Forgettable Endings

I was out and about doing an assortment of things over the weekend and as such didn't actually get to see much of the two Mets affairs in Tampa. I did, however, arrive home on both Saturday and Sunday in just enough time to catch the ending of the games, which led me to the conclusion that I hadn't missed much of consequence.

On Saturday, I didn't see Curtis Granderson belt a leadoff home Run and I didn't see Lucas Duda drive in two more to shoot the Mets out to a 3-run lead in the 1st inning. I assume by that point, after the 7 games prior, Mets fans couldn't have been blamed for beginning to make October arrangements. But, on this night, Noah Syndergaard didn't have it. This is an issue for him on the road as a general statement, because he's pitched rather poorly on the road (as opposed to usually excellent at home), and in this particular game, he took a 3-0 lead and promptly handed it back to the Rays. He did settle down somewhat, but only somewhat and ultimately it wasn't so much his own poor pitching that did him in, it was Ruben Tejada taking a bit too long to make a throw to 1st base, allowing Evan Longoria to beat the play and allowing what would ultimately be the winning run to score. Of course, all I saw was Brad Boxberger look quite UnBoxbergerlike and retire the Mets in order in the 9th to seal a 5-4 defeat that ended the Mets 7-game magic carpet ride.

Sunday, I didn't see the Mets charge out to a 3-0 lead again, and I didn't see Bartolo Colon sort of get nicked to death by what's a rather pesky Rays lineup, and I didn't see Kelly Johnson apparently misplay a ball that led to a pair of runs scoring, and I didn't see preternatural Rookie Richie Shaffer belt a game-winning Home Run in the 7th inning. All I saw was Jake McGee enter the game in the 9th inning and retire the Mets in order, while Keith Hernandez pontificated on the fact that McGee throws nothing but fastballs and tips his slider so badly he'd be better off not even throwing it. Not that that helped the Mets at all, they still lost the game 4-3.

So, the Mets are now done with this particular random Interleague series, although they do have three more which will pop up at what are certainly inopportune times, including one against the Yankees in the middle of September which I think is absolutely asinine. The Mets stand a very good chance, if things hold to form, of being in the thick of a pennant race in September for the first time in several years. The last thing they or any Mets fan needs at that particular point is to play the Yankees and deal with the bunch of bullshit that brings with it. Schedule the games in June when the weather is warm and nobody cares. You could schedule these games in November and they would still sell out. But the middle of September is probably the worst time for that to happen, although that's probably much more from a fan's perspective. I'll get off the soapbox now.