After a poor outing Friday night by Jose Butto, where he allowed 4 ER in 5.2 IP, Adrian Houser had a golden chance to prove he belongs in the rotation when the injured starters returned. Instead, he was worse than Butto and was the main reason the Mets fell to the Cardinals, 6-4, Saturday afternoon at Citi Field.
Houser gave up five hits and a walk in the first inning, which the Cardinals turned into four runs. The visitors tacked on another run in the third inning and they chased Houser from the game in the fifth, making it a 6-0 game.
After this debacle, Houser has an 8.37 ERA and a 6.08 BB/9.
Just like Friday, the Mets battled back. They scored four runs in the fifth inning, with Brandon Nimmo delivering a two-run single and Pete Alonso delivering a two-run homer to right, the 200th HR of his career.
But the Cardinals added an insurance run in the eighth inning to push it back to a three-run lead.
The Mets loaded the bases with two outs, thanks to singles by Tyrone Taylor and Mark Vientos, who was just called up today with Starling Marte going on the bereavement list, and a walk by Nimmo. But Francisco Lindor, who already notched a Golden Sombrero, popped up on the first pitch he saw to end the game.
In the two games in this series, Mets starters have allowed 10 ER in 10 IP, while the bullpen has given up just 1 ER in 8 IP. Hopefully, tomorrow’s starter can not put them in a big hole early.
Had delusions of a walk off grand slam by Lindor. Stearns has to answer for Houser – like Carlos did for Sonny
Hard to play catch up even against the Cards who are not off to a good start but are better than they have played. And I expected Sonny Gray to be very tough. Lindor, McNeil and take your pick of a non-hitting catcher and voila you have limited offensive chances. Also some good work out of our must be getting tired bullpen. Seems Mendoza might just know how to use his pitchers. Quintana against Lynn to try and snag a win and start a roll when the Cubs come to town on Monday.
I don’t understand why FOX keeps giving
Smoltz Mets games. He thinks he’s trying to be impartial, but he’a annoying to listen to and to have him keep comparing to players from thirty years ago instead of having the knowledge to make a proper comparison to today’s players. And, what was that stupid remark about the Mets having battled pitching injuries and weak catcher production for the last ten years? F-you Smoltz! Too bad that he didn’t know that know Nate Lavender is going for TJS too, so he can talk stupid about how even their prospects can’t stay healthy.
As for the game, in the first inning it looked to me that Houser was determined today. He came out aggressive and was up 0-2 on Donovan. But I knew he wasn’t going to strike him out. He doesn’t have any put-away pitches. So, Donovan gets a good pitch to hit after fouling off a couple and hits a hard smash down the first base line that Alonso cannot handle: Double. Two bloop singles and a pop out later, Goldschmidt crushes one off the center field wall to score two more and it’s 3-0 already. I can understand having a fifth starter that may be like Manaea or Butto and have some control problems but have some ability that will be inconsistent. But having a starter that can’t get a player to chase is asking for a pounding, and he’s getting it often. How many did fifth starters do the Mets have?
Lucchesi will be so much better than Houser! The latter is very hittable and walks a lot of guys. Also Megill should be ready to return soon. Maybe Houser needs to go to the pen work on his pitches.
Gut Reaction: Houser put the Mets in a hole that they couldn’t climb out of. The way he pitched today and also his previous start, makes the decision easier to remove him in the rotation for a healthy Megill. Smith’s injury is an opportunity to put Houser in the bullpen and have Luccessci start in his place.
Someone named Brian J. commented in Will Samson’s article in The Athletic that it isn’t a coincidence that Megill’s rehab start was the same day as Houser’s outing. Quite possibly, but the article also pointed out that Houser’s sinker is a true plus-pitch but he isn’t finding it so far this year. How long does a team wait?
6 singles on Saturday. 6 runs in 2 games. Lifeless against the opponent starters. Yeah, the Met starting pitching wasn’t good, but the offense still looks 2023-ish.
They were going up against a 3X All-Star who entered the game with a 1.04 ERA. The expectation shouldn’t have been 10 XBH.
Gray is pretty good but the dude pitching Friday night looked to have a 6+ ERA before facing the Mets. I admit it’s a bit anecdotal but they don’t seem to score much early like they did a couple of seasons back.
And the Mets had 11 runners in scoring position Friday night. They just didn’t get the timely hit. It’s frustrating but things like that happen. The Mets are 13th in the majors in OPS with RISP, so it’s not anything close to the bad levels we’ve seen previously.
They’re going up against a pitcher on my fantasy league team today. I expect an offensive outburst.
Soft fly balls and weak grounders hit right at the defense make the Mets offense look like a replay of last year. Sure, they’ll eat their wheaties every now and then but it’s lackluster up and down lineup.
And how can I forget watching center cut fb on pitch one then swinging like madmen at everything else. So racking up terrible Ks.