The Beginning Of The End

I broke out an Angry Orchard after Friday’s loss, because this team drives me to drink. At that point, I decided that I wanted to use my 2022 Mets playoff coozie, because I wanted to remember the good ol’ days. But ultimately, I couldn’t use the coozie for the bottle, because the bottle represented the 2023 season: too small for the moment.

First batter of the game for the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber, popped the ball up into short center field. The two middle infielders slightly collided with each other on the play. Brandon Nimmo, perhaps distracted by his infielders doing the tango with each other, had the ball glance off his glove for an error. You knew then … you knew right then … that maybe it would be a good idea to shut this game off and go outside and take a nice, refreshing walk. But rarely do we do what’s good for us. Certainly that’s true in my case. So contrary to my well being, I stayed. I watched the rest of the game.

I found out that Eduardo Escobar was traded to the Angels right in the middle of the game, for two AA pitchers. One of them might have a chance to do something someday. The other one might be French. My head tells me that this trade was made because Anthony Rendon went to the IL and the Angels could give him more time than the Mets could. But my heart wonders if this was the beginning of the end. Even if Escobar’s playing time here had decreased, good teams keep guys like Escobar because he’s great in the room, and you could always use part time players like this to produce a little from the bench and keep the team loose, and in the Mets’ case continue to mentor Brett Baty in his major league development.

The Mets, however, are not a good team

So it was going to happen anyway, so Billy Eppler probably figured “hey, let’s get some pitching prospects back to replace the ones I gave up for Darin Ruf so everyone will stop breaking my balls over that trade once and for all.” Those two pitchers were 19 and 20 on the Angels top prospect lists so they might not get a better haul than that if they wait. But it couldn’t have been a great sign for the 2023 Mets as to what’s to come for the 2023 Mets. Not that they’ve earned anything but this timeline.

I went to the last game that the Mets were good. June 1st, against  Taijuan Walker and the Phillies. The Mets had just swept them. Since then, the Mets have gone 4-14. A signature of those 18 games have been mental lapses. Physical errors. Mental errors. Getting thrown out going for extra bases with the play right in front of you. Fielders not knowing where other fielders are. It happened again tonight. With the score 2-1, the Phillies had runners on first and third with one out in the 6th. Kodai Senga, having thrown a million pitches because he knows not from fastball control and quick outs, was pulled for Josh Walker so Buck could get the lefty-lefty matchup against Brandon Marsh, who apparently wets his hair 15 times a day because he’s a lunatic.

The move worked, as Walker got Brandon Marsh to pop up for the second out. All the Mets had to do was catch the pop up.

This is about how things are going for the Mets.

It’s the second popup with a catch probability of at least 95 percent that the Mets have not caught tonight.

Phillies 3, Mets 1, bottom six. pic.twitter.com/pgrTwSCDFe

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) June 24, 2023

And now you really knew. You should have gone and taken that walk. The Phillies scored a run on that “single”, and then scored two more runs on Trea Turner’s two run single that never would have happened had it not been for the “single”. But none of it mattered because the Mets, at that point in the game, already had all the hits that they were going to get tonight. Three. Three freakin’ hits. They almost had more pop ups that fell than hits. They sure as hell earned this loss tonight, as they earned all 13 of them since I was teaching children about baseball at Citi Field on June 1st.

Seems to me that Eduardo is getting out at the right time. In fact, here’s a live look at Eduardo’s reaction to the trade:

Why yes, that’s Eduardo enjoying Southern California and being away from this mess. And here’s Eduardo at a Fogo de Chao in Southern California:

Look how happy he is. I don’t blame him.

Today’s Hate List

1. Rhys Hoskins
2. Larry Andersen
3. Ben Davis
4. Jose Alvarado
5. Mike Lieberthal

(Editor’s note: All AI generated images like the ones you see of Eduardo Escobar at Fogo de Chao have been provided by Gencraft. Check ’em out.)