Blue Frosted

The Mets season has reached a bit of a dangerous crossroads. It's pretty evident that the upcoming week, where they'll play the two worst teams in the NL West, is going to say a lot about where this season is going.

If tonight was any indication, the 2016 Mets are not going very far.

It was my 15th game of the season at Citi Field and, really, most of them haven't been very good. I'd sat at 6-8 through the first 14 games and after a number of years in a row where I'd placed out .500 or better, it seems like this season is just a total stinker.

Tonight seemed to epitomize everything that was terrible about the Mets. Ostensibly, the game was a carbon copy of one I attended on another Tuesday night, back in May against the White Sox. Steven Matz started the game, had an early struggle, threw too many pitches early, but in the end left the game with an opportunity to win. The Diamondbacks, a team that's probably been even more disappointing than the Mets, came in and clearly they have to give partial credit to their advance scouts, because they basically robbed the Mets blind, stealing 5 bases and essentially embarrassing Travis d'Arnaud completely. Still, in spite of the fact that there were men on base, and runners running and a Catcher that was totally befuddled by everything going on around him, Matz buckled down after a 30-pitch 1st inning, settled down and ended up with 9 strikeouts in 6 innings. Still, a pair of Home Runs, one to Brandon Drury in the 2nd, and one to Paul Goldschmidt in the 6th (basically a pop fly to Right Field that landed in the seats because that's what Goldschmidt does) resulted in a 2-1 deficit for Matz, because aside from a 1st inning run off of Zack Greinke, the Mets offense was its usual, inept self.

Then, Neil Walker hit a 2-run Home Run in the bottom of the 6th and everything was great.

Then, Hansel Robles came in in the top of the 7th and took a giant dump on the mound.

Usually, you can tell when Robles doesn't have it right away, because he'll have missed horribly with his first couple of pitches, and then just grooves one. This time, he grooved one to Chris Owings that got hit for a leadoff double. Then, he walked Phil Gosselin. Then, they pulled off a double steal where d'Arnaud was caught with his pants down so badly he had no clue where to throw the ball. And at that point, you could just take a bite out of the inning. Sure, Robles struck out Jean Segura, but then Michael Bourn tripled to drive home both runs and let the air out of the building so fast that you could hear Bourn clapping and whooping in the Upper Deck. And then, you know, Goldschmidt singled to drive in Bourn, just to rub it in. Then, Collins removed Robles.

The rest of the game was academic. The Diamondbacks, who for some reason are wearing these terrible all slate-grey uniforms with piping that appears to be Cake Icing blue, looked fast and loose and confident, and even their rookie closer Jake Barrett, who appears to be in the Heath Bell mold, felt unhittable. But that's because the Mets just don't hit. I don't think the Diamondbacks are at all of a good team and they struck out 13 times for the game, but the Mets look worse. It's not just me. If they can't beat a team that's dressed like a birthday cake, well...you can draw your own conclusion.