Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – the Mets mustered very little offense and a questionable/blown call by the home plate umpire led to a home run by the other team. This one led to a two-run homer, as the Padres downed the Mets, 2-1, Saturday night at Citi Field.
Chris Bassitt pitched a wonderful game, as he did not allow a walk and had 11 Ks in 7 IP. It should have been 12 Ks but an 0-2 pitch to Manny Machado was called a ball. Machado hit the next pitch for a home run.
Meanwhile, the Mets’ offense didn’t do anything until the ninth inning and even then, essentially waited until there were two outs to get going. Pete Alonso drew a leadoff walk but the next two batters made outs. But then Luis Guillorme drew a walk and J.D. Davis blooped a ball to shallow right, driving home the Mets’ first run.
Tomas Nido came up with the tying run on third base. Buck Showalter had the option to pinch-hit with Jeff McNeil but with a lefty on the mound he stayed with Nido, who had a hit in his previous at-bat. Nido popped out to end the game.
It’s tough to win when you only score one run and that’s what the Mets have done in both games after the All-Star break. At some point the offense has to stop wasting strong performances by the starting pitchers. And it would be nice to get strikes called properly, too.
The Mets offense is cold right now. They have been playing .500 ball over almost the last two months.
Every time I look at the schedule, the Braves are playing teams. No wonder they are catching up.
The question is, are the Mets really the April May team or the June July team.
It will be interesting to see what they do by the trade deadline.
I think you give the team a better chance to win with McNeil in the box than Nido.
Starting pitching has been great. Alonso needs to get out of his power cold spell.
Gut Reaction: it was a carbon copy of the previous game. They need to find some offense when facing a good pitcher. For the first time this season I have a real concern of hitting. Alonso had three hits and the more maligned JD Davis had two hits as the DH. I would rather start McNeil (.695 OPS vs LHP) than Guillorme (.586 OPS vs LHP) at second base vs LHP. In the ninth, with two outs and the tieing run at third, I would rather have McNeil bat for Nido (.523 OPS vs LHP). McNeil does hit LHP because he has a career .744 OPS vs LHP. Bassitt, Ottavino and Diaz were very good but their effort was a vain. Let’s salvage the game tonight. LGM
McNeil is the all-star and he is sitting for a flavor of the month defender that has a .586 OPS against lefties and a 81 RC+. The catcher that couldn’t get around on pitches all night and everything was going to rightfield because he couldn’t whip the bat through the hitting zone and has a whopping .523 OPS and 52 RC+ against lefties (and by far the better numbers, wait til you see the numbers against righties) is the choice over a lefty with a .695 OPS and a 109 RC+ against lefties and again, was your all-star? Not to mention the weaker hitter can’t grip the bat and is your last hope? Is Showalter really the man to take them to the promised land?