20/20 Hindsight: Mets Swept In Embarrassing Fashion By Cubs
The New York Mets came to Chicago looking to beat up on a reeling Cubs team. Instead, they got beat up and are reeling themselves.
1. J.D. Davis needs to be on the bench period. He continues to prove he can’t field, and that really hurt the team in this series.
2. In the three game set Taijuan Walker, David Peterson, and Joey Lucchesi failed to go four innings let along five.
3. Walker and Peterson were really hurt by Davis’ defense. Walker would also be hurt by walks as would Lucchesi.
4. The more you see Lucchesi, the more you realize he’s not a starter, but he might be a great reliever.
5. One bright spot of this series was maybe discovering Sean Reid-Foley could be a real piece. He kept his walks down for a night. If he can do it for many nights, watch out.
6. Speaking of watch out, Pete Alonso is heating up. He hit some big homers, one of which left the ballpark.
7. Michael Conforto almost hit one out, and he at least appears to be working towards being his normal self.
8. After all the nonsense and hand wringing over Francisco Lindor, he hit his first homer and had his first three hit game.
9. Jeff McNeil just can’t seem to get going this year. It’s really difficult to pinpoint the problem too.
10. While the Mets are struggling at the plate, it’s too early to derive conclusions. That said, they’re following the same patterns as other Chili Davis coached teams with climbing ground ball rates.
11. James McCann is just so good mechanically, and he gets the ball out so quickly, he gives his middle infielders a real chance to get down the tag.
12. The one issue with McCann is he hasn’t been great receiving throws. Then again, the throws to him at home have been terrible.
13. The Mets defense on Wednesday set the sport back. It was just that bad, inexcusably so.
14. Davis can be terrible all he wants, but he has no one to blame but himself. He sure can’t blame Alonso.
15. The state of umpiring in the game is really bad. We’ve seen Mets pitchers get really squeezed. Walker was ejected AFTER he was removed from the game. Kris Bryant still hasn’t touched first.
16. Luis Guillorme is the epitome of a grinder. Down 12 with two outs in the ninth, and he battles in an at-bat and gets a hit.
17. If Brandon Nimmo has an issue, the Mets should just get him on the IL. Get him the rest to allow him to come back as their best offensive player.
18. If Kevin Pillar is struggling this much, the Mets should at least throw Albert Almora at least one start.
19. Edwin Diaz has great stuff, and he can be absolutely dominating and unhittable. That said, it’s really difficult to trust him when he implodes like he did in the 10th inning.
20. It’s hard to take people seriously when they support runners on second in extra innings and seven inning doubleheaders, but they get bent out of shape about uniform colors.