Sorry David

A little rain did nothing to dampen David Wright’s number retirement ceremony. On the other hand, the infuriating Met loss to the Reds that followed certainly did. 

Just like the night before, the Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead before blowing it. Brandon Nimmo began the bottom of the first with a single to center off of Nick Martinez. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto struck out - in Soto’s defense, the home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez made two terrible calls against him. Pete Alonso singled to move Nimmo to third. Mark Vientos singled to left to bring in Nimmo. A hit with runners in scoring position? In this economy? From Swaggy V?! Wild stuff. Jeff McNeil walked to load the bases for Ronny Mauricio, who sadly grounded out to second. The Mets scratched out a run, but it would have been nice if they had more. Brett Baty hit a laser beam home run to right field in the bottom of the second to give New York an additional run. 

Then, Cincinnati clawed their way back. Against Clay Holmes, Jake Fraley doubled to right. Then Holmes hit Noelvi Marte with a pitch. After a pitch to TJ Friedl, Luis Torrens made a delayed half-hearted throw to first to potentially catch Marte napping. Instead, Baty, covering first because Alonso was drawn in to field a possible bunt, couldn’t come up with it and it rolled down the right field line. Fraley scored and Marte went to third. Matt McClain would bring Marte in with an RBI single to tie the contest. Torrens is the starting catcher because of his defense by the way.

Holmes walked Austin Hays to start the fourth. He retired the next two batters, but Tyler Stephenson and Fraley hit back-to-back singles to bring in Hays to give the Reds the lead they would not relinquish. 

Holmes began the sixth by walking Hays…again. And he would regret that…again. Hays went to second on a Gavin Lux ground out, then to third on a Spencer Steer infield hit. Reed Garrett entered the game. Garrett almost got exactly what he wanted: a double play ball off his first pitch. But the third baseman Ronny Mauricio made an inaccurate throw to the second baseman Baty, leading to Tyler Stephenson reaching on a fielder’s choice, which scored Hays. Then Fraley doubled…again, to score Stephenson. 5-2 Reds. 

To the Mets bullpen’s credit, they handled the final three innings with aplomb. Brooks Raley, in his first major league appearance since April 2024, struck out two in a scoreless inning. Ryne Stanek and Chris Devenski pitched well in the eighth and ninth innings respectively. 

The Mets had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the sixth. McNeil, Baty, and Torrens all walked to load the bases with one out. But Reds reliever Scott Barlow fanned Nimmo and coaxed Lindor to hit a grounder to first.

In the bottom of the ninth, Torrens singled and Nimmo walked against Reds closer Emilio Pagán to bring the tying run to the dish with nobody out. Lindor reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Nimmo. Soto missed a home run by a few measly inches to right, and then was unfairly punched out by the third base umpire Alex Tosi on a check swing. Alonso hit a fly to fairly deep right field, but Jake Fraley easily camped under it to end the game. 

It was an ugly scene - the sellout crowd at some point booed pretty much everyone but Jeff McNeil. It’s understandable - the Mets have lost 20 out of their last 30 games. 

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A highlight of David Wright’s speech was when he thanked Fred and Jeff Wilpon. The crowd booed. The master of ceremonies Howie Rose was seen behind Wright smiling and giving a “What are you gonna do?” gesture to someone off camera. 

Willie Randolph got a huuuuuuge ovation. That was pleasantly surprising. 

So I guess Francisco Lindor will be named captain at the next number retirement ceremony? In all seriousness, the deal is probably what I speculated months ago based off of Anthony DiComo’s March 2nd article about the potential captaincy of the Mets: officially naming Lindor captain would upset Brandon Nimmo, so it’s not worth doing. Best let everyone but Nimmo know Lindor is the de facto leader of these men. Besides, Lindor is 0 for 10 the last two games, and hasn’t been the same since he broke his toe. 

My man Ronny Mauricio had looked good right before the All-Star break. He went 0 for 4 Friday and yesterday.

As expected, Brandon Waddell was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse. Not as expected was the pitcher the Mets replaced him with on the major league roster: Most Forgettable Met award winner Kevin Herget. 

Carlos Mendoza said Francisco Alvarez can join the Mets “at any moment” now.

Brandon Nimmo remembered David Wright (and Curtis Granderson) being really nice to him when he first came up to the big leagues in 2016.

Eli Manning congratulated Wright.

Keith Raad on the radio broadcast reminded listeners that, back in December, Clay Holmes said his goal was to throw 160 innings this season. Raad figured out that if Holmes threw five innings a week for the remainder of the season, he would reach 160 innings right at the start of the postseason. 

8th round selection RHP Camden Lohman signed with the Mets for $797,500, way higher than his slot value ($213,200.) That’s okay - the Mets up to now had been mostly paying under slot value for their draft pick signings. 

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets (45-49) blew out the Norfolk Tides (Orioles affiliate) in the completion of Friday’s suspended game 16-7. Right fielder Gilberto Celestino went 3 for 4 with a home run, a double, three runs scored, an RBI, and two walks. Francisco Alvarez went yard twice. Justin Hagenman was credited with the win. The SMets lost Game 2 however by a score of 6-4. Brandon Sproat the GOAT was great once again. He allowed just one hit and no earned runs in five innings of work. He walked one and struck out nine. It was Sproat’s fourth straight start without allowing an ER. Call him up yesterday.

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (58-29) fell to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays) 11-6. Carson Benge and D’Andre Smith had multi-hit games. Jonathan Santucci got the start but only threw 46 pitches for some reason. He allowed four runs, but only one of them was earned in one and two thirds innings.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (57-32) lost to the Hub City Spartanburgers (Rangers) in 10 innings 2-1. AJ Ewing went 2 for 4 with a triple and a double. Will Watson threw four and two thirds scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. He walked two and punched out four batters.

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (49-38) beat up on the Palm Beach Cardinals, winning by a score of 11-1. Trace Willhoite went 2 for 3 with a home run, two runs scored, four RBI, and two walks. Wellington Aracena got the start. In four and two thirds innings he allowed two hits and zero earned runs, walking two and striking out seven.

Today the Mets try to avoid getting swept. All-Star southpaw Andrew (Heyyyyyy) Abbott (8-1, 2.07 ERA!) will chuck the pill for Cincinnati. Fellow All-Star lefty David Peterson (6-4, 3.06 ERA) will get the start for New York (NL). First pitch is scheduled for 1:40 pm eastern. The game will air on PIX11.