The Mets are really good, but playing against competition several ticks above the last week’s slate of opponents will remind you that other teams are good too. Like the Dodgers — who now have 34 wins to the Mets’ 35 but are also 17 games over .500, standing with them, the Yankees and the Astros as baseball’s beasts so far.
It’s easy to be disappointed when your team gets shut out on just three hits, but superb pitching will do that to you, and the Dodgers have that. That and much more — they have solid defense, a tough bench and a deep lineup that added Freddie Freeman [1] to what was already a fairly murderous row, which just seems mean. Granted, the Mets now have to face Freeman fewer times a year than when he was an Atlanta Brave, but I would have preferred not facing him at all. Same goes for Trea Turner [2], another relocated destroyer of dreams.
The Mets didn’t do much to support a solid start by Taijuan Walker [3] — the highlight was a coolly executed rundown, which was absolutely the kind of play previous incarnations of this team would have turned into a shotgun aimed at their own feet. I’m sure a cross-country flight without an off-day didn’t help. Nor did the absence of Francisco Lindor [4], undone by a hotel-room door that developed a taste for shortstop finger. (I can neither confirm or deny that Buck Showalter [5] was spotted standing in the hall glowering at said door once it had done its nefarious business.) And of course facing Tony Gonsolin [6] helped least of all — sometimes it’s not so much what your own guys failed to do as it is what the guys in the other colors managed to do.
It’s easy to be disappointed, but what a welcome change to be disappointed by losing a two-run game [7] to a team as well-constructed as any in the sport. We’ve come a long way in a short time, haven’t we?