The Mets dropped two out of three games in their weekend series against the Yankees in the Bronx.
The Mets are now 8-11 at the new Yankee Stadium since 2009, and 21-31 all-time at both ballparks in the Bronx. They’re 43-58 against the Yankees in the regular season, dating back to 1997.
Here’s a recap of the series statistically:
- Mets starting pitchers struggled in two of the three games this weekend, compiling a combined 5.79 ERA while going 1-2 and averaging just over 6 1/3 innings pitched. They had a 2.4:1 strikeout-to-walk-ratio and allowed 26 baserunners in 18 2/3 innings.
- The bullpen pitched extremely well in the three games – they combined to allow only four hits in 7 1/3 innings of work in the three games.
- The pitching staff threw first pitch strikes 37.8 percent of the time this weekend.
- The Mets hit .294 (5-for-17) with runners in scoring position in the three games.
- The Mets had ten extra-base hits in the three games, three of which were home runs.
- Mets hitters recorded nine two-out RBI.
- The Mets only drew one walk in the three games.
- The Mets committed five errors in the three games, four of which came on the infield and two of which were committed by Daniel Murphy.
- While he came alive with the bat on Sunday, Murphy went just 2-for-12 with two doubles and two RBI in the three games.
- Curtis Granderson went 4-for-13 with a home run, RBI, two runs scored and four strikeouts in the three games.
- Juan Lagares had a strong series at the plate – he went 6-for-12 with four runs scored.
- Michael Cuddyer had a rough weekend at the plate – he went just 2-for-13 with a double and grounded into a double play on Sunday night.
A sloppy weekend for the Mets.
Outside of Saturday, the Mets just didn’t play particularly well in support of their pitchers this weekend. Sunday’s game was the worst game the club has played all year, as they made both physical and mental errors, a lethal combination if the intent is to win a baseball game.
The physical errors were terrible, particularly in the fifth inning when the Mets managed to turn only one of the three double play groundballs hit to the middle infield. But the mental mistakes this weekend were even more perplexing, specifically from Murphy. Between the poor decision making at second base, the physical mistakes, and then his baserunning gaffe in the sixth inning on Sunday when he failed to slide into second, it was most certainly a weekend to forget for him.
The bullpen was great, the starting pitching not so great.
The Mets bullpen was lights out in these three games, specifically Erik Goeddel who was basically flawless in two relief outings this weekend. He hasn’t gotten much of a chance since being recalled, but he was very impressive last night in particular. In general, they did a good job picking up Jacob deGrom and Jon Niese, who did not pitch well in their outings this weekend.
The Mets starting pitching is great, but even the best have bad outings from time to time. In fairness to deGrom and Niese, they were off to very good starts heading into these starts against the Yankees. In both cases when they got into trouble, neither could stop the bleeding in one particular inning, and the Yankees simply exploded on them and put the Mets in a deep hole. It happens – it just gets frustrating when the team doesn’t pick them up with physical and mental mistakes behind them.
The difference between winning and losing the series was…
The poor defense and mental mistakes defined Sunday’s game in particular, and it was the difference between winning and losing the series for the Mets. They beat themselves, and wasted an opportunity on Sunday, which is really the most frustrating part of the series defeat.
The offense did what it could do on Sunday, but it’s so hard to battle back when the team is not in sync. They gave up runs with their physical mistakes, and blew opportunities at the plate with their mental mistakes. That simply defined their night on Sunday, and made for a long flight to Miami early this morning.
Just Mets 