Syndergaard went seven scoreless innings, holding baseball’s best team to only three hits, and the visitors were able to take the series opener 8-0.

The Mets offensive attack got off to a fast start in the top of the first, as Michael Conforto and Jay Bruce rocketed back-to-back two out doubles against William Cuevas to hand Syndergaard a lead before he even took the mound; he never let go of it.

In the top of the it, after New York’s starter had retired the first six Boston hitters, the offense came alive again to extend the lead. Scorching hot Amed Rosario led off with an infield single that chased Cuevas from the game in favor of southpaw Robbie Scott, a move that did not pay dividends for Boston manager Alex Cora. Scott was able to get Jeff McNeil to fly out, but he then hit Conforto and allowed Bruce to launch a three-run homer to right to push the lead to 4-0. McNeil would add a homer of his own against Brian Johnson the next inning, and the way Syndergaard was cruising through the Red Sox lineup (even picking a baserunner off first base!) you got the impression this one might be over.

The Mets added some icing in the 8th inning when Austin Jackson and Rosario both launched long home runs over the green monster against struggling righty Tyler Thornburg, and at 8-0 the rout was officially on. Jerry Blevins and Tyler Bashlor tossed a scoreless inning each to complete the victory and get the Mets to within nine games of .500.

Today, New York will send Corey Oswalt to the bump in hopes of securing an exciting series victory against an incredibly good team.

Photo credit: Greg M. Cooper – USA Today Sports

New York actually got off to a nice start in this one, as Steven Matz breezed through the first two innings with little difficulty, and Jay Bruce deposited Nola’s first offering of the home second into the bullpen to give the Amazins the early lead.

Philadelphia responded quickly in the next inning, however, as  two batters after Matz issued a leadoff walk to Jorge Alfaro, Carlos Santana crushed a long homer to left center to flip the game and give the Phillies a 2-1 edge. New York got it right back in the bottom of the frame though, when Jeff McNeil plated Brandon Nimmo with a double.

The 2-2 score held through the middle innings, and a high pitch count forced Matz to depart after only five innings. Eric Hanhold entered for the Mets in the sixth and was greeted rudely by pinch-hitter Odubel Herrera who led off with a double. Two batters later, former Met Asdrubal Cabrera gave the road team the lead with a run-scoring single, but the Mets again responded an inning later when first baseman Dom Smith crushed a game-tying opposite field long ball.

The Mets summoned Tyler Bashlor in the seventh and the hard-thrower tossed a 1-2-3 inning prior to Smith’s tying home run, but the righty was not as fortunate in the eighth, when Rhys Hoskins crushed a lead-off bomb that would prove to be the difference in a 4-3 victory for Philadelphia.

Up next, New York will send Noah Syndergaard to the bump in search of his 11th win, opposing Phillies’ righty Zach Eflin.

Photo credit: Gregory Fisher – 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

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

Despite the fact that both pitchers play for lackluster teams, the prospect of a Madison Bumgarner-Jacob deGrom showdown provided fanbases for both teams the tantalizing prospect of two of the best pitchers in the game going head-to-head. It was a cruel trick of the schedule that wasted this matchup on a weekday afternoon getaway game, crueler still because neither pitcher disappointed: deGrom struck out 10, Bumgarner 8; Bumgarner walked no one in eight innings, allowing only one earned run, and while deGrom walked four, he also surrendered only one earned run in six.

Bumgarner (5-5 on the year) is now 7-0 against the Mets in his career, and holds a 0.59 ERA at Citi Field: a relentless campaign of terror that will make the less-than-Amazins happy to see the back of him. The Giants lefty added insult to injury by hitting an RBI single.

Is it possible to call any start for a pitcher with a Cy Young-worthy season, including a 1.71 ERA, yet a .500 record (he fell to 8-8 on the year), particularly frustrating? If so, this was one was; despite double-digit strikeouts, deGrom surrendered a run on a passed ball in the third, and appeared to escape the fourth inning with a one-run deficit intact striking out Nick Hundley looking before home plate umpire Tony Randazzo granted a walk to the Giants catcher. That set up Bumgarner for the RBI double, leaving deGrom to fume at the home plate umpire. Evan Longoria added to the Giants lead with a solo home run off Tyler Bashlor. Todd Frazier provided the Mets’ only offense, hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning. The home runs were the 14th of the season for each player.

New York will host the recently swamp-drained Washington Nationals at home Friday, and face another pitcher who loves mowing down Mets, Gio Gonzalez (7-10, 4.51), while the Mets will send out Jason Vargas (3-8, 7.67). First pitch is at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

Wheeler carved through a very unspectacular San Francisco Giants’ lineup with ease. The only problem: Derek Holland and a plethora of Giant relievers were able to mow down the Mets without much resistance.

But hey, it’s not the 10-strikeout performance from one of the hottest pitchers in all of baseball everyone is talking about – it’s the embarrassing mishap in the 13th and final inning.

Dom Smith, an (I guess) serviceable first baseman, is playing left field for the Mets now. In what may be the funniest combination of left field from start to finish in Jack Reinheimer and Smith – Mickey Callaway really doesn’t have much to work with.

There were a lot of impressive pitching performances by the combo of Wheeler, Robert Gsellman, Jerry Blevins and others who have really been hot as of late for New York. But the lack of experience from Smith did the Mets in and gave the Giants an undeserved 2-1 lead in the top of the final inning, only to be closed out by a 7.43 ERA reliever in Derek Law who shut the Mets out in the last two frames of the game.

The everyday shortstop, Rosario, had circled under the ball, signaled and waited to get out of a jam Tyler Bashlor was in – and while some can argue it’s the outfielder’s ball coming in – you leave it to the guy who has you called off and with a lifetime more experience at his position.

It was as bad as a loss as you could suffer going through the season that Callaway’s squad has gone through.

Unfortunately for the Mets, an ice cold Steven Matz takes the mound today for Game 2 in the series against San Francisco. Matz has allowed an eye-popping 20 earned runs in his last four starts.

New York needs to rebound from this loss because games simply cannot be decided the way they were last night.

Yikes.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – 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

The night couldn’t have started much better for the Mets, as following a Brandon Nimmo walk and a Wilmer Flores single, suddenly hot Michael Conforto deposited a 2-2 pitch from Ivan Nova into the right field seats to quickly put the visitors up 3-0.

Lefty Jason Vargas, making his first start in six weeks, took the mound in the bottom of the first and encouragingly retired the top of the Pittsburgh line-up in order. But after the Mets went quietly in the second, Vargas’ follow-up inning of work did not quite go as swimmingly.

Elias Diaz led off the frame with a hit, and Freese then contributed his first dose of damage, blasting a two-run shot to left to cut the New York lead to 3-2.

After the bumpy first inning, Nova was able to settle in and navigate through the middle innings with minimal difficulty, and while Vargas tossed a 1-2-3 third, he ran into significant trouble after that. In the fourth, he gave up a single to Diaz and a pair of walks before getting Jordy Mercer to fly out to left to strand the bases loaded. But in the fifth, Vargas wasn’t as lucky. A one-out walk to Jordan Luplow chased the southpaw from the game, but relief ace Seth Lugo was not in top form. After getting his first batter, Josh Harrison, to fly to right, Lugo allowed a hit and a walk that brought Freese to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. Predictably, he ripped one right up the middle for a two-run single that flipped the game and put Pittsburgh up 4-3.

The Mets quickly responded in the next half inning, but they did so in strange fashion.

Conforto and Jose Bautista both walked to start the road sixth, which prompted Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle to replace Nova with hard-throwing righty Edgar Santana. Mets’ new everyday second baseman, (more on that later) Jeff McNeil, was then asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, and he did even better than that. McNeil dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line, causing Santana to rush the throw to first without setting his feet and, after the throwing error, New York had the bases loaded with nobody out. Kevin Plawecki then struck out for the first out, but then things got weird. Jose Reyes hit a hard line drive to left field that Luplow caught on the run, and while the ball was clearly not deep enough to score Conforto from third base, Luplow unleashed a downright terrible throw to the plate that sailed to the backstop and allowed the Mets to tie the game on the throwing error.

New York got scoreless relief work from all of Tyler Bashlor, Jacob Rhame, Jerry Blevins and Anthony Swarzak, while Pittsburgh’s Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez were close to untouchable, and thus this game headed to the bottom of the ninth still tied at four apiece. On came Tim Peterson, the Mets’ seventh pitcher of the evening, and he was not quite as fortunate as the previous relievers.

Harrison led off the Pirates’ ninth with an infield hit, and when Gregory Polanco pulled a hit of his own through the hole, the Mets’ chances of getting this game to extra innings suddenly looked exceedingly bleak. New York intentionally walked Diaz to load the bases and set up a force at every base, but in doing so they brought Freese to the plate, whom they hadn’t retired all night. On the first pitch Peterson threw him, Freese crushed a line drive to the right center field fence to walk off the game and send the home fans home happy.

Tonight, New York will send ace right hander Jacob deGrom to the hill against the Pirates Trevor Williams, a game that looks like a pitcher’s dual on paper.

***

Roughly an hour before this game started news surfaced that the Mets had traded second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera to the division rival Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Double-A right-hander Franklyn Kilome. It doesn’t mean much in the Mets organization, but our own Jeffrey Paternostro estimated that Kilome, who has shown some inconsistency throughout his career and is likely to end up as a reliever, could jump right into the top 5 in the system. Considering the fact that Cabrera is a rental, Kilome could easily end up being a great deal for the Mets.

Originally in the starting lineup, Cabrera was scratched and McNeil moved to second base with Reyes joining the the starting lineup at third. With the late transaction, the Mets were obviously unable to get a roster replacement to Pittsburgh in time to be active for the game, and thus played a man short on Friday night. One man who did make it in time was new Met Austin Jackson, who is either going to replace Jose Bautista or fit in as a fourth outfielder or maybe be the new closer.

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire – USA Today Sports

A day after they were forced to start Corey Oswalt, the Mets turned to 28-year-old Drew Gagnon to make his major league debut against the Phillies. Meanwhile, the Phillies debuted top prospect Enyel De Los Santos, a 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic. That matchup seems like a pretty good snapshot of where these two teams are and how they got here.

Game Recap

Shockingly, Gagnon’s major league debut did not go particularly well. He set the Phillies down in order in the first inning, but allowed an infield single and a hit batter in the second before giving up a three-run home run to Maikel Franco in the second. The Phillies struck again in the third, loading the bases on two singles and a walk and cashing in two of those runners on a single from Nick Williams. Very quickly, the Mets were in a 5-0 hole.

Gagnon managed to help himself a little bit in the bottom of the third. After Amed Rosario tripled to left (a play where Rhys Hoskins face-planted spectacularly into the left field wall), Gagnon became the first Mets pitcher to register a sacrifice fly in his major league debut. He was just the third to register an RBI, the other two being Dillon Gee and, famously, Steven Matz. The Mets couldn’t get anything else done, and the deficit stayed at four runs.

The Phillies struck one more time in the fifth, when Gagnon grooved a fastball to Odubel Herrera that was deposited in the bullpens in right-center field to stretch the Phillie lead to 6-1. After a strikeout and another single, Gagnon’s night was done. He finished his major league debut after 4.2 innings, allowing six runs and striking out three. About the sort of performance you’d expect from a filler arm on a bad team.

Tyler Bashlor entered and got the last out of the fifth. He started the sixth inning by allowing a booming double to Scott Kingery, who would come around to score two batters later on a soft single from Maikel Franco. Bashlor stopped the bleeding there, however, and worked around another jam in the seventh by inducing a long fly ball from Kingery.

In the seventh, the Mets finally put together something of a rally against Enyel De Los Santos. Jose Reyes walked, and Rosario followed with his second triple of the game, once again hit to left field. That finished De Los Santos’s outing, as he became the third rookie pitcher of the season to come out and dominate the Mets. Mark Leiter entered, inducing an RBI groundout from Michael Conforto that cut the lead to 7-3.

That was as close as the Mets would get. Singles from Dominic Smith and Reyes in the eighth and ninth were wasted, and the Mets lost 7-3. It’s the 15th straight series the Mets have not won, with the last series win coming in May when they swept the Diamondbacks. Their record is now 36-53, a pace that would put them below 70 wins.

Thoughts from the Game

While GKR keep talking about Conforto and missing the point – that he suffered a major shoulder injury and recovery from shoulder injuries for hitters typically take a whole season – they have mentioned that Conforto is still taking his walks. This is important, as it adds more evidence that Conforto simply isn’t physically there, getting under pitches often despite still having a good approach. Suffice to say, sending MIchael Conforto to the minors is an incredible waste of time, and that it is even being discussed is just another sign of the dysfunction throughout the Met organization.

I won’t add any other rants here. Instead, you should check out our trade roundtable from Tuesday. You can get the dose of bitterness and pessimism that I usually offer there this week, since I don’t want to drive our editor any more insane.

Other Met News

Very quickly, here’s the net result of the many roster moves the Mets have made in recent days with their pitchers:

• Jerry Blevins activated from the bereavement list
• PJ Conlon recalled
• Paul Sewald optioned
• Chris Beck DFAed

Additionally, Noah Syndergaard is expected to start Friday, assuming his bullpen session on Wednesday goes off without a hitch. Jason Vargas may need another rehab start, but isn’t far behind. In less encouraging injury news, Jay Bruce suffered a setback with his injured hip and will be shut down for another 10 days.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

For the 51st time, it wasn’t the Mets.

WHAT HAPPENED, THE GOOD:

There were plenty of bad things that happened on Sunday, but cheer up. It wasn’t all for naught, right? There were…some good things that happened. Right? …Right. Here were the positives that came out of Sunday:

• Brandon Nimmo singled in the seventh to break up the Nathan Eovaldi perfect game
• Devin Mesoraco singled in the ninth inning
• Tyler Bashlor and Tim Peterson threw clean innings
• Jacob deGrom was selected to the 2018 National League All-Star team

Surely more happened, though. Well, uhh, I mean…there was [checks notes] a 9-0 game completed in under three hours?

WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:

The Mets started the day by dropping a series to the Tampa Bay Rays in style — being near-perfect game-d by Nathan Eovaldi amid a 9-0 loss. To make matters worse, the Mets ended the day with the realization of Brandon Nimmo as an egregious All-Star snub.

WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:

Now just a game ahead of the Miami Marlins for the worst record in the National League, the Mets will face the red-hot Philadelphia Phillies four times in three days. With two games on Monday, the Mets will send Zack Wheeler and Corey Oswalt to the mound to face Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin. The Mets will surely face stiff competition as they attempt to not enter the All-Star break as owners of the title “worst team in the NL.”

Photo credit: Gregory Fisher – USA Today Sports