Help On the Way But Time's Running Out
Mets lose to Dodgers again, offense continues swoon as divisional gap widens
Image credit: Chris Simon
On Friday night in Los Angeles, the Mets continued their impotent stretch at the plate, nullifying Carlos Carrasco’s respectable outing with a 3-2 loss to the Dodgers, dropping six games behind Atlanta in the NL East.
Things have unquestionably come to a head in Flushing over the last few weeks. Seriously, it’s barely been over three weeks since everything came crashing down for this team.
Since their rubber-game loss to the Braves at Citi Field on July 29 (up 3.5 games in the division), the Mets have careened into their deepest funk of the season at the plate, hitting .225/.292/.342 with 77 wRC+ over that span (entering Saturday).
Their productivity — or lack thereof — with runners in scoring position is even bleaker.
Including Saturday, the Mets have gone 32-for-180 in those spots, leaving a staggering 170 runners on the basepaths over 23 games, going 6-17 in that stretch.
That’s simply not the way, friends.
After Friday’s loss, Michael Conforto didn’t deflect responsibility from anywhere but the players themselves, continuing to express hope that they can turn things around despite overwhelmingly bad odds in that regard.
“We’re not just going to pack our stuff up and go home. We’re going to stay positive and fight,” he said. “We’re honest with ourselves. We’re not living in a fantasyland where we think everything is great and the standings aren’t there. We’re very aware of that.”
“We’re not going to let a loss linger into the next day,” Conforto added. “That’s not productive.”
Outside looking in, there’s appeared to be quite a bit of lingering and festering, allowing minor issues treatable with adjustments to transform into major problems that bring entire operations to grinding halts.
We’ve seen that process play out first-hand.
On Saturday, with a limited amount of time left to turn things around before the gap between themselves and Atlanta becomes insurmountable, the Mets would need an expedited spark.
Instead, they found themselves in yet another early hole thanks to a pair of first-inning solo home runs off left-hander Rich Hill via Trea Turner (his first with L.A.) and Albert Pujols (677th career dinger; wow). Both came on high-80s four-seamers.
New York garnered early opportunities against Los Angeles right-hander and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. Brandon Nimmo led off the game with a double and J.D. Davis led off the second with a single. Still, nada.
It’s tough to break a slump with Mad Max on the bump and the Dodgers red-hot (eight consecutive wins heading into Saturday; 15-3 over last 18). You almost could feel where this was headed.
Nimmo added his second hit of the game with a one-out single in the third (stole second with two outs) but neither Jeff McNeil (4-for-his-last-40 entering the day) nor Pete Alonso (oppo rocket in Saturday’s loss) could bring him around.
Hill settled down briefly after taking his licks in the first but allowed a solo shot to Chris Taylor in the fourth (another four-seamer), extending the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0.
Nimmo continued his hot day with a two-out solo homer in the fifth (fourth of the year) to make it a 3-1 game. A little late but that’s a very nice way to kickstart the offense.
And it almost worked, too.
McNeil crushed a double down the right-field line in the next at-bat, Alonso was nicked on the elbow to put the tying runs on and Conforto drew a full-count walk, but Davis swung through a Scherzer middle-middle fastball to leave everyone stranded.
A generous handful of very important runs were stranded on the paths between Davis’ bases-loaded strikeout in the eighth on Friday and another in the fifth on Saturday. Not ideal.
Jonathan Villar snapped his 0-for-10 drought with a one-out single in the sixth but Chance Sisco — getting the start in place of Patrick Mazeika while James McCann cools his jets on the IL — lined into an unassisted double play via Pujols at first base.
Miguel Castro relieved Hill after five innings (three earned runs; 5.07 ERA over 26.2 IP with NYM) and was greeted with a disintegrated-bat bloop single and stolen base via pinch-hitter Matt Beaty.
AJ Pollock and Corey Seager drew walks behind him, and just like that, instant ill-timed jam.
Castro walked Taylor to force in a run, making it a 4-1 game and keeping the bags packed with none out. Naturally, that was all for the right-hander. Jeurys Familia got the call to clean up the mess and without a second to spare.
Familia got Will Smith to pop up on the infield for the first out, the struggling Cody Bellinger flew out to Conforto in shallow right, and Justin Turner — pinch-hitting and perpetually a Mets killer — grounded out to Davis at third base. Huge.
Pete Alonso brought the Mets within striking distance with his 28th home run of the year off Blake Treinen in the seventh, plating himself and McNeil (two-out walk) with a finger-roll off the front of the rim, cutting Los Angeles’ lead to 4-3.
Familia stayed on to start the seventh, allowed a leadoff single to Turner, and was shown the exit in favor of Aaron Loup, who retired the next three batters in order, lowering his ERA to 1.09 on the season.
Over 32 appearances since June 1 (28.1 IP), Loup’s allowed one earned run with 30 strikeouts and six walks (0.32 ERA). Invaluable cog to whatever the Mets have achieved and will accomplish this season.
A free agent at the end of the season, one would assume the Mets will make a reunion with Loup a priority. We shall see.
Villar singled with two outs in the eighth but Mazeika (PH for Cisco) struck out, Seth Lugo worked a clean eighth, and the Mets were faced with besting Kenley Jansen in the ninth down by a run.
Kevin Pillar was hit by a pitch to start the frame and brazenly took second on Nimmo’s fly out to Pollock (wild gamble; should have been out), but McNeil (strikeout swinging) and Alonso came up empty. Brutal stretch. Oof.
Though, not all is lost.
Noah Syndergaard ramped up to 20 pitches in a live batting practice session on Saturday. He’s expected to rejoin the team in some capacity — starting or relieving — at some point in the near-ish future.
Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez are both expected to be activated off the injured list as early as Sunday. Báez was seen fielding ground balls at second and Lindor (as well as Luis Guillorme, nursing a hamstring injury) took BP off Syndergaard.
Reserves are on the way. The jury is still out on whether or not it will make a difference with regards to the Mets’ chances of contention this season. Still, LFGM.
Never any paywalls. Once it leaves my head, it’s yours. If you want to pay me for my work, it’s greatly appreciated.
Become a paid subscriber below, or if you enjoyed the story, drop a buck or two in our Venmo account (@TheAppleNYM)