The Mets got blown out by the Cardinals tonight by the score of 10-2 tonight at Citi Field. Here are my takeaways from tonight’s loss…
Jon Niese got shelled.
It was a simple problem for Niese tonight, and it had very little to do with the defense behind him this time.
He had very little life on his pitches, his arm slot was inconsistent, his cutter and two-seamer were flat and up all night long, and the Cardinals shelled him. Against that team and playing with this Met offense, there’s no way the Mets can survive an ineffective outing from a starting pitcher, and that’s essentially the story tonight.
Terry Collins needed to limit how much he used the bullpen tonight, but Niese probably should not have been out there in the sixth inning given what he had done early in the game and the Mets within two. Unfortunately the decision knocked him out of this game.
As for Niese, this is the second start in a row where he basically got walloped. It was bound to happen considering how his season was going – he had been awful lucky in his first few starts of the year, worked his way out of a lot of jams, and somehow surviving a ton of base runners. That luck has run out over the last week. Today, he allowed 12 base runners in five-plus innings, and it could’ve been a lot worse if not for a couple of double plays turned behind him.
He has work to do and adjustments to make again, because right now his program isn’t working. Let’s see if he responds to the challenge.
Mets bats ice cold again.
This was a game where it’s easy to tip the cap to Michael Wacha, who was really the exact opposite of Niese tonight. He allowed three singles and a two-run home run to Daniel Murphy, and that’s all the Mets could muster against him tonight. He induced a lot of weak popups and flyballs, and made the Mets look foolish for most of the night.
The problem is, tonight it was Wacha, last night it was John Lackey, Friday it was Kyle Lohse, and so on and so forth.
I get Sandy Alderson wants to wait for Travis d’Arnaud and David Wright to come back to better evaluate the offense, but there is a lot of baseball between now and then, as I’ve said before…
The Mets used three relievers?
It was 10-2 in the sixth inning, Niese got rocked, so why did Terry Collins need three relievers after needing five relievers in 14 innings last night? It seemed like a good opportunity to let Erik Goeddel and Sean Gilmartin mop this one up, take one for the team and save the bullpen. They’re dead smack in the middle of a 20 game stretch here, so these guys can use all the rest they can get.
Sure, I get Gilmartin and Jack Leathersich can use the work, but sometimes the bullets need to be saved for more meaningful situations. It’s not a big deal in the end, but something noteworthy as this series progresses this week.
Other notes from Tuesday:
The Mets had two runners in scoring position on Tuesday.
Wilmer Flores doubled in the ninth inning – he now has a six-game hitting streak with a double, two home runs and five RBI during that span.
Darrell Ceciliani made his big league debut and recorded his first hit pinch hitting for Goeddel in the seventh.
Tonight marked the fifth time in their last eight games the Mets have scored two runs or fewer.
Tonight was the first time in 2015 the Mets have allowed double-digit runs, and the first time since last September 13 against the Nationals at Citi Field.
Just Mets 