Dominic Smith hit a heroic late-inning home run. Rhys Hoskins hit an even more heroic, later one to give the Phillies the first game of this series.
The Mets took an early lead when Jay Bruce peppered Aaron Nola’s first pitch of the second inning over the right centerfield wall. That didn’t last long. Jorge Alfaro led off the top of third with a walk against Steven Matz. After Nola struck out, Carlos Santana sent a shot of his own over the left centerfield fence for a 2-1 Philadelphia lead. That didn’t last long either. In the bottom half, Brandon Nimmo drew a one-out walk and came scampering home on Jeff McNeil’s following double.
There the game stayed until the sixth, when the Mets were sabotaged by an old friend. Matz had been pinch-hit for — to no avail — in the fifth and Odubel Herrera led off with a double off reliever Eric Hanhold. After Nick Williams struck out, Asdrubal Cabrera laced a single up the middle. scoring Herrera and the Phils had the lead once again. In the bottom of the seventh, Smith hit his third homer of the season to tie the game again. Hoskins answered that immediately. The Mets went down meekly in the eighth and ninth.
It’ll be Zach Eflin vs. Noah Syndergaard Saturday night in Flushing.
Seems Dominic Smith called his homerun in the third inning after his first at bat say that he was “going to get this guy”, and he did. Callaway seemed impressed by that. Smith also made a great scoop on a far ranging off-balance throw from McNeil in short right center on an Asdrubal Cabrera groundout into the shift. Smith stretches as far as possible to his right and made an ole scooo of the wide throw.
Also, Plawecki getting plucked on his first at bat on the wrist after getting plunked in his last bat on Wednesday in the ribs has me upset. I can’t believe that all these teams are so comfortable being careless with the Mets and they aren’t returning favors.
Lastly, that Matz needed 100 pitches to throw five innings is terrible. Wow, look at the 8 K’s and 2 runs! Look at him only going five innings again when even Vargas is passing the sixth! To me, he wasn’t all that, and even if he wasn’t pinch hit for, he would have had to come out. Bashlor threw a “kill me” straight fastball down the pipe to Hoskins. These guys all need work.
At least they have the ninth pick right now.
Of all the weaknesses on the Mets roster, the biggest is by far the bullpen.
This is true, as there is actually only 1 RP with any experience. The pen is such a mess that is masks the other big issues. The Mets are set to have the worst BA (and offense) in a home park since the mounds were lowered in 69. This team is absolutely anemic against lefty pitching. The defense is horrible despite the occasional nice play. They are slow, mistake prone, errant, and showing minimal improvement. Frazier is the only infielder with a positive dWAR. In fact the only other regular with positive dWAR is Plawecki.
My gut reaction is that in 2019 Hanhold will not be pitching in such a crucial inning like that. We will have a setup man and closer in place. Therefore Lugo or gsellman would be pitching in those places. Therefore we wouldn’t have the loss.
The Mets number #4 pitcher equaled the Ace of the Phillies. That is a good sign. This team when healthy can compete for a playoff position.
Metsense, do you really believe the Mets have the pieces to compete if they are at full strength? The only player missing now is Cespedes, and I don’t deem him enough to change an offense that struggles with moving too many players a full 360 feet at one time.
To me, both Frazier and Bruce are below average offensive players and it upsets me to see that Callaway, like his predecessor, puts them in the heart of the order dropping Nimmo to #6. Too, Conforto should be better next year, but how can we be sure?