When the Mets played the Red Sox earlier in the season, they gave up three runs in two games and lost both of them. They decided this series was going to be different. They allowed six runs in the first game this time and lost, 6-3, Tuesday night in Boston.
The Mets jumped on top early, as they loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning. J.D. Davis drew a walk to score the first run and Michael Conforto singled to drive in another run. Third base coach Gary DiSarcina decided to be aggressive and waved home Pete Alonso from second base on Conforto’s hit. Alonso was out at the plate by a large margin.
Alonso doesn’t have great speed and his progress was temporarily halted when he dodged the ball that Conforto hit. It wasn’t a good send by DiSarcina. But it was an understandable one given the Mets’ inability to get a big hit. The Mets didn’t score any more in the fourth inning. And only on an Alonso solo homer in the eighth inning for the rest of the game.
Marcus Stroman couldn’t make the lead stand up. He gave up back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fourth for the Red Sox’ first run. And in the fifth inning he gave up a homer, double and homer to start the frame and the two-run lead became a two-run deficit and another loss.
An interesting question is what to do about 1B and the likely DH next year?
Do you keep the underachieving Dom Smith and install him at 1B and move Alonso to DH?
Do you keep Alonso at 1B, deal Smith, and have a variety of DH options, such as JD Davis and Cano?
Do you sign Bryant and have him play 3B, the OF, and 1B?
What to do, what to do?!
1B isnt broke. There are DH options.
This team needs rotation help, OF help, 3B help, back end relief help.
Exactly, there are DH options. I would deal Smith, keep Alonso at 1B, and sign Bryant for 3B (until Vientos and/or Baty is/are ready), then move him to the OF. Also, signing Castellanos or Marte would be a good pickup for the OF. That really boosts the RH hitters in the lineup.
And there are lots of relievers out there. They’ll probably keep Diaz, Lugo, May, Loup, Drew Smith and maybe Williams. Castro? Don’t love him, with him 5.5 BB/9 and Ks down.
Listened to the game last night at work. Heard Randazzo just skewer Alonso for not running hard to third base all night. When I came home, I watched it and all three of KGR defended Alonso and his predicament of having to first avoid the ball and killed DiSarscina, who has been mostly a bad third base coach in his time in New York.
The Tigers have passed the Mets ans now the Mets are 11th worst. Have to pass Colorado…
But the Mets have a run in them still! Its not over. snark.
Colorado is a stretch but that seems more likely than winning the division!
Sitting in the purgatory of the middle 10 wasteland. Another of the Met’s characteristics
Thanks, Gus, for talking about what the article is about! It’s not rocket science. If you want to talk about something besides this article – go to the Open Thread.
So, two crucial situations helped sink the Mets once again.
There’s no rational justification for the DiSarcina send, even with the brutal Met offense, and he clearly knew it based on his reaction in the dugout. No outs, bases loaded would have been the result of a hold. With two outs, it’s debatable. With one out, somewhat less debatable. Pete is slow, he got a lousy jump letting the ball go by, Hernandez is an excellent CF with a strong arm playing a bit more shallow given the Fenway setup. That was killer.
Hand vs Schwarber was a train wreck as well…yes he got squeezed a bit as did Castro on the previous walk, but Hand absolutely needs to go after Schwarber there…every metric and common sense supports it. Otherwise, leave in Castro (who is shaky as they come) or have Loup ready in the 6th. This was essentially an elimination game and they could afford no further runs at 4-2 down.
One extra bonus today for good measure – Baez swinging for the fences, even with two strikes, with runners on 2nd and 3rd top five. He saw three hittable fastballs, with one out, where a single almost certainly delivers two with Lindor on second. I don’t care what century or decade the game is played, in that spot even the Bambino is required to adjust his approach. Baseball is a team sport.
The Mets play losing baseball and as a result lose way too often. With a league bottom offense, these types of mistakes are intolerable and unrecoverable is most games. The 2021 problems occur overwhelmingly on the field, during execution or with decision making. This is not a defense of Alderson, Scott, the analytics dept, etc., all of whom should be evaluated and adjustments made accordingly, but their on field performance in all of 2021 and of late has frankly been nauseating, and that is a conclusion with every attempt to be objective.
Thanks, T.J., for talking about what the article is about! It’s not rocket science. If you want to talk about something besides this article – go to the Open Thread.
There is zero justification for sending Alonso… a little league mistake. DiCarcina is a terrible base coach…. hopefully in his last fortnight with the team. GRK trying to justify it were at a loss… how can they not be? Absolutely indefensible.
It actually felt good seeing Dom at first base… too bad he just became the square peg for the round hole for this team. I’m fairly sure it affected his hitting. Alonso clearly presents a problem for this team.
Nimmo seemed out of whack. Three called third strikes, all of them valid.
McCann stealing second with two outs in the ninth? Another totally, completely irrational baseball event. What for? Would still take two hits to score him…
Gut Reaction: 1-6 RISP . Every night it seems that the Mets can’t hit under pressure.
They don’t manufacture runs. In fact, they seems to run they selves out in innings as we witnessed last night. There are too many strikeouts when all they need a hit , a sacrifice fly or any contact. There were too many one run losses in the season that a different approach in hitting, a more situational approach, could have made the difference. The composition of this team should be changed.