Photo: Seth Wenig/AP
Five games in and one week about to be completed, Mets owner Steve Cohen must be wondering right now what he got himself into in purchasing the Mets.
The Mets are no different than they were the last two seasons. Small sample size for sure, but from watching this week, what makes anyone think this is going to be different? This looks more of the same.
The Mets wasted a Jacob deGrom masterpiece by taking a 3-0 loss to the Miami Marlins Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. They mustered only three hits all day. For good measure, Edwin Diaz imploded in the ninth inning by allowing two runs on three hits after Mets manager Luis Rojas used his closer to keep the game at 1-0 for a chance to tie or win the game in the Mets’ ninth inning.
Rather than focusing on the Mets ace striking out 14 Marlins and allowing only one run (a two-out home run to Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the second inning) in eight innings, it’s about the team going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranding four men on base. Marlins starter Trevor Rogers retired 11 in a row until Dominic Smith hit a single in the fifth inning. Of course, there would be no rally after James McCann hit into a double play that got him and Smith out for two outs, and then Jonathan Villar struck out for the final out with Jeff McNeil at second base on a balk after getting on base on a walk.
deGrom tried to make it happen in the sixth inning by getting a single and advancing to second on a Brandon Nimmo walk. He ran to third after Francisco Lindor flied out to centerfield. The Mets received two opportunities to tie the game at 1, but Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso struck out to strand deGrom at third to end the inning.
The Mets went on meekly by not getting on base the rest of the game. The Marlins retired 12 Mets in a row to end the game. It was only fitting Alonso struck out again to end the game since he (struck out three times) and the team stunk all day.
Maybe we should have known this was a harbinger of things to come in the first inning. Lindor got caught stealing, and Conforto and Alonso struck out to strand Nimmo at third, ending the first inning.
Talk about a waste of time. Talk about a waste of $2.5 billion investment for this from Cohen’s perspective.
The fans expressed their displeasure by booing several players, specifically Conforto and Diaz as the game went on. On social media, it wasn’t any better when fans put the finger of blame on guys like Conforto, Alonso, Lindor, Villar, Diaz and Rojas.
Fans saw this way too often. The Mets are 6-for-41 with runners in scoring position so far. They hit .245 with a .734 OPS with runners in scoring position last season. They stranded 45 runners on base in five games.
No one can blame the fans for being frustrated early on. It’s not fun talking about the team’s ineptness at the plate than celebrating the team’s ace. It’s not fun watching bad hitting. It’s not fun to see their best players come up small in a big moment.
Imagine how Cohen feels since he is paying his hitters and watching them come up lame. This is not what he envisioned in the first week of the season. He is finding out the hard way the Mets may not be as good as he thinks they are.
When the Mets put on a bad offensive output after a great pitching performance by their ace, it’s fair to wonder how good they are. This shouldn’t be happening with a lineup that features players producing great numbers on the back of their baseball card.
Eventually, everything evens out in a long season. The problem is this happens way too often with this offense. They produce good numbers when the season is out of hand since there is no pressure to perform. It sure seems like these guys implode under so much pressure to play well for deGrom. They are thinking too much.
Yes, it’s early, but this snowballs. Everything gets magnified, especially in New York. Fans have been frustrated with this team for several years now, and this year does not get any better.
Oh, and there’s Diaz. What makes anyone think he can pitch in a big spot in New York? Once again, he fell apart in a non-save situation. He put the game away for good when he gave up a double to Starling Marte and an RBI single to Jesus Aguilar, giving the Marlins a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning. With Chisholm at first on a walk and Brian Anderson at second after being on first on a fielder’s choice, Miguel Rojas hit an RBI single that sent Anderson home, giving the Marlins a 3-0 lead.
Diaz left the game to a chorus of boos after Rojas took him out.
So far, this season features putrid hitting and awful bullpen performance outside of Miguel Castro.
For $2.5 billion purchase of the team, it would make the new owner boo, too. Even if it’s five games.
