?

deGrom takes the mound vs. Adam Conley, who gave the Mets fits in three starts last year.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – 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

The Mets went into last night’s Subway Series finale hoping to avoid only the second series sweep on the losing side in more than twenty years of the midsummer meet-ups. Better late than never: while it was still not to be, for eight innings the Mets seemed less in a rebuilding phase than in a contractually-obligated-to-appear phase, some late inning heroics — specifically, a ninth inning grand slam by Curtis Granderson — made the final score closer than the game ever really was.

Things got off to a bad start when Mets starter Steven Matz took 40 pitches to get through the first inning. The first batter of the game, Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, tapped a comebacker to Matz, who promptly threw the ball over Dominic Smith’s head into right field.

Matz, who had fallen behind Gardner 3-0, then fell behind the next batter, Aaron Hicks, 3-0, before eventually walking him, bringing Aaron Judge to the plate with two men on and no one out, just like they must have drawn things up in the pregame meeting. Matz got an overeager Judge to strike out on a check swing, but Gary Sanchez picked up his teammate with a three-run home run to left field, putting the Mets behind three or more runs in the first inning for the 16th time this year. Matz then walked Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius. Todd Frazier popped out to Dom Smith, and Tyler Austin singled, prolonging the agony. Ronald Torreyes then struck out.

Yankees ace Luis Severino coughed up a one-out double to Astrubal Cabrera in the bottom of the first, but Severino recovered to strike out Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes to end the threat.

Matz straightened things out for a spell from the second, getting three quick outs in the second and stranding a runner in the third while striking Frazier out looking.

Severino, for his part, cruised through the first two-thirds of the second before Travis d’Arnaud deposited a two-out single to center. Matt Reynolds, recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas, then worked to a 3-2 count before striking out.

The teams traded zeros through to the fourth, when Austin and Torreyes singled back to back to lead off the top of the frame. Severino popped a sacrifice in the air towards  Smith, who lunged and could not reach it, awarding Severino with an ugly first major league hit. That brought Gardner to the plate with no one out. Gardner promptly laced a two-run double to the left field corner. After an Aaron Hicks groundout, Matz faced Judge, who he had struck out twice. After getting two strikes on the gargantuan outfielder, Matz glanced a fastball off Judge’s elbow protector, re-loading the bases.

After 76 mostly ineffectual pitches and with Gary Sanchez returning to the plate, Terry Collins had seen enough, yanking Matz in favor of Chasen Bradford. Sanchez turned Bradford’s first pitch with a two-run single. Bradford then coaxed a double play out of Didi Gregorius.

Bradford continued his admirable mop up duty through the sixth inning, his third consecutive day of work. Hansel Robles, a fireman straight out of the pages of a Ray Bradbury novel, took over in the top of the seventh inning and managed to hold the Yankees to seven runs through two innings of work.

Severino was dominant for this 10th win of the season, surrendering no earned runs with nine strikeouts over six and a third innings.

Despite his brilliance, Severino’s young defense started to betray him in his last inning. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Aaron Judge misplayed a d’Arnaud fly ball into a two-base error. d’Arnaud then moved to third on a passed ball by Sanchez, and scored on an RBI bloop single by Matt Reynolds. Brandon Nimmo, a late defensive replacement then hit a single in his first at bat, and. after 106 pitches Severino’s night was over. He was replaced by left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve, who promptly struck out Curtis Granderson, but walked Cabrera, loading the bases for Conforto. Conforto would strike out.

Recent acquisition AJ Ramos pitched the top of the ninth, retiring the Yankees in order.

In the bottom of the frame, Bryan Mitchell came out of the pen for the Yankees, and d’Arnaud greeted him with a leadoff double. Reynolds then knocked a single the other way, putting runners on the corners with no one out. Mitchell struggled to throw strikes to Nimmo, who drew a walk to load the bases for Granderson. Granderson took the first pitch out for a grand slam, closing the score to 7-5, and prompting Yankees manager Joe Girardi to summon Dellin Betances from the bullpen. Betances retired Cabrera, Conforto, and pinch hitter Juan Lagares to slam the lid. The four-run rally in the ninth was impressive, but the hole they’d dug earlier in the game was just too deep.

Tonight the Marlins come to town; Nicolino (1-1) faces Flexen (2-1); first pitch will be at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports