Paul Sewald. That’s why we lost this game. You can blame the pitcher or the manager for choosing to use him when the game was close, but the moribund reliever was responsible for four of the runs as he got clobbered without even finishing one inning of relief. Otherwise, the Mets played well and could have won this game.
Corey Oswalt started, and though he batted, he flirted with disaster, putting runners on base in each of his three innings of work and had thrown 61 pitches when Mickey Callaway opted to pull him with two outs in the third inning. Daniel Zamora struck out Jackie Bradley, Jr. to end the threat and then struck out three more batters in the fourth. The Mets then jumped out to a 3-1 lead as Brandon Nimmo slugged a three-run home run off Rick Porcello into the right field bleachers, otherwise known as Mets territory in this series as the 7 Line Army has turned the entire section blue and orange.
The Mets were not expected to win this game against the best team with a spot starter on the hill, but here they stood, up 3-1. But Callaway, despite having an expanded and rested bullpen at his disposal, chose to turn to one of his least reliable arms in Sewald. The newly sidearm righty coughed up a walk and three hits, including a two-run double, before giving way to Drew Smith, who allowed the inherited runners to score on another double. Smith pitched a scoreless sixth and then Drew Gagnon and Jacob Rhame held the Red Sox scoreless the rest of the way to try to keep the Mets in the game.
The Mets squandered their best opportunity in the top of the seventh when, with runners on second and third, Austin Jackson popped up. It seems that dead cat has stopped bouncing.
The highlight of this game was the Mets and Red Sox fans finding solidarity in a stadium wide chant of “Yankees suck!” as the scoreboard showed our crosstown rivals losing to the Blue Jays.
The Mets-Red Sox series concludes tomorrow with an epic showdown between Jacob deGrom and Chris Sale. Let’s go Mets!
Mickey Callaway has got me praying to see terry collins manage again.
Callaway, I’m sure, wanted to save his best relievers for the more important game tomorrow. I don’t think you would want to see Sewald trotted out tomorrow in the eighth inning to hold a 2-1 lead for Jacob deGrom.
The Mets have 13 relievers on the active roster. We aren’t saying bring your best in the fifth inning, but how about changing what looked like a bad matchup? Oh well. Two weeks left of baseball.
Paul Sewald: 0-Career. That pitch to Bradley was literally “right – down – the pipe”. It’s rediculous that he can’t hit a corner and has no control of where his pitches will wind up. I can follow how they want to evaluate players in a lost season, but evealuate what you don’t know. Two hits in a row and a lefty up, Sewald has to go.
Zamora has been impressive and I must tip my cap to Oswalt, whom I chastised yesterday and predicted 47-1 in the first inning. He battled and did his job well enough to not have given up any runs.
I told y’all Dom Smith is a lost cause. He just is.
The Mets only managed two hits. How do you write a lede that only blames Sewald? This site is really going downhill.
But with just two hits they were winning 3 to 1 if you were watching. The author of this article had every right the blame Seewald and Calloway for the loss. I’ve been reading ( and sometimes writing for) this site for about 8 years and it has not gone downhill.
This is the best Mets blog out there. The articles are well written and contain detailed factual analysis. It is way more than casual fans writing articles.
When Seewald put the two runners on after to getting the two first outs, I sensed trouble in the making. Although I am an advocate of keeping a pitcher in, I thought this time Callaway should have made a change because of Seewald’s reputation.
Nimmo is something isn’t he? He is a budding star in the league. Too bad Callaway doesn’t lead him off and use Rosario speed in the 7th spot in the batting order.
Jeff McNeil has been and acrobat the past two days on defense. And he still has the time to get a few hits each game. If you can’t see how good he is then you’re not paying attention.
Conforto, Rosario and Plawecki round out the inexpensive Youth Corps of the Mets.
I thought Corey Oswalt did a fine game for a fifth starter. Gutty and the Martinez strikeout showed a determination. How can you not be excited for 2019? LGM
I agree, positives for 2019
I enjoyed the comments