Still?

The schedule makers in MLB must clearly like to fuck around with the Mets, because I think this is the 5th season in a row where they come out of the All Star Break with a murderously difficult road trip that could very well sink their chances before they really have a chance to get going.

Every year, the Mets come out of the break and have to go on some absurd trip like San Francisco/Milwaukee/San Diego, or Los Angeles/San Francisco/Seattle or Colorado/Philadelphia/Arizona, and they end up falling flat on their faces, going 3-8 and end up screwing up their entire season. This season seems to be no different, since they come out of the break and while their road trip is shorter, it still involves St. Louis and Washington, and then a trip home to play Los Angeles, San Diego and Washington.

The extra home games might be helpful, but considering how well they do against Washington at home and how well they do against St. Louis in general it might still be another screw job.

The Mets went out on Friday, in St. Louis with their selfie-stick fans and more or less played the kind of game you expected them to. Noah Syndergaard pitched great, the Mets didn't hit, the Cardinals won 3-2. I didn't even see the game and I was able to boil it down to 3 sentences, and I don't even need to read the recap I just linked to because I know the story.

There's now 14 days until the trading deadline and I know that names like Justin Upton and Carlos Gomez are being bandied about but is that going to make the kind of difference the Mets need right now? They didn't hit Lance Lynn and a succession of relievers on a night when they just needed to score 4 runs. In fact, most nights, if they could score 4 runs, they'd probably be golden, but it's such a tall order I can't even get over it.

Doesn't get better from here. The Cardinals, who also don't hit much, but hit enough, come back tomorrow with John Lackey, whom the Mets have never hit (although to be fair they also haven't faced him much). Can't wait to see how that goes.