Edwin Diaz

Luis Rojas Did Not Blow That Game

Let’s rewind to the exact situation. David Peterson had retired 17 in a row and was at 83 pitches. The Mets had a 2-0 lead entering the bottom of the eighth with the bottom of the order due up.

The Tampa Bay Rays 7-8-9 hitters were particularly terrible. Here’s now they had faired in the game up to that point:

Simply put, Peterson dominated this trio. He had not thrown many pitches, and since the second inning, Peterson was literally generating pop outs, ground outs, and strikeouts.

There was absolutely zero reason to believe the Rays could mount any realistic threat in the eighth. That goes double when you look at the hitters careers:

  • Zunino – 72 wRC+ since 2018
  • Padlo – Zero career hits
  • Phillips – career 71 wRC+

There was absolutely zero reason to anticipate trouble. Peterson’s pitch count was down, and the batters due up were dreadful. To put things in perspective for Mets fans, Eric Campbell with his career 80 wRC+ would’ve been a better option.

Seeing it that way, Luis Rojas was right to send Peterson out for the eighth. That’s even the case with no safety net.

Remember, this isn’t the postseason. You don’t just get guys up and throwing just in case. You’re managing for 162 games, and the Mets are slated for a bullpen game.

The Mets needed Peterson to get through that eighth, and again, there was no reason to believe he couldn’t. Of course, with this being baseball, he didn’t.

Zunino, who has a career .387 SLG against LHP in his career homered. Padlo, who was 0-for-10 in his career doubled. It sucks, but it happens.

From there, Peterson struck out Phillips (who failed in his bunt attempts), and he was relieved by Trevor May. Obviously, no one is going to question that because no one wanted Peterson going through the lineup a fourth time.

Remember, at that time, the Mets still had a 2-1 lead. It was a hard out, but May retired Randy Arozarena. That left May facing Manuel Margot, who is a career .240/.289/.373 hitter off RHP. He’s also a career .232/.316/.297 hitter with two outs and RISP.

This is the exact match-up you want. You wanted May to get an overmatched Margot to get out of the inning, so the Mets could go to Edwin Diaz in the ninth.

Instead of ending the inning, Margot hit a game tying double. May just stumbled here after being great all season. Again, it happens.

This is what caused Mets fans fury. They expected Rojas to not let Peterson start the eighth or to not permit him to pitch against a batter with zero career hits.

Even if you had a preference, that’s not the same as saying Rojas blew it. Rojas had made sound decisions and put his pitchers in a position to succeed.

They just didn’t. It happens.

The same goes for Jeff McNeil failing to deliver with two on and two out in the second. McNeil hit a one out double in the eighth, but Michael Conforto and Francisco Lindor failed to drive him home.

Failing to deliver those insurance runs proved costly. Even more costly was James McCann grounding out with two out and two on in the ninth.

That’s emblematic of what happened in the eighth. The Rays delivered in the big spots, and the Mets didn’t. That’s on the players, not the manager.

In the end, Peterson allowed extra base hits to two flat out bad hitters. May couldn’t get a batter who couldn’t hit RHP out. The Mets couldn’t get the key hit they needed to expand or reclaim the lead.

That’s what happened, and it’s difficult to pin the Mets inability to deliver in these spots on the manager. Overall, there is plenty of blame to go around, but none of I should be directed at the manager.

Rojas managed that game well, and he put his team in a position to win. His players just didn’t take advantage. It’s just time to move past this game and start a new winning streak. With Rojas at the helm, they should.

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20/20 Hindsight: Rats and Raccoons More Powerful Than Snakes

The New York Mets seemingly have a million different issues thus far, but as we saw in their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, it is not stopping them from winning games:

1. The biggest issue the Mets have right now is the health of Jacob deGrom. Fortunately, his MRI was clean, and even better, the team is taking a cautious approach by putting him on the IL.

2. The Mets are getting next to nothing from their starting rotation right now, and it is not stopping them from winning games because the bullpen has been phenomenal. There is a lot of credit due to Jeremy Hefner, Jeremy Accardo, and Luis Rojas for not only getting the most out of them, but also for putting them all in positions to succeed.

3. If Edwin Diaz is bailing the Mets out of innings, and he is getting five out saves, this Mets team is going to be completely unstoppable.

4. The Mets are in first place right now without Noah Syndergaard, Carlos Carrasco, Seth Lugo, and Brandon Nimmo. It is high time the narrative on Rojas shifts from over his head to being a good manager. At this pace, he may emerge as a real Manager of the Year candidate.

5. We don’t know what happened between Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor in that tunnel, but we do know it has not stopped them from turning absolutely incredible double plays.

6. The coverage of the “ratcoon” story was all the more puzzling when you consider everything the press looked the other way on when the Wilpons were in control. Apparently harassment of women and interfering with medical decisions didn’t need the serious reporting a fight between teammates warranted.

7. The press feeling insulted by Lindor “lying” to them is tough to take. After all, J.D. Davis lied to their faces about his involvement in the Astros sign stealing scandal, and they didn’t seem to remotely care.

8. At the moment, it seems like Tomas Nido is outplaying James McCann. The problem for any organization is determining whether Nido is superior to McCann or if McCann just needs some additional time to return to his expected form. Many times, it is decisions like these which define a season.

9. The Mets are getting a lot of production out of their bench. As noted, Nido is actually outplaying McCann. We also see Kevin Pillar playing very well in all aspects over the last few weeks. If he can keep this up, he is going to make decisions very difficult for the Mets.

10. If Dominic Smith is going to continue to struggle at the plate and in the field, and Pete Alonso is going to continue to play defense this well, it is going to be very difficult to find Smith playing time. The hope is the firing of Chili Davis could help turn around his season.

11. Once again, Michael Conforto appears to be a very good baseball players, and we are starting to see him pick it up defensively. It just goes to show you not to over rely or overreact to players have slow starts.

12. Jonathan Villar had a golden opportunity to claim himself an everyday job with Davis and Luis Guillorme injured. With his struggles at the plate and seeing him let a pop up fall, he’s cementing himself as a pure bench option.

13. With Villar’s struggles and Albert Almora flat out not hitting, if you look forward, perhaps the Mets could look to bring back old friend Asdrubal Cabrera for bench help for the postseason. Yes, this classifies as getting ahead of ourselves, but we should be embracing the excitement of the moment.

14. David Peterson is certainly making things easy on what the Mets should do when Carrasco and Syndergaard are ready to return from the IL.

15. One of the most bizarre things happening right now is Patrick Mazeika‘s penchant for pinch hit RBI where he doesn’t actually deliver a hit. So far, he has had an extra innings fielder’s choice and a bases loaded walk.

16. One of the biggest shames of the ratcoon fallout is seeing Mazeika not get celebrated for his first career walk off hit.

17. It’s not only funny to see Trevor Bauer up in arms over the Los Angeles Dodgers struggling, but it is downright hilarious he is being outpitched by Taijuan Walker so far this season. And yes, that is happening with Walker having a better ERA+ and FIP than Bauer.

18. For all the problems with the Mets offense, with their pitching, they only need to get to four runs. When that has happened this year, the Mets are 15-2.

19. The Mets do have a negative run differential, but that is partially fueled by their 12 run loss against the Cubs. If you take that game out of the equation, they would have a positive nine run differential, which would be good for sixth in the NL. Put another way, aside from one game, they’ve been in the upper echelon of the NL.

20. The Mets being able to play games has clearly been good for them. They’re getting into a rhythm offensively and defensively. As we see them play more and more games, we can see them get better and better. They’re in first place now, and who knows just how far they will go from here.

Game Recaps

Francisco Lindor and Mets Show Some Fight

The Rat and Raccoon Lead Mets to Victory

Mets Had a Lot of Good Despite Jacob deGrom

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Mets Had A Lot Of Good Despite Jacob deGrom

Look, when Jacob deGrom goes down, that’s the biggest and most important story. However, even with that, there was a lot of good that happened as the Mets won their fifth game in a row.

Michael Conforto made a phenomenal catch in the second, and later in the game, when he and Kevin Pillar collided, neither were injured.

deGrom got another hit and his batting average is .467. That starter a rally where Lindor and Conforto drove home runs.

On that topic, the Mets have seemingly mastered the art of the bases loaded walk. This time, it was Patrick Mazeika. What’s fascinating with Mazeika is he’s delivered two RBI in his young career without getting a hit.

Dominic Smith came through again with a clutch RBI.

Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor continued working their magic in the middle infield. That included two HUGE double plays.

The first helped bail deGrom out of a bases loaded no out jam. A run would score, but that would be it. This would not be the biggest one they turned.

In the eighth, the Mets were on the verge of blowing it. With the bullpen a bit taxed of late, Luis Rojas looked to see if he could get a second inning out of Jacob Barnes.

Right off the jump, it didn’t go well as old friend Asdrubal Cabrera led off the inning with a homer. When Josh Rojas hit a one out double, Rojas asked Edwin Diaz to do something he had done only once before in his career – earn a five out save.

It was made all the more difficult by the rain pouring down hard. That was evident when Diaz plunked Josh VanMeter. Diaz and the Mets were bailed out when McNeil and Lindor turned a huge double play off a David Peralta grounder.

This was a huge moment for Diaz. He usually struggles when brought into games with runners on base, and he’s struggled when asked to get more than three outs. Not today.

That was the case even when his job was made all the more difficult. After striking out the first two batters in the ninth, Nick Ahmed popped up, but Jonathan Villar couldn’t field it.

Over the past two plus years, this is when Diaz tends to fall apart. Instead, he bore down and struck out Daulton Varsho to end the game.

It was a huge save and a big win. The Mets won their fifth straight, and we saw a once maligned Rojas not only setting up his team to perform, but he’s also getting them to go above and beyond. Even with another big injury, things are still looking good.

Game Notes: Players wore pink for Mother’s Day. Diaz’s last five out save was in 2018. Mets are 14-2 this year when they score at least four runs.

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Taijuan Walker’s Brilliance Offsets Mets Inept Offense

With the way the New York Mets offense is going, they need brilliant pitching performances to win games. They got that and then some from Taijuan Walker.

If not for Jonathan Villar throwing away a double play ball in the second, there’s no chance the Sr. Louis Cardinals score a run. That unearned run is all the Cardinals would score. In fact, they wouldn’t see another base runner.

The only thing which stopped him was his hitting 92 pitches. Really, nothing else was stopping him. He was that brilliant. Just one hit with no walks while striking out eight.

Put it another way, he had no-hit stuff.

With this being the Mets, it couldn’t be easy. Not this offense. In fact, they’d set a Mets record for futility stranding 17 runners on base.

SEVENTEEN!

The Mets had an opportunity to get that run back in the third, but Gary Disarcina and the Mets offense got in the way.

Jeff McNeil hit a lead-off single, and he moved to second on a Michael Conforto walk. With one out, Pete Alonso hit what should’ve been a game tying single, but Disarcina held him up.

That hold looked even worse when Harrison Bader‘s throw was offline and short. Compounding the problem was Smith strikeout and Pillar flying out.

The Mets wouldn’t crack through until the fifth, and that’s because John Gant, who was arguably better than Walker over the first four innings, got wild.

After Pete Alonso reached on a rare Nolan Arenado error, Gant walked the next four Mets. The walks to Villar and James McCann each forced home a run giving the Mets a 2-1 lead.

Despite Gant losing it, the Mets couldn’t further cash in. Walker struck out and then Jeff McNeil grounded out.

It was the same situation in the eighth except this time it was against the Cardinals bullpen. The Mets loaded the bases, and Alonso walked to force home the third run.

They FINALLY got a bases loaded hit when Dominic Smith hit an RBI single, but it would only score one. That’s where it ended.

Kevin Pillar popped out. Villar struck out. McCann flew out. It was 4-1, and Walker was done. Fortunately, the Mets didn’t need more runs.

Trevor May pitched a perfect inning. Edwin Diaz walked a tightrope allowing Paul Goldschmidt and Arenado come to the plate as the tying runs.

Goldschmidt flew out, and Arenado grounded out. With that, the Mets earned a split of the four game series, and they had a winning road trip where Jacob deGrom didn’t pitch.

All-in-all, despite all that’s gone wrong and with all the drama, not too bad. It’s now time for the Mets to start putting together a big stretch.

Game Notes: The Mets wouldn’t call it a setback, but Carlos Carrasco was moved to the 60 day IL. Lindor snapped an 0-for-26 stretch with a ninth inning single. Even with that, Lindor has walked more than he struck out this season.

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Mets Split Bizarre Doubleheader

The first game of the doubleheader between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets was just an ugly game. Really, almost everything about it was bad.

The Mets were 0-for-5 with RISP leaving five men in baseball. That’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

The Mets loaded the bases in the fourth wig no outs. They only scored one run on a James McCann fielder’s choice. On the play, Nolan Arenado fielded the ball while stepping on the bag simultaneously.

After that, Jonathan Villar and Albert Almora struck out to end what was the Mets only rally of the game.

Of course, no discussion of that fourth inning is complete without discussing the Kwang Hyun Kim interpreter controversy and ensuing roughly 10 minutes of deliberations and replay.

Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizer went to the mound to talk with Kim, and Kim’s interpreter came from the dugout to the mound. Later in the inning, the interpreter joined Mike Maddux, Luis Rojas correctly pointed out that was technically a second mound visit necessitating Kim be removed from the game.

The umpires blew the call because they didn’t know the rules, and the replay officials got it wrong even when they informed them of the rule, they let Kim stay in the game.

Sadly, Marcus Stroman, who was making a start on a sore hamstring, made the mistake of allowing two earned runs.

The first was a Paul Goldschmidt first inning homer. In the third, Arenado had an RBI single. That’s all the runs the Cardinals would need.

The final score was 4-1 as Francisco Lindor threw a ball away with two outs, and Paul DeJong continued being a Mets killer by hitting a two run homer.

While we wouldn’t see the Mets offense respond to the Chili Davis firing in the first game, we would in the second.

After a scoreless first where we saw the Mets use Miguel Castro as an opener, the Mets bats would put runs on the board for Castro and Jordan Yamamoto, who was making his first Mets appearance.

Dominic Smith started a rally against Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo with a lead-off single. He’d move to third on a Kevin Pillar double.

With respect to Pillar, he’s really stepped up when the Mets needed it most. Their best hitter, Nimmo, was injured and finally hit the IL. Since Nimmo has gone down, Pillar is 8-for-16 with four runs, a double, two homers, and four RBI.

After two quick outs, you were left wondering if the Mets would ever score. That made Oviedo’s wild pitch allowing Smith to score a relief. What was even better was Tomas Nido‘s ensuing two run homer:

The Cardinals had a chance to respond in the second. Former Met Ali Sanchez doubled, and Oviedo tried to help his own cause, but Pillar would gun down Sanchez.

Villar increased the Mets lead to 4-0 with a solo homer in the fourth.

The Cardinals put a rally together in the fourth. Yamamoto hit Tyler O’Neill to start the inning, and he’d be on second with two outs when the Mets went to the bullpen.

Aaron Loup relieved Yamamoto, and he’d allow an inherited runner to score on a Dylan Carlson pinch hit RBI single. Things were getting dangerous after a Tommy Edman single, but Loup would retire Matt Carpenter to get out of the inning.

After the Cardinals scored one in the bottom of fourth, the Mets would get one back and then some in the fifth.

What was impressive was the Mets delivered with two outs again. With runners on first and second and two outs, Pillar and Villar hit consecutive RBI singles to increase the Mets lead to 6-1.

Villar, the surprise starter at short had a very good game. In addition to the two RBI, he’d later make a very good play in the hole.

From there, Trevor May pitched a scoreless fifth, and Robert Gsellman allowed one run in the sixth.

With Bernardo Flores Jr. wild, the Mets took advantage loading the bases and scoring a run on a Pillar RBI groundout.

The Mets sent Jeurys Familia to the mound to close out the five run lead. Even though such an act was impossible earlier in the week for Edwin Diaz, Familia took care of business securing the 7-2 win.

In a bizarre series of games, the Mets secured a split of the doubleheader, and they are in position to split the series with a win tomorrow. That closes out a wild 72 hours.

Game Notes: Sean Reid-Foley was the Mets 27th man for the doubleheader. Lindor is hitless over his last 24 at-bats, the second worst stretch in his career. Brandon Nimmo was put on the IL between games with Patrick Mazeika getting called up off the taxi squad. Keith Hernandez was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

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Mets Make Alvarado And Hoskins Pay

This had all the makings of a New York Mets brutal Sunday Night Baseball loss. They weren’t hitting, and they blew a late lead . . .

Entering the bottom of the sixth, David Peterson was in line for the win. He had allowed one run on four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Really, he cruised along after allowing an Andrew McCutchen to start the first.

Now, Peterson did get some help with Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor performing pure defensive magic behind him. That included one beauty of a double play:

Peterson had that 2-1 lead because of his defense. He also had some help from the offense. The first run came when Conforto singled home McNeil in the third.

Notably, McNeil was batting lead-off with Brandon Nimmo unavailable. With McNeil returning to a familiar and comfortable spot in the lineup, he was much better at the plate going 4-for-6 with two runs and a double.

It was a double again that got the Mets going again in the sixth. Dominic Smith led off the inning with a double, and there were runners at the corners with no outs after a Kevin Pillar single.

After Jonathan Villar struck out, the Phillies had the opportunity to get out of the inning unscathed with a double play. James McCann obliged by hitting the require grounder, but Phillies starter Zack Eflin threw it wide to second allowing everyone to reach safely and for the go ahead run to score.

The Mets would load the bases with two outs with Lindor coming to the plate. Lindor would fly out to right leaving behind a golden chance to blow the game open.

Keep in mind, that wasn’t their only shot to put up more runs. Back in the second, Smith led off the inning with a single, and Gary Disarcina needlessly sent him home on a Pillar single. Smith was out at the plate, and J.T. Realmuto would deliver a cheap shot.

The Mets would regret blowing those run scoring opportunities in the bottom of the sixth.

Now, the Mets bullpen has been great with a 19 inning scoreless streak. Miguel Castro has been one of the Mets best pitchers in the pen, but he didn’t have it tonight.

On a rally started when Castro made an error, Didi Gregorius hit a go-ahead three run homer. At 4-2, it seemed like the Mets might be done.

In fact, they weren’t. The momentum shifted when Pillar homered to lead off the eighth:

This was easily Pillar’s best game as a Met. The player who struggled so mightily to start the season stepped up in Nimmo’s absence. In addition to the homer, he was 3-for-5.

As good as Pillar was, no one was ready for what Villar would do. Villar singled off Brandon Kintzler to start off the rally. With no one really left on the bench, partially due to injuries, Jose Peraza pinch hit for Castro. Peraza hit one Rhys Hoskins couldn’t handle, and well, Hoskins misplayed it just about every way you could:

Villar scored all the way from first on an infield single to tie the game at 4-4. That’s when the Phillies brought in Jose Alvarado to try to keep the game tied.

What’s interesting is Alvarado was suspended for his antics the other day. However, he was able to appear in the game because he appealed that three game suspension. As it turned out, the Phillies probably wish he accepted that suspension.

Alvarado faced McNeil, Lindor, and Conforto, and he failed to get any of them out. McNeil singled, and then Alvarado issued consecutive walks forcing home the go-ahead run.

The Mets were up 5-4, and Pete Alonso faced Phillies reliever David Hale. He’d go the opposite way for a three run double giving the Mets an 8-4 lead.

Now, Luis Rojas had Edwin Diaz warming when the Mets initially got the lead. After getting him up, it made little sense to not use him. Instead, Rojas (justifiably) believed his closer would lock down the much needed win.

Well, Diaz imploded, and it started with a leadoff walk to Gregorius.

Roman Quinn tripled him home to bring the Phillies to within three. Diaz was on the verge of getting out of it, and then he issued a two out walk to Matt Joyce. That brought Hoskins to the plate representing the tying run . . .

What was a game tying home run was ruled to be a ground rule double. That meant instead of a tie game, the Mets still had a lead at 8-7.

Things were still dire with the tying run in scoring position. It was all the more so with Diaz hurt. That led to Jeurys Familia coming on to face Bryce Harper to earn the save.

In a flashback to 2015, Familia delivered by striking out Harper. With that, the Mets won a game they blew twice (or almost twice), and they find themselves not only back at .500, but also delivering a message to the Phillies.

Game Notes: Jacob Barnes earned his first win as a Met. This was Familia’s first save with the Mets since 2018.

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Clutch Conforto

The New York Mets responded to the loss and Jose Alvarado‘s disrespect by jumping out to a 4-0 lead. It all started with a Francisco Lindor HBP, and there were big RBI doubles by Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso.

The Mets had a chance to build from there, but James McCann grounded into a double play. That hurt because Zack Wheeler was pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies. You get what you can get in the first because he’s much stingy later in the game.

That was the case here. After that first inning, Wheeler shut down the Mets over the next six innings. That gave the Phillies a chance to get back into the game.

Now, Taijuan Walker pitched well but not quite well enough.

The Phillies jumped on him in the second. After a Nick Marton double, there were runners and second and third with no outs. The first run scored on an Andrew Knapp RBI groundout. Walker was close to getting out of the inning further unscathed, but Wheeler helped his own cause.

Walker went on cruise control after that allowing just a walk heading into the sixth. That’s when the Phillies started going through the third time through the lineup. It came to bite him and the Mets when Alec Bohm hit a game tying two run homer.

From there, two things happened. First, the Mets bullpen stepped up again and pitched well. Aaron Loup and Trevor May pitched a scoreless inning apiece to ensure the game was tied heading into the ninth.

In addition to the bullpen stepping up, the game went haywire. It wasn’t haywire in the way it went with Alvarado throwing at people and trash talking. Rather, it all hell broke loose.

In the seventh, Brandon Nimmo swung at a pitch, missed, and he came out of the game with an injury. He’d be replaced by Kevin Pillar. Pillar’s strikeout was attributable to Nimmo. Nimmo wasn’t the only Met to leave the game with a hand injury.

Loup was double switched into the game with Jonathan Villar taking over at third. There wasn’t an obvious play which caused it, but he left the game with a sprained hand.

In that inning, we’d see an absurdly bad umpire call. Matt Joyce hit a grounder towards Lindor, who went to tag Andrew McCutchen, and missed. It didn’t matter as the umpire ruled it was a double play.

McCutchen was ruled to have run outside the baseline. He didn’t, but it’s not reviewable because the replay system is completely broken.

Bryce Harper, who couldn’t play because he was hit in the face by a Genesis Cabrera pitch, was thrown out of the game.

In any event, Hector Neris entered the game for the Phillies in the ninth. On the second pitch he threw, Conforto hit a go-ahead homer:

With the Mets ahead 5-4, Edwin Diaz entered the game looking for his third save of the season. Now, this is a spot where Diaz had issues in the past. Not tonight. He mowed down the Phillies in order to preserve the win.

This was a big response to the loss and disrespect last night. It was a big win with Conforto getting a huge hit, his second homer of the season. Now, they need to make this stick by winning tomorrow.

Game Notes: Luis Guillorme landed on the IL, and Jose Peraza was called up in his place. Nimmo was diagnosed with a left index finger contusion.

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Mets Fail Jacob deGrom

In the second inning, Jacob deGrom allowed doubles to Xander Bogaerts and Christian Vazquez to give the Boston Red Sox a 1-0 lead. That qualified this as a bad deGrom start.

Overall, deGrom “only” struck out nine and “only” pitched six innings. His punishment for allowing the one run on just three hits and one walk and for his failing to get a hit himself was a loss.

While deGrom was having an “off-night,” which by the way is better than anyone else’s best, the New York Mets offense was making Nick Pivetta look like deGrom.

Pivetta entered the game with a 3.48 ERA and 1.355 WHIP while walking nearly as much as he struck out. That made him unhittable to this Mets lineup. His final line was 5.0 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K.

It’s not like Pivetta was having the game of his life either. He was throwing hittable pitches. The problem is the Mets can’t hit those right now.

The Mets also couldn’t do anything against the Red Sox bullpen. What makes this so maddening was the Mets pitching was PHENOMENAL.

After deGrom, Aaron Loup, Trevor May, and Edwin Diaz each pitched a scoreless inning. The four pitchers combined to allow one run over nine with one walk and 15 strikeouts.

It was just a lame effort all around. Things were at their worst when Michael Conforto and J.D. Davis struck out on pitches in the dirt and in front of the plate. That’s not just how this night went. It’s been like this for a while now, and it needs to change.

The Mets have been swept for the first time this season, and they lost their first home series. They’re also under .500. At least no one in the NL East is really playing any better.

Game Notes: Jerry Blevins was at the game after announcing his retirement. Francisco Lindor was booed again.

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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.

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Luis Rojas Luck Ran Out In Mets Loss

New York Mets manager Luis Rojas rolled the dice a number of times in the game against the Chicago Cubs, and he kept getting lucky. Really, it was a number of just interesting, weird, and outright wrong decisions.

With J.D. Davis incapable of playing third, the Mets finally relented and put him on the bench. The Mets also sat Jeff McNeil. That led to Luis Guillorme at third and Jonathan Villar at second, instead of the reverse, which would’ve been the better defensive alignment.

So, naturally, right off the bat, Rojas’ (or front offices’) decision looked genius when Guillorme robbed Ian Happ:

This helped Joey Lucchesi get through the first two innings unscathed. Unfortunately, the Cubs would get to him in the third.

After walking two with one out, Lucchesi was on the verge of escaping the inning unscathed after a Happ flyout. Lucchesi had some bad luck with he got hit by a Willson Contreras comebacker driving in a run.

Kris Bryant then hit a two run double giving the Cubs an early 3-0 lead. That would prove to be it for Lucchesi as he would be lifted in the fourth for a pinch hitter.

The Mets responded in the fourth immediately. Dominic Smith doubled, and then Pete Alonso followed with yet another homer to pull the Mets to within 3-2.

The Mets would have a chance to build on this but couldn’t. Michael Conforto would double, and Villar drew a walk. That was it as neither Kevin Pillar nor Nimmo, who pinch hit for Lucchesi, could drive home the tying run.

At the time, Lucchesi had only thrown 60 pitches, and the Mets bullpen had been worked hard the past few nights. Rather than err on the side of caution, Rojas went to recently called up Sean Reid-Foley.

Reid-Foley was phenomenal pitching three scoreless. A pitcher who has struggled all of his career with control walked none and struck out four.

In the seventh, Rojas got lucky again. With one out and one on, Rojas tapped Davis to pinch hit over McNeil against Ryan Terpera. It worked as Davis hit a game tying RBI double, which should’ve been a triple as the ball got away from Jake Marisnick.

After a scoreless seventh by Trevor May, Rojas made the very curious decision of having Aaron Loup start the inning with the first Cubs LHP due up sixth.

The decision looked like an immediate disaster with Marisnick hitting a lead-off triple. Loup bore down getting Austin Romine to pop out, and Happ to strike out.

Rojas then went to Miguel Castro. Why Castro didn’t start the inning is anyone’s guess. Castro came up big striking out Contreras to end the inning.

Rojas then made yet another curious move. He only used Castro for the one batter. He would wind up double switching Edwin Diaz into the game which was setting the stage for Diaz to pitch two innings.

Notably, Diaz is not accustomed to two innings, and he’s not great with runners on base. With his being set up to pitch the 10th, and there being the ridiculous runner on second rule, that’s an important consideration.

The Mets got to the 10th partially because James McCann threw out another runner. On the play, Bryant had the bag stolen, but he came off the bag for a nanosecond. McNeil, who was double switched into the game with Diaz, kept the tag on leading to Bryant being called out.

In the 10th, Villar started the inning on second because Rob Manfred hates baseball. He’d quickly be on third due to a wild pitch. After McNeil struck out, Guillorme and Francisco Lindor walked loading the bases with one out.

Dominic Smith had the chance to deliver a huge hit. He hit the ball hard, but right at the second baseman David Bote, who started the inning ending 4-6-3 double play.

The Mets would not get another opportunity as Rojas’ luck finally ran out.

Diaz started the 10th, which meant a runner on second. His first pitch of the inning hit Matt Duffy. Bote would lay down the sacrifice. On the bunt, Alonso had a play at third, but he’d slip leaving only the out at first.

Rojas ordered the intentional walk to load the bases, and Jason Heyward came up as a pinch hitter. Diaz would throw one down the middle, and Heyward ripped a game winning single.

With that, the Mets suffered their first sweep of the season. They lost to a bad Cubs team and really looked bad in the process. At least, they are still .500 and in first place.

Game Notes: Trevor Hildenberger was sent down to make room for Reid-Foley. Mets were 1-for-8 with RISP stranding seven.

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