Mets Becoming Unwatchable
There are actually worse things for baseball teams than losing. One of them is becoming unwatchable. Sure, that sometimes goes hand-in-hand, but being unwatchable is another level.
Take their last game as an example. They strike out nine times including the platinum sombrero from Javier Baez. This somewhat correlated with the 15 runners left on base. The same can be said for the two double the plays.
The Mets started the game with the bases loaded and no outs. They didn’t score. For the other 29 teams, that’s a surprise. For the Mets, it’s becoming par for the course. Moreover, fans excitement is moving the way from excitement to seeing just how the Mets will screw it up.
The starting pitching kept this afloat, but it’s taken a step back a bit due to a mixture of injuries and fatigue. Even when they do well and get a Rich Hill, he’s only a five inning pitcher, which exposes the soft underbelly of the bullpen.
When a player like Albert Almora goes off with a three hit game, he’s carrying the offense instead of taking it to another level. That’s because players like Michael Conforto are a shell of what they’ve been.
This Mets team completely failed to take advantage of their opportunities to create some distance between themselves and the rest of the NL East earlier in the year. Now, those teams addressed their needs at the trade deadline, unlike the Mets, and they’re chasing them down.
Now, the Mets lead is only 0.5 games, and they’re about to face the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies have the chance to not only catch the Mets here, but also leave them in the dust.
Right now, there’s no expectation for anything other than that to happen. That said, there’s still a lot of talent on this roster, and they were very good in May. Hopefully, they figure it out and move from unwatchable to unbeatable again.
They are indeed unwatchable, 6 games under .500 since their season high 10 games over on June 16th. They’re just a bad baseball team. Hard to even watch them play these days.
If they keep playing their horrible brand of baseball, the only question is how many games under .500 will they be at season’s end. Perhaps by then players such as Pete Alonso in fantasyland and self promotion, chest beating and muscle posing, will only meet reality head-on and understand the urgency they haven’t felt in August, when there’s few in the stands in September to cheer them on as they move closer to an offseason that deconstructs this roster. Hopefully too, most of the front office, most of the field staff and especially Sandy Alderson whose reputation is far better than team results over the course of his career. The architect of perpetual underperformance needs to get his walking papers.
I was at the series in Miami and it was indeed unwatchable and embarassing.
They lost 3 of 4 to a last place team and the win was a dogfight. Should it be that difficult to beat a last place team? There is absolutely no “clutch” in any of these players and even when they do get a hit in a key spot, the coaches are inept.
First inning yesterday …. Villar on 2nd, Alonso on 1st …. Dom Smith laces a hit to RF …. Villar has to score on that play yet DiSarcina holds up Villar …. Why? Even if he’s thown out, they have 1st & 3rd one out …. Of course strikeout (JD Davis), strikeout (Baez), fly out (Konforto) takes all the wind out of the sails.
Walker looks shot ….. worse thing was him going to the All-Star Game …. Should have stayed home and relaxed for a week ….. just waiting for the other shoe to drop on deGrom. I could go on and on.
Also, why did they trade for Baez? Did they really need another infielder? Apparently, Lindor went to his good friend Steve Cohen and pushed for the trade so he could bring his buddy over. So now we have players (hitting .220) making personnel decisions? And what’s the first thing out of Baez’s mouth upon arriving – he says he hopes to resign with the Cubs in the off-season.
The Mets needed to procure pitching help at the deadline. The Phillies (Gibson/Kennedy) and Braves addressed their shortfalls. The Gibson/Kennedy trade is the one the Mets needed to make …. Instead we got a human strikeout machine.
Starting on August 13, the Mets have 13 consecutive games with the Dodgers and Giants ….home-and-home series with both ….. don’t be surprised if you wake up on Friday morning, Augst 27 and the Mets are in third place 5 or 6 ganes out.
What really angers me is trading Pete Crow Armstrong. Another stupid, short-sighted decision by those in charge. They keep trading our best, young, speedy and dynamic prospects. The worst is trading one of those for a high K, rental.
I don’t like the Crow-Armstrong trade either. Not for a half season of Baez. For Berrios I could see it because it’s a long term move, but Baez is more of what the Mets already have, feast or famine. .292 on base? That guy gets back last year’s 1st round pick? That should have been able to get Kris Bryant. We got hosed.