The Mets are playing uninspired baseball right now
Plus, Clay Holmes gets hurt and injury updates on Juan Soto and Jorge Polanco...
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets have now lost three straight after being shutout 4-0 by the A’s at Citi Field on Friday night (box)
RHP Clay Holmes was solid on the mound, allowing just one earned run on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 5.1 innings before leaving the game due to injury
RHP Tobias Myers entered the game in relief and, after retiring eight straight hitters, gave up three earned runs in an ugly ninth inning
The offense did nothing all night, recording just six hits, with no batter having more than one hit on the night. The Mets have now gone 17 straight innings without scoring a run
Former Met 2B Jeff McNeil, who enjoyed a productive night against his old team, downplayed his argument with SS Fransisco Lindor (SNY)
Mets legend and SNY broadcaster Keith Hernandez will undergo back surgery on Tuesday and hopes to be back in the booth by April 24 (NY Post)
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP Clay Holmes left Friday’s game in the top of the sixth with left hamstring tightness, but both player and team are optimistic he’ll make his next start. The Mets will wait until Saturday to decide if any further imaging needs to be done
1B/DH Jorge Polanco (Achilles tendinitis) underwent an MRI which confirmed that there is no structural damage with his Achilles. He’s dealing with bursitis and remains day-to-day, but won’t need to go on the IL
LF Juan Soto (right calf strain) is progressing as planned and hit and played catch earlier this week
Play of the Game 🙃
The entire Mets offense was ice cold on Friday night, but there were opportunities to squeeze some runs across.
Take the bottom of the sixth inning, for instance.
With Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette on the corners with no outs, Jared Young came to the plate with a real chance to get the Mets on the board. Instead, he hit a hard line drive straight to Nick Kurtz at first base, who then proceeded to catch Lindor between third and home for the first out. Luis Robert Jr. would then ground into a double-inning play to kill all momentum and end what had looked to be a promising rally.
Lindor has now committed a couple of clunkers on the basepaths already this season, and his mental errors are becoming more concerning than his normal slow start at the plate.
David Stearns Speaks 🗣️
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns met with the media prior to Friday’s game against the A’s. Here’s a selection of the most interesting nuggets from his availability with the press:
Stearns acknowledged that the Mets haven’t played their best baseball yet, but he’s been pleased with how they’ve been able to win games in different ways.
The Mets have had some problems defensively early on this year, but Stearns downplayed those issues, insisting that the team has played well defensively.
Carson Benge has struggled offensively so far in his Major League career, but Stearns stressed that there are no plans to send the rookie down to Triple-A, adding that he believes in Benge’s ability to figure things out, while singling out his athleticism.
Stearns was optimistic about Juan Soto’s recovery, stating that this “is not going to be a particularly long-term absence.”
Finally, Stearns called David Peterson a “great competitor” and stressed the organization’s belief in the lefty. Stearns also praised Sean Manaea for his contributions out of the bullpen, while hinting at the possibility that Craig Kimbrel could have a role to play with the Mets soon
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
On the latest edition of the Midweek Show, Andrew reacts to and recaps the Mets dropping their series to the Dbacks which included back-to-back blowout losses.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Who’s Cold? 🥶
Over his last six games, SS Francisco Lindor is hitting just .143/.143/.179/.321 with one extra-base hit and six strikeouts
Over his last five games, OF Carson Benge is slashing just .118/.211/.118/.328 with five strikeouts
Over his last six games, 2B Marcus Semien is hitting just .174/.208/.217/.426 with one double, one RBI, and three strikeouts
Down on the Farm 🌾
RF D’Andre Smith (Double-A): 2-for-4, 5 RBIs, 1 2B, 1 3B
1B Chris Suero (No. 15 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-2, 3 R, 2 RBIs, 3 BB, 1 HR
CF A.J. Ewing (No. 3 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 2B
DH Corey Collins (High-A): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 3B
SS Elian Peña (No. 8 prospect, Single-A): 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 HR
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (7-7) vs. Athletics (6-7)
Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY
Starters: RHP Kodai Senga (0-1, 3.09 ERA) vs. LHP Jacob Lopez (0-1, 6.48 ERA)
When: 4:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
These Mets appear lost and are a tough watch ✍️
Friday night proved to be another painful experience for Mets fans.
Nothing went right for a team that has now lost three straight and is clearly struggling in several different areas.
Sure, Clay Holmes was doing his job on the mound just fine before being forced to leave due to injury. Thankfully, there seems to be optimism that the reliable pitcher won’t miss any time at all.
However, that was as good as it got as more mental errors and yet another no-show from the offense led to another unwatchable effort at Citi Field.
And it didn’t help that Jeff McNeil, on his return to Queens, haunted his old team on both sides of the ball.
No wonder there were boos inside Citi Field.
All in all, it was just a brutal effort all round, and a continuation of some of the worrying trends we’ve seen emerge over the first couple of weeks of the season.
It is probably still too early to press the panic button, but I think you are allowed to be worried, especially when it comes to an offense that probably would struggle against Little League pitching right now.
Granted, not having a superstar like Juan Soto in the lineup will always hurt, but it isn’t like the Mets were lighting it up offensively even with a healthy Soto.
Even so, down your best hitter or not, there is no excuse for this Mets lineup to be this lifeless. And I don’t want to hear any excuses about the cold weather. We are talking about professional baseball players who play in April every single year. They get paid incredibly good money to adapt and figure it out.
There is no reason at all why a lineup featuring the likes of Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette should be struggling this badly. I mean, to go 17 consecutive innings without scoring a single run is just not good enough. That’s not a blip, it is a sign that something is seriously wrong with this offense right now.
Both Lindor and manager Carlos Mendoza tried to play down the struggles after the game, with Lindor insisting that he’s seeing a lot of quality at-bats from his teammates. I’m sorry, Francisco, but I just don’t agree. For the most part, the at-bats on Friday looked lifeless, uninspired, and just unlikely to lead to anything good. I don’t know if players are trying to do too much in Soto’s absence, but the patience approach we saw on Opening Day appears to be a one-off.
It is probably also fair to suggest that Lindor leads the way when it comes to the biggest concerns with this team. We all know that he’s prone to getting off to slow starts, but he’s been a non-factor to start this year and he is actively hurting his team. He’s hitting just .164/.303/.255/.558 with zero home runs (9-for-55). It may be that Lindor is struggling to unlock any kind of power post-hamate surgery, which was flagged as a possibility, but that’s hardly his only issue right now.
For the second time in a matter of games, Lindor was guilty of committing an absolute brain fart on the basepaths on Friday night. He was caught in no man’s land between third and home, which led to him being thrown out. That helped to kill the Mets’ only real rally of the night.
Again, we’re used to Lindor getting off to sluggish starts, but these mental errors are something new and they do spark bigger concerns. With Soto out of the lineup, Lindor should be the one stepping up and putting this team on his shoulders. Instead, he seems to be doing the exact opposite and finding new ways to help this team lose.
We see every year just how important Lindor is to this team and to this offense when he’s on, and we’re seeing right now just how detrimental his own struggles can be to the entire team. With Soto expected to be out for a couple more weeks at least, it is absolutely imperative that Lindor figures this out and starts leading the way with some positive play both at the plate and in the field.
Of course, Lindor is hardly the only problem with the entire lineup stinking out the place on Friday. But he’s one of the leaders of this team, and he has to do a lot better.
A whole lot better.
All in all, we’re still in early April, and I do believe there is too much talent in that lineup and in that clubhouse for things not to improve sooner rather than later. If we’re having the same kind of conversations in June, then that’s probably time to panic a little.
Then again, we saw a similar story play out last year with the offense hot and cold and going from one extreme to the next. Things were meant to be different this season thanks to a newly-constructed lineup focused on elite contact but, so far, we’re witnessing more of the same.
The Mets are just a tough watch right now, and there are no excuses for some of the lazy at-bats and mental errors we’re currently seeing. Things need to improve dramatically and quickly.
Around the League 🚩
3B Max Muncy hit three home runs to help lift the Dodgers to a 8-7 win over the Rangers
RHP Kenley Jansen recorded his 478th career save in Detroit’s 2-0 win over the Marlins, tying Hall of Famer Lee Smith for third place on the all-time list
RHP Mason Miller has now not allowed a run to score over 28 2/3 innings after striking out all three hitters he faced in San Diego’s 5-2 win over the Rockies
Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani passed Ichiro Suzuki for the longest on-base streak by a Japanese player after reaching base in his 44th straight game on Friday
C Brandon Valenzuela hit his first career MLB home run to help steer the Blue Jays to a 10-4 win over the Twins
It's getting late kinda early. Or, just getting ugly early?
John Harper on Twitter said: Lindor having a weird year. Being accountable only goes so far. Admitted being at fault for not "stepping into the throw" on DP he failed to turn. Admitted he should have gotten into rundown, allowed runners to get to 2nd/3rd. Forgot how many outs vs. Cards. Too many mistakes.
My response: Exactly! I said as much (though not as eloquently as the great John Harper!) to
@AnthonyDiComo and @richmacleod.
The low BA is one thing. Poor fundies is inexcusable. He needs a “mental” day off or three.