Mets fall to Braves in extras in series finale

Even in a lost season, the Mets seem utterly lacking in direction. Seeing the team turn an early lead into a deficit and eventually lose wasn’t anything new, of course, but to the extent that the team has a focus, it seems to be on making decisions that are as unproductive as possible.

The sequence of the game itself was pretty simple. With a run scored in each of the first, third, and fourth innings, the Mets had an early lead. Corey Oswalt went six innings having given up just one run—on opposing pitcher Julio Teheran’s first major league home run—but coughed up two in the seventh without recording an out in that inning. The Braves scored once in the ninth, the Mets answered that with a game-tying home run from Devin Mesoraco in the bottom of the inning, and the Braves re-took the lead on a Nick Markakis solo home run in the tenth. The Mets didn’t answer that one.

But the larger issues were ones that have plagued the Mets before and been entirely the result of their own decision making processes. Jose Reyes started the game, which is still a joke no matter how many times everyone has said it. And if that alone weren’t bad enough, Reyes remained in the game when Mickey Callaway made a double switch and chose to remove Jeff McNeil instead, sliding Reyes over to second base in the process.

On top of that, Callaway repeated something he already did once earlier in the season, making his pitching change to bring in Paul Sewald before the Braves officially announced pinch hitter Adam Duvall was coming into the game. That allowed the Braves to pull Duvall back without burning him. As was the case last time, Callaway said he made the move on purpose.

Whatever the case, the Mets are an uninspiring team right now in every possible way. Perception can change quickly, of course. There’s just not coming from the on-field product to make it seem like a change is coming anytime soon.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Devin Mesoraco, +41.9% WPA, Wilmer Flores, +25.1% WPA, Brandon Nimmo, +13.7% WPA
Big losers: Jose Bautista, -41.9% WPA, Tyler Bashlor, -31.1% WPA, Seth Lugo, -20.5% WPA, Todd Frazier, -20.5% WPA, Corey Oswalt, -14.5% WPA, Jose Reyes, -12.8% WPA, Kevin Plawecki, -10.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Devin Mesoraco hits a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth, +47.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Nick Markakis hits a go-ahead home run in the top of the tenth, -38.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -51.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: +1.9% WPA
GWRBI!: Nick Markakis