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PHILADELPHIA – Even though manager Luis Rojas wouldn’t call it that, the Mets started their biggest streak of the season on Friday night. And it started on a bad note
After holding the lead in NL East for the past three months, the Mets fell half a game away from first place after losing 5-2 to the Phillies on Friday night at Citizen Bank Park.
If the Mets can’t win the next two games of the three-game series, they’ll leave Philadelphia in second place.
“We know we’re up against a team that has gotten really hot lately and there are guys swinging a hot bat right now,” Rojas said ahead of the loss. “And they are gaining ground in the standings because everyone is aware of the standings at this point in August.”
The Mets held a comfortable four-game lead in the division as they prepared for the final on Sunday before the all-star break. Since then, they are 9-14.
A look at how the Mets came to the brink or abandoned the NL East lead:
Alignment issues
Michael Conforto appeared to start his season on the Mets’ first road trip after the all-star break, but his breakthrough was just a small hit on screen. The free-falling outfielder, who went 1 to 3 in Friday night’s loss, has an anemic slash line of .201 / 0.331 / 0.329. Rojas put him on the bench earlier in the week to give him a mental break, but at this point the Mets haven’t received much of a rebound from him.
Jonathan Villar was a valued member of the ‘Bench Mob’ of the team that helped keep the Mets afloat earlier in the season and continues to split his time at third base, even with JD Davis back from the injured roster. . Although Villar hit a solo homerun on Friday, his offensive production waned, especially his potency – he came in on Friday with a .323 hitting percentage in the second half. Davis also collapsed (he told the Post in recent days that the lingering pain in his left hand didn’t help), leaving third base as a sort of black hole.
James McCann and Tomas Nido, who walked 0-for-2, were a formidable offensive tandem behind the plate for one stretch, but neither was good in the second half. McCann had a .696 OPS since the all-star break, with Nido at a dismal .471.
In their last 16 games, the Mets had reached five points in a game just four times and hadn’t exceeded that total.
Rotational regression
Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Marcus Stroman were a formidable 1-2-3 punch in the first half. DeGrom, with his 1.08 ERA was selected to the NL All-Star Team, but did not participate and Walker was subsequently named as a replacement for the NL Team. Stroman was also on the edge of All-Star gear.
But this dream rotation frayed in the second half. DeGrom hasn’t launched since July 7 due to a forearm contraction and then elbow swelling, and he won’t be back until September.
Meanwhile, Walker’s ERA fell from 2.50 to 3.86 after four consecutive below-par starts (including three losses). There are fears Walker could physically run into a wall after three shortened consecutive seasons due to injuries and the pandemic.
Stroman, who allowed two runs in five innings in the Mets loss, gave them a one-hit shutout in eight innings on his second start after the all-star break. But the right-hander hadn’t lasted six innings in a start since June 27, a period in which his ERA fell from 2.35 to 2.83.
Tylor Megill was a savior of the rotation and the return of IL’s Carlos Carrasco helped, preventing the Mets from having to send Jerad Eickhoff back to the mound after three disappointing starts.
Fusion losses
Edwin Diaz, who gave Bryce Harper a two-run homer in the eighth inning that secured the Phillies victory, missed three straight saves (two of which became losses), starting with the last game before the all-star break , against the Pirates. The biggest punch of the three came on July 17, when he ceded a grand slam to Jacob Stallings in Pittsburgh. Rojas cited Friday’s loss as having the biggest emotional impact on the Mets.
I mean the most frustrating loss we’ve had was in Pittsburgh, where I saw the guys, Diaz, pretty emotional, ”Rojas said. “He was really mad after that game in Pittsburgh.”
While Thursday’s series final in Miami wasn’t a loss caused by a bullpen failure, it nosed because the Mets left bases loaded three times and lost momentum. of the previous night’s victory, in which Baez hit a home run in the eighth inning.
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