Well, I guess it's safe to assume the Mets will lose, but you can't say they won't surprise you along the way. In a game that looked like the Mets' 2018 season in microcosm -- an early lead, a managerial gaffe, some over-aggressive base running and a late loss of that lead -- a ninth [...]
On July 31 of this year, your intrepid columnist had an early-evening appointment about an hour from home. On the ride back, the Mets/Nationals game was on the radio. Amed Rosario was the lead-off hitter and on the second pitch of the night, he hit a grounder to second. Daniel Murphy had trouble getting to [...]
Well, all good things must come to an end. Such was the case of the Mets' miniature stab at respectability. Having won three in a row, they couldn't get over the hump of a fourth as the Pittsburgh Pirates walked off with a win. At first, it didn't appear this would be the case. Stealing [...]
The Mets' anemic offense apparently got some vitamin shots the last three days. They scored six runs the past two days, then doubled that total in drubbing the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Steven Matz took on Nick Kingham at PNC Park, but you knew from word one that this would not be a night for the [...]
Last week, the Mets traded their closer, Jeurys Familia, to the Oakland Athletics for a “defense-first” – translation: he can’t hit – third baseman, a 26-year-old career minor league relief pitcher with all of seven innings on his MLB resume and $1,000,000 in international slot bonus money. That’s it. The Baltimore Orioles, meanwhile, traded their [...]
Another day, another blown Jacob deGrom start. The mighty San Diego Padres -- generally thought to be the worst team in the National League coming into the season; that's a big joke now -- arrived at Citi Field and took advantage of some shoddy Mets fielding and their by now customarily vapid offense to take [...]
Contrary to popular belief, Yoenis Cespedes has not dropped off the face of the Earth. Apparently, he’s been rehabbing and is about to start playing games in the minors. Under normal circumstances, this would be good news, a heartwarming tale of the Mets’ best hitter getting primed to lead them back to – this should [...]
37-53. Looking up at the first place Philadelphia Phillies – and who saw that one coming? Thirteen-and-a-half games out of first place, a half-game out of last. This is the state of the Mets, the state of the fans’ misery. The joke going around is that Citi Field was built on a Native American burial [...]
Well, the wins may be few, the team might stink, the management inept and the ownership dysfunctional, but three things the Mats have going for them right now: Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo and walk-off wins. All three were on full display tonight. deGrom was his usual stellar self, and as usual, came away with nothing [...]
Nate Eovaldi? Great. The Mets never hit Nate Eovaldi. -- Me, 1 hour before first pitch I didn't know how right I was. Chris Flexen, Chris Beck, Tyler Bashlor and Paul Sewald conspired to allow the Tampa Bay Rays nine runs. Eovaldi conspired with himself to keep the Mets off the bases. As conspiracies go, [...]
5-21. Five-and-twenty ... (wait for it) ...-one. That was the Mets' record for the month of June, 2018. 5-21. The Mets ended the third-losingest month in their history, with a whimper, not a bang. Having screwed up my schedule and not realizing this game was scheduled for a 4:10 PM first pitch, I ended up [...]
A long time ago, a young pup of a blogger compared the beginning of the Sandy Alderson era of Mets baseball to 1980, the beginning of the Frank Cashen era. Well, we’ve now come full circle. The sad end of Alderson’s tenure as General Manager now coincides with a feeling that this season is much [...]