The Mets lost to the Marlins by the score of 4-3 on Sunday afternoon in Miami. Here are my takeaways from the loss…
A difficult series lost.
This was a game the Mets just had to have ahead of their series against Washington. And they didn’t get it.
Things were looking good early, however. As he’s done so many times since coming over, Yoenis Cespedes got the Mets going with a solo home run in the first inning. But that was all the Mets could muster against Jared Cosart, who really had his sinker working for the five innings on Sunday.
It wasn’t until the sixth inning after the Mets were trailing 2-1 the Mets got anything else going. Of course, it was Cespedes who got things going with a well struck single up the middle. Then with one out, Wilmer Flores came through with a clutch two-run home run to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.
But the bullpen sprung a leak, this time in an unexpected way.
It was Tyler Clippard who hung a change-up to pinch hitter Justin Bour, and Bour clocked it into the right field stands for a game-tying home run in the eighth inning.
And unfortunately, Clippard couldn’t hold the Marlins down in the ninth either after being asked for a second inning of work, and the Mets blew a late inning lead and lost for the second time in this series.
The Mets had a huge chance to take the lead in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and only one out, but Travis d’Arnaud grounded into an inning ending double play to take the air out of their balloon for the day.
To make matters worse, Clippard will likely be unavailable on Monday in Washington thanks to his extended outing on Sunday, leaving the club short at a critical point in the game.
A solid day for Steven Matz.
Matz made his return to the Mets on Sunday, and it was indeed a successful return.
He struggled early with the command of his fastball. So much so that he issued a leadoff walk to Dee Gordon, which is never wise. He would come around to score on an RBI single from Marcel Ozuna to tie the game at one.
But from there, Matz really cruised thanks to an array of 94 mph fastballs and a good looking change-up and slider which he was burying in towards the right-handed hitters.
He exited in the sixth inning with a blister on his finger, but it was a very encouraging outing for the young left-hander.
It’s unfortunate he had to leave in the sixth. He was mostly cruising despite allowing two runs, and it looked like he would have easily gone seven innings if not for the blister. And anytime the Mets have to ask for more than six outs from the bullpen, it’s an adventure.
Sunday was no exception to that rule.
And now, some concerns.
The Mets really needed to win this series. The Marlins played them tough, but their weaknesses were exposed to a pretty bad team in this three-game series.
They lost two games, and Washington won all four games in their series against the Nationals, and suddenly the division lead will likely be be down to four games.
The Mets are now going to Washington with some added pressure to win the series and keep Washington out of site. It’s not exactly how the Mets drew it up this weekend, although nobody said it was going to be easy either.
Nevertheless, a lot has been made about the easiness of the Mets schedule. It’s safe to say the Mets are not making the most of their schedule these days, and Washington is, and that is a major concern going forward.
Just Mets 
6 responses to “Takeaways from the Mets 4-3 loss to the Marlins on Sunday…”
“This was a game the Mets just had to have ahead of their series against Washington. And they got it and secured a series win in the process.”
Huh? They LOST.
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The Mets have done pretty well against the bottom feeders recently, this series hurt but on to Washington now, lets see who blinks first..
Psst someone tell Terry it is Robles or Reed in the 7th none of the other Crowes named Gilmarten or O’Flaherty
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Magic numbers and Matt Harvey’s innings limit would mean something if the Mets were actually a playoff team. Playoff teams don’t lose 2 out of 3 to sub .500 teams in September. We had better hope that the Nationals self-destruct the next three days or we will be on the outside looking in come October.
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Well – the next 3 days are where the rubber hits the road. We’ll see what happens. The next 4 weeks will be as much about Terry Collins future as NYMs manager as it is about whether we make the playoffs. My chief concern is whether Terry will make the right in-game decisions in big-game situations. We’ll see…
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Friday & Sunday they had numerous opportunities to win but choked over and over. David Wright on Friday was horrible! I hoped the time away would allow him to shorten his swing and but be so vulnerable to fastball in/slider away but he has not done so and is back to being abused by any pitches with average stuff. The ninth inning says it all; unable to get a runner in from 3rd with less than 2 out & the game on the line then not blocking strike 3 to record the out. Good teams execute fundamentals. For whatever reason the Mets rarely do. Sad, sad, sad.
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Sounds like too many of us are giving up on this season. We may be right!
As far as T C , I can’t see any way he will be back regardless. He as built up such a portfolio of mismanaging that everyone is against hm. This team is supposed to be being constructed for the future and he can’t be a part of it.
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