So Many Ways to Lose

Happy Monday? You know the drill: The Mets Newsletter is available every day to paid subscribers. I know you’re thinking, “Why would I want that right now?”. Well, I know from personal experience that misery does love company sometimes, and I’d like to think I make good company. 

There was a great book written by Devin Gordon that came out a few years ago titled So Many Ways to Lose. It’s a history of the New York Mets. I thought that maybe in the post-Wilpon era that the book title would become outdated. It turns out that was wishful thinking. 

The Mets blew a 5-0 lead and lost to the Brewers 7-6 on a walk-off home run yesterday. They have now lost seven in a row and 11 of 12.

Well, let’s start with the good stuff, aka the beginning of the game. Brewers starter Quinn Priester got uncharacteristically knocked around. Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch to start the game. He promptly stole second, then scored on a Juan Soto single to center. Soto then swiped second - the supposedly fundamentally brilliant Brewers can’t even stop the Mets from swiping bases. Brandon Nimmo walked, Pete Alonso hit into a double play, and then Jeff McNeil singled home Soto to make it 2-0. Brett Baty began the second with a solo home run to left. Alonso doubled in the third, then scored on a Ronny Mauricio single to make it 4-0. Cedric Mullins began the fourth with a solo homer of his own, his first as a Metsie. A 5-0 lead. Surely…

Not so fast my friend. Sean Manaea managed just fine for the first three innings, and then he labored in the fourth. It began with a William Contreras dinger. Andrew Vaughn singled. Blake Perkins struck out. Andruw Monastorio reached on a 5-4 fielder’s choice when he beat out a double play ball. Danny Jansen doubled to move Monastorio to third. Brandon Lockridge walked to load the bases. Joey Ortiz singled to left to make it 5-3. Manaea finally got out of the inning when Caleb Durkin grounded out to second. 

The Mets scored again in the fifth. Juan Soto singled. The struggling Brandon Nimmo (that’s his full name right now: The Struggling Brandon Nimmo) sacrifice bunted Soto over to second. Alonso doubled again, this time on a ball that bounced over the right fielder’s head. Soto scored to make it 6-3 New York. That was finally the end of Priester’s day. DL Hall came in and proceeded to shut the Mets down for three and two thirds innings. 

Mendoza is desperate for any starting pitcher, any at all besides David Peterson to make it to the sixth inning at the very least, so he put Manaea back out there to start the bottom of the fifth. But after Isaac Collins led off with a single, that had to be the end. Reed Garrett came in and Contreras greeted him rudely with his second home run of the game. Whoops. 6-5 Mets. Brooks Raley pitched a 1-2-3 sixth. Tyler Rogers on his third consecutive day ran into some trouble, but with runners on the corners and one out he got Vaughn to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. 

Ryan Helsley had the eighth. He walked pinch hitting Brice Turang. Sal Frelick flew out to enter. Danny Jansen singled to left to move Turang to second. Helsely got a big strike out against Brandon Lockridge for a second out. At this point Helsley was at 20 pitches, and he threw the day prior, so I suggested Edwin Díaz should come in. Sadly, Carlos Mendoza doesn’t listen to me. Unfortunately, the #9 hitter Joey Ortiz hit a ball that just got past Alonso’s glove at first to tie it up. Then Sugar came in. He threw a wild pitch to move the runners over, but then Anthony Seigler lined out - hard - to Alonso to end the eighth. 

After Nick Mears worked around a Soto walk to handle the Mets in the top of the ninth,  Díaz returned to the mound to work the bottom half. But he wouldn’t stay there for very long: leadoff hitter Isaac Collins homered to right center, fairly close to where Alonso hit his epic playoff homer. Boy howdy, those were the days.

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Tyler Rogers, who pitched on a third consecutive day,  is the new Scott "Everyday" Rice and "Perpetual" Pedro Feliciano, so he very much needs a nickname. Someone on Twitter suggested Tyler “Rubber Arm” Rogers. I think that’s a winner.

Howie Rose tweeted what we all know by now: these short starting pitcher stints are not sustainable. No matter how great the talent is in the bullpen, if they’re overused they ain’t worth much.

Francisco Alvarez grounded out in his pinch hitting appearance in the ninth. He’s now 0 for 24 lifetime when pinch hitting. Maybe he shouldn’t do that for awhile.

The Collins walk-off dinger was only the second earned run Díaz had allowed since April 23rd. 

This skeet made me very sad. So I need to share it with y’all:

Mendoza said before yesterday’s game that they haven’t made a decision yet regarding Frankie Montas. Oy vey.

In hopefully related news: the Mets have promoted Jonah Tong, Jet!(t) Williams, Carson Benge, and Ryan Clifford to Triple-A Syracuse. Gee, seems like the Syracuse roster is above capacity. Maybe they should do some more promoting, if you know what I mean.

Manny Gómez of NJ.com wrote about Mr. Tong.

AJ Ewing, Brendan Girton, and Saul Garcia were reportedly called up to Double-A Binghamton from High-A Brooklyn.

Trace Willhoite, Eli Ankeney, and Juan Arnaud were promoted to High-A Brooklyn.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets (60-54) fell to the Charlotte Knights (White Sox affiliate) 5-1. It was Nolan McLean day! He allowed one earned run on two hits over four innings of work, walking three but striking out seven. He only threw 74 pitches because he was on four days rest.. Brandon Waddell followed and ended up with the loss, permitting four earned in four and a third. 

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (71-35) were blanked by the Somerset Patriots by a score of 2-0. In hopefully his final start in Double-A, Jonah Tong permitted just one earned run on three hits over five innings, walking nobody and striking out eight. He only threw 72 pitches for the same reason Nolan McLean only threw 74.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (62-46) handled business and beat the Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees) 8-4. AJ Ewing went 2 for 5 with a run scored, two RBI, and two stolen bases. Lefty Ryan Ammons got the dub for throwing one scoreless frame.

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (65-42) defeated the Tampa Tarpons (Yankees) by a score of 8-5. First baseman Randy Guzman went 2 for 4 with a double, one run scored and two RBI. Mitch Voit and AJ Salgado stole two bases each. Juan Arnaud got the win. He threw two hitless innings, walking and striking out one batter. 

The Phillies and Reds both won, which is bad. They play each other starting tonight, which is…awkward. Do you root for a shot at the division? Or just to get in the damn playoffs?

Today is an off day. As I just mentioned, the Phillies play the Reds in Cincinnati. First pitch is 6:10 pm eastern. Let me know on social media who you’re rooting for (you can’t say a meteor.)