The Mets just got swept by the Atlanta Braves in embarrassing fashion.
It’s important to bounce right back and not fall into a rut. The problem with that is Noah Syndergaard doesn’t pitch until Sunday.
The Mets have had a real problem getting quality performances from starting pitchers other than Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard this year.
Going forward, Matt Harvey will no longer be able to help or hurt a struggling Met rotation.
GM Sandy Alderson asked Matt Harvey to accept a demotion. Harvey refused and was designated for assignment. The Mets now have 7 days to either trade or release him. Wow. The Matt Harvey saga is officially over, and who could have foreseen this ending. We’ll definitely come back to this at some point but there is a game to recap.
Zack Wheeler took the mound tonight, and had a first inning that was worse than Jason Vargas’ yesterday.
Charlie Blackmon led off with a single. Gerardo Parra singled. Nolan Arenado singled. 1-0. Carlos Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly. 2-0. Trevor Story doubled. 3-0. Ian Desmond doubled. Daniel Castro singled. 5-0.
The Ian Desmond double was a little bloop that fell in between Jay Bruce and Brandon Nimmo. Both Bruce and Nimmo are right fielders, but Mickey Callaway started Jay Bruce at 1st base.
5-0. Mets are in another huge hole before they even step to the plate. It’s like Groundhog Day lately.
The aforementioned Brandon Nimmo led off with a single in the bottom of the 1st. Asdrubal Cabrera was up next and he put the Mets on the scoreboard for the first time since Tuesday
Okay. We stuck Nimmo in the lineup and it paid instant dividends. Maybe this is the start of something. After the next 3 Mets were retired in order, Zack Wheeler was on the mound pitching to Charlie Blackmon for the 2nd straight inning.
Blackmon worked the count full, then took a Wheeler fastball over the left-center wall. 6-2.
The Mets have perfected sucking the life out of you. They’ve turned it into an art form recently.
Fast forward to the top of the 6th. Colorado catcher, Tony Wolters led off with a homerun into the upper deck in right field. That was the first time in 2 years Wolters has hit a homerun. It’s such a rare occurrence that his teammates gave him the silent treatment in the dugout. 7-2.
In the bottom of the 6th, the Mets showed some signs of life. After Cabrera flew out to right, Cespedes and Bruce both singled. The optimism was short lived. Frazier swung at a 3-0 pitch and hit into a fielders choice. Conforto struck out swinging, continuing his awful stretch at the plate.
Surprisingly, Zack Wheeler came out to pitch the 7th inning. He was quickly removed however, after a single and a walk to begin the frame.
For the 6th game in a row, the Mets have allowed 10+ hits. Hardly a recipe for success.
Seth Lugo entered in relief of Wheeler and struck out Trevor Story. Ian Desmond followed with a single and the Rockies extended their lead to 8-2.
Here’s Zack Wheeler’s pitching line if anyone wants it. Wheeler gave up 8 runs on 10 hits over 6 innings of work. He walked 3 and struck out 3. The fact that he pitched in the 7th inning is cheap, and not something to get excited about. He gave up a touchdown and a 2 point conversion.
Give the Mets credit though. They battled tonight.
After Yoenis Cespedes led off the 8th inning with a walk, Todd Frazier hit his 5th homerun of the year to cut the lead to 8-4.
They went back to work in the bottom of the 9th. Wilmer Flores, who has been struggling mightily, led off with a pinch hit double. Amed Rosario followed with a single and the Rockies lead was reduced to 8-5.
Brandon Nimmo popped out for the 1st out. Next up was Asdrubal Cabrera. Did anyone think that he was not going to come through? Cabrera tripled over the head of Carlos Gonzalez and the Rockies were now leading 8-6. We got a ballgame!
No matter what borough you were in you could hear fans in Citi Field collectively groan after Cespedes struck out. Jay Bruce kept hope alive by drawing a walk. Jose Reyes was brought into pinch run.
Todd Frazier singled to bring home Cabrera. Jose Reyes advanced to 3rd on the play and JUST made it safely. I don’t know if Reyes would have made it out of the stadium alive if he was called out. 8-7!
Tying run on third. Winning run on 1st. Michael Conforto steps to the plate. Todd Frazier steals 2nd. Winning run in scoring position.
Conforto strikes out. Game over. Michael Conforto walks back to the dugout, having gone 0-5 with 4 strikeouts.
Heartbreaker. I’ll say it though. I love the fact that the Mets battled like they did. After another first inning shellacking, the Mets could have laid down.
They aren’t as good as their record reflected when they were 11-2. They aren’t as bad as they look now. I have a feeling that we are going to go on a run. Well, offensively anyway. The starting pitching is a huge question mark.
Got a sneaking feeling that Amed Rosario is about to get going. He put together some impressive at bats tonight.
The Jay Bruce signing is making less sense everyday. We have to move him to 1st base just to get Brandon Nimmo in the lineup? Didn’t Sandy draft Nimmo? What has he seen that would make him sign Bruce for 3 years, effectively burying his 1st round pick?
Nimmo singled and drew a walk, raising his on base percentage to an absurd .471.
Jose Lobatòn had a single in 4 plate appearances, he’s now hitting a cool .139 on the season. Ugh.
After some recent struggles, Seth Lugo came through with a strong performance out of the bullpen last night. He pitched 3 innings and didn’t allow a run, striking out 3 Rockies.
After the game, Mickey Callaway said that Michael Conforto would be off tomorrow. He called it a mental health day. Hopefully that works, because he has been brutal.
Steven Matz will pitch the 2nd game of the series against Chad Bettis, who has been very good for Colorado thus far. The last time Steven Matz faced Colorado his first inning was worse than Zack Wheeler’s and Jason Vargas’ combined. Hopefully, we can get a strong outing because we sorely need it.
The news of the day was obviously Matt Harvey. Can’t think of another word to describe his Mets career other than tragic. Harvey deserves more than a quick paragraph at the end of a game recap, so I’ll be back with that sometime in the near future.
