Sad Max

This was the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Max Scherzer had the back issue, then he was suspended (eat rosin, Phil Cuzzi), and the Mets have had issues with starting pitchers going deep into games. It isn’t as if Scherzer was going 7-8 innings at all this season, but after the rest that he had, and considering the options the Mets have had lately, this was supposed to be the oasis in the desert, relatively.

Instead, the Mets are choking on sand. Scherzer went 3 and 1/3 and gave up six runs, mixing in some batting practice fastballs and hanging curve balls to match. The Tigers had multiple players hit their first home runs of the season and first hits of the season today. It was one thing when it was against Joey Meatballs. It’s quite another thing when it’s against a future Hall of Famer.

Look, it’s a long season. Once Scherzer gets into the rhythm that he’s used to, maybe he moves closer to being the Max Scherzer that we’re used to. But maybe it’s time to recalibrate what we’re expecting from Scherzer. The Internet says that Scherzer is “washed”, because that’s the new cool term now and because the Internet knows no nuance. (I once blogged that Tom Glavine was done and he actually pitched well for a year an a half until, you know, Florida.) But Scherzer, who was Max Scherzer the Hall of Famer last year when he pitched up until the last Braves series, hasn’t been right since then. At his age, it’s fair to wonder that if Scherzer is right again, will he reach the level that he did last summer? Or is he going to be 2006 Pedro Martinez, who followed up a sublime season with a very ordinary injury riddled one, with this season being a stepping stone on the way to a new chapter in his career?

It isn’t as if the Mets made some sort of mistake bringing Scherzer in. It isn’t as if there were lots of better options out there, and the Mets sure as hell don’t have the pitchers ready to break through from the minor leagues. So Scherzer and Justin Verlander were certainly the best options for the Mets to go to. But so much of the Mets success was predicated on those two being who they are. At least for right now, Max is not who he is or was.

Of course, you hope that he returns to form, or you hope for somebody like Jose Butto (who pitched tonight) to go on a 2016 Robert Gsellman type run to bridge the Mets from now until the rest of the starters either return from injury or find themselves again. And it certainly makes Verlander’s first few weeks here (which starts tomorrow) extra important for the Mets. If Verlander encounters problems … then man, we’re going to realize how spoiled we were with the starting pitching the Mets had from the day Matt Harvey was brought up until this season.

Today’s Game Two Hate List

1. Matt Vierling
2. Riley Greene
3. Nick Maton
4. Andy Ibanez
5. Raul Ibanez