Todd Frazier hit his 200th home run in the same ball park where the late Gary Carter hit his 300th. Pete Alonso hit his astounding 25th home run as he marches toward the Rookie of the Year Award. Jeff McNeil delivered yet another multi-hit game. Wilmer Font looked sharp in three scoreless relief innings.
Unfortunately, the negative outweighed the positives on this night in Wrigley Field as the Cubs topped the Mets 7-4 and dropped the Mets to a season low five games below .500 and nine games out of first place. The Mets have dropped seven out of their past 10 games as the funk continues.
Walker Lockett got the start in place of Noah Syndergaard, who’s nursing a sore hamstring, and was not at all effective. The big right hander was solid for two innings but then couldn’t make it out of the third before allowing six earned runs. Anthony Rizzo‘s 2-RBI double and Javier Baez‘s triple proved to be the big hits. Offensively, the Mets missed several scoring opportunities as they hit into three double plays.
Before the game, the Mets made a really curious coaching change. More on that in my weekly post tomorrow morning.
The Mets-Cubs series continues with a day game tomorrow. Jason Vargas will square off against Yu Darvish.
Gut reaction: from Paul Simon
Slip Sliding Away, Slip Sliding Away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re Slip Slidin Away
Alonzo keeps hitting home runs and McNeil keeps getting hit. They are two core players. Congratulations to maligned player, Frazier, who reached a personal milestone. Unfortunately, the Mets sign him three or four years past his Peak but he is an average player and a good teammate.