Just Mets

The Mets lost to the Cardinals by the score of 3-2 on Friday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Here are my takeaways from the loss…

Another game with a blacked out offense.

The Mets scored immediately when this game started thanks to a leadoff Curtis Granderson. But that was literally it. They only had two hits after that home run as Lance Lynn was lights out all night long.

Lynn got a lot of calls out of the zone with his sinker, particularly down below the bottom part of the strike zone. One of those pitches got Terry Collins ejected on a 3-0 pitch in the seventh inning which was clearly below Lucas Duda’s knees but was instead called for a strike. But he really wasn’t contested by the Mets meager offense either. The Mets didn’t hit anything hard, they didn’t work the count and get on-base, and didn’t really challenge Lynn.

In other words, it was just another game for the Mets offense.

Noah Syndergaard was really good, but needed to be spectacular.

For the first five innings, Syndergaard was lights out good once again. His fastball was baffling the St. Louis hitters up and in, and then he’d drop his curve and slider down around the knees, leaving them totally clueless.

But then came the sixth inning when he allowed a bloop single to Kolten Wong to leadoff the inning. Then he stole a base and took third when Wilmer Flores could not properly back up a bad throw from Kevin Plawecki. He would score on an RBI groundout from Matt Carpenter. Then, Jhonny Peralta hit out the only mistake of the night from Syndergaard – a hanging breaking ball right in the middle of the plate.

And, there in lies the problem. The kid was wicked good tonight. He makes one mistake and gives up the homer. He should be afforded that margin for error, but between that one little mistake and the poor play by Flores earlier in the inning, it results in a loss.

That leads us back to the offense, and the Mets needing to find some. Fast.

Juan Lagares is a big problem right now.

Lagares was signed to a long-term deal during spring training because he was expected to play top-tier defense in centerfield, and contribute towards preventing runs.

Well, he’s been league average at best, and most advanced metrics indicated he was subtracting from the defense for most of the year. It’s easy to say he’s hurt and can’t throw, and he’s dealt with this injury to his side for a couple of months. But at the end of the day, his throwing has been ineffective, and he’s just not getting to balls he simply has to get to and catch.

What’s more, his bat has been subpar, particularly against right-handed pitching, which is approaching .260 against the right side. It’s getting to the point where it’s hard to have him out there everyday. And if the injuries are truly the cause for his so-so defense, then maybe its time they put him on the shelf.

16 of the last 17 runs the Mets have scored over their last five games have been via the home run.

Granderson hit his league-leading fifth home run to leadoff a game on Friday.

Flores went 0-for-4 and extended his streak of games without a home run to 28.

Sean Gilmartin made his first appearance since July 4, and allowed a run in the eighth inning.

Hansel Robles allowed his first inherited runner to score since June 10.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis followed up his three-homer performance last Sunday with a three strikeout game on Friday.

Over their last 18 games, Mets starting pitching has a 1.62 ERA – they’re 11-7 over that span.

The Mets fell to 3-33 when trailing after six innings, 0-36 when trailing after seven innings, and 1-40 when trailing after eight innings.