After five days of electric baseball, the Mets once again look like someone pulled the plug out of the wall.
At least — and those are never good words to see up high in a recap — this time they didn’t look flat enough to slip under a door, the way they did in the opener against the Cubs. They just couldn’t do anything with Marcus Stroman, a Met I was fond of before he turned prickly and strange, or perhaps was revealed to have been that way all along. Whatever you think of Stroman, he had it all working on Wednesday night. Met after Met pounded balls into the ground to be hoovered up by Cub infielders, with Stroman himself turning a lickety-split double play that reminded you he’d come by his Gold Glove honestly. He put more than a little mustard on a play or two and clearly revelled in taking it to his old team — and that’s fine, baseball needn’t be played like it’s being played by a convention of stoics gathered in a library reading room.
The Mets’ highlights? There was exactly one: Francisco Alvarez socking a line drive through the Wrigley winds into the bleachers and giving the Mets a brief-lived 2-0 lead. Starling Marte showed some signs of life with a determined walk, I suppose, but that feels like awfully faint praise. The bullpen was good after Drew Smith. Other than that? Pete Alonso made a horrid baserunning blunder, while Kodai Senga‘s accomplishment was merely being beaten instead of getting trucked. The game ended with the Mets trudging away sporting creased brows, faraway looks and a .500 record.
What’s to be done? Maybe move on from the back-of-the-milk carton trio of Marte, Daniel Vogelbach and Mark Canha, who’ve been plaintively asking HAVE YOU SEEN ME? all season with June coming up fast? Give more ABs to Mark Vientos? See if Ronny Mauricio‘s ready for the next stage? Wait for this weird-ass Dr. Jekyll of a team to turn back into Mr. Hyde? (Or is that the other way around?) Get special dispensation to stop playing at Wrigley, which has inexplicably been a house of horrors for years now? Do nothing and simply hang on for dear life while plummeting down chutes and zipping up ladders in a season that’s been determinedly, almost defiantly unpredictable?
They could win the next one, I guess. (The Cubs are sending out a starter with an ERA north of 8 … but then so are the Mets.) Winning always helps.
Best title ever.
Well, at least we don’t have to be Cubs fans.
Ok, maybe we don’t need all library stoics, but Stroman can be a downright joke.
I distinctly remember while he was a Met, attempting a similar mustard & relish play at first, but oops, he threw it away. Of course, he learned nothing from that, because Marcus is all about Marcus: Screw the team, but did I force myself into the highlight reel?
Makes it all the more painful being dominated by the guy.