The Good: Wheeler and d’Arnaud

Zack Wheeler hit a cold stretch, went on the disabled list, and came back with another awful start. All season long, it’s been hard to tell if Wheeler was fading due to lingering injury effects or whether he just hasn’t learned how to effectively use his breaking pitchers to fool hitters and put them away. Terry Collins said Wheeler needs to throw more offspeed pitches in the strike zone, and the righty responded, going to his slider more and managing to locate some to keep the hitters off balance. The Cardinals helped him out several times by running their way out of good two out scoring threats; Travis d’Arnaud threw out three baserunners – two attempting to steal and the lead runner on a bad bunt. Wheeler’s improved command and d’Arnaud’s defense were enough to keep the Mets in a low scoring game.

The Bad: Most of the Lineup

At this point in his career, Adam Wainwright has to fool hitters to have a chance. He doesn’t have the same command any more. His fielders can’t reliably turn ground balls in to outs. The crafty veteran was able to pitch to the scouting report and take advantage of an undisciplined Mets’ lineup. Curtis Granderson guessed wrong several times and Asdrubal Cabrera followed him with several strikeouts, throwing his bat in frustration in the fourth, then slamming his helmet in the sixth. The Mets only had two hits through six innings before Jay Bruce hit his 23rd homer of the season. T.J. Rivera and Jose Reyes also got hits, prompting the Cardinals to go to the bullpen. Bruce, Rivera and Reyes combined for all seven Mets hits.

The Ugly: Bullpen Merry-Go-Round

Since the Mets were down 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Collins turned to Fernando Salas. I’m not sure whether this counts as going to the low leverage guy or not. Salas gave up a leadoff double to red hot rookie Paul DeJong and it got worse from there. Four of the five Cardinals’ hitters reached, although Stephen Piscotty ran his way into an out and a major Keith Hernandez rant. Erik Goeddel blew away Yadier Molina to end the seventh. Collins dumped out Rafael Montero, Josh Edgin, and Neil Ramirez for the eighth. Watching this bullpen feels like watching someone go to the craps table and think they can beat the house. When one reliever fails, Collins will happily bet on the next one. In fact, just after I wrote this, Collins said he’s going to use Ramirez more.

The Weirdly Tragic: Nimmo to DL

Brandon Nimmo was placed on the 10-day disabled list after being diagnosed with a partially collapsed lung Friday. Collins told reporters that there does not seem to be any specific acute cause, like a collision. Nimmo said “I really don’t expect [to be out] too long — we’re not talking months. I don’t think we’re talking anything like that. It’s obviously already healed or else air would still be leaking into my chest cavity.”

Conforto Back (But Only Technically)

Michael Conforto was reinstated to the active roster to take Nimmo’s spot. However, the All Star did not play on Saturday. If you follow anyone who writes about the Mets on Twitter, you’ve probably seen the screaming about the lineup already. Conforto stood in the on deck circle in the seventh inning to see if the Mets could have extended the inning against a right-handed pitcher, but the Cardinals got out of the inning and used lefty Brett Cecil for the eighth.

What’s Next?

One more game in St. Louis, then the All Star break. Seems like a great time to start talking to other teams about deals.

Photo credit: Jeff Curry – USA Today Sports

Do you get it they’re pill jokes because his name is Pill wait where are you going okay I’ll talk about the game now.

Coming off a thorough thrashing Tuesday night, the Mets actually held a lead(!) early in the game. Curtis Granderson went deep in the first at bat of the game for his eighth homer of the season to put the Mets out early. Granderson has really come around at the plate since May and should probably start getting more praise.

Pitching with a 1-0 lead at that point, Tyler Pill carried a perfect game all the way into the third inning before giving up a walk, an error, and a sacrfice fly to tie the game at 1-1. He then promptly lost his no-hit bid in the fourth inning on a Cody Bellinger double. And that double was the start of a big inning for the Dodgers, who wound up putting up a four-spot in that fourth inning, capped off by a three-run dinger by Yasiel Puig that he pimped so hard it made Wilmer Flores become an angry old man.

It was pretty much over after that. The Dodgers added a run in the sixth and two more in the eighth off Neil Ramirez, whose ERA now sits at 6.66, which is probably a sign for something. The Mets did not get a hit with a runner in scoring position until the ninth inning, when Curtis Granderson hit a garbage time RBI double to make it 8-2.

The Mets have now dropped six of their last seven and sit at a paltry 31-40. This is a bad season.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

Zack Wheeler was placed on the 10-day disabled list with biceps tendinitis. Apparently, Wheeler had pitched through the injury in his last two starts, which had seen him throw a combined 3.2 innings and allow 15 runs.

As humans, we are gifted with the ability to learn, adapt, and change based on our experiences. But most of the basic human instinct we learn is actually taught to us at a young age. We’re taught not to touch hot things or put dirt in our mouths. But imagine what it must’ve been like to be some of the first humans on Earth and not know those things? Imagine having to learn that sharp things hurt through a process of trial and error? I mean, we had to learn somehow that gasoline is bad to ingest or that you shouldn’t try to eat a fire. It must’ve been awful to learn that stuff the hard way. But these humans did learn these things, adapted, took lessons from their experiences, and passed them on to others for their collective benefit.

Apparently, the folks in charge of the Mets must not believe in the process of intellectual evolution, because they do none of those things. Despite repeatedly expecting players to perform through obvious injury or malady of some sort and never once having it work out well—including this pitcher in discussion, who lost two years of his career by pitching through injury himself—they still have not learned that injured players should not play baseball. There is no learning from mistakes here. There is no process of trial and error; there is only error. Constant, incessant error.

Matt Reynolds was also demoted in favor of Erik Goeddel. I am never not shocked to find out Matt Reynolds is or was on the MLB roster.

TODAY

The Mets look to avoid a clean sweep as they face the Dodgers at 10:10 p.m. in Chavez Ravine. Steven Matz gets the start against Hyun-Jin Ryu.

Photo credit: Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports

With the slim bit of hope remaining for the 2017 season hanging in the balance, Steven Matz faced off against Max Scherzer in the second game of the Mets’ four-game set with the Nationals. Matz made his season debut in Atlanta last week, tossing seven innings of one-run ball and showing no signs of rust after his lengthy DL stint. Scherzer, meanwhile, has arguably been better than his Cy Young winning performance last year, striking out 12 batters per nine innings, running a 2.36 ERA, and holding right handed batters to a .124 batting average.

Game Recap

The Nationals got on the board first in the top of the third, when Matt Wieters turned on an inside fastball and deposited it in the left field seats for a solo home run. Michael Taylor followed that with his own solo shot, this one a line drive to the opposite field that snuck out just to the right of what used to be the Modell’s zone. Those two mistakes aside, Matz was very good for the first five innings, working out of a couple jams, showing good velocity, and striking out three.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Mets managed close to nothing against Scherzer. Lucas Duda walked and T.J. Rivera was hit by a pitch to create something of a threat in the bottom of the second, but Travis d’Arnaud grounded into a double play to squander the scoring chance. Matz managed to single in the bottom of the third for the Mets’ first hit, but was himself quickly erased on a double play grounder off the bat of Michael Conforto.

The deficit grew for the Mets in the sixth. Daniel Murphy doubled to left center with one out, and Anthony Rendon followed with a two-run home run to right center to double the Nats lead to 4-0. The Mets threatened to make up some of that deficit in the bottom of the sixth, but another double play ball (this time off the bat of Wilmer Flores) fizzled out yet another scoring chance.

Matz kept the Nationals lead at four, exiting after the seventh. He finished with four strikeouts, no walks, and eight hits allowed, three of which were home runs. The strikeouts haven’t really been there in his first two starts, but his velocity and control have been sharp. He was relieved by Paul Sewald, who worked around a leadoff double by Bryce Harper to keep the Mets within reach.

In the bottom of the eighth, Jose Reyes finally broke through for the Met offense, launching a solo home run into the Coca Cola Corner to cut the lead to 4-1. Curtis Granderson made a bid for his own home run, but the ball died on the warning track. Conforto struck out, as did Yoenis Cespedes after a marathon at-bat, getting Scherzer through eight innings and keeping any National reliever out of harm’s way. Scherzer finished with 10 strikeouts, two walks, and only four hits allowed, continuing his fantastic 2017.

With Scherzer out of the game and the Washington lead at only three runs, the game was very much winnable for the Mets. Instead, Fernando Salas, sabotaged by a weak throw from T.J. Rivera that prevented an inning-ending double play, gave up two runs, stretching the Nationals’ lead to 6-1. Salas left with the bases loaded, and Neil Ramirez promptly walked in another run before inducing a groundout to first to end the inning.

Jay Bruce hit a solo home run off of Shawn Kelley in the ninth to cut the lead to 7-2 ($100 says you’ll hear nothing from Met fans on Twitter pointing out that it was meaningless, like they love to do with Duda). The next three batters went down quietly however, and the Mets lost 7-2. The loss drops the Mets to 30-36, 10.5 games back of the Nationals.

Thoughts from the Game

While I usually use this section to rant about either the Mets’ poor roster management, Terry Collins’ blatant incompetence, or both, tonight’s game didn’t really provide much reason to touch on either of those issues (aside from the fact that yes, the Met bullpen sucks and was left unimproved this offseason). Max Scherzer is one of the three or four best pitchers in baseball, and sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders when those guys shut you down. There’s a reason he won the Cy Young last year and a reason that he is running a K/9 over 12.

I do think some of the vitriol directed at Travis d’Arnaud on Twitter and elsewhere is misguided, particularly after his rough game tonight (0-for-3, two strikeouts, GIDP). His .251 tAV is certainly underwhelming, and his constant swing tinkering is maddening to watch (and prompts questions about why the Mets hitting staff can’t get him sorted out). However, his framing is excellent, ranking him 12th in adjusted FRAA. Moreover, the position as a whole is a tire fire across baseball – the Nationals paid Matt Wieters $21 million over two years and d’Arnaud has almost eight times the bWARP in 80 fewer plate appearances. An upgrade will be a lot harder to find and a lot less impactful than many Met fans expect in my estimation.

Other Met News

With Juan Lagares heading to the disabled list with a fractured IC joint in his left thumb, Brandon Nimmo was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas. Nimmo, after missing time with his own injury issues at the start of the season, has been mediocre in the hitter friendly PCL, batting .223 with a .739 OPS through 180 PA. He’s been his typically patient self, walking 16.7% of the time, but has also struggled to make contact and generate any sort of meaningful pop. Hopefully that weak performance prevents Terry Collins from finding another way to keep Michael Conforto off the field.

Photo credit: Anthony Gruppuso – USA Today Sports

Coming off two straight losses to the Brewers, the Mets sent out Matt Harvey against Gerrit Cole on Friday night. The Mets beat up on Cole last Saturday, hitting three home runs and scoring four runs total in only five innings. Harvey, meanwhile, performed decently against the Pirates his last time out, allowing only one run over six innings while striking out four and walking two. After a pair of starts during which his results tangibly improved (despite persistent struggles with his command), Harvey looked to get the Mets back on the winning side of the ball and continue his climb back to being a cromulent major league starter.

Game Recap

Harvey got off to a rough start, giving up a walk, a single, and another walk to the first three batters of the game to load the bases. David Freese then drove in a run with a ground out, quickly giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Harvey bounced back by striking out both Josh Bell and Andrew McCutchen to escape the jam however, a pair of at-bats that were about as impressive as he’s looked all season.

Harvey carried that success forward, striking out two more in the second (though one of those was against the Pirates starter Gerrit Cole) and tallying a fifth strikeout in the third, that one on only three pitches. Meanwhile, Lucas Duda gave the Mets the lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second, a 420-foot moonshot into the Coca-Cola corner for his second home run off of Cole this week.

Unfortunately, Harvey couldn’t sustain the strong results, as he once again loaded the bases in the top of the fourth before recording an out. After Jordy Mercer popped out, Elias Diaz drove in all three runners with a double to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead. Harvey managed to escape the inning without further damage, but he was once again struggling with his control.

The Mets offense got back to work in the bottom of the fifth in support of their struggling ace. Travis d’Arnaud lead off the inning with a single, and after a failed sacrifice attempt, Michael Conforto tied the game with his 14th homer of the year. The two-run shot into the Party Citi deck was the ninth of his 14 homers hit to the left of centerfield this season. The Mets weren’t done either, as Neil Walker drove in another run with an RBI triple (a gift from Gregory Polanco, who misplayed a sinking line drive) and Duda capped things off with his second homer of the game, a near carbon copy of his home run in the second. By the time Gerrit Cole escaped the inning, the Mets had put up a five spot and had a 7-4 lead.

That was not to last, and you’d better buckle in for what happens next. Harvey started the inning by giving up a long home run to Josh Bell, then walking Andrew McCutchen. At that point, he was replaced by Paul Sewald, who had less than nothing last night. Seven of the next eight Pirates reached base (single, three-run home run, strikeout, single, RBI double, single, HBP), leading to seven runs. While the Pirates had a 1.000 BABIP against Sewald, he was giving up rockets to just about every hitter he faced, as his pitches were just flat and his command was nonexistent. Neil Ramirez was finally brought in to stop the onslaught, but the Pirates had a 11-7 lead they would not relinquish.

Little of note happened for the remainder of the game, as the Mets managed only one hit after their five-run outburst in the fifth. Josh Harrison homered off of Ramirez in the eight to stretch the Pirate lead to 12-7, but the Mets never even put together a mild threat against Wade Leblanc, Juan Nicasio, Daniel Hudson, or Felipe Rivero.

The loss drops the Mets back to seven games under .500 at 23-30. After winning four straight against the Pirates and Brewers over last weekend and the start of this week, the Mets have followed that up with three straight losses. The bullpen talent continues to be lacking, and the management skill of that bullpen continues to be beyond pathetic. Robert Gsellman takes the mound opposite Tyler Glasnow tonight in what could be Gsellman’s penultimate start before moving to the bullpen when Steven Matz and Seth Lugo return to the majors.

Thoughts from the Game

Glad you’ve tuned in because I’m about to bring you, you guessed it, another rant about Terry Collins. In this installment, I question how any major league manager, someone paid a significant amount of money to maximize the talent of the players he is given, fails to notice that his reliever has literally nothing working on a night and hangs him out to dry. Three or even two batters into his outing, it was evident that Sewald had no control and no stuff, and the Pirates were unsurprisingly beating him up. Rather than lifting him and keeping the game somewhat close (perhaps when the Pirate lead was still one rather than three), Collins slept at the wheel as the Pirates used Sewald as a punching bag.

This is the second time a Met pitcher has been sacrificed this season, as Jacob deGrom sucked it up on Wednesday after the Mets spent all of their bullpen in an extra-inning win on Tuesday. However, if your bullpen is stretched so thin that you have to leave a heavily struggling pitcher out on the mound in close games two times in one week, additional arms need to be called up (and in all fairness, that’s on management, not Terry). Really though, if Collins weren’t so insistent on burning out his best arms in games where the Mets are up by five, outings like the one Sewald had tonight are more manageable. Instead, Fernando Salas, Jerry Blevins, and Addison Reed are all among the league leaders in games played, and a young, potentially promising arm has to take a beating for no good reason, to say nothing of the fact that it essentially knocked the Mets out of the game.

Truthfully, the Mets have gotten what they deserved out of this unit. They chose not to supplement what was a flimsy bullpen in the offseason, one made even flimsier by employing one of the worst tactical managers in the game. Yes, the bullpen has been hit by injury and underperformance, but that’s a big part of what makes relief pitching so volatile, and building a contender with such a glaring weak spot (well, several glaring weak spots in the case of the Mets) is just poor roster building strategy.

Other Met News

In other bad baseball decisions, Michael Conforto is not in the top 15 NL outfielders in All Star Game voting. He’s been hurt mightily by not being included on the original ballot because he was not a starter at the beginning of the season, but one would hope there would be enough competent fans to notice how well Conforto is playing right now. He’s posted the fifth highest TAv in baseball so far this season (trailing Freddie Freeman, Mike Trout, Buster Posey, and Ryan Zimmerman, one spot ahead of Bryce Harper) and the ninth highest BWARP. There’s an argument to be made that Conforto should be a starting outfielder for the NL, but instead he might not even make it as a reserve.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

That Padres series sure was brutal, but let’s sit back and eat some member berries for a minute about when something similar that happened in 2015. For those of you who don’t ‘member, Jeurys Familia was one out away from recording a save when rain stopped the game. He came back out after an hour-long delay only to give up a go-ahead three run home run to Justin Upton. The Mets went on to lose that game, dropping the final two games of the series against a bad Padres team, seemingly sending their playoff hopes into the dumpster. Instead, they acquired Yoenis Cespedes the next day and went on one of the most memorable runs in club history. Do you ‘member? Oh I ‘member.

Suffice it to say that I am not nearly as optimistic that things will have as pleasant a turnaround this time, with the Mets heading into Pittsburgh. Jacob deGrom got the start after being pushed back due to weather reasons – an explanation that every Met fan on the planet assumed was just hiding an injury. Opposing him was mediocre right-handed pitcher Chad Kuhl. With their ace on the mound and their usual cavalcade of left-handed bats, this looked like a good matchup on paper.

Game Recap

After the Mets stranded Jay Bruce at second in the top half of the first, deGrom immediately found himself in some hot water in the bottom half. Josh Harrison singled and Josh Bell walked with one out, moving up to second and third on a ground out by Gregory Polanco. deGrom managed to escape the jam by striking out third baseman David Freese, keeping the game scoreless and evading the only real tight spot he’d have all night.

With the game still scoreless, the Mets offense got to work against Kuhl. Lucas Duda led off the top of the second with a double, scoring two batters later on a single from Curtis Granderson. In the third, Jose Reyes reached on a wild pitch strikeout before Neil Walker yanked a two-run home run to right field to stretch the lead to 3-0. And after a quiet fourth, the Mets got two more off Kuhl, with Reyes tripling and scoring on a sac fly and Walker launching his second home run of the game. The Mets chased Kuhl after only 4.1 innings.

The Mets weren’t done either, as they added some insurance against the Pirate bullpen in the sixth. Michael Conforto and Bruce both walked against Johnny Barbato (an 80 grade Pirate name), setting the table for Walker once again. The Pittsburgh native came through with an RBI single, and Duda followed with a two run double to give the Mets an 8-1 lead.

A seven-run cushion was more than enough for deGrom, who looked dominant the whole night. He allowed a home run to Gregory Polanco in the fourth, but otherwise stymied the Pirate offense over 8.1 innings. He struck out 10, walked one, and allowed six hits, providing a much needed rest for a beleaguered Met bullpen and assuring fans (for the moment) that there’s no hidden injury to worry about.

Of course, the night would not be complete without some highly questionable bullpen usage from Terry Collins (I feel like I copy/paste this sentence into every recap at this point). With a seven-run lead in the eighth, Collins inexplicably had Jerry Blevins (26 appearances, leading the league) warming up. Then, after pushing deGrom into the ninth at 111 pitches, Collins went to Fernando Salas (24 appearances, tied for fifth most in the league) to get the final two outs of the game. With the top arms in the Met bullpen so overused, this was the perfect night to throw Neil Ramirez out there and ride out the huge lead. Instead, two of those overused arm got a little more stressed.

The win puts the Mets at 20-26, still well out of reach of the division or any wild card spot.

Thoughts from the Game

After a couple of rough starts where his control disappeared, deGrom has been stellar over his last two outings. The finger issue that bothered him at the tail end of his last start also seems to have been a total non-issue last night. He remains the final remnant of the Mets potentially record-breaking rotation this season, but he’s doing his best to carry the load with his rotation mates down.

Other Mets News

The Mets sent Rafael Montero back to Triple-A and called up Tyler Pill. The 26-year-old pitched to a 1.96 ERA in Las Vegas, but posted an uninspiring 4.50 K/9 rate. It’s worth noting that Pill ran a K/9 over 7 across two levels in 2016 in a much larger sample size, but his stuff is simple uninspiring. Jeffrey Paternostro probably put it best, simply saying “It’s Tyler Pill.” That being said, it’d be tough to be any worse than Rafael Montero has been in the majors and the Mets are desperate for starter depth, so here we are.

In more uplifting news, Yoenis Cespedes started a rehab assignment with St. Lucie, going 0-2 with a walk and playing six innings in left field. The Mets offense has been surprisingly productive sans Cespedes, but any additional firepower would be welcome as a method of covering for the putrid pitching staff the Mets are running out on a daily basis. We all just need to hope that someone in the Mets front office smacks Terry until he promises to leave Conforto in the lineup.

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire – USA Today Sports

Sorry, I’ll be okay. Give me a minute.

Hey, I have an idea to make us feel better. Let’s look at some funny old headlines:

Ha! Aren’t those just so FUNNY?!

Well, now it’s May 25, and that “great” Mets bullpen has been ripped to shreds. And last night, Terry Collins pulled Robert Gsellman after six solid innings and only 84 pitches, even though he knows he only has two decent relievers right now. They were still winning 5-3 at that point, but Fernando Salas—who has gotten ample time off lately and is still somehow overused—loaded the bases in the seventh for Wil Myers, the Padres’ best threat. And in this extremely high-leverage situation, Collins called to the bullpen for none other than Neil Ramirez, the guy with an ERA over 10.

He could’ve gone to Jerry Blevins, but he was unavailable because he had pitched in a blowout the day prior for no reason. He could’ve gone to Addison Reed, but he was being saved for a save situation that never came. He could’ve gone to Josh Smoker, but he was being saved for a spot start on Saturday, because the Mets don’t have a starter for that game, becuase they went into the season with Rafael Montero as their sixth starter and decided not to address the problem until it became a dire issue. He could’ve gone to Paul Sewald, but he had also been overworked in blowouts lately. He could’ve gone to Rafael Montero, but the object is to win baseball games.

So it was up to Neil Ramirez. It took him all of two pitches to give up a booming two-RBI double that tied the game at five; it was mere inches from being a grand slam. Then Josh Edgin came into pitch, and he got out of the inning. But then he was pulled for no reason after that to give way to Smoker, who apparently is not starting on Saturday now. Smoker pitched the eighth inning and got absolutely pantsed by Hunter Renfroe on a 440-foot solo shot into the second deck to give the Padres the 6-5 lead.

The Mets almost came back in the ninth against Padres’ closer(?) Brad Hand, loading the bases with nobody out. But Curtis Granderson and Rene Rivera would both strike out, and Juan Lagares flied out to end the game.

The Mets lost to the worst team in baseball by a score of 6-5. They lead 5-1 at one point. Then it was 5-3. Then Neil Ramirez and Josh Smoker pitched. Then they lost. I think I’m supposed to feel something. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be one or more of anger, frsutration, sadness, or even numbness. Perhaps these are the emotions other fans are feeling. But personally, I feel nothing. Probably because the Mets did not deserve to win this game. When Neil Ramirez is pitching a high leverage inning, you don’t deserve to win that game, nor do you deserve to be a winning team at all.

The Mets deserve to be where they are right now. And unless they make wholesale changes, they are not even close to a postseason team. Not with this bullpen.

Maybe it’s just easier if you only think about Michael Conforto. Yeah, just keep thinking about Michael Conforto. There’s your escape.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

The Mets activated Travis d’Arnaud from the disabled list and placed Tommy Milone on the 10-day DL with a left knee sprain.

In Milone’s absence, Smoker was likely going to get a four-inning start on Saturday, but after his work tonight that may not be so certain. The start could still go to Montero, or even call up Tyler Pill from Triple-A Las Vegas to make a start. Boy, pitching depth sure is a hell of a thing isn’t it.

Jay Bruce was out of last night’s game due to back stiffness. He is hoping to return tonight.

TONIGHT

The Mets play the rubber game of the series against the Friars, as Jacob deGrom goes against Dinelson Lamet, who will be making his MLB debut, and has an excellent name. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

·      Did a starter get used for “one more inning” but fail to get an out that inning? Yup. Zack Wheeler didn’t give up a run through five innings. At times he was dominant, attacking the strike zone and putting away hitters. The rest of the time he was pre-surgery effectively wild. Wheeler walked Trout to start the sixth, and it felt like he just wanted to avoid the one dangerous Angels hitter. Then he walked Luis Valbuena (.288 OBP this year) on five pitches. No one was up in the bullpen, so Wheeler gave up a bloop hit, then hit Jefry Marte with a fastball to bring in the Angels’ first run.

·      Did a struggling player get more playing time in order to “get him going?” Robert Gsellman came in as a setup guy, throwing both the seventh and eighth inning. Since the Mets have Monday off, they are skipping his rotation spot. Gsellman looked good in the bullpen, getting ahead early and only allowing one baserunner. It’s the rare time when Terry Collins’ vote of confidence went to a rookie, and the rare time it feels like it may pay dividends.

·      Did a veteran stay high in the lineup despite poor performance? Jose Reyes continued to hit second in Asdrubal Cabrera’s absence and got on base four times. He’s finally batting above .200. Curtis Granderson hit fifth to ensure a lefty/righty balance, but went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. It looks more and more like Granderson should be the odd man out when Yoenis Cespedes comes off the disabled list next week, but who knows if that’s what the Mets will do.

·      Did an easy win suddenly turn in to hair pulling? Of course. It’s the Mets bullpen! New Met Neil Ramirez came in with a 7-2 lead and promptly showed why five different teams have released him in the last calendar year. All three runners got on base and eventually scored. Addison Reed came in to the save situation and promptly issued his first walk of the season. He let all three inherited runners score, but gave a sigh of relief as he got the last out.

The Mets’ first three hitters all reached against injury callup Alex Meyer, but the team could only get one run on a Neil Walker sacrifice fly. Conforto and Reyes each got on again in the third, but the Mets could only get a sacrifice fly. When Michael Conforto and Reyes each got on again to lead off the fifth, the Angels helped the Mets out with an error on an easy double play ball, leading to two more runs. Saturday’s game reminded me of how I used to watch a lot of college baseball. The teams combined for 14 walks, sloppy fielding, and a general sense that each team could find a way to choke away victory.

Wheeler ran out of gas incredibly quickly in the sixth, so Collins turned to former Angel Fernando Salas. When a team has the bases loaded and no outs, they score another 2.3 runs that inning, on average. The Mets scored below that average in the first, and now it was the Angels’ turn. Chad Pennington flew to left and Anaheim didn’t test Conforto’s arm as he threw a laser. Ben Revere hit an RBI groundout, then Martin Maldonado flew out. Salas has been either good or really bad, and yesterday he was good.

The Angels had their own cringe-worthy collapse in the eighth. With the Mets already up 4-2, Lucas Duda hit a two-out double. Anaheim walked Rene Rivera to face a pinch hitter. Wilmer Flores doubled in a run. Rivera overran third and was caught in a rundown, but the slow-footed catcher drew a bad throw and dove to safety. Conforto got an intentional pass – his third walk of the day – and Reyes hit a two-run single. The Mets needed both gift runs to survive the ninth.

What’s Next?

The Mets look for a sweep, with Tommy Milone facing Jesse Chavez. No word on whether the teams will hold a joint bonding session over their massive injury problems after the series is over.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

What separates Major League Baseball from other sports is that even the bad teams win at least 40 percent of their games over the course of the season. Of course, winning streaks happen and losing streaks happen, but every day should have the hope that we could see a win. Maybe the best thing about Tuesday’s game is that even though the Mets only lost by a run, there weren’t many hopes to be dashed by the close loss.

The Mets actually started with a lead. Greinke was unusually wild in the second after taking a comebacker off the foot to start the inning. He bounced breaking ball after breaking ball to Rene Rivera, who took the pitches for a walk. Curtis Granderson – demoted to eighth in the lineup – walked for an RBI. Then Greinke started mixing pitches again and regained control to leave the bases loaded.

Arizona struck in the third with a two-run single from Gregor Blanco, who stole second on the very next pitch with no fear of Milone’s pickoff. Milone got the second out, then the Mets intentionally walked Paul Goldschmidt. The plan didn’t quite work. Chris Owings singled to right and Jay Bruce misplayed the ball, eliminating any chance of throwing Blanco out at home. Then the wheels fell off when Owings broke for second as part of a delayed steal. Neil Walker and Lucas Duda did a good job recognizing the play, but Duda threw the ball away and Goldschmidt scored easily.

Hopefully east coast Mets fans recognized this script, turned off the TV in frustration and went to bed instead of paying attention to Keith Hernandez break down the play again and again and again. The only thing that happened in the next inning was an intentional walk to Jeff Mathis with a runner on second and two outs. I’m not sure when walking someone with a career .562 OPS is a good idea. Was Terry Collins over or under managing here?

Anyway, since it’s a Mets game, there were more home runs. Granderson homered off Greinke in the fifth. Yasmani Tomas homered in the sixth. He can now say he’s in a record book with Hank Aaron, Ryan Howard and Giancarlo Stanton as the only players to homer in five straight games against the Mets. Rene Rivera homered off Greinke in the seventh to make it a 5-4 game, but the team couldn’t get a hit off the Diamondbacks best relievers. Maybe this game was less painful because the bullpen actually retired seven of nine opposing batters?

In other predictable Mets agony, Asdrbual Cabrera was finally placed on the disabled list for his thumb injury. General manager Sandy Alderson said that the team prefers to manage players through injuries instead of going straight to the DL. As I wrote a few weeks ago, there’s a good statistical case against this strategy. It’s not like the Mets are just suffering bad luck when players like Cabrera aggravate injury and develop more severe symptoms.

The Mets filled Cabrera’s roster spot with new signee Neil Ramirez, a 27-year-old replacement level reliever. Ramirez recorded 18 strikeouts in 10.1 innings for the Giants, but was released due to an 8.71 ERA and BABIP of .464. Aren’t small sample sizes fun? Ramirez is wild enough to be let go by five different teams in the last 365 days (Cubs, Brewers, Twins in 2016; Giants and Blue Jays this year), but has shown enough ability to get strikeouts that there’s always a next team ready to sign him. Hopefully that’s a metaphor for the Mets’ ability to finally win some games for a change?

What’s Next?

The Mets try to get a win out of their road trip tomorrow. It’s an afternoon start in Arizona, 3:40 Eastern. Matt Harvey gets the nod. Fans in the stands may be getting a free lunch unless Harvey can stop the slide:

Guess what. #WeGotTacos pic.twitter.com/5dMh0ExQHq

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 17, 2017

Photo credit: Rick Scuteri – USA Today Sports