I looked at the box score. I saw the tweets. My coworkers oh so kindly filled me in on the play-by-play. I still don’t know what happened.

The Mets were supposed to have the best rotation in baseball, or pretty close. There was no need to keep Logan Verrett and Gabriel Ynoa for backup. They have Matt Harvey, minus a rib! Zack Wheeler, who hasn’t pitched in two years! Steven Matz and his bone spurs! Seth Lugo and his technicolor spin rate! There’s no way this rotation could go wrong.

As it turns out, there’s no way we could have predicted just how wrong it would go. Because it’s all gone wrong.

Noah Syndergaard is gone and Yoenis Cespedes is gone and Jeurys Familia is gone. Matt Harvey, when he shows up, is questionable at best and Curtis Granderson couldn’t hit the ball of a tee if he tried. The bullpen is overworked to the point of reckless endangerment. The Nationals are really, really good.

There are a few good things: Michael Conforto might be better than anyone expected and Jay Bruce is good again. T.J. Rivera apparently is required by law to hit .300 at every level and Rene, against all odds and literally all of baseball evidence, is suddenly an offensive machine. Neil Walker has looked better in May and Josh Edgin is Bryce Harper’s Achilles’ heel. But Rene Rivera and Josh Edgin don’t get you to October.

I don’t know if the Mets go out and get help. Bullpen, starters, a real third baseman. They have plenty of options. They could bring up Amed Rosario and move Asdrubal Cabrera, of the we-swear-he’s-not-injured Cabreras, to third base. It’s not time to talk about selling, not yet at least. It’s barely May. The National League Wild Card is up for grabs. But they need to do something, because the team is approaching embarrassment, if it hasn’t already gotten there already.

I know I haven’t really talked about Sunday’s game. I don’t want to. It was ugly and painful and hurt my soul. You can look at the box score if you want to. I advise you don’t.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports