Metstradamus - Measured In Candelarias And Niemanns

 

By metstradamus | April 7, 2021 9:21 pm

Unfortunately, with David Peterson going against Aaron Nola, and more importantly a bullpen that was a bit compromised due to some extra work after the second game of the season (which is a neat trick considering it’s after the second game of the season), Wednesday’s negative outcome was never in doubt for me.

The frustrating part was twofold: First, the non-competitive nature of the score as Peterson gave up a four spot in the first inning which got the proceedings off to a bad start. But second was that Aaron Nola seemed to pitch like the 19th carbon copy of himself: Still good, but not quite as sharp as the original. The Mets threatened in every other inning against Nola. Two runners on in the second. A run and two runners on with one out in the third. Bases loaded with two outs in the fourth. But they only got the one run. The second inning isn’t fair to judge because Peterson was the one with the chance to drive the runs home. But Dom Smith and Jonathan Villar struck out in the third with two runners on (and no, I don’t know why Villar played instead of McNeil, who was hitting the ball hard with bad results), and Michael Conforto struck out with the sacks full in the fourth.

Even with all of those missed opportunities, the Mets drove Nola from the game after he topped 90 pitches after four innings, and even at 4-1 the game felt winnable. But after Peterson gave up two hits to lead off the fifth, Luis Rojas brought in Jacob Barnes to face JT Realmuto, and Barnes first pitch as a Met was also his first home run given up as a Met as Realmuto put the game out of reach with a 3 run HR to give the Phillies a 7-1 lead and sent them crusing to an 8-2 victory.

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