It’s A Disease

Thursday afternoon in Miami will be the point in time where the Mets officially became a caricature of themselves.

As many times as the Mets have scored zero runs when they’ve had the bases loaded, and the amount of times that they’ve scored zero runs with the bases loaded an nobody out, you’d figure at one point the Mets would … oh, I don’t know … score. It just becomes comical when they keep doing it over and over again. At some point we just become way too jaded and then they cram it down our throats and get a hit with the bases loaded, if for no other reason than law of average says that they will. But that leads us to the very first inning today. Mets load the bases with nobody out as Jonathan Villar singles, Pete Alonso walks, and Dom Smith singles to right on a ball that maybe Gary DiSarcina could have sent Villar on with the ball not being hit all that hard, but with the arm that Bryan de la Cruz has, the fact that Villar hesitated ever so slightly on contact, and the fact that you have the 4-5-6 hitters coming up, you could make a case for Gary’s decision to hold up Villar. I mean, the Mets have to get a hit with J.D. Davis and Javy Báez coming up, right?

Davis struck out on a good slider. Báez, in what would be just the beginning of his nightmare, chased a slider in the dirt for the second out. Then came Michael Conforto, and I have to admit that whenever I see him come to the plate, I hear the music from Major League 2 when Pedro Cerrano comes up when he’s all zen-like without a care in the world. Sure enough, much like Cerrano for the first part of that sequel, hit a lazy fly ball to end the threat against somebody named Braxton Garrett. Not hitting with the bases loaded has become a disease.

It’s become trite to say “well, that was your ballgame.” But that was your f*cking ballgame. Although there were other similar places to point to for misery. Báez striking out to end the 5th with two runners on. The Mets loading the bases with two outs after they had tied the game on a single by Villar, but Smith harmlessly flied out after going down 0-2 against a pitcher named “Campbell”, proving how affected we are as Mets fans as two different people messaged me to ask if we had re-acquired Eric Campbell.

It all fell apart in the bottom of the 8th as Jeurys Familia walked Miguel Rojas on a 3-2 pitch that Shane Livensbarger screwed Familia on. But then Familia screwed himself by falling apart after that, giving up a single to Jazz Chisholm, then a single to Jorge Alfaro which scored Rojas as Trey Hillman aggressively sent Rojas home. Then Familia gave up a double to Lewis Brinson, and again Hillman got aggressive sending Alfaro, and Hillman would have paid for that if James McCann didn’t drop the throw in, and all of a sudden the Mets were down 4-1.

In the 9th, the Marlins tried like hell to give the game back to the Mets. Alonso reached on an error by Rojas. Chisholm then made a dynamite play on a liner by Smith that was labeled for the outfield. Then after a Davis walk, Báez chased another slider outside for his fifth strikeout of the day for the second out. With the Mets down to their last out, Conforto looked at two strikes and then swung at a ball a foot outside. But he made contact and Brian Anderson booted it for an error. Then Brandon Drury, pinch hitting for James McCann with the bases loaded, sneaked one up the middle that Anthony Bender tried to make a behind the back play on for some reason, but the ball hit the mound and trickled for an infield hit to make it 4-2. So the bases were still loaded for Albert Almora, who had three hits on the day to match his total for the rest of his season. He had a chance to be a hero.

But the Mets had already had their hit with the bases loaded for the day, and Almora grounded out to end it. The Mets now go to Philadelphia having lost three out of four to Braxton Garrett and the Grand Cayman Marlins, having inspired zero confidence that they’re going to end this weekend in first place. Maybe hitting in Citizens Bank Park will spur them to victory, as this franchise usually finds its stroke in Philadelphia’s bandbox. They had better find it again or it could be the beginning of the end.

Today’s Hate List

1. Shane Livensbarger
2. Miguel Rojas
3. Braxton Garrett
4. Trey Hillman
5. Jorge Alfaro