Mets blasted by the Orioles 10-3, and a plea on behalf of the kids and casual fans

The disconnect between the Mets and fans got very real during Friday night's debacle in Baltimore

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets were blown away by the Orioles 10-3 in Baltimore on Friday (Box)

• The Mets mustered just four hits, two of which came off the bat of Francisco Lindor who turned in a 2-for-3, 2 RBI night at the plate

• David Peterson pitched well in his three-inning start, but the bullpen was non-competitive in allowing 10 runs in 5 innings of work, eight of which were allowed by Phil Bickford and Reed Garrett

• Former Met James McCann - who entered play with 10 RBI in 137 plate appearances - notched 5 RBI against his former club on Friday

• The Mets have now lost four in a row and sit just 3.5 games ahead of the Nationals for last place in the NL East

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News and Notes 🎵

• Tylor Megill will enter the rotation tonight at against the Orioles

• The Mets are making Ronny Mauricio - who was benched on Thursday at Triple-A Syracuse - earn a promotion to the big leagues (New York Post)

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Injury Updates 🏥

• Brandon Nimmo returned to the lineup on Friday but is still dealing with a mild quad strain

• Starling Marte returned to the lineup as well on Friday, but his situation will be taken day-to-day as they see if his migraines return

• Tim Locastro (thumb surgery) began a rehab assignment with the FCL Mets in Port St. Lucie

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Roster Moves 🗞️

• Claimed RHP Tyson Miller of waivers from the Dodgers, assigned to Triple-A Syracuse

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Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (50-59) at Orioles (68-42)

Starting pitchers: RHP Tylor Megill (6-4, 5.17 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Gibson (10-6, 4.53 ERA)

Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards – Baltimore, MD

When: 7:05 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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Dear Mets, my kid doesn’t want to watch you anymore… ✍️

Remember when we thought the Mets were unwatchable before they unloaded those big pieces from their roster?

Well, then there was this week in Kansas City and last night in Baltimore.

I mean, woof.

It’s sad - my own daughter who is 11 years old, a kid who on the day she was born sat in the hospital with me to watch a spring training game on TV, got up from the sofa and said last night in the middle of that pummeling, “I’m going to bed. I just can’t watch them anymore.”

They were unwatchable for her. She got up and left, no matter how much I tried to get her to stay. I don’t know if she will watch them again this year.

That’s the thing to me.

Yes, the Mets made the right decisions for their organization this past week. They got younger, they got more athletic, they assumed a lot of risk in the unknown of prospect building while dumping a failed risk and a lot of money on other teams in the process.

But in listening to Mr. Cohen and Mr. Eppler this week speaking to the media, I tried to take notice in body language and expressions, and to determine if they understood or even cared about what it meant for the Mets this year and how they might feel about the kids - like mine - who don’t understand what happened here and why their star players aren’t here anymore. All they see now is a terrible team with unrecognizable faces and names, and they’re “uninteresting” and “unentertaining” as she put it last night.

And quite honestly, I saw and heard an extension of what has become a deep problem in baseball over the last 15 years, and that is a dehumanization of the game, and a continued disconnect with the very group of people they simply must garner interest from in order to improve the game’s popularity and bring it back to the sides of basketball and football.

But there was nothing really said which even suggested the, “hey, I get it, and yes, this is going to be a rough sled here for a while.” There was nothing I could replay for her that could make her understand that eventually, once again, the Mets will be fine. Instead, they continued in their monotones and tried to explain the math and the dollars and the opportunities and the odds and all of that stuff people like my daughter could give a shit less about, let alone understand.

Look - I am not at all suggesting the Mets keep diminishing players on their roster. This is the direction they needed to go in. I’ve written here for months how old, un-athletic and un-agile this roster was. The new long game for the Mets suggests they’re endeavoring to address that problem. I get it, I understand it, I understand what they were both saying, and this was undoubtedly the right call. In fact, I thought they should’ve traded José Quintana too, and if I were them, I’d DFA Carlos Carrasco and give his rotation spot to somebody else right now.

But that doesn’t mean I or anyone is satisfied about this season or what’s left in the rubble of this team right now. It doesn’t mean I am not going to sit there, watch them get their assess kicked and be happy just because I think they made the right decisions and may have gotten a few prospects who will be everyday big leaguers in a few years.

Knowing that they were right and made good moves and being disgusted by what has transpired are two independent and parallel things.

And if that’s how I feel, why should my kid feel any different, someone who doesn’t get any of this?

Quite frankly, if you’re being honest with yourself, I think you’d realize you probably feel the same or in a similar way about the situation.

How do I explain this to my kid, and how do I explain to other kids or other fans who may be a little more casual than I am and don’t understand all of this? That’s representative of the majority of the customer base, and a customer base the Mets and pretty much every club routinely fails to connect with.

Honestly, it’s not my job. Its the job of those who made these decisions, the ones who will be trying to squeeze every last penny out of her by the time she is able to drive a car and decide whether or not she wants to go to a game with her friends or her family.

And it’s their job to re-engage and reinterest her, explain to her why she and the rest of the people in her age group should be more interested in a game they love and a team they truly love than their group texts, Instagram feeds and TikTok’s.

Maybe for once, these people could take off their suits, get out of their fancy cars, take off their fancy watches, and just sit down, have a hot dog and a soda, pay full price for it, and have a conversation with the fans and the kids to try and explain in a language they understand why the Mets struggled this year, why this rebuild is necessary, and why they should continue to be interested and come to the ballpark in a game full of math, probabilistic opportunities, betting and playoff odds, cold and transactional decisions, and all sorts of stuff which is completely uninteresting to them.

Give her a reason to get off that damn phone and come to the ballpark and root for the Mets instead, even in a lost season and perhaps another lost season after this one.

I know, it doesn’t work that way. But, maybe it should? They have the time, and they have the money.

Showing them that they actually care and aren’t just about the money and breaking off player relationships like a dead tree branch would be the prudent approach right now. And not talking to them like they’re in a college economics or statistics class would go a long way, too.

Because, my daughter doesn’t even want to go to Citi Field right now. She doesn’t care that the Mets might be good in 2025 and 2026. That’s 1/4 of her life away right now. She cares that they stink now and Billy Eppler and Steve Cohen were speaking gibberish to her. And there’s nothing I can say or do to explain to her that patience is the game now.

This is how she feels.

And it doesn’t matter what the intent was behind what they said or did. Rather, the only thing that matters is how it makes people feel, especially the kids who see the game in it’s purest form.

After all, the game is about the kids. They’re the future of the sport, they’re the future of the customer base.

That’s what is at stake for them more than anything else.

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Around the League 🚩

• The Rays blanked the Tigers 8-0 to keep pace with the Orioles in the AL East, while the Yankees lost to the Astros 7-3 in the Bronx to fall 11 games out of first place

• The Royals jumped the Phillies 7-5 for their fourth win in a row, but maintained their position in the second wild card as the Reds lost to the Nationals 6-3 and the Marlins lost to the Rangers 6-2

• The Mariners won their third game in a row, edging the Angels 9-7 in Anaheim. The Angels have now lost four in a row and sit five games out of a wild card spot

• The Braves hit three more home runs and shut the Cubs out 8-0 at Wrigley Field