Poor pitching and an ice cold offense tells the story in loss to the Blue Jays
David Peterson didn't have it, the offense didn't show up, and the Mets kicked the ball around in an ugly affair in Toronto
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What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost to the Blue Jays 6-2 in Toronto on Tuesday night (box)
It was a rough night for David Peterson, who allowed four earned runs and got whacked around for eight hits in only 4.1 IP
The Mets defense didn’t help Peterson, committing two errors behind him in the process
The Mets offense struggled again - they scattered just five singles around a pinch-hit double from José Iglesias against Chris Bassitt and the putrid Toronto bullpen
The Mets went just 1-for-8 with RISP on the night - the Mets are now just 18-for-75 with RISP since August 30
Playoff Race 🏁
It was a painful night for the Mets in the wild card race, as all three of the Braves, Diamondbacks and Padres won while the Mets lost.
The Mets are now tied with the Braves for the third wild card, two games behind the the Diamondbacks for the second wild card, and 2.5 games behind the Padres for the top wild card.
There are 17 games remaining.
Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 45.3% chance of making the postseason.
New York has the 5th hardest remaining 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)
September is ICE COLD! 🥶
Pete Alonso is just 5-for-his-last-30 with a home run and an RBI, dating back to September 1
Brandon Nimmo is just 5-for-his-last-30 with a double and three RBI dating back to September 1
JD Martínez is just 3-for-20 with 4 RBI in September
The Mets are hitting just .208/.299/.330 with 37 runs scored in nine September games
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF Carlos Cortes (Triple-A): 1-for-3, HR, RBI
OF Ryan Clifford (#4 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI
BOX SCORES
Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Mets top 30 prospects
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (79-66) vs. Blue Jays (69-77)
Where: Rogers Centre - Toronto, Canada
Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (11-5, 3.43 ERA) vs. RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.72 ERA)
When: 3:07 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
The offense can’t be about one person! ✍️
So now, the challenge is what do the Mets look like when they’re not coming up all aces.
On Tuesday, David Peterson had an off-night, a rarity in a season full of nothing short of brilliance and a renaissance for the left-hander.
All of the red dots are fastballs from Peterson on Tuesday. That location (middle and up) is pretty much all you need to know.
In short, the quality of his strikes was generally poor from the jump. He can’t live with a low 90’s fastball in that location, and he didn’t, even if he was badly burned by his defense which was playing loose and sloppy throughout his 4.1 IP on Tuesday.
It happens. He can’t pitch well in every outing. Nobody can.
Of course, it was a bad night for both he and the Mets to have a bad night.
All of the competition in the playoff field won on Tuesday, which knocked the Mets back into a tie with the Braves for the final wild card and set them back a full game each on the Diamondbacks and Padres.
It doesn’t get easier from here either. After today, seven of the next ten games are against the Phillies, then the final six are against the Braves and the Brewers.
They do have this series with the Blue Jays and a series against the Nationals sandwiched in between, making it absolutely critical they win today and win at least two against Washington next week, if not all three next week.
But the Mets have a growing problem all of a sudden, and that is with their offense. It has been putrid over the last ten or so days in large measure.
They are averaging a smidge over four runs per game this month which isn’t terrible, but they’ve scored three runs or less four times and two runs or less three times during that span. They’re just 18-for-75 with RISP since August 30 as well. They haven’t had a single game this month where they’ve notched double-digit hits, either.
I am the first one to say offense comes and goes, but this isn’t exactly a good time for the offense to have gone somewhere else, if I may be frank. And as I said before, it’s not exactly going to be getting any easier beginning tomorrow night when they face top shelf pitching against the Phillies, Braves and Brewers the rest of the way.
Now, I am interested to see how the offense responds against the better teams in the league. The Mets have shown since May 30 a penchant for rising to the occasion against teams over .500, as they were 14-25 against such teams on May 30, and are now 41-39, ie 27-14 since.
That of course doesn’t mean the club will wake up from their slumber against them. It’s just a metric to use to apply a little bit of hope the offense will in fact turn around when the bell rings in Philadelphia tomorrow night.
But as the owner might say, hope isn’t a strategy.
They aren’t getting a whole lot right now from Pete Alonso, who has been abhorrent with runners in scoring position from the very beginning this season. JD Martínez has had starts and stops offensively all year long, and while Francisco Álvarez is showing signs of life at the plate as of late, neither he or Brandon Nimmo have contributed a whole lot over the last couple of months (although Nimmo has hit all year with RISP, as his 74 RBI would indicate).
And with Francisco Lindor cooling off a bit over the last week, well, here we are with the offense.
It can’t always be about one person, ie Lindor. It’s time for the rest of them to pick up the slack and drive the wild card home for the Mets.
Look - the Mets weren’t going to win their last 30 games or whatever it was. They were bound to hit a snag. They were bound to get a clunker from a starting pitcher. The offense was bound to hit a cold streak. It happens - this is a 162-game season.
But now is the time for the Mets to find that extra gear, and go into Philadelphia on a high note. This is yet another must-win game for the Mets, an opportunity to keep their series win streak going, and go into Philly with some positive vibes.
They need a cleanly played cruise control game in Toronto today.
Around the League 🚩
The Braves walloped the Nationals 12-0 at Nationals Park on Wednesday, highlighted by a two-homer night from Michael Harris II. However, the Braves removed ace RHP Reynaldo López after just one inning due to shoulder tightness
Manny Machado homered and drove in four runs as the Padres cruised by the Mariners 7-3 in Seattle
Zac Gallen threw five shutout innings and Christian Walker homered twice as the Diamondbacks breezed by the Rangers 6-0 in Phoenix
Just like every year. The Mets need a sports psychologist and therapy. They get tight especially against bad teams because they know they should win those games. They will probably get eliminated before the Brewers series then they will sweep the Brewers and fall out of the WC by one game. Something "amazingly" absurd. Just like 2022 and 2007 collapses when they had 7 game lead against Phillies and lost in late September. It has nothing to do with metrics, ability, etc. It is the Mets!
As the race gets tighter, the players get tighter, and put more pressure on themselves to be the guy. You see it recently in Mark. The veterans need to step up, take the leadership and get the team to the finish line. With 17 games to go, this will be the grind to make the playoffs or not. Think 11-6 would get them in?