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The Mets managed to make seven home runs to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday and, of course, lost the game, their sixth consecutive loss in a season that continues to deteriorate.
But the backdrop of this latest mini-disaster at Citi Field took place on Saturday night, when Mets manager Mickey Callaway told reporters that the team did not know who would be the pitcher on Sunday, even though the match was less than 15 hours.
It may seem like a lot of time, but major league pitchers usually prefer days, not hours, to prepare for a start. Callaway said Jason Vargas, who was scheduled to throw, had injured a calf muscle while doing fitness work on Wednesday. On Friday, Vargas felt that his leg would be fine, but on Saturday he felt worse and he was ruled out
Still, the Mets have not made a decision on a starter until Sunday morning, just hours before the first start of the match. It was at this point that Callaway went to see veteran reliever Jerry Blevins and asked him if he was going to take the ball to try to stop a five-game losing streak.
Blevins, who is 34 years old, was totally for that. After all, he is in his 12th season in the majors and has never started any of his previous 532 games. Why not now?
In fact, when he was approached by Callaway, Blevins took it as a joke.
"I was like," Yeah, O.K. ", Said Blevins. "He said," No, seriously, "and he explained the situation.
The situation was that the Mets were desperate. Blevins would throw a sleeve or two and the rest of the pen would follow in similar pieces, depending on the progress of the game.
This group ended up including Chris Flexen, who was named AAA class from Las Vegas to take the place of Vargas and, of course, would end up giving up the seventh and final Dodger home race of the day – an explosion of 11th handle by the the former Met Justin Turner. That was the decisive race in the 8-7 victory of the Dodgers.
"We can not synchronize," Callaway complained afterwards.
But although they can not sync, the Mets are definitely sinking.
Sunday's loss was the 13th defeat of the Mets in their last 14 home games while they lost 13 games in under .500. But the numbers and the records are getting worse. Sunday's attack by the Dodgers scored only the third time in the history of the franchise that the Mets had allowed seven home runs in one game.
Meanwhile, Blevins dropped out of home runs for the first two batters he faced, Enrique Hernandez and Max Muncy. According to the Sports Bureau of Elias, he has thus become the second pitcher since 1900 to abandon home runs to the first two batters in a first league start of the major league. The first was Don Hendrickson of the Boston Braves in 1945.
Blevins retired the next six batters, but the Dodgers would still hit five home runs of various other Mets pitchers. Hernandez had two; Cody Bellinger had two; and Joc Pederson hit another before Turner's two-shot blast broke the tie.
And that brings us back to Flexen. The Mets seemed more comfortable with using Flexen as an emergency relief rather than being the emergency starter on Sunday instead of Blevins.
Another option would have been to call someone else from Las Vegas who could have started. But Corey Oswalt debuted Friday in Las Vegas and Cody Martin kicked off Saturday. Neither one nor the other was particularly good, so maybe the approach to the Flexen paddock in the mix was the best way to go, and that was almost market.
The Mets eliminated their deficits three times Sunday and even took a 4-3 lead in fifth place on Asdrubal Cabrera's two-point homerun. Then, with the Mets Troll, 7-4, in the eighth, Kevin Plawecki hit a three-point shot that revitalized Citi Field.
But patchwork pitching could not hold up, and Turner, as he often does against the Mets, would do a great job.
To end a daunting day, the Mets outfielder, Brandon Nimmo, one of the few brilliant points this season, was hit by a throw on his right little finger and had to leave the game. X-rays were negative, but he said the little finger was swollen and painful.
"It was a frustrating day," Callaway said, "it's safe." One of many for Mets.
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