Coors Field Two: Far From Home

Saturday’s looney toon loss to the Rockies made barely a blip on my annoyance radar. Sunday’s loss was even wackier, but it bothered me.

I thought the Mets left some outs on the table. The most obvious being the first two runs of the game which never should have scored. Of course, the error by Tylor Megill in the third on a toss from Pete Alonso which Megill just flat out dropped led directly to the two runs, as Megill followed by striking out Jurickson Profar and getting Kris Bryant to pop out. But even after Megill walked Ryan McMahon to put runners on first and second, the Mets still had a chance to get out of the inning.

The bench (I’m not putting this on Francisco Alvarez) called for an outside pitch against Randal Grichuk, even though they were playing Eduardo Escobar up the middle. Predictably, Grichuk took the outside pitch the other way, harmlessly through the gaping hole in the infield to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead on a grounder that should have ended the inning. Instead, the Rockies scored another run on a single to Harold Castro to make it 2-0.

But the Mets immediately roared back with six runs in the 4th on a two run double by Tommy Pham, a line drive RBI single by Escobar, and yet another three run homer by Francisco Alvarez, who went from 9th in the lineup all the way to 2nd. This drastic lineup change came after my buddy messaged me to ask when I thought the Mets would move up Alvarez in the order. The best I could come up with was that it might have something to do with Ronny Mauricio came up to the majors along with the change of seasons and the shifting of solar winds. So of course it happens the next day, and it happened with lefty Austin Gomber on the mound which I thought was odd because Alvarez has been hitting much better against righties. But he hit the homer off Gomber which could only mean that I don’t know what the f*ck I’m talking about.

THIS KID CAN’T BE STOPPED.

FRANCISCO ÁLVAREZ WITH A 3-RUN HOME RUN. pic.twitter.com/DryJFizKdu

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 28, 2023

So the bottom of the 4th comes, and Megill gets the first two outs, which probably gave Buck Showalter and Jeremy Hefner a false sense of security so why get someone up in the bullpen, right? Except that two singles and a walk later, the bases were loaded. Megill then throws a pitch that was low, but got too much middle which Chipper McMahon crushed to left center to cut the lead to 6-5. Starling Marte caught a lot of heat for not being able to get to the ball, and I understand that part of the Mets fan code of conduct is that unless a Met is homegrown or younger than 24, we’re supposed to hate them mercilessly. But with Marte way over in right center to play for the pull while Megill throws a pitch down the middle, waiting to be taken the other way, what is Marte supposed to do on that?

At tlat point, I would have found a way to get Megill out of there. Justin Verlander got two extra innings after giving up six runs in three innings on Saturday. But Tylor Megill is not coming off an injury. He’s also not Justin Verlander. But maybe Stephen Nogosek didn’t get warm fast enough (not that he was any great shakes in the 5th but I’m going with this for the sake of argument.) If that’s the case, then they trusted Megill for too long because he obviously didn’t have it. And with the day off tomorrow, this could have been a game to put the bullpen in overdrive. However, it wasn’t meant to be, and Randal Grichuk tied the game with a double on a pitch that almost hit Grichuk in the hip. Another out that the Mets left on the table, and instead the game was tied 6-6.

Top of the 5th, Pete Alonso hits a triple, and then must have thought he was Mookie Wilson, because he tried to score on a ground ball to McMahon who, to be fair, was playing back. And once Alonso committed, he had to go or risk getting caught in a rundown. But Alonso was a dead duck on the Mark Vientos grounder, and the Mets did not score that inning. Follow that with Nogosek being introduced to Coors Field in much the same way that Tommy DeVito was intruduced to his induction ceremony in the bottom of the 5th, and you have the most awful inning and a half of the season as the Mets were down 11-6 after a five run 5th.

Francisco Lindor’s 7th inning HR cut the deficit to 11-7, and Tommy Pham’s two run triple made it 11-9 in the ninth. The Mets would cut it to 11-10 after Brett Baty’s groundout, but that would be it. A wild game ended with a bang and then a whimper, and it also ended with too many runs and outs left on the table for the Rockies to feast on. Now the Mets return home to face the Phillies, who are a game and a half behind them. The last thing the Mets want to do is help awaken that scum and villainy. We all know what happened after they came to life last season.

Today’s Hate List

1. Ryan McMahon
2. Charlie Blackmon
3. Randal Grichuk
4. Harold Castro
5. Peter Lambert