Buffalowpoint of the season

Well.

Suffice it to say, the Mets have their work cut out for them if they want to make the expanded playoffs.

With roughly two weeks left of baseball in the truncated 2020 season, and with the Mets on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, the Mets responded by, uh, playing poorly for the second half of this game on route to a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays.

David Peterson had a solid start in this one, despite it ending up feeling like a game with a way bigger gap than 7-3. The lanky lefty gave up just two runs, both on a two-run homer by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (who did his best Mets killer impression all weekend), over five innings.

The Mets offense started hot against the ace of the Jays staff, Hyun-Jin Ryu. Singles by Jeff McNeil and Todd Frazier set up a run-scoring opportunity for Dom Smith in the top of the first. Dom delivered, knocking a single and chasing McNeil home. While that could have set up a larger two-out rally, Frazier got caught in a rundown in between 3rd base and home. He tried to be aggressive, but he simply ended a potential rally instead.

Outside of the aforementioned two-run homer by Gurriel, the bats on both sides were silent, until Luis Rojas went to the pen in the 6th inning, a move that was necessary due to Peterson’s pitch count.

The 6th inning was a, for lack of a better word, disaster. Brad Brach came in and promptly forgot where the strikezone was located, walking three straight Blue Jays before hitting the showers. Jared Hughes did his best Brad Brach impression, walking Jonathan Villar, and pushing the Jays lead to 3-1. After getting an out, Hughes finished off the implosion with a bang, as Santiago Espinal cleared the bases with a double, making it 7-1.

That was, basically, the game. Erasmo Ramirez continued his surprisingly solid season, throwing two innings of one hit ball in garbage time to finish the game. The Mets bats showed the teensiest bit of life in the 8th inning, as singles by J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto set up an RBI single from Frazier, making it 7-2. A Dom Smith fielder’s choice made it 7-3, but nothing came of the inning after that.

Back to back walks by Luis Guillorme (who replaced Jeff McNeil, who had, checks notes gastrointestinal issues and had to leave the game) and Davis put some runners on in the 9th, but a Scooter strikeout ended the game, and might have finished off this season for good.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: David Peterson, +4.5% WPA
Big Mets loser: Brad Brach, - 13.6% WPA
Mets pitchers: -19.6% WPA
Mets hitters: -30.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Dom Smith’s RBI single, +5.4%
Teh sux0rest play: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s two run home run, -16.4% WPA