Through the first four innings, Jacob deGrom was pitching like the ace we know he is.  After a tough loss, and with first place in the balance, he was as great as he has ever been.  Through the first four innings, deGrom had walked none, allowed just two hits, and he struck out six.

He then went into the tunnel into the clubhouse.  He was done for the day with a hyper-extended elbow.  Based upon the ensuing MRI, he may be gone longer than that.  If deGrom is gone, the Mets will have lost much more than a 7-0 game.

Look, we can get into Tom Glavine–Greg Maddux–John Smoltz 1999 strike zone Sean Newcomb was getting from Home Plate Umpire Lance Barrett.  The Mets were clearly irritated by it, and we even saw Todd Frazier say something about umpiring in general after the game.

We can delve into Paul Sewald and Robert Gsellman struggled out of the bullpen really for the first time all season long.

We can even wonder how in the word Wilmer Flores forgot to do the one thing in baseball he is actually good at doing – hitting left-handed pitching.

Really, right now, none of this matters.  As it stood, this pitching staff needed at least one more starter, and that was assuming Jason Vargas will get better and Zack Wheeler won’t turn back into the guy who forced the Mets to put him in Triple-A to start the season.

Sure, the Mets are just a half game back, and it is possible Matt Harvey, Seth Lugo, and/or Corey Oswalt step up here.  We saw something like that happen in 2016 when Lugo and Gsellman performed a miracle over the last month of the season.

Maybe it’s being a little overly dramatic, but after what we saw with Noah Syndergaard‘s injury last year, and how the energy from the team and the ballpark flat-line after deGrom left the game, it’s very possible the Mets need a miracle.

I guess it’s times like these we all channel our inner Tug McGraw and say, “Ya Gotta Believe”

Game Notes: AJ Ramos now has a five appearance stretch without issuing a walk. There was a delay in the game because Yoenis Cespedes‘ necklace broke, and they had to get the diamonds off the diamond.