These Mets could ruin a wet dream.
The Amazin’s dropped their seventh straight game yesterday, losing at home to the Atlanta Braves 4-3. Groundhog day continues, as the Mets again handed a lead to their bullpen it was unable to hold. Yesterday, the culprit was Seth Lugo who allowed back to back homeruns to Nick Markakis in the 8th inning.
It was the third poor outing in a row for Lugo, who up until last Sunday was Mickey Callaway’s most reliable relief option.
The story wasn’t the atrocious bullpen, however. The story is that the 2019 Mets are incapable of providing any amount of joy to their beleaguered fans.
Before yesterday’s game, the club honored one of the most iconic teams in sports history, the 1969 World Champion New York Mets.
There was a beautiful pregame ceremony. A rain delay provided ample time for additional interviews with the players which were all fantastic. Ed Kranepool’s speech had tears flowing all throughout Citi Field.
Shame on me for getting sucked back into this season. There was a sentiment shared yesterday that stuck with me. The 1969 Mets allowed fans to forget about Vietnam and all of the other turmoil going on in the country at the time. Checking in on the 2019 Mets is like opening a Pandora’s Box of dysfunctional nonsense.
Steven Matz surrendered two first inning runs, and it didn’t seem like the current team inherited any of the magic from the 69 Miracle Mets. Heavy rain halted game play, and it was announced that Matz would not pitch again after the delay. Seven innings from this bullpen? Yikes.
I wish this team was just flat out bad. The losses would be easier to stomach. It’s hard to look at the standings and conclude that they are good, but this is a talented group. Credit where it’s due, the team does fight every day. 21 blown saves before July is a ludicrous stat, though. No team can overcome that.
Chris Mazza made his major league debut yesterday a few months shy of his 30th birthday. He got off to a rocky start, allowing a run to the Braves immediately, but settled in after that, surrendering no further damage.
His parents and girlfriend were in the crowd, living and dying with every pitch. This should have been a great story. A lifetime minor leaguer forced into service due to rain keeps his team in the game with an impressive debut. He’ll never forget this day, but what we’ll mostly remember is another bullpen implosion.
Mazza kept putting up zeroes, and slowly but surely the Mets erased the Atlanta lead.
Dominic Smith, who entered the season as a forgotten man, got the Mets on the board with a homerun. Jeff McNeil, who has been nothing short of a revelation had two RBI doubles. Robinson Canó, who was booed earlier in the game, gave the Mets the lead with a single up the middle.
Hey, the wildcard is a long shot. The division seems like it’s out of reach. But at least the fans will be able to go home happy today, right?
There is a dark cloud over the 2019 Mets and they can’t get out from under it.
Even the 2018 Mets were able to send the Citi Field faithful home with smiles on their faces after David Wright’s last game. Austin Jackson and Jack Reinheimer were able to reward the fans that night. There was no happy ending yesterday.
In fact, fans were only able to forget about the dumpster fire which this season has become for one inning. They sat in their seats through heavy rain for more than 5 hours, and were forced to witness another bullpen meltdown.
And that’s been the theme of the season. There actually are things to get excited about. For example, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil are the 2019 versions of Jimmie Foxx and Wade Boggs. But before a full smile can spread on our faces, we are hit with another sobering dose of reality.
So, June 29, 2019 is essentially this entire season in a nutshell. Fans were having fun, honoring their legends and listening to tunes from the summer of love. The team erased an early defecit, only to have victory snatched away from them at the last moment.
I’ll leave you with this. Even yesterday’s celebrations have been stained with Met dysfunction.
The Mets honored all the members of the 1969 team who are no longer with us. Jim Gosger and Jesse Hudson were honored on the big board and given a respectful moment of silence.
Well, it turns out they are both alive. They just failed to invite them to the celebration. Because, well you know, they thought they were dead.
Only the Mets.