First off, kudos to Noah Syndergaard, who powered through six shutout innings even though he was sick as a dog and was sent home early shortly after his outing was over.
The bullpen was the bullpen, as Robert Gsellman is most likely gassed going into the last week of the season. He gave up two hits and a walk in the seventh inning and was victimized by an Austin Jackson error (sure, he can leap over the wall for catches while not in a Mets uniform) before Drew Smith came in and let in all of Gsellman’s runs with a wild pitch and a single to Ronald Acuna Jr. (who at some point, I will mistakenly call Robert on this blog. I apologize in advance). The rest was window dressing as the Mets dropped a 7-3 decision to the Braves to help their march towards home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
By the way, the Mets bullpen imploded on the same night that this happened:
https://twitter.com/closernews/status/1044818394833465345
Please stab me repeatedly with a dull spoon so my death will be a long, painful process.
The Mets had a chance to make some noise in the bottom of the seventh, but with first and second and two outs, Brandon Nimmo grounded out to Dansby Swanson who took the ball to second base himself for the out. Todd Frazier, who was the runner on first base, didn’t bother to run hard to second or slide. Maybe I’m bothered by this because Frazier was paid a lot of money to be a leader regardless of his numbers. But if that’s the case, then Frazier should at least be a leader by example on the field and show these guys how to play hard even when nothing is at stake but pride. I mean, if you’re getting $17 million to be a leader, and you don’t lead, then why are you here?
I guess I’m hard on Frazier because of the organization’s propensity for employing players on the basis of their leadership qualities, and that’s not fair to Frazier. But if he’s going to be a leader, it takes more than choreographed handshakes and goofy hit celebrations. Leading by example would be nice too. And leading when there’s nothing to play for would be extra special.
But what do I know? I guess the season is over and nobody should be paying attention to September baseball anyway. The issues of roster construction and the emphasis on leadership would be a mission for the next GM, who will be much more qualified than me. I hope Ron Darling knows what he’s doing.
Today’s Hate List
Matt Harvey said he was open to just about anything in free agency, but… "There's only one team out there I would not sign with, that's about it."
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) September 26, 2018
I guess the Nippon Ham Fighters are going to have to go to Plan B.
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