The game started out well for the Mets, as after Corey Oswalt hurled a scoreless top of the first, Amed Rosario gave the Mets the early lead in the bottom of the frame, singling home Jeff McNeil with an opposite field hit. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the ballgame for the New York offense.

Oswalt did his part to keep the game on track in the final start of his rookie campaign, keeping the Fish off the board for the first three, but he ran into a patch of difficulty in the fourth. After allowing a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases with one out, Oswalt got the ground ball he needed from Magneuris Sierra, but unfortunately the speedy Marlins right fielder beat the return throw to first to allow the tying run to score. It became clear following that inning that Oswalt was done, and that was when the only real drama of the night unfolded.

It was already known Wright would be the first man off the bench tonight, and with Oswalt due up fifth in the bottom of the fourth inning, the stage was set. The Marlins however, delayed the moment, retiring No. 8 hitter Kevin Plawecki to end the frame and leave the captain in the on deck circle. Temporarily.

Paul Sewald entered for the Mets in the fifth and was unimpressive, surrendering two runs on three hits to the middle of Miami’s lineup, but all the crowd really cared about was the next half inning. Wright emerged from the dugout to a chorus of cheers, and the longtime face of the Mets’ franchise looked visibly nervous as he dug in. His at-bat was short lived, when he hit the first pitch he saw from José Ureña directly on the ground to third, but making an out was far from enough to wipe the smile off No. 5’s face.

After that, the rest of the night went downhill fast for the home team. Drew Gagnon entered for New York in the sixth, and while he only allowed one earned run in what  ultimately amounted to 1.2 innings of work, thanks to errors from Todd Frazier and Rosario, the Marlins were able to push five runs across against him, establishing an 8-1 lead that would be the eventual final score.

Tim Peterson pitched very well in the eighth and ninth innings to maybe provide a slimmer of a silver lining at the end, but it’s clear that everyone associated with this team began looking forward to tonight’s contest the minute Wright’s at-bat tonight concluded.

This evening, left hander Steven Matz will make his final start of 2018, but more importantly, Wright will take third base for the final start of his memorable Major League career, and it will be fascinating to see what kind of final moment he can give us.

Photo credit: Wendell Cruz – USA Today Sports

The Mets actually put a run on the board in the top of the first before their ace even took the mound. Amed Rosario led off the ballgame with a double and later scored on Jay Bruce hit, giving the road team the early 1-0 lead. After mowing the Nationals down 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts in the first, deGrom did run into a little bit of a speed bump in the second, however.

After uncharacteristically walking Anthony Rendon to begin the frame, deGrom allowed a single to Washington rookie sensation Juan Soto, placing men on the corners with no out. Ryan Zimmerman then lifted a fly ball to center field to score the tying run via a sac fly.

New York responded right away the next inning though, which was really nice to see. With one out, Michael Conforto and Bruce doubled consecutively to reestablish the Mets lead, but they were far from done in the frame. Dom Smith singled home Bruce with a third run, and after Rendon committed an error on a Todd Frazier ground ball, the inning was prolonged for Devin Mesoraco. The Mets catcher, playing in his first game in almost three weeks, pounded a double to plate Smith, and while Frazier was waved home, he was gunned down the end the inning, with the Mets up 4-1.

That would prove to be all deGrom would need as he simply took it to another level after that. The right-hander retired 15 of the next 17 Nationals batters, completing his seven-inning outing with eight strikeouts and just three hits allowed. At only 98 pitches, it was somewhat surprising New York didn’t send him back out for the eighth, instead summoning Seth Lugo for a consecutive day. While the righty did allow a pair of Washington baserunners he was ultimately able to navigate through the inning unscathed, and when the Mets failed to add an insurance run in the ninth, it was Robert Gsellman time.

The final inning was a little nerve-wrecking for the visitors dugout, when Trea Turner led off with a double, and Bryce Harper nearly got the home team within one on a long fly ball to the opposite field that ultimately fell a couple feet short of the fence and into the waiting glove of Conforto. The Mets were not out of the woods though, as Rendon came up next and promptly singled into center, scoring Turner and getting the tying run to the plate. Gsellman stepped up though, striking out Soto and getting Zimmerman to fly out to end the game.

The victory evened deGrom’s record on the season at 9-9 and lowered his Major League best ERA to 1.77. If the Cy Young race isn’t over, it honestly probably should be.

Up next New York will send Corey Oswalt to the bump opposite Tanner Roark as they look to take a thirrd consecutive contest from their rivals in the nation’s capital.

The Mets are already eliminated from postseason contention. The Phillies are mathematically still in it but realistically out of the race. For this game, the most important thing for the Mets would be getting to Aaron Nola, so that they can actually help Jacob deGrom’s Cy Young resume in a roundabout way. Steven Matz would lead that effort, coming off a solid start against Miami and looking to close out a solid, albeit unspectacular, season strong.

Game Recap

Matz was very clearly off in this game from the get-go. In the first, he walked three Phillies, consistently missing off the plate inside to righties. Despite walking the bases loaded, Matz worked out of the jam without allowing a run. He gave up a single and another walk in the second, but worked around that jam too. Still, with Matz seemingly off his game and one of the best pitchers in baseball on the mound for the Phillies, things weren’t looking good.

That is, until Matz came to the plate with one out in the top of the third. After homering in his last start, Matz set his sights on Aaron Nola, got a hanging curveball over the plate and lined it into the flowers on top of the left field wall. It was a significant home run for multiple reasons (see below), but most importantly, the Mets had a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, they’d stretch the lead to 2-0. After Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier struck out swinging to start the inning, a single from Brandon Nimmo and a weakly hit, poorly played (by Rhys Hoskins in left field) double led to another run. In two innings, the Mets had built a lead and seriously damaged the Cy Young candidacy of one of deGrom’s biggest opponents — giving up a home run to a pitcher is bad enough, and anyone who allows an extra-base hit to Dom Smith (.219/.252/.321, 2.5% BB, 32.8% K) should be immediately disqualified.

Handed a two-run lead, Matz settled in. He started hitting his spots a bit more, working around a single in the third and setting down the Phillies in order in the fourth. Unfortunately, his pitch count was elevated from his early-inning command problems, and the fifth inning looked like it was probably his last. That issue was compounded by a one out walk to Hoskins. Undeterred, Matz capped his outing in spectacular fashion, making what might be the web-gem of the year to catch a ball behind his back and turn an inning-ending double play. He departed after five innings in line for the win.

The 2018 Mets team being what it is — that is to say, bad — Matz wouldn’t get the win. After the Mets left the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, Jerry Blevins and Drew Smith managed to give up five runs without recording an out in the bottom half of the inning. The Mets found themselves in a three-run hole 18 pitches after they had a two-run lead.

Watching the rest of the game as very much an exercise in futility. The Mets managed only one more run, while a cavalcade of unremarkable relievers worked around a couple Philly baserunners to keep things close enough to be interesting but not actually matter. Amed Rosario ended things with a weak bounce out to first, and the Mets had their 81st loss of the year.

Thoughts from the Game

Here are some fun facts about Steven Matz’s home run:

• He dedicated it to Jacob deGrom in his Cy Young battle
• Matz became only the third Met pitcher to homer in back-to-back starts, joining Tom Seaver and Ron Darling.
• This was the first time the Mets have lost a game in which their starting pitcher went deep since 7/24/96, when Jason Isringhausen went deep and lost, breaking a 19-game winning streak.

Other than that, I don’t have much to say about this game. Much like you, most of us have checked out at this point of the year. I spent most of this game doing work stuff and making babka (chocolate, because Jerry could not be more wrong about cinnamon in this context). Out of the three activities, only the babka wasn’t a total disaster. Then again, hitting 1-for-3 puts me in the hall of fame, so I can’t really complain.

Other Met News

The Mets are leaning towards shutting Zack Wheeler down for the rest of the season. Wheeler has been brilliant for much of this season after a slow start, and he’s now tossed 182.1 innings with a 3.31 ERA.It’s tough to describe how big an improvement that is for the former top prospect, who missed two whole season with Tommy John before tossing only 86.1 innings last season. With some struggles in his past two starts, shutting Wheeler down now makes sense, as he’s fully established his place in the Mets rotation for 2019.

Marlins 2, Mets 5 [Game 2]

It was a day where the games mattered even less than usual; Mets captain David Wright announced that this season would be his last, and the collective wail from Mets fans meant the doubleheader sweep of the Marlins was a joyless one.

On any other day, Game One would have been a thriller, ending on back-to-back home runs for the first time in franchise history, with Michael Conforto homering to tie the game with two outs in the ninth, his 25th, and Todd Frazier following with a walk-off home run, his 18th. Steven Matz surrendered two home runs (three runs overall) and hit a two-run homer himself in the second inning. Jerry Blevins, who had come in in the ninth, got the win, his third.

In the nightcap, a makeup, Jason Vargas pitched six innings for his sixth win of the year, and Robert Gsellman picked up his 11th save. Tomas Nido homered, and Conforto continued his heroics, driving in three of the Mets runs, which was the winning difference.

But it was all an afterthought, as the 2018 season, long a lost cause, managed to find a new, devastating way to break our hearts.

The Mets travel to Boston to face the Red Sox tonight. Noah Syndergaard (11-3, 3.44) will take on Hector Velasquez (7-2 3.29); first pitch is at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

After being scratched due to weather concerns on Sunday and rained out on Monday, Jacob deGrom finally got to take the mound against the Marlins on Tuesday night. Miami has been something of a bugaboo for deGrom; he’s only 4-5 against them in his career, though he did memorably strike out the first eight batters in September 2014. For once, the Mets actually built a close-to-optimal lineup behind their ace, with Amed Rosario, Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto in the first three spots in the order.

Arguably, the Mets should have just let deGrom pitch on Sunday, as he’s now set to make only four starts the rest of the way rather than five. On the other hand, I get to recap a game started by deGrom rather than one started by Jason Vargas, so I’m not going to complain.

Game Recap

Rather than dragging this out and waxing poetic about how good deGrom was at the start of this game, let’s just jump straight to the part where the BABIP fairy sprinkled her magic dust on the Marlins, as she always seems to do at Citi Field. With two outs and nobody on in the fourth, deGrom gave up an infield single, a bloop single and a double that scored two. The infield single was off the glove of Jeff McNeil (would have been a tough play) and the double was a total misplay by Austin Jackson (also a tough play, but probably should have been made). As a reminder, the Mets like Jackson, a horrifically bad defensive outfielder, specifically for his center field defense.

Fittingly, a Michael Conforto double leading off the bottom half of the inning was wasted. deGrom went back to dominating and only got a solo home run from Conforto in run support. He left for a pinch hitter in the seventh, when the Mets squandered another leadoff baserunner and left the ace without a chance for a win. He finished with nine strikeouts, two walks and three hits allowed, with both runs coming due to the BABIP misfortune and poor defense behind him in the fourth. The outing raised deGrom’s ERA on the season to a still ridiculous 1.71, and lowered his FIP to an equally insane 2.06.

Anthony Swarzak replaced deGrom and served up a solo home run to J.T. Riddle that stretched the Marlins’ lead to 3-1. Todd Frazier got ejected at some point for arguing balls and strikes (he was right). Robert Gsellman gave up two runs in the ninth, with the help of an ill-advised dive from Brandon Nimmo that turned a single into a triple.

Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run home run in the ninth and a two-out walk to Jack Reinheimer brought Amed Rosario to the plate as the tying run. Rosario could only manage a weak dribbler to second, and that was that. The 5-3 loss was the Mets’ 78th of the year and dropped deGrom’s record below .500, now at 8-9.

Thoughts from the Game

The latest installment of Jacob deGrom facts:

• Lewis Brinson’s double was the first extra-base hit on 0-2 allowed by deGrom this season.
• deGrom has now broken Leslie “King” Cole’s single-season record with his 26th consecutive start allowing three runs or fewer, a record that stood for 108 years.
• Still the most deserving Cy Young candidate in the National League. But you knew that already.

Why the Mets have decided to rush Swarzak back this season is a mystery. This is a reliever who they need to contribute to the bullpen next year if the team wants to contend next season. He’s dealt with shoulder issues multiple times, and pushing a 33-year-old to come back quickly in a lost season rather than just shutting him down and protecting him for the future is silly. It’s also a great juxtaposition against the extreme “caution” the team is taking with David Wright. Nothing fishy there at all, no sir.

Austin Jackson is terrible. He doesn’t make contact — 32.7% K%. He doesn’t hit for power — .078 ISO. He doesn’t walk a noteworthy amount — 7.2%. His defense has been a travesty for three seasons; -12.5, -7.7, and -16.8 UZR/150 in the outfield the past three seasons. He’s not a prolific basestealer or a particularly good baserunner. His presence in the Met lineup hinders the offense, and his defense might’ve cost deGrom two runs and a win last night. Given all of this, get ready for Austin Jackson, 2019 Opening Day center fielder.

Other Mets News

A report by Andy Martino today had some troubling news regarding the Mets’ GM search. First, Terry Collins is expected to assume a larger role in the organization. Terry Collins, who was one of the most inept managers in baseball largely because of his inability or unwillingness to use or develop young players, will likely be playing a larger role in player development. This is the sort of hiring that reeks of interference from Fred Wilpon.

Secondly, Martino mentions Mark Shapiro as a name to watch in the GM search. Shapiro has a long track record, serving as GM and later team president of the Cleveland Indians, and more recently as CEO and president of the Toronto Blue Jays. He’s most notable for his obsession with young cost control, which, in and of itself, is not a bad thing to focus on; young, cheap players provide the core of most winning teams. But Shapiro seems to focus more on being cheap for the sake of being cheap, rather than for the purposes of building winning teams. In short, he offers perfect cover for the Wilpon not spending money.

Thor allowed 12 hits and walked more (5) than he struck out (4) in almost seven innings of work. It was no matter though, as the offense exploded for 10 runs off Phillies pitching in just eight innings. Once and future prospect Tomas Nido started the scoring with a bases-clearing double in the second off Philadelphia starter Zach Eflin.

It didn’t get much better for Eflin in the third, as Todd Frazier continued his annual late-season surge with a three-run homer to really break things open. The Phillies used seven relief pitchers on the evening, but the game wasn’t as close as the final score may indicate.

Jay Bruce reached base in every one of his four plate appearances, showing what he may be still capable of when actually healthy. There’s no doubt the Mets would like the contract back, but Bruce played through a multitude of injuries earlier in the season and surely isn’t as bad when completely healthy. He’s likely going to enter 2019 as the starting first baseman, though Peter Alonso may (read: should) steal the starting gig before the end of June.

Jeff McNeil did Jeff McNeil things, picking up three hits in five at-bats to raise his average up to .329. He’s been a breakout star in the organization this season and looks primed to begin 2019 as the starter at second. While the .329 average is likely to decline, the home run rate (and extra-base hit rate) should increase in the near future. It’s those power changes that have improved McNeil’s outlook drastically from prior seasons.

Syndergaard was hit around on Saturday, but he’s having a strong season that has somehow been underwhelming for a pitcher of Thor’s stature. He’s admitted that his stuff should be leading to better results, but he’s doing an above-average job at preventing runs despite the command issues. Pending future health, the Mets 2019 starting rotation projects as one of the best in all of baseball, as long as Zack Wheeler’s improvements are for real.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

Monday night was a frustrating but still enjoyable experience, because we had the pleasure of watching Jacob deGrom. Watching the best of the Mets’ three-ish homegrown aces is a reminder of the sort of potential this team had and still has. Tuesday, we got Jason Vargas, a reminder of why that potential has been and will continue to be squandered. At least Brandon Nimmo was in the lineup – batting eighth.

Game Recap

This episode of the Jason Vargas experience got off to a pretty good start, as the left-hander was perfect through the first two innings. Because his name isn’t Jacob deGrom, the Mets offense scored for him too, with Jay Bruce hitting a two-run home run in the second, and Michael Conforto adding a two-run bomb of his own in the third. Entering the bottom of the third, the Mets had a 4-0 lead.

Then, the cracks started to appear. Vargas walked Chris Taylor leading off the inning, then allowed a two-run home run to Austin Barnes. He worked around another two singles from Rich Hill (the pitcher) and Manny Machado, but the Met lead was cut to two. A home run from David Freese leading off the bottom of the fourth cut that lead to one, and the Dodgers followed that with a single and a double to put the go-ahead run in scoring position.

At this point, the New York defense wanted to prove to deGrom that they’re not just terrible behind him, they’re terrible behind every pitcher. Todd Frazier botched a ground ball off the bat of Austin Barnes, allowing Enrique Hernandez to score and tie the game. Two batters later, Tyler Bashlor replaced Jason Vargas, and he allowed the Dodgers to take the lead with a steal of third and an RBI groundout from Brian Dozier. L.A. led 5-4.

Eric Hanhold worked around some serious traffic in the fifth in his first major league appearance, and he and Daniel Zamora combined for a perfect sixth. Corey Oswalt took over for the seventh, and the Dodgers proceeded to blow the doors off. Three doubles, a wild pitch that allowed Manny Machado to score from second and a handful of walks and singles put the Mets in an 11-4 hole. They managed to load the bases in the top of the ninth with no outs, but amphibious ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte shut down the rally, and the Mets failed to score.

The loss drops the Mets to 62-76, snaps their three-game win streak and ends a recent string of successful starts from Jason Vargas (real shocker on that last one). Zack Wheeler takes on Hyun-Jin Ryu this evening in the series finale.

Thoughts from the Game

Austin Jackson is really, really bad. Everyone except Met management knew this when he was signed, but at this point he’s batting second everyday while Jeff McNeil and/or Brandon Nimmo bat eighth or ride the bench. It’s patently absurd, and an insult to the younger players who are clearly superior and are a core part of the team’s future. Even a barely above-average OPS+ isn’t worth forfeiting the development of players who actually need it, and there’s no justification whatsoever for his place on the team at this point, let alone his prominence on it.

Jason Vargas is also bad, but that’s less revelatory. Hopefully the Mets get creative with him next year (hoping for a cut is wishing for a miracle), perhaps as a bullpen arm or in some sort of pseudo-Rays arrangement at the back of the rotation. He’ll probably just get shoehorned into a starting spot, however, simply because he’s a veteran making real money.

Other Mets News

No major happenings for the Mets today. Still maybe committing pseudo-insurance fraud with David Wright. Still not planning to end their service time farce with Peter Alonso. So it goes.

Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea – USA Today Sports

The Mets, but on the West coast

WHAT HAPPENED, THE NOAH SYNDERGAARD SHOW:

Sunday featured some interesting storylines. Michael Conforto homered. Jeff McNeil and Todd Frazier recorded a pair of hits. Most important? Noah Syndergaard was freaking good. It’s no secret that August was a rough month for Syndergaard, whose 2018 has been lukewarm at best. As I’ve written in earlier recaps, it isn’t that a 3.51 ERA was all that bad. It’s just that we’ve been spoiled by what Noah Syndergaard can be. On Sunday, Syndergaard returned to pre-2018 form.

Allowing just one run, Syndergaard struck out 11 batters in the first complete game of his career. It was magnificent. It was beautiful. It was a reminder that the true form of the God of Thunder is still in there, fighting back from what has been about a year and a half of various injuries. When Thor throws 89 strikes in 114 pitches (about 78%), garnering 22 whiffs in 69 swings (about 32 percent of the time), you know it was a great day. Sure, his velocity was some of the best we’ve seen from him this year. Sure, his curveball and slider were fantastic. But his changeup? It was in another dimension. Throwing it 24 times, Syndergaard garnered 16 (!!!) swings and nine whiffs, good enough for a 56% whiff/swing rate. It was absolutely unhittable.

So, what worked for Syndergaard? Literally everything. His entire repertoire didn’t just border on untouchable, it was astounding. With the exception of an error in the seventh, not a single Giants batter reached base past the fourth inning. It was a truly dominant outing for Syndergaard, one of the best performances we’ve seen from him in nearly two years. Maybe an abrupt turnaround from his final outing of August means that the power righty has finally solved his woes, though only time will tell.

WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:

/Lucy places an ample looking football on the ground

Syndergaard finally joined what has been a resurgent starting rotation. Coming into Sunday, the Mets have posted a 2.75 ERA over the past month — good enough for the third-lowest in the National League. Sure, they’ve been carried by Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler, but it’s easy to sleep on Steven Matz and Jason Vargas. Looking at the season overall, it’s probably well deserved. But it’s hard not to recognize the string of solid outings they’ve put together, with Syndergaard now looking to join them before September ends.

/Charlie Brown eagerly readies to kick the football

Maybe the Mets have finally realized the potential of their rotation, and maybe they can carry the momentum into 2019?

WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:

The Mets wrap up the west coast portion of their roadtrip with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team in the midst of an absolutely thrilling NL West race. The Dodgers have gotten hot at the right time and will look to keep it that way. They’ll send Alex Wood to square off against Jacob deGrom, who is about six starts away from being named the National League Cy Young award winner (editor’s note: just because you say it forcefully doesn’t make it so, Shawn).

Photo credit: D. Ross Cameron – USA Today Sports

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

Wheeler allowed six hits and walked three but wasn’t fazed by the traffic on the basepaths, keeping the Nationals at bay in his seven innings of work. He’s now thrown six or more innings in 19 of his 25 starts this season, a remarkable number somehow bested by Cy Young frontrunner and teammate Jacob deGrom, who’s gone six or more in 23 of 26 starts this season.

Though deGrom has taken his performance to another level this season, that number isn’t terribly surprising, as he’s been a fixture at the top of the rotation since 2014. On the contrary, Wheeler was left off the Opening Day roster and began the 2018 season in Las Vegas.

On the offensive side of the ball, Amed Rosario’s looked a whole lot better at the dis since the All-Star break. He got the scoring started Saturday with a solo homer to center in the sixth and filled up the scorebook with two hits, two runs, and the RBI. Jeff McNeil’s hot start to his MLB career continued with a base hit in the first that extended his current hit streak to 10 games. He’s now up to a .337/.395/.481 triple-slash in his first 31 career games.

Actually good free agent signing Todd Frazier launched a 401-foot shot to left for his 15th home run of the season. He’s battled injuries and inconsistent performance all season, but you’d be surprised to know that he’s now at 3.1 WARP for the year. The bulk of that comes from publicly available defensive metrics, which are not nearly as reliable as publicly available offensive metrics, but still, Frazier’s been solid, if unspectacular, and the two-year pact was a worthy gamble.

In the bullpen, Mickey Callaway finally let the kids get a chance, using Daniel Zamora and Drew Smith for a change. Zamora struck out the only batter he faced, Bryce Harper, while Smith worked a scoreless eighth. Zamora probably takes over the Jerry Blevins role if the Mets decide to move on this offseason, while Smith should be penciled in for high leverage work in 2019.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports