Yes, Ramon De Jesus’s umpire scorecard is going to be a thing to behold. (It’ll show up here [1] if you want to torture yourself.) The most egregious missed call was, rather obviously, the ball four on Francisco Alvarez [2] that was called strike three, turning a bases-loaded situation for the Mets into the end of an inning. But there were others — and Adrian Johnson got into the act at first base as well, punching out Mark Vientos [3] on a checked swing that was on the check side of swing.
It was a total ump show, and yet another exhibit in the case for taking balls and strikes away from the umpires as soon as possible, because their mistakes turn the course of games all the time, sometimes in high-profile situations that everyone squawks about but more often in smaller but real ways you have to be a student of the game to note.
But that’s been true for a long time; the missed call against Alvarez isn’t any kind of tipping point. Meanwhile, it wasn’t De Jesus who robbed Sean Manaea [4]‘s stuff of its bite, or who threw a 2-2 meatball to Rhys Hoskins [5] (of course it was fucking Hoskins), or who let the Brewers run wild on the bases, or who let Brice Turang [6] score a free run on a wild pitch, or who left a sinker in the middle of the plate where momentary Met Gary Sanchez [7] could hit it halfway across Lake Michigan.
No, various Mets did all of those things — for the second game in a row (separated by two nights of MLB nonsense), they came out flat and were thoroughly outclassed [8] by the opposition. And there were other problems, such as Francisco Lindor [9] returning but looking like he couldn’t get much on throws to first, or Alvarez being felled by back spasms, or Jose Iglesias [10] — one of the few Mets who’s kept hitting — taking a ball off his ankle.
(The Padres beat the Diamondbacks, so at least that’s something.)
The vagaries of the wild-card chase mean the Mets can’t be eliminated until Monday. But the way they’re playing right now, getting to play Monday is starting to feel like a poisoned chalice. Things can change, but they need to change in a hell of a hurry.