I don’t know what to say about Sunday’s loss except: Thanks a f*cking lot, Jeffy and Brodie.

Taijuan Walker gave the Mets a quality start, only giving up four hits in his six innings of work, The problem, of course, was that three of those hits were solo home runs, with two of them being of the “Citizens Bank Park” variety. Good for him, and hopefully in the long run, good fur all of us. But he couldn’t match Zack Wheeler today, who gave up a leadoff double to Brandon Nimmo, and then a second hit to Nimmo in the 9th, and that’s it. The good news is that you can’t leave runners on base if you can’t hit.

Aug 8, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Mets shortstop Javier Baez (23) reacts after hitting a ball off his leg against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

(Also, Javy Baez is hurt. The Mets are calling it “left hip tightness”, which is code for “something in an x-ray that would make Bo Jackson cringe.)

The Mets, of course, can’t hit. And it puts a spotlight on the firing of Chili Davis, which was basically predetermined from the beginning of the season because they wanted an analytically inclined hitting coach like Hugh Quattlebaum anyway. The Mets had a quick jolt at the time, but the numbers don’t lie:

Knowing this, it’s interesting that after yesterday’s game was the first time a beat guy asked about job security. While I don’t think the brass will pull the trigger on Rojas before the end of the season, it’s interesting that eyes turn to him now when Chili was basically only allowed one bad month (not counting 2020, when he had to coach from his house.) Somebody is going to have to pay the price down the road for the Mets inability to hit, at all. And I don’t know how to fix it because I, like Quattlebaum, never reached the major leagues. But I do want to make what I hope is a salient point:

People are saying that the Mets are showing no “fire” and “anger”. First off, teams that can’t hit don’t look very angry. Second, have they not watched Marcus Stroman vs the Diamondbacks and Pirates, Javy Baez vs. Richard Bleier, or Rojas vs. home plate umpires this season? Anger isn’t the problem here. The problem is that the Mets can’t hit, not any sort of emotion that is tied to that. Third, and I’ll say this until I’m blue in the face: flipping over a table doesn’t have the same effect now that it did when Earl Weaver was managing. It just doesn’t. A manager who does that in the 70’s is feared. A manager that does that now is just a f*cking clown.

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