The Mets dropped the nightcap Saturday night in Houston, 4-1, and suffered a doubleheader sweep.
And to add injury to insult, Wilmer Flores left the game after fouling a ball off his face, with blood visible as he left the field.
The Mets actually held a 1-0 lead in this game. Juan Lagares led off the sixth inning with a triple and came around to score on a gift double awarded to Dominic Smith. It was a hard-hit ball and the fielder broke the wrong way and a last-minute leaping attempt ended up with the ball going off his glove. The Mets had a chance for more but Gavin Cecchini popped out to the catcher with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Seth Lugo held the Astros scoreless through five innings but it all came crashing down in the sixth. He did not get an out in the inning and ended up being charged with all four runs.
The Mets put a runner on base in both the seventh and eighth innings but were unable to score. The Mets are now 5-15 in their last 20 games.
Another Met game, another loss and another injury.
Lugo has a difficult time getting through the third time in the batting order. Compounding that is the partial tear in his elbow. He should not be relied on for a rotation piece in 2018 for these two reasons. He projects as a multiple inning middle relief pitcher.
Nimmo keeps getting on base (375 OBA) but needs to add at least 30 points of hits to his 244 BA if he wants to be considered more than a bench player.
It was very disturbing that Rosario was not running full speed on his DP ball.
The reality is that we do not have sufficient offense on the field at anytime given the departure of our big bats via the salary dump/build up the farm system deals. Most interested to see if the kids can up their game in this last month so we can see if they fit in for 2018. Otherwise they can be included in off season deals. Shame about Flores. Can’t blame that one on the I’ll equipped training staff.
“Play the kids” will provide us a virtual non-stop string of very difficult nights sprinkled with bright spots. I hope it does reveal a couple potential major leaguers. However, as much as I no longer care about record, I am quite displeased with what appears to be a failure of a “culture to play hard”. Not winning is an outcome of a team like we have out there now, but not playing hard is a different thing entirely…and it cannot be accepted. We saw it with Ces and it seems Cabrera is also a malcontent. Reyes is not really playing hard. Lets hope this lack of veteran leadership is not a viral infection.
Incredible race going on, Mets tied for 5th place and really making a move. Just need to build on what they accomplished in August and keep that momentum. Given the team they are putting out there, 2nd overall is within reach. We can do this!
1, Phils: 51-84
2, W. Sox: 53-81
3, Giants: 54-84
4. Reds: 58-78
5. Mets: 58-77
Tigers: 58-77
7. Braves 59-71
8. Padres 61-75
I think anything is possible…this is gonna be a run til the last week of the month!