Overlooking The Obvious Can Be Intoxicating

Well that was the shortest honeymoon this side of Kris Humphries.

The Mets had a 2-1 lead in the 8th thanks in part to a solo home run by Francisco Lindor, and 5 and 2/3’s great innings by Carlos Carrasco (who gave up a home run in the first as per custom, but was brilliant after that). Chasen Shreve had already gone an inning and a third before Buck let him start the bottom of the 8th with the lefty-lefty matchup against Yadiel Hernandez. The ironic part is that getting Shreve through the 7th facing the righty Nelson Cruz and two switch hitters before Josh Bell bailed him out with a ridiculous steal attempt which should have sealed the Nationals’ fate once and for all. After that, having him face Hernandez seemed like the easy part.

But Hernandez ambushed Shreve to start the 8th with a base hit, and it was the start of the second guessing. Showalter brought in Trevor Williams instead of Trevor May, who had been up in the bullpen. Williams gave up a single to Mikael Franco who suddenly remembered that he’s a career .999 hitter against the Mets, sending pinch runner Dee Strange-Gordon to third base. Then, Lucius Fox pulled off the safety squeeze with a bunt to Pete Alonso, who tried to get Strange-Gordon with an underhanded throw, but it was too slow and too high and Strange-Gordon scored easily to tie the game.

Then with one out and runners on first and second and Future Met Juan Soto on deck, the Mets seemed to catch a break as Cesar Hernandez grounded to Alonso in what could have, and maybe should have, been a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning. But Pete’s throw to second pulled Lindor off the bag, and now they had to face Soto with the bases loaded and one out. And even though they got Soto to ground into a fielder’s choice at home, they couldn’t escape with the tie as Cruz grounded a single up the middle to drive in two runs, and that was your ballgame as the Nationals stole a 4-2 victory.

I’ve gotten on managers in the past for not treating April games with any amount of urgency, but we all forget that this is a 162 game season. We’ve all kind of NFL-ized the scrutiny when it comes to decision making out of the bullpen. Yes, Trevor May could have gone in. But after a short spring training, Buck is right when he says that it’s too early to throw guys out there three out of four days. And while that wouldn’t have been May in this case, the fact remains that Trevor Williams pitched well. The ball to Franco was hard hit but it was still a grounder up the middle and around the shift. After that he gave up a sac bunt that scored Strange-Gordon, a half-sac half-drag-bunt that went right back to Williams, a grounder that should have been one out and could have been two, a fielder’s choice grounder, and a ground single up the middle to score the two runs which wasn’t hard hit at all. This wasn’t on Williams and this wasn’t on Buck’s decision making. This game was lost on a physical error, and also because they only scored two runs.

The good news is that despite the lack of runs, the Mets are taking much better at-bats so far this season than they did last season. Last season’s constant was that the team was swinging at balls and watching hittable strikes go by. It isn’t like that this time around. Dom Smith for one is so much better. Jeff McNeil is so much better. And new guys like Starling Marte and Mark Canha have provided an improvement in that regard. So remember, we’re playing the long game here, and it goes both ways. Sunday’s loss is unfortunate, but it won’t tell the story of the season. Being 3-1 is great, but it won’t tell the story of the season, especially if the Phillies wipe the Mets out in the next three days. The good news is that we’re expecting Edwin Diaz back to help the bullpen, and hopefully Edwin finds peace and strength as he has lost a family member.

As for Showalter, his “nun’ya business” answers are definitely a departure from the last two managers. And I gotta tell ya’: While you may want to disagree with Buck’s decisions, anything he does that’s different from the previous two managers are a treat, and he gets the benefit of the doubt from me until he decides it’s a good idea to acquire Zach Britton and Ubaldo Jimenez.

Today’s Hate List

1. Rhys Hoskins
2. Johan Camargo
3. Rhys Hoskins
4. Garrett Stubbs
5. Bryson Stott