A rain delay couldn’t wash away much of the New York Mets poor performance tonight as the Washington Nationals beat them down 5 – 0. The Nationals have now taken the first two games of the series. The Mets are now 40 – 37, and are five games back from first place. They sit in third place behind the Marlins and the Nationals. If the Mets can’t prove that they can beat the first place Nationals now, it’s time to just well, yeah. It’s time to just think about next year.
As the announcers joked about Matt Harvey being out of sunflower seeds while sitting in the dugout and that the night couldn’t get much worse, it really is no joke. It can get worse. Let’s start with the two losses to the Nationals. Let’s continue by talking about the fact that Curtis Granderson, who hit the wall hard when going for a catch, never came back from the 1-hour, 25 minute rain delay. There was also a 55-minute rain delay at the beginning of the game. According to the New York Mets, Granderson was unable to get his muscles loose.
Harvey, after starting the game, was pulled after the rain delay.
Let’s talk about the fact that the New York Mets confirmed on Tuesday that both pitchers Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard are both suffering from bone spurs in the backs of their elbows – their pitching elbows. So the Mets pushed back Matz’s performance to Thursday against the Chicago Cubs. He needs rest for now, surgery later. The surgery will probably be done in the off season. If that sounds familiar we already lost David Wright, Lucas Duda and a handful of other Mets who are struggling with injuries. The list just keeps getting longer.
According to the Mets, Thor’s spur isn’t as bad as Matz’ and he won’t need surgery, but he needs a little bit of rest because, in case you didn’t know, bone spurs can be very painful. “I think what we have a tendency to do around here is kind of manufacture anxiety,” says New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson. “But I don’t think that anxiety is the proper response in Syndergaard’s case. And in the case of Steven Matz, it’s pretty clear-cut as well. He’ll either be able to pitch and tolerate the discomfort, or he won’t.”
Matz responded with, “If I’m claiming to be able to pitch, then I have no excuses. I expect myself to go out and pitch like I can.”
The Mets had five hits tonight, but once again left a bunch of men on base – something that needs to be fixed if they have any chance of digging themselves out of this hole.
Unfortunately Matt Harvey got the loss tonight, making him 4 – 10 on the year. He pitched only 3.2 innings and struck out three (side note Matt – keep the beard). The Mets bullpen couldn’t do much to keep the Nationals at Bay as both Robles and Blevins gave up 2 runs each.
Now Mets players let me give you some incentive – to understand this you need to turn to the lyrics of Manhattan’s hottest Broadway musical right now, Hamilton:
I am not throwing away my shot, I’m just like my country, I’m young scrappy and hungry and I’m not throwing away my shot.
Stop throwing away your shot. Get Hungry and Now!
In Wednesday night’s game against the Nationals, the Mets will put Logan Verrett on the mound in place of Matz, who is resting his bone spur. Verrett will step in to make his fifth spot start of the season. He’s had two good ones and two bad ones filling in for various pitchers, posting a 5.79 ERA overall in those games. He’ll face right-handed pitcher Max Scherzer who, since he joined the Nationals at the start of last season, has posted a 2.00 ERA in five starts against the Mets, including an outing on May 17 this season when he allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts.
