Gut Reaction: Mets 4, Diamondbacks 1 (5/20/18)

For the second day in a row, the Mets used some late-inning offense -- the ol' "Five O'clock Lightning" -- to secure a win against the Arizona Diamondbacks and complete an unlikely sweep of the NL West leaders. Clay Bucholz started for Arizona. The last time Bucholz started a game, it was for the Phillies [...]

Lineup snafu highlights Mickey Callaway’s inexperience

What in the world was going on? During an afternoon Mets game on May 9, 2018, your intrepid columnist was busy at work. Fortunately, his job affords him the luxury of internet access and the ability to follow a game online via MLB Gameday. So the afternoon was planned out: finish up outstanding projects, while [...]

Gut Reaction: Reds 2, Mets1 (10 innings — 5/9/18)

A game that started with high comedy ended with dark drama for the Mets, who lost two-out-of-three to arguably the worst team in baseball. And of course, they wasted another terrific starting pitching performance in the process. The comedy took place in the first three hitters of the game. After Brandon Nimmo led off by [...]

Jacob deGrom’s injury a body blow to a promising season

This was going to be a positive article. A piece all about the Mets entering the new month with good vibes, their most wins ever upon waking up on Mayday. I had it all mapped out. It was going to be comparisons of hot starts past, about how this 2018 team’s winning percentage as of [...]

The Mets’ catching situation is untenable

Y’know, twenty years ago, the Mets had a problem. They were a team with a lot of potential and some outstanding players: John Olerud, Edgardo Alfonzoand Al Leiter come to mind. They had staunch defense, anchored by young Rey Ordonez, spectacular at shortstop. They had the vaunted “veteran presence” in the lineup with Carlos Baerga [...]

Gut Reaction: Cardinals 9, Mets 1 (4/25/18)

What a dreadful game. The Mets received a thorough shellacking at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals and relapsed to some 2017-style baseball tonight. Really, the less said about it, the better. Once again, Steven Matz couldn't get through the fourth inning. The Mets committed three errors in the third and fourth innings, leading [...]

Gut Reaction: Braves 4, Mets 3 (4/21/18)

Jacob deGrom is going to develop a complex. For his second start in a row, the Mets' bullpen squandered one of his outstanding outings and the Braves took this one in walk-off fashion. deGrom and his opposite number, Julio Teheran, were mirror images. Both went seven innings, both allowed only four hits. Teheran didn't walk [...]

Looking for a word to describe the 2018 Mets? Resilient

Well, OK. Of course the Mets weren’t going to go 160-2, despite most of our fervent hopes. We knew there would be some rough road ahead and we knew the Washington Nationals weren’t going away quietly. We knew the Mets had to lose a series at some point and do we wish it weren’t against [...]