One run and close losses have seemingly been the foil of the Mets since the beginning of August. These last few nights were no different. The Mets started the series on a good note by winning 9-4 on Tuesday night. Carlos Carrasco worked around some defensive blunders to give the Mets five innings while Pete Alonso and the offense did the rest.
They were not able to build on that win though. The Mets lost the next two games by one run. On Wednesday night, Sandy Alcantara was dominant over nine innings and the Mets lost on a walk-off single in extras. The following night, the offense just had nothing going and Jazz Chisholm probably delivered the final nail in the Mets season. The young infielder hit a go-ahead homer against Jeurys Familia in the eighth inning to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead which they would hang on to.
The Mets will now be back home to play their struggling crosstown rivals, the Yankees. This will be an emotional, yet pivotal series for both teams.
Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
3 Up
Alonso Has Big Series
If one hitter showed up this series, it was Pete Alonso. Alonso hit his 100th and 101st HR on Tuesday night. He also hit a big triple in the eighth inning of the game last night which would have allowed a normal team to take the lead on. For the season, Alonso is now hitting .269/.346/.528 with a .367 wOBA and 135 wRC+. He’s actually hitting .297/.373/.597 in the second half with a 158 wRC+. Hard to complain about a “derby slump.”
Hill Proving To be a Strong Stump
It was certainly hard to find a fault with Rich Hill‘s outing on Wednesday. The elder statesmen went 6 innings while only giving up five baserunners while also striking out eight hitters. Over his last two outings, he has only given up one run over 12 innings. Aside from only about two starts, Hill has done a good job as a Met all told. His 3.71 ERA is perfectly acceptable and he has done a good job of giving the Mets a chance to win in most of his games.
Stroman Bounces Back
After a not so great outing in Washington, Marcus Stroman bounced back and gave the Mets a strong outing in Miami. The righty gave up four hits and one run over 6.1 innings pitched last night. Stroman’s ERA on the season is now 2.87 and he has a 3.36 FIP to boot. He will certainly be rewarded in a few months after deciding to bet on himself.
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
3 Down
Questionable Decision Making
The moves that Luis Rojas made have been dissected at length already. Some criticized him for pinch-hitting for Kevin Pillar and James McCann. Even more were upset that he did not intentionally walk Bryan De La Cruz. I did not think the decision to pinch hit for Pillar and McCann is not as bad as it was made out to be. Not using J.D. Davis may have been the bigger issue than the decision to pinch hit. As for not intentionally walking De La Cruz, it’s ultimately on the players to succeed but the manager did not put Edwin Diaz in the best position to succeed.
Diaz and Lugo Looking Shaky
Seth Lugo has been getting results and surprisingly has a 0.8 bWAR, which is almost twice that of Edwin Diaz‘s. Yet he just does not seem to be the same Lugo he was from 2018-2020. His walk percentage is at a career high 9.7%. He gets into more trouble than he used to and has seemed to be lucky to walk away unscathed. Wednesday’s outing was no different as he walked two batters and gave up another hit.
As for Edwin Diaz, he probably should not have been facing Bryan De La Cruz but for someone who was acquired to be an “elite” reliever, Diaz has to find a way to get that out. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that Diaz will never become that guy he was in Seattle. He seems to be a high strikeout, high walk reliever who can have stretches of dominance while also being prone to some bad stretches.
Not Capitalizing
The Braves losing on Wednesday night was a missed chance to make up some much needed ground on the team they are chasing. They also had a perfect chance to take the lead in last nights game in the eighth inning but Javier Baez, J.D. Davis, and Jeff McNeil were not able to come through with the big hit. This has been the theme of the season for the Mets and it may have very well been the nail in the Mets season. The Mets are now five back of the Braves with 21 games left and their schedule is now going to get much harder.
