The String

The Mets, who are trying not to appear as though they're just playing out the string, have a hard time accomplishing this when they are playing the Washington Nationals. The Nationals have continually and thoroughly handled the Mets and they did so once again tonight, winning 4-2 over Bartolo Colon. The Nationals upped their season record against the Mets to 14-3.

Part of the reason they've done so poorly against Washington this year is because of Adam LaRoche, who I don't believe has actually made an out against the Mets this season, or if he has, it's probably happened at least once or twice. He's hitting at least .942 against the Mets this season with probably about 1/3rd of his Home Runs and RBI output for the season. Tonight, Bartolo Colon was victimized by LaRoche in the 5th inning, when he hit a 3-run Home Run with 2 outs in the 5th inning, breaking a 1-1 tie and pretty much removing any and all suspense from the game.

Colon didn't particularly help his cause leading up to this particular Home Run by failing to cover 1st Base on a Kevin Frandsen infield hit that should have been an out. Frandsen subsequently scored on a double by Michael Taylor, who still looks like he's 16 and should be going to dissect frogs in Biology Lab. Colon was then an out away from getting out of this mess, but then he walked Jayson Werth and then LaRoche happened. That spelled Colon's doom right there.

Another reason the Mets are basically playing out the string while the Nationals are gearing up for a Postseason run is because this particular game seems to be formulaic of just about every Mets/Nationals game this season. The score isn't always the same, and usually the game involves more Nationals Home Runs and more games where Ian Desmond or Anthony Rendon go 4-for-4, but basically what happens is the Mets take a lead, the Nationals capitalize on one Met mental mistake and then the floodgates open from there, and the Mets basically have no recourse to respond. It's been discussed a lot already and I have a feeling you're going to hear a lot of talk in the offseason about how the Mets were 3-14 or whatever record they finish with against the Nationals this season—maybe it's a little too defeatist to say 3-16 but I wouldn't bet against it—and 73-57 against the rest of Baseball and maybe if they can turn those numbers around against Washington we wouldn't be in this mess. But until that happens, we can only grouse about it.