For the second straight day, the Mets couldn’t hold a late lead. After scoring the game’s first run in the top of the eighth inning, David Peterson allowed the tying run to score in the bottom of the eighth and Edwin Diaz surrendered the game winner in the ninth, as the Mets lost a heartbreaker to the Phillies, 2-1 Sunday afternoon.
Tyrone Taylo gave the Mets the lead with a solo homer, his seventh HR of the season.
Peterson, who pitched a great game, was sent out there in the bottom of the eighth but gave up back-to-back doubles, which tied the game. Phil Maton got the final out in the eighth on five pitches but Carlos Mendoza opted to bring in Edwin Diaz with a clean inning in the ninth.
The Phillies got a one-out single, a stolen base and a two-out single to win the game.
It was a tough way to lose the last two games. But the Mets went into Philadelphia and stood tow-to-toe with a team that might be the best in baseball. They got great starting pitching and just not enough offense after the first game.
The Sunday malaise continued for the club, as it was the ninth straight game where they failed to score more than two runs. It’s time for an exorcism or something to rid this day of the bad juju it has for the Mets.
Granted we won 1 of the 3 games this time, but this series had the same feeling of the last week series against the Braves in 2022 when they squandered the division title and also had leads in each of the 3 games but ultimately lost all of them.
Need to turn the page and go after a sweep against the Nationals before the Phillies come in for four at Citi Field and then we need to travel to Atlanta for three and three more in Milwaukee against the first place Brew Crew. The last ten games of the season are playoff caliber games so it will be interesting to see if the offense will show up to support the strong starting pitching. At least the Dodgers finally woke up and beat the Braves to keep us tied for the #3 WC. Hoping Yamamoto proves his worth tonight as LA goes to even their series with Atlanta and give the Mets a chance to move forward. Manaea on the mound tonight.
The setup: score tied in the bottom of the 9th, Diaz pretty much smoking everyone with his fastball, runner on second with 2 outs, count 0-2, yet even an accidentally hit scratch single would likely end the game
Question: Why TF would Diaz throw anything close to the strike zone?
In truth, the outcome of this three game series didn’t get me upset, because the single biggest factor in the outcome was plain old luck.
Severino throws a pitch low and outside, Harper hits an opposite field HR after not hitting any HRs in the previous 100+ at-bats. Next at-bat, Severino throws one low and inside and Harper hits his 2nd homer in 100+ at-bats
JDM hit 3 balls to the wall in CF, and one actually was heading over the wall, the result was 3 outs. Similarly, Alonso hit one to the wall in right-center, another out
Castellano makes a totally unexpected catch on the RF line despite – if I’m not mistaken – being a total corpse when it comes to D
Mets tied with ATL for the 3rd WC heading into game 150? Totally exceeded my pre-season prognostication
Much bigger – huge, in fact – problem right now is Lindor’s status
Gut Reaction: Peterson and the starting pitching has been impressive I didn’t expect them to win this series but losing two games that they were winning was very concerning. Diaz, D. Young, Garrett and Stanek really failed in important games of a playoff race. Maybe it was a blip and the Nats will be the remedy. They must win the Nats series to kept pace with the field.