Nate Eovaldi? Great. The Mets never hit Nate Eovaldi. — Me, 1 hour before first pitch

I didn’t know how right I was. Chris Flexen, Chris Beck, Tyler Bashlor and Paul Sewald conspired to allow the Tampa Bay Rays nine runs. Eovaldi conspired with himself to keep the Mets off the bases. As conspiracies go, this one was better than Watergate. The Mets didn’t have a base runner until Brandon Nimmo’s single found its way into the outfield in the seventh inning. He was erased on Asdrubal Cabrera’s double-play ball, but by then, that hardly mattered.

Flexen allowed three runs before the second out of the game was recorded. C.J. Cron hit a ball that might still be travelling if not for the upper deck in left center with two on. Flexen allowed a couple of doubles and a base knock for two more runs in the third. When Beck opened the fifth allowing two walks, Eovaldi helped himself with a tough grounder to Cabrera that he was able to beat out for and infield hit and another run. Beck also served up Rays’ homer number two in the sixth, to Jake Bauers. In the eighth, Sewald gave up a couple more runs, including Tampa Bay’s third homer of the afternoon, to somebody named Joey Wendle.

9-0 is the forfeit score, so the Mets didn’t even need to show up for this loss. I’m not entirely sure they ever did.

9 comments on “Gut Reaction: Rays 9, Mets 0 (7/8/18)

  • Michael

    I am waiting for Keith and/or Ron to go on a rant about the quality of baseball they have to witness. This is a disgrace. I found myself wishing for a perfect game. Before I was willing to give Mickey a second year, now I am not so sure. Terry had to deal with a lot more injuries and his team never looked like this.

  • Eric

    Indeed! Mets seem on a pace to set a team record for being shut out.

  • Chris F

    I disagree way more often than not with Joel Sherman, but in this case he is spot on:

    As Mets are humiliated again I will post 1 more time column that their most important valuation is not what can get for deGrom/Syndergaard but assessing how good they are and sense is they still think they’re good despite a W-L that screams otherwise.

    https://nypost.com/2018/07/07/mets-appearing-to-double-down-on-a-failed-strategy/

  • Mike Walczak

    More of the same. It is sad when you have the expectation that they will lose before the game.

    Let’s see what the next three weeks brings. 23 days to go until the deadline.

  • David Klein

    Todd Frazier has a wRC+ of 89 this year twenty points below his career wRC+ so the Mets likely can’t trade him even though he’s cheap.

    • TexasGusCC

      David, while I despise the all or nothing hitters, Frazier’s defense and solid base running make him palatable if he’s used correctly. When he’s batting in the heart of the order, it hurts the team. When he is hitting sixth or seventh, he is perfect. Now, the Mets need to have better players to put in the heart of the order, but that’s the problem: Those players should be Cespedes, Conforto, Cabrera and and Flores. Well, Cespedes is MIA, Conforto is not what we’ve remembered, and while the other two have performed admirably, they are support pieces trying to act like main cogs. This, while the leadoff hitter has gone under water ever since the Dodgers hit him in the hand.

      My point is that while Frazier is underperforming, as is the team, he can be carried with an expectation of bouncing back close to his norms, a plus glove to help the pitchers do their work, and solid base running.

  • Mike Walczak

    Problem – The Mets are in the bottom three in MLB with the Royals and Orioles in almost every batting statistic. That’s why they suck.

    We need position players. If this is to turn around, they have to purge the team. You have to get rid of the bad before you fill it with the good.

    The team pitching is in the middle. We know the bullpen sucks, so maybe we upgrade with a couple of relievers.

    The dead wood has to go and and some of that should include Bruce, Frazier and Cespedes.

    The Wilpons need to suck it up and take it in the wallet to make the purge happen.

    These old broken down over the hill junk heaps are taking us nowhere except faster to the bottom of the ocean.

    Can you imagine a family paying big bucks to take their eight year old kid to the game today. That kid will be scarred for life.

    As much as I blame Callaway, I can’t really honestly blame him. He has a bad roster and a lot of injuries. Just like my Jets. There is no way that you can blame Todd Bowles for a losing record with a bad roster.

    So, let’s kick off the purge party. Let’s say they keep deGrom and Syndergaard. If they trade Wheeler or Matz, who in the world is going to fill the starter slot? Wiffle Ball pitcher Flexen? There really aren’t any good backfill options.

    If they don’t shake up this roster soon, we are going to be doomed for at least two years.

    The management needs to be decisive and committed.

    Please, no more painful games like today. If you can’t hit, then bunt the damn ball.

  • Eraff

    Conforto needs a 2 game break…it’s a severe move, but he needs to put his bat down for a few days.

  • Eraff

    Interesting article in the Post…. paraphrasing— the problem with trading pitchers is that we’ve seen “the next wave”—Flexen and others have shown that they are certainly not ready, and they may not have mlb talent. That last part is crucial. Lot’s of young pitchers get their asses kicked, even with Wow Stuff—these guys are getting shelled and they don’t show anything in the way of stuff. Oswalt and Flexen have looked like “Tomato Cans” out there.

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