3 UP

1. Alonso Streaking

In a record setting season, Pete Alonso is starting to reach under the radar records as well. As noted by MMO‘s Michael Mayer, Alonso’s current 33 game on base streak ties the record currently held by Darryl Strawberry (1987) and Jose Reyes (2008). If he gets on base in the game against the Diamondbacks, he can add that single season mark to his home run mark.

Of course, the most impressive walk during this stretch was his literally walking it off on Friday. While noticeably amped up, he still stayed within himself, and he drew the bases loaded walk. It was better times as he had his jersey ripped off this time.

2. Rosario Ready

When looking back at this series, one thing that was noticeable was how Amed Rosario came up big when it mattered.

On Friday, with runners at the corners and one out, he went into the hole on a Rhys Hoskins grounder to start a huge inning ending double play.

On Sunday, with the season on the line, he was 3-for-5 getting on base in the seventh and ninth giving the Mets a chance.

More than anything we’ve seen this season, the progress we’ve seen from Rosario in all aspects of his game has been the most important. It gives the team hope he’s got another level, and if he can reach that, his and the team’s future remains bright.

3. You’ve Found a Base

There are players who are adept at getting on base, and then there’s Brandon Nimmo. In his career, Nimmo has a career .387 OBP. Since his MLB debut on June 26, 2016, his OBP is the 15th best in baseball.

Since being activated from the IL, he’s taken his ability to get on base to a whole new level. In the seven games since being activated, he’s walked nine times in 21 plate appearances. That means he’s walked at an absurdly high 42.9 percent of the time with his having a terrific .545 OBP.

3 DOWN

1. M-I-C-K-E-WHY!

The first mistake was letting Tomas Nido bat. With Mickey Callaway knowing he was going to pinch hit for Marcus Stroman (more on him in a minute), there was zero reason to let Nido bat with the Mets down 5-0 in the fourth.

He’d strike out as the Mets squandered a two on-no out situation.

Then, Sunday, well, there’s no attempt to even contemplate defending Callaway for letting Luis Avilan face Maikel Franco. Without hyperbole, this was without a doubt the worst decision Callaway made all year.

In the seventh, you could almost comprehend what Callaway was thinking. You need to comeback, and the best way to do that is to get deeper into the Phillies bullpen. That’s all well and good. However, Mike Morin is bad, and he just took the loss on Friday.

As bad as he is, Andrew Knapp is worse as a hitter. Just get the out and get out of the inning down three runs. Just don’t make it worse. If nothing else, use Daniel Zamora against the injured Bryce Harper.

But no, Callaway stuck with Tyler Bashlor and his 5.2 BB/9 in the majors this year. As could have easily been predicted, Bashlor walked in a run.

Ultimately, those are three terrible and inexcusable decisions Callaway made. Each of them played a significant role in the Mets losing the series.

One other thing, there is something no one has discussed at all which needs to be screamed from the rooftops. How do you have the biggest series of the year and not use Seth Lugo even once?

2. Off To a Bad Start

On Saturday, the Mets fell into a 5-0 hole because J.D. Davis made a Little League level error, and Stroman was getting hit hard. Seriously, with the way the Phillies were ripping line drives off Stroman, it probably would’ve been a three instead of a four run inning.

In that game, that’s not acceptable. The Mets supposedly got Stroman to help put them over the top this year. That hasn’t happened, and to make matters worse, Anthony Kay had a strong debut for the Blue Jays tying a team debut record with eight strikeouts.

What was even worse than Stroman’s start was Noah Syndergaard‘s.

The Mets handed him a 3-0 lead right away, and he not only gave it away, but the Mets fell down 4-3. He allowed runs in three straight innings (all earned). It was this flat out bad start which set Callaway’s baffling decision making into work.

By the way, when you allow four runs over five, maybe don’t slam your helmet in frustration at the manager because you forced the issue.

3. Just Not Good Enough

Instead of saying the season is over for about the 50th time, let’s just say what needs to be said. This team was highly flawed and not built to truly contend.

The bullpen was always an arm short. Yes, that’s even at full strength. It’s at the point where we’re upset over Paul Sewald pitching while maintaining a cognitive dissonance that there really is no better option.

All the players obtained via trade have a combined -0.8 WAR. On that topic, by WAR, the top performing player acquired by Brodie Van Wagenen is Wilson Ramos, who has the same WAR as Todd Frazier.

That one sums up just about how poorly constructed and highly flawed this Mets team was. Van Wagenen traded away the future and ruined future payroll flexibility while being unable to find a player better than Frazier.

That’s how you get a team just two games over .500 and in fourth place in the division. By some miracle, they’re still just four games out, but that’ll last for only so long.