The Mets got a strong starting pitching performance for the second straight day. Unfortunately, the bullpen didn’t hold it together and the offense was MIA, resulting in a 7-0 loss to the Braves. Atlanta wins the season series, 7-3.

Rick Porcello got the start and Porcello had been beaten up by Atlanta in his previous two starts, going just 6 IP and allowing 11 R, including 9 ER. But it was a completely different story this time around, as Porcello went seven innings and allowed just three hits. However, one of those three hits was a homer and Porcello left the game, trailing 1-0.

Jeurys Familia was brought on to pitch for his second straight day. He wasn’t great yesterday – allowing a run in his only inning – and was even worse today. The Braves scored two runs against Familia in the eighth, making it 3-0. Chasen Shreve came on to pitch the ninth and was done in by his own error on a double play ball. If he turns the DP, the Mets get out of the inning without any runs scored. The Braves ended up scoring four in the inning.

The Mets were held to just three hits, including two by Wilson Ramos. Mets opened up the ninth inning with back-to-back hits by Ramos and Brandon Nimmo. But Michael Conforto, who struck out his first three trips to the plate, grounded into a double play to kill any thoughts of a miracle comeback.

18 comments on “Gut Reaction: Braves 7, Mets 0 (9/20/20)

  • David Klein

    Porcello for once was awesome everyone else in Mets colors stunk today and d’Arnaud putting the Mets in their grave is a fitting end to the Wilpon era. Pretty terrible managing by Rojas by using Familia as the eighth inning man lately and has all season been pulling guys two batters too late he’s awful.

  • NYM6986

    Thanks Brian for your perseverance watching all the Mets games and then telling it like it is. I got to switch back and forth and also watch the football Giants fail to score and not pull out a win. Suffering offenses would be the story of the day. Porcello did is his part and I would welcome him back next year if the Mets can find a legit pitching coach. Familia continues to disappoint. Too bad we did not have this years Cano and Diaz last year but that’s what makes this an interesting game and teams rarely repeat. Will still be watching the remaining games and now at least the playoff pressure is off

    • Brian Joura

      My personal hell was watching the Mets and Vikings get destroyed yesterday. Oh, and my fantasy team got lit up, too. Some days you just shouldn’t get out of bed…

  • TJ

    Wow. Just a brutal showing with the season on the line, no offense against an extremely hit table pitcher. Very disappointing, but unfortunately nothing we aren’t used to as Met fans.

  • David Klein

    Sandy back? I’m okay with that if Brodie’s gone he’s grossly incompetent

    • Bob P

      Brodie’s worse but I don’t want Sandy back either.

      • Brian Joura

        When Alderson was hired, it was supposed to be Moneyball with money and, well, that never happened. I’d be at least a little curious to see what he could do with an open check book and ownership that wasn’t incompetent. Even with the handicaps he had to deal with, he delivered a World Series team.

        But the idea should be to hire the 40-year-old Alderson, not the soon-to-be 73 year old.

  • TexasGusCC

    Gut reaction: How fast can Manfred get Cohen approved?

    Pitching to a scalding TDA with two outs and a base open… smh. I remember reading about the mistakes Hinch made as a rookie manager. I know Dave Roberts made many. Bottom line, your players make you look smart or dumb. Familia’s pitches have no movement.

    • Brian Joura

      You need players – that’s for sure.

      I don’t blame Rojas for, say, Wacha being bad. It was an upside play that was worth attempting. I might have pulled him one start earlier but it’s not like there was an All-Star waiting in the wings.

      But you don’t need players to avoid pitching to a red-hot hitter with an open base. That’s all on the manager. As is bringing in a shaky reliever for the second-straight day in a high-leverage situation. They had options Sunday and chose to use Familia anyway. That’s on the manager, too.

  • Metsense

    Gut Reaction: Throw strikes!
    Porcello pitched a gem. Familia walked two batters and they both scored. That is a formula for losing baseball. Their record reflects this.

  • Edwin e Pena

    Classic Fail….BVW X 2 . First there’s hot mess Familia, who stinks along with the Anti-Save Edwin Diaz, both BVW beauties. Met’s GM gave Familia like $30M / 3 years for tossing meatballs, then there is Travis d’Arnaud, a catcher the Mets can use, who is killing it this year for our division rival Braves, who BVW gave up on for some chump change while he was working his way back from injury.
    The table set for a game the Mets were desperate for, Famila vs d’Arnaud,and viola !
    A Famila (familar) meatball and a d’Arnaud double and the game is over. Two failures wrapped into one freakin burrito courtesy of the Met’s terrible GM, BVW. First move by Mr.Cohen, I hope is dumping this GM.

    Editor’s Note – Please do not capitalize words in your post, as that is a violation of our Comment Policy.

  • Smackattack

    This team continues to befuddle me. When they hit, they don’t pitch. When they pitch, they don’t hit. The bullpen’s great. The bullpen stinks. Alonso is totally screwed up. I can’t even watch him hit anymore. The umpire should just ring him up after a two strike count. The talk about Rosario in CF next year scares me. I like Nimmo there. He swings at every pitch thrown in the ocean and for a guy who can run, he has zero steals. That’s on Rojas. He runs nobody, especially in a close game in the late innings . As much as I hate the Braves, I wish I was one of their fans. Ramos has to go. Cohen should open the bank for Realmuto. This season we were the most talented and most underwhelming and underachieving team in the MLB. PS Where’s Betances? Geez!

    • TexasGusCC

      Smacky, I was looking at free agent CFers yesterday. The free agents are Springer and Bradley, a righty that’s good and a lefty that can’t hit much, and both will be 31. Nimmo needs to be upgraded, but then where does McNeil play? What about Davis? Both these guys have shown something and have been more the solution than the problem. As they went to the World Series with Granderson and Cespedes in CF, I guess you let Nimmo play CF and plug the much bigger holes this offseason.

  • Smackattack

    Agreed, but Nimmo leads the world in 3-2 counts and he ‘s a gamer and I love his hustle. I think we can live with his defense. What do we do about Davis, Rosario and even Alonso? Unless there’s an NL DH, Pete’s never going to push out Dom. You’re right about Cano. He’s another DH taking McNeil off second. The rotation – Jake, Noah, Marcus, Seth and Peterson looks great on paper. Gotta live with Diaz though I got no more fingernails to bite. The only sure position is Conforto in right and that’s if Cohen meets his dollar demand. We might be a few pieces away from winning a pennant but we have a starting lineup that is anybody’s guess from one through nine.

  • Chris F

    We always see the same thing with this team like Smack said: pitch on one day, but cant hit (the story of degrom), hit on one day but cant pitch, consistently cannot play defense, good starts followed by bad bull pens, terrible starts followed by great bull pens. As I have said all along, the team is wildly unbalanced in approach and preparation.

    The team is filled with square peg- round hole players. Balanced teams catch and throw. Balanced teams get that runner home. The fact is the team is built like a wheel thats oval shaped. It cant function properly. The thought of Alderson coming back already makes me want to have had J-Rod win the purchase. What a disaster. New ownership same shitty approach.

  • Smackattack

    Chris, you hit the ball right on the sweet spot when you said the team is unbalanced and trying to fit square pegs into round holes and that better teams have figured it out and know how to win. Aldersen is supposed to come as an advisor. How about Theo Epstein as the new GM? Money buys everyone!

    • TexasGusCC

      Epstein and Alderson cannot coexist. They both are top of the organization guys. We will hear many rumors and rumors of rumors by the time the dust settles. Let’s not drive ourselves nuts jumping at any story some sportswriter throws out there simply because they need to write something. I’m sure Cohen has a plan, hoping it’s a successful one.

  • Smackattack

    Of course the media will hype anyone until Cohen makes his moves. Another brutal loss last night. The Rays are a great model for winning baseball. Defense, pitching, and clutch hitting, all with no big roster names. Jake has 14 punch outs and we still can’t win. I wonder if Rojas will be back with only a 60 game sample of his managerial efforts. We lost out on Girardi, who despite having the worst bullpen in the MLB, has the Phils in playoff position. And what to do about Pete? He clearly swings late and under fastballs he used to crush. Chili Davis has not helped. I am a former high school coach snd it seems that he drops his hands two low on his swing and tries to lift everything out of the park. The face of the Mets has been lost virtually all season.

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