Just Mets

The Mets lost to the Nationals by the score of 7-2 on Monday night at Nationals Park in Washington. Here are my takeaways from the loss..

The Mets did not show up for this game.

I’ll get to Matt Harvey next, but the Mets were generally terrible behind him in the first part of this game. They made an error to begin the game (Harvey misplayed a bunt), mental mistake on a rundown play in the first inning which cost them a run, Daniel Murphy made a couple of critical errors which cost him some more runs, and before they could blink an eye it was 5-0 after the third inning and the door was shut on their chances to win this game.

For all of the talk and preparation heading into this game, it was most certainly an embarrassing performance, and completely unacceptable in what really was a big and must-win game for New York.

What’s worse, Gio Gonzalez did not pitch well for Washington tonight, and they had plenty of chances to get it done against him. If they had played better defense, they might have been able to manage the off-night from Harvey and win this game anyway, but they simply were not prepared for this ballgame.

A very disappointing #HarveyDay.

Remember, the Mets lined up their pitching for this series against the Nationals. That plan is not off to a particularly good start…

This was a big spot for Harvey, and he did not rise to the occasion for the Mets tonight. He continued to struggle with the command of all of his pitches right from the get go and couldn’t stop the bleeding.

He did figure things out after the mess in the third inning which resulted in three runs, and was spectacular through the seventh inning, but unfortunately it was too little too late.

Of course, it’s hard when the Mets defense can’t execute a run down play, and the third baseman is throwing the ball all over the place and not catching them either. But he did set himself up for disaster by walking four batters which was a clear indication on where he was tonight. Then again, he beat himself with his own error in the first inning which resulted in a run, but certainly the other mistakes were not his doing.

The problem with this is, the Mets absolutely cannot afford to have their pitchers throw a stinker. Unfortunately, it’s going to happen – the starters can’t continue the pace of a sub-2 ERA forever, which is how they’ve been pitching lately. At some point, they’ll have to score runs. They’re going to need new players to do that.

Harvey was the offense.

And, then there is this problem when the Mets pitchers are the best hitters on the team. Mets pitchers have a higher batting average than today’s fifth, sixth, and eighth place hitter tonight, not to mention their pinch hitters.

How that is even possible is absolutely beyond me. But it is with these 2015 New York Metropolitans.

Harvey was literally the Mets offense at the plate with his two-run single. Nobody else did a thing with runners in scoring position, literally.

Just when you thought the offense couldn’t be worse than it is, there are stats like this…

A little bit of bad luck.

In fairness to the Mets offense, they did hit some balls very hard tonight, and fell victim to some quality defense by Yunel Escobar and Michael Taylor who combined to save four runs with their stellar play.

It’s the exact kind of defense the Mets did not get themselves, which arguably cost them this game tonight.

Facts are facts.

The Mets are 1-3 on this current ten-game stretch against the class of the National League. They’re 3-5 against the team they want to overtake in the division, and 16-27 against teams over .500. They’re also 16-31 away from Citi Field.

They’re a team starving for offense and completely banking on their pitching staff, which is entitled to have an off-night. But even if the Mets pitching staff doesn’t have an off-night, it seems those games aren’t necessarily winnable, either.

It’s just not the start the Mets needed to this stretch. But with a sub-competitive offense, I wish I was completely shocked by this. If only they were just a little bit more prepared from a roster perspective for this stretch of games…

Other notes from Monday:

The Mets went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position – that one hit being a two-run single from Harvey in the fourth inning. They’re now 4-for-their-last-72 with runners in scoring position.

John Mayberry Jr. went 0-for-3 against the Nationals lefties on Monday – he is now hitting just .189 against left-handed pitching this season.

Ruben Tejada extended his hitting streak to eight consecutive games. He’s 12-for-33 during the streak.

Bryce Harper walked twice against Harvey, but he went 0-for-3 against him and is now 0-for-14 lifetime against Harvey.

Alex Torres relieved Harvey in the eighth inning and allowed a two-run home run to Ian Desmond. He’s gone 18 consecutive outings since he didn’t allow a base runner.

The Mets are now 0-38 when trailing after seven innings in 2015.