May the Fourth Be With You IN HELL

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What can you say? I don’t want to be Keith Hernandez, who was apparently paid handsomely last night to say “wow” approximately 17 times. Excellent analysis, Keith. 

That’s mean. Let’s go to the recap. Maybe we’ll find out what went wrong together. 

Well for one thing, the Mets took an early lead, which lately has resulted in a loss. Old chum Carlos Carrasco was pitching for Atlanta, and it was a sad scene - he should have retired by now. Francisco Lindor doubled to right. Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo drew walks. Pete Alonso singled to right to score Lindor and Soto to make it 2-0. Jeff McNeil struck out on a check swing. Starling Marte walked. Cedric Mullins hit a sacrifice fly to right where all the credit goes to Nimmo for having the wherewithal to tag up on a nice catch by Atlanta right fielder Eli White. With one out in the second, Lindor singled. Soto followed with a home run to center that was caught by a fan in a #22 Mets jersey…a Baty #22 jersey. Nimmo doubled, and one batter later McNeil did the same to switch places. 6-0 Mets. 

David Peterson was on the mound. Peterson, the ace, the one guy who can go deep-ish into games. When he falls, the Roman Empire follows, you know? The first two innings were fine. In the third he gave up back-to-back hits with one out, struck out Matt Olson, walked Marcell Ozuna to load ‘em up, but got Ozzie Albies to ground out to third. Okay, that was a little dangerous, but no harm done.

The top of the fourth will go down as one of the worst half innings in New York Mets history. Sean Murphy walked. Michael Harris II singled to right. Eli White struck out. Nacho Alvarez Jr. walked. Nick Allen walked with the bases drunk to make it 6-1. Jeremy Hefner went to the mound to tell Peterson to throw strikes. Peterson threw a first pitch strike to Jurickson Profar, who doubled to left to clear the bases. 6-4. After Peterson walked Olson, Carlos Mendoza finally had enough. But Reed Garrett didn’t help matters. Marcell Ozuna singled to score Profar and move Olson to third. Albies struck out looking, but then Murphy walked for the second time in the inning. Michael Harris II then hit a grand slam to center for the ultimate gut punch. 9-6, Atlanta. It was just the ninth time in Met history that they had given up at least nine runs in a frame. History!

And that was pretty much the game. In the fifth, Soto came up to the plate as the tying run with two outs. He battled back down 0-2 to make it a full count. He fouled a few pitches off, but ultimately struck out. Everyone watching knew the Mets weren’t going to come from behind. It just isn’t in them this season. 

Paul Blackburn, Justin Hagenman’s replacement, soaked up the final five innings of the game, allowing just two runs. He did a great job. He’ll totally be DFA’d today. 

It’s like that meme from The Simpsons Movie when Bart says “This is the worst day of my life”, and Homer corrects him, “It’s the worst day of your life…so far.” This is the worst Met game of the year. 

So far. 

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David Peterson came into the night throwing 133.0 innings this season (not counting his All-Star Game appearance.) That’s 12 innings more than his career high for innings pitched in a MLB season (which he set last year.) I’m not making an excuse so much as I found it odd that nobody on the SNY broadcast mentioned it. 

Last night marked the first time in Met history that the team blew leads of four runs or more for a third consecutive game. At least they won one of those

It’s finally happening: 24-year-old Nolan McLean will make the start this Saturday. Andy Martino was first with the news. Everything you want to know about McLean you can find here. I’ll try to sum it up: he was a reliever and third baseman/outfielder at Oklahoma State University. The Orioles drafted him in the third round in 2022 but a “concerning” MRI convinced the team not to sign him. He proceeded to kick ass both ways in college the next season, so the Mets drafted him in the third round in 2023. Apparently, his MRI was fine this time. He was a two-way player until last June - he struck out more than half the time in Double-A. Pitching full-time it is. His trademark pitch is his sweeper with “elite” spin. In 16 games at Triple-A this year, McLean posted a 2.78 ERA. In the words of the immortal Bart Scott - can’t wait!

Abrupt vibe change: Sam Blum at The Athletic wrote about the dog(s) that stay still for many hours for every Met home game outside of Citi Field. The owner, Norberto Fernandez, comes off as shady as you expect. He insists he isn’t in it for the money - the little show is there to promote his dog training business. Except, any signage he utilizes is for Venmo and such and makes no mention of his alleged business. And his name might not be Norberto. Like I said, shady. The Mets, for apparently the first time, publicly distanced themselves from Fernandez. The problem is that the ASPCA as recently as a year ago found no proof that he was harming the dog, Sushi, with an electric collar, as has been alleged. The whole situation stinks. It makes everyone uncomfortable and/or angry, except apparently for Mr. Fernandez (if that is his real name.)

As expected, Justin Hagenman was rewarded for his four no-hit innings on Tuesday by getting his ass demoted. In his place is none other than Paul Blackburn, who the Mets suddenly determined doesn’t need to rehab his right shoulder impingement anymore. Someone asked Blackburn if he would consider his season to be “weird”. He replied that yes, “It’s been weird. That’s all I can really say about it.” I bet he wanted to say it’s been “messed up”, or a more vulgar version of that phrase. Like I said in the recap, he’s probably thrown his last pitch in a Met uniform - he’s out of minor league options, and if he’s put through waivers some team will pick him up. Maybe a desperate, out of it team that needs warm bodies to eat up innings while they manipulate the service time of their top prospects. You know, like Atlanta.

Remember Christian Scott? He had Tommy John surgery last season after making nine starts for the Mets? He reportedly threw a bullpen last week for the first time and is “doing well”, according to Will Sammon. He’s still scheduled to return next spring training.

Yesterday afternoon, Peterson presented Alonso with a bottle of Italian red wine, signed by the whole team. I haven’t found it on eBay yet.

Speaking of the Polar Bear and alcohol, within a New York Post retrospective of Alonso’s career was this funny little turn of phrase (emphasis mine):

“In the old-school days, when you get your first hit, you get a beer shower, they throw you in the shower, but now MLB’s kind of being losers and like having a dry clubhouse, so instead it’s a combination of everything, this disgusting concoction, but it’s awesome,” Alonso said. “It’s a rite of passage. You can’t not do it.”

There will be a pregame ceremony honoring Alonso tonight. It was supposed to occur last night, but it got rained out. The crowd booed when that announcement was made.

The winners of SNY’s Gary, Keith, and Ron TV to Table contest are five friends living together in Bayside, Queens. They got a video call from Ron Darling himself with the news. They’ll have their dinner today. (I’m guessing it’ll be an early dinner - there’s a game at seven.)

My friend and fellow Met fan Addy Baird wrote a book! It’s called The Magical Game: The Spirit and History of Baseball’s Superstitions, Rituals, and Curses. You can preorder it…now!

The Reds defeated the Phillies, so while the Mets are still five games behind Philadelphia in the NL East, their third and final wild card lead is down to one. Eep. The Reds have the day off. The Phillies start a series today in Washington. 

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets lost big to the Rochester Red Wings (Nationals affiliate) 14-3. Jet!(t) Williams hit his first home run in Triple-A. Paul Blackburn was a late scratch to start the game, so Syracuse had a bullpen game, and clearly it didn’t work out.

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (72-35) and New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays) were rained out. They’ll play two on Saturday now.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (63-46) and Hub City Spartanburgers (Rangers) were also washed away. They’ll play two tonight.

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (66-43) shut out the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins) 8-0. John Bay went 2 for 4 with a double, two runs scored, and an RBI. First round pick Mitch Voit also went 2 for 4, with a walk. Channing Austin, Joel Lara, Luis Alvarez, and Colton Cosper combined to zip the Hammerheads, with Cosper tossing the final five innings.

Tonight the Mets finish this series with Atlanta. Bryce Elder (4-9, 6.42 ERA) will toe the rubber for the baddies. Kodai Senga (7-4, 2.30 ERA) will climb the hill for New York (NL). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY.