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It was another demoralizing day at the home office on Wednesday. The Giants beat the Braves 4-1 and the only run support the Mets got was from former teammate, J.D. Davis, keeping NY 1/2 ahead of Atlanta in the NL East.

David Peterson dug himself into a deep hole walking the first three batters he faced – all a strike away from a better outcome. After fanning Patrick Wisdom on seven pitches, the forlorn lefty surrendered back-to-back two-run doubles on four pitches to Yan Gnomes and P.J. Higgins.

Reliever Trevor Williams put Peterson out of his misery, but couldn’t get out the next two batters, Michael Hermosillo and Nelson Velazquez, who greeted him with an RBI double and single on 90-something four-seam fastballs. And as is always the way when it’s not going your way, he fanned David Bote and Christopher Morel after the damage was done.

Cubs starter Drew Smyly, given a six-run cushion, sailed through the bottom of the first, winning an eight-pitch battle against Brandon Nimmo on a swinging strike three sinker, popping up Mark Canha on a knuckle curve – leaving Francisco Lindor at the plate looking and swinging through a trio of what was served to Canha.

Williams picked up where he left off in the top of the second fanning Seiya Suzuki, Franmil Reyes, and Wisdom on four-seamers, making me wish that the former Cub took the mound from the start.

The bright spot in the sea of darkness was the Mets bullpen that shut down Chicago for the remainder of the game. Unfortunately, the Mets’ anemic bats were out in full force, albeit solo home runs from Tomás Nido in the third and Pete Alonso in the ninth – the only other run coming off of a fielding error in the fifth.

After losing a host of games against ball clubs way below .500, head shaking has replaced high fives – even the almighty Jacob deGrom couldn’t find a way to stop the bleeding.

With a four-game series against the Pirates coming up next on the docket, there should be a sense of giddiness among Mets fans that they were gifted a schedule that favored their favorite team. But there are no gimmes when prolific players are flailing and the likes of Daniel Vogelbach, Darin Ruf and rookie prospect Mark Vientos aren’t going to save this sinking ship.