Meltdown: Mets lose 7th straight game in a blowout loss to the Pirates

Tylor Megill was ineffective in another short outing for the starting rotation, and the bullpen poured fuel on the fire in a non-competitive loss to the Bucs

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The were blown out by the Pirates 14-7 for their seventh straight loss to fall four games under .500 at 30-34 for the season (box)

• Tylor Megill started for the Mets and he was completely ineffective, allowing nine runs - seven earned - over only 3.2 IP

• Relievers Zack Muckenhirn and Tommy Hunter weren’t much better - they allowed five runs over only 4.1 IP

• The Mets did score seven runs on the night, although 9 of their 12 hits were singles - Starling Marte and Eduardo Escobar each recorded multi-hit nights

• The Mets have scored 31 runs and allowed 51 runs during their seven-game losing streak - their team ERA is now 4.80 for the season

“We have an experienced coaching staff and we have confidence in them. That isn’t an acknowledgement that everything is fine. But it’s an acknowledgment that we have the personnel to get this right. There are things that are not going right that we need to address. Offensively at times, defensively at times, base running at times, pitching at times. But making changes for the sake of making changes isn’t going to deliver us our desired outcome.”

~ Mets GM Billy Eppler, per the New York Post

Roster Moves 🗞️

• INF Pete Alonso placed on the 10-day IL with a bone bruise and sprained hand (story)

• LHP Zack Muckenhirn recalled from Triple-A Syracuse

• INF Luis Guillorme recalled from Triple-A Syracuse

• RHP Stephen Nogosek designated for assignment

• C Tomás Nido outright to Triple-A Syracuse

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Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (30-34) at Pirates (33-29)

Where: PNC Park — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Starters: RHP Kodai Senga (5-3, 3.75 ERA) vs RHP Johan Oviedo (3-4, 4.29 ERA)

When: 4:05 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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Something has to give… ✍️

New York Post

There isn’t a whole lot left to say about the Mets at this point. It’s about what’s next and what they’re going to do about this.

But, I am going to try and spell this all out.

The Mets are a $400 million dollar major league walking disaster. A team that looks old, slow and completely unfit for this new form of baseball. They appear to be a team stuck in their ways. There’s a stubbornness to change and adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of the current roster, evident by Mets manager Buck Showalter’s general unwillingness to position the younger players for success, instead sticking to a formula which has failed this club time and time again ever since the Dodgers left town before Labor Day last September.

Listen, I am not saying Mets GM Billy Eppler should fire anyone. After all, he built this roster along with team owner Steve Cohen. They’re the ones who are accountable for the form this team has taken on, a team which is more or less the same - lineup wise anyway - as it was a year ago.

I never think it’s a coaching issue. It’s also never an issue of a player or a group of players becoming indifferent to their jobs as professional baseball players, either. They care, they want to win, and they work hard every day despite these piss poor results in 2023.

Does that mean Showalter and his staff are performing? Well, they’re performing to the tune of a 30-34 record on June 10. They’re as good and as smart as the record says they are, in the end.

I also never like to refer to last year and hope that at some point, this group will resemble the team from last year, and perform like they did last year, and turn it around and win like they did last year.

Last year does not matter, and that just sets everyone - including the owner - up for a massive disappointment.

Still, it’s unquestionably a player performance issue with this team. Again, they don’t look or sound capable of adapting to these new rules - it seems as though Max Scherzer is complaining about something after almost every start - they are routinely out run, out hit, out pitched, and out played. They keep telling themselves they’re a good team, they tell the public they know what they’re doing, but again, you’re as smart as the record says you are.

They look stunned and in disbelief after every game. As if this shouldn’t happen to them instead of making it happen to the other team. I’ve been saying for about two months this team lacks that IT factor, an element that allows them to stand out, rise to the occasion, and find ways to win on a daily basis.

Instead, this Mets team finds new ways to lose on a daily basis.

At 30-34 with so much underperformance from roster spots 1-26, something has to give and soon. This can’t continue, even if whatever changes are looming have no impact on future results. There is no way this team can continue at this pace with this unprecedented payroll. These aren’t the Nationals, A’s or Royals.

These are the Mets, a franchise with a $400 million payroll which instead of unveiling a new era under Steve Cohen is giving everyone nightmares of 1992 and the worst team money could buy.

In other words, it’s the same old Mets, right?

It’s not even about the expectations, either. At this point, they are what they are regardless of what their paychecks say on the 15th and last days of every month. It’s about accountability, about taking a stand and making a point that there will be accountability in the midst of underperformance.

Enough is enough. The dam has broken. When will team executives fix it?

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Around the League 🚩

• Shohei Ohtani fell one hit short of the cycle and allowed three runs over five innings in the Angels 5-4 win over the Mariners

• The Rays are on a roll again - they’ve won seven in a row after their 8-3 win over the Rangers on Friday thanks in part to two home runs from Isaac Paredes

• Yu Darvish won his 100th career game as the Padres defeated the Rockies 9-6

• Kyle Schwarber and the Phillies walked off the Dodgers 5-4 in Philadelphia on Friday

• The Guardians won a 14-inning game against the Astros 10-9 in Cleveland