Just Mets

The Mets lost the 2nd game of their three-game series with the Marlins by the score of 9-5 tonight at Citi Field. Here are my takeaways from the loss…

Something’s gotta give, Jon.

Another day, another miserable start for Jon Niese and, at this point, it cannot continue. Niese got tattooed once again today, as he allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits and two home runs in four innings. It was the 4th consecutive start and 5th time in his last seven starts that Niese has allowed four or more earned runs, as his ERA ballooned to 4.42 on the season, and completed a month in which his ERA was 5.56 in May.

With the Mets on the cusp of going to a 6-man rotation and Steven Matz waiting in the wings as he continues to dominate the Pacific Coast League in Triple-A, something may eventually have to give. You cannot continue to throw out an ineffective pitcher every five, or soon to be six, days. You just can’t.

Missed opportunities on offense.

They may have scored five runs today, but the Mets offense missed a ton of opportunities today. Leading 1-0 in the 1st, they had the bases loaded with nobody out and looked poised to break this game open early, but they wound up not scoring a single run after that. Then later in the game, they had runners at 1st and 3rd with one out in a tie game and Lucas Duda struck out and Daniel Murphy grounded out to end the threat. Five runs is all well and good, but they missed opportunities today and it hurt them.

The bullpen wasn’t good today.

Hansel Robles and Alex Torres didn’t pitch well in a tie game today. In the 7th, Robles allowed a two out, 2-run single by Christian Yelich to give the Marlins the lead. In the 9th, Torres allowed back-to-back homers by Giancarlo Stanton and, of all people, Jeff Baker. As a whole, the Mets pitched miserably on Saturday afternoon.

Other notes from Saturday:

Giancarlo Stanton hit his 4th and 5th homers of the year vs. the Mets.

Curtis Granderson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

Ruben Tejada tied the game early with a 3-run double. It was his 2nd 3-run double vs. Tom Koehler this season.

The Mets lost just their 2nd series at Citi Field this season.