We’re all depressed about what’s going on in the world regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, and baseball has become collateral damage. We all need to escape, and now you can read this blog in the alternate: the one where global pandemics were a myth and baseball was around no matter what. We’re imagining the 2020 Mets season as if everything was normal. Enjoy these works of fiction.
deGrom … Syndergaard … Stroman … all with consecutive outings that ranged from great to stellar. So going into this game I’m allowing myself to think big, and probably setting myself up for extreme disappointment. But let’s say Steven Matz goes out on Friday night and throws six good innings and the Mets still have their hitting shoes on. If that happens, then I would allow myself to think that this team could have a really special regular season. They’re 8-4 and haven’t played Miami yet, so you figure that Washington and maybe Atlanta would fall off a bit and the Mets could take advantage, especially if they play well in the six upcoming games against the Braves.
So Matz goes out and retires the Brewers nine up and nine down. I’m getting giddy now. If the Mets get a big inning off Adrian Houser, then every domino is going to fall the Mets way and we’re going to the playoffs. Matz starts the fourth by striking out Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich for his 6th and 7th strikeout of the game. Okay, his pitch count is up there with all those strikeouts, but he’s throwing bee-bees He can get to six innings and throw 100 pitches. I’m bracing myself for a long road that might be a bit bumpy. What I didn’t see was the caution sign that was blocking the cliff.
Ryan Braun is the third batter that Matz faces in the 4th, and the 12th batter all game. He’s working on a perfecto. You know as well as I do that the first time you think “what could go wrong”, something is going to go wrong. that something was Braun hitting a hard liner off Matz’s leg to send him to the trainer’s table. Thankfully, it was diagnosed as a deep bone bruise and not a chip fracture or something similar, and thankfully it was his drive leg and not his plant leg, although bruises in either leg present their own set of problems. But, Matz was still put on the IL after the game out of an abundance of caution.
But we’re okay. I mean, this is why the Mets stocked up on all that pitching depth, right? And Michael Wacha, who’s going to slide into the rotation, has been really good this season. Certainly he’s going to keep that up, as he’s been great at coming in under odd circumstances … probably better than he even thought.
First pitch Wacha throws is still on its way to North Prairie for a 2-0 Brewers lead. While he made it through a jam in the fifth okay, a home run by Yelich made it 4-0, and a two run double by Omar Nervaez made it 6-0 and knocked out Wacha. Thankfully his next appearance will be in a role Wacha’s most comfortable with … but that doesn’t help them now.
The Mets closed the gap to 6-4 in the top of the sixth thanks to singles by Luis Guillorme and Tomas Nido, a three run HR by pinch hitter Dom Smith, and doubles by Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil to knock out Houser. Corey Knebel came in and walked Pete Alonso and J.D. Davis to set up Robinson Cano with the bases loaded. Cano however, grounded right back to Knebel for the 1-2-3 double play. An intentional walk to Jake Marisnick set up Guillorme’s turn with the bases loaded. That’s when Luis Rojas sent up Amed Rosario to go for the jugular. But Knebel struck out Rosario to end the inning and flatten the Mets after a four run 7th.
Jeurys Familia came into the game in the bottom of the 7th and was the symbol of how flat the Mets got. He walked pinch hitter Justin Smoak, gave up a single to Cain, balked the two runners to second and third and gave up a two run single to Yelich to make it 8-4. A cosmetic RBI single by Keston Hiura made it 9-4 and that’s how it ended. The three run rally not only put the game out of reach for the Mets, it also meant that Craig Counsell didn’t have to put in Josh Hader for two innings to save the game. So now Counsell will have more options tomorrow. Still, the Mets are 8-5 and have some slack to play with. Let’s hope they don’t hang themselves.
Today’s Hate List
- Ryan Braun
- Christian Yelich
- Omar Narvaez
- Adrian Houser
- Keston Hiura
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