The first half of the game was great. Innings six thru nine should be erased from existence. The end result was a 6-4 loss to the Braves Tuesday night in Atlanta in the opener of a three-game series.
The game was delayed for over 90 minutes, despite it never raining during that time. Perhaps if the game started on time, the Braves’ rally never happens.
The Mets took a 4-1 lead thanks to two-run homers by both Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.
Carlos Carrasco looked sharp thru five innings and he had a low enough pitch count that a seven-inning start was on the table. But he walked the first batter of the sixth and then gave up back-to-back hard-hit balls. With the game now at 4-3, Buck Showalter came out with an early hook and brought Drew Smith into the game.
Smith allowed both the tying and go-ahead runs to score. It was the fifth time in his last eight games that Smith has allowed runs.
Adam Ottavino allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth. The Mets aren’t going to win many games when both Smith and Ottavino surrender runs.
Alonso just missed his second homer of the game leading off the ninth inning. He smoked a ball that just ended up on the wrong side of the foul pole. But that was the only noise the Mets made in their final time at bat.
It wasn’t a good game for either the 2B or LF for the Mets. Jeff McNeil gets a lot of props for his ability to switch back and forth between these positions and generally he does a good job. But he was late getting to balls tonight and in the eighth inning he bobbled a ball not once, not twice but three times, which allowed the eventual insurance run to reach third base. Meanwhile, Eduardo Escobar bobbled one ball at second base and was unable to field a ball that he dove for, which allowed a run to score.
It was the fourth straight loss for the Mets. It feels like a team badly in need of a shakeup.
Should that shake-up include firing the hitting coach?
4 hits behind Carrasco isn’t cutting it even with the long balls. We already know the middle pen including Smith pretty much can’t deliver vs the Bravos. The Mets need their $90 million worth of starters to dominate big time to avoid this season unraveling. June historically is not kind to the Mets from my recollection.
Gut Reaction: it was a similar game for both starters. When they unraveled the other team capitalized. The relief pitching was the difference. The Mets didn’t have it and the Braves were exceptional. Or another perspective would be the Mets didn’t sustain an offense and the Braves did. Vogelbach didn’t do anything and maybe it’s time to upgrade his position as DH. The 5th position in the batting order is a problem and needs to be addressed.
Minter was the weak leak in the Braves bullpen and the Mets didn’t capitalize. The Mets bullpen isn’t feared and it’s mediocre and it needs an upgrade.
I just read that Cohen is about a week from exploding and making these firing decisions. I think the Mets need to commit to the young players and move on from failed experiments.
Ronny Mauricio should be up with the team and starting every single game he can.
Mark Vientos should be starting in 75% of games consistently for a month to determine if he has a future on the team.
Baty and Alvarez seem to have gotten a stronger hold of their positions and with Narvaez back I would be fine with Alvarez seeing some time at DH.
The Mets need to consider if 2023 is a year they plan to compete in. If it is, they need to trade for a starter and some relief pitching.