Sleepytime Team

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The caught napping Mets couldn’t overcome a way too short appearance by their starting pitcher this time around as the Cubs trounced New York (NL) 10-3.

Jonah Tong had another shaky first inning, but like last time fortune seemed to smile upon him. A 95.2 mph Tyrone Taylor fastball from center field threw out Michael Busch at home plate to prevent the first run of the game from scoring. 

It was still scoreless in the bottom of the third when the wheels fell off. Matt Shaw singled. Michael Busch walked. Nico Hoerner singled to left to load the bases with nobody out. Ian Happ doubled to right to bring in two. Moisés Ballesteros hit a ball that third baseman Mark Vientos kinda shoulda had but trickled into the outfield instead to make it 3-0 Chicago (NL). Seiya Suzuki’s RBI double to left knocked Tong out of the game. Richard Lovelady served up a sacrifice fly off the bat of Pete Crow-Armstrong. 5-0 Cubs. A Matt Shaw solo dinger in the fourth made it a six-run deficit. 

Against the dealing Matthew Boyd, Francisco Alvarez hit another two-run homer in the fifth, this time off a changeup down the middle. It briefly put smiles on the faces in the Mets dugout. Sadly, the Mets gave up those two runs right back in the bottom half of the frame. After Lovelady walked Ballesteros to start it off, Clay Holmes entered to make a surprise relief appearance. Two ground balls got two outs and moved Ballesteros to third. PCA reached on a Vientos throwing error, scoring Ballesteros. With Armstrong on second, Holmes uncorked a wild pitch. Holmes was too busy absent-mindedly kicking dirt off the mound to notice Armstrong rounding third and speeding towards home. The reliever turned starter turned reliever again ended up covering home plate way too late, unable to catch Alvarez’s throw. 8-2 Cubs. Bad fundies struck again.

Sean Manaea was the next surprise guest star. He gave up a two-run homer to Michael Busch in the sixth. Juan Soto hit a garbage time solo shot in the eighth off of Aaron Civale, his 43rd of the season. (No stolen bases though.) It was significant in the sense that ESPN showed Soto shaking his hand in discomfort after a swing in his previous at-bat. Guess he’s fine!

One night after a thrilling come-from-behind victory that can motivate the laziest of the lazy, the Mets got embarrassed on national television. Such is the way of the 2025 New York Metropolitans.

Four games left!

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The Reds had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the 11th but could not score, giving the Pirates the win. Old chum Yohan Ramirez got the gutsy save. The Diamondbacks also lost in 11 innings. The Mets are the luckiest SOBs in the world right now.

Both the Reds and Diamondbacks games will have been completed by the time the Mets begin play tonight. I don’t know if that’s good or bad for the Mets. I know it’s good for haters of multi-tasking.

While the Giants and Cardinals were eliminated, the Marlins are inexplicably still in it, even though they lost last night. If they beat the Phillies today and the Cubs beat the Mets, and then Miami sweeps the Mets this weekend, they would have the tiebreaker over the Mets. It’s unlikely, but so is the Mets fighting for their lives after starting off the way they did. 

Another warning: The Dodgers might lose the NL West to the Padres, which would mean the Mets would travel to San Diego for the first round of the playoffs, if uh, they get there. 

To make room for Tyrone Taylor’s activation off the IL with a hamstring injury, the Mets designated Jose Siri for assignment. The other option was to DFA the pending free agent Cedric Mullins, but Stearns and the front office opted to give up on the other center fielder instead, even though he still has some arbitration years left. Siri is much better than Mullins when it comes to defense and pinch running, but Mullins, even this season, is the steadier bat. Also, Taylor and Siri are both right-handed batters, causing a redundancy. It’s safe to say the Jose Siri acquisition for reliever Eric Orze from the Rays did not work out for Stearns and the Mets. (Orze is 1-1 with a 3.02 ERA this season.)

While Holmes and Manaea entering the game to eat up one inning each was surprising at first, in retrospect it was the Mets’ only move after pushing the bullpen to the limit on Tuesday night. Carlos Mendoza admitted to ESPN before the game that Huascar Brazobán, Tyler Rogers, and Edwin Díaz were all unavailable. The fact that he volunteered that information should have been the tip-off that the Mets were about to get creative.

Kodai Senga's live BP session Tuesday in Florida went "just okay”. His velo was down to around 93 mph as the hot Florida weather might have tired him out. Like I said before, it seems like Senga is done for this season unless a pitcher or two gets hurt.

Ryan Helsley threw two shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out two. He’s low-key back?

I’m thinking Jonah Tong will start next season in Triple-A. 

MLB released the full video of their interview with Edwin Díaz. I didn’t know that his kid is already nine years old!

Jon Matlack kibbitzed with Jay Horwitz.

The Mets had three losing streaks of at least seven games this season. Only one team in MLB history did the same and ended up making the playoffs. That team was the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. It ended well for them (and not for the Mets.)

Zach Braziller wrote about the Mets core (Lindor, Soto, Alonso, Nimmo, McNeil) and what they should consider doing with it after the season if things continue to go sideways.

The Mets had four prospects on the Baseball America Minor League All-Star team. RHP Jonah Tong made the first team, while CF AJ Ewing, OF Carson Benge, and 3B Jacob Reimer made the second squad.

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies are Eastern League Champions! They came back from an 0-1 hole to beat the Erie SeaWolves (Tigers affiliate) in three games. They won 8-2 in the clincher last night. C Chris Suero went 2 for 4 with a home run, a run scored, and four RBI. RF D’Andre Smith went 3 for 5 with two runs scored and three RBI. RHP Jack Wenninger got the win. In five innings of work he struck out 11 batters while allowing two earned runs. RHP Carlos Guzman picked up the two-inning save. The Rumble Ponies join the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones as champions in their league. Two minor league titles in one organization is nothing to sneeze at. 

On this day in 2003, Bob Murphy called his last Met game on the radio. 

Thank goodness it is Nolan McLean Day. RHP McLean (4-1, 1.27 ERA) will face off against LHP Shota Imanaga (9-7, 3.37 ERA) at Wrigley Field tonight. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY and out of market on MLB Network.