A Loss In Plain Sight

This one was easy to dissect.

Starting pitching? Not good. Tylor Megill did not carry any momentum from his last start against the Rays into Wrigley Field, not even making it to the end of the 4th inning as he gave up six runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks. Seiya Suzuki and Matt Mervis hit moonshots off him, and that was pretty much that.

Defense? Abysmal. Only four of Megill’s runs were earned because the fourth inning led off with Tommy Pham dropping an easy-ish fly ball to put Mike Tauchman on base. That run would come around to score on a Nico Hoerner ground ball to shortstop that Francisco Lindor threw towards Portello’s. It was generously ruled a single, and it led to another run scoring on a Dansby Swanson single to make it 6-1.

That’s not even mentioning Gary Sanchez’s follies behind the plate. First, a passed ball put Christopher Morel on third, and he would score on an infield single by Yan Gomes ot make it 2-0. The passed ball would have cost them that run if the next hitter didn’t hit one to Mars (Mervis) to make it 4-0 and make the passed ball moot. Sanchez would also look horrific on a pop fly behind the plate which landed foul, reminding everyone why the Yankees got rid of him in the first place, and why he should probably not catch anymore for the Mets.

Clutch hitting? Non-existent. Down 6-1, the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out in the 6th for Pete Alonso. After the Cubs brought in Jeremiah Estrada, Alonso grounded into a fielder’s choice third to bring in a run. Then pinch hitter Daniel Vogelbach hit a sac fly to put runners on second nad third before Starling Marte missed a chance at two steaks by grounding out harmlessly to end that threat.

Then in the 7th, Jeff McNeil came up to pinch hit for Eduardo Escobar with two runners on down 6-2 with two outs. But Mark Leiter Jr. came out of the bullpen to strike McNeil out to end that threat and set up Christopher Morel’s 257th home run this week in the bottom of the 7th off Stephen Nogosek to end all hope. Michael Fulmer faced the Mets for the first time in the 9th and shut them down 1-2-3 to take the Cubs home in front of 35.958 fans and 15 wild boars.

The Mets are now 18-42 in Wrigley Field in the regular season since 2003, which would qualify it for a house of horrors except for those two wins in the playoffs in 2015. Unfortunately my memories of Wrigley center around taking two and a half innings to find a parking spot, and urinating into a trough. I’m not sure that qualifies it for a house of horrors either, but we all have our memories.

Kodai Senga takes the mound tomorrow night for the Mets as the temperature is due to drop about 18 degrees with 20 mile per hour wins coming straight in from the outfield. Either the ghost fork will be dancing like it’s never danced before in the wind, or Senga is going to walk 43 hitters in 4 and 2/3’s before the Mets re-sign Darin Ruf to pitch the rest of the game. There will be no in-between.