It’s been that kind of year for the New York Mets. No matter what they do, they just can’t seem to get the train rolling with any momentum. In Los Angeles on Monday night, they tagged Dodgers super ace Clayton Kershaw for six earned runs and four dingers in 6 1/3 innings, chasing him from the mound.
It was the first time the three-time Cy Young Award winner and 2014 NL MVP surrendered four homers in a game in his storied career and just the 13th time he’s allowed six or more runs in a single outing.
Mets SS Jose Reyes became the fifth player in history to victimize Kershaw for two long balls in a game, while Jay Bruce socked his 19th of the season and third career blast off Kershaw. Rookie 2B Gavin Cecchini hit a two run shot of Kershaw with one on in the fifth, his first career homer in the bigs.
.@GavinCecchini2 got a hanger…And you know what happened next. pic.twitter.com/fQpvXED1ht
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 20, 2017
But it all wasn’t enough as Mets starter Zack Wheeler was very hittable again. For the second consecutive game, Wheeler, who has been steady for the most part, got bombed, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits in two innings of work. Dodgers rookie OF Cody Bellinger took Wheeler deep twice and former Met Justin Turner added a two run homer of his own to end Wheeler’s night early. He has a 36.82 ERA over his last two starts.
The Mets were down, 7-0, right off the bat in this game would end up closing the gap to 8-6 in the seventh inning. But they would get no closer and lost another frustrating contest, 10-6. There record dropped to 31-38 on the year and are much closer to the bottom of the National League standings than they are to the top. As of this morning, they are 12 1/2 games out of first place in the NL East and 12 1/2 games out of the second Wild Card spot with no light at the end of the tunnel.
This night was emblematic of the Mets’ 2017 narrative. They came into the season with high hopes and strong pitching. The pitching has been godawful for the most part. They are 26th out of 30 teams in overall pitching and only the Baltimore Orioles have a higher team WHIP than the Mets (1.48).
The #Mets have given up 6 or more runs in 28 of their first 69 games (40.5%). Last year, 37 times total (22.8%).
— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) June 20, 2017
As for the high hopes, they’re beginning to dissipate, too. Even those old New York Giant fans, who loathe the month of June due to the club’s annual “June swoons” wouldn’t have much to gripe about with this team. They were never really in contention after the first few weeks of the season and the way things look, they won’t be joining the fray any time soon.
The biggest highlight of the night for those who dared to stay up a little late to watch this fiasco, was the latest faux pas by Keith Hernandez, who once again, did not know he was speaking into a live mike.
Keith Hernandez said Tanner Roark’s “been getting his tits lit,” thinking he was off-air https://t.co/K6lwjC2bce pic.twitter.com/AYQ52hSPva
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 20, 2017
Wonder what he said about Wheeler off the air….