The Mets had a 3-1 lead but the bullpen couldn’t shut the door, so they fell to the Rangers, 5-3, Wednesday night in Texas. The loss snapped the Mets’ seven-game winning streak.
Sean Manaea started for the Mets and had a rocky first inning. After retiring the first two batters, he proceeded to walk the bases loaded. And he put the Mets in an early hole when he hit the next man up.
But the Mets tied the game in the fourth inning. Brandon Nimmo led off with an excuse-me double and he came around to score on a double by Starling Marte. And they took the lead in the top of the sixth, when Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer.
Meanwhile, Manaea was somehow throwing a no-hitter. He allowed his first hit with one out in the sixth inning. An out later he gave up an RBI double and was out of the game. Sean Reid-Foley came on to allow an inherited runner to score.
Drew Smith got the first two outs of the seventh inning but then game up a walk and a homer that gave the Rangers a two-run lead. All five runs by the home team came with two outs.
And there was no late magic for the Mets, as their last nine hitters went down in order.
The club has an off day on Thursday and then a day game on Friday to kick off a weekend series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Gut Reaction:
1. You can’t win them all.
2. The bullpen stunk tonight.
3. Is Manaea good, or is t he? I can’t tell.
4. The Chatters are fun!
3. Is Manaea good, or isn’t he? I can’t tell.
5. My blackout will be lifted on Friday!
It’s my fault. I’ve been camping in yosemite for most of the winning streak and haven’t been able to watch. Got home last night….watched…and they lost. I’ll go back to the woods.
Thank you for that.
Gut Reaction: ” All Things Must Pass”. Houser has adjusted to multi-inning relief very nicely. The recent winning streak has made it impossible for the Mets to trade Alonso at the deadline. His power would be sorely missed. Anyway, don’t you enhance the team if you’re going to contend for a playoff spot. Not distract from it. Let’s start another winning streak in Chicago.
“The recent winning streak has made it impossible for the Mets to trade Alonso at the deadline.” That declaration is premature. It assumes that the Mets will continue to play well enough to stay in the race. With 42 days until the deadline, they may or may not.
It also seems to assume that the goal is a playoff berth, regardless of what may happen in the playoffs. And I disagree with that. I have zero interest in a playoff berth with a 1st, or even 2nd round exit with a roster that is made up of 40% free agents and does not allow for running it back and simply adding a piece or two.
So even if they stay in the race, they still have to weigh whether this roster is worth investing in for a playoff run, and the cost of that investment. There are still too many unknowns to say that it is.
That is a very worthy argument. However, to win, you must first get in. The question is how much do you believe in your team? If the Mets brass doesn’t, they lose credibility with the fans and their own locker room. But, if they are in, how much should they invest? And as Metsense points out, how do you subtract from that?
I would trade three starters and bring up Scott, Butto and Senga. After all, the starters aren’t the reason they are in this race… but, bats this year are a major need throughout MLB. If you get a good offer for Alonso or Martinez, with Baty waiting, can you say no?
You’re right: it does come down to how much do you believe in this team? but you’ve glided past my first (and my primary point), which was that it is premature to answer that question right now. Let’s see what they do these next 5 weeks before making that leap.
As to your point about the pitching, you’re right again. But there are several counterpoints to that: First, here again, we are speculating that Senga does come back, and comes back as his old self. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. We (again) have to wait and see how that pans out before making any decisions.
And while the starters are not the reason the Mets are in the race, playoff baseball is a whole other level of baseball, largely because the starting pitching is so much better then than in the regular season. Butto and Scott may very well pitch well enough to eke into the playoffs, and still not rise to the level needed for playoff wins. And you still need a 4th starter. So dealing Severino means using Manaea, as well. Is he a playoff-level starter?
Lastly, let’s not overlook Scott’s innings limit. Are there enough innings left on that clock for him to pitch extensively both in the regular season and the playoffs? into the playoffs? I don’t believe so. Trading Severino means he has to do both.
You’re right about gliding passed your first point and that was because I agree with you. I should have referenced that. While I would like to have a great sell off to gain more prospects and build for a time that we are more certain of the team’s abilities to prevail, did we really expect the team to go to World Series in June 2015? Probably not. I couldn’t believe they’d go in September 2015!
Also, you’re right about the pitching carrying the team in the playoffs. I don’t even trust Severino due to his extremely low K%. Right now, if Senga isn’t healthy, I would trust Scott the most followed by Peterson – and I don’t even like Peterson! That’s my opinion of this pitching staff, as assembled.
Correct on 2015. But Sandy Alderson went a little crazy in engineering 6 trades to acquire 7 players that year, something I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before or since. And he had the unimaginable fortune to see 6 of those 7 players actually perform well enough to contribute, with Cespedes performing beyond anyone’s expectations. Last but certainly not least, that 2015 team did have that key ingredient needed for a deep playoff run hat this team lacks, and lacks badly – starting pitching.
I don’t agree that we can say Baty is waiting. Not yet, anyway. I’ve seen far too many instances where a minor leaguer hits like crazy for as long as six weeks before the league finally figures out how to shut him down. And when they do, the slump is sometimes just as profound as the hot streak and lasts just as long.
So until Baty stays productive past that 6 or 7 week barrier, we don’t know that he’s mastered AAA pitching or not. For the record, he’s only been there for three weeks thus far, and Oh! By the way, he may be starting to slow down. He’s just 2-for-16 over his last four games. To be fair, yesterday’s hit was a home run.
So its too early to call it a slump. It could just be a typical performance fluctuation that all players have here and there. Or it could be the start of a significant downturn in his production. Stay tuned to find out.
Metstabolism, I swear I could have written all your words, as inelegant as I would have done it!
I think you are dean on right across the board.
A side note on unloading Bader, Quintana, etc is that the returns will be small. So selling their contracts on will net nearly nothing, especially if the feeling is we got little for Scherzer and Verlander. I would not use their loss as “selling”, even if there was a potential suitor for any of that cohort.
I really want to emphasize your thoughts on Baty, who I think should be told simply: dont worry about when you will be called up again, we will let you know. I personally think a couple months is certainly in order, and even more, I’d like to see him fall off and recover. It’s tough to be the king at a lower level and then get hammered a the next step without the skills to learn how to fix.
Agreed on Baty.
I’ve said multiple times that he needs (more or less) 200 consecutive PA in Triple-A. Coming into today, he has 47 PA in Syracuse this year. And we’ve seen this movie before. He’s promoted in 2022 after 26 PA in AAA. And he’s promoted in 2023 after 42 PA in mid-April and then again after 79 PA in August.
There are some players who can succeed with minimal playing time in Triple-A. It’s just that Baty hasn’t given any indication he’s one of those guys.