Fare Thee Well

Thursday night's Mets/Padres game was sort of emotionally pre-empted by the pregame news that Lucas Duda had been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays. Granted, a move like this was forthcoming and certainly Duda's life span with the Mets was limited at best given his impending Free Agency, but, still, when a home-grown player that's been in the organization for years moves on, there's still a little bit of sadness attached to it. Certainly, Duda's time with the Mets had its ups and downs, and I picked on him maybe a little more than I should have, but for once, someone I really ragged on quite a bit in 2012 and 2013 shut me up good and proper when he emerged for a career year in 2014, and came up with several key hits in big spots during 2015. More than that, Duda was a favorite of my other half, who had a Duda shirt and usually stopped whatever she was doing to watch an At Bat, and was always happy to see him when she went to games with me. She was particularly distraught over this; the news of the trade broke as I was leaving work, and when I arrived home, she greeted me with a scowl and said "I'm not going to the games anymore! THEY TRADED DUDA! HOW COULD THEY TRADE DUDA?!" and of course any logical explanation about the business of Baseball went out the window.

Duda, himself, handled himself with particular class on his way out the door. Others (Curtis Granderson) had a harder time of things. Irregardless, Duda is off to Tampa, where we wish him all the best for the remainder of this season, and wherever he may end up in 2018.

There was still a game to be played, however, and it featured the Major League debut of Chris Flexen, a young righthander who was one of those named I'd heard of but didn't know much about. Flexen was up from Binghamton to make this start in the Wheeler spot in the rotation. You have starry-eyed fantasies about guys like this coming up and setting Baseball on fire in spots like this, but sometimes these sorts of things can backfire. The Mets got him a 1st inning run against Luis Perdomo, which helped, but you still can never tell until you the kid on the mound. And whether it was nerves or whatever, Flexen looked very much like what he was: a young pitcher that kind of got overwhelmed by the moment. It's never helpful to have your entire family in the seats watching (and his poor mother looked like she was ready to pass out the entire time) but, well, we know what happened. Flexen gave up a Home Run to Manuel Margot, his first batter, then walked the next batter, then gave up a hit. Disaster seemed imminent but for a pair of slick plays to tag out Padre baserunners at Home Plate, and Flexen escaped his first inning only having allowed 1 run.

Flexen did not fare nearly as well in the 2nd inning, when, after loading the bases, he allowed a long double to Margot that ultimately scored 3 runs and kind of sealed Flexen's fate. To his credit, he came back and worked a clean 3rd inning, but by that point the damage had been done and this game, which was just creeping along, was headed for a repeat of last night where I turn it off and go to bed early. Tyler Pill emerged after Flexen and made things worse, allowing a 3-run Home Run to Dusty Coleman that made the score 7-1.

I was about to throw in the towel, but then the Mets rallied in the 7th, scoring 4 runs off a trio of Padres pitchers, and involved a long double by Yoenis Cespedes and an even longer Home Run by Jay Bruce. This got the score to 7-5, and, well, this was the Padres...

...but it was also the Mets and they got no closer than 7-5, going down meekly in the 8th and gonged out of the stadium in the 9th.

So, the Mets leave San Diego, where they did not get swept, and they did not lose every game 2-1, but they also leave in no better shape than they were when they arrived, which is basically the same old story here. Actually, you could say they leave in worse shape since they've now officially started to break down the roster a little bit and by time they return to New York, who knows who's here and who will be gone.

Real Snoozer

I knew the Mets wouldn't escape San Diego without losing at least one game, and of course they filled that quota with a legitimate stinker on Wednesday night. Steven Matz didn't have it—he hasn't had it for a while now, which is troubling—and the Mets hitters continually hit into bad luck against Jhoulys Chacin and the result was a 6-3 loss that I didn't bother to stick around to the end for; it being late and I being tired, I shut it down at the 7th inning stretch.

This seemed to be a doomed game from the start. Chacin, whom the Mets beat down completely in May, looked to be a different pitcher on this night and generally did a good job of minimizing potential damage. On the other side, Steven Matz just got clubbed around. Manuel Margot hit a 2-run Home Run in the 1st, and in the 3rd, Matz got in more trouble and couldn't get out of it, allowing an RBI double to Wil Myers and, later, a 3-run triple to Luis Torrens that only by some divine gust of wind did not wind up being a Grand Slam outright. That put the game at 6-1, and basically everything went to hell from there. Matz departed in favor of Erik Goeddel and, later, Tyler Pill, which should tell you all you needed to know.

Meanwhile, the Mets had their opportunities, but of course did not capitalize on them. In the 6th, they rallied a little bit, loaded the bases, got Chacin out of the game and were one long hit away from being back in the game, but Lucas Duda flew out, and although they got a run home on a Jose Reyes walk, a Rene Rivera screamer that seemed ticketed for Center Field was run down by Allen Cordoba for an inning-ending ground out.

From there, not much else. Wilmer Flores hit an academic Home Run but by that point I'd gone to sleep, but I'm told it did actually happen.

One more here in San Diego, a series that feels much longer than the three games it's encompassed so far. Tonight, the Major League Debut for youngster Chris Flexen, up from my old haunt in Binghamton. We wish him well, or at least that he doesn't look like he's choking on his tongue like Kyle Lloyd was on Tuesday.

Trojan Win

The Mets won their second straight in San Diego on Tuesday, one of those gritty games where they battle behind and come back to win. I'm always happy with a win, but sometimes it's amusing when they have to peck and scrape and claw against a terrible team. But that's sort of emblematic of the way the season has gone.

Tuesday night, the Mets were in trouble from the start when the Padres Trojan Horse'd them. They were supposed to face Jhoulys Chacin. When they faced Chacin in May, they fed him his lunch good and proper and he didn't make it out of the 1st inning. But whether Chacin actually had back spasms, or he just had "back spasms," he didn't start and instead the Mets would face Kyle Lloyd, a young fellow making his Major League debut, and on short enough notice that they had no advance scouting. Seems legit.

So there's Lloyd, standing out there looking like he's just been kicked out of a space shuttle without a helmet on, facing the Mets. Meanwhile, and I didn't notice it yesterday, but the Padres seem to have changed their uniforms again, from the mustard-yellow monstrosity that they used to sport to something that now seems to be a replica of the 1984 Tigers. I don't necessarily like watching a team whose jerseys make me feel like I'm watching a different team. I felt the need to point that out.

But at any rate, Lloyd gave up a Home Run to Yoenis Cespedes in the 1st. But then he sort of settled down. Seth Lugo, on the other side, had his own troubles. He gave up a Home Run to Hunter Renfroe in the 2nd, again, no great shakes since Renfroe is clearly destined to be one of those Met Killers. He also gave up a 2-run Home Run to Allen Cordoba. This put the Padres up, 3-1.

Usually, when the Mets face a guy making his Major League debut, it has a tendency to not go well. The Padres have a history of proving this in execution. But Lloyd seemed to run out of steam around the 4th, and the Mets managed to fight back and tie the game in the 5th thanks to an RBI double by Asdrubal Cabrera. This knocked Lloyd out of the game altogether, and then when Cespedes followed with another RBI double, the Mets had the lead and Lloyd was actually in line for a loss. However, his teammates, specifically Matt Szczur, got him off the hook and tied the game in the last of the 5th.

The Mets regained the lead in the last of the 7th on a play that seemed to typify the fortunes of these two teams. Granderson singled with 1 out against generically-named Jose Torres, and with two outs, Phil Maton (I will be sorely disappointed if Maton is not from Quebec or at least of French Canadian descent) was summoned to face Cespedes. And he fooled Cespedes, if only to get him to put an ugly check swing on a ball that nonetheless rocketed down the Right Field line. A troika of Padres then picked up the ball and threw it not particularly close to bases or players, and as such a Cespedes triple turned into a Cespedes Little League Home Run, giving the Mets a 6-4 lead.

From there, Paul Sewald had a Good Paul Sewald night and Addison Reed again gave up a run and made things unnecessarily stressful but still managed to close out a 6-5 victory. Another one of those kind of 6-5 victories. I'm not sure if this is something worth celebrating or not.

Refreshing Result

San Diego is a place where the Mets go once a season. I've never been there myself but I hear it's lovely basically all times of the year. However, the Mets seem to not enjoy themselves much, particularly since they opened Petco Park back in 2004 (?). I've mentioned it before, as I have about many Self-fufilling Met Prophecies or Met Hexes that crop up, but it bears mentioning since this is a four-game series, but the Mets in San Diego is generally a losing proposition. I know that this is the place where Bartolo Colon broke Baseball last year, but otherwise, the Mets have played approximately 60 games in Petco Park over the last 14 seasons and their record is something to the effect of 18-42, and of those 42 losses, 34 of them were by a 2-1 score, and the other 8 were of some variety of either almost being no-hit by pitchers making their first or second Major League start, or a walk-off Grand Slam.

Point is, for the Mets, for whom consistent play has been a dicey proposition this season, a trip to San Diego isn't going to help much. San Diego has been having a miserable season, but they still managed to take two of three from the Mets in New York. Now we're here in San Diego.

Monday night, the Mets won, and, well, they probably should have won given that Jacob deGrom was pitching, and yet they managed to almost blow it at the end. deGrom, as has been the case over the past several weeks, was brilliant, striking out the side in the first and just humming along from there as the Mets offense provided him with a modicum of support. Wilmer Flores hit a Home Run against Clayton Richard and his irritatingly jerky delivery in the 2nd, Yoenis Cespedes tripled home a run and scored another in the 3rd, and Jay Bruce and Travis d'Arnaud also drove home runs. That eliminated the fear of yet another 2-1 loss, which was nice, and behind a cruising deGrom seemed to give the impression that the Mets had the game well in hand. deGrom allowed two runs late, a bomb of a Home Run to Hunter Renfroe in the 7th, and then back-to-back doubles with 2 outs in the 8th. Otherwise, he was his usual quietly efficient self.

Then, of course, we got to the 9th. Addison Reed, whose name has been one of the leading ones bandied around in trade talks, took the mound and gave up another Home Run to Renfroe. Again, I'll take that with a grain of salt since Renfroe has been killing everyone lately. Then, of course, he gave up a hit to Manuel Margot and another hit to Hector Sanchez, and that brought up Jabari Blash. I don't know much of Blash other than he's one of these really tall, wiry types who hasn't amounted to much in a limited role in the Majors, so it stands to reason that if anyone was going to whack a 3-run Home Run and fuck up a perfectly good game, it would be him, and damned if he didn't almost do that, hitting a ball that just barely slipped to the foul side of the foul pole and required a replay review to make sure. Following that scare, Reed then got his shit together and struck out Blash. Matt Szczur followed, and, well, wouldn't it have to be Matt Szczur, then? He hit it well, but right to Bruce and that ended a 5-3 victory that was probably significantly hairier than it needed to be. But, then again, that's the Mets in 2017. Much hairier than it needs to be.

Noodle Team

I would think it's safe to say most Mets fans are searching for some kind of answer after the way the last two games against the Padres played out. I have none. In terrible weather, the Mets, behind "spot starter" Rafael Montero, fell behind early, couldn't hit Dinelson Lamet, because historically when have the Mets ever hit a guy making his Major League debut, and against a meek Padres team the Mets just proved themselves even meeker in a 4-3 loss.

You could point to Michael Conforto striking out 4 times, or Jay Bruce popping out with the winning runs on base, or Addison Reed giving up what would prove to be the winning run in the 9th, or Asdrubal Cabrera, fresh off the DL, for grounding into a double play in a key spot in the 8th, but really, this game will be defined wholly by Rafael Montero and his complete and total inability to perform at the Major League level. I know that Montero somehow managed to work his way back into everyone's good graces by having a strong spring, but lots of players have strong springs and then fail to answer the bell once the season begins. This is the story of Montero's career. Tons of potential and no follow through. Given a cookie start against an opponent that should have been a cookie, Montero threw 47 pitches in the 1st inning. 47! It's more an indictment of the Padres that the score was only 2-0 at that point. Usually, when a pitcher slogs through 47 pitches in an inning, you figure the other team has hung 5-6 runs on him. But no. the Padres let him off easy. Hell, the Marlins hung 7 on him without him having to throw that many pitches.

47 in the 1st inning. By the 3rd he'd thrown 87 and I think everyone had seen enough. Paul Sewald followed and in the same number of innings threw fewer than half as many pitches and allowed 3 fewer runs. Maybe he should have been the spot starter.

I fell asleep at some point so I don't really know what went on from there. Montero will do that to you. Other than to say that by time I woke up and turned the game back on, it was the 9th inning and things hadn't exactly improved.

The Mets right now can't get out of their own way. I know that seasons go through ebbs and flows and at some point in the middle of last August I'd thought hope was lost and then it wasn't, so this group has done stranger things in less time. But under those circumstances they didn't have a bullpen full of noodles. Doesn't matter who gets used where or when, it seems. So, I mean, you want an answer? Don't look at me, man.

Inescapable Stupid

The Mets will, over the course of the season, invariably lose games to teams they ought to beat handily. Such a thing happened this evening. The Mets ran out to a 5-1 lead over the miserable Padres behind some modest hitting and a solid effort from Robert Gsellman. Gsellman departed after 6 innings, and the bullpen blew the lead and ultimately the game, allowing 5 runs before 4 pitchers collectively could record 4 outs. Still, the Mets had opportunity as the Padres seemed more than happy to hand the game back over to the Mets, but the Mets just didn't seem capable of picking up the social cue as they loaded the bases with no outs in the 9th, and when a single would likely have won the game, the next two batters struck out, and the third batter flew out meekly, and the Mets came away with a puzzling 6-5 loss.

Things started off similarly to last night. The Mets banged out several early hits off of oft-injured former gambling addict Jarred Cosart, among them a 3-run double from Wilmer Flores to kick start a 4-run 3rd inning that ultimately knocked Cosart from the game outright. They plated another run in the 4th and everything was lovely. Gsellman, in his return to the rotation, pitched reasonably well against the Padres, which is what you'd expect because the Padres lineup is just a melange of boring. Gsellman made it through 6 but was pulled there after 84 pitches, a curious move considering the state of the Mets bullpen and the fact that Blevins and Sewald, perhaps the only two somewhat-reliable arms, were deemed unavailable. But Fernando Salas, who pitched close to 2 innings on Tuesday, was, and of course after getting two outs ran out of steam. He gave up a hit to Chase d'Arnaud (which is more than could be said for his brother on this night), and then walked Matt Szczur (because Szczur's whole deal is drawing walks and being annoying) and Yangervis Solarte (duh slobber yankee prospect) before finally being pulled in favor of...Neil Ramirez. NEIL RAMIREZ?! Ramirez shouldn't be allowed near the mound unless someone has a 9+ run lead and he's done nothing to prove to me otherwise, so was anyone at all surprised that he came within a goat's whisker of allowing a Grand Slam to Wil Myers?

So by the grace of Mark the ball stays in play and the game is merely tied, and Josh Edgin then has to come in and rescue the Mets from this mess. Fine. The Mets go in the tank in the 7th and out comes Josh Smoker to start the 8th. Smoker also pitched on Tuesday and on his first pitch gave up a rocket of a Home Run to Shemp. So what happens here? You guessed it—first batter, Hunter Renfroe, parked one in the 2nd deck in Left Field.

Now the Mets are losing and the game is creeping past 3 hours. Juan Lagares starts the last of the 8th by hitting a shot to right that Renfroe drops and Lagares ends up on 2nd. He went no further. In the 9th, the Padres go to Brad Hand to close the game, which seemed perfectly normal to me because I have no idea who the Padres closer is actually supposed to be. Maybe it is Hand. I don't know but the Mets had seen plenty of Hand during his time in South Florida Purgatory. Walker singled to start, Duda drew a walk, and Flores singled past Aybar, and had the ball been a bit more well placed, Walker probably would have scored outright. But why push it with no outs? Surely, against a reeling Hand, someone out of Curtis Granderson, Rene Rivera and Juan Lagares ought to be able to push across a run and perhaps two, right?

RIGHT???

...

Sigh. To say I was glad I didn't exchange my tickets off of last night would be an understatement because if I'd been there, I'd be totally apoplectic. Again, I know that sometimes these things happen. Hell, the Mets have lost 47 of the 55 games they've played in Petco Park by the score of 2-1, no matter how good or bad or boring the Padres are. But right now, when the team is just desperately seeking some kind of consistency while they stem the tide and wait for reinforcements, losing like this when they were playing a team that barely showed any signs of life all night just baffles me.

Happy Harvey Conforto Day!

I was back at Citi Field on Tuesday, though I have to say I did so with some reticence. I knew I'd be going to at least one of the Padres games this week, but I was trying to pick my matchups. For as much as I'd like to see Matt Harvey do well, I at this point felt he'd had too much to overcome and too far to go to get his act together to comfortably assume it safe to attend one of his starts. That left me to choose between Wednesday and Thursday, and initially, I'd been leaning toward Wednesday as deGrom was scheduled. But some factors precluded me from going ahead with the switch. First, when I checked on Monday, I saw that Gsellman, not deGrom, was scheduled for Wednesday. Then, I attempted to go ahead and change my tickets online, only to be blocked from doing so because I forgot that I could only exchange tickets up to 48 hours prior to the game. So, I had to suck it up, go on Tuesday and hope for the best.

I did get someone's best on Tuesday. It wasn't Matt Harvey's best. This was just as well. It was actually Michael Conforto's best. While Harvey pitched 5 innings worth of ugly, Conforto pretty much stole the game from his first At Bat. Leading off against Jhoulys Chacin, Conforto got behind in the count and then started whacking everything Chacin threw him foul. Some gentlemen sitting behind me in Section 418 were yelling at him to "Lay the bunt down! Show some strategy and get a bunt down!" but Conforto seemed to be having none of that. It took him until the 10th pitch of the At Bat before he finally got something he could handle and drove it out into the Mets Bullpen. Having thrown Conforto basically everything he had, Chacin summarily turned to mush from there and the Mets just clobbered him to death. Jose Reyes got a hit, as did Bruce and Walker, Wilmer Flores drove in a run, Lucas Duda doubled home two, Rene Rivera singled, and all of a sudden there was Conforto up again and driving in two more runs with a single to Left, making the score 7-0 and ending Chacin's night before he could negotiate through the 1st inning.

Handed this bounty, Matt Harvey went out in the 2nd inning against a completely punchless Padres lineup and walked the first batter, Ryan Schimpf. He then gave up a double to Hunter Renfroe, and then back-to-back run-scoring ground outs. The rest of Harvey's evening was similarly laborious. He walked two more batters, including Craig Stammen, who relieved Chacin, in the 3rd. In the 4th, he walked Austin Hedges with 2 outs and was fortunate that no further damage was done because although Erick Aybar hit a shot, the ball hit Hedges and resulted in an inning-ending out (haven't seen that happen in a while). In the 5th, he did not walk anyone, but he did allow a single, and in fact also struck out the side. But by that point Harvey was up over 100 pitches, and even in the 400 level I could tell that he didn't look especially comfortable through most of them. He was dragging. Watching him was a drag. It was a good thing that the Mets had run out to such a large lead.

It was 7-2 when Conforto came up for the 3rd time in the 4rd inning and hit his 2nd Home Run of the night, a shot way out into the high-130s seats in Left-center. Conforto had basically taken over the storyline for the night. Afforded two more opportunities to hit a 3rd Home Run, he grounded out in the 6th and was hit by a pitch in the 8th, which drew plenty of jeers in spite of the fact that he took a curveball off his back. Irregardless, when I remember this particular 9-3 Mets victory, I'll remember two things: I'll remember the loud group of Long Islanders that were sitting a row in front of me and kept getting up, getting drunk, taking selfies and generally interfering with my view of the game, and I'll remember how Michael Conforto stole the show because Harvey couldn't get out of his own way. Although, right now, I think Conforto stands a pretty good chance of stealing the show most nights. He's proven this quite emphatically.

Its The Matz!

Apparently, what I need to do is be out of the house and out somewhere in order to ensure that the Mets will do well. Saturday, I was out on a day trip to Orient, NY. Granted, I was in transit home while the game was going on but the Mets won. Sunday, I was out of New York state altogether, having traveled with my other half out to somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania, to a place where we stopped for lunch in an establishment where the Phillies game was on multiple televisions, and in the meantime, the Mets played a game at rumor level for me and once again won, as Steven Matz took a no-hit bid into the 8th inning and the Mets offense did ostensibly the minimum necessary. The Mets 5-1 win marked the first time they'd won two games in a row in over a month.

Once again, I had no clue anything noteworthy was going on in the game until I got a buzz on my phone saying something to the effect of "METS: Steven Matz has a No-Hitter through 6 innings." Now, we've been through enough of these to take 6 innings with a grain of salt, and perhaps ever since June 1, 2012 there's been much less trepidation associated with such a notification. I figured if Matz got through 7 innings, then I might have to start following things on my phone.

Shortly thereafter, I got the alert that Matz had made it through 7 innings unscathed. At this point, No Hitter or not, he'd put forth his second really good start in a row, which is good to see given how his season has kind of unraveled. At the end of May, I'd figured Matz was right on the verge of being a lock for Rookie of the Year. This probably won't happen now, but 10+ wins and an ERA under 3.5 certainly is possible, which is perfectly respectable. So even though Matz gave up a hit to Alexei Ramirez with 1 out in the 8th to spoil the No-hit bid and finish Matz's afternoon (and relax Terry Collins' nerves), I'm still satisfied with the result.

The Long Ride Home

I was out most of the day on Saturday, which is pretty normal for me in the Summer, and as such I missed the Mets game in its entirety. Had they been playing better, I might have felt more of an impetus to pay attention, but after 4 losses, each one worse than the one prior, and 6 out of 7 losses overall, well, let's just say that the Mets were beginning to lose my interest, at least on days where there might be something better for me to do to occupy myself.

My other half and I were on Long Island for the day, and our route home leads us directly past Citi Field. I'd figured, based on the timing of things, that we'd pass the stadium well after the game had ended, as we were way out in Riverhead, a good 90 minutes or so from Citi Field. By time we'd stopped for a bite, the game was already in the 7th inning, with the Mets ahead 2-1.

Here's where you might say, "Hey, Slapenfield, why didn't you just put the game on the radio if you were worried about postgame traffic?!"

The answer, of course, is that since my other half does the driving (as a native Manhattanite, I not only do not drive, I don't even have a Driver's license), she insists on picking what we listen to. Since her music is preferable to, as she calls it, "Mets Music," I'm out of luck. And, of course, all that being said, I wasn't especially looking forward to listening to the Mets game anyway, lest it depress me at the end of a nice day out.

So, we're driving, and I'm expecting a buzz on my phone to notify me that the game had ended, and we're passing through strange Suffolk County towns like Calverton, and Yaphank, and, of course, Ronkonkoma, and pretty soon we've reached Farmingdale and Hicksville, and Nassau County, and that buzz still hasn't come. Finally, we reach Lake Success and I pull out my phone and check the score. I see NYM 2, SDP 2, BOT 11.

So, that's what happened. Jacob deGrom pitches wonderfully as usual, the Mets barely hit, as usual, and then Jeurys Familia blew a Save against the Padres again. So, there they were, Extra innings and Gabriel Ynoa on the mound, making his Major League Debut.

Somewhere around Fresh Meadows, that buzz finally comes. F/11 NYM 3 SDP 2. Just what I was afraid of. We're about to switch from the LIE onto the Grand Central and the game has literally just ended. We'll be sitting in front of the Queens Museum all night.

But that traffic never materialized. Happily, I overlooked the fact that there was a Styx concert after the game, and it seems that those who stuck around for all 11 innings of the Mets unique interpretation of Major League Baseball then planned to stick around for Styx, and not cause a half-hour backup on the Grand Central. Plus, I guess everyone was feeling pretty good, since the Mets finally won a game for the first time in a week, and by virtue of someone else's screwup. Last night, Detlef Schrempf, whoever he is, singlehandedly throttled the Mets. Saturday, he gave it back by fielding a Wilmer Flores ground ball with 1 out and men on the corners, and rather than take the Double Play, he threw not especially close to Home Plate, allowing Neil Walker to score the winning run virtually unperturbed. As if Styx needed something to warm up the crowd. So we breeze past Citi Field and right on home. No traffic, no problems.

Literally, Tired

As can sometimes be the case on Fridays, after a full week of work, I'll come home and proceed to fall asleep for about 60-90 minutes. Game be damned. And lately, most of the games have been damned. Tonight was no different; I came home and after tooling around for a while, I started to nod off. But as I was about to fall asleep, I glanced at my phone and MLB At Bat to see how the game had been going. I saw that Logan Verrett had managed to load the bases with no outs, and some fellow named Detlef Schrempf was batting, and a little blue ball pops up, accompanied by that dreaded phrase: "IN PLAY, RUN(S)."

Schimpf, of course, had hit the Grand Slam, and from there I fell asleep, because I knew that nothing good was coming out of this game. After the bluster from Terry Collins yesterday, and after the roster shakeups of this afternoon, the same stupid thing was going to happen anyway. I suppose it makes no difference whether or not Michael Conforto is here. The Mets have once again managed to take a really promising young kid and screw him up so badly that he's now incapable of performing at the Major League level. They can toss him back to AAA where he'll inevitably hit .360, and then call him back up, jockey him around from position to position in order to placate whoever, and then shrug as he continues to hit .200. Then they'll trade him to Baltimore for Darren O'Day and two retreads and watch as he develops into a .320 hitter.

Meanwhile, Logan Verrett continues to start, and for Verrett the pattern tends to be one good start, one middling start, one completely putrid start and tonight was the putrid. Against a Padres team that, like Arizona, is barely trying, he allowed a Steve Trachsel-esque 4 Home Runs in 3 innings, shuttling the Mets off to an 8-2 deficit.

By time I woke up, the Mets had actually cut that deficit to 8-5. Somehow, this was enough to get me up and get me to turn the game on, even if I knew I was setting myself up for more misery. I know that we're all trying to finesse this one into something positive by saying that the Mets could have died after the score hit 8-2 but somehow battled back to make it 8-6, but what's the point? The loss counts the same whether it was 8-0, 8-2 or 8-6. You want to talk about the Mets being gritty and gutty, talk to me when they come back from an 8-2 deficit and win 9-8. There's nothing fluffier in Baseball than touting offensive statistics that come in meaningless situations. It's like when everyone would yell about that guy who retired hitting Home Runs late in games when his team was already up by 4.

So, yeah. I'm tired. Literally, tired. Of this team, of this season and in general.

Escape From San Diego

The Mets managed to escape San Diego with a win on Sunday in a game that historically never ended well for them. Usually, a game like this would have played out the way it did for the first 7 1/2 innings. Matt Harvey had a resurgent start, striking out 10 batters in his 6 innings of work and flashing the 97 MPH fastball that usually butters his bread. Yoenis Cespedes hit his 11th Home Run of the year, and things were just hunky dory. Harvey had a minor hiccup in the 5th, but recovered, Jim Henderson hiccuped in the 7th and recovered, and the Mets were just trying to nurse their lead home.

In another time, on another day, the Padres would have tied the game in the 8th inning after loading the bases in the 9th. I'd say that they would have broken through and scored 4 runs in the 8th, but that's too easy. Collins would have gone to Scott Atchison or Ramon Ramirez in the 9th, they would have allowed the Padres to get runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out, get a strikeout and then allow a walk-off Home Run, giving the Mets yet another nauseating loss in San Diego.

But that didn't happen. Instead, after loading the bases with none out in the 8th, Antonio Bastardo came in and saved the day, striking out Derek Norris, popping out Melvin Upton Jr, and then striking out Alexi Ramirez to weasel his way out of this Blevins/Reed-induced mess and preserve the lead. And instead of going to a ragtag retread in the 9th inning, the Mets instead went to Jeurys Familia in the 9th and Familia set down the Padres in order to finish out this 4-3 victory that amazingly gave the Mets a split of this 4-game series in San Diego, when a mere 24 hours prior it appeared like they were headed down the road of previous 4-game washouts in Dog Run Stadium.

So, the Mets don't have to worry about San Diego again until next season, but there remains plenty of late-night West Coast games to come as the Mets head up the coast to Los Angeles, where they had a nice time last season and hopefully can carry that over.

Forget Game...COLON HITS HOMER!

One of the substories of the legendary July 4, 1985 Mets/Braves game was a completely absurd 18th inning Home Run by Braves Pitcher Rick Camp. The hit came with 2 outs, 2 strikes and tied the game 11-11. The Mets, of course, ultimately won the game, but a newspaper headline the next day read something to the effect of "FORGET GAME...CAMP HITS HOMER!"

The same could be said of Saturday night's Mets/Padres game. Because for all that happened in the game itself, and that the Mets got a sorely-needed 6-3 victory, everything is overshadowed by Bartolo Colon hitting his first Major League Home Run in the 2nd inning.

You could, I suppose, say that this moment has been building since 2014, when Bartolo first arrived with the Mets and put forth At Bats that were, to be kind, unique. It usually involved body parts flailing and helmets flying and strikeouts. But Bartolo worked to get better, and last season had what could be considered a reasonably respectable season for a Pitcher, let alone a 42-year old in comical physical condition who'd spent a majority of his career in the American League. After hitting .032 in 2014, Colon upped his average to .138 in 2015 and even drove in 4 runs.

This season, Colon hadn't found his way on base in the early going, but he did hit a rocket of a foul ball in his last start. For all the work he'd put in as a hitter, his approach still boiled down to swinging hard just in case he made contact. Last night, as we all now know, he did this, made contact on a James Shields pitch and sent it sailing into the Left Field seats at Petco Park. I'd stepped out of the room for a second but fortuitously came back just as Bartolo made contact and, well, Gary Cohen basically shouted himself hoarse telling you everything you needed to know from there.

I don't know, I think every Mets fan, and perhaps most of Baseball spent the rest of the game with this weird doofy Bartolo grin on their faces because this thing that everyone thought was impossible actually happened. But that's the beauty of Baseball. Even Bartolo can hit a Home Run. Whatever else happened in the game was secondary from there. Or at least it was so long as the Mets held their lead, which they did, because when Bartolo Colon hits a Home Run, well, they better win the game.

Let's just watch it again just to make sure.

Bizarro Baseball Planet

San Diego has, for many years, kind of flown under the wire for Mets fans as a place where the team traditionally gets sucked into a vortex of bad Baseball, but I think the past two games of this series has been a reminder to us all just how awful a place this is. Never mind the 4-30 record the Mets have had there in the last 10 years. Never mind the spate of 2-1 losses and walk-off Grand Slams. These past two nights haven't held to the standard formula but the formula they have held to is just as irritating to watch.

In these two games, every ground ball the Mets have hit has been directly at a shifted infielder. Every fly ball that seems destined for a double or more has been run down by Jon Jay, or Matt Kemp, or Joe Shemp, or that Sebastian Janikowski Travis Jankowski fellow that comes in late in games. Mets pitchers have seen their mechanics desert them at inopportune times and innings that should have been over extended by bearded ragamuffins or by umpires who suddenly won't pull the trigger on strikes and check swings that are usually universally called the other way. 2-out RBI hits are being given up to batters that have no business getting 2-out hits off of these Mets pitchers. And, of course, games are being saved by Fernando Rodney and his Rally Plantain. Yes, the same Fernando Rodney who seems to get picked off the MLB scrap heap every other season.

It makes sense that all this happens in a ballpark where every out is punctuated by this weird Vietnamese Gong noise.

This isn't like every other stadium where the Mets traditionally have bad luck. For example, Atlanta has been a place where it seems predestined that nothing will go right. In Los Angeles, things only break against the Mets when the Dodgers are on one of their weird voodoo streaks, but in other instances, the Mets can actually do well there. Colorado has that rarefied air so nothing that happens there makes sense. San Diego, all this stuff is like gentle bad luck. It seems like they lull you into this false sense of comfort with the nice weather and cool California attitude and the rebirth of the city itself. The Padres seem to kill you with kindness. They don't destroy the Mets with spirit-crushing blowouts, they just sort of beat you innocuously. Last night, they beat Noah Syndergaard by scoring a run in the 1st, a run in the 5th and that was it, and they weren't even loud runs. Drew Pomeranz beat the Mets by throwing an assortment of curveballs and sliders and off-speed stuff and somehow even though he really had to battle his way through 5 innings, the numbers say he allowed 1 hit and no runs and got a win.

Then, of course, there was the home plate play involving Asdrubal Cabrera, Alexei Ramirez and Derek Norris and it figures Norris was involved since he's the Padres #1 Met Killer, and yes, I realize Teufel was probably just trying to force the Padres to make the play there but it essentially ran them out of an inning. It makes no difference when Derek Norris dropped the ball, and as far as I could tell he dropped it well after the tag was made. So we could have a whole debate on what constitutes a caught ball, I guess? That seems to be kind of fitting for San Diego.

Losing the first two games of this series is hardly inspiring, even if in the grand scheme of things it doesn't make that much of a difference. But if this is how this West Coast trip is going to play out, then we've got some trouble. Hopefully this is just a San Diego thing.

Thud

If you fell asleep early, you probably spared yourself a nice headache, because that's pretty much what I ended up with from watching the Mets play in San Diego.

The Case History for the Mets playing in San Diego, particularly at Petco Park, hasn't been good. Since Petco Park opened in 2004, the Mets have played there I believe about 40 times. In those 40 games, the Mets are, or at least seem to be 6-34, and of those 34 losses, 26 of them were by the score of 2-1. The remainder of them involved some kind of terrible thing happening, like a complete meltdown by the bullpen or a walk-off Grand Slam. 

None of those things happened Thursday night/Friday morning, but things didn't go well for the Mets anyway. This time, the obvious culprit was Jacob deGrom, who was going through some sort of mechanical difficulties throughout his rather laborious 5 innings of work. deGrom's velocity was down, his pitches were up, he wasn't getting anybody out and he seemed to be getting progressively angrier and angrier as the game went on. And things didn't exactly start out well for him to begin with. The first batter for the Padres, Wil Myers, who's one more injury away from bust-dom, took him deep. In the 2nd, he gave up a 2-out RBI single to Colin Rea, the opposing Pitcher, and in the 3rd there was more crap.

That being said, deGrom only left a 3-0 game, which was still in control, or at least it was until the Padres topped off their tank against Logan Verrett in the 6th. Derek Norris, who appears to essentially be another Wilson Ramos (meaning a big, loafy Catcher who hits sporadically but for whatever reason batters the Mets to the tune of an .840 BA) hit a Home Run and something else happened. But the larger issue for the Mets was their inability to hit Rea at all. The Mets made solid contact, but basically everything they hit was into whatever dopey shift the Padres had on, or it was a well-hit fly ball that got run down by Jon Jay, who seems to have materialized with San Diego after essentially being a Mike Matheny All Star for so many years. Rea took a No Hitter into the 7th inning, which is an accomplishment in and of itself considering that Rea is a relative unknown and the Padres have never thrown a No Hitter, a plight we as Mets fans are familiar with but can no longer empathize.

Fortunately, Yoenis Cespedes finally hit a ground ball where a Padre infielder wasn't with 2 outs in the 7th inning and removed that potential stigma from the game. Still, Rea continued to mow down the Mets into the 9th, when they mounted an irritating 3-run rally. I say it's an irritating rally because yes, while it's nice that Granderson homered and Cespedes homered, all it did was just prolong the inevitable: To lose 5-3 instead of 5-0, but lose nonetheless.

At least it wasn't a 2-1 loss with Jay hitting the walk-off Home Run and pogo-sticking his way around the bases. Then again, the Mets still have 3 more games in San Diego. Anything's possible. 

Fight For Real Estate

Much like last night, you try to take the little moral victories away from lost games and lost series. Tuesday night, Noah Syndergaard did not throw a temper tantrum on the mound when things didn't go his way. This was a positive thing. Wednesday night, the Mets lost 7-3 in a game I didn't watch and based on the results I'm quite certain I didn't want to watch, as Dillon Gee made his return to the mound and promptly got lit on fire by the Padres, but for once, the Mets successfully made it through a trip to San Diego and did not lose any game 2-1, no extra innings, no walk off hit batsmen, no walk-off grand slams, none of that truly annoying stuff. The Mets made it through without any truly frustrating losses because they either rode a truly dominant pitching performance and won, or they were totally out of the game early and thus removed the need for some late inning mishaps.

Wednesday night, the mishaps came early and often, thanks to a triptych of errors, two by newly-anointed 3rd Baseman Ruben Tejada (whose renaissance has sort of been surprising and under the radar), that aided some early inning rallies that the Mets didn't really make any kind of an effort to respond to. Late, they attempted to rally against Craig Kimbrel, whom they've always managed to hit reasonably well, but the Chokemaster had too big of a lead to work with, so it didn't really lead to anything. There's not as much starch to Kimbrel now that he's not on the Braves anymore. I barely heard his name mentioned the first two games of the series, probably since he was a non-factor in two blowouts, but I've also heard he hasn't really adapted well to San Diego. I guess the people out there are too busy surfing (duuuude) to kiss his ass and maybe he's sensitive to this. Or maybe he's just not that good, and I was right the whole time. I don't know.

Regardless, the Mets are now done in San Diego, and not a moment too soon, because I think I'm tired of seeing them get Cory Spangenberg'ed to death. I've never heard of Spangenberg much before this series, but after three games, I've had enough. This is the kind of player that has "Future Marlin" written all over him and once that happens, it's a mortal lock that I'll sit through every game hoping some intrepid Mets pitcher sticks one in his ribs. Next stop on this Southwest swing is Arizona, where things have often gone exactly the opposite for the Mets as they do in San Diego. Something about that desert air agrees with their bats, I guess. With Matt Harvey on the mound tonight, returning to the scene of his sterling introduction to the Major Leagues, I'm sure he of all people would love to see that sort of a performance from his offense.

A Loss of Interest

Last night, unlike on Monday, I took a nap before the Mets game started at the brisk hour of 10pm. I probably did myself a disservice by doing so, because the results I ended up watching were nowhere near as pleasant as the game I slept through on Monday night. Though Noah Syndergaard certainly showed off his stuff, racking up 10 strikeouts, he was also hit early and often by the Padres lineup to the tune of 10 hits and 7 runs in 4 innings, by far and away the worst start of his brief career.

Syndergaard's start was more or less a mirror image of Andrew Cashner on Monday. After the Mets got an early run, Syndergaard zipped through the 1st inning with little trouble. But that was as easy as it got. The Padres, behind such luminaries as Alexi Amarista and Cory Spangenberg, kept getting singles and more singles, and then some more singles and before Syndergaard had any idea what had hit him, the Padres had charged ahead 4-1. These weren't especially hard-hit balls, but they seemed to bounce the way of the Padres. Later, Derek Norris and his mutant beard hit one that didn't need any kind of luck to find its way into the seats.

And, after that, I pretty much lost interest, which should come as a surprise to nobody. The Mets could find no particular solution to Ian Kennedy (ex-Yankee Prospect La La La) and ultimately lost a forgettable affair 7-2.

These kind of games happen, and in a way it's perhaps a positive thing for Syndergaard. Yes, I know every Mets fan would rather see Syndergaard go out there, strike out 15 guys and throw a shutout every time out. But that happens to no pitcher, no matter how good they are. In some perverse way, it's good to see him have a rough outing just to see how he handles some adversity on this level. Sure, he was seen screaming obscenities into his glove and generally looking annoyed and out of sorts as he slogged his way through his 4 innings, but at least he wasn't kicking the dirt like Shaun Marcum did, or going through some weird tic-fest like Mike Pelfrey did. He just kept throwing his pitches. The results weren't going his way, but he didn't fold, so if nothing else, you try to look for the little victories in lost games such as this.

At least as long as you can stay awake.

Not The Same Score

The Mets played their first of their periodic West Coast 10pm games last night. In my salad days, I thought nothing of staying up into the wee hours of the night watching or listening to these games, no matter how long they might drag out. But in the same vein that I no longer feel like I need to sit out in arctic cold Citi Field when the Mets are losing 7-2, I also can't necessarily make it all the way through these 10pm West Coast starts.

Sometimes, however, I do, and last night was one of those nights. To be fair, I did fall asleep sometime between the 4th and 6th innings. My other half had insistently gone to watch her stories on TV (Revolutionary War show du jour), and so I relented, opting instead to turn on the radio and let Howie and Josh tell the story for me. I don't so much mind this, however on this night they basically lulled me to sleep. Maybe it's just that San Diego gives off such a laid-back feel. Whatever it was, I innocuously shut my eyes with the Mets leading 2-0. Some time later I opened my eyes and the Mets were ahead 6-0, and I had no idea what the hell was going on.

What I did know was that Jacob deGrom was working on a Perfect Game at the time, because Howie, as is his wont, said something to the effect of "deGrom has retired all 15 batters he's faced so far," with the fitting segue to Johan Santana's No Hitter-iversary following immediately. Then, of course, someone got a hit for the Padres and there went the evening's major storyline.

Regardless of whether or not he threw a Perfect Game, it was still a very fine outing for deGrom, who has now reeled off three consecutive outings where he's been in complete control. He has two wins to show for it, of course the Mets did win the other game as well, no thanks to their bullpen, but it seems like he's getting better and better with each outing. His 8 inning effort last night featured a stingy 2 hits, an even stingier no walks and 8 strikeouts, as his ERA for the season dropped to 2.41.

deGrom was aided by the Mets offense scoring 7 runs, which is kind of unheard of for them to do in San Diego, because the Mets have played 33 games at Petco Park and lost 29 of them by the score of 2-1, so any time they can go into San Diego and score more than 1 run, it's a moral victory even if they lose the game. I don't believe they've ever scored as many as 7 there. Daniel Murphy led the charge with 4 hits—he's actually been hitting more of late, which is nice because it heightens his trade value, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking this is going to be a long-term thing. It helped particularly because Lucas Duda was out with a Marlin-induced knee injury (and a note to Matt Harvey to stick one in Dee Gordon's ribs the next time they see each other), so whenever other guys can pick up the slack that's a nice thing.

Regardless, deGrom didn't need so much offense in order to wipe out the Padres on this evening. I think it's time to just admit to the fact that my man is a really good Pitcher.

Score Remains The Same

Sunday's Mets game in San Diego was the first game I'd had the opportunity to watch since returning from my European Vacation. I already had kind of an ominous feeling about this particular game, for several obvious reasons. The Mets had swept the Marlins going into the All Star Break, which finished off an 8-2 homestand and kind of got people feeling a little optimistic about the team. Coming out of the break, the schedule gods got cute and socked the Mets with a 10-game road trip to a few places they rarely fare well, among them San Diego, Seattle and finally Milwaukee, where they have won games once in a while, but have also had moments where they look like a bunch of horse's asses. Seattle, the Mets only go to once every 6 years or so (or at least it seems that way, a closer look reveals the Mets and Mariners haven't met at all since 2008 and only visited Seattle once, in 2005, where they were promptly swept). Then, there's Petco Park in San Diego, where the Mets usually lose every game 2-1.

Fittingly, the Mets nearly got themselves no-hit by the latest crafty Cuban Odrisamer Despaigne, got up off the mat and tied the game after Zack Wheeler pitched his ass off, and ultimately lost the game, shockingly, 2-1, on a Seth Smith single that went about 45 feet and somehow ended up winning the game because Josh Edgin fell off the mound and couldn't recover in time to make a play. The kind of ending that generally leaves most Mets fans either shaking their head or smacking their head in general disgust.

Despaigne pretty much tied the Mets up in knots for a majority of the day, to the point where I was actually beginning to think he was going to finish the job and throw the first no hitter in Padres history. But Daniel Murphy took care of that by doubling with 2 outs in the 8th, and David Wright, who very quietly has had a very un-David-Wright-like Season, snuck a single through the middle to tie the game. This got Zack Wheeler off the hook in the game after another fine outing in which he made one bad pitch, the Home Run that Yasmani Grandal lofted out, and his team gave him nothing in the way of run support. Those more optimistic among us might have believed that this rally would have spurred the Mets on to a win and a series victory to get the second half off on the right foot, but sadly that was not the case. Instead, it just set the stage for the Padres to win another 2-1 game at the hands of the Mets in typical annoying fashion, taking 2 of 3 from the Mets and putting that sinking fear back in the hearts of all Mets fans.

So, the Mets now leave the beautiful town of 2-1sville in favor of Pearl Jam, Starbucks and canned crowd noise...oh, wait. They're playing the Mariners, not the Seahawks. My bad.

On The Outside

The weekend matchups between the Mets and the Padres didn't exactly result in interesting, memorable ballgames. That's, of course, my cheap, copout way of saying I didn't watch either of the games, but who's counting?

Saturday, I was in the vicinity of Citi Field, one of those incredibly rare moments when I was in Queens, on the 7 train, getting off at Willets Point...but not going to Citi Field. Prior engagements brought me out to Corona Park and the remnants of World's Fair's past right around game time, so I was caught in the throngs of people going in to the stadium...but I was walking in the opposite direction. A strange feeling indeed, but given the way the game turned out, I probably was doing the right thing by walking away. Losing 5-0 to the punchless Padres isn't exactly confidence-inspiring. Then again, nothing the Mets have done these past few weeks has been confidence-inspiring. Zack Wheeler had the typical Zack Wheeler game. Didn't pitch badly, but also didn't pitch good enough to win the game, while the Mets did nothing against Ratso Happ or whoever the guy pitching for San Diego was. He now goes down among such luminaries as Troy Mattes or Jason Jennings as guys who made auspicious Major League debuts (or early career performances) by throwing shutout ball against the Mets.

For some reason, Saturday's loss elicited a multitude of negative responses from my Met fan brethren across the internet, and I can't figure out why this, out of all the losses they've suffered this year, last year, or any of the several years before this when they lost a game and looked like a bunch of assholes doing so, this particular game was the tipping point. I mean, I don't think I know many people that were at the game, and certainly even the lure of 50 Cent probably wasn't enough to bring many of my friends to Citi Field anyway. But somehow, this game was the one that threw everyone over the edge, screaming about losing to the Padres and how could they stoop so low. I'd like to see this sort of outcry when the Mets lose to the Marlins. But maybe it's asking too much. How worked up can you get over a Mets loss these days?

Sunday, the Mets did not lose, I was not in Queens, and I did not see the game. I heard that Curtis Granderson, out for a few days with a calf injury, returned, got inserted in the leadoff spot, and hit the second pitch of the game from Ian Kennedy for a Home Run. Later, Bobby Abreu continued to defy age and logic by getting run-producing hits. Daisuke Matsuzaka left with John Maine syndrome, leaving the bullpen to cobble together the remainder of the game. A dicey proposition, but somehow, they got through it, the tandem of Carlos Torres, Vic Black and Jenrry Mejia outdueling Kennedy and Kevin Quackenbush in a 3-1 victory that sounds about as exciting as the score.

So, the Mets won 2 of 3 from the Padres, so everyone can come in off the ledge now. Or not, because the Mets have the high pleasure of going out to St. Louis to play the Beknighted Cardinals and we all know that generally doesn't go well for the Mets.

Severe Conditions

Things were a bit hairy at Citi Field this evening, and it wasn't because it was Free Shirt Friday and I wasn't there, and it wasn't because of a major June Thunderstorm that rolled through the area at around 7pm, forcing about an hour's delay. What was hairy was that once things got started, the Mets won a game by virtue of the performance of a pair of guys more suited for significant contributions in 1998, not 2014.

That would be, obviously, Bartolo Colon and Bobby Abreu.

In what's spiraling into another lost season for the Mets, Bartolo Colon has emerged as pretty much everything the Mets wanted him to be: a Marketable Trade Commodity. Colon obviously wasn't brought in here for his bright future, he was brought in here with an eye to, if the team struggled, be easily flipped for more prospects. Though Colon has had his share of implosions, as he was usually wont to do in his more "salad" days, of late Colon has pitched rather well, and beaten teams he probably should be beating. The punchless San Diego Padres, who arrived in town with an offense to rival the Mets, were little more than an annoyance for Colon. Following a 2nd inning Home Run by Rene Rivera, Colon then retired 18 Padres in a row, bridging the game straight to the 8th inning, while the Mets offense set out and actually scored a few runs in his support.

In addition to Abreu, who scored twice and drove in two runs, Taylor Teagarden contributed with an RBI hit, and even Lucas Duda, who hasn't had a hit all month, chipped in with an RBI double. These are nice signs, but they unfortunately seem like isolated events all too often. Even more unfortunate is the fact that a Mets victory seems like an isolated event all too often. I can't even say with great confidence that playing a team that's clearly worse than them, like the Padres, is a winning proposition.