Wednesday night was simply a struggle for the Mets, as they fell to 19 games under .500 on the season. They lost to the Cubs in an ugly fashion, being outclassed 17-5. The score became inflated due to a poor outing from the bullpen. Besides Hansel Robles, every bullpen pitcher for the Mets gave up at least a run. In an inning pitched, Chasen Bradford gave up four runs. Kevin Mcgowan surrendered a run in his outing. In .2 innings pitched, Jamie Callahan let a run go. But the worst of it all was Jacob Rhame, who allowed five runs and only recorded one out.
Starter Matt Harvey lasted only 3.1 innings, giving up five earned runs in the process. He was hurt by the four walks he gave up, paired with seven hits. This balloons his season ERA to 6.14, and drops his record to 5-5 on the season. My Gut Reaction is that this is a bump in the road for Harvey’s recovery, as he had a solid outing last time out. Look for him to be strong on the mound in his next outing.
The Mets were able to muster five runs on ten hits, which would be solid on a normal night. Tonight, it wasn’t nearly enough to get the job done. Dom Smith and Jose Reyes each drove a home run out against the Cubs. Rosario had the best night at the plate for the Mets, going 3-4 with a stolen base. Reyes and Travis Taijeron each had two hits, while Nori Aoki, and Asdrubal Cabrera had one. Tomorrow night, the Mets will attempt to avoid being swept by the Cubs, when Seth Lugo will take the hill at 8:10 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Harvey’s fastball was up a tick, hitting 95 a number of times. Changeups and sliders lacked bite though and terrible home plate ump didn’t help. Also, Harvey walked off the mound at 2-2 with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth. Rather than leave him in or bring in someone who might get them out of the jam, Collins went to Robles who of course allowed all three runs to score. For the fourth time in four tries he entered the game with the bases loaded and immediately walked in a run. Then he gave up a two base hit before settling down. Don’t judge his performance by the box score. This guy is an absolute turd and I really hope he doesn’t come back next year.
Harvey looked terrible (and Robles worse). Eventually Harvey will get it together and be a major league rotation piece. The Mets should not wait for that to happen. Harvey should not be taking 2018 rotation starts to “find himself” so that when he does he can leave the Mets as a free agent in 2019. The Mets are not a training ground. Instead, make the best trade this winter possible and move on. Right now, the Mets have three pitchers on the disabled list and Harvey that are penciled in to the starting rotation. That is not the way to plan for the 2018 season.
Dominic Smith’s September #’s at 22 YOA: 44 AB’s 273/333/545/879 3 HR
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