The Mets knew somebody had to do it, so they asked twice-DFA’d Jerad Eickhoff to walk the plank. He did; now it’s time to get serious again.
The Mets, knowing Momma said there’d be days like this, waiting for Acting GM Zack Scott to find a replacement, found a pitcher to make the start last night against the Atlanta Braves.
The Mets showed no mercy on Jerad Eickhoff (deserving as today’s featured image) as Luis Rojas kept him in there long to absorb a ten-run shellacking the Mets never recovered from.
No harm, no foul, though, as the Phillies also lost, leaving the Mets 3.5 lead in the NL East standings intact.
The Mets did produce five runs in the 12-5 loss, and oddity given they are 42-8 when scoring four or more runs in a game.
No team ever “forfeits” a game, but Rojas and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner had no choice in this one, given the paucity of starting pitchers currently on hand.
Mets: Back To Business As Usual
Things return (more or less) to normal when Tylor Megill (1-0, 2.15), who has been magnificent of late, earning the first win of his career in his last outing, gets the ball tonight against the Braves at Citi Field.
Taijuan Walker will follow on Thursday to close out the Atlanta series. Then Carlos Carrasco is penciled in to open the series with Cincinnati after completing a successful rehab with the Mets Triple-A team in Syracuse over the past weekend.
Additionally, in a report from Sports Illustrated, and according to manager Luis Rojas, Syndergaard threw off the mound at Citi Field, which is significant because he has not thrown off a slope since being shut down on May 27.
Syndergaard, who has already suffered a major setback once in his rehab program, has hopes to return in September when the Mets are making their final push toward the playoffs.
Still on hold is Jacob deGrom, who is crawling and running to a return from forearm stiffness. Wisely, the Mets will be cautious with deGrom, knowing his value in October is their daily bread.
Mets Mainstays Are Counted On
On the offense, the Mets are buoyed by three mainstays in their lineup (Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, and Michael Conforto) getting two hits apiece last night.
McNeil, in particular, is getting back into his line-drive groove while Alonso remains constant with a fire burning in his heart since his return from Denver.
Conforto, who is playing with additional pressure to produce in his walk year, has yet to find his niche since returning from a month-long layoff, and his stock as a 2022 free agent continues to decrease.
However, for the Mets, this might be good news as they no doubt will be one of the teams interested in signing Conforto to a long-term deal that keeps him in Citi Field.
On the trade rumor front, that latest Mets news says the Minnesota Twins remain open to dealing RHPJose Berrios before the deadline, and their “early ask” to the Mets was “at least two top-100 prospects or a top prospect and a pre-arbitration eligible major-leaguer,” per Dan Hayes of The Athletic.
A high price to pay for the Mets, but as they say, to get quality, you have to surrender quality, and Berrios indeed fits the bill as an innings eater and the starting pitcher Zack Scott is looking to obtain.
With the Mets rotation set through Friday’s trade deadline, the pressure is off Scott to do anything rash to acquire a starter.
Mets: Who’s The Boss?
In the meantime, it’s back to the Braves, who’ve taken two of the first three, with two remaining in the five-game set.
A split will tread water, but at some point, the Mets need to tighten the screws on the Braves and Phillies, and tonight’s as good as time as any to show the Braves who’s boss in the division this year…
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
JJ Senior Yet, if you ask any fan in here… they think they have it locked up with no offense. I guess Degrom is pitching every night.
Patricia Sigalas At this point, we can’t afford for any pitcher to take a punch for the team. We need all the wins we can get. They are the METS after all!! Most will understand that!!
Joe Weiss Patricia Sigalas sorry but we will lose games along the way. We have done really well considering the health state of our pitching! We did what we needed to do to get through the night
Gerri Renza Poirier no harm, no foul? Really. Giving away a game is no big deal?
Clint Warren I’ve heard of “taking one for the team”, but not “taking a punch for the team”. Is that a New York thing?
Steve Walker He has nothing to be ashamed about. Absolutely, and that’s why I thought he deserved to be the article’s featured image.
Patrick Rafulowitz I don’t know why Management thinks it’s ok to lose any games like this it’s almost like them saying we’ll let this one go but if you miss the playoffs by one game then it’s an issue Name the pitcher who should have started then…dig deep…deeper
Marco Cassano That was stupid he only pitched 3 innings what was accomplished?? The bullpen was used a lot anyway, horrible throwing a game against division is disgusting Fair point, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do…
Hsin-Yuan Huang That’s why starting pitchers is the #1 priority for the trade deadline.
Dom A Cappella Eickhorn may suffer from PTSD now.
Closing Published Comments And Final Thoughts
With this, we’ll close published comments for this article.
By and large, readers didn’t like the way I pooh-pooed yesterday’s loss, maybe because I threw the word “forfeit” in there.
Others agree, though, the Mets simply did what they needed to with Eickhoff until Zack Scott can fill the gap.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
