Brandon Nimmo led off the game with a double and that was the highlight of the day. The Mets were unable to bring him home and ended up losing the game, 3-0. The loss meant a sweep by the Phillies and combined with an Atlanta win, pushed the Mets into third place in the East.
The Mets managed just two hits against Zack Wheeler, who threw 108 pitches and struck out 11 in a complete-game shutout. Just another reminder of the terrible Brodie Van Wagenen era. Van Wagenen not only allowed Wheeler to leave, he insulted him on the way out the door. In 34 games with the Phillies, Wheeler is now 14-8 with a 2.58 ERA. He drew Cy Young Award support last season and might win the award this year.
Taijuan Walker started and took the loss, giving up three home runs in the process. At the start of the year, Walker allowed just 1 HR in 49 IP. Since then, he’s surrendered 15 HR in 62 IP.
In the three-game series, the Phillies hit eight home runs while the Mets hit four.
Mets are in a free fall. What has happened is the starting pit thing has back down to earth. The hitting has been terrible all year. The Mets need a real plan this offseason and part of that mean getting a new LF, RF and 3B.
Objectively assessing the Mets, as a Met fan, at very low points in a season, almost always comes off as pessimism and classic negativity. So, some empirical information on the weekend. The Mets lost all 3 games in Philly, scoring 5 runs in 3 games. They totaled 13 hits in 27 innings. 5 of those hits came in the 9th inning, 4 in the form of solo HR. Now, in each game they trailed by 3 or more runs, so clearly the pitchers were prioritizing strikes and balls in play vs. balls and free passes. Now, Wheels in a tough assignment for anyone, but one of these games was essentially against a opener/bullpen. All this is a ballpark that historically known as an extreme hitters park.
The result of this weekend is a fall from first place to 3rd place, 2.5 games back. Fangraphs now has the Mets given a 21.3% chance of making the playoffs. On July 30, trade deadline, the Mets were in first with a 3.5 game lead and a Fangraphs playoffs chance at 71.4%. That was 9 games ago.
While they clearly have established themselves as a league bottom offense, this collapse is still stunning and historical. The season most certainly isn’t over, with almost a third of the ledger remaining. However, it was mentioned yesterday that the Mets have the second hardest remaining schedule while the Phillies have the easiest. Meaningful games in September are now in jeopardy.
It’s time to play ball, gentlemen, play ball, like you’ve never played before.
Gut Reaction: again Wheeler heard the chirping . This time it was the Mets bats.
Wheeler must now have a large smirk on his face. He deserves it.
Just seemed paying Wheeler $18-$20 million per made no economic sense even with the Wilpons controlling the purse strings. With unlimited Cohen dollars maybe they would have locked him up. Somewhere I read that the feeble offense rivals how the dreadful ‘62 Mets produced runs. That was down right ugly.
Can’t imagine a year long hitting slump for essentially an entire team. It becomes so easy to pitch around Alonso rendering his HR bat silent. Still a Baez fan but also amazed he is injured and also at all the injuries across the league. Seems athletes in baseball are over conditioned. Have no recollection of so many injuries 20-30 plus years ago when the players were not so bulked up. Walker needs a break as he has now thrown a lot more innings than in previous seasons. Maybe he is tipping his pitches. Glass still half full but developing cracks
OK, so now they do have Cohen money. They have Walker, Carrasco and Megill with contracts for next year in the starting rotation. I would lock up deGrom and Syndergaard with contracts. But how about Stroman? Probably sign him up as well. They should have locked up Wheeler.
The jury is in with its verdict: the offense is feeble. Let Baez and Conforto become free agents. Bryant should be the next big free agent signing, with Davis traded for a corner OFer. McCann and Nido are an OK catching combo, with Alvarez coming in a couple of years.
I agree that Bryant should be a top priority.
I think that Conforto will take the Qualifying Offer which we’re sure to make.
Actually, the 1962 Mets were not a bad hitting team. A collective .240 avg, .391 SA, and even 59 SB. It wasn’t great, but it was their league worse pitching (5.04 ERA), and the abysmal fielding that did them in.
And the ’62 Mets were s-l-o-w afoot. Mets have never been a quick team, which explains the excitement when Reyes showed up. I guess I value speed more than the Mets front office, but the team always seems very slow compared to most teams they face.