Everything hurts more in September...
The Mets blow a 4-0 lead and lose a heartbreaker to the Phillies. Plus, how these losses hurt so much more in a pennant race.
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What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets blew a 4-0 lead and lost to the Phillies by a 6-4 score on Saturday afternoon (box)
Phillies journeyman Cal Stevenson played the role of Mets killer in the game, delivering the game-winning two-run double in the 7th inning and robbing J.D. Martínez of a game-tying home run in the 8th
RHP Luis Severino pitched a quality game, allowing three runs over six innings, but allowed two home runs to Bryce Harper that got Philadelphia back into the game
RF Starling Marte went 2-for-2 with a triple, three RBI, a walk and a hit-by-pitch
SS Luisangel Acuña (No. 12 prospect) made his major league debut and went 2-for-4
1B Pete Alonso and C Francisco Álvarez combined to go 0-for-7 in the loss
The Mets bullpen struggled mightily on Saturday as Danny Young, Reed Garrett and Ryne Stanek combined to allow three runs on five hits and a walk over two innings of work
After scoring four runs over the first three innings, New York’s offense was shutout over the final six innings by the Phillies bullpen
Although David Stearns said before the game that he could be available to pinch-hit, SS Francisco Lindor did not come off the bench – it was the first time all season that Lindor did not make an appearance
When asked if Lindor would return to the lineup on Sunday, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters “We’ll see”
Playoff Race 🏁
The Padres and Braves won their games, but the Diamondbacks lost on Friday night.
As such, the Mets fell into yet another tie for the third Wild Card and kept pace with Arizona for the second spot. They are one game behind Arizona for the second Wild Card, and 2.5 games behind the Padres for the top spot.
There are 14 games remaining.
Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 54% chance of making the postseason.
New York has the second hardest schedule in MLB the rest of the way.
Tiebreakers:
vs. ATL: 5-5
vs. ARI: 4-3 (finished)
vs. SD: 5-2 (finished)
vs. CHC: 4-3 (finished)
vs. STL 4-2 (finished)
Injury Updates 🏥
SS Francisco Lindor (lower back tightness) did not appear in the game yesterday after exiting early on Friday night
RHP Paul Blackburn (lower back) has a spinal fluid leak and it is uncertain if or when he will pitch again this season
Roster Moves 📰
SS Luisangel Acuña (No. 12 prospect) recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
OF D.J. Stewart optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF Drew Gilbert (No. 3 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-5, RBI, BB, 3 runs scored
RF Carlos Cortes (Triple-A): 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 runs scored
C Kevin Parada (No. 25 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-3, HR (12), BB
BOX SCORES
Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (81-67) vs. Phillies (89-59)
Where: Citizens Bank Park — Philadelphia, PA
Starters: LHP David Peterson (9-2, 2.98 ERA) vs. LHP Christopher Sánchez (10-9, 3.33 ERA)
When: 1:35 PM EDT
Where to Watch: WPIX
Every loss feels worse in a pennant race… ✍️
Pennant race baseball is a privilege, but man oh man do the losses sting 10 times as much this time of year.
When the Mets blew a 4-0 lead and lost to the Phillies on Saturday, I initially reacted and called it “the new worst loss of the season.” Of course, there are far more excruciating or worse losses that have happened throughout the course of this season – we could all rattle off a few, I’m sure – but when you’re at this stage of the season, every moment of every game is magnified.
Devastating losses can happen in May (and the Mets had plenty of those), and while they all add up the same there is much more time for the team to rebound from those losses when they happen earlier in the year. After yesterday’s rough loss to the Phillies, the Mets now have 14 games remaining as they find themselves in a dog fight with the Padres, Dbacks and Braves. Three of those teams will make the postseason, and one of them will have to go home.
There is no such thing as a painless loss in September, and when you let an opportunity to win a baseball game slip through your fingers, even against one of the best teams in the league, it feels extra costly.
On another note, sometimes there just feels like there are a handful of games where it always seems as if your team is destined to lose. The Mets did a lot of things themselves to lose this game between their offense going ice cold vs Taijuan Walker (who has an ERA over 6 this season) or their bullpen imploding over two innings, but a lot of things also seemed to work against them today.
Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper hadn’t hit a home run since August 9th – the longest stretch of his career – and then hit home runs in back-to-back at-bats against Luis Severino to turn the tide of this game. The Phillies game-winning rally in the 7th started with back-to-back bloop hits falling in. And then came a new, unexpected contender for Mets killer: Cal Stevenson.
Making his his fourth start for the Phillies all season long, the 28-year-old journeyman outfielder came into the game with a .502 OPS and -0.3 bWAR in his major league career. So naturally, batting out of the nine-hole, Stevenson delivered with a two-out, two-run double vs Reed Garrett in the 7th inning to complete the comeback and give the Phillies their first lead of the game.
If that wasn’t enough, Stevenson robbed J.D. Martínez of what would have been a game-tying home run in the top of the 8th, and that was essentially all she wrote. While the team did get the tying run to bat in the 9th, they were unable to get a run across and lost the game, 6-4.
That Stevenson moment weirdly reminded me of a game that occurred late in the 2016 season vs the Braves. In the thick of a fight for a Wild Card spot and only 11 games to go, the Mets blew a 3-0 lead to the braves and surrendered the lead in the 9th inning when the light-hitting Ender Inciarte drove home the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout vs Jeurys Familia. In the very next half-inning, Inciarte robbed Yoenis Céspedes of what would have been a walk-off, three-run home run for a thrilling victory. Instead, the game was over and Mets fans like myself felt that all-too-familiar sinking feeling after a crushing September loss.
While Saturday’s loss in Philadelphia wasn’t quite as dramatic, it certainly did have some similarities. The good news for this year’s squad is that Mets team actually rebounded from that devastating loss quite well, as they went 7-3 over their final 10 games to claim the top Wild Card spot in the National League.
This year’s team has a bit of an advantage, as well, with four more games to go than the 2016 squad did.
We’ll see what happens next, but there’s no doubt that last night’s loss had a bit of an extra sting to it. Today won’t be any easier as they’ll need to fight to escape Philadelphia with a hard-earned series victory.
Pennant race baseball, man. It’ll either thrill you or kill you…
Around the League 🚩
Braves 1B Matt Olson drove home four runs as part of a 10-1 beatdown of the Dodgers for their second straight victory
Brewers SS Willy Adames continued his red hot streak and Milwaukee avoided a late comeback scare after once leading by a 13-0 score, eventually beating the Dbacks 15-8
Padres RHP Joe Musgrove dominated over six innings as San Diego beat up on the Giants for the second night in a row
Dodgers RHP Tyler Glasnow will miss the remainder of the 2024 season due to a sprained elbow, the club announced
Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole issued an intentional walk to Red Sox 3B Rafael Devers with the bases empty, leading to a meltdown of the ace allowing seven runs in a loss to Boston
Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson clubbed his 37th home run of the season as Baltimore defeated the Tigers 4-2 and gained a game on the Yankees in the AL East
Win today, your probably not going to sweep the Phillies who are a very good team
Need more consistency from the offense to make up for the bullpen's inconsistency. I wish they could have banked some of their runs from Friday night.