Scherzer Shelled by Padres as Mets Season On Brink

 PADRES 7 - METS 1

So this is what it comes down to?

After 101 wins, a season full of so much promise, so many memories and good feelings, it could all be over come Saturday night. 

The New York Mets not only lost Game 1 of their NL Wild Card series to the San Diego Padres, they were annihilated. 

Max Scherzer, the Mets $43 million man at the age of 38, suffered his worst start -- not only of this season -- but of his entire career in the postseason.  The former three-time Cy Young Award winner got shellacked for four home runs, seven earned runs, and was out of the ball game before the fifth inning concluded. 

Not since 2011, when he gave up nine runs over two starts with the Detroit Tigers in that year's ALCS has Scherzer been this bad in a postseason game. 

You can talk about oblique's all you want, and certainly Scherzer hasn't been himself for well over a month, but in his last two outings, when the Mets needed him the most -- he wasn't there to answer the call. 

 

 So when Manny Machado's line drive home run to left landed off the facade of the Wall of Flushing, Buck Showalter removed Schezer to a cascade of boos. 

Not since Tom Glavine in the final game of the 2007 season has a Mets starter been given such a loud Bronx cheer. 

But one can understand why. Josh Bell crushed a two-run bomb of Scherzer in the top of the first. Then in the second inning, Trent Grischam went long to make it 3-0 Padres. Jurickson Profar provided the back-breaker with a three-run bomb that hit the foul pole in right to make it 6-0 in the top of the fifth. A few batters later Machado sent Scherzer to the showers. 

The Mets offense continued its catatonic state as Yu Darvish dominated the Mets over seven innings of six hit ball, allowing only an Eduardo Escobar solo homer. That was it. It was the Yu Darvish show as he had the Mets totally befuddled. 

Now the Amazin's turn to Jacob deGrom to fix this mess. The Mets ace the past seven years, ironically has never pitched at Citi Field in a playoff game, now will get his shot in a win-or-go-home Game 2 on Saturday night. 

Will this be deGrom's last game as a Met? Sure hope not. And for the Mets, they need him to at least extend this season one more day into Sunday.