Mets' offensive woes have become inexcusable, and the season may be sinking as a result
Pete Alonso of the Mets grounds out to end the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Juan Soto really took his time admiring Wednesday’s ninth-inning homer off Guardians starter Gavin Williams. Upon contact, Soto stepped back as he enjoyed the ball’s soaring 420-foot flight to the base of the centerfield apple. There was a slight grin, and Soto took another few moments before starting to jog.
Excessive? Sure.
Then again, it was the Mets’ only hit in a humiliating 4-1 loss to the Guardians, and based on their scarcity of offense these days, we’re surprised the whole bench didn’t do the Griddy right there in the on-deck circle.
Yes, you read that correctly. One hit through 8 1⁄3 innings, after a zombie-like parade of feeble grounders and pop-ups, with the Mets’ only legitimate threat coming on Mark Vientos’ sinking liner that C.J. Kayfus robbed with a diving grab in the seventh.
And with that, we’ve now officially downgraded the Mets’ quality of play from inexplicable to inexcusable. What’s there to say? A $333 million team that began the season with World Series aspirations, and boasted baseball’s best record on June 12, is now 10 games under .500 (18-28) since that high-water mark with an offense that’s barely breathing.
The 40,072 fans that showed up Wednesday at Citi Field were hoping to see Pete Alonso tie Darryl Strawberry’s franchise home run record, or maybe even leapfrog him. Instead, that dream soon gave way to maybe seeing a Met cross the plate at some point. By the late innings, the bar had been lowered to merely putting a ball in play successfully.
Before Soto’s blast, the best the Mets could manage was three walks, including two in the second inning, when a wild pitch put their only runner in scoring position. Brandon Nimmo actually made it as far as third with two outs, but that’s where he was stranded, as you might expect from a team with MLB’s third-worst RISP average (.231).
So what now? If the first step toward solving a problem is admitting there is one, the Mets have blitzed right through that checkpoint, but shown little aptitude for fixing their offensive issues. In these dire situations, the obvious scapegoats are the hitting coaches, but would axing Eric Chavez or Jeremy Barnes — or both — suddenly reverse these disturbing trends? If things don’t turn around soon, that chorus is going to get louder, and the Mets are down to 47 games left.
“It falls on all of us,” Carlos Mendoza said. “It falls on me as a manager, but we’re in this together. I’m not going to point fingers here.”
The Citi fans had no problem doing that Wednesday, with a number of Mets being booed, and none louder than Soto before his ninth-inning blast. Since June 13, the Mets have scored the second-fewest runs in the majors (3.96 per game), have the second-worst batting average (.228) and the third-worst OPS (.674). More recently, a large share of the ineptitude belongs to the Mets’ $765 million slugger, as Soto is hitting .220 with a .390 slugging percentage since July 1. Still, he’s got plenty of company in a lineup that continues to perform far below expectations. So what’s going on?
“I really don’t know . . . ” Soto said. “But we definitely have the talent and the guys are capable to do damage here. So I think one day it’s going to turn around.”
Collectively, the Mets keep saying that. But after Cleveland’s sweep, they’ve now lost eight of nine, trail the Phillies by 2 1⁄2 games in the NL East and the offensive problems don’t seem to be self-correcting. Judging by Wednesday’s lackluster performance, they actually appear to be getting worse.
Mendoza suggested the Mets are getting beat lately in the cat-and-mouse contest of in-game adjustments, which is the responsibility of the coaching staff. If that’s the case, it’s well past time to either reevaluate the process — or the personnel.
“Individually, you got to make some adjustments,” Mendoza said. “But as a team, you got to be able to recognize how they are attacking us and we haven’t been able to do that.”
Again, that’s difficult to figure. The Mets’ top half of the lineup — the “Fab Four,” as owner Steve Cohen referred to them in happier times — are all very experienced hitters, yet are being shut down on a regular basis. Mendoza played one of his last remaining cards Wednesday by switching Francisco Lindor back to the leadoff spot, and the Mets came within two outs of getting no-hit, with Soto’s homer coming on Williams’ 117th pitch of the afternoon.
Even then, Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt let Williams stay in, showing zero fear of the Mets, despite Alonso and Nimmo coming up next. Alonso flied out and it wasn’t until Williams walked Nimmo that Vogt went to the bullpen after 126 pitches from his starter.
On the flip side, David Peterson probably figured the game was over after giving up a pair of homers and putting the Mets in a 3-0 hole after three innings. Mets starters have to be near-perfect these days because the offense isn’t bailing anyone out. And the season is suddenly sinking as a result.
“You’re going to go through waves with different parts of the team,” Peterson said. “But you don’t come to the ballpark expecting the offense to struggle. I have full confidence, when I walk into the ballpark on my start days, that the hitters are ready to go.”
Not lately, and definitely not Wednesday, when Soto’s solo homer erased a few zeros, but not the lingering worries about these Mets.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
