For the second straight game the Mets were shut out, as they fell to the Mariners, 4-0, Saturday night in Seattle. With the loss, the Mets fell behind the Braves and out of Wild Card position and dropped to 4-5 on the road trip.
Francisco Lindor led off with a hit and one out later, J.D. Martinez hit a bullet up the middle. But instead of runners on the corners, Seattle turned an impressive double play and were out of the inning. And things only got worse from there.
Sean Manaea, who had been so good in his past two starts, struggled mightily with his location in this one. In the first inning, it was pitches that caught too much plate, as the Mariners ripped three doubles and scored three runs.
In the next two innings, Manaea couldn’t throw strikes. And while he did not add to the deficit, he was out of the game after three innings, after allowing four hits and five walks.
And the Mets could do very little offensively. Most of the night they hit harmless grounders. And the few times they did hit the ball hard, it was either right at a fielder or the Mariners made a nice defensive play. The Mets managed just four hits in the game.
The highlight for the Mets was the pen, which allowed just 1 ER in 5 IP. Huascar Brazoban threw two scoreless innings and Reed Garrett came off the IL to strike out the side in his one inning of work.
The Mets will try to avoid the sweep in the ESPN Sunday night game, with Luis Severino left hoping the offense saved all the hits and runs for him.
Brian, if you have the effort to your writeup that the Mets gave to their offense, you would have written:
“Sean Manaea allowed three doubles, three runs and in the next two innings Manaea couldn’t throw strikes. He was out of the game after three innings, and for the second straight game the Mets were shut out, as they fell to the Mariners, 4-0, Saturday night in Seattle.”
And this would have been too much.
I can’t sleep and I have more to say:
Appreciate all JD Nartinez brought to the team this year and I hope he has a happy birthday later this month, but he isn’t a #3 hitter. Right now, McNeil is the #3 and let Nimmo lead off. Martinez is a #5, Winker is a #6, and it goes from there. Winker needs to play because he gets on base. Vientos or Inglesias, it doesn’t matter, and let Torrens play a bit too.
I agree.
Rational humans sometimes forget how often normies rely on “gut feelings”
Inarguable that 36 year old Martinez has an established record as a reliable, consistent, professional hitter
However, he arguably has had the biggest hit this season
Recall that prior to the game on 6/13, the Mets stood at 29-37. They certainly had made measurable progress since their low point of 22-33 on 5/30, winning 6 of their next 10
On that night, the Mets trailed the Marlins 2-1 in the 9th inning at Citi. Martinez came up with one on and one out
I recall my pessimism despite the mere 1 run deficit
Then, from my perspective, their whole season turned a significant corner with Martinez smashing a walk-off HR
This new outlook was the beginning of what I’d call, not “you gotta believe”, but rather, “you can’t disbelieve”
Given the veteran aura Martinez projects, it’s doubtful that Mendoza – or any other Met – has forgotten that “gut feeling” when Martinez crossed the plate
Hey, I can do rithmetic
I meant “winning 7 of their next 11”
Gut Reaction: Manaea got them in a hole and the Mets didn’t take a shovel (offense) to Seattle to dig themselves out. It is a grueling road trip. Maybe the offense will wake up and salvage the last game. Mendoza usually shakes up the lineup in the past.