Mets suffer a thoroughly repetitive loss to the Phillies

After putting up yet another performance that could politely be described as mediocre, the Mets fell to the Phillies again 5-3. Their pitching was fine until it was tactically sabotaged as usual, while the offense was dormant for most of the game before making an attempt at a comeback that fell short. Truly a copy-paste performance from most of the games over the last two months.

Met Killer Jean Segura started things off with a bang, launching a one-out homer in the top of the first to put the Phillies on the board. Two innings later, he did it again, launching another solo shot to double the Philadelphia lead. Since joining the Phillies in 2019, Segura has 10 HR against the Mets and an OPS pushing 1.000, by far his best marks against any opponent. Add him to the litany of Phillies who have killed the Mets over the past two decades.

Other than those two blemishes, Mets starter Carlos Carrasco pitched quite well. He struck out five in six innings, walking two and allowing five hits total. Carrasco missed half the season and got off to a bit of a rough start, but he’s now put up a solid stretch of starts (3.62 ERA, 3.06 FIP in five starts prior to Saturday) despite some Steven Matz-ian first inning splits (15.00 ERA in the first). He’s been a rare positive for the Mets down the stretch and is a key component of the 2022 roster’s ability to compete.

Back to the present, the team as a whole remained inept. The Mets didn’t crack Aaron Nola until the sixth, when a Brandon Nimmo triple and RBI groundout from Francisco Lindor got them on the board. Carrasco was pulled after only 82 pitches despite being allowed to bat for himself only one inning prior, then was replaced by Brad Hand, who has been nothing short of a disaster in the second half. Fittingly, that backfired - Hand allowed two doubles and an HBP, was replaced by Trevor May, and was ultimately charged with three runs as the Phillies put the game away for all intents and purposes.

To at least potentially keep things interesting, the Mets managed two runs in the next two innings - an RBI single from Dom Smith and a solo home run from Nimmo. Miguel Castro also did a good job of dancing out of trouble in the eighth to keep things theoretically in reach. We all knew what the final result was going to be all along of course, and Ian Kennedy removed any naive shadow of hope that remained by putting the Mets down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

The loss drops the Mets to 72-77 on the season. Their playoff chances were close to nil at the start of the game and are even closer to nil in the wake of yet another lackluster performance. Expounding on the various flaws of this roster or the myriad of ways this team has been unfortunate is mostly pointless as it’s all been said several times over at this point.

If you’re still interested or invested in the season at this point, there’s another game tomorrow with the Phillies. Kyle Gibson and Rich Hill will square off in a battle of trade deadline acquisitions, as the Mets cling to what remains of their playoff hopes.

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

-illar of the day

None.

Win Probability Added

Fangraphs.com

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Brandon Nimmo, +14.1%
Big Mets loser: Brad Hand, -14.7%
Mets pitchers: -19.4 %
Mets hitters: -30.6%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo triples in the sixth, +9.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Bryce Harper hits a two-run double in the seventh, -11.9% WPA

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