It's Always Something With Those Mets (2023)

[Westheim]

It’s Always Something With Those Mets

He’s strained what, Dr. Joe? – I have never heard of that. – Is that even a human body part or did he play too Ruf with his dog?

Fine. We’ll put him on the DL, too.

Hi. We’re the Mets. We have a payroll of about six billion, five quarters of which it feels like start the season on the DL. I was just told that Verlander has strained… something.

It’s always something with those Mets.

Speaking of Darin Ruf, by the way – we have found a team stup… imaginative enough to get a splendid deal on a slightly scuffed slugger. The Rockies were kind enough to take one of our DH’s of our hands, and returned another ancient pitcher for him, right-hander Daniel Bard. Bard had a 1.79 ERA in Stratosphere Park last year, which should count for something. Not looking at his 5.21 ERA from the year before. That’s old news. He’s also 37, so sooner or later one part or another will fall off his body. But we like our veterans ‘round here!

What else is there? No Boom-Boom Diaz, no Jose Quintana, no Brandon Nimmo, no, heck, Danny Mendick. I am assured though that we can have 26 players on the roster by Opening Day.

And that’s them lot:

[Westheim]

Mets (0-0) @ Marlins (0-0)

Despite the worst offenses having been thrown out by new management a few years back, the Marlins’ park was still an abominable den. The best news about the new scheduling in the league was that the Mets would only be forced to saddle up and travel down to the swamps twice a year now. Unfortunately, the first trip was up right at the start of the season…

It was gonna be Max Scherzer, the last remaining future Hall of Famer in the rotation, and Sandy Alcantara, the current NL Cy Young, to begin the season. The Mets expected nothing but left-handers for the rest of the series, so we’d liven up the lineup with left-handed bats on Opening Day, maybe more so than we’d do normally? Omar Narvaez over Tomas Nido? Certainly not against the southpaws, so it was gonna be today.

Thing was, we didn’t have a left-handed outfielder per se, unless Squirrel McNeil went out there. Also no one under 30 out there.

Veteran grit to win the day, then!

NYM: LF Canha – RF Marte – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – 2B McNeil – DH Vogelbach – 3B Escobar – CF Locastro – C Narvaez – P Scherzer
MIA: 2B Wendle – DH Gurriel – LF Arraez – CF Chisholm – RF Soler – 3B Segura – C Fortes – 1B G. Cooper – SS Iglesias – P Alcantara

Marte hit a 1-out single, but Alcantara struck out three in the first inning, while Mad Max didn’t ring up anybody, nailed Joey Wendle instead, but got a double play grounder to short from Yuli Gurriel, and survived an infield single by Luis Arraez by getting Jazz Chisholm jr. – wasn’t that name something? – to fly out to center.

Alcantara struck out five Metsies the first time through, but then saw both Mark Canha and Starling Marte single to centerfield with one gone in the third inning. Lindor fell to 0-2, which didn’t exactly look promising, but then chopped a ball slowly past the mound into no man’s land. Wendle didn’t hustle in on time, and Lindor legged out an infield single to load the bags for Polar Bear Pete – who sent a spanker to Jean Segura at third base, and killed the inning with a 5-4-3 double play.

The Mets loaded the bags again as soon as the following inning; Vogelbach singled to center, Tim Locastro reached on a slight bobble by Iglesias that was somehow charitably scored an infield single, and then Alcantara lost Omar Narvaez on balls with two outs. Canha was next, but flew out to center, stranding another full set. Instead, Jorge Soler’s solo homer in the bottom 4th made it 1-0 Fish. Scherzer got around a leadoff double by Nick Fortes in the fifth, and while the Mets did basically nothing, Luis Arraez hit a single to center in the bottom 6th, and Soler hit another pounder off Scherzer to extend the Miami lead to 3-0.

Alcantara’s run ended in the seventh; Narvaez singled with one out, and after Canha lined out to short, Tanner Scott replaced the starter. Marte singled to right-center right away, putting runners on the corners for Lindor with two outs … but he struck out. Scherzer finished seven in this start, but remained bested by Soler, while Scott returned for the top 8th, allowed a sharp single to right to Pete, and then walked McNeil, which put the tying run back at the dish. Tommy Pham pinch-hit for Vogelbach against the southpaw Scott, but flew out to center, and strikeouts for Escobar and Locastro ended the inning.

Joey Lucchesi got three groundouts to the left side from the Marlins in the bottom 8th, after which A.J. Puk got the ball for the ninth inning for the Fish. The tying run came to the plate once more – Canha doubled and Lindor singled, bringing back Big Pete as the tying run against the left-hander Puk, but again with two outs. Pete popped a 1-1 pitch to short, it was caught, and the Mets didn’t quite live up to usual Opening Day form. 3-0 Marlins. Canha 2-5, 2B; Marte 3-4; Lindor 2-5; Narvaez 1-2, BB;

In other news

In Texas, C Jonah Heim (.500, 1 HR, 3 RBI) hits a walkoff homer to beat the Phillies in regulation, 5-3.

MIN RF/CF Max Kepler (.600, 1 HR, 4 RBI) hits for everything but a triple and drives home four runs as the Twinkies rout the Royals on Opening Day, 13-0.

Complaints and stuff

11 hits, 10 singles, 13 left on base. Ruf. Could be better. Must get better. We’re tied with the Gnats, for crying out loud!

We’re also tied for the highest OBP (.375) and the fewest runs in the NL (zilch).

Small sample size. (breathes into paper bag) Just a small sample size…!

[Westheim]

Mets (0-1) @ Marlins (1-0) – March 31, 2023

The Mets would come up against Jesus Luzardo on Friday. The left-hander had pitched to a 4-7 record, but a respectable 3.32 ERA last season. The Mets would send in their secret weapon, Kodai Senga, in his first major league start after shuttling over from Japan.

NYM: LF Canha – RF Marte – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – DH McNeil – 3B Escobar – CF Locastro – 2B Peraza – C Nido || P Senga
MIA: 2B Wendle – DH Gurriel – CF Chisholm – RF Soler – 3B Segura – LF Arraez – 1B G. Cooper – C Fortes – SS Iglesias || P Luzardo

Offense remained at a premium; the Marlins had a single off Senga in each of the first three innings, but never ventured past second base, and the Mets had a Lindor single and four strikeouts the first time through the order, giving them a dozen innings without a run scored to begin the season, which Billy Eppler told me amounted to an infinite pile of Uncle Steve’s money for each run scored.

The top 4th brought no offense either, while Senga issued a walk to Jean Segura in the bottom 4th, but the runner was caught stealing on the 1-1 pitch to Luis Arraez, who singled on the next pitch, but was left on when Garrett Cooper grounded out to short.

The knot was finally hewn through in the fifth inning, even though the inning started with outs by McNeil and Escobar, bringing up the runt of the litter with two outs. Locastro singled to left, with Arraez overrunning the ball for an error and an extra base. Luzardo walked Peraza, then hung one that Nido punched up the line in leftfield. Arraez misplayed that one just as badly, though wasn’t charged an error as the ball went past him for a 2-run double! Yay, runs! That wasn’t all – Mark Canha and Starling Marte both hit sharp singles, driving in the runner in front of them, and both moved into second base on a throw to home plate, putting the Metsies up 4-0 before Lindor whiffed to end the inning.

Senga shed two singles in the fifth, but the second single by Yuli Gurriel also ended the inning as the runner from first, Iglesias, was caught in an 8-5-4-6 rundown trying to get to third base. The sixth was the first 1-2-3 inning for Senga, and while he gave up a single in the seventh, the eighth was clean again. Could this be a debut shutout!? First, the Mets had to complete nine with the stick; they didn’t have a hit in the inning following their 4-0 outburst, but Luis Guillorme doubled off Matt Barnes with one out in the ninth inning, batting for an 0-for-3 Escobar. Locastro’s groundout moved the runner to third, after which we brought out the big boy – Vogelbach batted for Peraza, but whiffed, and the inning ended. The Mets surrendered the DH at this point, with McNeil going out to hold down second base for the bottom of the ninth.

Senga returned to the hill and the Mets would play it by ear. Soler, who had broken up Mad Max the day before, flew out to left, as did Segura. Arraez hit a fly to center, but Locastro easily contained it – it was a shutout!! 4-0 Metsies! Guillorme (PH) 1-1, 2B; Senga 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-0);

In other news

Lean schedule after a full slate on Opening Day, but the Rockies beat the Padres 3-0 on only three hits, but two of those were homers by Charlie Blackmon (.333, 1 HR, 2 RBI) and Darin Ruf (.250, 1 HR, 1 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

Ruf? Uh-oh. What have I done…

This time out, the Mets were out-hit, 7-6, but bunching up most of the offense into one inning gave them their first W of the season. The rest of the division was idle, so for academical completeness, we were now tied for second with the Fish, 1-1, behind the 1-0 Barves. The Filthies and Gnats (against the Barves) had both lost on Opening Day.

The Mets don’t have a day off on this opening 7-game road trip that will also see three games in Milwaukee, then still no day off until Thursday’s home opener against these same Fish. *Friday* next week will then be off in the middle of the 3-game set with Miami in New York. That homestand will also have the Padres in, the first of four straight series against teams in West divisions, and the only one at home. Yay, grueling 10-game West Coast road trip in April!

[Westheim]

Mets (1-1) @ Marlins (1-1) – April 1, 2023

Always attested great potential, Trevor Rogers had nevertheless been battered for a 4-11 record and 5.47 ERA in the 2022 season, more than double his ERA from a very promising 2021 season. He opposed the Mets for the third game of the year, opposite “Cookie” Carrasco.

The DH role moved to Mark Canha on Saturday, with Tommy Pham getting his first start in leftfield, in what would probably become a pattern during the season: Vogelbach in the fake position against right-handers, and soup of the day against left-handers.

I’m sorry, Billy, I will try to keep a more open mind about the fake position. – Yes, it totally enriches the game experience. Mostly for 280-pounders eligible for benefits under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Did I just hear sad Dan Vogelbach noises?

NYM: DH Canha – RF Marte – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – DH McNeil – 3B Escobar – LF Pham – CF Locastro – C Nido || P Carrasco
MIA: 2B Wendle – DH Gurriel – CF Chisholm – RF Soler – 3B Segura – LF Arraez – 1B G. Cooper – SS Iglesias – C Stallings || P Tr. Rogers

With some kind assistance from Trevor Rogers, the Mets went on to score in the first inning. Marte and Big Pete both hit singles that dropped in front of Arraez in left, while Rogers then threw away McNeil’s 2-out infield roller for a 2-base, 1-run error. Eduardo Escobar, hitless on the year, grounded out to short to strand a pair in scoring position then. He would be back at the dish in the third inning, again with two outs and a fat chance to drive in some run(s), after Rogers with two outs lost perhaps the marbles, but at least his control, and walked the Mets’ meat of the order in succession, with a wild pitch in between. After taking a pitch to see whether he could get ahead, which was a strike, though, Escobar put a 1-1 chopper into play. Rogers scrambled for that ball, but only got it on the second pick – and that was too late: all Mets were safe as Escobar legged out (very narrowly!) an infield single, and Lindor scored to make it a 2-0 game. Tommy Pham then easily flew out to Arraez to strand the array of runners.

Meanwhile, no Marlin made an out in the field the first time through; Cookie struck out six, but the other three all had hits: singles for Gurriel in the first and Arraez in the second, then a leadoff jack for Jacob Stallings in the bottom of the third, which got the Fish back to 2-1. Despite this promising start, Carrasco would fail to go five innings, even while not giving up another hit until Stallings was back at the plate and hit a 1-out single in the bottom 5th. Joey Wendle then walked, and Yuli Gurriel singled through the left side to tie the game at two. A walk to Chisholm ended Carrasco’s outing; Drew Smith replaced him with the bases loaded, and got out of the inning on two pitches. Jorge Soler flew out to right on the second offering, Wendle went for home, but was thrown out by Marte in a very close call, killing the inning in 9-2 fashion.

Smith also ended the sixth inning with a double play, then after offering a single and a walk. But he struck out Cooper and then handled a comebacker from Iglesias for a 1-6-3 double play to keep the score level. Freshest Met Daniel Bard then handled the seventh, getting around a 2-out walk to Gurriel.

Also, yes, the Mets were still batting – the outcomes were just generally lean throughout the middle innings. Locastro and Nido both hit singles in the fourth, but the former was caught stealing and the latter was wrapped up in a double play that Mark Canha hit into. It was only the Fish that were making bubbles, like Jean Segura with a 1-out double to left against Adam Ottavino in the bottom 8th. Arraez grounded out to short, as did Cooper, ending the inning with the game still tied.

The tie was broken in the ninth in unlikely fashion. A.J. Puk got a still hitless Squirrel McNeil out, but then walked Escobar. Against a right-hander, Vogelbach would have batted for Pham, but Puk was a left-hander, so he didn’t, which funnily enough doomed the Fish for the day, because Pham walloped a fastball over the fence in left for the Mets’ first bomb of the year and a 4-2 lead. Locastro fanned before Nido reached on an error by Cooper at first base. Canha singled to center. Once at second base, Jose Peraza ran for Nido, but Marte struck out and the Mets did not tack on any more runs.

And the Fish? Made two outs against David Robertson to begin the bottom 9th before taking to the corners with a Wendle double and Gurriel single, both in right-center. Jazz Chisholm jr. was 0-for-10 on the year, but also the winning run at the plate. After a mound conference, the count ran full – the game ended when Chisholm swung through a slinky slider to drop to 0-11 personally and the Fish to 1-2. 4-2 Mets! Smith 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

In other news

STL 3B Nolan Arenado (.222, 1 HR, 4 RBI) rescues the Cardinals with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, whacking a walkoff grand slam off Toronto’s Erik Swanson (0-1, 21.60 ERA, 1 SV) for a 6-5 St. Louis win.

Padres 3B/SS Manny Machado (.417, 2 HR, 6 RBI) chips in three hits, a homer, and a handful of RBI in a 7-3 win over the Rockies.

Complaints and stuff

Second day in a row that nobody on the Mets managed to put even two base hits together. Since it was also the second day in a row that the Mets posted a W, we’ll graciously gloss over that with just that sentence, and that’s gonna be it.

Cookie wasn’t pitching *badly*, but he really worked himself into a dead end in the fifth inning, and due to the pile of strikeouts (seven total), he was also already at 105 pitches when he was yanked. For comparison: just a handful more offerings was enough for Senga to throw a complete-game shutout on Friday.

If you had Tommy Pham for the first Mets homer of the season, you’re probably rich now, because who would have picked Pham in the lottery? *Tommy Pham*!

Tommy Pham also ties for the team lead in RBI with two, tied with Tomas Nido.

*Tommy Pham*!!

(sad Tommy Pham noises)

Well, the team has only scored eight runs so far.

The Barves beat the Gnats for the second time today, 7-4, while the Phillies lost their second game against the Rangers in Texas, 8-5.

[Westheim]

Mets (2-1) @ Marlins (1-2) – April 2, 2023

Baseball was never shy about surprises, and the Marlins brought a surprise on Sunday, putting up 19-year-old right-hander Eury Perez for the fourth game of the set. The Dominican had never pitched above AA ball.

Probably’s gonna through a shutout, then.

NYM: LF Canha – RF Marte – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – 2B McNeil – DH Vogelbach – 3B Escobar – CF Locastro – C Narvaez || P Peterson
MIA: 2B Wendle – DH Gurriel – CF Chisholm – RF Soler – 3B Segura – LF Arraez – 1B G. Cooper – C Fortes – SS Iglesias || P E. Perez

So of course the Fish scored first, slapping Peterson in the face with some tail action as he allowed singles to Wendle and Segura, and a walk to Gurriel in the first inning, with Jean Segura driving in the first run of the game. Arraez made the third out to first base, while Big Pete drew a leadoff walk to establish the Mets’ first on-base presence against the debutee. McNeil whiffed and Vogelbach flew out, but Escobar zinged a 2-out ball up the rightfield line. The ball made it into the corner, and Pete scored from first, while Escobar slid in safe at third base, having tied the game. Perez then filled the bases by drilling Locastro and Narvaez, brining up Mark Canha with three on and two out. Perez missed with the first pitch, then finally found the strike zone with the second one, but he really shouldn’t have. Canha hit a 400-footer to right for four runs – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMM!!!

Who can? Canha can!!

Perez also plunked Lindor once the third inning began, and when Pete singled to center, the Marlins kindly reconsidered their choice of tosser and went to J.T. Chargois instead after 2+ innings, three hits, three plunks, and five runs for the Metsies. Actually, make that seven; Jeff McNeil squirreled out a walk to fill the bases before both Vogelbach and Escobar chopped RBI singles. Locastro’s sac fly brought in another run and ran the score to 8-1, before Narvaez bobbled his way into a double play to end the frame. Chargois went on to dink Starling Marte in the shoulder in the fourth inning, and by now the Mets were getting a bit unruly from the bench side and we were probably one into Pete’s face away from a mid-size brawl. The Mets didn’t score (nor brawl) in the inning, which was probably unwise, given that Peterson was pitching like there was no such thing as a lead too big. Through four innings, he allowed four hits and three walks, but only the one run and didn’t violate anybody’s personal space.

Maybe he should start doing that.

Peterson instead offered leadoff walks in the fifth and sixth innings, although the Marlins never reached scoring position in either; Chisholm hit into a double play in the former, and they were held far from home plate with three soft outs, two for fielder’s choices in the latter. The Mets’ offense took the middle innings off, but then returned with three runs against a collapsing Marlins pen in the seventh inning, getting four straight leadoff hits from Marte, Lindor, Pete, and Squirrel before Vogelbach hit into a double play. Matt Barnes walked the bags full with two outs and two runs already in, then gave up an RBI single to Narvaez. Escobar tried to score from second base on the play, but was thrown out by Chisholm to end the inning.

The game was a dead horse by now, with the Mets lead numbering two handfuls, but the scoring wasn’t quite over yet. The Mets employed certified runt of the litter, right-hander Jeff Brigham after Peterson ran out of juice in the seventh. Brigham logged five outs, but gave up a run on a Segura triple and Arraez’ sac fly. The Mets in turn got a Marte homer in the eighth and some more small ball until Locastro singled home McNeil in the ninth inning for the final score. 13-2 Metsies! Canha 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Marte 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Lindor 2-4, 2B, RBI; Alonso 2-4, BB; Escobar 2-3, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Locastro 1-2, BB, 2 RBI;

In other news

COL RF Charlie Blackmon (.400, 2 HR, 8 RBI) wrecks the Padres with three hits, a homer, and six RBI in a 13-4 Rockies thrashing.

Houston SP Framber Valdez (1-0, 0.00 ERA) pitched very well and finished his own work for a 5-hit shutout as the Astros beat the White Sox, 3-0.

Complaints and stuff

Every Met in the lineup had a hit and they pounded out quite the runs total after three more shy games to start the season.

Funny thing – until the seventh inning today, none of the 3-4-5 batters of Lindor, Alonso, and McNeil had an RBI for the season. Lindor and McNeil picked one up in the 3-run seventh, but Pete is still dry, despite hitting a respectable .250 …

The Gnats beat the Barves today, 2-1, so the Mets moved into first place by half a game. The Phillies completed getting swept by the Rangers, losing 5-2.

We start a series in Milwaukee tomorrow; the Brewers had today off, involuntarily, their game at Wrigley Field being rained out.

No NL team has gone unbeaten this weekend, but in the AL the Mariners and Orioles swept the Guardians and Red Sox, respectively.

[Westheim]

Mets (3-1) @ Brewers (1-1) – April 3, 2023

There wasn’t that much to say about the Brewers so far, as they had only played two games of a three-game set before getting rained out on Sunday. If anything, they arrived rested, but they had scored only five runs against the Cubbies in those two games. Four of those runs had been driven in by Rowdy Tellez, who had batted 3-for-7 with two homers. Nobody else on the team even reached the .200 mark as the Mets rode in. This was the Brewers’ home opener.

Projected matchups:
Tylor Megill (0-0) vs. Eric Lauer (0-0)
Max Scherzer (0-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Freddy Peralta (0-0)
Kodai Senga (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Wade Miley (0-0)

Lauer and Miley were the only left-handers in the rotation, but of course by Wednesday they’d have #1 starter Brandon Woodruff (0-1, 4.50 ERA) well rested and ready to go. Wait and see, I guess!

Game 1
NYM: LF Canha – RF Marte – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – 2B McNeil – DH Pham – 3B Guillorme – CF Locastro – C Nido || P Megill
MIL: CF G. Mitchell – 3B L. Urias – SS Adames – 1B Tellez – DH Winker – LF Yelich – RF B. Anderson – 2B Turang – C Caratini || P Lauer

The first Met baserunner on the day would be Jeff McNeil, who got plunked by Lauer in the second inning. Skipper Buck was already visibly displeased, especially after the parade of Mets pitchers that got clonked by wayward offerings of the Marlins in Miami on Sunday. For Milwaukee, Willy Adames hit a single in the bottom 1st, but Rowdy Tellez flew out to right, before Jesse Winker, he of being best buds with Mets fans everywhere, singled to left to open the bottom 2nd. The only thing was that Winker made a bid for second base, and was thrown out by the alert Canha by at least ten feet. Some Mets fans ‘round the park waved at Winker as he made his way to the dugout in shame.

The Mets took the lead in the third inning; Tim Locastro and Mark Canha hit singles, although the latter was forced out on a dead rat that Marte dropped in front of home plate. The Brewers couldn’t turn two, though, and Locastro scored when Lindor zinged a 2-out single to right. That brought up RBI-less Pete with runners on first and second – but his fly to left was contained by Christian Yelich. Bottom 3rd, then, where Megill loaded the bases by walking Bryce Turang (who?), giving up a single to Garrett Mitchell, and plunking Luis Urias. Certainly not intentional, that one. Willy Adames fanned for the second out, but that brought up Rowdy, the Destroyer – who nevertheless rolled over meekly to McNeil to end the inning, and on the first pitch!

Top 4th, and some misplays; Squirrel led off with a single after hitting only 1-for-12 so far. Pham phlew out, and Guillorme reached when Urias bobbled his grounder for an error. A wild pitch to Locastro then moved both runners to scoring position before Locastro ended up walking in a full count anyway. Tomas Nido batted with three on and one out, but crashed into a really fat double play to pass on the chance… The Brewers also loaded the bases with Winker (walk), Brian Anderson, and Turang (singles) in the same inning, and also brought up their catcher, Victor Caratini, with three on offer and one gone. Same outcome as before, although while Nido had found a 6-4-3 double play, Caratini hit into the fancier 3-6-3 version. An orgy of base runners – and still a 1-0 game!

The Mets made nothing of Canha’s leadoff double in the fifth, and it also didn’t look like Squirrel McNeil’s leadoff single in the sixth would lead anywhere. He was still on first base with two outs. That was though when Tim Locastro launched a massive homer to center – 442 feet and counting! Bernie Brewer took cover, and not for no good reason either, 3-0 Mets!

Megill was not back for the sixth inning after exerting himself for 86 pitches in five busy frames. The Metsies went to Joey Lucchesi, who without hesitation got himself pummeled. Winker hit a leadoff double, Yelich walked, Anderson singled home a run to center, and Caratini also walked to fill the bases. Mitchell struck out before Drew Smith replaced Lucchesi with two outs to face Urias. Smith secured a groundout to Guillorme, ending the inning. Smith added a 1-2-3 seventh to get the lead to the rejiggered back end of the pen in Ottavino and Robertson, while the offense spit on another of McNeil’s leadoff singles in the top 8th, but so did the Brewers with Yelich’s legging out of an infield roller for a single to begin the home half of the frame.

The Mets forfeited the DH for the second time then by aggressively pinch-hitting in the ninth inning, for no good result, including Vogie popping out in place of Canha. Tommy Pham took over leftfield for the bottom 9th. Robertson offered a leadoff walk to Mitchell in the bottom 9th, but secured a double play from Urias. Adames grounded out to Escobar at third base, and the Mets had won their fourth straight. 3-1 Mets! Canha 2-4, 2B; Lindor 2-4, RBI; McNeil 3-3; Locastro 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

The Cubs’ Trey Mancini (.231, 2 HR, 5 RBI) goes deep twice and drives in five runs in a 7-5 win against the Reds in Cincy.

Atlanta smothers the Cardinals, 15-2, in a wicked rout over Steven Matz (0-1, 27.00 ERA), who does not survive the first inning, and five relievers, who get beaten up just as badly. ATL 1B Matt Olson (.167, 2 HR, 6 RBI) drives in five runs with a homer and a double.

The White Sox beat the Giants, 5-4 in 19 innings, as both teams empty their bullpens and then some rather than scoring a single run for a full game distance in extras.*

Complaints and stuff

(pats a sad polar bear on the back) It’s okay, Pete (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI). It’s only been five games. You’ll sure hit one outta there before long…! Now – how ‘bout some ice cream? Uncle Steve will pick up the tab! – (Pete nods eagerly)

If there was something to complain about today it was the eight runners left on base and the six walks offered by Met pitchers (plus the one batter Megill plunked). A more ruthless team than the Brewers would not be turned away for one run on 15 runners!

In the division, the Marlins got thumped by the Twinkies, 11-1, but the Gnats routed the Ray, 10-0, to get back to a .500 record. The Phillies continued to go winless with an 11-inning, 4-2 loss at Babe Ruth Memorial Stadium in the Bronx. Them (0-4) and the Rangers (4-0) were in fact the only teams not entered into both of the W-L columns yet.

+++

* Yes, 19 innings. I am playing with vanilla settings EXCEPT that the fake runner in extra innings is axed because it’s fake.

[Westheim]

Mets (4-1) @ Brewers (1-2) – April 4, 2023

Day two in Milwaukee, with a night game on the schedule. The Mets were out for lunch – but not necessarily together. Mark Canha found this restaurant that was regionally renowned for serving steamed broccoli on banana leaves with a touch of ranch sauce and sprinkles – but somehow only three people showed up there, which was Canha, Kodai Senga, and the latter’s interpreter. Something about a language barrier there, probably. The rest of the team wound up at Hartmut’s Bratwurst Emporium two streets from the ballpark, which looked run down on social media, and even worse in person, but the bratwurst was excellent. So was the beer, the Mets in attendance would readily attest to.

I sure hope this wouldn’t affect the on-field performance in Tuesday’s game.

NYM: CF Canha – 2B McNeil – RF Marte – 1B Alonso – DH Vogelbach – 3B Escobar – SS Guillorme – LF Pham – C Narvaez || P Scherzer
MIL: CF G. Mitchell – 3B L. Urias – SS Adames – 1B Tellez – C W. Contreras – DH Winker – RF B. Anderson – LF Yelich – 2B Turang || P Peralta

If anything, the eight brats and three beer (or potentially the other way round) gave Dan Vogelbach some extra boost to leg out an infield single in the second inning, but then again not quite enough to score from first on a Luis Guillorme double to the base of the fence in rightfield, even with two outs. Tommy Pham struck out to end that inning with a pair in scoring position. Canha hit another 1-out double in the third inning, the ball almost perfectly hugging the white line all the way to the fence. McNeil flew out to center, Marte flew out to right, and the Mets refrained from scoring, though.

The Brewers refrained from even putting the ball in play, however – the first time through against Mad Max, they struck out SEVEN times. The only exceptions were Winker, who grounded out, and Adames, who actually reached base with a walk. The whole thing even only took 35 pitches. Garrett Mitchell then even hit a ball out of the infield, flying out to Starling Marte to conclude three scoreless innings.

But Scherzer’s next strikeout didn’t occur until Yelich, the Brewers’ $200M folly, was back at the plate to end the fourth inning. In between they socked four hits, three for extra bases, and Urias’ and Tellez’ doubles and Winker’s home run to right-center not only put the Brew Crew up 3-0, but also made me worry that those bratwursts wanted to exit my body in the wrong direction. The next two innings were uneventful; Scherzer reached 10 K through the end of six without giving up another hit, but the first three innings had been much more fun to look at.

Peralta, who struck out six, gave up one more hit, an Escobar single with nobody out in the seventh, which followed a walk to Vogie, brought the tying run to the plate in renowned slugger Luis Guillorme, and saw the Brewers go to Peter Strzelecki, a right-hander that looked like he should buy another vowel or two. Guillorme hit a long looper to left-center, which Yelich caught on the fly, a bold move for a guy with chronic back crankiness. Pham whiffed, but Omar Narvaez dropped a 2-out single into right-center; this time Vogelbach scored, getting the Metsies on the board, 3-1, but that was as good as it got as Canha grounded out to third base.

Scherzer went back out for the seventh inning. He got two groundouts, then walked Yelich… then got taken deep by the wicked unknown monster that was Brice Turang. Nevertheless, the game wasn’t all over yet. Strzlltzck-something returned for the eighth, allowed a sharp single to Squirrel, then tickled Big Pete with a wayward breaking pitch to put a pair on and get replaced by Matt Bush, who fought ex-Brewer Vogelbach to a draw over seven pitches before having the eighth one belted to leftfield and beyond for a 3-run homer. Bernie Brewer wasn’t quite sure whether he should go down the slide on that one, but eventually settled on nah and having another beer instead.

Bard and Raley held the Brewers to their 5-4 lead through the end of eight innings, while the ninth began with Devin Williams on the hill, and Francisco Lindor pinch-hitting for the 1-for-13 Pham. He also struck out, a fate that would also befall the next ex-Brewer in line, Omar Narvaez. Williams walked Canha to put the tying run on base, and Squirrel punched the very next pitch to right for a single. Canha raced for third base, and now Marte had the tying run just 90 feet away. He hit a fly to deep right …! – but not deep enough, and especially not beyond the reach of Brian Anderson. 5-4 Brewers. McNeil 2-5; Vogelbach 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Narvaez 2-4, RBI;

In other news

The Rangers remain a perfect 5-0 with a late comeback against the Orioles, winning 4-3 on an eighth-inning, 2-run homer by 3B Josh Jung (.368, 4 HR, 10 RBI).

The Red Sox bash the Pirates, 11-3, with two homers and six RBI chipped in by Adam Duvall (.200, 2 HR, 6 RBI), who had begun the season batting 1-for-16.

The entire AL West has a winning record at the close of Tuesday, with the 5-0 Rangers leading the Astros (5-1), Mariners (4-2), Athletics, and Angels (both 3-2). By contrast, the two Central divisions both have only one winning team, the Twinkies (3-2) and Cubs (!, 3-1).

Complaints and stuff

After a night and a day in first place, the Mets courteously allowed the Barves to take precedence again; the Georgians beat the Cards in St. Louis again, 4-2. The Fish routed Kenta Maeda early and beat the Twinkies, 6-1. They were the only winners in the division on this Tuesday. The Gnats fell listlessly to the Rays, 7-0, while the Phillies remained winless with a 3-2 loss in the Bronx.

[Westheim]

Mets (4-2) @ Brewers (2-2) – April 5, 2023

The Brew Crew brought up Brandon Woodruff (0-1, 4.50 ERA) for the rubber game, while the Mets would see whether new import Kodai Senga could keep up his 100% shutout rate in MLB games.

I wasn’t willing to bet against that yet.

This was the last game on the season-opening road trip; from tomorrow, we’d play six at home against the Fish and Friars.

NYM: LF Canha – 2B McNeil – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – RF Marte – DH Vogelbach – 3B Escobar – CF Locastro – C Narvaez || P Senga
MIL: CF G. Mitchell – 3B L. Urias – SS Adames – 1B Tellez – C W. Contreras – DH Winker – LF Yelich – 2B Turang – RF Naquin || P Woodruff

Squirrel hit a double in the gap in the first inning, but was stranded by Lindor and Big Pete. His problem was that he had no certified slugger behind him. Eduardo Escobar had, though – drawing a walk in the second inning, he scored when Tim Locastro whooped his second homer of the year to leftfield for a 2-0 lead. That one didn’t last long at all, though – while Senga had gotten three groundouts in the first inning, the first three batters in the second inning for Milwaukee all did considerable damage. Rowdy Tellez singled, Willson Contreras reached when he was plunked in the thigh, and then Winker zinged a sharp bouncer right over the first base bag and all the way into the corner for a double. Marte’s throw home was off, Contreras scored as well, and Winker reached third, to score eventually on Turang’s sac fly to center.

McNeil answered with another double, this time to lead off the third inning, putting the tying run on second base. Lindor’s grounder advanced him 90 feet, bringing up the still RBI-less Pete Alonso, but he would be denied again, getting nothing to hit and eventually drawing a walk, as did Marte. The most Vogie could do with the bags full was a sac fly to right, however. Pete held at second, then went for home plate as Escobar singled to right; Tyler Naquin missed the cutoff man as Pete rumbled homewards, but they still might have gotten him until the Brewers noted McNeil bidding for third base and picked the easier third out there, albeit conceding Pete’s run – so the inning ended with McNeil tagged out, but not before the Mets took a new 4-3 lead. That, too, didn’t last until the next half-inning of the Mets batting, Senga giving up a home run to Luis Urias to keep the blood in Bernie Brewer flowing.

Well, try, try again – Woodruff nicked Locastro to begin the top 4th. The Mets’ top slugger stole second base, then reached third on a shy single to left by Canha. Squirrel found the shortstop for an inning-ending double play, however. The next fat chance was just an inning away – Pete singled with one out in the fifth, and while Marte grounded to short, Adames’ throw to first base skipped by Tellez, and the Mets got two bases out of it. Again, no score, though – Vogelbach struck out, and Escobar grounded out to Turang. At least the Brewers also stranded a pair in the bottom 5th against Senga.

Locastro, the old raker, kept stirring the dirt, though. He hit a leadoff single to left off Woodruff in the sixth, then stole another base. Narvaez flew out easily, but then a wild pitch moved Locastro to third base with Canha in the box. Canha ended up walking, and that was the end for the Brew Crew starter; he was replaced by Joel Payamps, who on his first pitch gave up a clean single up the middle to Squirrel, which gave the Mets their third lead of the day, 5-4. Lindor and Big Pete made meek outs again to end the inning, though.

Senga blew that one, too. Yelich homered in the bottom of the inning, and then a Naquin double and Mitchell single gave Milwaukee the lead. Drew Smith entered and struck out Urias to end the inning, now down 6-5. The Mets took Senga off the hook in the seventh, again at the cost of an out on the base paths. Marte singled to open the top 7th. Vogelbach struck out against lefty reliever Hoby Milner, but Escobar doubled through a diving Urias and up the line. Marte went for home, and Escobar tried to grab three, but was tagged out when Milner sent the baseball back to third base. All even at six!

Smith got two outs in the bottom 7th, but Tellez reached on an error by Big Pete, and Brooks Raley replaced him with two outs as the lineup entered that lefty-landmine-laden part of the lineup again. Raley nicked PH Abraham Toro, but struck out Brian Anderson to end the inning. The Mets also went to the bench to begin the eighth. Nido drew a walk from Milner in Narvaez’ place, and then Canha was nicked. McNeil lined out to third base, but Lindor snuck a single through a diving Turang into rightfield. Turang just barely ticked the ball away from the rightfielder there, which allowed the Mets to wave Tomas Nido home from second base, taking a 7-6 lead, their fourth of the game. Both Pete and Marte struck out against Adrian Houser, though, stranding another bunch of runners. Raley went 1-2-3 on the Brewers in the bottom of the inning, which marked the first Mets lead not instantly blown in this rubber game.

Lefty Ethan Small was out for the ninth inning, so the Mets batted Pham for Vogelbach, but he struck out, as did Locastro and Nido after Escobar drew a timidly disputed walk in a full count. That left Robertson with no cushion in the ninth inning, facing the 2-3-4 batters. It didn’t go particularly well for him. Urias singled, and then he walked the bags full with nobody out. Mound conference, where Robertson proclaimed there was no reason to worry, just before he walked in the tying run against Contreras, STILL with nobody out. Toro grounded to McNeil, who had to throw home and got Adames by less than a hair but more than a whisker. All for nothing – Robertson botched another walk together to Victor Caratini, and that one ended a miserable ballgame. 8-7 Brewers. McNeil 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Escobar 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Locastro 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

CLE SP Triston McKenzie (0-2, 3.86 ERA) strikes out 11 in a complete-game loss to the Athletics, finalized when Oakland’s Conner Capel (.250, 1 HR, 6 RBI) hits a walkoff home run for a 2-0 A’s win.

The Rangers remain perfect, 6-0, while TEX SP Jacob deGrom (1-0, 2.25 ERA) strikes out 14 Orioles over eight innings for a 6-1 win.

Complaints and stuff

I was very much looking forward to going home to New York now, because there was a big red panic button in my office that I had an urge to punch. Robertson’s outing was just as shambolic as Senga’s today, and the Mets stranded another 11 runners. Big Pete still doesn’t have an RBI. If that’s not reason to panic, I don’t know what would be.

On the other side, NO team in the NL East won a game this Wednesday. The Fish lost to the Twinkies, 7-2, the Barves lost to the Cards, 3-1, the Gnats were pipped in 10 innings, 4-3, by the Rays … and the winless Phillies were rained out in New York. They had the makeup game scheduled for *Friday*, in the middle of the Phillies’ home-opening series against the Reds. The Yankees had to go back from Baltimore. It wasn’t the worst travel itinerary for sure, but that had to be annoying nevertheless. I’d say torch those mid-season, in-series off days right away before anybody comes to actual harm…

[Westheim]

Mets (4-3) vs. Marlins (2-5) – April 6, 2053

Home opener! The Mets had the bunting up, Uncle Steve in the house, the music was playing, and everybody was in a good mood (at least before the bullpen would melt down and ruin everything as it had on Wednesday), and then the Fish came in and ruined absolutely everything with their fish smell.

Oh well, at least whack ‘em.

The Marlins ranked in the bottom three in runs scored and runs allowed in the NL. Luis Arraez was batting .520 and Garrett Cooper had driven in six runs, and apart from Sandy Alcantara being a perfect 2-0, nobody else on the team had done a whole lot. The Mets had won three of four games from them in Miami.

Projected matchups:
Carlos Carrasco (0-0, 4.15 ERA) vs. Trevor Rogers (0-0, 1.80 ERA)
(wicked off day)
David Peterson (1-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. Eury Perez (0-1, 31.50 ERA)
Tylor Megill (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Sandy Alcantara (2-0, 0.57 ERA)

Rogers would be the only left-hander with that arrangement.

MIA: 3B Segura – DH Y. Gurriel – 2B Arraez – CF Chisholm – RF Soler – 1B G. Cooper – C Fortes – LF De la Cruz – SS J. Iglesias || Tr. Rogers
NYM: LF Canha – RF Marte – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – 2B McNeil – CF Locastro – 3B Escobar – DH Pham – C Nido || Carrasco

Carrasco hadn’t made it out of the fifth inning in his first start in Miami against the same school of fish, but got three grounders in the first inning for a nice start. He faced the minimum the first time through; while Nick Fortes drew a walk in the third inning, he was doubled up 4-6-3 style by Bryan de la Cruz. At that point the Mets had already stranded two pairs of runners; Marte and Big Pete singled in the first inning, but McNeil struck out. Pham and Nido were on the corners in the second, but Canha flew out to de la Cruz in left. Pete then whacked a double off the fence in the absolute deepest end of the park with two out in the bottom 3rd, still staying RBI-less, but at least McNeil singled to left-center to drive him in for a 1-0 lead.

The Fish got their first hits in the fourth inning, a pair of 2-out singles by Arraez (who else) and Jazz Chisholm jr., officially the name most easily to trip over in the majors. They went to the corners, where they remained when Jorge Soler went down swinging for strike three. In the bottom of the inning, Rogers, for all his fishiness, drowned. First, Tommy Pham gave the apple in center its first rise of the season with a homer to left. Straight hits after that: a Nido single past a diving Juli- Jose Iglesias, a Canha single to center, and then Marte spilt the outfielders for a 2-run double in right-center, and reached third base when Rogers fumbled the ball on the infield. He scored on Lindor’s groundout, 5-0, while Pete struck out to end the inning.

Cookie Carrasco from there walked Yuli Gurriel in the sixth, but he was doubled up by Arraez, then nicked Chisholm to begin the seventh, but Chisholm took off just as Carrasco stepped off to throw over and was cut down in a rundown. The Mets were silent for two innings, but Marte then tripled to rightfield to open the bottom 7th and scored easily on a Lindor sac fly to de la Cruz in deep left, 6-0. The Marlins reached the board in the eighth inning after all; Carrasco plunked Nick Fortes, who was forced out by Iglesias, who in turn scored on a 2-out double to the leftfield corner whacked by Jean Segura, the old Phillie monster.

The Mets emptied their bench, although of their three pinch-hitters in the 6-7-8 spots only the first, Guillorme, reached with a single in the bottom 8th. Tomas Nido hit a deep drive to center though, Chisholm grievously misplayed it into a double, and Guillorme scored from first base to tack on an extra run. Joey Lucchesi then finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth. 7-1 Metsies! Canha 2-4, 2B; Marte 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Alonso 2-4, 2B; Guillorme (PH) 1-1; Pham 1-2, BB, HR, RBI; Nido 3-4, 2B, RBI; Carrasco 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

In other news

Nothing major out of the ordinary happened. The Rangers are still undefeated though, by virtue of not playing. They would open a series at Wrigley Field on Friday.

Complaints and stuff

Going home did nothing for the Phillies, who lost their home opener to the Reds to sag to 0-6. The Reds!

The Barves held first place, winning 5-2 over the Padres, who would be in Citi Field after the Marlins series. The Gnats out-whacked the Rockies 10-6 in Stratosphere Park, although the only actual homer in that game was hit by ex-Met Dom Smith (.185, 1 HR, 2 RBI).

Tommy Pham went 2-for-16 to begin the season, but the two hits were homers. Now we just have to get the Polar Bear (.226, 0 HR, 0 RBI) off the ice.

Disturbingly perhaps, Pete ties for the team lead in runs *scored* with six, same as Marte and Locastro.

What’s on the injury front? Everybody waits for Brandon Nimmo (not that Locastro is doing shabbily), but he’ll not come off the DL before the Padres series, and maybe only for the following road trip. Verlander is at least a week away, and Danny Mendick, who would be an option (either for the bench or AAA), will probably remain on the DL for the month of April with a partial ACL tear.

We don’t like to talk about any other injuries much ‘round here.

[Westheim]

The Mets were idle on Friday and concerned themselves with some light batting and fielding practice on the field before two more Marlins games on the schedule on Saturday and Sunday. The batters that were doing well, got tossed a few baseballs from a coach.

And Pete got a few baseballs put on a stick, then kept clonking the bat against the tee.

No no, Pete, you have to hit the baseball! The long thing against the round thing!

[clonks tee]

Yeah yeah, Steve, everything’s fine. Everything’s … [clonk!] … Say, you don’t have another 30 million bucks lying around for a slugger that still works, do you?

Higher, Pete! You have to aim higher!

(Pete aims way over the ball, but flings the bat into the deepest part of the ballpark, scattering a flock of outfielders screaming in panic)

(grabs Uncle Steve’s arm) 10 million! I can find us something for 10 million, Steve…!!

In other news

The Cubs not only pose no threat to the perfect 7-0 Rangers, who win 6-0, but also manage only a measly Ian Happ (.240, 0 HR, 1 RBI) single against Andrew Heaney (2-0, 1.54 ERA) and two relievers while they get suffocated.

Complaints and stuff

With the Mets lazy, the Barves extended their lead to a full game by beating the Padres, 3-1. The Gnats reached .500 by winning 4-1 over the Rockies.

No such luck for the Phillies, who were drowned out, 5-1, by Nestor Cortes (1-0, 0.67 ERA) cross-town, and sunk to 0-7 to begin the season. All Yankee runs scored in the fifth inning on homers by Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, and Jose Trevino. Of these three, so far the most homers on the season has…. TREVINO. With two. Has Judge been asleep?

.160 with just 3 RBI, bb-ref says.

Still more than Pete.

[Westheim]

Mets (5-3) vs. Marlins (2-6) – April 8, 2023

The Mets were to face Eury Perez (0-1, 31.50 ERA) for a second time. The fact that he had been mercilessly flicked in his first outing against the Mets in Miami didn’t give the Fish brass any reason for concern apparently.

MIA: 3B Segura – DH Y. Gurriel – CF Chisholm – RF Soler – 1B G. Cooper – 2B Arraez – LF De la Cruz – SS J. Iglesias – C Stallings || P E. Perez
NYM: LF Canha – 2B McNeil – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – RF Marte – DH Vogelbach – 3B Escobar – CF Locastro – C Narvaez || P Peterson

The Fish went down in order the first time through, while the Mets had singles from Vogelbach and Escobar in the second inning, but the bottom two failed to get them across. Yuli Gurriel would get a single for the Marlins in the fourth inning after Peterson had sat down the first ten batters for them, but was forced out by Chisholm, and Jorge Soler ended up being called out on strikes to end the inning.

The Mets’ inability to turn Eury Perez inside out once more backfired by the fifth, when the Marlins instead did the same to Peterson with four straight base hits to begin the inning. Cooper and Arraez singled, Bryan de la Cruz doubled, and Jose Iglesias singled. The latter two each drove in a run, but runners were also stranded on the corners once Jacob Stallings and Jean Segura struck out and Gurriel’s acorn was picked by McNeil to end the inning.

Perez was lifted after just five innings of 2-hit ball, to be replaced with the lefty Tanner Scott, who offered a walk to Lindor, but nothing else, in the sixth. Arraez and de la Cruz whacked two more singles off Peterson in the seventh, but Iglesias’ double play derailed the inning, and Peterson wiggled out of the mess.

Scott was still hanging around to begin the bottom 7th, but the Mets batted for Vogelbach with Jose Peraza, who so far was *definitely* the 26th man on the roster (not that some of the relievers were seeing much action). Peraza grounded to right, and while Arraez dove and knocked the ball down, he had no play and Peraza reached with an infield single, his first hit of the year. The Mets appeared in business once Eduardo Escobar dumped a single into center, putting the tying runs on base with nobody out. Locastro hit a roller up the first base line. Scott went out, Cooper went in, nobody covered first base, and the bags were full for Narvaez, while the Fish brought righty Edward Cabrera as the new pitcher. Narvaez struck out. Canha struck out. McNeil flew out to left. Nobody scored.

Billy, be a good boy, hand me one of those Rheingolds, will ya.

The eighth was uneventful, a.k.a. the Mets continued to suck, while Daniel Bard and Drew Smith at least kept the damn Fish to their 2-0 lead. Left-hander A.J. Puk would be put into the bottom of the ninth, which began with Peraza, who flew out to center. Escobar flew out to left. Locastro grounded out. 2-0 Marlins. Peraza (PH) 1-2; Escobar 2-4; Peterson 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, L (1-1);

In other news

Still perfect: the Rangers rout the Cubs, 12-0, to improve their record to 8-0. Corey Seager (.412, 2 HR, 9 RBI) chips in five hits, a homer, and 3 RBI in the game.

Complaints and stuff

While the Mets couldn’t do a damn thing against four Marlins pitchers on Saturday, the Phillies got off the schneid, beating the Reds 5-4. It took 10 innings, but it counted, and they started their rally with a 1-7 record.

The other NL East teams lost; the Gnats went under, 10-2, in Colorado, while the Barves got beat by the Padres, 4-3.

[Westheim]

Mets (5-4) vs. Marlins (3-6) – April 9, 2023

The Mets faced left-hander Braxton Garrett in the rubber game. Given that the 25-year-old left-hander entered with a 21.00 ERA, similarly stratospheric as Eury Perez the day before, it was probably better not to get the hopes up too much.

MIA: 3B Segura – DH Y. Gurriel – 2B Arraez – CF Chisholm – C Fortes – 1B G. Cooper – SS J. Iglesias – LF Berti – RF Av. Garcia || P B. Garrett
NYM: 1B Canha – RF Marte – 2B McNeil – DH Alonso – 3B Escobar – CF Locastro – LF Pham – SS Peraza – C Nido || Megill

Megill struck out three in the first inning… which was nice if you discounted the three hits and two runs he gave up with Gurriel and Arraez singles and Chisholm’s triple to right. A walk to Avisail Garcia and a Segura homer with two outs in the second inning doubled the score. To be fair, the Mets loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd… *somehow* … Escobar reached on a Segura error, Tommy Pham walked, and Jose Peraza legged out an infield single. That inning ended with Nido lining out to Segura, stranding three runners, but Segura landed awkwardly and was tended to by the Marlins’ trainer during the top 3rd, which went on and on and on as well. Megill walked Arraez, then gave up singles to Chisholm, Cooper, and Iglesias, then was finally shanked with five runs in across 2.1 innings, and three runners still on base. Daniel Bard struck out Jon Berti, then walked in a run against Garcia, and plated another run with a wild pitch while Jorge Soler pinch-hit for Segura. He would ground out, then man leftfield, with Berti in to third base.

Not that it mattered – the Mets were back to .500 by now, and employed the garbage brigade of Jeff Brigham and Stephen Nogosek for long relief. Brigham was reasonably successful with three scoreless innings from the fourth through sixth, in the bottom of each of which the Mets had their first batter reach base as, in order, Pete singled, Nido singled, and Pete got plunked by Garrett. All of these runs, plus Escobar on another single in the fourth, were stranded haplessly. Nogosek had a clean seventh, but then had Jon Berti hit a ball over the Great Wall of Flushing to begin the eighth inning. The Mets never hit one that far, or many after all – following Nido’s leadoff single in the bottom 5th, they had only one more base hit in the entire game. 8-0 Marlins. Brigham 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

In other news

The Rangers lose their first game, 9-3 to the Cubs.

The Red Sox trounce the Tigers for eight runs in the fourth inning, but don’t score much otherwise, and narrowly scratch out a 9-8 win.

The Mariners-Guardians game rained out the day before is rained out again as part of a double-header (the originally scheduled game is completed though, a 5-1 Seattle win). The game is again rescheduled for April 13, on the other side of the Mariners’ series against the Cubs in Chicago. The Guardians host the Yankees in between.

AL Player of the Week: TEX SS Corey Seager (.405, 2 HR, 11 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 10 RBI
NL Player of the Week: COL 3B/2B Mike Moustakas (.381, 3 HR, 15 RBI), hitting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Steve wondered out loud what was going on during the middle innings, given that his $400M team was being shut out for the second straight day (and third time all season) by the lousy Floridians, who probably hadn’t spent $400M on players in their entire franchise history.

There was also little hope to offer now. There were holes in the rotation and we were still missing Nimmo from the top of the order. He would likely appear at some point in the Padres series that started on Monday. The gaping holes in the rotation were harder to stuff. Verlander was still a week away, and Quintana was not worth discussing right now. Did the Mets need outside help? There sure wasn’t anything in AAA that instilled much hope…

Also losing today were the Phillies (5-3 to Cincy) and Gnats (4-0 to Rockies). The Barves outlasted a late Padres rally for a 6-4 win and took a 2-game lead in the division.

[Westheim]

Mets (5-5) vs. Padres (2-8) – April 10, 2023

Yeah, not everything had gone quite to plan for the team. Ninth in runs scored, second-worst in runs allowed – and those weren’t even the Mets, but the Swingin’ Friars. Bit free-swingin’, and usually doing the pirouette on the mound to see whether the latest rocket surrendered would blast a hole into the Western Meal Supply Co. building on its way to Anaheim.

Projected matchups:
Max Scherzer (0-2, 5.27 ERA) vs. Yu Darvish (0-2, 5.93 ERA)
Kodai Senga (1-0, 3.68 ERA) vs. Blake Snell (0-2, 6.35 ERA)
Carlos Carrasco (1-0, 2.19 ERA) vs. Wilmer Font (1-0, 0.82 ERA)

One left-hander in the series, Snell, but, I don’t know… Scherzer vs. Darvish sounded like something grand that should make everybody excited. And not like two roughed up old men that had zero wins and a combined ERA of 11 between them.

Also, if you thought the Mets had it rough with injuries – the Padres were without: Joe Musgrove (foot), Adrian Morejon (elbow), Drew Pomeranz (elbow), Juan Soto (oblique), Austin Nola (nose), and Fernando Tatis jr. (restricted list*). Nola was expected to make a return in this series, wearing a face mask under the other face mask to protect that broken nose of his.

SD: 2B Cronenworth – SS Bogaerts – 3B Machado – 1B M. Carpenter – RF Dixon – DH N. Cruz – LF Ravelo – CF Grisham – C Y. Rodriguez || P Darvish
NYM: CF Canha – LF McNeil – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – RF Marte – DH Vogelbach – 3B Escobar – 2B Guillorme – C Narvaez || P Scherzer

The Mets entered the game not having scored in three days or 18 innings. It only got worse from there, despite a McNeil single and Lindor walk drawn in the first inning, because Pete – still without an RBI in 2023 – hit into a double play to curtail that bottom 1st. Starling Marte singled and stole second base in the second inning, but was also left there when Darvish rung up Escobar and Guillorme.

Mad Max struck out five the first time through, while giving up two singles to Matt Carpenter in the second and Yorman Rodriguez in the third inning. Unfortunately, the latter was followed by Jake Cronenworth’s first homer of the year, socked to right-center, 2-0 Friars. It took the Mets to their 22nd inning to finally get something on the board again. Marte hit another single to center, but Vogie got hold of a fastball down the middle and pounded it out of Citi’s original dimensions to tie the game at two.

Scherzer struck out ten by the sixth inning, when he got Cronenworth, who had gotten him the previous time, looking to lead off the inning. Xander Bogaerts followed for #11, but Manny Machado singled to center and stole second base. There he was stranded though once Matt Carpenter popped out to Lindor. Marte and Vogie got on base again in the bottom 6th, but were stranded with Escobar’s fly to left.

Trouble in the seventh then, as Brandon Dixon and Nelson Cruz began the inning with soft singles and set up camp on the corners. Just when he needed it most, Scherzer couldn’t get a strikeout, but Rangel Ravelo’s easy fly to shallow left and the double play Trent Grisham hit into would do. While Darvish was done after six, Scherzer went into the eighth, got two outs, and then gave up a single to left to Bogaerts and a walk to Machado. Brooks Raley was called on to face Matt Carpenter, and before long gave up a 2-run triple to right-center. Dixon grounded out.

The Mets tried to mend the broken vase to the best of their abilites, which means McNeil flew out to center to began the bottom 8th, but after that Lindor powered his first homer of the year off righty Steven Wilson. Pete came up as the tying run, which didn’t mean a whole lot this year, and drew a 1-out walk, which already had to count as success. Marte and Vogelbach disappeared without a trace, ending the inning. Ottavino held off the Padres in the ninth (barely), but then it was staring into Josh Hader’s barrel for the Mets’ bottom of the order in the home half of the ninth. One to tie, two to win – Escobar hit a liner to center that Grisham snatched on the slide, which was not frustrating at all. Locastro struck out, but Jose Peraza scratched out a last-out single to left. All for naught, as Canha flew out to center. 4-3 Padres. Marte 3-4; Peraza (PH) 1-1;

In other news

LAA RF Hunter Renfroe (.278, 4 HR, 10 RBI) misses the cycle by the double as the Angels down the Nationals, 7-1. Renfroe goes 4-for-4 with a homer, triple, and 3 RBI.

Complaints and stuff

How many games can a $400M team lose? – Oh yes.

Well, at least six. And somehow we’re fourth in both runs scored and runs allowed in the NL, and it doesn’t amount to anything much in the standings. Scherzer meanwhile leads the NL in strikeouts at the close of play on Monday, but is 0-3 with an ERA that would make an old nun blush.

Meanwhile, we’re tied with the Fish. The Marlins rallied in the ninth inning to beat the Phillies, 3-2, extending the misery on the Delaware, now 1-9 in the doldrums. The Fish were the only winners in the division on this day; the Barves were rained out at home against the Reds.

+++

In game, he is DL’ed with a shoulder strain, due to return in early May

[Westheim]

Mets (5-6) vs. Padres (3-8) – April 11, 2023

In good news, the Mets activated Brandon Nimmo from the IL on Tuesday, giving them back their declared leadoff hitter after he had missed the first 11 games of the season. Jeff Brigham (0-0, 1.93 ERA) fell by the wayside, being optioned to AAA – his own fault for being the only non-critical player around that had options. Mark Canha got the day off and Locastro shuffled to leftfield.

SD: SS Bogaerts – 2B Cronenworth – 3B M. Machado – 1B M. Carpenter – C Au. Nola – DH N. Cruz – RF Schrock – CF Grisham – LF Ravelo || P Snell
NYM: CF Nimmo – RF Marte – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – DH McNeil – LF Locastro – 3B Escobar – 2B Peraza – C Nido || P Senga

Nimmo returned by making a sliding catch on Manny Machado in the first inning, ending the top of the same, which went 1-2-3 for Senga. He also grounded out to first base in the bottom of the inning, but then the bags filled up with Marte (walk), Lindor (single), and Big Pete (walk). Jeff McNeil ran a full count with the bases loaded, then laid off an inside pitch to squirrel away the game’s first run with yet another walk. The inning seemed to wear out when Locastro hit a sac fly for the second out, but Snell lost Eduardo Escobar on balls as well, then got scalded on a gapper in right-center by Jose Peraza that made it all the way to the fence for a bases-clearing double, 5-0! Nido struck out to end the inning.

Sadly the game wasn’t won outright with that 5-run first inning, and the Padres clawed some back immediately against Senga, who allowed a single to center to Matt Carpenter, then a huge 2-run homer to left to soon-to-be 43-year-old Nelson Cruz, the 460th of his career. Carpenter was on again with a 1-out walk in the fourth, but was then doubled up by Austin Nola before Cruz could do more damage. Bottom 4th, Peraza drew a 1-out walk from Snell, which marked the end of his manager’s patience and the Padres went to the pen, bringing in longtime Met Seth Lugo, who immediately got a double play grounder from Nido. Cruz then did reach base to begin the top 5th, grounding to first base, where Senga dropped Big Pete’s feed for an error. Max Schrock singled to center, and the tying run came to the plate, but the Padres made three meek outs from there without actually scoring a run.

Nimmo was on D again in the sixth, retiring the pesky Carpenter on the slide just after Manny Machado’s 1-out single to left-center. Nola flew out to Marte to end that inning. Lugo pitched through the sixth for San Diego, but gave up a run in the bottom 6th on singles by McNeil, Escobar, and Peraza, 6-2.

More Nimmo antics in the bottom 7th then: his sharp grounder was knocked down by Cronenworth, but the Padres’ second baseman had no play, and Nimmo reached with a single, then stole second base. Right-hander Ken Giles struck out Marte, grounded out Lindor, with Nimmo to third, and then it happened – at least an RBI for Big Pete on a clean single through the right side! Peeete! McNeil grounded out to end the inning, with a 7-2 lead going to the pen, Senga being lifted after some busy early innings and 99 pitches overall.

…which was where things started to go pear-shaped. Daniel Bard faced four batters, gave up a double to Bogaerts and a single to Machado, then a run on a wild pitch. He was lifted for Lucchesi with two outs and Carpenter approaching, but Lucchesi got bombed to right, narrowing the lead to two runs, then also limped off the mound with some sort of injury. Drew Smith became the third Mets pitcher of the inning, gave up a single to Nola, but finally got Nelson Cruz to ground out.

Giles was still pitching in the bottom 8th, with the Mets sending out their left-handed bench pieces. Guillorme doubled in Locastro’s place, then advanced on a wild pitch. Vogie drew a walk, batting for Escobar. Peraza wasn’t hit for and whiffed, but Narvaez grabbed a stick in Nido’s place. He drew another walk, loading the bags. The Padres finally changed pitchers, bringing another righty in Robert Suarez. The Nimmo show continued unabated, though – Suarez’ 2-1 pitch hung, and Nimmo parked in the leftfield seats. GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMM!!!

No further Mets reached base from there, and while Drew Smith offered a walk to Trent Grisham in the ninth inning, Ravelo found his way into a double play to end the game. 11-5 Mets. Nimmo 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Guillorme (PH) 1-1, 2B; Escobar 1-2, BB; Peraza 2-3, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; Senga 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

In other news

The Angels blast the Nationals, 16-1, with an 11-run fifth inning included. LAA SP/DH Shohei Ohtani (1-1, 3.46 ERA) pitches a complete-game 6-hitter, and drives in three runs on two homers. Every Angels player in the lineup has at least one hit, run scored, and RBI, except for David Fletcher (.077, 0 HR, 0 RBI), who goes 0-for-5 with a lot of nada – not even a strikeout!

Rockies rookie 3B Warming Bernabel (.327, 3 HR, 9 RBI) goes 5-for-5 with a homer, a double, and two RBI in a 10-8 win over the Cardinals.

Complaints and stuff

Apparently Joey Lucchesi, when he gave up the 2-run homer to Carpenter, stomped hard on the ground with his left foot, and that was where he injured himself.

It’s always something with those Mets…

On the other side, Drew Smith got his first career save by finally unwiggling the Mets from that eighth inning and then remaining in the game when the Nimmo slam in the bottom 8th made the deployment of David Robertson unnecessary. 7-6 with a 3.08 ERA in 115 games for that kid. If only his arm could stop falling off…

Elsewhere, icky weather persisted in Atlanta, and the Barves and Reds got only one game in, a 7-1 Barves win. They’d try to play two *again* tomorrow. And the Fish deepened the Phillies crisis with a 3-2 scratch win, sending the Phillies plunging to 1-10.

[Westheim]

Mets (6-6) vs. Padres (3-9) – April 12, 2023

Rubber game time – the Mets were an arm short in the pen with the injury to Lucchesi, which had yet to be sorted out with more scans at New York Presbyterian’s, while the Padres brought up right-hander Wilmer Font, who had yet to get hit with his 0.82 ERA, a stark departure from his 5.49 career ERA, and the 9.92 mark he posted the last year he pitched in the majors, which was all the way back in the ‘rona season in 2020 with the Blue Jays.

SD: SS Bogaerts – 2B Cronenworth – 3B M. Machado – 1B M. Carpenter – RF Dixon – DH N. Cruz – LF Ravelo – CF Grisham – C Campusano || P Font
NYM: CF Nimmo – 2B McNeil – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – RF Marte – DH Vogelbach – LF Canha – 3B Guillorme – C Narvaez || P Carrasco

Rain was looming, so it probably wasn’t a bad idea to lead after five innings, but Carrasco got whacked right out of the gate. The Padres took a 2-0 lead on Cronenworth and Carpenter doubles into the right-center gap, then Brandon Dixon’s RBI single. Nelson Cruz also singled before Rangel Ravelo’s grounder to third base ended the dismal inning. The Mets in response loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom 1st. Nimmo and Lindor hit singles to center, framing McNeil squirreling away ball four. That brought up Big Pete, who had finally broken the RBI ice the day before, but had yet to whack a homer this year. He lined out to short… Marte’s comebacker had Nimmo forced out at home plate, and Vogelbach went down on strikes. Three on, three stranded.

The rain arrived by the third inning, with the score still 2-0 Padres, and led to an hour-long rain delay by the time Nimmo drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd. When play resumed, Nimmo advanced on two outs and scored on Big Pete’s soft single to center, 2-1. Marte tied up the game by doubling over the head of Grisham, who got out of shape bouncing off the fence and took his sweet time to get the ball back in, allowing Pete to score from first base on the double. Vogelbach singled to left-center, scoring Marte for a 3-2 Mets lead, but Marte also hurt himself on a rough slide around Luis Campusano, just as the backstop received the ball. Canha grounded out, ending the inning, then moved to rightfield, while Tommy Pham replaced Marte in left.

The Mets tried to get Carrasco through five, but it was apparent in the fourth inning that while he hadn’t been great before the long rain delay, he was completely dull now, although somehow the Padres managed to go down in order in the inning. We’d be in the pen by the fifth, and the Padres were so even by the fourth, having Nabil Crismatt give up three singles to Nimmo, McNeil, and Lindor, and a run along with it. Stephen Nogosek pitched the fifth and sixth, giving up only a walk to Manny Machado, who didn’t get off first base. Nimmo made a sliding catch in center to help out Nogosek, then hit a homer off Crismatt to tack on a run in the bottom 6th, making it a 5-2 game.

Adam Ottavino had more trouble in the seventh, putting all the tying runs on base with two singles and by nicking Cronenworth with two outs, but got Machado to fly out to Canha to end the inning without giving up any runs. Brandon Dixon hit a single off Brooks Raley in the eighth, but otherwise struck out two Padres on the way out of the inning and bridging the game to Robertson, who entered with a 3-run lead after the Mets put Canha and Narvaez on base in the bottom 8th, but Guillorme had hit into a double play before, and Nimmo struck after Narvaez’ single. Robertson was in trouble immediately with a leadoff walk to Grisham, which gave everybody ugly flashbacks to his 4-walk blown save a week ago in Milwaukee. Campusano whiffed, but Bogaerts singled to left. Cronenworth grounded out, advancing the runners to scoring position and bringing up Machado, who hit a fly to center, but there was Nimmo – and Nimmo had it. 5-2 Mets! Nimmo 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; McNeil 2-3, BB; Lindor 2-4, RBI; Nogosek 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

In other news

Orioles 1B Lewin Diaz (.189, 3 HR, 8 RBI) collects three hits, two homers, and seven RBI in an 8-4 win over the Athletics.

TOR LF/CF/C Daulton Varsho (.298, 4 HR, 9 RBI) socks two homers in a 6-5 win over the Tigers, including a walkoff home run in the ninth inning.

The Phillies try to break out of their early-season funk with four homers in a 14-0 crushing of the Marlins.

Complaints and stuff

Starling Marte will be day-to-day with back spasms, which might hamper him the rest of the week, right, Dr. Vitrolescu? – Yes, surely. – Wait, why would you drain him of his blood?

I don’t think we quite wanna go there yet, Dr. Vitrolescu.

The Barves swept their double-header with the Reds, 3-1 and 6-1, and so extended their lead in the division to three full games. The Gnats lost to the Angels, 6-2.

And so we’re off to the West Coast. We won’t be back for a week and a half, and we’ll play a total of ten games in Oakland, L.A., and San Francisco. Tomorrow will be off, as will be the Monday after the road trip ends, which lessens the travel burdens at least. Due to the silly new schedule, the Mets would travel beyond St. Louis five separate times this year, twice for a single series in Colorado and Houston, respectively. The remaining NL West teams would be done away with in a combined Snakes/Padres trip in the final week before the All Star Game. The fifth trip involved the Royals, which were technically also west of St. Louis.

Bright sides: at least the chance for snowouts during our trips to Colorado (late May) and Minnesota (early September) was no greater than 25%.

[Westheim]

The Mets travelled West on Thursday, but did so without Joey Lucchesi (0-0, 4.15 ERA), who was diagnosed with a sprained ankle and expected to miss six weeks with that. He was off to the DL, and, lacking any reasonable left-handed replacement in AAA, the Mets promoted John Curtiss. The 30-year-old right-hander was a perfect 6-for-6 for Syracuse in saving games.

In other news

Another day, another walkoff homer against the Tigers, this time a 2-run home run in the 14th inning by TOR OF/2B/1B Whit Merrifield (.240, 1 HR, 6 RBI) for a 6-4 Blue Jays victory.

Complaints and stuff

No NL East team won on this Thursday – but only one played. It was the rotten Phillies, making up a deficit in the ninth inning in Cincinnati, only to fall to a walkoff home run by Spencer Steer, giving the Reds a 6-5 win.

[Westheim]

Mets (7-6) @ Athletics (6-7) – April 13-15, 2023

The A’s were in last place in the AL West, which didn’t come as much of a surprise, but were only a scratch under .500, which didn’t quite measure up to the amount of doom that had been predicted for the largely orphaned team before the season had started. There was a certain amount of writing on the wall, though; the team was batting only .212, worst in the league, and ranked 13th in runs scored in the AL, while also sitting in the bottom third in runs allowed. This might yet shake itself out to a 100-loss season. It surely had some makings of it.

Projected matchups:
David Peterson (1-1, 1.98 ERA) vs. James Kaprielian (0-1, 5.06 ERA)
Max Scherzer (0-3, 5.06 ERA) vs. JP Sears (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
Kodai Senga (2-0, 3.32 ERA) vs. Shintaro Fujinami (1-0, 1.72 ERA)

The Mets would use their off day to skip Tylor Megill (1-1, 8.59 ERA) to the end of the line. The A’s had not been off on Thursday, and had lost three straight to the Orioles on their way back home. They’d bring up two right-handers surrounding JP Sears.

Starling Marte was day-to-day with back spasms and was not expected to be in the field during this series. He was an option to DH against the lefty Sears on Saturday and to pinch-hit.

Game 1
NYM: CF Nimmo – RF McNeil – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – DH Vogelbach – LF Canha – 3B Escobar – 2B Guillorme – C Narvaez || P Peterson
OAK: RF E. Ruiz – 1B J. Aguilar – LF Capel – 3B Aled. Diaz – 2B Kemp – C Langeliers – DH Gregorius – SS N. Allen – CF Pache || P Kaprielian

Both A’s fans in attendance politely lifted their green caps as Mark Canha was introduced for the game, which saw Lindor single and Conner Capel double in the first inning, but both 2-out runners were stranded. Vogie singled past a diving Nick Allen to begin the top 2nd, after which Mark Canha reacquainted himself with his former hunting grounds and walloped a 420-footer to left-center. Both A’s fans in attendance rose and clapped politely. One lifted his cap again.

The A’s had base runner(s) in every inning against Peterson; he nicked Tony Kemp to begin the second, and he walked Cristian Pache to begin the third inning, although neither runner made it particularly far after that as the green team also readily struck out. The first two A’s made outs in the bottom 4th, but then Shea Langeliers reached with a chopper that ricocheted of the mound awkwardly for an infield single. Old NL East foe Didi Gregorius singled cleanly to right, and Nick Allen walked to fill the bases for Pache – who readily struck out to end the inning. Peterson offered a 2-out walk to Capel in the fifth, which also got the home team nowhere, but all the traffic and nine strikeouts through five innings had elevated his pitch count to the point where the Mets pen was going with purpose while the Metsies did nothing of note in the top 6th, which had been true for the previous few innings as well, maybe except the fifth, which Eduardo Escobar had opened with an infield single, and which had ended with Narvaez bunting into a double play.

Peterson started the bottom 6th against the left-handed batting Tony Kemp, plunked him, then gave up a double to Shea – named for a certain no longer extant baseball stadium in New York – Langeliers to put the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Gregorius grounded to Guillorme, who went for home, as did Kemp – and the runner was narrowly tagged out by Narvaez. That was the last batter for Peterson after five pitches of mayhem in the bottom 6th. Drew Smith gave up a sac fly to Nick Allen, but got a 2-1 lead out of the inning with a K on Pache.

Smith and Raley put the seventh together, while Kaprielian pitched into the eighth in a losing cause before being replaced with southpaw Ken Waldichuk when the Mets lineup arrived at the #8 spot with one out and nobody on, from where the next right-handed hitter was an 0-for-3 Big Pete. The Mets sent Peraza and Nido to pinch-hit – to no great effect. Tony Kemp in turn doubled to right against Raley to begin the bottom 8th, putting the tying run in scoring position. The next two A’s whiffed, while Allen grounded out against Daniel Bard.

For the ninth, Waldichuk sawed off the Mets’ 1-2-3 batters… except that Francisco Lindor reached base when strike three escaped through Langeliers’ legs and he darted it out to first base. Pete Alonso struck out anyway after that, handing a skinny lead to David Robertson. Nimmo, who hadn’t done anything on offense after two riotous games against the Padres, made a sliding catch on Pache to begin the bottom 9th. Esteury Ruiz flew out to McNeil. Jesus Aguilar struck out. 2-1 Mets. Canha 1-3, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

White Sox CF Luis Robert (.277, 3 HR, 11 RBI) ends a 13-inning game against the Orioles with a 3-run walkoff homer, for a 9-6 Sox win.

SEA 3B/SS Eugenio Suarez (.231, 3 HR, 14 RBI) takes until the 16th inning against the Rockies to hit his 3-run walkoff homer, this one for a 7-4 Mariners win.

Complaints and stuff

We had all of four base hits in that game. Slightly shambolic and barely masked by the W.

Which was more than what the Barves could claim. They also played a 2-1 game visiting a largely symbolic AL franchise, but took the L against the Royals while doing so. The Fish lost to the Snakes, 4-3, and the Phillies also fell by a run to the Reds, 3-2. The only other winner in the NL East on this day were the Gnats, who outlasted the Guardians, 6-4.

[Westheim]

Mets (8-6) @ Athletics (6-8) – April 15, 2023

Starling Marte with the bothersome back would DH in the middle game in Oakland, giving Jeff McNeil a day off. Left-hander JP Sears would oppose Max Scherzer. Neither of them had a win in 2023, and Scherzer had yet to escape the loss in any of his starts.

NYM: CF Nimmo – LF Canha – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – DH Marte – RF Locastro – 3B Escobar – 2B Peraza – C Nido || P Scherzer
OAK: 2B Kemp – LF Capel – 3B Aled. Diaz – DH Gregorius – RF E. Ruiz – SS N. Allen – 1B J. Peterson – C Pina – CF Pache || P Sears

Nicking Nimmo to begin the game, Sears got a double play grounder from Canha, then cruised the first time through the order. Only one batter from either team had a base hit in the first three innings, which was Manny Pina with a single to center in the bottom 3rd, but like the Mets, he steered clear of scoring position. Canha would hit a double in the fourth inning to get the Metsies as far as the H column, but he was stranded at second base with strikeouts to Lindor and Pete Alonso. Sir Didi in the fourth and Pina again in the fifth would also hit singles off Scherzer, but apart from that, both offenses were as dull as dishwater through five innings. Mad Max struck out four, while Sears nipped seven Mets with strikeouts.

Sears tired, however, and in the sixth inning got a groundout from Peraza, then was replaced with right-hander Domingo Acevedo, who promptly gave up a single to Tomas Nido. Nimmo flew out to center, while Acevedo nicked Canha, prompting audible disapproval from fans on either side of the argument. When Lindor doubled to center for two runs, Acevedo was lifted for Dany Jimenez, who struck out Pete to strand Lindor in scoring position. The following inning began with an infield single for Marte before Locastro grounded to short, where Nick Allen bobbled a potential double play into an error, and two on with nobody out. The Mets pounced with an RBI single for Escobar, and another run brought home by Luis Guillorme, who batted for Peraza and grounded out, but scored Locastro from third base, 4-0. Guillorme was then picked off first base for the second out by new pitcher Mason Miller, who also whiffed Nido to bring about stretch time.

Scherzer rapidly ran out of cruising speed in the bottom 7th, giving up three hits, including a triple to Allen, a single to the pestering Pina, and a double to heretofore hopeless Pache, conceding half the lead, which was whittled down to 4-2. Nimmo was back on in the eighth, and doubled off by Canha for a second time, but at least Ottavino pitched a perfect inning against the A’s’ 2-3-4 batters in the bottom 8th. Pete and McNeil hit singles in the ninth, but were left on with strikeouts by Escobar and Guillorme. Robertson then got the 2-run lead for the bottom 9th. Esteury Ruiz whiffed. Nick Allen grounded up the middle, with a nifty play by Guillorme for the second out. Jace Peterson singled – but the unretireable Manny Pina was finally retired with a fly to center. 4-2 Mets. Scherzer 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-3);

In other news

The previously 2-10 Tigers sweep a rain-induced double-header from the Giants, 7-5 and 6-5. Both shortstops, Detroit’s Javier Baez (.283, 4 HR, 13 RBI) and San Fran’s Brandon Crawford (.375, 2 HR, 5 RBI), homer in both ends of the double-header.

Complaints and stuff

Dr. Vitrolescu reports that Justin Verlander’s return will be delayed – his shoulder needs more bloodsucking.

What’s that again? – Massages? – Sorry, Dr. Vitrolescu, I at first heard bloodsucking. – Of course, who’d do such a thing…!? (uncomfortable laughter)

The NL East swept their opposition on this Saturday. The Gnats (7-5 vs. CLE) and Marlins (7-6 vs. ARI) won at home, the Phillies (4-0 @ CIN) and Barves (12-3 @ KC) won on the road, and there was no material change in the division as a result.

So the Mets were still second in the division, two games out, but now held the top wild card for the time being. We had also won four straight, the longest active stretch in the National League. The Blue Jays (7) and Angels (5) had longer winning streaks in the AL, though.

[Westheim]

Mets (9-6) @ Athletics (6-9) – April 16, 2023

Last day on this side of the Bay, and we had an all-Japanese matchup going on for Sunday. Neither of the two “rookies” had yet lost an MLB game.

NYM: CF Nimmo – RF McNeil – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – DH Vogelbach – LF Canha – 3B Escobar – 2B Guillorme – C Narvaez || P Senga
OAK: 3B J. Peterson – LF Capel – DH Gregorius – 1B S. Brown – RF E. Ruiz – 2B Aled. Diaz – C Langeliers – SS N. Allen – C Pache || Fujinami

Senga was the first to make a bid for it; Seth Brown singled to left to start the second inning for Oakland, and a walk to Ruiz only increased the pressure. Shea Langeliers and Nick Allen both added singles, the latter driving in two runs from a bases-loaded situation, before Cristian Pache found a double play to hit sharply into. The A’s went up to a 3-0 lead the inning after that, getting a triple into the cavernous gap from Conner Capel, and while Gregorius grounded out to first to keep the runner pinned with the second out, Narvaez lost hold of a ball thrown to Brown, the ball kicked away, and Capel scored on the passed ball…

The Mets were mostly perplexed against Fujinami. Through five innings, they had a McNeil single, Canha getting plunked, and Big Pete drawing a walk, and erased two of those with double play grounders, while ignoring the third runner entirely. Lindor and Pete would hit somewhat sharp singles in the sixth inning, but there were already two outs, and Capel would retire Vogelbach on a shoestring catch in shallow left to strand those runners.

Barring any Mets offense, all one could do was to continue to watch Senga sink into the Bay. He pitched through seven innings, but gave up an RBI double to Capel with two outs in the bottom 7th, which put the rather annoying Capel a homer shy of the cycle, and the Mets a grand slam shy of a tied ballgame.

Top 8th, Hogan Harris appeared; the left-hander walked Nimmo and McNeil to begin the inning, but then got strike three past Lindor and Big Pete. Marte got out of bed to bat for Vogelbach, and while that prompted a pitching change from the A’s, they only brought in a new left-hander, Ken Waldichuk. Marte singled to center, Nimmo scored from second base, and the Mets were finally on the damn old, probably hand-cranked and sewage-soiled board. Mark Canha was the tying run, but struck out, which left the home crowd, Hipster Bob and his soulmate Wanda in the top row of the very cheap seats and drawing from a sad-looking fag, with rather mixed feelings. John Curtiss threw a scoreless bottom 8th before Trevor May was put into the ninth to save the game from his previous team. Escobar, Guillorme, and Nido went down in order. 4-1 Athletics. Marte (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In other news

A ninth-inning triple by TOR C Danny Jansen (.265, 1 HR, 7 RBI) is the only thing keeping the Blue Jays from being no-hit by TB SP Shane McClanahan (2-0, 0.57 ERA), who leaves two outs short of a completed no-no, and CL Jason Adam (1-1, 5.40 ERA, 5 SV), who strands the runner to complete a 2-0 Rays win.

The Cubs also amount to no more than one base hit, that one by Nico Hoerner (.308, 0 HR, 2 RBI) against LAD SP Ryan Pepiot (1-1, 9.00 ERA) and three relievers. The Dodgers win 2-0.

TB INF Taylor Walls (.212, 0 HR, 3 RBI) will miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum.

The Giants acquire Hunter Harvey (1-2, 8.10 ERA, 4 SV) from the Nationals for three minor leaguers.

AL Player of the Week: LAA RF Hunter Renfroe (.312, 4 HR, 17 RBI), batting .562 (9-16) with 1 HR, 10 RBI
NL Player of the Week: COL 3B Warming Bernabel (.304, 3 HR, 10 RBI), hitting .462 (12-26) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

If the offense keeps going like that, it will be a long week on the National League side of California. Brrr, the Dodgers.

Atlanta drubbed the Royals, 11-1, to re-establish that 3-game lead of theirs, while the Gnats beat the Guardians on a walkoff homer for three runs by Alex Call, 6-3. The Phillies and Fish lost to the Reds and Snakes, respectively, 5-4 in both instances.

[Westheim]

Mets (9-7) @ Dodgers (11-5) – April 17-19, 2023

Well, this was potentially gonna be a tough series… The Dodgers led the NL West and ranked in the top four in both runs scored and runs allowed so far. They were of course perennial postseason contenders, but they also had a flurry of injuries, primarily to pitchers: Walker Buehler, Blake Treinen, J.P. Feyereisen were all out for the season, as was infielder Gavin Lux. Tony Gonsolin, Daniel Hudson were also out, and somehow they were still winning, winning, and winning.

Projected matchups:
Carlos Carrasco (1-0, 2.76 ERA) vs. Clayton Kerhsaw (2-0, 2.70 ERA)
Tylor Megill (1-1, 8.59 ERA) vs. Dustin May (1-2, 6.00 ERA)
David Peterson (2-1, 1.89 ERA) vs. Noah Syndergaard (1-0, 2.33 ERA)

A lefty, a righty, and … and where had I seen that last guy before…?

Starling Marte was back in the field on Monday.

NYM: CF Nimmo – LF Canha – SS Lindor – 1B Alonso – RF Marte – 2B McNeil – 3B Escobar – C Nido – DH Pham || P Carrasco
LAD: LF T. Thompson – 3B M. Vargas – 1B Freeman – RF Betts – C W. Smith – 2B Muncy – DH D. Peralta – CF Outman – SS M. Rojas || P Kershaw

The Dodgers scattered three hits the first time through, including a James Outman (who?) double in the second inning, but didn’t score against Cookie, leaving all their runners in scoring position. Clayton Kershaw, going through the motions while waiting for getting his Hall of Fame plaque chiseled, struck out five Mets the first time through without allowing a hit, but then gave up a 2-out homer to Nimmo in the top 3rd to fall 1-0 behind. The Dodgers didn’t take long to take the lead off the board; Mookie Betts drew a walk in the fourth inning, stole second base, and was doubled home in the left-center gap on a zinger by David Peralta. Outman was out to Marte in right this time though, and the inning ended with the score still tied.

Kershaw whiffed ten against two hits in five innings, but left with a no-decision immediately after that for a bit of a surprise. Phil Bickford replaced him, and the Mets immediately put Nimmo on base. He tried to steal, but never got a jump, while the 2-3 chumps couldn’t buy a hit, either. Pete walked with two outs, which was at least not making it all worse, and then Marte celebrated returning to the lineup with a big ha-rumph to left for a 3-run homer, just as the first patrons were starting to leave to beat traffic.

Cookie did six, and would have had some capacity for more, but was lifted for Raley with the left-handed array of 6-7-8 up in the bottom 7th. David Peralta singled, but was forced out on Outman’s grounder. The Mets went on to Bard, who gave up three straight sharp singles to Miguel Rojas, the old Fishhead, Trayce Thompson, and Miguel Vargas to whittle the Mets’ lead down to 4-3, before Freedie Freeman, of all people, stopped the Mets killing and grounded out. Ottavino gave up a single to Muncy in the eighth, but held on, and while some insurance to that 4-3 lead would have been nice, Yency Almonte gave up nothing of substance in 2.1 innings of relief, and Marte’s, McNeil’s, and Escobar’s fortune improved precious little in the ninth against Evan Philipps. Thus, David Robertson and no cushion for the ninth inning. He gave up a leadoff walk to Outman, which gave me some nasty flashbacks. Rojas bunted the runner into scoring position, but Thompson struck out. Vargas was the last guy up for the Dodgers, grounded to Escobar – and was thrown out to end the ballgame. 4-3 Mets! Nimmo 2-4, HR, RBI; Vogelbach (PH) 1-1; Carrasco 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

In other news

The Rays beat the Reds, 10-8, in Cincinnati. 11 of the 18 runs score in the fifth inning with a 5-run inning for Tampa and a 6-run inning for the home team, but the rally falls short.

Complaints and stuff

Scratch win on six hits, two of them homers, which drove in all the runs. I’ll complain about it more when we put up another losing streak, but the offense sure looks cruddy.

What we need even more is a lefty reliever, though, because I don’t get the feeling that we’ll get by with just Brooks Raley.

Also out here in Cali: the Barves. They had just the same type of scratch win on Monday, beating the Padres, 2-1. The Fish also played an NL West team, but at home, and lost to the Giants, 2-1 in 10 innings. The Phillies were in Chicago, and beat the White Sox, 4-2 in 13 innings. All of this actually made the Padres the worst team in the National League (and MLB as a whole) now, with a 4-14 record.