The Mets managed just two hits and ended up losing to the Rays, 7-1. The Rays’ win gave them a sweep of the three-game series and they outscored the Mets, 22-8.
Marcus Stroman started for the Mets and he cruised through the first three innings before the wheels came off in the fourth. He allowed three homers and surrendered 5 ER in 6 IP. Edwin Diaz came on to pitch the eighth inning and he gave up the final two runs.
The Mets’ only run came courtesy of folk hero Patrick Mazeika, who homered for his first hit in the majors.
Usually when you lose, you can console yourself by saying, “at least no one got hurt.” But that wasn’t the case today, as both Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil left the game with leg injuries.
And once again, Rojas inserts Diaz in a non win situation, where he specializes in being lousy. Really Rojas! Nobody else was available to mop up in a lost cause?
Oh; and the next pundit or Mets player that says that the offense will “break out soon, cause we are too good”; just laugh at them. I think after a quarter of the season, we are seeing the true Mets offense on display.
I’m afraid a lot of the offensive problem has to be put at the feet of Lindor. As the number two hitter, he has been so unproductive, that the whole team slides down a notch or two as a result.
So while you can talk about lousy hitting RISP in the early going, and a lack of extra base hitting the whole season, it’s just hard to work around lazy fly balls and strikeouts from the 2-hole. Far too many times Conforto and Alonso hit with the bases empty. Just gets easier to pitch to them in those situations. Actually, no one is being consistently productive at all…
But Rojas just keeps putting Lindor in the same spot… hoping for a different outsome.
outcome
One other comment from the weekend in Florida.
So they head into TB and everybody knows that Margot is a Met killer. Did the Mets walk him even once? Did they pitch to him in a whole new way? Did they use his obvious fervor to swing the bat against him by making him hit balls out of the strike zone? Did they throw inside to send him a message?
I believe the answer to all these questions is no. How can these coaches be paid so much money and fail to cover the simple basics? How embarrassing. No one who hits .400 against a team should be allowed to continue to do so. I’m afraid it may come up this week again with the likes of Freeman, Ozuna, or Albies… pitch them tougher! Don’t let them beat you… make someone else beat you. Duh.