Gut Reaction: Rockies 2 Mets 1 (7/28/16)

Until last night, the Mets had been 48-0 in games they led after eight innings. They are now 48-2. Jeurys Familia let another game slip away this afternoon, but this one is on Terry Collins, with an assist from the offense’s ineffectuality with runners on base.

Jacob deGrom rebounded nicely from his dud outing in Miami on Saturday. He went seven strong innings, surrendering five hits, striking out six and walking one. And allowing zero runs. He deserved better. So, so much better.

The Mets opened the scoring in the second inning. With two outs and James Loney on first, newly minted slugger Rene Rivera cracked a long double to right center, chasing Loney home. Rivera was gunned down at third trying to stretch it after a Carlos Gonzales bobble, but it appeared deGrom wouldn’t need much else. He kept mowing down Colorado batters. The Mets, meanwhile, were given ample chances to pad their lead, but bypassed all of them. They had Neil Walker on second with two outs in the fourth. They had a Rivera on second — another double — with no outs in the fifth. They had first and second with two outs in the sixth. Check the final score again.

But the seventh was the big blow and where Collins left his first smudge on this game. Against reliever Jake McGee, Rivera led off with a base hit. Alejandro De Aza hit liner into the gap for a double. Second and third, nobody out, with deGrom’s spot in the order coming up. Now, Collins had several choices here. He gave Yoenis Cespedes, the most dangerous hitter on the club, the afternoon off. He had a sore Jose Reyes on the bench, as well as Michael Conforto, Kelly Johnson and second catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Now… If it were me managing this team, and I wanted to avoid sending Conforto or Johnson up vs. the lefty McGee, I would have either sent up Reyes — with strict instructions not to move the bat off his shoulder — or deGrom, who wasn’t going to pitch the eighth anyway, but who is a good hitting pitcher. At worst, you end up with second and third, with one out and you still have your big guns on the bench, should the Rox erase the lead. Instead, Collins sent up Cespedes, who any four-year-old could have told you would be intentionally walked. He was and pinch-run for by pitcher Steven Matz. Righty Scott Oberg replaced McGee, so Collins sent Johnson up to hit for Juan Lagares. Johnson hit a grounder to short, forcing Rivera at the plate. Curtis Granderson struck out swinging and Wilmer Flores hit an easy fly to center. Bases loaded, no outs. Check the final score again.

Collins struck again in the ninth. After last night’s game, he told reporters that Familia would not be available today: day game after a night game, it would be his third straight day of work, a lot of straining, high-leverage pitches the night before and a 92-degree afternoon would keep him nailed to the pine. Until it didn’t. Collins went to Addison Reed and Jerry Blevins to navigate the eighth, which they did with only the minor hiccup of a DJ LeMahieu single. In the ninth, Collins summoned Familia. Fatigued, battered, overheated Familia, not a fresh and spry Hansel Robles. Or he could have had Robles pitch the eighth and brought in Reed to close. No. It was Familia. He went to 3-0 on leadoff man Trevor Story before surrendering a base hit. Story then stole second, irrelevant, since the next man, David Dahl, walked. Daniel Descalso then dropped a bunt that Rivera willed to go foul, but it never did and the bases were loaded. Familia gathered himself to strike out Tony Wolters. Fans across the tri-state then prayed for a ground ball by pich-hitter Christhian Adames to end this thing. We got the ground ball, but it scored the tying run as Loney mishandled the broken-bat grounder. In fairness to Loney, the run would have scored anyway, as the ball wasn’t hit hard enough to turn two. Familia, now with his tongue clearly hanging out, uncorked a wild pitch to Charlie Blackmon, untying the game. Collins left him in to intentionally walk Blackmon before finally wagging in Robles, who got the final two outs with ease.

I’m not usually one who calls for Collins’s head when things go wrong, but he completely screwed the pooch on this one.

We see the Rockies again tomorrow night. Here’s hoping Jeurys Familia stays home.