It was an ugly, ugly Sunday evening for the New York Mets.
It doesn’t matter that it was the Yankees, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is. On Sunday, they would’ve been the worst team on any big league diamond.
The Mets know this. As disgusted as the fans were on Sunday, the team was even more frustrated with their play.
“We didn’t play well,” manager Terry Collins said after Sunday’s game. “Honestly, you won’t win a lot of games when you play like that.”
The Mets just could not get out of their own way on Sunday. They made four physical errors, two of which came on consecutive failed double play attempts by Daniel Murphy and Wilmer Flores in the sixth inning.
“I got a ball from [Chris Young] that I tried to body up and keep in front of me and I didn’t and it cost us a run. It would have really helped [Jon Niese] get out of the inning.
“We didn’t handle the ball very well, starting with myself. I wish I could have that double-play ball back,” Murphy concluded.
But then there were the mental mistakes in the very next half inning. One was committed by Murphy who failed to slide into second base and was tagged out at the end of an acrobatic play by Stephen Drew. He might have otherwise been safe, and the Mets would’ve had first and second and nobody out. Instead, they had a runner at first and one out.
“It kind of all happened in slow motion, so I just went straight into the bag,” Murphy explained. “I was looking to slide, but I didn’t have anybody to slide at, so I didn’t.”
Then, with Wilmer Flores at the plate, he popped up to Carlos Beltran in right field, but Eric Campbell – who committed a throwing error earlier in the game – forgot the outs and was doubled off first.
“Just a bonehead play,” Campbell said of his baserunning mistake.
As for Murphy, Collins is attributing his struggles to his injury-shortened Spring Training thanks to a pulled hamstring. Collins will remain patient with Murphy, who is a career .289 hitter yet is only hitting .169 through the first three weeks of the 2015 season.
“We’ve talked about the importance of why spring training is as long as it is and what you can get out of it, and when you don’t have it, it takes awhile,” Collins said.
Having said that, Murphy just hasn’t played well at all. He had a good night at the plate last night and has shown general signs lately of coming around at the plate, but he’s negating his offensive production with gaffes and lapses seemingly on both sides of the ball.
Murphy’s night on Sunday was a microcosm of the game the team had. They beat themselves, and found some very frustrating ways to lose.
“We had a bad night,” Collins concluded. “Up until this point, they’ve played well.”
Generally speaking, he’s correct. The last time the Mets really stumbled the way they did last night was in Atlanta during the first weekend of the season, as Collins said. They responded to that poor play by winning their next 11 games in a row.
How will the Mets respond this time? Is it a hiccup, or have they started to bleed?
Time will certainly tell.
Just Mets 