Mets vs Reds recap: It’s always the same, it’s just a shame, that’s all

There are very few bright spots on the Mets these days. With Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes out for the year, Noah Syndergaard still a ways away, most of the other young pitchers either hurt or bad, and Dominic Smith and Amed Rosario struggling to start there careers, there are very few reasons to watch the Mets.

Perhaps the sole reason to still tune into the Mets once every couple days is Jacob deGrom. But in this awful season, even deGrom has seen his share of struggles lately, and they continued once again on Thursday afternoon.

deGrom was able to gut out six innings while allowing three earned runs—a quality start—but he walked three, gave up six hits, and struck out only five. While it wasn’t a bad outing, persay, it was deGrom’s third outing in his last four that hasn’t been up to his standards. And the one outlier in that set was his previous start against the Nationals, who sent out a lineup that day that looked like they were actually trying to field a worse team than the Mets.

In the post game presser, deGrom mentioned his issue was that he was flying open with his front shoulder. deGrom could also be suffering from fatigue, though his total of 178.2 innings pitched this season is still less than his 2015 total of 191.0 innings, which does not include the postseason that year. That said, if deGrom doesn’t correct any issues that may be hindering him, the Mets may become entirely unwatchable.

And a lot of that has to do with the lineup, which only mustered two runs on seven hits today against Robert Stephenson, who entered the day with an ERA north of five. They totaled four hits in the first three innings, but only managed three hits over the last seven innings. The lineup the Mets are sending out there these days may be even worse than many of the late-season lineups they sent out there in the lost seasons of 2012 and 2013.

The Mets now take a day off on Friday as they travel to Houston, which serves as a sobering reminder that things can be way worse than having to watch a bad baseball team. All the things we complain about with the Mets and all the negativty and frustration surrounding this team these days really means nothing in the grand scheme of things. The Mets will play the first sporting events in Houston since Hurricane Harvey struck, and the meaning of the series will transcend far beyond whatever occurs between the lines. These baseball games serve as the first steps in the very long, difficult healing process for the city of Houston.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Asdrubal Cabrera, +4.5% WPA, Brandon Nimmo, +3.9% WPA
Big losers: Jacob deGrom, - 17.8% WPA, Amed Rosario -12.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo hits an RBI single in the third inning, +7.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Scooter Genett hits a two-run homer in the second inning, -17.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -24.0% WPA
Total batter WPA: -26.0% WPA
GWRBI!: Joey Votto