Not by the Mets — I was at least a reasonably well-behaved guest up in section 339 with my work colleagues, a long way from home plate and the pitches David Peterson didn’t throw in sufficient proximity to it. Rather, I’ve been banned by my kid on suspicion of being a jinx.
I’m 0-for-4 in outings to see the Mets this year, but it’s more the nature of the season-long oh-fer that’s generated concern. When I go, the Mets don’t just lose — they play like they guzzled a gallon of cough syrup in the clubhouse. They walk guys, give up big hits, play sloppy defense, fail to hit when it’s desperately needed, run the bases in a shoddy matter, and walk around muttering under their own little black cloud of crumminess.
That was front and center in Tuesday night’s loss to the Cubs, which started out unlucky and turned alternately boring and frustrating. And then Wednesday night was worse, as Peterson endured a Charlie Brown-style undressing at the hands of the Cubs and the Mets were stymied in their sputtering attempts to come back. It was endless and perplexing and tooth-grinding and frustrating and a lot of other words you don’t want attached to your ballgame experience.
My kid issued the warning Tuesday night, and that crooked number in the first made me think he had a point. As did something that happened a little later: I checked my phone at around 10, expecting to see the Braves had put up a run or three in the first in San Francisco, and discovered to my surprise that the game had already concluded. (The Giants won; we’re grateful to them and to old friend J.D. Davis.)
My God, I thought. If I’d known I would have checked … and that would have gone badly too.
I know this is nonsense. I can’t affect the outcome of a game from 500 feet away. You may as well blame the Mets’ recent run of ineptitude on the spotted lanternfly or the restless shade of Queen Elizabeth II. (Not that you asked, but I mostly blame bad luck — plus the absence of Starling Marte, who lengthens the lineup and brings a certain swagger to the proceedings.)
But as I do fairly often in trying to make sense of baseball, I’ll rely on the counsel of Crash Davis. As Crash told Nuke Laloosh and then Annie Savoy, you respect a streak. And OK, that means I’m banned. I have a ticket for the Oct. 5 finale, and I’ll only go if the Mets’ fate has already been determined. Otherwise, it’s the couch for me — and if these games keep going the way they have, by Oct. 5 I’ll be watching what happens while peeking out from behind it.
Max had ok outing last night at ‘cuse which is about only good sign now. Megill’s 1/3 inning/5 runs the night before as bad a Peterson’s. Drew Smith pitched shutout inning but gave up 2 hits. Mets best (only?) high achiever in AAA now is Jake Mangum who has raked all year at AAA then AA then back to AAA, .335 and hot now (though little power)….Alvarez has now played only 2 games coming back from injury….Dom doing okay lately.
Braves have stumbled for now while the Cardinals have crept closer to the 2nd bye.
Phillies have an outside shot to move up to the 1st wildcard or even the division lead, but they need to dominate the Braves in their 2 series to do it.
Alternatively, the Phillies can move up without dominating if the Mets keep losing.
Since game 2 of the Nationals series the Mets have lost 5 straight at home in games that haven’t been competitive.
I was at last night’s atrocity, sitting 6 rows behind the Mets’ dugout. Pete looked like he was ready to twist his own head off and smash it on the ground at one point.
As a Get-Off-My-Lawn aside, there were 2 morons near me screeching inanities at Cub pitchers all game. It’s one thing when – maybe – an entire park yelling, say, “Darrrrr-yllllll” might actually get in a player’s head. But, genius, do you really think that yelling “hey 50! 50! Nobody’s gonna retire your number!” at a professional player who does everything better than you, including breathing, is helping?
We made it to the first inning of the September 14 game this season before I made my annual pronouncement: “I need to stop paying attention to this team for a little while.” That’s a lot later in the season than usual! But is there such a thing as a baseball season where a fan doesn’t find the need to look away at some point?
Among your litany of examples of bad play, you could have also added how they’ve grounded into double plays seemingly every time they get 2 on with 0 out…
Vientos is now 0 for 10 since his call-up, making Baty’s .184 BA look good. That’s as frustrating as anything else since we hoped the Mets’ vaunted hitting prospects would be a bandaid for the slumping offense. With the rookies failing, I can understand why Showalter has played Ruf and Vogelbach hoping they’ll figure it out. Now only Alvarez is left as an untested hope. Or hope Dom Smith has figured out his slump. After that, there’s nothing else to try.
Having attended all three of the Cubs games, I can tell you that there has been a weird vibe both on the field and in the stands. The post-Labor Day sparse crowds, having very little to cheer about, have been oddly quiet, and a series of strange incidents in play (especially Tuesday night) and surprising Cub defensive heroics have thwarted the locals. The timely hitting also appears to have disappeared for now. The hope here is that they have 18 games to recover from this stretch of trying too hard and pressing. Peterson’s outing did conjure memories of that fateful 1/3 of an inning performance by Tom Glavine in the final game of that year that came after 2006 (not to be otherwise mentioned here). Interesting that Buck had a very quick hook for Peterson in Miami, and painfully allowed him enough rope to give up 4 runs last night after walking the first three batters when he obviously could not command his fastball or get his slider over for a strike. I get that Buck’s “remain calm, all is well” mode of operation works well in Panic City over the long haul, and nobody wants to see him turn into Gene Mauch, but greater sensitivity to the urgency of the situation would be welcome here. Another theme that has emerged for pedestrian opposing pitchers is that to beat the Mets, you should throw strikes and neutralize their patient approach at the plate. It will be incumbent upon Chavez & Co. to recognize this dynamic and adjust accordingly.
yes, that vibe has come across on the screen as well. i keep seeing 07. first place team, shea looking empty and depressing. last nite when i heard on the radio “third best record in the majors” still describing the mets it was hard to believe.
buck is doing his best rojas. he got the team fired up leading the charge when pete (?) was plunked early season. he could have fought hard and gotten ejected over the horrible non-interference call tuesday night and maybe lit the fire to get this team to the finish line on their feet. and where is chavez? did quatelbaum take over again?
an already snake-bitten peterson getting the nod in a must-win game when williams was available? and when peterson is supposed to go to the ‘pen.
i might just skip the game tonite and get in a long bike ride.
…and lastly (for now!)
i told a friend many months back that marte was the straw that stirred the mets’ drink.
he was skeptical but marte’s been the stealth team mvp imo. he makes everybody better while making it look deceptively easy.
low key and top shelf!
i really hope he’s back before it’s too later (sic)!
Jason-
Not your fault or mine (3,000 miles away) that this is happening.
I don’t want to further jinx anything by doubting jinxes
Going to these games now must be like having a root canal with NO sedative!
As to the “weird vibe” at Citi Field–I get the same vibe just watching the pre-game show and GKR before 1st pitch.
I thought our beloved Keith & Ron were very smug yesterday-making jokes about NY being Panic City….. with smiles.
The games-I won’t watch these shit shows–it’s like when I went drinking in college with pals and they got sick later on.
You did NOT have to be in the bathroom with them to know what was going on.
For me-
Flushing, we have a problem–a warning light is on…..!
Let’s just hope we have hit bottom………..
Let’s Go Mets!
… darn those spotted lanternflies…
It’s gotten to the point where homer-in-hiding Gary Cohen is invoking the end of the season(s) whose name(s) shall not be mentioned.
The last Mets win I attended in person? The Rey Ordonez game, opening day 1996.True story. This is why I rarely go to games anymore.
Sat down to watch the game and thought “I wonder which David Peterson will show up tonight?” Got my answer quicker than I would have preferred. I guess the Cubs got a little revenge for 2015.
Trying to find a silver lining in the series. A bunch of no-name, often bad relievers pitched well. Pete hit two bases-empty HRs. That’s pretty thin. Yeesh.
…like a tinfoil wrapper.
And the Braves are off tonight, so no matter what happens they’ll have 2 games in hand over the Mets.
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