The weekend is over but the road trip continues.
Just in case you missed it, forgivable with almost a week off for the All-Star break, the second half of the season kicked off with a wasted opportunity in St. Louis. The Mets dropped the first two games of a three-game set against the Major League-best Cardinals. They flew into Washington – albeit later than anticipated – having gained no ground on the first place Nationals.
So what happened? The short answer is offense.
The series-opener went St. Louis’ way with a 3-2 final Friday, but this contest was gift-wrapped for New York. Curtis Granderson appeared to set the tone with a 472-foot bomb to deep right, while rookie starter Noah Syndergaard kept the Cardinals’ bats silent through five innings. Syndergaard and three members of the relief corps allowed seven hits and three runs in eight innings.
Meanwhile, the Mets recorded just three hits between Granderson’s home run and the eight inning. Cardinals’ closer Trevor Rosenthal looked shaky with public comments about overuse emerged in the Gateway City. Daniel Murphy led off flying out to right, but Lucas Duda singled through the shift into right and Kevin Plawecki was gifted a single on a flare to shallow right that should not have fallen.
A rally suddenly beginning, bench player Eric Campbell pinch ran for Plawecki. Kirk Nieuwenhuis struck out swinging for the second out, but the magic was still alive. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Ruben Tejada guided a groundball beyond Rosenthal for an infield single to score Duda. John Mayberry Jr. stepped into the box looking to plate the trying run 90 feet away, but struck out swinging.
Saturday was a disaster all the way around, the Mets falling 12-2. Veteran starter Bartolo Colon allowed seven runs to score without escaping the fifth inning and the bullpen yielded five more runs in three innings of work. Meanwhile New York batters collected 12 hits, but left 11 on base, including five in scoring position.
The Mets staved off a sweep Sunday with a 3-1 win, but it took two full games in the stifling heat to do it. Neither starter, Jon Niese for New York or Tim Cooney for St. Louis, allowed a run, but neither mattered beyond that. Bullpens were heavily taxed as the game continued scoreless into extra innings.
Signs of life came in the 13th inning when Granderson smacked a base hit to left center he stretched into a double. Plawecki laced the ball into right, Granderson scoring the game’s first run on aggressive baserunning. Tejada singled to right, and now the Mets had nobody out, runners on the corners and, most importantly, the lead. But the magic disappeared suddenly, as a Campbell fly out, Juan Lagares pop up and Johnny Monell pop up. Making matters worse, Kolten Wong rudely greeted Jeurys Familia with a lead-off bomb in the bottom half. The game, still tied, continued on into the 14th inning.
The Mets finally scored again in the top of the 18th. Wilmer Flores singled to left and Granderson singled to right. Plawecki also reached base when reliever Carlos Martinez failed to properly field a sacrifice bunt. The bases juiced, Tejada punched a sacrifice fly to right that scored Flores. Campbell earned an RBI with a squeeze bunt plating Granderson. Carlos Torres tossed a 1-2-3 18th inning for his second inning of work and the victory.
These are the important numbers from the weekend.
2-1, games St. Louis won to take the series
16-7, Mets were outscored in all three games
35, Mets total hits
2 for 37, batting with runners in scoring position
42, Mets left on base
17 and 33, total walks and strikeouts
0/3, Mayberry batting
3/9, Nieuwenhuis batting
The most obvious takeaway from this series is how badly Mayberry needs to go. The front office shouldn’t waste any time trying to find a trade partner to save a few pennies, this guy is an offensive black hole with a career-worst .608 OPS and miserable .208/.269/.458 slash against lefties before going 0-for-2 with a walk on Sunday. The second item of note is how much more aggressive the Mets have become since the break. We previously looked at how overly-patient New York was, but they nearly doubled up strikeouts to walks. Similarly, the Mets are actually getting base hits; they just can’t do it when someone is on second or third base. This could be a temporary trend, it could remedy if they make smart personnel decisions before the trade deadline or it could return to very minimal hits with bad batters and the patient approach.
Sitting at 48-44 late on Sunday, the second-place Mets missed an opportunity to pick up half a game on the 49-41 Nationals. Seventy games remain in the 2015 regular season, but it’s never too early to fight back in it and build a healthy lead. Ask the 2007 Mets what can happen if you don’t.
The Mets need an established veteran 4th outfielder because Cuddyer and Lagares are banged up. Mayberry should be the casualty with the new aquisition.Geren’s (TC was bounced) decision to PH him in the ninth inning on Friday was suspect at best.
One bat is not going to do it either. They could use an infield bat also which would make Flores a bench player. They can’t wait until the end of the month for Zobrist because if they don’t get him then their other options may have also passed.
This is why Sandy should be pressing the Brewers hard. Ramirez and Parra may be just enough offense to get the Mets over the top. TDA coming back and Plawecki to the bench would help the bench. The Mets needed offense a month ago and the Brewers would love to pick some players out of the Met farm.
Don’t want any part of Ramirez, but Parra is an interesting option. Think I’d rather trade for a bigger OF bat and move Cuddyer to the bench, especially if he’s going to be on the DL anyway.
Agreed on Cuddyer. He already is the veteran, 4th outfielder that the Mets need.
What they need is a new starter.
The offense is appalling. Its no new news. Why Alderson hasnt been able to fix this in 4 years or 3 years or 2 years is shocking. Its like he is totally watching some other team.