Just a Loss

The good news, such as it is: Tuesday night’s loss to the Nationals was just a loss. No record scratch, no talk-radio meltdown, no requirement to sit in a dark room and ponder.

It was an annoying yet pretty interesting slow drip of a game, won by a team that slapped and blooped singles, worked out walks and stole bases and lost by one that failed to do the same. Hard-hit balls were few and far between: this was almost a game borrowed from the deadball era. Perhaps not what we’d want as a steady diet, but mildly refreshing in an age of titanium-thewed sluggers, nuclear-armed hurlers and baseballs concealing cores of Tigger-bottom’ed springs.

Zack Wheeler took the mound without the electric stuff he’d shown off in Miami — the slider in particular was unfortunately MIA. He hung in there, and it would be wrong to say the Nationals hit him hard. He also seemed to learn a valuable lesson later in the game: he started pounding the strike zone with his fastball, which is more in line with the philosophy espoused by Mickey Callaway and Dave Eiland, and yielded far better results.

The Mets, meanwhile, were undone by an utter lack of clutch hits, with two at-bats particularly annoying. In the sixth, back-to-back singles by Juan Lagares and Tomas Nido put the tying run on third with one out. That spelled the end both pitchers’ nights at once: Gio Gonzalez departed in favor of Sammy Solis, and Wheeler was called back to the dugout for a pinch-hitter. Callaway opted to pass over Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Lobaton, choosing 0-for-2018 Jose Reyes.

Reyes fanned helplessly at a 2-1 pitch, then was dismissed on a half-swing. The Mets did not score.

The Nats did, and in unlikely fashion. Robert Gsellman was asked to pitch to Bryce Harper with first base open, one out and 2018 human out Ryan Zimmerman on deck. Another head-scratching Callaway call, except Gsellman retired Harper on an easy fly, making the manager look like a genius. Gsellman then gave up an RBI single to Zimmerman, because baseball is perverse and will kill you.

That made it 4-2, and in the bottom of the seventh the Mets faced a smaller-scale version of the sixth inning: consecutive one-out singles by Yoenis Cespedes and Wilmer Flores put a runner on third and brought up Todd Frazier. Frazier struck out against Ryan Madson, swinging nearly as wildly as Reyes had. For all intents and purposes that ended the game, unless you wish to further explore the heroics of annoyingly good young Nats catcher Pedro Severino or a fruitless AB from Asdrubal Cabrera, which your recapper does not wish to do.

Given two nearly identical at-bats with poor outcomes, it may seem unfair to pick on Reyes while excusing Frazier. But there’s a wider context here: Frazier filled a Mets offseason need and has played superb defense, collected big hits and won accolades in the clubhouse.

On the other hand, Reyes’s return didn’t make a lick of sense in the first place, and read like the Mets locked up a Plan B because they weren’t sure ownership would approve the more expensive Plan A. Reyes had the most ABs on the 2017 Mets, which is as thorough an indictment of that wretched season as the name “Tommy Milone.” It’s good that he’s no longer an everyday player; unfortunately he’s never been a bench player and shows no sign of being suited to that role. Reyes has decayed into a singles hitter, he’s no longer automatic stealing bases, and the most charitable description of his range afield would be “better than Flores.” Being a mentor to Amed Rosario doesn’t justify a roster spot which would be better filled by Phillip Evans, a far superior hitter who gives the Mets more defensive options, or by Ty Kelly if for some reason Evans makes too much sense.

There’s simply no reason for Reyes to be a Met any longer; unfortunately, eating his $2 million salary would be admitting an offseason mistake, something I can’t see the Wilpons allowing until summer at the earliest. Until they decide it’s time, make Jose the league’s most expensive bench coach. Nostalgia is pretty curdled in his case anyway, given his off-field issues. But even in the absence of such unhappy considerations, holding on to the past is a fatal mistake in baseball. Callaway shouldn’t be bound by it as a newcomer to the Mets, while Sandy Alderson should get his flinty-eyed Marine on and remind his bosses that the Mets shouldn’t waste a heaven-sent start.