This morning’s article talked about the Mets getting a vintage performance from Max Scherezer. And that simply didn’t happen. Scherzer gave up 4 HR and 7 ER in 4.2 IP, putting the Mets in a hole they could not climb out of, as they fell to the Padres, 7-1 Friday night in the first game of the Wild Card series at Citi Field.
While Scherzer imploded, Mets nemesis Yu Darvish again pitched a gem, as he allowed just 1 ER in 7 IP. It was not the dominating performance that Darvish had earlier this year but you can’t argue with the results. The Mets had him on the ropes in both the first and second innings but could not push a run across.
The Mets went 1-11 with RISP and the one hit did not drive in a run.
All eight runs came via the long ball. Eduardo Escobar supplied the Mets’ only run with a homer in the fifth inning. He also doubled in the seventh but was left stranded as the next two batters struck out and popped up.
Outside of Escobar, the only bright spots for the Mets was the return of Starling Marte (2 H, 2 SB) and the work of the relievers, who turned in 4.1 scoreless innings, with seven strikeouts.
This makes four straight losses in the postseason for the Mets, dating back to the 2015 World Series. They look to break that streak and keep their 2022 playoff hopes alive Saturday night, with Jacob deGrom hopefully giving the ace effort that Scherzer was unable to do on Friday.
Only one word dedribed this, ouch. Really painful to watch. Let’s hope Jake is on his game tonight.
Gut Reaction: This was a disappointing loss . It follows the disappointing loss last weekend by Scherzer against the Braves. That is two pressure games he that failed. Cohen is paying me $44M to pitch competitively In these games. That is why he is here. Cohen deserves an answer. After all, Scherzer did pitch to to 2 29 ERA this year of a WHIP of 0.908. Is he injured, fatigued and just an inopportune slump?
I hope tonight that Marte bats second and Escobar 5th, McNeil 6th Canha 7th and Alvarez 8th because Nimmo, Marte and Lindor together, with their speed at front of the order, may produce more scoring opportunities for Alonso. Also they need a vintage performance by deGrom because Snell is a LHP which is Kryptonite fot the Mets. LGM
Last night, after Alonso crushes a long foul ball in the first inning with two on and one out, I just knew he wasn’t getting another good pitch to hit. Then, the next inning the Mets have Marte at second and one out, but he doesn’t score. Likewise later after Ecobar’s double. This was supposed to have been better this year, but… The Padres are one of the best teams against fastballs under 95 and one of the worst teams in fastballs over. DeGrom is a better matchup to use, but Scherzer’s inability to control them at all with his 94 and other pitches is very alarming.
Scherzer was brought in not only because he’s a great pitcher but also to change the narrative around the club. He seemed to do that for most of the regular season, but in the playoffs (and make no mistake about it, the Braves series was a playoff series) he completely dropped the ball. I wouldn’t be surprised at some point in the near future to hear that his lat was giving him trouble. If that is the case and he pitched when he wasn’t capable that’s an issue. If it’s not that then was it that he can’t handle the NY spotlight? Doesn’t seem likely but his showing this past week was Glavine-esque.
Glavine-esque — ouch! I hope John Smoltz knows that Mets fans regard his buddy this way.
Anyway, this could be the last Game Chatter of the year. I hope everyone who’s not working stops by and participates for a few innings. Be even nicer if it wasn’t the last one…
Once the Mets surrender a lead early it seems the game is lost. At 3-0 the writing for the headlines was already in place. I agree Gus the signs for team failure are the HR distance foul balls and the warning track fly balls that are fair say what the team will be…not to mention the endless pop up groundout pop up ground out pop up groundout cycle of not squaring the ball. Easy to credit Darvish, and he pitched fine, but this is a Mets offense that has been doing this for 5 weeks straight against the good bad and ugly.
I’m tired of hearing about the starting Max as some sort of scandal. He has more IP in high leverage than Jake. He was brought in at 43M$ for this exact purpose. And frankly both have been disasters in their last outings.
There is no recovery from this because the power outage on offense seems to go for games on end, and we are facing an excellent lefty In Snell. Feel like 5 singles all disconnected and a random 2 out double. Mets lose 5-1.
If the phillies advance and we don’t…
That is something I just said to a friend of mine. And realistically, they are much more likely to advance than the Mets.
“The September (and October) to forget”
Very dispiriting, to say the least! Even if the Mets somehow win the next two games, what will Max be like in the next series?
Some positives: the bullpen was excellent; Marte was surprisingly good; Escobar continues to rake with power; Nimmo hits and runs with skill and gusto.
Maybe Alvarez will light up Snell tonight and ignite the Mets!