Nohn Syndergaard
At 77-72, the New York Mets have been officially eliminated to the National League East race, and they are 4.0 games back of the Cubs for the second Wild Card with 13 games remaining in the season. To that end, they are also three games behind the red hot Milwaukee Brewers who are making a charge for the second Wild Card.
This means the Mets next stretch of games is likely going to be their entire season. They have 10 games to get back into this race to put themselves into position to fight for that last Wild Card spot.
First up is the Colorado Rockies who are playing just terrible baseball right now. They are just 21-40 in the second half. That said, they are three games over .500, and they are just one game under .500 in September after sweeping the Padres. There is also the matter of Daniel Murphy, who has been a Mets killer and has been hot at the plate.
Still, the Rockies are 33-56 against teams over .500. As a result, the Mets can sweep them.
After the Rockies, the Cincinnati Reds are next. The Reds are better than their record indicates with a +10 run differential. Like the Rockies, they are just one game under .500 for the month, and they are five games over .500 at home. Fortunately, the Mets are going to miss Luis Castillo, but they are going to get Trevor Bauer, but that may not be such a bad thing with Bauer having a 6.39 ERA with the Reds.
Again, the Mets might be able to sweep them.
That brings the Marlins into town. These aren’t the Marlins of 2007-2008 with Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, and Cody Ross. No, this is a very bad Marlins team who appears to be the only team in the National League who will lose 100 games this year.
The Mets second half run and impressive march from 10 games under .500 until this point started by taking two out of three from the Marlins in Miami. In August, the Mets really made things interesting by sweeping a four game set against the Marlins in Citi Field in what part of an eight game winning streak.
The Mets need to get part of the way there. Likely, they will need a 10 game winning streak to get them to 87-72 to have a real chance of getting into the postseason.
If the Mets do go 10-0 over this stretch, they will need the Cubs to go 6-4 against the Reds, Cardinals, and Pirates. Given how terrible the Pirates have played of late, that means the Mets need the Cardinals to sweep the Cubs, which is certainly possible but not entirely likely to happen.
The trickier part is the Brewers. Over their next 10 games, they have the Padres, Pirates, and Reds. Even with the Brewers being without Christian Yelich, again, the Pirates laying down is a major impediment to the Mets chances of catching either club. Fortunately, the Mets “only” need the Brewers to go 7-3 over this stretch of games to tie them.
Overall, with the Cubs and Brewers both playing the Pirates, at minimum the Mets need to go 9-1 over this stretch. Realistically speaking, that is probably not enough. They need to sweep the 10 games. If they do that, they will be likely giving themselves an opportunity to have a shot at being the second Wild Card entering the final weekend of the season.
While September series against the Braves are typically horror stories for the Mets, the Braves likely will have nothing to play for at that point and will be more interested in lining up their rotation for the NLDS. If things stand the way they are, the Mets will also be definitively sending Steven Matz to the mound.
Matz has been great in the second half, has a 1.94 ERA at Citi Field, and has limited the Braves to a .189/.255/.400 batting line against him this year. After that, if there is still hope left for the final game of the season, it’s all on Stroman to keep it alive to maybe put the whole season on Noah Syndergaard where you hope the Mets are just not stupid enough to start Wilson Ramos over Tomas Nido or Rene Rivera.
Put another way, right now, the Mets still have a puncher’s chance. Considering where they were coming into the break and their losing two out of three to the Braves, you’ll gladly take that.
Heading into the game, there was much said about how Dave Eiland challenged or disrespected Noah Syndergaard in his saying Thor hasn’t accomplished much at the Major League level. During the broadcast, it was discussed, and Ron Darling said as a player, he would have taken it the wrong way.
Whatever the case, Syndergaard seemed motivated by it in the first inning as he struck out the side while needing just 15 pitches. You got all the more excited seeing Syndergaard knocking home Devin Mesoraco from first after he had drawn a leadoff walk against Jaime Garcia giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. For a moment, it seemed as if things would go rolling on from there, and we would see the Syndergaard we saw prior to the lat injury.
Instead, we saw the Syndergaard we have seen all this season.
In the third, he allowed a one out single to old friend Curtis Granderson, who was playing his first game against the Mets since being traded to the Dodgers for Jacob Rhame last year. After Josh Donaldson popped out, that should have been the end of any prospect of danger.
Instead, we got to see some of Granderson’s knowledge from his playing time with the Mets. He would put himself in scoring position stealing a base, and he would hold at third on a Justin Smoak single. It wound up being a terrible throw from Juan Lagares, but he charged the ball hard, and Granderson, being perhaps well aware of Lagares’ arm, held on third. It didn’t matter because after Syndergaard plunked Teoscar Hernandez with a pitch, Yangervis Solarte hit a two RBI single.
On the single, it is quite arguable any other second baseman but Asdrubal Cabrera gets to that ball, but he didn’t leading the the Blue Jays taking the 2-1 lead.
Seeing how the Mets have played of late, this was a real danger sign. Fortunately, the Mets offense would finally break out.
Beginning with a Jay Bruce double, the Mets would quickly load the bases for Syndergaard, who tied the score with a sacrifice fly. Amed Rosario then nearly hit one out with the ball hitting the top of the fence and bouncing in instead of out. In any event, it was a two RBI double giving the Mets a 4-2 lead.
It should be noted Jose Reyes, who started because with the left-handed pitcher on the mound, Wilmer Flores started at first and Adrian Gonzalez sat, somehow did not score from first. Really, he did not score from first on a ball which was nearly a homer to one of the deeper parts of the park. At best, this was shades of Timo Perez. At worst, this is a player who no longer belongs in the majors.
Lagares would make sure both Reyes and Rosario both scored as he slashed a two RBI single to center, and even with Donaldson cutting it off, he would get to second ahead of the throw.
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A Cabrera double after that, and the Mets not only had a five run inning, but they would also have a 6-2 lead. In the fifth, the Mets would add the runs needed to make this the laugher the Mets desperately needed.
Gonzalez, Rosario, and Brandon Nimmo would hit consecutive singles first scoring Mesoraco and later scoring Gonzalez. After that Lagares hit an infield single to third allowing Rosario to score.
When Gonzalez pinch hit for Syndergaard that inning, it was the end of Syndergaard’s night, but really, he was going to be pulled after the fifth anyway.
As noted earlier, Syndergaard labored through the third, and he would do the same in the fifth needing a Hernandez double play to get out of the inning. Overall, Syndergaard needed 103 pitches to get through five. He walked an uncharacteristically high two batters. While he’s been effective, he has not yet been Syndergaard this year.
Perhaps in an effort to save the bullpen a bit, Mickey Callaway had Seth Lugo pitch three innings before having Rhame close it out. Lugo was dominant allowing just one hit while striking out four.
Finally, in the eighth, the Mets would put a capper on this game. Lagares hit a leadoff triple, and he scored on a Luis Guillorme RBI single, his first RBI. After a force out, Mesoarco hit his second homer as a member of the Mets expanding the Mets lead to 12-2.
All-in-all, a pretty good night for the Mets. Mesoraco could not make an out going 2-2 with three walks, four runs, a homer, and two RBI. Lagares was just as good going 4-5 with two runs, a triple, and three RBI. Really, in a game like this, you are going to see everyone contribute somehow, and that’s what the Mets did. The only hope now is the team left some hits in those bats.
Game Notes: The Blue Jays have never beaten the Mets in Flushing going 0-12.