Just Mets

The Mets lost the opening game of their four-game series to the Nationals by the score of 8-2 at Citi Field on Thursday…

This game came down to one thing, and one thing only.

With the Mets leading 2-0 in the fourth inning, Jacob deGrom allowed a leadoff walk to Denard Span. DeGrom then induced a groundball off the bat of Yunel Escobar on what should have been a routine 6-4-3 double play.

It was anything but routine.

In his haste to try and turn the double play, Wilmer Flores booted the groundball, and both Span and Escobar were safe. From there, the inning – and the game – snowballed for deGrom and the Mets.

deGrom ended up allowing three runs in the fourth inning, all of which should never have come across. It clearly knocked the wind right out of the Mets, as Stephen Strasburg settled in, and the offense had no response to the mess in the fourth inning.

Tonight, it forced deGrom to throw pitches he shouldn’t otherwise have thrown and under duress, and just absolutely killed this game for them. One can argue deGrom could have pitched better, and yes he could have. But good teams take advantage of extra outs and that’s what Washington did. It’s hard for any pitcher no matter how good he is to deal with having to get four or five outs in one inning at this level.

The error tonight by Flores clearly defined this game for the Mets, the fourth time in the last seven games one or more mistakes by one or both of the middle infielders have cost this team a game. Yes, the bullpen was ineffective, and the Mets bats went completely dead, but the error changed the complexion of the entire game.

I do sympathize with Flores. I like him a lot personally – I’ve known him since I started covering this team back in 2009. I can only imagine how he feels right now. It’s embarrassing, it just increases the pressure, scrutiny, and questions for him and his manager after these games. He’s worked very hard to get better, and he also knows how this is going for him right now.

But, in the end, it’s not about one player.

Rather, it’s about the name on the front of the jersey, and when games are constantly being sacrificed because of one single problem, the problem has to be solved for the betterment of the team, sometimes at the detriment of one or two guys.

The bottom line is routine Major League plays are not being made up the middle, including a large number of plays not seen in the error column. That has to be fixed, and fast, one way or another.

Simply put, the defense up the middle is not acceptable, and it continues to be a massive problem for this team. There’s no rationalizing it or silver lining, nor can the advanced stats come to the support of the ultimate cost, which are wins.

It’s that simple tonight, as it has been for a week. This was a deflating and aggravating loss, to say the least…

Other notes from Thursday:

11 of the 17 errors the Mets have committed have come from their middle infielders.

Lucas Duda had two more hits, one of which came against a left-hander – he’s 9-for-21 against left-handed pitching this season.

Kevin Plawecki drove in a run on a double in the second inning – it was his first double of his career.

The Mets bullpen allowed three runs tonight – they have a 7.56 ERA over the last three games.

The Mets had three base runners after the third inning on Thursday.

Mets have lost 15 of their last 16 games to the Nationals at Citi Field.