The New York Mets’ inconsistencies on offense and in the bullpen have been well-documented over the course of the first 65 games of the season. However, their defense has also not helped the cause. In Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Miami Marlins, the Mets made two errors that led to two of Miami’s four runs.
The play that was not an error came in the fifth on a ball hit into the left center field gap by Bryan De La Cruz that Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader both converged on, but Bader could not make the sliding catch. Later in the inning, Jake Burger hit a groundball to third that Mark Vientos made a good play on to avoid two runs from scoring, but he rushed the throw and pulled Pete Alonso off the bag, which gave Miami a 3-2 lead.
The second error came in the ninth when Francisco Alvarez was trying to throw out Otto Lopez trying to steal second, but the wall went into center field. Due to Lopez moving to third, he was able to score on a Nick Gordon sacrifice fly for a key insurance run.
Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
When you are playing as bad as the Mets have this year, you can not give the opposition extra outs to score runs. This year, the team has made 44 errors, which is the second-most in the National League (Miami has 46). In addition, they are the worst team in the National League in defensive runs saved with -28 (FanGraphs) and they are one of 12 teams in baseball with a negative outs above average (-7).
After the loss, Carlos Mendoza mentioned that while the Mets have some strong defenders at some positions, they can’t afford to give the other team more chances to put up runs.
“We got some good defenders here. It seems like every time we make an error, they make us pay. You give extra outs, give extra bases. We haven’t been able to overcome those issues.”
While the Mets do have some good fielders according to the backs of their baseball cards, they only have two players on the team with no runs saved or higher (Bader and Nimmo). (Should note that DRS has Lindor at -3 this season, but OAA has him at 7). It was evident Saturday that defense was an issue when a Starling Marte mistake led to a big fourth inning for the Phillies out in London.
Right now, with the Mets being inconsistent offensively, there will be times when they have to make the move that most benefits their offense, as evident by their choosing Vientos over Brett Baty to play third. Yes, Vientos did make an error last night, but he did a good job preventing further damage by knocking the ball down, and he was their lone source of offense on Tuesday with his two-run double in the bottom of the second.
If the Mets want to make a run and stay in the mix for a playoff spot, the building blocks must start with their defense. Even if they can’t get that big inning on offense, their defense, like their starting rotation, can keep them in a game long enough for that to happen if they stick to the fundamentals.
