Image credit: Chris Simon
Before last weekend, the New York Mets hadn’t lost four consecutive games all season, limiting the downtimes quite efficiently and staying atop or in the divisional race despite a mountain of adversity.
Over their last 11 contests, the Mets have dropped four in a row twice, waking up Tuesday three-and-a-half games back of Atlanta. Reeling would be an obscene understatement.
In the Mets’ 7-5 loss to the Giants on Monday, Pete Alonso’s game-tying two-run triple and Dominic Smith’s go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth brought energy we hadn’t seen from this team since Friday night versus the Dodgers.
Rich Hill faltered (two earned runs over 3.2 IP), the offense picked him up. It was very nice to see, actually. From there, the Mets’ bullpen cracked and the offense wilted and the Mets were sent to their demise once again. It’s not what you want, folks.
Miguel Castro allowed a go-ahead home run to Kris Bryant in the bottom of the fifth and Trevor May, who hadn’t given up a long ball over 13 second-half appearances, gave up two in the seventh, sticking the Mets in a 7-3 hole.
There were signs of life to follow, but not many.
Leadoff base hits from Jonathan Villar and James McCann in the sixth went to waste.
Villar’s two-run homer in the eighth followed by Brandon Drury’s 11th pinch-hit of the season (.478 average in PH spots this year; woof) brought the tying run to the plate in Brandon Nimmo with one out, but neither he nor Michael Conforto could convert.
Painful to watch. Especially at 1 AM EST in New York. Makes you wonder how many fans will be staying up to watch this weekend as the Mets head down the PCH to Hollywood.
Realistically, things could be desperately out of hand by then.
“We just gotta go and play our game. We can’t do more than that,” Rojas said after the loss Monday. “We didn’t execute some pitches. We had some missed opportunities with runners in scoring position.”
“We can’t go outside our game, just thinking about [our] record or anything else going on standings-wise,” he said. “The only thing that we can control is what we do in-game […] We gotta focus on our game. That’s where everything has to be and not think about anything else.”
In theory, that’s a fine course of action. One step at a time and stuff. But at what point does a team peek at the standings, if not for anything but to light a fire under the group’s collective backside?
Time’s running out and the Mets’ situation isn’t getting any easier. Atlanta is red-hot. Philadelphia has one of the easiest remaining schedules in baseball down the stretch. And there’s New York, slipping on banana peels on what feels like a nightly basis.
As other teams catch fire, pulling themselves out of prolonged funks, making up ground, and gearing up for the final push, the Mets are still trying to find any semblance of consistency from their core group of offensive players.
There have been individual upticks, but the engine itself just isn’t roaring. Hasn’t been all season, if we’re being honest.
That three-plus week stretch in July where the Mets were finally all healthy and all producing, resulting in arguably the most productive offense in baseball over that span (124 wRC+ led MLB from July 1 through July 25), came to a screeching halt and hasn’t moved since.
The Mets’ issues with runners in scoring position have been glaring. There were high-water marks in that department (.314 batting average, 141 wRC+ with RISP in May; .298, 140 wRC+ in July), but, again, a dire lack of consistency has left the team scrambling.
The Mets’ 146 plate appearances with RISP this month rank eighth in baseball but their .161 batting average with 35 wRC+ in those spots both rank 29th (Baltimore, .148 BA, 19 wRC+).
They’re setting the table effectively, but appear to have no interest in sitting down for dinner. Absolutely baffling.
Michael Conforto’s come alive in recent weeks, hitting .304/.407/.522 with 155 wRC+ in August, as has J.D. Davis, who’s at .324/.458/.432 over 48 plate appearances this month with 152 wRC+. Looks like the hand is feeling better.
Jonathan Villar is slashing .298/.340/.553 over his last 51 plate appearances, taking his starting role and running with it in the absences of Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez.
Guys are picking it up and it’s encouraging, especially in Conforto’s case. What’s not encouraging is the lack of tangible results and the confounding nature of some of these losses.
The Mets are back at .500 (59-59) for the first time since May 6. Two ways to go from here. Onward and upward, family.
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