Reed Garrett and Adam Ottavino were good, but Jake Diekman was not — handed a 4-3 lead in the ninth, he surrendered a pinch-hit double and a home run (Ketel Marte‘s second of the afternoon) to put the Mets in their familiar behind-the-eight-ball position before an out was recorded. How familiar? Since May 1 the Mets have coughed up six leads after leading through eight, which is the kind of thing that turns casual fans into ex-fans and sends the diehards back into therapy. (Particularly when the game ends with the sight of perennially irritating Met Jonah Paul Sewald triumphant on the mound.)
For me, the real issue isn’t Diekman’s failure, but my sinking feeling that you can rearrange the above three Met names as a Mad Libs of purposelessness, throwing in Drew Smith and other bullpen colleagues as you see fit. Maybe tonight Diekman and Ottavino will be good but Garrett will fail, or maybe Smith and Dedniel Nunez … you get the idea.
Such are the serial failures of junky enterprises: Something different breaks every day, until consternation gives way to bleak assessment.
At least if you were at the park you got a nice day, a Darryl Strawberry bobblehead (if you came early enough) and a J.D. Martinez triple — back-to-back triples, in fact! All neat, but soon it’ll be hot as blazes, the Mets have gone about as deep down the nostalgia well as they can, and J.D. triples are as rare as Met relievers converting saves.
Ahead lies D.C. and then a trip to London, which one fears will amount to giving hapless English fans an object lesson in how baseball shouldn’t be played. Though perhaps, as our Twitter buddy D.J. Short cracked, “it’s actually good timing for the Mets to go to London. Maybe they just take the summer off and backpack through Europe.”
Is NY Mets reliever Jake Diekman the second-coming of “beloved” former Mets reliever, Gene Walter?
As they might say in London, this team is bollocks!
I just laughed and laughed and laughed when Marte hit the go ahead homer. To keep from crying, of course. Again.
London: Alright then, we’ve had quite enough of the Jacksonville Jaguars. What have you chaps got for us this summer?
MLB: You’re in luck, Limeys, you’re getting…the NEW YORK METS!
London: …
London: [string of expletives]
London: We’ll never stop paying for Yorktown. Ever.
Suggested change in batting order:
1. Nimmo
2. Marte
3. Alonso
4. Martinez
5. Vientos
6. Alvarez
7. Lindor
8. Bader
9. McNeil
Forget about “lefty/righty” concerns.
The deep analysis of Mendoza/Gibbons has produced a team capable of winning less than
70 games in a season.
Looks like a better lineup to me!
Back in my childhood long ago, there was a pretty good pitcher and future Hall of Famer named Early Wynn. My father, being an English teacher and terrible punster, always called him Late Lose. The way the Mets continue to cough up games in the 9th inning evokes memories of my father. Late Lose indeed.
Hey sports fans!
What are the chances of a blog post on how Steve Cohen hasn’t delivered on his great rhetorical expectations? Of course no one knows the future but to be fair and honest this has been a MAJOR LEAGUE DISAPPOINMENT!
Thanks.
Loyal and longtime reader who’s had enough of the talk talk talk
You know, it irks me that a month ago or so, Gary Cohen was crowing about the bullpen being “spectacular.” I don’t believe in jinxes and this obviously is not Gary’s fault — but maybe wait a little longer before pronouncing the bullpen “spectacular?”
I gave up a few hours of my life for this? I want a refund.
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As an English citizen, i am attending the 2 games in London
As my attendance record so far in 2024 is – attended 6 lost 6 (Home Opening Series and the 3 in Cleveland)and we are playing a very,very good team. apologies in advance for the 2 forthcoming defeats.