How to Beat the Mets, Vol. I

Games 29 through 31 - Mets

Mets 19, Nationals 5
Mets 8, Diamondbacks 3
Diamondbacks 4, Mets 3
Record: 21-10

The lambasting I doled out to the Mets and myself last go-around seemed to reverse the bad mojo I'd enacted by heaping too much praise. I won't make the same mistake again soon. 

In fact, immediately after I began fixating on the things that aren't going swimmingly in Metville, the boys in blue 'n' orange went ballistic on Los Nacionales. 19-5, with 9 RBI coming from Brandon Nimmo. And it wasn't even that close.

The Metbats continued to pound the ball in the first game of the series with Arizona. Pete, Frankie, and old, old friend Starling went deep and it was over by the 3rd inning. Ha! Almost fell for that one, didn't you. What do you take me for? We blew a huge lead a week ago in much the same scenario.

This go-around the Met arms held fast and locked in a solid win. 

Then, last night's game. I tuned in with the Mets up 1-0 on a Mark Vientos tater. The good news was that I would get to see Vientos come to the plate three more times, mostly with runners aboard in key spots, and he fanned twice and GIDPed once. Nifty, Mark.

Ultimately, our lads didn't have quite enough juice last night. In our inaugural go at Misery Loves Company, Rob had to endure a long Sox tenure of [loud voice announcing] Closer by Committee. It wasn't great, and eventually they settled into the cadence of Timlin in the 8th / Williamson in the 9th that Grady Little used, until he didn't. 

Well, for the second time in a month, the 2025 Mets used Starter by Committee. And for the second time, it went all right! Huascar Brazoban pitched two nearly flawless frames, and Syracuse call-up Brandon Waddell threw four brilliant, scoreless innings. 6 innings of shutout ball! Not bad.

Enter Ryne Stanek. For the third straight Stan(e)k outing, he entered with the lead and left with a deficit. 3 losses. 3 blown saves. 1.1 IP over the last week. 7 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 5 ER. 

I think we need a Plan B on set-up man. 

The key seems to be, watching him go at this in vain, that he can't get that 3rd strike. He throws strikes. He gets guys 0-2, 1-2. Just no K's. In his first 8 appearances, he had 10 strikeouts. None since. 

As such, he lets hitters repeatedly just get a piece and stay alive, leaving the door open to eventually knocking one into fair territory. Danny Young joined AJ Minter on the IL. Smells like trouble in Bullpen City for the Mets. Right now, we just need someone who can put batters away. 

Someone like Chris Devenski, you, say? No, not Chris Devenski. The 34-year-old journeyman reliever took the hill for the 8th, with the Mets down 2-1 because of the Ryne-stone Cowboy. 8th went swimmingly, 9th went like someone let a gator into the swimmin' hole. The D-backs tacked on 2 more, meaning when the Mets' top of the lineup in the bottom of the 9th got going -- and because we gave up 2 more runs, you knew they would -- it would be maddening. 

Arizona stud closer Justin Martinez had a very, very off night. He gave up a leadoff bomb to Tyrone Taylor, of course. And then walked Lindor and Soto. He didn't record an out. Would've been wonderful for our gang in a tighter game. 

Here's the thing. The way that the Mets lineup has gone in early 2025...

...in case you need a reminder it's like this in my stream of consciousness brain dump...

• Alonso WOW
• Lindor nearly as WOW
• Soto soso but it's him so okay
• everybody else about a .500-.650 OPS occasional swat mostly scuffling all the time thanks guys

...well, then... why on earth wouldn't you just walk those 3 fearsome hitters and get to the E Street Scuffle?

Yep. That's what Arizona did. They walked Pete to make it 3 in a row.

Vientos whiffed. Winker hit one off his foot for a run-scoring groundout (replay doesn't cover this, for some dumb reason). They intentionally walked Jeff McNeil for platoon reasons (and maybe because he's been hitting well since his return). 

Alvarez hit a routine grounder to third. Ballgame. Winnable loss. Eh.

I fear we've established a cheat code to beat the Mets. Pete Alonso has 23 walks and counting (3 last night). Soto also has 23 walks. 

Vientos, hitting in the 4-spot most of the time, has 23 strikeouts. Coincidence????????

Okay, he has 24 K's. But still....