If there was any justice in the world, everyone who wore a Mets uniform today not named Jacob deGrom would be forced to leave the stadium wearing a cone of shame. Stop me if you’ve heard this before but deGrom was magnificent, gave up just one run in eight innings yet came away with the loss, as the Mets fell to the Marlins, 3-0, Saturday afternoon in Citi Field.
The biggest goats were Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso, who both came up in big situations in the first and sixth innings and who both ended up striking out two times to end the rallies. Hopefully, our fearless leader will drop Conforto in the lineup because it’s killing the team how he comes up again and again in key situations and doesn’t deliver.
Edwin Diaz replaced deGrom in the ninth inning and gave up two runs without allowing a homer. It was so bad, he got pulled from the game and was bailed out from more damage by Jeurys Familia.
Conforto and Alonso both came up in the ninth inning, with Conforto at least making contact this time, as he produced a weak groundout. Alonso ended the game with another strikeout.
deGrom struck out 14 batters and did not allow a walk. The only blemish on his day was a gopher ball to Jazz Chisholm, who hit a 100-mph fastball on an 0-2 count into the upper deck. In two starts this year, deGrom has thrown 14 IP, allowed one run and has an 0-1 record.
It’s just heartbreaking.
Get ready for Luis Rojas’s first test this season as the team’s rightful manager. Regardless of any moves he makes or doesn’t make, his team needs to find a way to gut out a win on Sunday and salvage the home series against a division foe. If they lay down and go quietly, I say his seat is officially much hotter. Teams either play for guys or they don’t. Managers have to win key games or they don’t. What else matters?
Karma.
And I agree with Wobbit’s and Brian’s conclusions.
Can’t blame Jake if he opts out when he is able.
Gut Reaction: Welcome to Mr. Rogers neighborhood. He pitched a great game.
That four quality starts out of five. Blame the offense for not delivering with RISP.
When a lefty starts then Pillar should start for one of the lefty hitting outfielders. The bonus then would be having a significant lefty bat on the bench to pinch hitter. Conforto would have been a likely candidate today.
Conforto is struggling like a Led Zeppelin and should be dropped in the batting order.
deGrom was brilliant and got a tough luck loss.
Heartbreaker, your time has come, can’t take your evil way, go away heatbreaker.
Diaz is a disaster.
Apparently the bats from March were burned in PSL instead of being shipped to NY. Like we always say, the numbers in March and September are almost meaningless.
Agree with the article and the comments. Specifically Chris F’s. Small sample, for sure, but Diaz is completely unreliable until proven otherwise, which will require a long stretch of success including success in big games. He may never get those opportunities with a few more appearances like yesterday. He is just a hit or miss thrower at this point.
Regarding Jake’s dilemma, it is tough to watch and must be tough to swallow for him, but the bottom line is that baseball is a team sport. His job is to get outs and put up zeros, and he does that at an incredibly elite level. While we all pity for Jake regarding an unprecedented lack of support for a star pitcher, this is really the hallmark of a bad team. We are all excited about a wealthy owner and the acquisitions made over the winter. We are only 5 games into a 162 game marathon. But, the Mets are not a good team, as in “team”, until proven otherwise, regardless of the individual OPSs, back of baseball cards, salaries, contracts, etc. 2015/2016 is a long long time ago. This group of players is talented but still needs to learn how to consistently win.