Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Double Misery

I'm not sure it's not just easier to say that the Pirates beat the Mets 6-2 in 18 innings on Tuesday as opposed to breaking down the shit stew of Baseball we were subjected to.

The Mets right now look exactly like they did in June of last year, which I suppose on the one hand is a good thing because they turned it around last year, but on the other hand why the fuck is this still going on? I really believed that the issues of offense and depth had been properly addressed and we weren't going to have to deal with any more extended stretches of games where our awesome starters pitch as well as can reasonably be expected of them and lose because the offense can't score a damn run. But I see I was mistaken.

So, I mean, someone owes Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom a dinner or a new Car or something because neither of them pitched especially badly. No, Matz wasn't great in the early game but he at least kept the damage against him to a minimum. deGrom had a bad 2nd inning in the nightcap. That's it. But for all intents and purposes both games appeared over once they gave up a 2nd run, and that's not sustainable at this level of play.

I know, I know, it's only June, but I feel like we have to go through this every season. You mean to tell me that the Mets couldn't figure out a way to get a run off of Jon Niese? I figured all the Mets would have to do is get a guy on 1st and have him sneeze and he'd give up 4 runs. But not the way the Mets offense is going. Steven Matz hits a triple in the 5th inning and gets stranded there because the next two guys ground out. Niese throws 7 shutout innings. Is that totally galling or what? The Mets did a wonderful job in the nightcap of making Juan Nicasio look similarly awesome.

The larger issue here is that there isn't any relief in sight. At least for the immediate time this is what we're stuck with because the 4 injured guys aren't close to coming back and there isn't exactly adequate talent available to call up. But, again, that was the same issue last year. Instead of dealing with Muno, Ceciliano, Mayberry and Recker we have Plawecki, Campbell, Reynolds and Kelly...are we at all convinced?

So, yeah. The Mets were sort of heading for a day like this. I'm not sure why I get worked up about it anymore but I guess I can't help it. Or am I that worked up at all? It seems to me in 2007/08 when this was happening, I'd go into a full-scale Francesa-level meltdown. Perhaps I've mellowed in my old age. Tomorrow, of course, the Mets send Noah Syndergaard to the mound against Jameson Taillon, the hotshot Pirates prospect making his Major League debut. Is there anyone out there who isn't convinced that Taillon is going to throw 8 shutout innings, with 1 hit and 12 strikeouts? Wouldn't surprise me at all.

No comments: