Rocky starting pitching and awful bullpen doom Mets in Colorado
For the second series in a row, the Mets fall to a below .500 team. Plus, how the outlook for this team may still be poor.
Happy Memorial Day from your friends at Just Mets!
What’s Up with the Mets? 🇺🇸
Despite scoring 10 runs, the Mets fell to the Rockies 11-10 to drop their second series in a row (box)
RHP Tylor Megill was again a liability on the mound giving up six runs, four of which were earned, in four innings. It was his own error that opened the floodgates for the Rockies
RHP Stephen Nogosek was even worse coming out of the pen and essentially put the game out of reach when he gave up five runs in one inning of work
C Francisco Álvarez remains one of the few bright spots of the season and blasted his eighth home run of the season batting in the two-spot of the order
LF Tommy Pham finally put together a good day at the plate. He went 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs
CF Starling Marte picked up another two hits and walked twice
SS Francisco Lindor blasted his ninth home run of the season
The bullpen combination of Dominic Leone, Jeff Brigham, Tommy Hunter, and Brooks Raley did not give up any runs in three innings
The Mets went 2-4 on their road trip against the Cubs and Rockies, the two worst teams in the National League
Who’s Hot 🔥
Over the past seven games, C Francisco Álvarez is batting .423/.483/.962 with four home runs and ten RBIs
Pete Alonso continues to hit along with his newest bash brother. He hit .308/.419/.769 with three home runs and five RBIs in his last seven games played
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off today as they travel home to take on the Phillies on Tuesday.
Just kidding, this team still might be bad… ✍🏼
What a difference a week makes. Exactly one week ago it seemed like the Mets had finally recaptured their mojo. It was a thrilling week of baseball that had fans believing that dormant magic was back in Queens. Just like it took one week to recapture the magic, so it goes that it took one week for the season to get slapped with an Uno reverse card.
First up was Wrigley and the Cubs. With their loss on Sunday and the Rockies’ win, the Cubs have the worst record in the National League. Yet somehow the Mets managed to make them look much better than their record indicates. Tylor Megill was the culprit twice this week, struggling against the two teams with the worst record in the league. He lasted just 3.2 innings in Chicago and gave up four runs. You can make excuses saying the wind causes trouble at Wrigley or it is Coors but the fact of the matter is the Megill has been underwhelming all season. He is 5-3 with a 4.67 ERA and has not proven he belongs in the rotation. None of David Peterson, Joey Lucchesi, or Megill has seized that fifth rotation spot so the Mets could either keep rotating them until one starts producing or by getting creative and going with an opener every five days. One thing is for sure. This team cannot continuously wave a white flag on the mound every fifth day. That leaves no room for error when another pitcher struggles.
Which is what happened to Kodai Senga in the second game of the series against the Cubs. He did manage to limit the damage but the offense dried up against Marcus Stroman and the series was lost. They salvaged the final game with an offensive explosion which seemed to bode well for the upcoming series in Coors.
[Narrator voice] It did not bode well.
The road trip looked like it might be turning around when Max Scherzer pitched one of his best games of the year and they took the opening game of the series. Unfortunately both Justin Verlander and Megill could not follow suit, and the starting rotation posted a 5.46 ERA in the six games on this road trip. The offense did continue hitting led by the emerging Francisco Álvarez, but poor starting pitching combined with a bullpen that routinely implodes to put games out of reach is not a great combination.
So here we are at Memorial Day which is both the unofficial start of the summer and the time of the schedule where teams need to start getting serious if they are going to make the playoffs at the end of the season. And here the Mets are at 27-27 which after their chaotic last two weeks seems about right. They can look like world beaters one week and completely inept the next week. As NFL coach Bill Parcells helpfully observed, “You are what your record says you are.” For the Mets that is a .500 team. If the pitching doesn’t get fixed ASAP that is probably who they will remain to be.
Around the League 🚩
After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Decemeber, Liam Hendricks will return to the White Sox with his cancer in remission
Mike Soroka will finally return to the Braves having last pitched in 2020 and suffering two Achilles tears
Anthony Rizzo collided with Fernando Tatis at first and left the game with a neck injury
The Angels called up prospect Ben Joyce who threw a pitch at 105 mph in college