The Mets took it on the chin for the fourth game in a row, falling again in brutal fashion to the Braves by the score of 6-4 on Saturday night at Turner Field. Here are my takeaways from Saturday’s loss…
More embarrassing defense.
When Wilmer Flores is brought in as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning, it’s pretty clear what the state of the defense is.
Their defense was so bad so often on Saturday, I actually lost track of the mistakes. Seriously. I am totally lost as I write this.
I do know Curtis Granderson couldn’t properly field an extra-base hit in the right field corner in the second inning which resulted in a triple for AJ Pierzynski, and of course a run scoring.
Then, Jace Peterson managed to steal second base thanks to nobody covering the bag on Travis d’Arnaud’s throw (it was Dilson Herrera’s ball, by the way), which of course resulted in a run coming around to score.
Then in the fourth inning, Juan Lagares gave away a base when he tried to barehand a single from Andrelton Simmons which gave away two bases and two more runs.
There was another failed play on a bunt by Eury Perez in which Logan Verrett didn’t cover first fast enough, a groundball to Eric Campbell at third in which he decided to step on the bag to get a force instead of throwing home for the force, and a run scored too.
That’s when Collins double switched in Flores, moved Ruben Tejada to third, and pulled Campbell out of the game.
It’s a situation in which this club has absolutely no grasp on. There is no rationalizing this anymore, there is no saying players made the right plays when they clearly did not, no player coming back from injury is going to fix this mess, and so on and so forth.
I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again today: This is not sustainable, and the team will not survive when their defense really isn’t playing at an amateur level right now.
That may be harsh, but it is the truth and it’s more than a fair evaluation. They got what they deserved tonight, and last night for that matter.
Noah Syndergaard just didn’t have it.
All of the above took place, and I haven’t even gotten to Syndergaard yet. He really didn’t have it tonight and it was smart of Collins to pull him after four innings. He got away from using his fastball, presumably because he didn’t have a good feel for it. But he also didn’t have his off-speed working either, and he just couldn’t cope with an off-night on the mound. Perhaps he was overthrowing and trying to do much because the defense is so horrible, maybe he just lost his composure and was frustrated, both of which would be perfectly validated right now. He’ll never admit it, but I wouldn’t blame him if this was the case. But, if that is what happened, he has to keep his cool and focus on his job.
It’s going to be a work-in-progress for him, but he’s going to have to figure out how to manage the days he lacks his A-game on the mound, get a little crafty out there and find a way to get through five or six innings. It’s ok – he’s young, he’s raw, and he has to learn, just like Matt Harvey did, Jacob deGrom did, Zack Wheeler did, and everyone else in baseball. His stuff is so tantalizing that a year from now, he is going to be primed and awfully fun to watch.
The Mets hit, a little bit anyway.
The Mets got a little bit of production out of Granderson tonight with a single and a home run. They also got more production out of d’Arnaud with his two-run first inning single and sixth inning home run, who has really come into his own at the plate in the last calendar year. It’s just a shame he’s had to manage injuries through this growth spurt.
Here’s the thing: this lineup is far and away better with d’Arnaud in it, and he proved it once again tonight. It was a real shame he got hurt, but fortunately his injury is minor and he should be back in a couple of days. But when he does, he simply needs to play everyday, especially with an offense that just hasn’t been able to figure anything out consistently in his absence earlier this year.
Unfortunately, the Mets have proven this week they not only can’t overcome poor defense with good pitching, they can’t overcome it when they actually hit the ball.
Other notes from Saturday:
The Mets fell to 0-4 on their road trip, are 10-23 on the road and have lost 15 of their last 18 games away from Citi Field.
Campbell went 0-for-3 and is now 0-for-his-last-16 at the plate after snapping an 0-for-28 slump earlier this month.
The Mets grounded into one double play on Saturday – they have now grounded into 66 double plays on the season, the third-most in baseball.
Just Mets 