It Only Felt Like A Shutout

You probably went to bed early because the game started so late due to the threat of rain (no actual rain, as God was quoted as saying “just kidding”.) And if you were lucky, you went to bed after the top of the third when Eric Chavez got ejected for arguing balls and strikes, and that was quickly followed by two run HRs by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso to make the score off of Bryce Elder, who had a sub 2 ERA coming into the game. You probably thought that the Mets were on their way.

If that was the case, good for you. Because you only missed one Mets hit the rest of the way. There were more Jeff McNeil misplays in left field than hits by the Mets the rest of the evening.

Meanwhile, the Braves touched up Cookie Carrasco in the 6th after he pitched well for the first five innings. a walk and two doubles knocked him out, and Drew Smith, who brought the spirit of Ricky Vaughn with him to the mound, striking out Eddie Rosario on a pitch by his eyes, gave up a game tying double to Marcell Ozuna, a wild pitch to send Ozuna to third, and then an infield hit to score Ozuna and give the Braves the lead for good at 5-4. That was pretty much it. )Sorry you woke up to this.)

The Mets could not respond. From the 4th inning on, they got one hit. After the Braves took the lead, all the Mets got was a baserunner on an Austin Riley error (who was quickly erased on a double play), and a Brandon Nimmo walk in the 8th. Nimmo was stranded on second as Lindor and Jeff McNeil failed to bring him home. The Mets scored four run and yet it felt like they were shut out completely. It was a brutal performance by a team that was facing the division standard setter for the first time all season, and a brutal performance by a team that had a 4-1 lead with Carrasco on the mound with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to follow in the series.

Maybe the Mets weren’t overmatched, as it’s hard to say they were overmatched in a 6-4 loss, but one hit in the final six innings sure made it feel like they were overmatched. That’s a problem. It’s a problem because the Mets don’t employ enough hitting coaches to get ejected once an inning to motivate this team.

Today’s Hate List

1. Marcell Ozuna
2. Sean Murphy
3. Austin Riley
4. Ozzie Albies
5. Bryce Elder