GIANTS 3 - METS 2
Another night, another one-run loss for the New York Mets.
It has become a common occurrence for New York during a stretch of games we all knew were going to be incredibly difficult. In 13 games against the LA Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, the Mets were 2-11.
In eight of those losses, the Mets lost by two-runs or less, meaning that each and every single night has been more excruciating than the night before. Take the past two games for example.
The Mets had every chance to do something against the Giants on Wednesday, but couldn't do it. They had the bases loaded twice, and managed only one run, only because of a Kris Bryant throwing error at third on a Pete Alonso grounder.
Alonso, by the way, the man who tried to do his best Kevin Bacon in Animal House impression last week when the Mets were in the midst of losing to San Francisco and LA on the road, grounded out twice in that contest, including with the bases full in the 9th inning.
He isn't the only culprit.
There is plenty of blame to go around. How about manager Luis Rojas pulling starting pitcher Taijuan Walker from the game Wednesday when he was cruising with a 2-0 lead, only to see the bullpen blow it. He followed that horrible decision with a ridiculous press conference in which he channeled his inner Art Howe, saying his players "battled."
Nice job Luis.
How about the rest of the struggling Mets? Jeff McNeil? Michael Conforto? JD Davis? Javier Baez? And the $340 million man himself, Francisco Lindor? All of them have struggled with runners in scoring position all season. All of them have struggled to produce this year.
In fact, the Mets are hitting only .212 as a team with runners in scoring position and two out.
It has been that kind of season for the Mets. One that started out with so much promise has come crashing back down to earth in so many inexplicable ways.
New York is now 14-26 since the All Star break. They are 61-66 on the season; 7.5 games behind the surging Atlanta Braves, who now sit atop the NL East.
The season is all but over.
For new owner Steve Cohen, now is the time for him to jump off Twitter, accept blame where he has to, such as allowing his front office to do virtually nothing to improve this team at the All Star Break, and screwing up the Jacob deGrom injury, and hold others accountable.
It's time for Steve Cohen to show that he is going to be a different owner than his predecessors. This off-season, which for all intents and purposes begins now, is about getting this ship fixed and moving in the right direction.
The Mets cannot bring back a roster that has players like McNeil, McCann and Conforto on the roster. It can't have pitchers like Rich Hill and Jeryus Familia on staff. It can't have Luis Rojas managing, or Zach Scott running the show as Sand Alderson's puppet GM.
Things need to change, and now is the time for Steve Cohen to live up to it.
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