Terry And Louise

Was this the one they’ll point to when we search for the demise of the 2016 Mets? Perhaps. It started with Terry Collins putting out a lineup which included not one but both their catchers. The team has been so decimated by injuries that putting together a lineup against lefties is … challenging to say the least.

#Mets Game 110 of 162, @ DET:

Granderson CF
Kelly LF
Walker 2B
Bruce RF
Flores 1B
d'Arnaud C
Johnson 3B
Rivera DH
Reynolds SS

Verrett RHP

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) August 6, 2016

Yup. Rene Rivera is your designated hitter. Remember, this was the series that was going to feel like a spa treatment to Yoenis Cespedes because of this DH. And now, we’re down to Rene Rivera as the DH. But the explanation of said lineup is hilarious.

Terry Collins literally just said part of the reason he built his lineup the way he did was in anticipation of pinch-hitting for the DH.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) August 6, 2016

“Yup. I’m anticipating only playing our emergency catcher for six innings before I take him out, leaving us with just Travis d’Arnaud, who has been injured 700 times in his career. If he goes down in the seventh, eighth, or ninth inning, Dick Scott and I are going to hold hands while the car goes over the cliff, and we’re taking all of you with us. We think it’s a prudent plan.”

Yeah, well … we’ve been over the cliff many times so we’re used to it. And we might have gone over the cliff one last time.

Logan Verrett was terrible, giving up six runs in three and two thirds, while Jon Niese was no help in allowing inherited runners to score. That the Mets came back to creep within one is a misnomer. The seventh inning where they scored two runs may have been their worst inning of the year. It started with singles by Ty Kelly and Neil Walker. Then Jay Bruce grounded into a double play … but Miguel Cabrera hit Neil Walker in the head with his throw scoring a run. Then Wilmer Flores grounded into a double play … but Mike Aviles had the ball clang off his glove while a second run scored. Then d’Arnaud grounded into a double play … that was actually a double play. Finally, Kelly Johnson grounded into a double play … that was only a 4-3 putout because there were two outs. So by my count, that was four double plays that the Mets either grounded into or attempted to ground into.

The Mets offense is like the finished product of a computer program in basic language that we were challenged to write when we were in 7th grade that had that one glitch that when you got to a certain point, it would repeat the same action over and over again. This team gets runners in scoring position and there is no variable. Grounding into double plays solves X. Every time.

Then came the ninth inning where the Mets attempted a two outs rally from scratch against Frankie Rodriguez. Bruce and Alejandro de Aza got hits off of Changeup-Rod, and then it seemed like the basic language program was fixed. d’Arnaud actually got a base hit with Bruce on second base, but J.D. Martinez chucked him out at the plate. Yes, the Mets lost a game on a walk-off hit with a runner in scoring position. Kill me.

And when you look at the replay, he was clearly out. But there was a slight possibility that Jarrod Saltalamacchia was blocking the plate illegally. So there was going to be a challenge, right? Nothing to lose, right? Seems like an easy decision to me.

We’re still waiting for that challenge.

Why, with nothing to lose, did Collins not call for a replay?

“Because I didn’t think about it — that’s why.”

Didn’t think about it? I thought about it and I’m a nobody at a computer! The game was over … there was nothing else to think about except dinner!!! Same manager who had the foresight to put both his catchers in the lineup so that he could pinch hit for one of them in the seventh inning didn’t think about challenging the elimination of the game tying run in the top of the ninth inning. Yup. The guy driving the car … who becomes more important than ever with a depleted lineup … doesn’t think of a challenge on the last play of the game which may have allowed the tying run to score.

This season is headed straight for the cliff.

Today’s Hate List

I hate having to use back-up catchers as DH’s.