There comes a time during every season when a team has to stand its ground and prove whether it’s building something special or playing out another regular season that won’t lead to the playoffs. The Mets may be reaching that crossroads.
A disastrous eighth inning Friday night at Citi Field helped the Mets get a killer stretch of their schedule off to a disappointing start with a 5-1 loss to the Rockies in the first game of a three-game series.
Relief pitcher Drew Gagnon allowed a pair of home runs, including a solo blast by former Met Daniel Murphy, as the Rockies turned a 2-1 lead into a 5-1 advantage the home team couldn’t overcome.
Now comes the hard part. This three-game set with Colorado is followed by a two-game Subway Series against the AL East-leading Yankees in The Bronx. After a day off following what figures to be a hyped showdown with their crosstown rivals, the Mets host the Cardinals for four games before a long road trip to Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia.
It’s a grind the Mets were trying to physically and mentally prepare for after winning the final two games of their series against the Giants. Starting this important stretch with a loss doesn’t help.
“The goal is to win baseball games,” Mets starter Jacob deGrom said. “When we don’t, everybody gets frustrated.”
These certainly aren’t ideal times. Mickey Callaway started Wilson Ramos behind the plate Friday night to team with starter Jacob deGrom. The pairing hasn’t always brought out the best in deGrom, who went into Friday’s start with a 5.33 ERA with Ramos behind the plate.
DeGrom has shown to be much more comfortable with Tomas Nido, but the schedule dictates the lineup ahead of anyone’s preferences, according to the Mets manager.
“We just have to make sure everybody understands what the situation is,” Callaway said before the game. “Communication is paramount and that the players understand we’re just trying to win and everybody wants to contribute the best they can.”
There’s really no time for personal preferences, not with the Rockies one of the hottest teams in baseball, having won 10 of their past 12 games and 13 of their past 17. They had a season-high eight-game winning streak snapped Tuesday in Chicago.
DeGrom had been their kryptonite, posting a 4-0 record with a 1.02 ERA in six career starts against the Rockies prior to Friday. It’s his lowest ERA against any NL opponent and the lowest ERA by a Mets pitcher against any one team.
DeGrom, who took the loss, wasn’t brilliant, but he wasn’t bad either, allowing two earned runs in six innings while allowing six hits and striking out 10. He left the game with the Mets very much in it, trailing 2-1. But after Robert Gsellman worked a clean seventh, Gagnon made a mess of things, allowing three runs in the eighth.
“I usually get ahead of guys,” Gagnon said. “Today wasn’t that day.”
If trying to cool off the Rockies (33-29) isn’t challenging enough, the Mets then head to Yankee Stadium. There is always plenty of anticipation surrounding the Subway Series, which means the Mets (30-33) have to stay focused trying to beat the Rockies.
Their lone run Friday night came on a home run by Michael Conforto in the sixth inning. Otherwise the Mets’ offense was meek, managing six hits as Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela got the win, working six innings without a single strikeout.
The Mets still believe they can contend for a playoff berth. Right now they appear to be a team on a frustrating path — not tanking the season like the Knicks, but not quite good enough to make you believe they can make this a special season.
This much is certain, it will take a better performance than the Mets delivered Friday night to make people believe the latter.
