The Mets lost the first game of a four game series against the Dodgers in a matchup that was meant to be low scoring with two Cy Young caliber aces on the mound. Jacob deGrom matched up against Clayton Kershaw, with both pitchers battling at times. The Mets got on the board early and did their part against Kershaw, with Pete Alonso and J.D. Davis providing the offensive firepower. However the story of tonight’s game is the Mets bullpen and Dodgers defense, which were certainly the deciding factors.
The sixth inning was enough for Los Angeles to put the game away, as they scored six runs off of Tyler Bashlor and Daniel Zamora. On the other side of the ball, the Mets were not helped on the base paths as the Dodgers threw two runners out at the plate and one at third base. In the eighth inning with the based loaded, Cody Bellinger gunned down Carlos Gomez at third base for an inning ending double play; the throw was absolutely perfect and was the second outfield assist of the night for the MVP caliber outfielder who also nailed Michael Conforto at the plate in the first inning.
The Dodgers brought on Kenley Jansen for a five out save, his first of the 2019 season and something that the Met’s elite closer Edwin Diaz has yet to attempt. Jansen, after working through some trouble in the eighth and a strange triple from Alonso in the ninth, made due of the Mets to close out the game. The Mets were hit with an offensive juggernaut against their West Coast foes and failed to capitalize on several opportunities of their own. It was certainly a disappointing loss, as the Mets look to prove that they can compete against better talent in the National League.
Some takeaways from tonight’s game:
In Tyler Bashlor’s prospect writeup, I wrote that 43.6% of his pitches were at or around the heart of the plate. He isn’t a pitcher, he’s a thrower and belongs in AAA until he becomes a pitcher. That’s for his own good. Chris Taylor took a meatball over the fence.
Watching the ESPN broadcast, I spent the night hearing Sutcliffe and his co-announcer gush about the Dodgers’ talent and hearing Dodgers stories. Well, they were right about the talent. It seems like the Dodgers not only have better talent at every position, they have better prospects at every position, they have better advanced scouting, and they are better prepared mentally than the Mets. Rosario hesitated in throwing to first a split second in the first inning losing the double play. That’s because he doubted for a second and he lost the chance. Did anyone see a single Dodger doubt? They went all out on every play and nobody strolled down the line to first, everyone ran hard. They all know there’s a talented player wanting their job. The Dodgers were trying to give away Joc Pederson in the off season because of his strikeouts, but no one wanted him; well, he fixed that problem. Bellinger has arrived. Seager was MVP two years ago and hasn’t gotten into a groove yet. Kiki Hernandez comes off the bench and knows exactly what Zamora is going to throw. Their bullpen doesn’t have any AAAA pitchers and their starting pitchers haven’t lost a game since May 7th.
The Mets aren’t in their class. And while we can say that not many teams are, the Astros are; the Yankees are; the Red Sox are… All those are big market teams. Ownership that spends money to get the best baseball people to put the best organization in order, to win and build a winning formula.
I was proud of our guys for fighting back, but their pitching will need to be stellar for the Mets to win. The Dodgers have room for error, but don’t make many. They are once again going to steal our lunch money and we know it. They are 14-2 against the Mets the last 16 games played, and as we see, they keep on improving every year while we keep trying to do just enough to make us look like we’re serious about winning.
Gus,
Excellent comment. I agree, talent gap between Mets and top teams is huge.
Nice round up Gus, I agree on all your points. The Dodgers are firing on all cylinders right now and the Mets seem to have transmission problems. I’d like to think that part of that cohesion you refer to is due to the familiarity of the team. I wonder if the turnover of catchers has affected the pitching more than we can tell.
Thank you gentlemen. It seems like everything was so obvious for the world to see, and according to the NY Post, BVW and many Mets officers were at the stadium to see it first hand!
Brodie, don’t you ever trade another Kelenic in your life. That’s what taking dead contracts is all about!
Ouch – the truth really hurts, doesn’t it. Where would we be if we didn’t have Alonso?
Will be interesting to see what they do with Wheeler and Syndergaard at the trade deadline. Syndergaard needs to learn how to pitch. I can see Syndergaard getting traded and pulling a 16-1 Rick Sutcliffe.
Agree on all points made. Last time the Mets had an arm that could throw out runners was when Ces roamed left year. Sadly we are not a championship caliber team – far from it. Best hope is a .500 finish which would be a big improvement. Hopes that the young nucleus would improve this year have not been realized. Alonso is certainly a bright spot amongst our struggling hitters. Let’s hope we run faster tonight.
The Mets scored 5 runs with deGrom versus Kershaw— you’ve gotta hope you win that game.
On a night when Lowrie and Cano and Nimmo and McNeil are absent, the talent gap appears larger…certainly, the Dodgers have some special young players.
The Mets are not yet all in on 2019… they need at least one more arm (probably 2), and they need to lock in performance from several of their pitchers–starters and BP.
The test ahead is to force the decision on Trading All-In on 2019…or trading out of 2019 to the future.
Have to tip your hat to Cody Bellinger for his incredible night.
That said, I’m a little shocked that the third base coach (Sherlock?) didn’t get more grief for his performance. I don’t want to nitpick every decision but getting Nido thrown out at the plate in the 5th absolutely shouldn’t have happened.
And the Mets were in a tough spot, needing all of the innings from the pen that they did. But aren’t Bashlor and Zamora the bottom two relievers on the club right now? Seems like they should have been looking at any alternative to using them on the road in a game with a one-run lead.
I don’t have a major issue with any of those sends. Maybe a bit on the Nido play but I’d imagine that more often than those situations end up in three runs scored. The throws/relays needed to be nearly perfect.
I agree Brian. It wasn’t just that their options for the bullpen weren’t good ones, it’s that those guys shouldn’t even be on their roster. The original pitchers are…. hurt. No kidding.
DiSarcina is the third base coach, and if he wasn’t so respected, there would have been. This seemed so out of the ordinary from what we have seen of DiSarcina so far this year, that it may have been agreed to in advance at the coaches’ meeting that they would push the envelope knowing their need to create breaks.
Eraff, you’re right that the Mets were missing alot of talent. But, we’ve seen our guys and we saw their guys, and our guys need to improve even when they are healthy – and certainly hustle more.
Diaz and Familia were pretty much unavailable …. Lugo is out. The depth they addressed at positions has played decently well. The Pitching depth started as a “Perfect Plan”… and it’s unacceptably thin
They need an addition/trade Now—— otherwise, they won’t have a decision to make at the deadline
They said Familia was available.
I didn’t know if either Gagnon or Font was available last night. Since they were – my opinion is that they should have been in the game before Bashlor and Zamora when they had a slim lead. B&Z are low-leverage relievers and shouldn’t have been placed in that situation.
^+1
Gut Reaction: Cody Bellinger is phonomenal and is the front runner for the MVP. He is only 23 years old! Dob of 7/13/95. He put on a show last night.
There was an obvious difference in Talent last night but if syndergaard and deGrom would pitch like they’re supposed to then that would be a game changer.
Dominant pitching is what the team is built on and at least they could compete with the Dodgers.
Again Callaway misused the bullpen. His decision process is faulty.
Davis is a nice power bat in the lineup and should stay in left field even when McNeil comes back. McNeil should play Third Base and second base and Frasier and Cano should platoon. Both young players earned the playing time.
Let’s win tonight and set fireworks at 1:30 a.m. to celebrate!
Yes the Met lineup is missing some guys, but even with the full squad it is not the strength. The biggest issue has been the underperformance of the starters, which has in turn overtaxed the pen.