There might be games left on the schedule, but you’ll forgive Mets fans for believing the season over. A day after the team announced that Zack Wheeler would be shut down until 2019 due to workload, fan favorite Wilmer Flores was shut down for the year — diagnosed with early onset arthritis. The games already didn’t matter, but now each calendar day seems to bring new heartbreak.

The heartbreak at Nationals Park was less monumental, but a more-or-less solid Jason Vargas start (5.2 innings, three runs [two earned] and eight strikeouts) was nevertheless squandered by the bullpen who couldn’t protect a two-run lead, surrendering a pair in the eighth inning.

Vargas’ counterpart for the Nationals, Cy Young contender Max Scherzer struck out 13, bringing him to 290 strikeouts on the year, eclipsing his previous season high of 284 strikeouts in 2016. Scherzer went seven innings, surrendering three runs.

Outside their wobble in the eighth, the bullpen managed to hold the tie into extra innings.

Amed Rosario led off the 12th with a single off Nationals reliever Jefry Rodriguez and was sacrificed to second by Jeff McNeil. Two walks — an intentional one to Michael Conforto and an inadvertent one to Jay Bruce — loaded the bases for former National Jose Lobaton, who drove in Rosario with a sacrifice fly. Paul Sewald came in the bottom of the 12th for his second save.

Mickey Callaway was ejected by home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the 12th, Reyburn ejected Bryce Harper after a called third strike, for balance.

Conforto continued his good hitting against Scherzer, one of the best pitchers to ever play the game, with a two-run home run in the third to begin the scoring (and three walks). Bruce followed with a solo home run — but that was as mortal as Scherzer ever got. Anthony Rendon continued to be a Met killer, driving in three runs.

The road trip continues tonight as Jacob deGrom (8-9, 1.78) faces Joe Ross (0-0, 3.60) at Nationals Park; first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

This was a very listless September game. For losing teams, games in the month of September have a knack for being, um, not exactly must-see television. And look, it’s probably my job to spice up bad games and find narratives to talk about somewhere. It’s probably poor form for me to just tell you this game was boring and sucked and leave it at that.

But this game was boring and sucked.

Noah Syndergaard wasn’t his best self. He was out of sync from the start, and only last four innings after throwing 89 pitches, walking three and allowing three runs on four hits and two home runs. He struck out six, but that was about the only positive for Syndergaard last night.

On offense, the Mets couldn’t figure out Zack Eflin, or any of five relievers Gabe Kapler sent out there after he was done. The team mustered six hits all night, and three of them came from Amed Rosario, who raised his wRC+ to a respectable 88 on the season and has already turned into a very useful player.

Jerry Blevins gave up a run in an inning of relief, and he was followed by Paul Sewald and Tim Peterson, who both handled the last three innings and did not allow any more damage.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

The Mets announced that Zack Wheeler will be shut down, which is probably for the best. At 182.1 innings for the season, Wheeler has thrown 96 more innings than he did last year, and obviously has not thrown this many innings since his 2014 season. Pumping the breaks is probably a good decision.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets will try to help Jacob deGrom’s Cy Young case when they head to DC to take on Max Scherzer and the Nationals on Friday night. Scherzer gets the ball against Jason Vargas at 7:10 p.m.

The AL East-leading Red Sox were the latest team to take advantage of an inefficient Oswalt, who recorded just five outs despite throwing 61 pitches on the afternoon. Trouble found the 25-year-old immediately, as he hit Mookie Betts to lead off the game. It struck again during the very next at-bat, though Dom Smith’s throwing error was no fault of Oswalt. Betts came around to score on a Xander Bogaerts single to center two batters later, the only run charged to Oswalt, who wasn’t a factor in the decision.

Mets skipper Mickey Callaway turned to Daniel Zamora to secure the final out of the third inning against the left-handed hitting Jackie Bradley Jr., who struck out swinging. Zamora struck out the side in the fourth in what was clearly his best outing as a major leaguer thus far. He’s a prime candidate to replace Jerry Blevins as the LOOGY in the 2019 bullpen, althought that says more about the Mets than it does about Zamora.

Brandon Nimmo did Brandon Nimmo things, launching a three-run home run off Rick Porcello in the fourth, which was good for one of the Mets two hits on the day. It’s perplexing to even try and begin to construe why the Mets — I’m looking at you, Mickey Callaway — continue to bat Nimmo in the bottom of the order. There isn’t a single good reason he’s stuck behind Jay Bruce or Todd Frazier every night. Nimmo’s AVG (.267) and OBP (.392) are tops on the Metropolitans, and his 17 home runs and nine stolen bases rank him second. Please, please stop batting him sixth.

It seemed as if the Mets had things under control until mop-up man Paul Sewald entered in the home half of the fifth. The Red Sox pieced together a two-out rally to tie things at three via a Bradley Jr. two-RBI double. That would be the end of Sewald’s night but the damage wasn’t done, as Drew Smith entered and allowed another two-RBI double, this time to pinch-hitter Brock Holt. Sewald was charged with all four earned runs, raising his season ERA to 6.15 in 42 appearances. He was also charged with the loss, his sixth of the season, as neither team scored again in the ballgame.

I’d be remiss not to mention Jeff McNeil’s spectacular diving catch to rob J.D Martinez of a base hit in the sixth inning. McNeil’s finally getting an opportunity to show everyone what he’s truly capable of and let me tell you, it’s a beautiful thing to watch. That’s Jeff McNeil, 2019 starting second baseman to you, folks.

Jacob deGrom versus a red-hot, newly-acquired, long-time Met rival Cole Hamels is a pretty juicy matchup. It’s too bad one of these teams is competently run and has maintained its status as a National League powerhouse since ascending in 2015 while the other has crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. So it goes.

Brandon Nimmo is back off the DL and in the lineup. Jeff McNeil is also out there, and Jay Bruce is starting at first.

Game Recap

If you watched the top of the first inning, you got a pretty good idea of what the Mets offense was going to do in this game. Amed Rosario led off with a double and moved to third on a groundout, and an Austin Jackson walk put runners at the corners with one out. The prime scoring chance was squandered, as both Michael Conforto and Todd Frazier struck out swinging to get Cole Hamels out of the first inning unharmed.

It was the first of what seemed like an endless number of missed opportunities for the Mets, who put three more runners on in the third with a single, error and a walk, but a caught stealing and another strikeout by Conforto ended the threat. Two singles, one a hussle infield single from deGrom, along with a walk loaded the bases in the fifth, but Conforto struck out once again. Consistently, Hamels put runners on base for the Mets, and every time they were wasted.

Of course, this is par for the course with deGrom, and the most deserving Cy Young candidate did his part to keep his team in the game. Over the first five innings, deGrom was brilliant, striking out seven and holding a potent Cubs offense off the board. There was a scary moment in the fourth when deGrom seemed to tweak something after slipping while trying to field an infield dribbler off the bat of Javier Baez, but he showed no ill effects, escaping the inning and promptly beating out the aforementioned infield single in his next at bat.

Sick of his teammates failing him, deGrom took offensive matters into his own hands in the top of the sixth. Former National Brandon Kintzler replaced Cole Hamels, and the first two Mets reached on an infield single and a walk. The next two batters couldn’t push a run across, and a walk to Brandon Nimmo loaded the bases for deGrom with two out. deGrom came through, as he always seems to, placing a groundball perfectly on the left side of the infield for his second hit of the day and his fourth RBI of the year, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.

After navigating an leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth, the Mets had a chance to add some insurance in the seventh after McNeil led off with a triple. Predictably, they failed to do even that, with two hard line outs and a strike out stranding McNeil at third. The Cubs immediately made the Mets pay for their failure, rallying with two singles and a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one in the bottom of the seventh. The run should arguably have been unearned, as Bruce missed a relatively routine play at first base to give the Cubs their second hit of the game, but so it goes for deGrom.

A visibly pissed off deGrom worked around a leadoff single and a walk in the bottom of the eighth, finishing his outing with a strikeout and a double play. The Mets then failed to score for him in the top of the ninth, dooming the best pitcher in baseball to yet another no decision. Some quick stats on deGrom’s season after this latest gem, an eight-inning, 10-strikeout, one-walk, one-run performance:

• 24th consecutive start with three or fewer runs, tying Doc Gooden’s major league record
• 6th start allowing one run or less in which deGrom has received a no decision
• 9th time the Met offense has scored one run or less with deGrom on the mound
• 8th time deGom has gone seven or more innings and allowed one or zero runs but did not earn a win, tying a live-ball era record by Roger Craig on the 1963 Mets

Seth Lugo replaced deGrom and tossed a scoreless ninth, sending the game to extra innings. Mother Earth had other plans, and after Steve Cishek threw two balls to Conforto, the game was suspended. Thirteen hours later, the at-bat resumed, and Conforto worked a leadoff walk. He was erased on a double play when Bruce struck out two batters later, and Nimmo was doubled off on a line drive to waste another potential baserunner in the 11th, continuing the Mets’ absolute refusal to score runs for deGrom, even with the ace out of the game.

Mercifully, the Cubs ended things in the 11th before the Met offense could embarrass themselves any further. Paul Sewald continued to be bad, walking Javier Baez to lead off the inning, then throwing the ball away on a bunt to put runner son second and third with no outs. Kyle Schwarber was intentionally walked, Sewald struck out Albert Almora, and Daniel Zamora entered to face Ben Zobrist. Zamora got the ground ball he needed, but Zobrist placed it perfectly up the middle, and Rosario couldn’t get to it. The Cubs walked off with a 2-1 victory.

Thoughts from the Game

Watching pissed off deGrom’s body language on the mound is always fun, because it’s so clear he’s tired of everyone’s bullshit. At this point, he literally cannot carry this team any more than he already is, and it has to be beyond frustrating to see the team still fail so miserably. More relevantly at this point, if there is any writer or analyst who professes to be a baseball expert and doesn’t vote for deGrom in the Cy Young because of pitcher wins, that should be grounds for immediate firing. He’s the best pitcher in the National League, and it isn’t particularly close.

Other Mets News

There are two infuriating bits of Met news to discuss, so let’s start with the more common one. The Mets say they will not call up Peter Alonso this season, despite him racking up 33 home runs and 111 RBI this season between Double-A and Triple-A. Supposedly, this is because the Mets are still concerned about his defense and limited playing time with Jay Bruce, Wilmer Flores and Dominic Smith on the roster. That’s nonsense, of course — all of those options are somewhere between terrible and mediocre, and none of them are particularly good defenders. This is a very obvious service time manipulation ploy, a ridiculous tactic to claw back the age-31 season of a R/R first baseman in a totally lost season.

At least that’s a wrong the rest of baseball commits as well, however. The other bit of Mets news could originate only from an organization as deeply defined by dysfunction an ineptitude as this one; the Mets want insurance to continue to pay David Wright’s salary. As a refresher, the Mets get 75% of Wright’s salary back in insurance while he’s on the disabled list. Of course, they don’t reinvest this money, counting Wright’s full salary AND the premium on the insurance against club payroll. If Wright is activated and later needs to go back on the DL, the team does not receive payments until 60 days after the DL stint begins (likely combined between 2018 and 2019), and they can save roughly $2.4 million of Wright’s $3.2 million due over the rest of the season by keeping him on the disabled list.

This latest news takes things to a whole new level of scummy, deplorable and disgusting, even for the Mets. Wright is the greatest Met position player in history. He stuck with this team through some dark years, toiling away in his prime on teams that couldn’t even crack .500. He’s now spent two years working his hardest to overcome a debilitating, chronic back injury, one that has spawned shoulder and neck problems to boot. And now that he finally, finally has a chance to step onto a major league field for the first time since 2016, the team seems to be angling to classify him as permanently disabled against his wishes.

For full disclosure, I’ve never been as much of a fan of Wright as some others. Jose Reyes was always my favorite player when I was little (which has aged….not well), and I thought he should have been shipped out when the Mets started their rebuild. Nevertheless, Wright was on track for a first-ballot HOF career, and I struggle to find words to describe the depths the Mets have sunk to here. Disrespectful, abjectly cruel and disgraceful come to mind.

Photo credit: Patrick Gorski – USA Today Sports

It’s tough to find the positive in a 15-0 shutout, of which 14 of the runs were scored in the final two innings, but Steven Matz was a revelation in a truly ugly Sunday. The lefty tossed seven innings of one-run ball, faltering only when Juan Soto drove in a run on a groundout following back-to-back hits by Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon.

That’s it. That’s the only good part.

The bad

Jeff McNeil, after extending his hitting streak to 11 games, left after the seventh inning with right quad tightness. He said after the game that it’s “nothing too major,” so he may just be ready for spring training.

Also, the offense has gone back to that whole we-don’t-believe-in-hits-anymore thing.

The ugly

Photo credit: Wendell Cruz – USA Today Sports

McNeil’s two hits last night were in his first two at-bats of the game, which extended his consecutive hits streak to eight straight plate appearances, which was only one shy of a franchise record.

And yes, it’s probably not fair to go crazy over McNeil so early in his career; perspective is necessary here, too. But at this point, he is the biggest talking point on the team — at least on the days when Jacob deGrom doesn’t pitch. You never want to do the rest of the team a disservice by understating their contributions to the game as well, but McNeil looking like an actual star right now is probably the most important non-deGrom thing going on with the Mets, so it deserves to be highlighted and discussed as such.

And sure, Dom Smith homered last night too, and that’s cool! But everyone knows he almost certainly has no future on the team at this point. In fact, with Jay Bruce set to come off the DL as soon as this weekend, Smith’s roster spot may not even last the week. Todd Frazier homered and doubled in a run as well, which is also cool, but he’s probably locked into third base going into next year no matter what and him raising his season wRC+ from 94 to 98 isn’t particularly notable. He is what he is.

And Noah Syndergaard also is what he is, and that’s what he has been for a while: A very good, top-end pitcher with wipeout stuff, who is seemingly only ever undone by his defense and his own inability to hold runners. Last night, though, was more about the defense than anything else. Syndergard tossed six very solid innings while striking out six and walking only one. His velocity was back to around 100 mph and his sinker was looking very good. He allowed two runs, both of which came in the third inning, and both of which probably could have been avoided with better defense. He yielded two singles to start the frame, which then allowed the pitcher to bunt them over. The next hitter, Steven Duggar, hit a sharp ground ball to third, and the runner broke from third. There was a clear play at the plate, but Frazier couldn’t get the ball out of his glove. So he went to first, and the run scored. Then a seeing-eye single by the next hitter bounced just past a diving McNeil and scored another run. McNeil isn’t exactly known for his range, so you’d be inclined to think a plus defensive second baseman would get to that ball.

And that’s the story of Noah Syndergaard. His 3.38 ERA on the year is fine, but that’s it; just fine. It always feels like he should pitch better than he actually does. And it’s not just because of his stuff, but because it feels like all of the BABIP luck goes against him (his .340 BABIP backs up that feeling). It’s truly an odd thing.

In the end, the Mets won the game last night, 5-3. Paul Sewald got the save. The Mets now have a winning record (24-23) since the beginning of July, which pretty much serves as a reminder that there was the framework for a decent team this year; the pieces were there. But when you give 600 plate appearances to Jay Bruce, Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Reyes in the Year of Our Lord 2018, this is what happens. And given that the NL East is not exactly a dogfight right now, this was a team that could have easily competed for the division if it was correctly built and properly utilized.

Oh well.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets finish off this series with the Giants with a getaway day matinee this afternoon. Jacob deGrom and Madison Bumgarner face off in what should be a great pitcher’s duel at 1:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

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

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

Game Recap

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thoughts from the Game

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

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

Other Mets News

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

Photo credit: Tommy Gilligan – USA Today Sports

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

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

Game Recap

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

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

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

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

Thoughts from the Game

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

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

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

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

Other Met News

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

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

It seemed like the same old story was unfolding at Chase Field: a decent outing by a starting pitcher, anemic offense and an imploding bullpen would converge for a desultory loss by the Mets in Arizona. And other than a late rally and generally close game, things otherwise followed the script.

Jason Vargas, who is the first pitcher in Mets history to not go more than five innings in any of his first eight starts, pitched lasted five, allowing three runs and striking out five, keeping the team within striking distance, helped in no small part by Todd Frazier sparking two double plays behind him.

The Mets had clawed to within a run by the time Vargas gave way to Hansel Robles, who pitched a scoreless sixth; Robles and Jerry Blevins teamed up to load the bases with two out in the seventh, yielding to Paul Sewald, who forced in a run, walking Nick Ahmed before managing to strike out Paul Goldschmidt. Jacob Rhame made the bullpen’s efforts not to be terrible for naught, surrendering two solo home runs to David Peralta and Jake Lamb in the eighth.

The Mets’ three runs came on solo homers: Brandon Nimmo in the first inning, his ninth; Michael Conforto beginning to right the ship with a booming home run to center field in the sixth, his eighth of the year; and Amed Rosario off Archie Bradley in the top of the eighth. They were the only hits the Mets scratched out, aside from a single by Dominic Smith in the fifth.

Former Mets draft pick Matt Koch went six innings for Arizona, yielding two runs and striking out five. Brad Boxberger earned his fifteenth save. Just another night in paradise.

Seth Lugo (2-1, 1.77) will face Zach Godley (6-5, 4.97) tonight at 9:40 p.m.

Photo credit: Rick Scuteri – USA Today Sports

Another trip to Atlanta, what could possibly go wrong? Zack Wheeler and the anemic Met offense squared off against Mike Foltynewicz and the best offense in the National League to start a two-game set.

Game Recap

Both starters worked around a first inning baserunner to settle into an early groove. Foltynewicz hit Michael Conforto leading off the first, then retired the next 12 Mets in order. Wheeler worked around a one out double from Dansby Swanson, then looked dominant for the next two innings against a good Braves’ lineup.

As you could have guessed from the recent quality of Mets games, such a performance would not last. Wheeler waked Freddie Freeman to lead off the fourth, then gave up two soft singles to load the bases with no outs (the second should definitely have been caught, but Conforto froze on contact). Wheeler almost escaped, inducing a 1-2-5 double play, but Ender Inciarte managed a third soft hit single of the inning to put the Braves ahead 1-0.

The Mets had a chance to get that run right back, putting two men on with one out in the top of the fifth. Foltynewicz navigated Amed Rosario and Wheeler with ease, however, to end the threat. Oddly, Foltynewicz was lifted after the fifth, despite no apparent injury either while pitching or swinging the bat. That brought Jesse Biddle into the game and opened the door for the Mets once again.

Two walks and an error – as well as an ejection for Mickey Callaway when Brandon Nimmo was called for leaning into a pitch – loaded the bases with one out for Jay Bruce, who finally came through after two months of futility with an two RBI ground-rule double. There was a chance for more, but Johan Camargo made a fantastic, heads-up play on a ground ball from Devin Mesoraco. Camargo made a diving stop, dove across the bag to tag Asdrubal Cabrera out, then threw to first to complete one of the better double plays you’ll see and end the threat.

Freddie Freeman made sure the lead was short lived, depositing the first pitch Wheeler threw in the sixth inning into the right field stands. It wasn’t a bad pitch, a breaking ball on the black inside, but Freeman is one of the best hitters in the game for a reason. The Braves followed that with a single, fielder’s choice, then another single. Tyler Flowers tried to go first-to-third on the second single, but was thrown out by Bruce for the second out of the game. Camargo advanced to second on the throw, and Ender Inciarte hit his second RBI bloop single of the game to put the Braves back in front 3-2.

The game totally went off the rails from that point. Cabrera dropped a throw at second that would have caught Inciarte single, and Wheeler followed by walking the next two batters to load the bases. Paul Sewald replaced him to face Ozzie Albies, who busted out of his slump with a grand slam to put the Braves up 7-2.

A fly ball botched by Bruce led to another run for the Braves, but there wasn’t much action for the rest of the game otherwise. The Mets quietly accepted their 8-2 loss, managing only three hits as their record falls to 28-35. Jacob deGrom starts today in a noon game.

Thoughts from the Game

At this point, the only logical conclusion is that the Mets will simply never learn. Playing Cabrera on one leg is ridiculous and borderline negligent. Multiple times throughout the broadcast, Gary and Ron noted that Cabrera needed to play closer to the bag on defense because he can’t run. It’s truly the definition of insanity to keep playing guys through minor injuries, then being befuddled when minor issues grow into long-term, chronic issues that keep significant pieces off the field for long stretches of time.

Bruce also fits into this bucket. Twice during the game, Bruce made plays on relatively routine fly balls that were lauded by the booth because of how hard he made them look. Bruce simply cannot move, and it turns every play in right field into an adventure. Nick Markakis’ fly ball late in the game that clanged off of Bruce’s glove after he looked incredibly uncomfortable going back on the ball is a play that every major league quality outfielder should make. Bruce is not that.

Other Mets News

Sandy Alderson had a long press conference yesterday, during which he said a number of ludicrous things. Jose Reyes is apparently still a viable player for the team because they don’t have any options behind him. Of course, they have between three and five superior options, but this front office clearly isn’t very in touch with reality.

Alderson also hinted as possible promotions for Jeff McNeil and Peter Alonso to Triple-A Las Vegas. Never mind that both should have been in the majors three weeks ago.

Elsewhere, Wilmer Flores appeared in a rehab game for the St. Lucie Mets and went 1-for-3 with a double.

Photo credit: Brett Davis – USA Today Sports