The NL East championship is now out of reach, and a playoff spot (once an assumed proposition) is in jeopardy.
The Mets are relying on rookies Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat, and Nolan McLean to save their season after Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga flopped since coming back from the injury list. The phenomenal trio gets the start this weekend against a red-hot Texas Rangers team that is making a push for a playoff spot via the AL West or the wild card.
Inserting rookies in a pennant race can be an interesting proposition. But there’s a downside to it. A rookie can be overmatched in a setting that may be too big for them, where they are not ready for a show that is too fast. In today’s baseball, analytical general managers think the upside is worth it.
The Amazin’s entered Friday night’s game barely holding on to the last wild-card spot with a 1 ½ game lead over the hard-charging San Francisco Giants and upstart Cincinnati Reds. With Tong pitching in front of the home crowd, the Mets had to like their chances. They felt he could feed off the fans’ emotions with the tantalizing stuff he has.
It did not work out that way. The Rangers ended the rookie’s night without getting the last out of the first inning. He allowed six runs on four hits and three walks in a ⅔ inning. He could not find the strike zone, which explained why he was behind the count. He only relied on his changeup rather than his secondary pitches, which explained why he couldn’t finish the hitters off.
After Friday night’s 8-3 loss to the Rangers at Citi Field, the Mets’ lead dwindled to a ½ game lead over the Giants, who gained a game with a 5-1 victory over their historical archrival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, after Patrick Bailey hit a game-winning grand slam in the tenth inning.
And therein lies the problem: starting rookies in a high-pressure situation is not a good place to be.
No one should be surprised. Tong pitched like a wide-eyed rookie who was out of place. This is his third start in the majors, and he was promoted after two starts at Triple-A. He was promoted out of desperation since Senga was that bad.
Tong had an impressive debut against the Miami Marlins, and he was so-so against the Cincinnati Reds. This is what rookies are. They will wow and frustrate. It’s part of the process of being a major leaguer.
The rookie started the night behind the count (two balls) on his first two pitches of the game. Then, he threw two strikes to even the count. He finished it up by throwing the last two balls, walking leadoff hitter Josh Smith. It sure seemed like a harbinger of things to come.
After walking Smith, Tong struck out Wyatt Langford. He painted the corners so well in getting his first strikeout of the game. It was as good as it got for the Mets’ prized rookie.
Smith’s changeups didn’t fool Joc Pederson, who walked as the Rangers’ second baserunner of the inning. With two outs in the first inning and Tong ahead of the count at 0-2, Josh Jung laced a two-out single, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Then, Alejandro Osuna followed it up with an RBI single at left field on Tong’s first pitch, extending the visitors’ lead to 2-0.
Tong walked Jonah Heim to load the bases after falling behind 3-1.
The Mets’ young stud had a chance to finish off Cody Freeman on the 34th pitch of the inning, but it was not meant to be. He allowed another two-out single, giving the Rangers a 4-0 lead.
Tong’s night ended mercifully after Michael Helman hit a two-run RBI single on the starter’s 40th pitch after a 3-2 count.
It’s easy to blame Tong for putting the Mets out of the game early, but that’s too easy. The Mets should never have put him in this position in the first place. If Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns had his way, the rookie would be finishing his season at Syracuse rather than learning the hard way in the majors.
If Senga were decent at best, he would have been the starter to start this series. Instead, he is the one who is toiling in the minors to get himself straightened out. Manaea is a lost cause at this point. He might as well end his season on the injured list since he has nothing. David Peterson and Clay Holmes are in a challenging position since they are pitching past their innings workload.
This is where Stearns should have found reliable starters rather than relying on a pitching lab that would fix Griffin Canning, Frankie Montas, and Holmes. Instead, he is relying on a prayer by his prized rookies.
McLean has yet to experience failure in the majors. Sporat makes his second start of his career on Saturday afternoon. There’s a good chance both will have rough patches. It’s part of the initiation process that Tong is experiencing now. To think they won’t go through it is asinine. Maybe they can overcome it, but that’s hard to believe.
It would also be nice if the Mets’ Fab Four of Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto would step up, but now all four of them are slumping. They certainly didn’t grind and rally in this contest. They need to find their mojo quickly. They are the reason why the Mets have a seven-game losing streak.
With 14 games remaining, the Mets are not in a good place. They are channeling the 2007 team that choked a seven-game division lead and a playoff appearance with 17 games to play. This is even worse, considering there are extra wild-card spots, and they could lose it to a team that traded players at the trade deadline or a team full of young players that never experienced a pennant race before.
For the smart-thinking fan, it’s the veterans who have failed the Mets this season, not the kids.
