The Path Of Total Disarray

I wrote this recently:

 … the fact that a young pitcher who has as much talent as Steven Matz can go this long a stretch being this bad is an indictment on the Mets coaching staff. Yes, Matz is bad. If he’s tipping pitches, if his approach of trying to pitch to contact is wrong, that’s on him. But to have this happen for this long is on Dan Warthen and to a lesser extent, the rest of the relevant staff. This isn’t Chris Flexen or Rafael Montero getting bombed. This is Steven Matz. If he has regressed this much and it actually isn’t injury related, then Warthen should be fired on the spot, because there’s no real excuse for it.

I apologize to Dan Warthen. This was injury related. No, he didn’t stare at the eclipse without glasses. The injury is the same injury that knocked Jacob deGrom out of 2016 as Matz will miss the rest of the season with nerve irritation. Silly me for thinking that the obvious answer wasn’t the correct one. But even I didn’t think the Mets would actually let Steven Matz go eight starts with no command getting hit the way he did without thinking that something was wrong. With this team’s history??? With Steven Matz’s history???

Could the answer lie in the early season “frustration” with Matz’s smaller injuries? Reading Bob Klapisch’s original article from way back in spring training, it seemed the frustration was with Matz’s injuries and not with Matz himself:

It’s a sensitive subject among Mets executives, who say they like Matz personally and are convinced he’s talented enough to someday rank among the National League’s elite. They’re also impressed with the left-hander’s work ethic.

But there’s growing unease with the trajectory of Matz’s career, which has been hindered by injuries and chronic discomfort.

So the narrative of the Mets discouraging Matz from saying anything, I don’t buy. If Matz was pitching through pain and didn’t say anything, it’s somewhat on him. But it’s up to the Mets, their coaches and doctors to be the adults here, as Matz doesn’t want to go on the disabled list for the 46th time. This is on them. The second of Matz’s eight sub-par starts where he couldn’t get out of the second inning without giving up nine runs should have been the first sign that maybe trouble was afoot. Shame on me for not going to “injury” first as an explanation. But shame on the people who get paid to figure this out taking six weeks to look at themselves and say “ya think he’s hurt?”

Once again, it’s not Chris Flexen or Rafael Montero giving up nine runs in an inning. It’s one of your bonus babies. You think there would be a little more concern. But hey, MRI’s and nerve injections are expensive.

Robert Gsellman pitched with care, giving up a run on five hits and a walk in six and a third. But the Mets squandered too many early chances as the game went to the tenth inning. Erik Goeddel had no command in the tenth as it was his second straight night pitching. (Hitters have a .317 average against Goeddel on zero days rest.) A.J. Pollock hit a missile over the center field wall to give the Diamondbacks a 3-1 lead, and not even a Michael Conforto home run in the bottom of the inning could save them in a 3-2 loss. It was around this time last season that the Mets started playing .667 ball to put themselves into the playoffs. This time …

Starting tonight, Mets' probable rotation for the next five: Gsellman, Milone, Flexen, Montero and deGrom

— Chris Bumbaca (@BOOMbaca) August 21, 2017

Unless deGrom becomes a cyborg, not so much.

It’s so bad even the Brooklyn Cyclones are feeling the effects of all this losing.

https://twitter.com/stujo11/status/899819800733650944

The Cyclones are 15-43. I’d give all of them MRI’s too.

Today’s Hate List

1. A.J. Pollock
2. Taijuan Walker
3. Jimmie Sherfy
4. Wasn’t Jimmie Sherfy a character in Goodfellas?
5. Was he the one who ended up in the meat truck at the end?