The New York Mets weren’t going to leave Philadelphia with two wins. No chance the underdog could pull it off. They nearly did. In a tough back-and-forth battle between NL East rivals, the Phillies came away on top.
Who do we blame here? Sometimes there isn’t anyone directly at fault. Carlos Mendoza went to Edwin Diaz in what he felt was the most crucial point of the game. Mark Vientos made a costly error but erased its meaning with a game-tying two-run home run. Can we hold Tylor Megill accountable for not getting the job done in the ninth while pitching in unfamiliar territory?
No. Less than 12 hours removed from when the game ended, we blame a way too soft trade deadline for the Game 2 loss.
The Mets remain one big arm short in the bullpen and it mattered in their Game 2 loss
A talking point after the game was how the Mets bullpen was short on arms which is a bit silly considering we have yet to see Adam Ottavino or Danny Young even appear in a game. How can you be short-staffed when two pitchers are that far removed from actually playing?
"Carlos Mendoza pushed all the right buttons, the problem was he didn't have a lot of buttons"@martinonyc talks about the Mets' loss to the Phillies and the lack of available arms out of the bullpen for New York today: https://t.co/oWOgAnNUzf pic.twitter.com/clC6Lg3utP
— SNY (@SNYtv) October 7, 2024
The problem can harken back to the trade deadline when the Mets made smaller, wiser moves. It looked like picking up a guy like Huascar Brazoban had the potential to pay off even beyond this year. Some shaky outings but also some good ones along the way, he ended up left off of the NLDS roster entirely in favor of the more experienced yet so far unused arm of Ottavino.
It’s not that we’d want the Mets to even turn to Ottavino or Young. Both experienced some incredible lows this year. Ottavino did manage to finish stronger while Young went in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, having two pitchers on the postseason roster who can’t find their way onto the mound is problematic.
Instead, the Mets turned to Megill who probably serves them better as a long man option. The Mets have another in there with David Peterson who helped fill out some missing time on the mound from Kodai Senga on Saturday.
It’s easy to second-guess and look at decisions made by the Mets with the benefit of hindsight; which is what Monday Morning GM is meant to be about both positively and negatively. The greatest weakness of the Mets this season was their bullpen and David Stearns was able to successfully bring in Phil Maton and later Ryne Stanek. The pair of former Houston Astros World Series winners passed like two ships in the night with Maton having the less productive postseason after a solid run in the regular season and vice versa.
The Mets weren’t nearly ready to pay the asking price for the top-tier of available relievers like Tanner Scott. One more of the Maton or Stanek level would’ve been nice to have right now over Ottavino or Young.
Monday’s off-day will be a much-needed one for a taxed pitching staff. In Game 1, it was the grittiness of the Mets relievers who helped decide the fate of the game. With everyone seemingly available again, they shouldn’t run into the same problem they did on Sunday. Still, let’s hope this doesn’t become another war between relievers.
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