Is this the end?
The Mets only friend, the end?
After last night’s soul crushing bullpen meltdown, it may be the over for the Mets. They are now two games under 500 and 5.5 games out of the second Wild Card.
The only meaningful games in September are probably from the opposition.
After the 8-1 loss to the Giants, manager Terry Collins said to reporters in San Francisco: “When you go through bad stretches, it is everything. There is no one territory. It is everything. It’s a couple of base-running blunders, a couple of errors there, all of a sudden the bullpen, I think we have stretched them thin.”
Think about it, just two weeks ago, the Mets looked very healthy and well positioned to claim their playoff spot.
Since then, the Amazin’s record was, well, amazingly bad. Since going into Detroit on Aug. 5, the Mets are 4-10.
Talk about the Dog Days of Summer.
And even with some reinforcements coming back with Yoesnis Cespedes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jose Reyes and Justin Ruggiano now healthy, it doesn’t seem like the Mets can do anything right.
And unlike last season, when Cespedes came here at the deadline and lit the club of fire, this season’s big get, Jay Bruce, has been disappointing to say the least. After least night, he’s hitting .176 with 2 homers and 6 RBI.
Essentially he went from the National Leagues RBI leaders to Jason Bay overnight.
“It’s been real frustrating,” Bruce said to reporters. “I’m a guy who believes he can truly make an impact. I have for a long time, and to not contribute much has been frustrating so far.”
For Bruce and for the rest of New York, watching this team is like seeing a loved one slip away. You know the inevitable and no matter what you do, it just gets worse.
So maybe, it’s just time to punt. With 11 days left for waiver deadlines, maybe it’s time to see about selling a couple of pieces that passed through waivers.
Maybe, it’s time to shut Steven Matz down for the season and see if Gabriel Ynoa and Seth Lugo – who looked great last night – have with it takes to be big league starters.
Maybe, it time to play T.J. Rivera full time to see if he can hit in the Majors.
Maybe, it’s time to look towards 2017.
Sadly, next season, Cespedes may not be here, neither will Neil Walker. David Wright may be a shell of himself and no one knows what to expect from either Matt Harvey or Zack Wheeler.
The Met revival is quickly became a one-year wonder.
The final act of desperation will be if Sandy Alderson fires Terry Collins, but in all honesty, if they replaced him with John McGraw, it probably won’t help.
This certainly looks like the end.
And the Mets only friend is to accept it.