GUT PUNCH by Tom Brennan

GUT PUNCH by Tom Brennan

There goes the "Wild Card express train high" of sweeping the Twins this past weekend.


Have you ever seen such a painful Mets loss as last night?

In this extremely important game:

Asdrubal Cabrera goes deep with a 2 run jack early, and the Mets characteristically can't generate offense thereafter.


The rejuvenated ex-Met Anthony Recker pulls the Braves close on a 2 run homer late in the game.


An error by Loney starts a game tying Braves rally in the 8th in which:

• Collins pulls the great Addison Reed to have Josh Smoker pitch to Met killer Freddie Freeman.  Lefty-lefty, by the books.  Bad move, Terry.
• Collins, with an open base, 2nd and 3rd, one out, chooses to pitch to Matt Kemp, who showed why he is a top tier player by mightily battling Jeurys Familia and getting a game tying sac fly on a very good pitch.  Very clutch by Kemp.  Bad move, Terry.

Mets load the bases with 2 outs in the 8th, the suddenly red-hot James Loney due up against a lefty, so of course Collins goes righty-righty with putrid .190 hitting Kevin Plawecki instead.  On a 1-0 pitch, Plawecki proved he was not a student of Don Baylor when he avoided a very inside pitch that would have forced in the go-ahead run - be a man and let it hit you, dude.  Think ahead for just such a scenario.


That pitch made it 2-0.  On 2-0, Plawecki swings at what would have been a high ball 3, and goes on to strike out.  Bad move, Terry.  Reese, you are right about him. 


And of course, the team that just NEVER seems to get the big hit in the clutch.


And then, after the Braves grab the lead, as if the night was not painful enough already, Yoenis Cespedes is robbed of a 3 run game winning homer.


If not the worst Mets loss ever, the worst in a LONG time.  

A real GUT PUNCH.

Final observations and comments:


All but one Braves starting lineup player was hitting over .270, and the other one was hitting over .250, including Recker's .284.  They are rebuilding, but wouldn't you be doing cartwheels if the mets could ever field a squad with those sorts of averages?  


Jake deGrom, get well soon after a successful surgery.


Steve Matz, we need Matz Magic on Friday.


Bartolo Colon, had he won last night, could have finished as high as 17-7 and gotten some Cy Young award votes.  Oh, well.