Yoenis Cespedes went AWOL and the Mets’ offense decided to join him, as they fell for the third straight time to the Braves, this time by a 4-0 margin Sunday afternoon. It was the first time they had been shut out this season.

The Mets put runners in scoring position in five of the first six innings. And they proceeded to go 1-12 in those situations. On top of that, the one hit was an infield single that didn’t plate a runner. Gary Cohen called the offense, “curiously inept.” They finished 1-15 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base.

Meanwhile, Cespedes wasn’t in the lineup. And while it seemed like a good time to give him a day off, early in the game it was announced that he did not show up and the Mets were unaware of his whereabouts. Later on, they announced that they believed that Cespedes was okay. Meaning that he just skipped the game. Memories of Matt Harvey jumped immediately to mind.

David Peterson gave a Quality Start, going 6 IP with 3 ER, 1 BB and 8 Ks. Unfortunately, the one walk came with the bases loaded. Still, it was a solid effort from a guy who didn’t exactly dominate Double-A last year. He certainly deserves another start.

Edwin Diaz came on to pitch in the seventh inning with the Mets trailing by three runs. He walked the leadoff batter and got an immediate mound visit from Jeremy Hefner. Diaz got out of the inning without allowing a run.

The story of the game is the continuation of not being able to get the big hit. But what is flying under the radar is how rotten the Mets’ pitching outside of Jacob deGrom has been. Minus deGrom, the Mets’ staff has allowed 52 ER in 77 IP for a 6.08 ERA. It’s tough to win with pitching like that.

22 comments on “Gut Reaction: Braves 4, Mets 0 (8/2/20)

  • Chris F

    Telling no one, Ces decided to opt out. He’s done as a Met.

    • Brian Joura

      That’s why they picked up Billy Hamilton – to replace Cespedes’ offense.

      • Mike W

        That is sarcastically funny. Maybe Hamilton will also hit cleanup.

        I think Cespedes may have fallen off if his horse again.

      • Chris F

        Probably even more offense

  • HOF19

    Between the protocols and maybe he started to realize that it (his batting average lets say ) was not gonna get any better …….So he walked away ? (This is just speculation on my part ).

  • HOF19

    Without a doubt Cespedes handled this horribly………And the some !!!!!

  • Chris F

    Lowrie moved to 45 Day DL so his time as a Met is over too.

  • Michael

    I will always cherish his final game with us—– 2 GOs and 2 Ks. Good riddance.

  • Chris F

    Cano 80M$
    Ces 100M$
    Familia 30M$
    Lowrie 20M$

    230M$ complete waste. And add the loss of Keleneck and whoever gets the Mets should fire Van Wagenen before ever getting to CitiField to fumigate the ownership suite.

    • Brian Joura

      Cano should be $100 million.

      Alderson signed Cespedes and BVW actually saved the Wilpons some money on that deal by threatening to void the contract and having Cespedes make financial concessions. Plus insurance picked up part the previous two seasons.

      Lowrie wasn’t hurt when they signed him and it seems too harsh to claim that a guy who played 310 games out of 324 the previous two seasons was a bad injury risk.

      I know you felt the Familia deal was a mistake from the moment he signed it but that wasn’t an industry-wide assessment at the time. Might be a case where you were right and the majority was wrong. I’d suggest that it’s too early to declare victory right now but that it’s likely we’re just waiting to find out if it was a bad move or a spectacularly bad move.

      The Cano deal rates as his glaring mistake and the Beltran fiasco ranks second. That’s certainly enough for new ownership to potentially decide to bring in their guy but I don’t believe that his departure is imminent. Scott Perry is still the Knicks’ GM and his moves have cost ownership more money.

      • TJ

        I can’t hold the team or GM responsible for how Cespedes conducted himself today, at least without more incrimmiating information. The world is now an instant info place, and theseweird things happen in real time. In a way it is good for the team. I had no problem with giving it a shot with Cespedes, motivated on his walk year, but he clearly was very rusty and there is no time to work out the rust for an older player, If they fall farther back, let Dom and JD get those ABs. They’ll be here next year, or can increase trade value.

        Without going through the entire list of transactions, school is still out on the Familia signing; the price was high, but there are many other veteran bullpen arms that have been complete busts over the last two years, and Familia can still turn it around. Cano/Diaz, Lowrie, and Beltran are all complete train wrecks based on the outcomes, regardless of the rationalization at the time. Additionally, dealing more pitching arms for Stroman has almost certainly turned up lemons, regardless of intent. Combine that with not dealing Wheeler and mis-reading the ability to resign him, and Brodie has a long list of minuses. Now, the overslot arms he drafts could turn out to be a real good thing, but that will take time, and the clock is ticking. BVW was Jeffy’s guy from day 1, and when Jeff is out, only the wins & losses will save him. At 3-7 with the season on the brink from either a pandemic or lousy play, things don’t look good in Metsville.

        To end on a positive, the kid Peterson wasn’t great but he has been solid in two starts. Small sample, but he may be better than Matz right now. For once it is nice to see a depth guy not get pummeled in emergency starts.

        • Mike W

          Here is what I now think. Cespedes had no intention of playing the whole season. He wanted his roster bonus. As soon as the check cleared, he bolted. What a loser jerk to leave the way that he did.

          • Name

            I”m not a lawyer and i know it would probably be a tough fight with the MLBPA, but i think they would ultimately be able to claw back some portion of that roster bonus should they choose to pursue it.

  • john

    i know the season a joke. but wright should of been the manager. when is somebody going to tell alonso stop trying to hit homers all the time.thay have a bunch of good guys on the team. but they need relievers. let diaz hit the high way.

    • Michael

      Alonso might want to take a refresher course in Baseball 101. Ninth inning, down by 4, one out with 2 men on—– he swings at ball 4 on a 3-1 count and hits a lazy fly to RF. Genius.

  • NYM6986

    Such a disappointing start with most everyone not hitting. Liked Wacha and Porcello as back of the rotation starters but Stroman out has hurt and Matz is no #2. Yes Lowrie is a bust and Diaz a total mystery. But how could the team doc not know Céspedes had two bad heals? Maybe Don Hahn or Lee Mazilli will come out of retirement to play CF?

  • TexasGusCC

    My two cents and an update on why Yo will not show:

    -Cespedes is upset about being sat and not being able to reach his bonuses. I kind of felt that was the real reason from the outset: money. Enough with the prima donna distractions.

    – I can’t credit the draft picks on BVW because Taneous runs the draft and he makes the picks. Too, after drafts and depending on signability, it’s him and not BVW that is interviewed.

    BVW may be a great presenter but his moves have been of the “win today at all costs” variety and those may be the marching orders from his bosses: we all know why. I mean, Billy Hamilton after no one wanted him all winter? Cash considerations for Tyler Bashlor? Of course, wink wink.

    Lastly, I liked the Familia signing even though it might have been a couple mil per year more than the market was giving, but good for Familia.

    Oh, there was a game today? I can’t blame Rojas for this. The Mets clubhouse is one of many distractions and many agendas. If you don’t have a Girardi, Showalter, Baker to type to stand up to the players, they’ll eat the manager for lunch. Unless of course he just kisses their butt, ala Collins. Beltran probably was the best choice, after all.

  • Metsense

    Gut Reaction: Great first line Brian.It sums up everything.
    Peterson was good and is better than Porcello.
    Cespedes handled his departure poorly. Smith has earned the chance and will probably be more productive.
    Maybe someone will get a hitter with a RISP next game but probably not because deGrom is pitching.

  • 1999

    Obviously this would not have made a difference in the score because of today’s offense but what was the plan with that shift on Freeman in the 3rd inning? They gave up a run on what should have been an easy double play. I understand that the shift is useful in many cases but has it become standard even with the bases loaded? It seems unusual to me to do that with runners in scoring position.

    • Brian Joura

      The ball was fielded, what, about five steps away from the 2nd base bag. If they didn’t have a shift on with three fielders on the right side of second base, there’s no way the 2B is positioned where he could come close to making the play. So, no outs and two runs in on the hit.

  • JimO

    Silver lining is that Dominick Smith gets a chance for At-Bats.

  • HOF19

    Per Mlb.com team stats Mets pitching staff are only 2 hits away from giving up more hits than any other pitching staff than all of the pitching staffs in the Majors …….Yikes !!!!!

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